Waterford - Ed Puleo of Branford held off all challengers, including a furious late rally by defending division champion Keith Rocco, to win the SK Modified division's 35-lap feature as the Waterford Speedbowl opened its 64th consecutive season with a seven-race program.

Rocco picked up the win in the Late Model division, while Jon Porter of Canterbury and Zach Thomas of New London won the night's Super X-Car and X-Car divisions respectively, and defending Legend Cars champion Dylan Izzo of Westport won his division's opener. The Street Stock and Mini Stock features ran past deadline.

Puleo, who won his heat earlier in the day, began the event from the pole position. He lost the lead to Craig Lutz of Long Island early on, however reclaimed the spot following a lap-seven caution flag.

Puleo had to withstand multiple challenges from Lutz over the next 25 laps, as well as a late race charge by Rocco. Rocco's inside bid coming to the white flag was not enough and Puleo powered ahead over the last lap to claim the win, his first in the division.

Rocco came back from a spin on lap two to claim second with Lutz finishing third. Ryan Preece of Berlin ran a strong race to end up fourth after starting deep in the field, while Rob Janovic Jr. finished fifth.

In the Late Model division, Rocco started the race in the 11th position, using the race's only caution flag on lap 21 to catch Seymour's Vin Esposito. Esposito assumed control on the opening lap, pulling ahead and holding the top spot until the yellow flag.

Rocco had already climbed to second position and lined up to the outside of Esposito for the restart. Rocco used the outside of the track to power ahead of Esposito to lead lap 22 and didn't look back. Esposito held of a charging Bruce Thomas Jr. of Groton on the final lap to finish second, with Thomas settling for third.

The 20-lap X-Car race went down to the wire in a thrilling finish that saw Thomas hold back a stiff challenge from Stonington's Rich Nye. The race ran without a caution flag following a false start at the initial green flag, with Thomas wrestling the lead away.

Porter dominated the 20-lap Super X-Car feature. Once he took the lead early on, last year's Saturday Showdown series champion in the division pulled ahead and went on to the victory unchallenged.

Puleo doubled up the competition by taking the night's 25-lap Street Stock feature. He benefited by a tangle between leaders Josh Galvin of Franklin and Al Stone of Durham late in the race. They tangled battling for the race lead, coming together in turn one on lap-20. Puleo bested Old Saybrook's Norm Root Jr. over the remainder to claim the win, his second of the night.

Curry looked strong in the opening 25-lap Mini Stock feature of 2014. He was patient behind an early battle among division stalwarts Ken Cassidy Jr., Sean Caron and Ray Christian. Curry rose to the occasion, surpassing each before steaming ahead of the competition to the first-ever victory.