Eric Beers Hot News

UPCOMING RACES:

Season Over - 2012 will see the DeLange racing team back together competing for the entire NASCAR Modified Series

Race Results and Stories:

November 13 - Mahoning Speedway - Poker - 6

A surprise visit to Mahoning for the final Poke series 100 lap race nets a 6th place finifh - car was just a tick loose

It took nearly two months since twice being rescheduled but the curtain finally came down on the 2011 season at Lehighton’s Mahoning Valley Speedway and judging but the filled grandstands and pit area it was well worth the wait. Bobby Jones of Palmerton picked up the win in the star-studded 100-lap Modified feature along with $3000 while newly crowned track champion Tyler Haydt from Kunkletown annexed a second title by winning the Modified Poker Series. Jones, the 2011 Mountain Speedway champion, started twelfth in a field of 27 and needed until lap 79 before taking the lead from John Markovic. He then had to fend off the relentless pursuit of Don Wagner in picking up the popular verdict. “I can’t believe this. I didn’t think we were close enough to being as fast as some of these guys today,” said Jones who was making only his second Mahoning start of the year. “Not being here with this car all year I really felt I was in trouble. We qualified tenth and I thought that was great for us. We decided to make an adjustment before the feature and it was the right choice, we got lucky.”; A season high 32 Modifieds came out to do battle with Wagner setting fast time in time trials with a best lap of 9.851at 91.361 mph. A redraw of the top-12 saw prerace favorite Matt Hirschman snag the pole with Kevin Rex, Jr., alongside. At the outset Hirschman took quick control of the race while a bevy of two-wide action unfolded behind him. Tommy Flanagan held down second with Markovic third. Markovic looked very strong as he seized second by lap 13 and then zeroed in on Hirschman. He was all over the leader, finally moving to the helm at lap 29. Leading for the first time this season, the multi-time Mahoning champ was sailing ahead with the look of confidence as he kept all on comers at bay. By the halfway mark it was still in the hands of Markovic while second spot was hotly waged between the likes of Hirschman, Jones, Wagner, Haydt and Earl Paules. Over the next 25 caution free laps Markovic ran a blistering pace. Jones took sole control of the runner-up spot and stuck closely to the leader’s rear bumper. A lap 78 caution put the front pair side-by-side for the restart, however, Markovic wasn’t able to ignite the same fire as he used up his tires from the previous stretch run. Jones was still in good shape and overpowered him to become the new race leader. “He (Markovic) was tough and tried hard and I knew he wanted it bad but I also knew I was just as good as he was. I had to get a run on him on that restart or else the outcome may have been a bit different,” said Jones. Markovic held on for another ten laps but then gave way to Wagner. “There is no better person to lose to then Bobby Jones. He’s a great competitor. We had fun and it just wasn’t my night. I was too good to early. I needed just a little bit more race track,” said Markovic.
Over the final 10 circuits Wagner did all he could to pass Jones but to no avail. “Bobby Jones is a good runner here and congratulations to him and his team. It was good clean racing and that’s the way it is here. It was a good cap to a good season,” said Wagner. “I did feel someone behind me toward the end I knew I just couldn’t relax. I knew early on that he (Wagner) was quick on the outside because he had gone past me earlier and made it look easy,” added Jones.
“Winning the championship at Mountain this year and then to just come down here and enjoy ourselves and be around all these people that I missed all year and race with these guys who are all a bunch of good guys who always race hard and then to do as well as I did tonight and win it’s just awesome.”; This was the 13th career Modified win at Mahoning for Jones, his last two coming in 100-lappers. Haydt was third and put together the winning poker hand over the special five race series with three Kings. He collected the $2500 top prize over Hirschman who had three Queens and Paules who ended with pair of Aces and Kings. Mike Carroll, Jr., earned the $1000 bonus for having to worst poker hand.

Modified Feature Finish, 100 Laps: 1. Bobby Jones , 2. Don Wagner, 3. Tyler Haydt, 4. John Markovic, 5. Chip Santee, 6. Eric Beers, 7. Lonnie Behler, 8. Brian Romig, 9. Matt Hirschman, 10. Billy Weichert, 11. Earl Paules, 12. Kevin Rex, Jr., 13. Mike Carroll, 14. Andy Szapacs, 15. Matt Higgins, 16. Tom Flanagan, 17. Chip Wanamaker, 18. Todd Baer, 19. John Bennett, 20. Terry Markovic, 21. Matt Wentz, 22. Roger Hefflefinger, Jr., 23. Joe Mooney, 24. Frankie Althouse, 25. Brian DeFebo, 26. Rick Reichenbach, 27. Brandon Ultra Did not qualify: Keith Mullineaux, Shawn Sitarchyk, Nick Shaw, Rick Kirkendall, John Udes

October 16 - Thompson Speedway - NASCAR - 7th

The car was a tick tight in practice and the team then qualified 10th. Once the race came after making pre race adjustments the car was fast. Eric was running 2nd when they came in for tires on lap 63. THey came out and was working their way up to the front and was the fastest car on the track when he was dunped by TC. The car was not quite the same after that but had battled back up to 4th on the last restart. This is where its like dejavue - wrong lane -Eric lane did not go then santos gets into the leader everyone checks up and Eric loses three spots instead of getting a chance to go for the lead

Overall a great year - Thanks to all

Ron Silk survived an eventful season finale to take home the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in the Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing at Thompson International Speedway. Glen Reen took home the checkered flag in a wild event that saw a season-high 16 cautions and the maximum three green-white-checker events attempts for his first career victory, but it was Silk that left with the biggest hardware of the weekend. A six-year veteran of the Whelen Modified Tour, Silk survived an early-race accident to finish 16th and clinch the first championship of his career. Silk, a 28-year-old from Norwalk, Conn., brought a 54-point lead on Todd Szegedy into Thompson. Szegedy ran ahead of Silk for most of the event, but the points lead went back and forth as Szegedy looked to work his way into the top 10. He pitted late after avoiding one wreck and then had his chances ended when he was involved in the 14th caution on Lap 149. Szegedy finished 25th. Silk finished with 2,443 pints - 76 points ahead 2003 champion Szegedy. Eric Beers finished a career-best third, while Rowan Pennink and Doug Coby rounded out the top five. Sunday marked the first victory in 43 career starts for Reen, the 2008 Sunoco Rookie of the Year and a part-time competitor from Wilbraham, Mass. Bobby Santos finished second and Matt Hirschman third. Chuck Hossfeld, Tom Rogers Jr., Keith Rocco, Eric Beers, Patrick Emerling, Mike Stefanik and Eric Goodale brought home the top 10 in the 16th and final race of the Whelen Modified Tour season. Silk and the No. 6 T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet team will be honored as part of the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala on Dec. 10 in Charlotte, N.C.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Sunoco World Series Unofficial Results
Sunday At Thompson International Speedway, Thompson, Conn.
Lap length: 0.625 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (24) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 168 laps, 59.155 mph.
2. (5) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 168.
3. (22) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 168.
4. (14) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 168.
5. (11) Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y., Chevrolet, 168.
6. (34) Keith Rocco, Wallingford, Conn., Chevrolet, 168.
7. (10) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 168.
8. (19) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 168.
9. (17) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Chevrolet, 168.
10. (9) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 168.
11. (30) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 168.
12. (33) Jimmy Zacharias, Candor, N.Y., Chevrolet, 168.
13. (31) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Chevrolet, 168.
14. (7) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 167.
15. (2) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 167.
16. 8) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 164.
17. (25) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 163.
18. (28) Daniel Hemric, Kannapolis, N.C., Pontiac, 161, accident.
19. (21) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 158.
20. (32) Rob Fuller, Boylston, Mass., Ford, 158.
21. (12) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 155, accident.
22. (3) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 155, accident.
23. (29) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 152.
24. (27) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 148, accident.
25. (4) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 148, accident.
26. (1) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Ford, 145, accident.
27. (20) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 135, accident.
28. (13) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 135, accident.
29. (16) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 135, accident.
30. (26) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 126, accident.
31. (23) Rick Gentes, Woonsocket, R.I., Chevrolet, 69, accident.
32. (15) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Chevrolet, 60, broken axle.
33. (6) Timmy Solomito, Islip, N.Y., Chevrolet, 53, engine.
34. (18) Tony Ferrante, Jr., New Hyde Park, N.Y., Chevrolet, 52, accident.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 46 minutes 30 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.133 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: R. Preece (120.747 mph, 18.634 seconds)
Caution Flags: 16 for 84 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Preece 1-36; T. Szegedy 37-66; D. Coby 67-106; G. Reen 107-116; E. Berndt 117-135; J. Bonsignore 136-143; G. Reen 144-168.

Standings: 1. R. Silk, 2443; 2. T. Szegedy, 2367; 3. E. Beers, 2309; 4. R. Pennink, 2219; 5. D. Coby, 2214; 6. M. Hirschman, 2163; 7. J. Bonsignore, 2141; 8. B. Santos, 2133; 9. T. Christopher, 2053; 10. E. Rudolph, 2051

