Tom Fox was wondering when he’d make it to victory lane again in Waterford’s tough SK division. After all, it’d been 2005 since he’d won his last feature, and the second-generation driver is accustomed to grabbing checkers on a pretty regular basis. Saturday night, the Plainfield, Ct. chauffer put it all together in grabbing the 100-lap SK portion of the Speedbowl’s annual Pepsi 300. Aiming for consistency this season, Fox drove a somewhat cautious race, continuing a game plan that’s placed him high in the race for the 2006 championship. Fox led from flag-to-flag in an event that included only two cautions, one for a front chute encounter between Chris Pasteryak and Dennis Charette, and the other for a solo spin by backmarker Wendell Dailey. Dennis Gada followed Fox over the line, and in third it was Rob Summers who’d chased Fox for most of the event.

Popular Allen Coates made a return to action Saturday night, and what a return it was. Driving an ACT-legal car owned by Mike & Joe Sangernamo for the first time, he overcame more than a bit of adversity in his drive to victory. “I had no idea where I was on restarts, or where I was during the race. Not only could I not see the mirror, we had no radio contact. This was my first time in the car, so there’s a few adjustments we’re going to have to make before the next time I run it”, stated Coates in a post-race interview. Long-term plans have Coates driving the Sangernamo car as long as the team wants to continue, but in the meantime his own car is also in the final stages of completion. Rounding out the top-3 were Scott Garrity and Larry Goss.

Dewayne Dorr continued his reign at the top in the Sportsman class, recording victory number six. This time however, it was no cakewalk for the most consistent driver of the 2006 Speedbowl season. His contact with (and the resultant spin), of early race leader Rick Staskowski prompted officials to send Dorr to the back of the pack only 5-laps into the event. In typical fashion, Dorr had sailed by the pack and was in the lead by the latter stages of the 50-lapper. In victory lane, he was apologetic for his early incident with the leader, stating that he hoped that Staskowski wasn’t too upset, and that it was indeed, an accident. Said Dorr after collecting the checkers; “This was the hardest race of my career, and it’s my first extra-distance victory. We led a lot of them, but never managed to win. We were super-busy this week working on the car for this race, I had the week off from work, and that’s what I did the whole time. For the record, the winner passed tech – this guy is just plain fast this year! Following Dorr across the line was Joe Curioso III, and Jim Procaccini.

18-year old Joe Godbout III made a complete shambles of the Mini Stock event, finishing many car lengths in front of second-place Richard Brooks. Earlier in the evening, Godbout had posted fast time, and was never challenged after taking the lead just laps shy of the halfway marker – he was simply the class of the field. Bill Leonard finished third.

Speaking of time-trials, the top qualifiers in their respective divisions were Rob Summers (SK), 14.335, Larry Goss (Late Model) 15.549, Dewayne Dorr (Sportsman) 17.546, and Joe Godbout III (Mini Stock) 17.417.

Serving as Grand Marshall of the event was none other than SK veteran Don Fowler who’s been on hiatus from driving due to a few health-related issues. I’m happy to report that Don is looking good, and plans to be back behind the controls of his familiar # 26 in no time at all.

This Saturday night it’s “Scout Night” at the Speedbowl which features the four regular weekly NASCAR divisions along with the added bonus of an appearance by the Allison Legacy Cars. If mid-week racing is in your schedule, don’t forget to check out “Wild & Wacky Wednesday – it’s a hoot! See the Speedbowl website at www.speedbowl.com  for more details.

And with that, it’s a wrap. Contact me at ddykes@originnet.net