It was a historic championship clinching night at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl that was nearly two months in the making.
After seven weeks of waiting, Todd Owen was finally able to officially capture his third consecutive SK Modified championship at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.
After weeks of weather related issues, the Speedbowl held its Crowning of the Champions Night Saturday.
It marked the first time the SK Modified division had been on track at the shoreline oval since Sept. 16.
Owen, of Somers, finished fourth in Saturday’s 35-lap SK Modified feature.
Owen became just the third driver in Speedbowl history to capture three or more consecutive SK Modified titles. Dennis Gada won five in a row from 1999-2003 and Keith Rocco won five in a row from 2013-2017.
Owen became just the fourth driver in Speedbowl history to have three or more SK Modified titles overall. He joined Gada (7), Rocco (7) and Bob Potter (3) in achieving the mark. The division was introduced at the Speedbowl in 1985.
Owen came into Saturday’s final event of the season holding a 10-point lead over Eric Berndt in the SK Modified division standings. Berndt was not in the lineup for Saturday’s finale. Anthony Flannery came into the day 31 points behind Owen in third in the division standings. Flannery finished fifth Saturday and was able to overtake Berndt for second place in the final standings.
Owen also won his third consecutive SK Modified championship at Stafford this season, becoming the first driver in Stafford Speedway history to win three consecutive titles in the division.
RJ Marcotte won Saturday’s 35-lap SK Modified feature. It was the first career SK Modified win at the Speedbowl for the Millville, Mass. driver.
Troy Talman of Oxford, Mass. was second. Tim Jordan of Plainfield, making his first start the track since July 8, was third.
Owen is on top of the game right now, beyond impressive, and well deserved.
Congratulations to Team 81 and all the Track Champions – nice to see 80 race cars on a Saturday this late in the year.
Does anyone know why Eric Berndt skipped the final race? He was only 10 points behind Owen.
Heard there was something going on with Owen and Tech in an earlier race. Don’t know anything for sure though. Must have made Berndt pretty upset to throw away the championship when it was that close. It was good and surprising to see Jordan back. I figured he had quit but turns out he had a concussion from that wreck over the summer. Didn’t even look that had. Didn’t expect RJ Marcotte to win at two different tracks this year.