THOMPSON WORLD SERIES
by Polly Reid
After a season high 16 cautions and a maximum three green, white, checker finishes, when the dust finally settled on lap 168 it was Glen Reen of Wilbraham, MA in the Silberman H&C/Alloy Wheel Repair Chevrolet taking down his first career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win in the Sunoco World Series at Thompson International Speedway. While Ron Silk of Norwalk, CT in the T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet overcame a wreck earlier in the race rallying to finishing 16th to claim the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship title. Starting 24th at the green, Reen in the Ralph Ridgeway owned machine had worked his way into the top ten before the half way mark after pitting on lap 41 and when the century mark showed on the board, it was Reen in second behind Doug Coby. Reen inherited the lead when Coby pitted on lap 105 only to lose the spot to Eric Berndt, falling back to third after a couple more yellows but Reen was there at the right place at the right time avoiding the mishaps around him to take the lead on lap 144 and holding off the likes of Justin Bonsignore, Coby, Matt Hirschman and then Bobby Santos to score the victory. Santos, Hirschman, Chuck Hossfeld and Tom Rogers were the top five with Keith Rocco, Eric Beers, 2011 Rookie of the Year Patrick Emerling eighth, Mike Stefanik and Eric Goodale the top ten. “I have to thank the good Lord. If you told me this morning that I was going to start 24th and win this race I’d tell ya you were out of your mind. Give it to my whole family, my dad, my Uncle Tom, my team; these guys have been behind me the whole time” The multiple restarts were a struggle for Reen. “My clutch broke on lap 107 and every restart it was slipping worse and worse, I said guys we’ll be alright as long as there aren’t any more restarts, sure enough, there was only 30 of them so we were OK,” Reen joked. Extended 18 circuits beyond the 150 scheduled laps, Reen was indeed worried about fuel. “I didn’t know how much fuel was left, I was freaking out, and my spotter Rob was the only one calming me down.”
“About Monday morning we decided to come here so we only had about 4 days to prepare for this,” explained Reen whose best Tour finish prior to this was a fifth at Riverhead in 2009. “The motor is 2 years old with 1700 laps on it. People rebuild them every 800 laps, its super tired. The clutch, that was broken - I had to get pushed into victory lane because it’s broke. I mean we’re running on a shoe string budget. My brakes were gone, we had no pads left we had to shim them to make pads - it literally should not have happened but somehow it did. I cannot thank my whole team; those guys give 200 percent, my whole family standing behind me this long.” Santos of Franklin, MA in the Mystic Missile Dodge pitted on lap 105 and worked his way carefully to the front to be there at the end. “I’ve got to thank the guys, they gave me an awesome race car all day, we had good strategy, we just had a couple of yellows that screwed us up at the end. That last restart I felt like we had the car to win, I was in position to win, I just drove in too deep into one, I just screwed up on the last lap. I’m disappointed with second but I can’t complain, we struggled a lot all year then the last of the year we tried something and I feel like the 4 was running the way it should today- it’s a little late but we’re back in the right direction.” It is crew chief Bob Mueller’s last race for car owner Bob Garbarino, the championship crew chief is stepping down following the World Series. “I think that was more of my disappointment is that I felt like I should have won that race for Bob. He’s done an awesome job all year; he did an awesome job for me last year. I’m really proud to say that I’ve worked for him, I’m a little disappointed he’s retiring but he has to do the best thing for himself.” Also using a later pit strategy, Hirschman crossed for third after having to drop to the back prior to the green flag at the start of the World Series. “It’s well deserved for the team; I mean they deserve the credit. We had a flat tire in time trials, we were the first car to go out and probably hit a piece of debris, cut the tire and went in and spun it around, I couldn’t keep it off the wall, wrecked that car pretty good. So they had to go back (to the shop) load up, this is the car we ran at Stafford and it pretty much hadn’t been touched since Stafford so they had to go back and prepare this car to race today- really I owe all the credit to them. My part was just surviving the wrecks. I was able to miss all those wrecks and get a third place. I’m happy that I could get a nice run for these guys and finish the year on a good note with a third place finish. Today was just wild. I think it is like that saying - it was the inmates running the asylum.” Silk came into the Sunoco World Series with a 54 point lead over Todd Szegedy. Both knew what they had to do but neither could predict what they were about to go through. Szegedy in the Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Construction sponsored Ford started fourth and marched his way forward taking the lead from pole winner Ryan Preece on lap 37 while Silk remained in the top ten, running eighth until the call was made to pit on during caution on lap 42.
Szegedy leading, Silk lined up deep in the pack at 23rd. Just after the restart, an oil line blew on the Timmy Solomito ride and Silk along with Tony Ferrante didn’t make it through, Ferrante done for the day in the turn one outside wall, Silk going around making contact, the Eddie Partridge owned Chevrolet suffering left side damage. Silk, able to get down pit row with only three tires, came to a rest at his pit just as the red flag flew for the extensive clean up. “We pitted early like that so we could have a good, clean pit stop,” said Tommy Grasso, crew chief for Silk. “We would ride around and stay out of trouble then when everyone else pitted we’d be back up front without having to use up too much tire - I thought that was going to be the best way to stay out of trouble and apparently that didn’t work out. The 66 blew an oil line and we got in his oil. It’s one of those things; you really can’t figure those things out until they happen.” “We had time when the red flag came out- the guys looked it all over and we came up with a plan,” continued Grasso. “It took quite a bit of doing to figure out what we were going to do. The officials were right there, told us what we needed to do to make it safe and as soon as the caution came out the guys went at it. Luckily I have a good crew around me and it showed today.”
“There were two things that were wrong with the car. The front end was broken and the guys were going to go work on that. The biggest part was the nerf bar on the rear bumper; it didn’t look like it was going to go back together. We figured out a way while we were under red to get it back together strong and safe. As soon as the yellow came out the guys went at it and got that work done drilling holes and bolting everything together - it was quite a task- they were up to it.”
As Silk sat on pit row, Szegedy in the Mike Smeriglio owned Ford continued to lead the field. Eight laps down, Silk returned to action only to pit again for more repairs. Shortly after Silk returned, Szegedy relinquished his lead to come down pit row for his planned service on lap 66. By lap 100, Szegedy was bogged down in the pack 16th while Silk was running 29th. However, Szegedy continued forward up to 11th by lap 110 and still the points leader. Dodging an incident 10 circuits later, Szegedy had an even closer call on lap 127 forcing the Ridgefield, CT driver to pit twice under caution, his restart location now back to 24th. Meanwhile, Silk had benefited from the free pass four times. Back up to 16th on the lap 148 restart, Szegedy still had a shot at the title until the mayhem broke out in turn three. Around and up against the wall, the right side damage Szegedy suffered was the end of the title hopes for the MSR team. Silk survived the three green, white, checker finishes crossing 16th to claim the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship title. “It was an awful day,” said Silk. “It started out OK then we got into somebody’s oil and I hit the wall. I thought it was all over, I mean at that point Todd was leading; I figured he drive off and have a story book day. Todd ended up having problems, my guys worked their butts off to get it back out and it worked out. The guys did a great job getting the car back together. Luckily there was a red flag so they had a good amount of time to check everything out, figure out what they needed- they worked pretty efficient to get that done.” “I couldn’t drive my car it was all messed up, I was just riding around making laps. We had bad luck today, obviously I hated to see that and I hated to see Todd’s bad luck too. It would have been better if we could have both gone out and raced and not have problems but it didn’t work out that way. Congratulations to Glen Reen winning the World Series.” “It feels great but it hasn’t really sunk in yet. I just keep thinking what a miserable day we had, the emotions from high to low, thank God it ended on a high note but still. I’m so happy to be the champion, I’m so happy for my car owners Connie and Eddie Partridge to be the champions, all the guys who do so much work, it’s been a roller coaster day and I’ve had about enough of it.
Grasso mirrored Silk’s thoughts. “It really hasn’t sunk in yet. After we got caught up in the wreck there we had pretty much lost the championship. The guys did a good job working on the car, getting it back together. The car was really wrecked I didn’t think they could get it back together but they did, it was a handful for Ron to drive. We needed all those cautions to get us back in there, then Todd had his problems so we went to essentially losing the championship to back winning it. It went both ways, full swing.” “I knew it was going to be tough, we had trouble yesterday with the clutch in practice. Never had an issue with the car all year and of course this week something goes wrong,” smiled Grasso. “It wasn’t a big problem, it was minor, but we took the car apart to make sure it was all right and it was, we figured it out. So we got through that -I said it’s not going to be easy and sure enough it wasn’t easy today. We needed some luck. Obviously Todd’s bad luck was our good fortune. I hated that for those guys. I know exactly how they feel- that part of it’s not fun.” “I worked a long time to win championship, I’m glad we finally got the ability to do it. Eddie is a great car owner and he deserves this championship, I’m glad to win it for Eddie.”
Starting back with S.J. Evonsion, who was his next door neighbor were he got his start with the Tour in ‘85 minus the off and on they took a couple of years to do some short track racing, Monadnock and Riverside, Grasso owned a couple of cars with his brother Danny driving at Riverside they did some SK racing at Stafford before the money ran out. “I started working for other car owners and that’s how I started working on cars rather than owning cars. It’s been a long road to hoe, but I’m glad we finally got here. I can breathe a little sigh of relief, we won a championship.”
Eddie Partridge and his wife Connie have been Tour car owners for ten years. “The guys worked real hard, they put the car back together amazingly fast for the shape it was in. We just went out there 9 laps down and then Szegedy’s day went terribly wrong.” “Ronnie is great, he’s very calm, he’s always right there, he’s smooth - I don’t know what else to say about that. Tommy Grasso, the Grasso brothers they do the impossible.” Partridge continued, “We were contenders I would say honestly the last two years, this and the last two to be in the points chase and it finally worked out. It’s a great feeling to win a race; it’s a great feeling to win a championship.” Finishing with 2,443 points for Silk, 76 ahead of Szegedy, the consistency of Eric Beers season earned him a third place over all in points with Rowan Pennink fourth and Doug Coby fifth for the year. Silk and the team will be honored at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala December 10th in Charlotte, NC

Feel-good story
On Monday, Glen Reen decided that he and his team would pack up and head to Thompson to race in the World Series. There’s not a lot of money surrounding the No. 17 car. “It’s an independent team, run by himself and (there were) kind of odd circumstances the way he won, but he won,” Whelen Modified Tour points champion Ronnie Silk said. Through the smoke and debris, Reen hung on to a car that shouldn’t have won the 150-lap feature after his clutch broke on the 107th lap. And that was really the end of his problems. His has about 1,700 laps on it, and Reen said it’s common for motors to be rebuilt at 800 laps. “It’s two years older than everyone else’s and it’s super tired,” he said. The clutch was two years old, the brakes “had no pads left, we had to shim them to make pads,” which is all part of running on a “shoestring budget” and suddenly finding yourself in front, trying to hang on.
"My car was going away, the clutch was getting worse on every restart and I was thinking I will be happy to finish in the top 10,” Reen said. “My car was horrible on the top, I couldn’t get it to go up there because it was so loose, so I had to stay at the bottom. I thought they were going to freight train me, and I will be done. But every time we went green, it was two laps or less and a caution came out.” That meant no cars on the outside had a chance to get together and get past the No. 17. What made it even better was in most instances, the cars immediately behind him were bringing out the caution. “My spotter was busting me (Sunday before the race) that ‘It would be really nice to say, caution, wrecking behind you instead of in front of you,’ so I kept telling him, ‘At least they’re behind me, right?’” Reen said. The nearest incident came on the final restart when Bobby Santos III bumped Reen from behind, but Reen held onto the car. “My dad came up to me and said, ‘Thank God you ran some dirt cars the last two weeks.’ I literally just threw the wheel like a Frisbee,” Reen said. “It’s all I had to hold on to it.”

Not-so-feel-good story
The Whelen Modified Tour race was truly like few seen in the past several years at Thompson. There was a first-time winner; a points tussle featuring a leader who was seemingly invincible going in, looked to be all done a third of the way through, and back on top when all was over; and almost half the race was run under caution. One of the wilder incidents happened on lap 136 when Justin Bonsignore pushed Eric Berndt up into the wall. NASCAR did not penalize Bonsignore and he was allowed to remain in front, but the incident brought out a red flag, which left the remaining cars stopped on the backstretch.
That allowed Rowan Pennink and Berndt time to hop out of their cars and run to Bonsignore’s. Pennink got to the No. 51 car before NASCAR officials realized the driver’s intentions and Pennink was punching at Bonsignore through the window before being yanked away. “As bad as those guys were, (Bonsignore) did something to get them that mad. I’m just surprised you can keep the lead in the race.” Matt Hirschman, who finished third, said. “I didn’t see it, so I can’t point any fingers, but it looked like two guys who were ready to throw down. (Sunday) was like the inmates running the asylum, that’s what it seemed like to me.” NASCAR hadn’t announced any penalties as of Monday.

Thompson, Conn. —

Todd Szegedy made the loneliest walk of all.
Szegedy had all but secured the Whelen Modified Tour points championship about a third of a way through the 150-lap race at the World Series of Auto Racing on Sunday at Thompson Speedway.
Even though Szegedy went into the final race of the season down by 54 points, leader Ronnie Silk had early troubles. Silk pitted on lap 43 and then was caught up in an accident in the back of the pack 10 laps later. Silk came out nine laps down and “thought it was all over.” Szegedy needed to finish 12th or better to bring the title home to Ridgefield. But on a day in which the race went overtime to 168 laps, Szegedy’s race ended on lap 149. On the season-high 15th caution, Szegedy lost most of the right side of his car in an accident on turn four.
He willed the No. 2 car to the frontstretch, climbed out of it and walked back to pit road, attacking a garbage can on his way there. The garbage can lost, and so had Szegedy. Somehow, Silk, who came back after severe damage to the left side of his No. 6 car, went the rest of the way to finish 16th and took home the points title. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Silk said. “I’m just thinking of how miserable a day we had and the emotions from high to low. Thank God it ended on a high note.” Glen reen was on an emotional high after capturing his first Whelen Modified Tour checkered flag.
His No. 17 car started 24th, but he edged up to the front through attrition, battling his car the entire way. “My clutch broke on like lap 107 and it was slipping worse and worse on every restart,” Reen said. “I was thinking I would be all right as long as there were no restarts. Sure enough, there was something like 30 of them.” Most of them occurred behind him, including one in which Justin Bonsignore pushed Eric Berndt into the wall on the second turn and paid the price as both Berndt and Rowan Pennink ran the length of the track on the following red flag. Pennink beat the officials to Bonsignore’s car and got in a few jabs before officials pulled him away. In all, 84 of the 168 laps were run under caution.
“I think everybody was thinking, ‘I got all winter to rebuild my race car.’ That’s the bottom line of what I saw,” said Bobby Santos, who finished second.

By Phil Smith

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series wrapped up their 2011 season last Sunday at the Thompson Speedway. Ron Silk came into the event with a 59 point lead over Todd Szegedy. Thirty four cars made up the car count. The seat in the Flamingo Motorsports No.16 was still warm after the exit of Mike Stefanik when Ryan Preece strapped in. Preece wasted little time as he adjusted to his new ride in short order as he garnered the pole position for the season ending World Series 150. Preece toured the 5/8 mile oval on 18.634 seconds. Second fastest was Doug Coby who had a time of 18.655 seconds. Stefanik drove the car he normally drives in Modified Racing Series events and qualified17th at 18.901 seconds. Ted Christopher, Todd Szegedy and Bobby Santos rounded out the top five. Point leader Ron Silk qualified 8th fastest. The only casualty was Matt Hirschman who slammed the wall during qualifying. Hirschman was allowed to take a provisional spot.
The World Series drew a total of 273 cars including 34 Whelen Tour Modifieds, 16 Sunoco (SK type) Modifieds, 28 Supers, 22 Super Late Models and 25 Midgets. The Whelen Modified Tour Series provided some intense drama during the running of the event which didn't see the championship finalized until the final moments of the event. The drama began on lap 52 when Silk and Tony Ferrante Jr spun and crashed into the first turn wall after hitting some oil that leaked out of the car of Timmy Solomito. While Ferrente suffered the most damage and had to be double hooked to the infield Silk was able to drive away with quite a bit of damage to his left front suspension. Once in his pit box the Eddie Partridge led crew went to work to repair the damage only to have to stop as the field went under a red flag while the oil was cleaned up that was spilled. After a short period the field went back under caution and work resumed on the Silk machine. When Silk finally re-entered the competition on lap 62 he was 10 laps down to the leader, Szegedy and it was thought that all was lost as far as the championship was concerned. Needless to say, Silk and the Partridge team kept digging and because of numerous cautions were awarded free passes under the rules which got them within three laps in arrears of Szegedy. Szegedy still had the title in hand until lap 148 when he got collected when Ken Heagy and Woody Pitkat tangled between turns three and four and collected Szegedy, shearing off his right front wheel which was the deciding factor. Silk finished 16th four laps down with 2,443 points with a 76 point cushion over Szegedy, who finished 25th. Both competitors were deserving of the title but it just wasn't in the cards for Szegedy, the 2003 champion, to win it. Congratulations to Silk along with his car owners, Eddie and Connie Partridge and their entire race team. Silk and the No. 6 T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet team will be honored as part of the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala on Dec. 10 in Charlotte, N.C.

Glen Reen scored somewhat of an upset as he took the win in a wild event that saw a season-high 16 cautions and the maximum three green-white-checker events attempts for his first career victory. Reen took the lead on lap 142 from Justin Bonsignore and watched in his mirror as his competition was eliminated. Pole sitter Ryan Preece, who had recently taken over the seat of the Flamingo Motorsports entry that was formerly driven by Mike Stefanik, was on cruise control for the first 36 laps, was eliminated in a wreck on lap 145 when he broke a tie rod. Stefanik, who finished ninth in a new tour ride, was running fourth on lap 155 when he went for an opening on the backstretch and triggered a wreck that eliminated Justin Bonsignore and Ted Christopher who were running second and third. Stefanik said, "the 51 moved up and I filled up the hole between him and Christopher". "Once I got in there", he added, "they didn't give me any room". Doug Coby and Daniel Hemric who were running second and third behind Reen on a lap 160 restart got together shortly after taking the green. Hemric, from Kanapolis, NC, was driving the Roger Hill No.79 and found himself in the turn one wall and Coby spun. NASCAR Control felt that Coby was overaggressive and placed him one lap down. On the final restart for a green-white-checker finish Reen watched in amazement as Tom Rogers and Bobby Santos went at it as they almost wrecked. In a gut move, going into turn three on the final lap, Santos sunk the Mystic Missile in deep and took over the second spot behind Reen. Rogers, who had gotten roughed up a bit by Santos, finished fifth. Matt Hirschman brought Ole Blu home in third while Chuck Hossfeld finished fourth. Sixth through tenth were Keith Rocco, Reic Beers, Patrick Emerling, Stefanik and Eric Goodale. In other World Series action at Thompson on Sunday, Chris Perley turned in a dominating performance in the International Super Modifed Association (ISMA) 50-lapper to score the victory. Russ Stoehr scored top honors in the Northeastern Midget Association (NEMA) ranks. In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action, Ryan Preece outlasted the field in a rough-and-tumble Sunoco Modified feature. Derek Ramstrom scored his sixth Super Late Model race to cap off the 2011 season at Thompson and Corey Hutchings survived numerous restarts in the Late Model main event to score the win. Following a full day of practice and qualifying at Thompson on Saturday, ten (10) feature events were run. In Thompson regular weekly divisions it was Scott Sundeen scoring the victory in the Limited Sportsman division; Cam McDermott in the TIS Modifieds; and Chad Baxter in the Mini Stocks. Scoring Outlaw division victories were Rick Gentes (Late Models), Mike O’Sullivan (Street Stocks) and Richard Fournier (Mini Stocks). Frank Cardile capitalized in the Sunoco Lite Main event to score the victory. Jason Lafayette opened up the World Series feature festivities with a victory in the N.E. Trucks Series. Andy Lindeman led green-to-checker to win the companion Truck Series Shootout. Dan Meservey, Jr. earned the victory in the Harry Kourafas Memorial event for the Pro-Four Modifieds.

By Brian Danko

THOMPSON, CT----- On the 52nd lap of the 150 lap season ending Whelen modified tour event at the Thompson Speedway, point’s leader Ron Silk of Norwalk, CT. thought his dreams of capturing his first NASCAR touring series title went away. He slid his car backwards into the wall and then was hit by a sliding Tony Ferrante, Jr. as both cars were caught up in someone dumping oil on the track. But the crew worked to keep Silk on the track and despite being 9 laps down at one time, Silk managed to survive the carnage that was the modified tour finish and win his first title. Silk entered the race with a 54 point advantage over past series champion, Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT. and after Szegedy led early to give himself an extra five points towards the title, Szegedy always seemed to be in the middle of action on the track and when the race restarted a green-white-checkered finish on lap 149, Szegedy got caught up in a wreck in turn four to officially hand Silk the title as Szegedy’s car went off the track hammock style. It was a memorable win for Glenn Reen as the youngster secured his first ever modified tour win beating out Bobby Santos and Matt Hirschman but the story line was the battle for the title and despite being nine laps down, Silk was able to make up 6 of them as he continued to be the ‘Lucky Dog’ as the caution flag continued to fly in a race that saw the scheduled distance of 150 brought out to lap 168. Silk final tally would show it was a margin of 76 points over Szegedy with Eric Beers third in the point’s final run down.

ISSUES FACING NASCAR AND TOUR IN 2012
While the 2011 season came to a close under perfect racing conditions at the Thompson Speedway, it won’t be too long before the 2012 season will be upon the race teams and NASCAR and in the short few months before now and then, a lot needs to be accomplished.
The economy is still going to be poor as the calendar will turn another year and with several race teams looking to call it a career, or at least reduce the number of races that they are going to run, it is time that NASCAR needs to step up in the scheduling department and while doing that reduce the number of races that are two day and reduce them to one day. Phil Kurze of Whelen did announce that they are looking at ways to reduce both track cost and race teams cost and that is one way to achieve it. He also said that the schedule would be more balanced where there won’t be a race for almost a month and then have six races in a row. One item that NASCAR needs to address is the Bristol race followed by the race in Canada. You can’t have two races at faraway venues, one in the middle of the week and one in another country. These teams just can’t afford it with part time crew members, many whom already exhausted their vacation time on racing. Someone with common sense needs to sit down with both NASCAR and the teams and toss ideas around to save cost for everyone in racing. NASCAR also needs to get something done for television for 2012 and beyond. After having many races taped delayed last year and shown later was great but then to have just two races in 2011 was and is unacceptable.

HOENIG BOWS OUT

Don Hoenig, who for more than 35 plus years has been the name and face of the Thompson International Speedway bowed out at the drivers meeting for the modified tour competitors. Hoenig, whose son and grandson will be taking over the leadership of the flagship track for the modified tour and into the future. Don’s father built the track after the Hurricane of 1938 and turned it along with Don into one of the premier racing facilities in the country. Hoenig said that he has enjoyed the friendship and support given by all of the modified teams over the many years and that he looks forward to just being in the background going forward. I had the chance to talk with Don before the drivers meeting and complimented him on the North South Thompson Shootout and he said most of the talk after the race was good but that there was some complaints but he also acknowledged that is also part of putting on a first annual event and that it will grow bigger and better into the future. Don has been an intrigue part of auto racing in the northeast and he will be inducted into the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame this coming winter. Don said that next August that they are looking at returning one of the modified tour races dates but making it a one day show.

PHIL KURZE TALKS ABOUT 2012

Phil Kurze, the director of Whelen motorsports and one of the biggest supporters of the modified tour said he saw a glimpse of the 2012 modified tour schedule and while he couldn’t tip his hand about it, he said he is hopeful for a good season next year. Kurze did say that there were some sanction issues to work out and that he is still working on television for next year and beyond.
Kurze also mentioned that the banquet in Charlotte is attended by more people from the modified tour than any other sanctioned series under the NASCAR banner. (Now maybe they could return it to Mohegan Sun

Oct 2 - Stafford Speedway - NASCAR - 4

Car was good off the truck and Don Made some adjustments that kept the team just about fastest the entire practice. During time trials Eric ripped off a great lap in spite being out on the track with a slight mist make made the track just a touch slippery yet still driveable. Team sure would have liked to gone out a little later in time when the mist stopped. But all in all good car, that was just a tick tight and could not get back on the gas like Teddy and Ryan. The turning point of the race for the 45 was when Eric finally got around the 11 car for 2nd but then the caution came out and put Eric back behind the 11 and then from there it seemed that Eric was lined up in the wrong lane that would not go on the restarts - of which there was many. Great Car - Great Team - looking to keep the momentum going at Thompson.

In thrilling fashion, Ted Christopher won the CARQUEST Fall Final on Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway. On a green-white-checkered finish, Christopher, out of Plainville, Conn., got his No. 36 Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet underneath Erick Rudolph to take the lead just after the field took the white flag to collect his 12th career victory at the Connecticut half-mile track. For Christopher, it was his Tour-best fourth win of the season and the 42nd of his storied career. On the final lap Christopher got inside of Rudolph entering Turn 1, Rudolph went to block, Christopher held his ground and the two banged nerf bars rolling through the turn. Christopher came out of Turn 1 with the lead and rode to victory. Ryan Preece capitalized on Rudolph’s misfortune to earn the runner-up position followed by Donny Lia in third. Eric Beers finished fourth and Rudolph ended up in the fifth position. Kevin Goodale, points leader Ron Silk, Matt Hirschman, Doug Coby and Justin Bonsignore rounded out the top 10. Bonsignore, who picked up his third career Coors Light Pole Award on Saturday, had an answer for all comers over the first 79 laps when he made a trip to pit road for fuel and tires. In the early going, overtures were made by Christopher, Lia and Preece. However, after everyone cycled through pit stops, Bonsignore was not able to work his way back through traffic. Todd Szegedy, who entered the day just eight points behind Silk, suffered an early-race spin and made multiple pit stops before climbing back as high as second in the race. Another late-race spin resulted in a 22nd-place finish. Silk’s top 10 effort combined with Szegedy’s misfortune means that Silk will take a 57-point lead to the season finale.

1 3 36 Ted Christopher Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet 154 185 5 Running
2 8 40 Ryan Preece American Lamp Recycling/Mizzy Cst. Chevrolet 154 170 Running
3 2 11 Donny Lia Spectro Performance Oils Ford 154 165 Running
4 4 45 Eric Beers Horwith Frghtlnr/John Blewett Inc. Chevrolet 154 160 Running
5 13 98 Erick Rudolph Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet 154 160 5 Running
6 5 50 Kevin Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 154 150 Running
7 7 6 Ron Silk T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 154 146 Running
8 16 3 Matt Hirschman Cape Cod Copper/LI Mod Maniac Chevrolet 154 142 Running
9 12 52 Doug Coby Reynolds Auto Wrecking Chevrolet 154 138 Running
10 1 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology Chevrolet 154 144 10 Running
11 21 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard's Auto Stores Chevrolet 154 130 Running
12 18 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 154 127 Running
13 17 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 154 124 Running
14 24 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood/MacLad Drywall Chevrolet 154 121 Running
15 19 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 154 118 Running
16 22 8 Glenn Tyler Jayfor/Gallagher Enterprises Chevrolet 154 115 Running
17 14 9 Tom Rogers, Jr. * MissMarianaLee.com Chevrolet 154 112 Running
18 29 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Chevrolet 154 109 Running
19 26 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 154 106 Running
20 25 17 Glen Reen Silberman Heating & Cooling Chevrolet 153 103 Running
21 27 38 Glenn Griswold * Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 151 100 Running
22 15 2 Todd Szegedy Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Const. Ford 151 97 Running
23 23 07 Patrick Emerling * Emerling Chevrolet Ford 148 94 Accident
24 9 58 Eric Goodale Perimeters for the Home Chevrolet 147 91 Running
25 20 88 Bryon Chew * Buzz Chew Chevrolet/GT Vodka Chevrolet 128 88 Engine
26 11 46 Eric Berndt North End Auto Parts/Cape Cod Agts Chevrolet 105 85 Accident
27 6 4 Bobby Santos "Mystic Missile" Dodge 102 82 Rear End
28 30 22 Chuck Hossfeld Jerry Gradl Motors Chevrolet 95 79 Engine
29 28 79 Chris Kopec Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac 93 76 Brakes
30 10 16 Mike Stefanik Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Ford 66 73 Engine

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Justin Bonsignore, Time: 18.427 Seconds, Speed: 97.683 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 25 mins, 57 secs Average Speed: 53.752 mph Margin of Victory: 0.179 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 8-11 (Car #39 spin Turn 2); 18-23 (Car #38 spin Turn 2); 32-36 (Car #2 spin backstretch); 38-43 (Car #99 accident Turn 4); 46-50 (Multi-car accident Turn 4); 56-61 (Car #9 spin Turn 2 <38>); 77-81 (Car #39 spin Turn 2 <38>); 86-89 (Car #50 spin <99>); 97-104 (Multi-car accident Turn 4 <99>); 111-114 (Cars #3, 93 spin Turn 4 <51>); 120-123 (Car #93 spin Turn 2 <9>); 43-145 (Car #58 spin Turn 4 <38>); 148-152 (Multi-car accident Turn 4 [Red Flag 4 mins.]). 13 for 65 laps.
Lap Leaders: Justin Bonsignore 1-79, Erick Rudolph 80-153, Ted Christopher 154.
Total Laps Led: Justin Bonsignore 79, Erick Rudolph 74, Ted Christopher 1. 2 changes involving 3 drivers.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Gary McDonald, 26 Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Chevrolet
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Justin Bonsignore, 51 M3 Technology Chevrolet
FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Richie Pallai, Jr., 39 Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Tom Rogers, Jr. *, 9 MissMarianaLee.com Chevrolet
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE AWARD: Ted Christopher, 36 Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet

Race Story By Polly Reid

In October, Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees is the worst thing to see coming out of the bullpen at a Major League Baseball game. The veteran pitcher has 42 saves in the post season as a member of the Bronx Bombers. He's one of the best at finishing a game. 130 miles to the northeast of Yankee Stadium sits another venue that has a phenomenal closer. Stafford Motor Speedway, in Connecticut, is Yankee Stadium to Ted Christopher. The 53-year-old is a multi-time track champion and had 11 tour wins on the half-mile before Sunday's Fall Final for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Christopher is one of the best when it comes to finishing a race at Stafford
So when it came down to the ninth inning, the closing laps, at Stafford, the 36 machine with TC aboard was trying to close another dramatic chapter in the history of the Fall Final. Insert a 19-year-old Erick Rudolph from Ransomville, New York and you have your setting for a Fall Classic. Rudolph played the pit strategy just right to lead to the white flag, but Christopher, who took tires late, had run him down and had his right-front tire almost to the door of Rudolph’s No. 98 Mohawk Northeast/Original Pizza Logs machine. The two drag-raced to turn one and made contact, nearly causing both to spin. Christopher gathered it up and took the lead as Rudolph washed up the track and saw Christopher sail away like an unhittable fastball. Christopher finished the lap and took the victory in the Fall final for his 42nd career Modified Tour win, the same number of saves as Rivera and the jersey number he wears too. "He knew I had a faster car and he had to protect the track as much as he could," said Christopher in victory lane. "I had my right-front to his left-rear, we were actually touching coming off the turn (four). He was trying to protect and I was trying to win. I think the faster car won." It's the fourth time in his career that won a race at Stafford by taking the lead the lead in the final 10 laps. It was the first time in TC's career where he led only the final lap of a Tour race to win it.Rudolph was able to hang on to a top five finish after the contact in one, but was very upset with the final lap of the race. He managed to explain his side of the story and was not pleased with the outcome. "I was going into (turn) one just like I did every other time," said an emotional Rudolph after the race. "Ted just stuffed it in there and almost took us both out. I don't know. It's typical of him. He's a flat out idiot." It ruined what could have been his second-career Tour win and the best run of the season for the 98 team. Still, Rudolph was able to make a positive out of what turned into a fifth-place finish."I can't complain of how the car was handling," said Rudolph. "I am proud of the team and how we got it together and how we ran. We can take something away from this as we had a good car if we come back and run here." Then third-place runner and second-place finisher Ryan Preece had the bird's eye view for the final lap. The 2011 Stafford SK Modified Champion saw no reason to blame ether party."I almost thought I was going to win one like I lost one a couple of years back," said Preece. "Teddy got a run on Erick and I don't know if it was enough to say he was there or not, but Erick and Teddy got together and we all got sideways trying to avoid it." Donny Lia finished behind Preece on the podium with Eric Beers and Rudolph in fifth.The win was extra special for Christopher who won the previous race at Stafford only to split with his current team for a few weeks. All the pieces were put back in place with the same personal and the results were the same. "It's good to win," said Christopher. "I like coming back and knowing that we can run strong here. It was disappointing that we were third in points when we took some time off, but that's behind us.

Qualifying for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was pushed back a few hours because of the morning rain delay and while the clouds and mist threatened to shelve the thirty car field from time trials, the weather held as Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville, NY in the M3 Technology Chevrolet took down his first Coors Light pole award of the 2011 season . With a lap of 18.427 seconds, 97.683 mph, Bonsignore edged out Donny Lia, Ted Christopher, Eric Beers and Eric Goodale the top five for the front starting spot in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour CARQUEST Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway. “This morning I woke up, I was content to start sixth, lining up by points,” said Bonsignore referring to the weather. “I was shocked we actually got a chance to get in there- two weeks in a row we’ve had a pretty good window between the rain and to get everything in two weeks in a row, that’s pretty cool. Practice was less than ideal, we had some good runs then we went to do a mock run with new tires and the rain started to pick up just enough where we couldn’t get a good run. We just parked it, figured we had a good enough car, I didn’t think we’d get the pole, actually I shocked myself with this one. I thought we’d be a top five, I didn’t think we’d get the pole, it’s pretty cool, we haven’t gotten a pole all year.” “This car is pretty much going to be our ‘every week’ Tour car- it won’t be for just Bristol or Loudon anymore. The car was brand new at the beginning of this year, we ran it three times at Loudon and Bristol. Besides the one wreck at Loudon, this car hasn’t finished worse than fourth, it’s got a pretty good track record so far.” His third career pole, Bonsignore won the Fall Final pole award one year ago. “It’s really satisfying,” said Bonsignore about repeating the award. “Last year we got caught up in a wreck, none of our doing mainly because of the re-draw. They’ve done away with that so hopefully we can what I feel, unsettled from last year. I felt we had a car good enough to win, it was unfortunate we got taken out, not of anyone’s doing, it was a racing deal. We really wanted to win this one last year so hopefully we can do it this year.” “We’ve been running great lately, we’ve been putting a lot more focus on the Tour now that Riverhead is over. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for next year.” Two podium finishes in the last two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events, a third at Loudon and a third at Lime Rock Park, the 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year would be a good bet to take the CARQUEST Fall Final win for 2011.

POS CAR DRIVER TEAM TIME SPEED
1 51 Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y. M3 Technology Chevrolet 18.427 97.683
2 11 Donny Lia, Jericho, N.Y. Spectro Performance Oils Ford 18.478 97.413
3 36 Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn. Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet 18.555 97.009
4 45 Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa. Horwith Frghtlnr/John Blewett Inc. Chevrolet 18.573 96.915
5 50 Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y. Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 18.574 96.91
6 4 Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass. "Mystic Missile" Dodge 18.604 96.753
7 6 Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn. T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 18.622 96.66
8 40 Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn. American Lamp Recycling/Mizzy Cst. Chevrolet 18.634 96.598
9 58 Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y. Perimeters for the Home Chevrolet 18.649 96.52
10 16 Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I. Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Ford 18.711 96.2
11 46 Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn. North End Auto Parts/Cape Cod Agts Chevrolet 18.723 96.138
12 52 Doug Coby, Milford, Conn. Reynolds Auto Wrecking Chevrolet 18.726 96.123
13 98 Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y. Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet 18.728 96.113
14 9 Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y. * MissMarianaLee.com Chevrolet 18.736 96.072
15 2 Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn. Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Const. Ford 18.75 96
16 3 Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa. Cape Cod Copper/LI Mod Maniac Chevrolet 18.766 95.918
17 39 Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y. Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 18.773 95.882
18 93 Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa. Monk Mechanics Chevrolet 18.776 95.867
19 99 Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J. Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 18.823 95.628
20 88 Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y. * Buzz Chew Chevrolet/GT Vodka Chevrolet 18.898 95.248
21 10 Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn. Ron Bouchard's Auto Stores Chevrolet 18.904 95.218
22 8 Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y. Jayfor/Gallagher Enterprises Chevrolet 18.907 95.203
23 07 Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y. * Emerling Chevrolet Ford 18.942 95.027
24 18 Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y. Buoy One Seafood/MacLad Drywall Chevrolet 19.086 94.31
25 17 Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass. Silberman Heating & Cooling Chevrolet 19.092 94.28
26 33 Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn. Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 19.166 93.916
27 38 Glenn Griswold, Vernon, Conn. * Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 19.217 93.667
28 79 Chris Kopec, Palmer, Mass. Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac 19.334 93.1
29 26 Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y. Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Chevrolet 19.844 90.708
30 22 Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y. Jerry Gradl Motors Chevrolet No Time

Sept 24 - New Hampshire Speedway - NASCAR - 5

After timing 2nd the team had a great car and then on the pit stop Eric came in running in the top five and came out around 20th after a lug got stuck. Becasue the team gave him such a good car - Eric raced from the back to the front and was still had a chance for the win but just used up a little too much tire

By Jason Remillard, The Republican
LOUDON, N.H. - For those who have complained that the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ceased being exciting, here's a big plate of crow. Archrivals Ron Silk and Rowan Pennink - with some help from a supporting cast of competitors - put the crowd on the edge of their seats Saturday. There were 17 lead changes, with polesitter Silk earning the most important one on lap 85 to win the New Hampshire 100.
"The car was great right from the beginning," Silk said. "We got out and led some laps. We didn't make any changes at the pit stop. I was happy with the car." It's safe to say the magic is back in the "Magic Mile," especially after a string of recent domination by NASCAR Sprint Cup star Ryan Newman, who blew an engine on lap 41.
"Ryan Newman was going to have his hands full if he didn't lose the engine," said runner-up Todd Szegedy. "It wasn't going to be a runaway for anybody." Szegedy made a charge late in the race to finish second, but Silk regained the points lead (2182 to 2174) with two races remaining - next Sunday at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway and Oct. 16 at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway. Silk, of Norwalk, Conn., scored his seventh career victory, second at New Hampshire and third of the season. Justin Bonsignore finished third, his career best at NHMS. A mechanical issue on the final restart relegated Pennink, who led the points for most of the season's first half, to 22nd. "The 93 (Pennink) was really good. I think me and him probably had the two best cars," Silk said. "I'm not sure what happened on the restart, but luckily we were able to edge him out."
Ted Christopher had to start in the rear of the 29-car field after missing Thursday's qualifying session to tend to his wife, who was injured at work. In typical "TC" style, he roared his way through the field and got as high as second before settling for fourth. The race was delayed 24 minutes at lap 38 when a light mist fell on the track. A good pit stop gave Silk the lead off pit road, but he had to start behind a few cars that opted not to stop. Defending Tour champion Bobby Santos III, who also missed qualifying Thursday, led briefly before Silk surged ahead again.
Drivers made good use of their bumpers - AKA "The Chrome Horn" - to push their competitors around the Magic Mile. At times, that allowed cars to slingshot past the ones in front of them, though it just as often simply pushed the front cars further ahead. If Saturday's excitement carries over to Stafford and Thompson, the 2011 season will have a wild conclusion. "It's a lot of fun, especially doing it with a guy like Todd Szegedy," Silk said. "It's going to go right down to the wire."

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 1 6 Ron Silk T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 100 190 10 Running
2 8 2 Todd Szegedy Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Const. Ford 100 170 Running
3 3 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology Chevrolet 100 165 Running
4 29 36 Ted Christopher Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet 100 160 Running
5 2 45 Eric Beers Horwith Frghtlnr/John Blewett Inc. Chevrolet 100 160 5 Running
6 5 98 Erick Rudolph Tempo Graphics/Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet 100 150 Running
7 20 25 Zane Zeiner ATC Dodge 100 146 Running
8 12 16 Mike Stefanik Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Ford 100 142 Running
9 7 3 Matt Hirschman Cape Cod Copper/Nash Road Mtrs Chevrolet 100 138 Running
10 17 58 Eric Goodale Perimeters for the Home Chevrolet 100 134 Running
11 23 14 Ken Woolley, Jr. Ling Trucking/Atlantic Sprinkler Chevrolet 100 130 Running
12 14 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard's Autos/Roush Yates Chevrolet 100 127 Running
13 15 71 Rob Fuller Draco Spring Ford 100 124 Running
14 16 40 Ryan Preece Mizzy Const./Logan Steel Chevrolet 100 121 Running
15 19 8 Glenn Tyler Jayfor Chevrolet 100 118 Running
16 11 52 Doug Coby Reynolds Auto Wrkng/NEAJS.com Chevrolet 100 115 Running
17 10 7 Patrick Emerling * Emerling Chevrolet Ford 100 112 Running
18 28 4 Bobby Santos "Mystic Missile" Dodge 100 114 5 Running
19 25 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood/MacLad Drywall Chevrolet 100 106 Running
20 21 88 Bryon Chew * Buzz Chew Chevrolet/GT Vodka Chevrolet 100 103 Running
21 24 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 100 100 Running
22 6 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 99 102 5 Running
23 18 46 Eric Berndt Cape Cod Agts/North End Auto Parts Chevrolet 96 94 Running
24 26 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 81 91 Axle
25 22 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 65 88 Accident
26 13 79 James Civali Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac 65 85 Accident
27 9 28 Woody Pitkat Ramar-Hall Chevrolet 57 87 5 Engine
28 4 77 Ryan Newman Aggressive Hydraulics/Menards Chevrolet 40 79 Engine
29 27 38 Jake Marosz Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 18 76 Handling

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Ron Silk, Time: 29.764 Seconds, Speed: 127.967 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 13 mins, 0 secs Average Speed: 86.959 mph Margin of Victory: 0.374 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 37-46 (Rain [Red Flag 24 mins.] <16>); 62-65 (Car #28 stalled pit road entrance <16>); 66-71 (Multi-car accident frontstretch <88>); 94-98 (Car #40 spin backstretch <52>). 4 for 25 laps.
Lap Leaders: Ron Silk 1-6, Eric Beers 7, Ron Silk 8-9, Rowan Pennink 10, Ron Silk 11-13, Rowan Pennink 14-15, Ron Silk 16-18, Rowan Pennink 19-20, Ron Silk 21-22, Rowan Pennink 23-30, Ron Silk 31-33, Rowan Pennink 34-43, Woody Pitkat 44-47, Bobby Santos 48, Woody Pitkat 49-51, Ron Silk 52-82, Rowan Pennink 83-84, Ron Silk 85-100.
Total Laps Led: Ron Silk 66, Rowan Pennink 25, Woody Pitkat 7, Eric Beers 1, Bobby Santos 1. 17 changes involving 5 drivers.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Ted Christopher, 36 Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Ron Silk, 6 T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet
FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Ron Silk, 6 T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Patrick Emerling *, 07 Emerling Chevrolet Ford
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE AWARD: Ron Silk, 6 T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet

Sept 22 - New Hampshire Speedway - NASCAR - Time 2

Ron Silk, looking to get his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points lead back, will start on the point for Saturday's New Hampshire 100 after winning the Coors Light Pole Award Thursday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Silk had a top lap of 29.764 seconds (127.967 mph) around the 1.058-mile oval. It was the fifth career pole for the Norwalk, Conn., driver, who won at the ‘Magic Mile’ in 2009. The New Hampshire 100 will be carried by SPEED Saturday at 1 p.m., prior to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Silk finished 15th at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., last week to drop 12 points behind Todd Szegedy in the championship standings. Szegedy, who won at Lime Rock and earlier this season at New Hampshire, qualified eighth Thursday. Eric Beers, who was fastest in Thursday’s practice, qualified second with a lap of 29.793 (127.842), followed by Justin Bonsignore at 29.799 (127.816). NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman, the defending race winner, and Erick Rudolph rounded out the top five. Rowan Pennink, Matt Hirschman, Szegedy, Woody Pitkat and rookie Patrick Emerling completed the top 10. The New Hampshire 100 is set to go green Saturday at 12:45 p.m.

Qualifying Results
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour - New Hampshire 100 Lineup
Race Saturday; Qualifying Thursday
at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
Lap Length: 1.058 miles
1. (6) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 127.967
2. (45) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 127.842
3. (51) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 127.816
4. (77) Ryan Newman, South Bend, Ind., Chevrolet, 127.419
5. (98) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 126.977
6. (93) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 126.952
7. (3) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 126.842
8. (2) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 126.812
9. (28) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 126.795
10. (07) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 126.728
11. (52) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 126.686
12. (16) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Ford, 126.643
13. (79) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 126.576
14. (10) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 126.559
15. (71) Rob Fuller, Boylston, Mass., Ford, 126.412
16. (40) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Chevrolet, 126.061
17. (58) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.969
18. (46) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.815
19. (8) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.645
20. (25) Zane Zeiner, Bath, Pa., Dodge, 125.628
21. (88) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.006
22. (39) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 124.940
23. (14) Ken Woolley, Jr., Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 124.609
24. (99) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 123.115
25. (18) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 122.497
26. (33) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 122.462
27. (38) Jake Marosz, Middletown, Conn., Chevrolet, 117.963
28. (4) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, No speed
29. (36) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, No speed

Sept 17 - Lime Rock - NASCAR - 8

NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR
'66/99' PRESENTED BY TOWN FAIR TIRE

by Polly Reid
The expectation was there, the guarantee was not. After earning the Coors Light Pole Award, then dominating two thirds of the race, Todd Szegedy found himself fourth on a restart after pitting. On the final restart with seven to go, Szegedy now in third, headed to turn one, first getting by Justin Bonsignore then side my side Mike Stefanik past the start finish line heading into Big Bend emerging the leader for the final time and never looked back to score the win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified 66/99 presented by Town Fair Tire at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT. Stefanik crossed for a solid second on the 1.5 mile, eight turn road course with Bonsignore third, Richie Pallai fourth and Ted Christopher fifth. Ron Silk the point leader going into Lime Rock was caught up in a caution on a restart and suffering right front damage, was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. The TS Haulers crew was able to get Silk back out but the Norwalk, CT driver who threatened for the lead in the early going finished his day 15th. Szegedy’s win combined with Silk’s finish launched the Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Construction Ford into the points lead by 12 over Silk. “I never once thought we had this in the bag,” stated Szegedy. “I know we had a superior car but I had to start fourth then start third, I knew we had to get a good restart and get past these guys because I didn’t know how good the guys were behind me. You never know what you’re going to do in that kind of a situation because you’re not used to sailing into a corner and have to downshift twice and be in control while you’re braking because that just doesn’t happen in ovals. Mike gave me plenty of room, I had my downshifting down and then just drove away. The car was awesome. We made it, it was pretty amazing.”; Szegedy was challenged early on by Silk and Erick Rudolph - the trio pulling away from the pack but as the laps ticked on, Szegedy built a comfortable lead until the competition yellow waved on lap 20. A tangle mid-pack on the restart reined in the field as the three cars involved were able to drive away. By the half, lap 33, Szegedy in command led Rudolph, Silk, Stefanik, Bonsignore and Pallai in sixth. Ted Christopher who was running fourth, had spun coming down hill just before the half, but recovered to get back into the top ten shortly after the half way point.
The game changer came when the a full course caution flew on lap 41. With 25 to go, it was wholesale pit stops. Ed Flemke and Doug Coby stayed out and led the field while Stefanik coming in third gained valuable positions coming out of the pits first after a four tire change, Szegedy and Bonsignore followed. On the restart, what started in Big Bend concluded in the Left Hander, as at least eight cars were involved in the yellow that flew including Silk who pulled away with right front damage. The restart repeated, Coby took over the front spot on lap 52, but two circuits later, the day would end for Coby after getting into the dirt heading to the Downhill. As Stefanik got by, Bonsignore had the front row seat to the conclusion of Coby’s day. “He crossed in front of me, it didn’t look like he hit all that hard but coming back around, he hit a lot. I guess he tried to bring it back out of the dirt too quick he probably should have rode it down the hill as much as he could - sometimes in road racing, I know I haven’t done it much, but you have to ride the dirt out until you can get the car back straight. He just didn’t have the right angle like Mike said and he didn’t have a prayer of saving it, I don’t think the best could have.”;
The red flag was brought out for the clean up and when the green waved it was a seven lap dash that did not disappoint the fans. Stefanik led to the green with Bonsignore, Szegedy, Pallai and Flemke the top five. Christopher recovered from his earlier off track excursion and restarted 12th. Szegedy made his move to become the new leader on lap 61 getting by first Bonsignore then Stefanik, the Ridgefield, CT driver finishing what he started a year ago- a trip to victory lane at Lime Rock Park. “I almost blew it today,” admitted Szegedy. “The combination of the car wouldn’t turn, driving it in hard, just as hard with the other set of tires and it just didn’t stick, it did it twice - it got dicey and at that point I said I really have to use my head here, I got a good car, I got to take it easy and just pass them when I can and that’s what I did. Trust me, even when I was leading for once I never thought I had this one in the bag- I know how it works.”; Referring to the results one year ago when Szegedy literally dominated the entire event only to be bested by Dale Quarterly with new tires in the closing circuits, Szegedy never counted out his competitors. “I knew Silk was going to be tough- he came out of road racing go karts like I did so I knew that he was going to be good and those guys know how to set up a race car. I was also worried about Teddy of course, Stefanik and Justin- Justin came out of go karts too so I knew those were the guys I had to beat. But today, I didn’t points race, I came here to win- I came here to get the pole and win. I was going to do everything I could to get this win.”; Stefanik in the Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises machine simply could not hold off Szegedy as the Coventry, RI driver put it, we’re all in ‘Todd’s sandbox’. “He was just too strong on the front stretch for us - we were decent through out. Our car took a while to get going, it seemed like 8 or 10 laps the we would run our best lap - I think lap 14 was our best lap of the race today, I don’t know why and talking to Justin he said his car was sliding around, it just wouldn’t hook up, it’s not that it was ill handling it just slid a lot. I had a lot of fun today - I almost messed up down there and down shifted too early in second and almost spun the thing out that was the only real bad, bad error -I probably made another 2000 errors I could hide….somewhat. It’s just a game of mistakes here.”; Stefanik continued, “The guys did a great job on the pit stop, I have to thank our team again for the outstanding pit work that they do - it’s a little tougher on the guys here because of the wheel spaces we have to run to get our cars prepared for the road course so it makes it a little more tricky but they did an outstanding job.”; In the hunt all weekend from opening practice to the checkers, Bonsignore from Holtsville, NY in the M3 Technology modified summed up his day. “After pitting, we kind of got jammed up in the short chute after Big Ben and I already have a broken thumb and I jammed it again, I got into Mike a little bit and re-injured that - once the adrenaline kicked back in it didn’t hurt and we got the restart, got a couple of free spots, Teddy drove off, Doug wrecked- Todd, I don’t know where Todd was going into one he messed up off of the last corner, we went down the front stretch and he drove it probably three markers deeper than I would of and I said I’m not going to make I don’t know how he’s going to make the corner, then we got to second and I’m feeling good ready to go thought we had a good chance at Mike and the red flag killed it. Just like Mike’s car we just took too long to get going, we needed 10 to 12 laps -right there at the end we were clicking off some low 54’s - I thought we had a chance. All in all, it was just a great day.”; “When I was younger, this was all I raced was road courses,” said Bonsignore about his kart days. “Never in anything I had to shift or anything with this much horse power but driving these kind of tracks, staying smooth you have to have a lot of finesse - the more you can minimize the mistakes - that’s all it is, just stay on the track. I mean Teddy probably had one of the better cars but if you don’t stay on the track it’s tough. That’s the name of the game like Mike said you can hide a lot of your mistakes but sometimes you mess up bad. It’s all abut minimizing your mistakes as much as you can and just staying on the course.”; Three wins for Szegedy this season, car owner Mike Smeriglio has witnessed his team grow and gel as the season continues. “I’m happy for the guys, Szegedy earned this one the hard way. He kept his cool, he had a better car, the team did an awesome pit stop - you know we have a bunch of guys that are newbie’s going over the wall - I couldn‘t be more proud of them.”; The new points leader, Smeriglio did not hesitate to explain their strategy, “It’s pretty simple, just keep digging, run well, go for wins and the points will come around. We’re disappointed the 6 car couldn’t race us in the end today but there’s three races to go, I know they’re going to be right there with us all the way to the end.”; A road course it particularly stressful on a team, squeezing in the extra preparation needed in the midst of a diverse schedule that is also the busiest part of the season- Lime Rock marking the fourth of six consecutive events. Crew chief Phil Moran reunited with Szegedy this year knew what was at stake. “Todd’s so good here as a road racer and after last year, loosing the race, he got beat by strategy and tires, we weren’t going to let that happen to us this year. I wanted to give him a good car. I know he had one last year so we worked out butt off to get it that way this time.”; From his perspective, Moran continued. “When we did the fuel stop, I talked to Todd about how the car felt and he said the car was awesome. That was about 15 to 20 laps away from our pitting for tires. It did enter my mind about not pitting but it would have ticked him off so much if I didn’t pit because that’s all we talked about in the shop all week, we had to do it, we had no choice. I knew everybody else was on the same page, in the same strategy zone that we were in because they saw what it did for Quarterly last year, we had to do it.”; But it didn’t make for an easy watch in the final going. “The biggest thing that I did with the car this week” explained Moran, “was to make sure nothing broke on it because road courses are 80 percent driver and the rest is car preparation as far as anything breaking, nothing falling off the car so that’s what we had to do. Todd’s so good here- he knows where to pass and how to pass, that’s what did it for us.”; “The team that we have is incredible, the guys come to the shop all the time, I’ve got a great group of guys and I couldn’t ask for a better car owner. Mike gives me everything that I need and then some- including moral support which is a big thing at this level of racing- you don’t see that much anymore.”;
Informed he was the new points leader in the post race interview, Szegedy was surprised. “That’s a big deal but they’re hot on our heals- we have three to go and I said two races to ago, we’re right there, but we have four left, I can get into the points lead in one race but I can loose it back in one race too. We can’t change anything we’re doing, I just have to continue to keep going. The way I look at it is if we win the championship that’s a pretty awesome thing especially coming from the back the way we did, starting off real bad getting wrecked in the first two races like we did. If we finish second it’s still a great year because we put a new team together, reunited with my crew chief, we did a lot, built two race cars, we have a third one we’re building, we have a group of dedicated guys - almost all new guys on the team so it’s pretty amazing for us to be running the way we are.”;
Szegedy at 2,004 points, Silk with 1,992 and Rowan Pennink still in it with 1,911- the season maybe winding down but it is far from over. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the third and final visit of the year for the New Hampshire 100 on Saturday September 24th.

LAKEVILLE, Conn. - Todd Szegedy battled back after losing the lead during on a pit stop and then making an off-track excursion to win the NASCAR Whelen Modified 66/99 presented by Town Fair Tire at Lime Rock Park on Saturday. It was a sweet win for the Ridgefield, Conn., driver - who led all but the last four laps before being relegated to second in last year's inaugural tour visit to the 1.5-mile, eight-turn road course. With his victory on Saturday, he took over the lead in the championship standings. Szegedy, who had experience at LRP in other racing series prior to his NASCAR career, dominated the early action on Saturday. He started from the pole in his No. 2 Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Construction Ford and opened up a lead of more than two seconds early. However, he fell to fourth following a pit stop during a caution on Lap 44. He later went off course, but quickly recovered and set out after the leaders. After moving up to second on Lap 60, Szegedy took the lead from Mike Stefanik a lap later and then pulled away from the field to win by a margin of 1.796 seconds. Stefanik finished second followed by Justin Bonsignore, Richie Pallai, and Ted Christopher. Rowan Pennink, Erick Rudolph, Eric Beers, Kevin Goodale and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top 10. Previous race winner Doug Coby looked poised to go back-to-back but wrecked while in the lead on Lap 55 and finished 18th. The race featured seven lead changes among five drivers. Szegedy led a race-high 49 circuits. The win was Szegedy's 17th career victory and the third this season for the 2003 tour champion. Three wins and podium finishes in six of the last eight events have propelled him to the top of the standings, with 2,004 points over 1,992 for Ron Silk, who finished 15th on Saturday. The Lime Rock race marked the fourth of six-consecutive weeks of racing for the Whelen Modified Tour. The busiest portion of the 2011 schedule started at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Aug. 24 and will get a break following Stafford (Conn,) Motor Speedway on Oct. 2, a stretch of six races in 40 days.
The next event on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is the New Hampshire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 24.

1 1 2 Todd Szegedy Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Const. Ford 66 190 10 Running
2 5 16 Mike Stefanik Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Ford 66 175 5 Running
3 4 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology Chevrolet 66 165 Running
4 7 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 66 160 Running
5 9 36 Ted Christopher Al-Lee Installations/M&T Enterprises Chevrolet 66 155 Running
6 8 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 66 150 Running
7 3 98 Erick Rudolph Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet 66 146 Running
8 17 45 Eric Beers Horwith Frghtlnr/John Blewett Inc. Chevrolet 66 142 Running
9 12 50 Kevin Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 66 138 Running
10 11 07 Patrick Emerling * Emerling Chevrolet Ford 66 134 Running
11 16 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard's Auto Stores Chevrolet 66 135 5 Running
12 15 3 Matt Hirschman Cape Cod Copper/Riverview Chevrolet 66 127 Running
13 18 46 Eric Berndt Cape Cod Agts/North End Auto Parts Chevrolet 66 124 Running
14 19 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 66 126 5 Running
15 2 6 Ron Silk T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 65 118 Running
16 20 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 63 115 Running
17 6 4 Bobby Santos "Mystic Missile" Dodge 61 112 Running
18 14 52 Doug Coby Reynolds Auto Wrkg/Johnson Ldscp Chevrolet 54 114 5 Accident
19 13 58 Eric Goodale Perimeters for the Home Chevrolet 50 106 Running
20 10 79 James Civali Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac 46 103 Accident
21 21 88 Bryon Chew * Buzz Chew Chevrolet/GT Vodka Chevrolet 3 100 Transmission

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Todd Szegedy, Time: 53.902 Seconds, Speed: 100.182 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 27 mins, 22 secs Average Speed: 67.989 mph Margin of Victory: 1.796 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 20-21 (Competition caution); 23-26 (Car #58 off course Turn 3); 42-45 (Car #58 off course Turn 8); 47-51 (Mult-car accident Turn 3); 55-58 (Car #52 accident Turn 7 [Red Flag 7 mins.]). 5 for 19 laps.
Lap Leaders: Todd Szegedy 1-43, Jamie Tomaino 44, Ed Flemke, Jr. 45-46, Doug Coby 47, Ed Flemke, Jr. 48-51, Doug Coby 52-54, Mike Stefanik 55-60, Todd Szegedy 61-66.
Total Laps Led: Todd Szegedy 49, Mike Stefanik 6, Ed Flemke, Jr. 6, Doug Coby 4, Jamie Tomaino 1. 7 changes involving 5 drivers.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Eric Beers, 45 Horwith Frghtlnr/John Blewett Inc. Chevrolet
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Todd Szegedy, 2 Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Const. Ford
FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Erick Rudolph, 98 Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Patrick Emerling *, 07 Emerling Chevrolet Ford
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE AWARD: Todd Szegedy, 2 Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Const.

ALISBURY - NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Ted Christopher turned road course racing into dirt track racing Saturday at Lime Rock Park in Salisbury. Christopher put together a most dramatic highlight reel of off course adventures on the way to a fifth place finish in Saturday's Whelen Modified 66/99 at Lime Rock. On lap 30, running in the top-five, Christopher did an off course 360 degree spin coming onto the front straightaway, seemingly never slowing as he rumbled back onto the track at speed in 12th place. Not long after he got fully sideways going into the chicane before powering out of the slide.But the most dramatic move of the day for Christopher came on lap 54 when he was running third behind leader Doug Coby and second place Todd Szegedy. Going into the Big Bend first turn, Szegedy went low to go under Coby, but before entering the corner, Christopher went under Szegedy to send the trio three-wide into the corner. Christopher's move ended with him rolling hard off course once again. Christopher said Szegedy hit him off course. "I can't control when somebody punts me," Christopher said. "But there's still a bunch of races left." Szegedy, the eventual race winner, laughed at the notion that he punted Christopher."I don't know how I could have done that being on the outside," Szegedy said. "We banged wheels, but he went straight. He probably shouldn't have done that. If he was that much better than me he could have waited until the next lap. But it worked out for the best." Eventual second place finisher Mike Stefanik said he was laughing in his car watching from behind as Christopher tried to complete the pass. "I actually started laughing when I saw how hard Teddy went into the corner with no angle," Stefanik said. "I was like 'This ought to be good.' You really sit back and kind of chuckle to yourself like you're at the movies. Obviously Teddy couldn't turn and kind of locked up the front tires and went off into the dirt. You're not surprised, you just kind of chuckle a little bit. This really is a game of mistakes and Teddy drives so freaking hard all the time that, it's impossible for even road course veterans to not make a mistake here, and when you're charging like that - he went off a few times right around me - and every time you could see him leaving the track. I don't wish that on anybody, but sometimes you see the situation and you just say, 'Ok, this ought to be good.'"

Good Day Gone Bad
Doug Coby saw an almost guaranteed quality finish end up crunched against a Lime Rock Park barrier off of West Bend after he got off course while leading with 11 laps remaining. "I got the left sides off in the dirt over there and I tried to straighten it out and I thought I did and then the thing just hooked to the right and I just hit the fence head-on up there," Coby said. "It was just one of those things where we were all kind of getting crazy. I was just trying to settle in and I just missed the corner over there and just barely dipped the left sides off by maybe six inches. "It was so stupid. All I had to do was ride around and get top-five out of the deal. We actually had a really fast car. I had a car that could run with [the leaders]. It sucks. Just my own stupidity and inexperience." Coby, who won the in the most previous Whelen Modified Tour event last Sunday at Thompson International Speedway, ended up 18th in the 21-car field. Stefanik and third place finisher Justin Bonsignore both had front row views of Coby's hard wreck. Stefanik said Coby likely reacted to quickly to try to get back on track instead of trying to ride out the miscue on the grass. "He was leading right in front of me and he kind of took a wide entry into West Bend and I said to myself 'Oh, I can't go in that wide.'" Stefanik said. "Your natural instinct is to get back on the track and get going but you've got to look like 'Ok, I screwed up. Ok, that's me.' You've got to mow some lawn before you get back on the track." Said Bonsignore: "I guess he tried bringing it out of the dirt too quick. He probably should have just rode it down the hill as much as he could. Sometimes in road racing you've got to ride the dirt out until you get the car back straight. He just didn't have the right angle. He really didn't have a prayer of saving that."-

NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR
'66/99' PRESENTED BY TOWN FAIR TIRE QUALIFYING
by Polly Reid
After topping the charts in both NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour “66/99” presented by Town Fair Tire practice sessions here at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT, Todd Szegedy in the Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Construction Ford followed up his time around the 1.5 mile road course with a 53.902 second lap, 100.182 mph to score the Coors Light Pole Award, his second pole award of the season. “It’s always nice to be the quickest car,” smiled Szegedy. “That’s half the battle that’s over with. Start up front and hopefully we’ll stay out of trouble.”
Following Szegedy in the line up will be points leader Ron Silk in second, Erick Rudolph third, Justin Bonsignore and Mike Stefanik the top five. Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT was aware he would be closely watched. “I know a lot of people expect me to get the pole but that puts a lot of pressure on you because now you really want to do well. The track is a lot different than last year, there was a lot of nose grip and this year it’s very tight, you know we’re a second off from last year.” “Mike Smeriglio gives me phenomenal equipment- Phil Moran, the countless hours he spends on these cars is just absolutely phenomenal. He spent all last Monday night, he was in the shop all night long, he slept there to make sure this car was perfect for me. He felt a lot of pressure too to make sure it was right.” “I still haven’t figured out the tricks,” said Szegedy about adjusting to a road course, even with his past experience. “I know I can pick up another second or more, as crazy as it sounds, but I really believe I can just by driving the corners better. I feel I’m messing up in some corners that I could carry more speed, I’m not going to say which corners, but I feel I can carry a lot more speed and that’s going to pick up a lot more time. I need to figure out my entry, back to the throttle - not running a road course on a regular basis, you have to figure it all out again.” Szegedy who led the inaugural event one year ago, dominated until the closing circuits when Dale Quarterly on fresh Hoosiers made the pass for the win. “We do know that tires make a big difference and there will be a tire change tomorrow- it’s just a matter of when, we’re not sure.” “To me, it’s a challenge,” added Szegedy about the road course on the NWMT schedule.” “I wish I could come here every weekend and run. If I was a multi-millionaire there is no doubt I would be here.”

Sept 11 - Thompson Speedway - NASCAR - RACE 17 - SHOWDOWN- No Race

Eric said the car was awesome in Practice but as soon as they put on the "junk tires" that they had to run in the race it was over - terrible in time - then during the race you couldnt change tires and whenever you tried to pass you couldnt - it was the most borig race ever at Thompson - spread out single line no passing

UNOH SHOWDOWN - THOMPSON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
by Polly Reid

It was all about the cash at the end of the line. No points, 50 green flag laps of racing with the pot at the end of the run a cool $15,000 to the winner. A combined race of the top finishers in both the Northern Thompson 125 and the Southern Thompson 125, the UNOH Showdown lined up with the best of both, a 36-car field ready to duel it out for the impressive payday. It started with an old fashioned coin toss, the Southern Modified Tour winning the flip, electing to start on the outside row. With the Northern field lined up on the inside led by Doug Coby and the Southern field on the outside with Southern Thompson 125 winner George Brunnhoelzl, III setting the pace. But at the checkers it was Coby backing up his dominating Northern Thompson 125 victory with an equally impressive performance in the highly anticipated UNOH Showdown taking the UNOH Showdown title and including the sponsored laps led, raising Coby’s total winnings to an unofficial $20,000 plus payday for the once struggling to get a full time Tour ride driver. Ted Christopher followed across for second, James Civali third, Brunnhoelzl III fourth and Eric Goodale fifth. “Anyone who doubted that 125 was boring and I had it easy, I think we proved we had the car to beat tonight with all those cautions. I hope we put on a good show for all the fans. I want to thank UNOH and Whelen for putting on this show and of course Thompson Speedway, this is a great way to start September. The car was unbelievable, I’ve never had a car like this at any race track.” Coby stepped out to lead from the green but was soon challenged by Ted Christopher who moved into second before the fifth circuit had clicked off. Carrying the momentum, Christopher wasted no time going low in turns three and four getting under Coby for the lead on the 7th lap taking Preece and Civali with him. Coby was shuffled back to fourth when the second caution waved on lap nine. The restarts at this point played into Coby’s favor and one circuit into the restart was side by side with Christopher and eventually completed the pass taking the lead over for good on lap 13. Coby survived six more restarts, warded off the challenges of Ryan Preece, Civali then Christopher to take the checker flag for his second win of the day. “I’ve never had a car like that before, ever, it was awesome. Sure there were some bobbles here and there but I could go anywhere I wanted to- our team deserves it. This is just unbelievable.”
“The guys gave me a good car there,” said Christopher. “Just not quite good enough. Congratulations to Doug, they had a great car here all day. Once you get it right here it seems like your day keeps going, he probably wishes he had a few more races today.” Civali backed up his podium finish earlier in the day with a solid third, the Meriden, CT driver pleased with his day at Thompson. “We had a couple of good races today- the car was good we just snugged up just a little bit for this race and try to drive it harder. The first race we were saving a lot so we wanted to go hard and have something at the end but it got too tight, it never freed up for us at the end there we couldn’t hold off Teddy it was so tight, it was that close.” Sixth went to Bobby Santos who took the green 27th, seventh to front running contender Preece who was shuffled back and ran out of time. “That was a heartbreaker,” said Preece. ‘You know, if we went green all the way I think I would have had something for him. Our car was definitely starting to come in more and more, we were really fast but then the cautions came out and it seemed like we’d be on the bottom for the restarts, we’d get into fourth, we’d pick up a position to get back to Doug, the caution would come back out and we’d be right back at the bottom.” Eighth was Mike Stefanik who picked his way forward from a 32nd starting spot, ninth to Justin Bonsignore and Ed Flemke a solid tenth after taking the green 21st.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour - NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour -
UNOH Showdown Unofficial Results (Exhibition)
Sunday At Thompson International Speedway

1. Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 50 laps,
2. Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 50.
3. James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 50.
4. George Brunnhoelzl, III, W. Babylon, N.Y., Chevrolet, 50.
5. Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 50.
6. Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 50.
7. Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Chevrolet, 50.
8. Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Ford, 50.
9. Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 50.
10. Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 50.
11. Donny Lia, Jericho, N.Y., Ford, 50.
12. Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 50.
13. Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 50.
14. L.W. Miller, Dushore, Pa., Chevrolet, 50.
15. Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y., Chevrolet, 50.
16. Frank Fleming, Mt. Airy, N.C., Ford, 50.
17. Rob Fuller, Boylston, Mass., Ford, 50.
18. Tim Brown, Cana, Va., Chevrolet, 50.
19. Gary Putnam, Concord, N.C., Chevrolet, 50.
20. Burt Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 50.
21. Thomas Stinson, Chester, Va., Chevrolet, 50.
22. Austin Pack, Winston-Salem, N.C., Chevrolet, 50.
23. Jason Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 50.
24. Richard Savary, Canton, Mass., Chevrolet, 50.
25. Steve Park, East Northport, N.Y., Chevrolet, 50.
26. John Smith, Mount Airy, N.C., Chevrolet, 50.
27. Renee Dupuis, Glastonbury, Conn., Chevrolet, 50.
28. Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 43, accident.
29. Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 37, suspension.
30. Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 35.
31. Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 34.
32. Jeff Malave, South Windsor, Conn., Chevrolet, 28.
33. Greg Butcher, Mocksville, N.C., Chevrolet, 15, shifter.
34. Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 12, engine.
35. Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 6, mechanical.
36. Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 3, axle.

Time of Race: 0 hours 45 minutes 16 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.994 seconds
Laps Led: Doug Coby 46, Ted Christopher 4
Caution Flags: 8
Lead Changes: 2 among 2 drivers

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NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR UNOH NORTHERN THOMPSON 125
by Polly Reid

Doug Coby can check one more thing off his list of things to accomplish in his racing career. The Milford, CT driver cruised to his second career victory in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Northern Thompson 125, his first win at Thompson International Speedway. James Civali crossed for second, pole winner Ryan Preece third, Ted Christopher and Todd Szegedy the top five. “This thing is stout at this race track,” said Coby. “You know we lost one here at the World Series, if any one was here you know we definitely had that one wrapped up. It’s been a dream of mine to make that right hand turn into victory lane. This is my first victory at Thompson in any division here. These guys with the 52 team, what an awesome car for this track. I want to thank Johnson’s Landscaping and Harvey from Reynolds Auto Wrecking, he makes this all happen for me. He believed in me last year and said he wanted to get me in a full time Tour ride and get you out there running every week. Without him, I wouldn’t be here, so Harvey and Kim, this one’s for you.” Pole winner Ryan Preece led the 25 car field to green with Coby tucking in for second, the pair pulling away from the pack. “I think Ryan and I were sizing each other up early on and for a while we broke away,” said Coby. By lap 25, it was Preece, Coby, Christopher, Eric Goodale and Erik Rudolph the top five. Four circuits later Coby made what turned out to be the winning pass- Coby moving low under Preece to take the lead on lap 29. Once out front, Coby put some distance from the field until the first caution on lap 59 waved- Eric Berndt into the turn one and two outside wall. On the restart, it was Coby lining up next to Preece, Christopher, Civali, Eric Goodale, Tom Rogers, Szegedy, Matt Hirschman, Ed Flemke and Bobby Santos the top ten. Going green, the field was quickly reined in to do it all again with a three car tangle in turn two- while all drove away, it was the end of the day for Buzz Chew. Just past half way on what became the final restart of the event, it was here that Civali was able to make his move into second place, a sudden threat for Coby. “The restart was big,” said Civali. “We got from second to fourth, the car was really good on the restart. Doug was a little bit off from what I was on the restart, I had a little shot at him there but then my car backed off a little bit and Doug’s got better, we really couldn’t do anything with him.” The field quickly became single file and while there was certainly passing going on, it was not for the lead. Coby was able to stretch away from Civali and while heavy lap traffic slowed the leader in the closing circuits, Coby’s lead appeared to not diminish as the Reynolds Auto Wrecking Chevrolet crossed the stripe for the victory. “You got to have something get away before you get something, at least in my racing career. Some guys like Ted seem to knock them off left and right but he’s also 18, 20 years older than me so I’m sure the next 18 years or so I’ll have a shot at winning more races.” Coby paused before continuing, “The stars were aligned today. We just had a really good car.”; “The whole weekend was good,” said John McKenna, crew chief for winning car owner Wayne Darling. “We’re ecstatic, especially at this place. We have a lot of young guys on the team that are enthusiastic. We’re going to try harder, keep it going. This is a tough series to win in, this is great.” “This is huge,” said Civali about finishing a strong second, another sign that the season for the Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac is taking an turn in the right direction. “Our only podium finish this year. We ran well in Canada and Bristol, we’ve made some changes in the car and it seems to be paying off. We just cracked the top ten in points after Canada and this is another good points run for us here - we’d like to get into the top five in points before the end of the season, we know it’ll be tough.” “I had a good car but it was Doug’s race to win,” explained Preece, “I was saving myself as much as I could, he just had a little more than I did. My car started to get a little free in the center but it was still pretty good where I could still roll and pick up the throttle and have good bite off. I was happy to finish third.” “Thompson is everybody’s favorite track,” continued Coby. “I mean it’s not Loudon but it’s everybody’s favorite track - it’s the track I have the most career starts on besides Stafford and to have come close so many times and finally get it, it does mean a lot. It means a lot for it to happen on 9-11. I didn’t say that in victory lane but that is of course something everyone is thinking about, everything our country has been through. 10 years later we’re still living the American Dream but we’re all thinking about the men and women that serve our country, that protect us.”; Points leader Ron Silk closed out the Northern Thompson 125 with a solid top ten finish crossing the line 9th. Todd Szegedy continues to make strides forward, his fifth place finish adding valuable points, the gap now at sixty points with Silk at 1874, Szegedy 1814. Rowan Pennink who finished 8th stands third in points at 1761.

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Doug Coby put together an unforgettable Sunday drive at Thompson International Speedway.
The Milford, Conn., driver collected his second career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win in the Northern Thompson 150 and then backed it up by winning the non-points UNOH Showdown in a matchup of the NASCAR Whelen Modified and Whelen Southern Modified tours. Ted Christopher and James Civali finished second and third, respectively, in the UNOH Showdown. The 50-lap "dash for cash" matched the top finishers from the two 125-lap events earlier in the day. George Brunnhoelzl III, who won the Southern Thompson 125, earlier in the day, finished fourth in the showdown. By virtue of their wins, Brunnhoelzl and Coby started on the front row for the showdown. Coby took the lead on Lap 1 and never looked back. Eric Goodale was fifth, followed by Bobby Santos, Ryan Preece, Mike Stefanik, Justin Bosignore and Eddie Flemke. Coby also dominated the Northern Modified 125. He was followed across the line by James Civali, Ryan Preece, Ted Christopher and Todd Szegedy. Coby's other career win was at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway on April 30, 2006. Tom Rogers Jr. was sixth, followed by Eric Goodale, Rowan Pennink, points leader Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore. Brunnhoelzl took advantage of a late penalty to Steve Masse to grab the win in the Southern Thompson 125. Masse, making his NASCAR touring series debut, took the lead on Lap 47 of the Southern Thompson 125 from two-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Donny Lia. However, on a Lap 119 restart, Masse was posted for jumping the restart. That handed the lead to Brunnhoelzl, who cruised to his third win of the season. Burt Myers was second and Tim Brown third. Andy Seuss, Steve Park, Frank Fleming, Timmy Solomito, Lia, Thomas Stinson and Austin Pack rounded out the top 10. Masse, who did not heed the black flag, was scored with a 14th-place finish. Brunnhoelzl leads Seuss by 134 points and John Smith by 162 with four races remaining. Both tours are back on track Saturday, Sept. 17 as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has the Town Fair Tire 100 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., and the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour is at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Northern Thompson 125
Unofficial Results
Sunday At Thompson International Speedway

1. (2) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 125 laps, 99.769 mph.
2. (8) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 125.
3. (1) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
4. (6) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
5. (9) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 125.
6. (10) Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
7. (4) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
8. (16) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 125.
9. (5) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
10. (23) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
11. (19) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
12. (17) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 125.
13. (13) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 125.
14. (20) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
15. (14) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 125.
16. (25) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 125.
17. (12) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 124.
18. (7) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 124.
19. (11) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Ford, 124.
20. (15) Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 122.
21. (24) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 122.
22. (22) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 76, engine.
23. (21) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 65, mechanical.
24. (18) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 58, accident.

Time of Race: 0 hours 46 minutes 59 seconds
Margin of Victory: 2.087 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: R.Preece (119.879 mph, 18.769 seconds)
Caution Flags: 2 for 10 laps.
Lead Changes: 3 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Preece 1-19; D. Coby 20; R. Preece 21-28; D. Coby 29-125.

Standings: 1. R. Silk, 1874; 2. T. Szegedy, 1814; 3. R. Pennink, 1761; 4. D. Coby, 1719; 5. E. Beers, 1701; 6. B. Santos, 1655; 7. M. Hirschman, 1591; 8. J. Civali, 1571; 9. J. Bonsignore, 1562; 10. E. Goodale, 1490.

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THOMPSON —
Doug Coby remembers sitting atop the hill near the Little T Quarter Midget track aside Thompson Speedway, watching the big races down below. “We used to sit on the clubhouse hill, watching the weekly shows and Tour shows, whatever, and my dad used to make me sit up there with a stopwatch, making me realize that the guy in 13th may be going as fast as the leader, but when (the leader’s) running smooth, he’s not going to get caught,” Coby said. That was 24 years ago, but it’s a lesson he didn’t forget. Coby ran smooth Sunday and nobody caught him in either the Whelen Northern Modified 125-lap Tour race or the big-money, 50-lap Whelen Northern and Southern Division event that concluded the first UNOH Showdown at Thompson Speedway. The win got rid of some ghosts for the Milford driver. It was his second win on the Whelen Modified Tour, the first since 2006, and was his first at the track that he used to marvel at as a child. It also made up for a pair of near misses in the 2005 Thompson 300 and last year’s World Series. "I deserve it, I don’t want to sound cocky with that, but I’ve been through a lot with this Tour,” Coby said. “(I have) a lot of people believing in me to get the job done, and it means a lot to pay them back with good runs.”; He made those runs on the right day. Coby brought almost $30,000 in prize money back to his trailer for the day. “Purses in Modified racing are hurting these days, and this track put up the big money and we took it all,” Coby said. Coby took home $15,000 for winning the 50-lap race, $5,650 for leading all but four laps and another $5,000 for winning the Tour event. Ted Christopher, who finished second, was the only other driver to lead laps. “We were just too tight in the center, we fought it all day,” Christopher said.

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THOMPSON, Conn. - Doug Coby waited his whole career to win one race at Thompson International Speedway. In a single memorable Sunday, Coby earned not just one checkered flag, but two - and a boatload of money to boot. Coby, of Milford, Conn., made up for a boring victory in his 125-lap NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points-race victory earlier in the day by pulling in the win in the 50-lap UNOH Showdown, which also consisted of the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour's best. "I've never had a car like that ever," Coby said. "Sure, there were a few bobbles, but it was awesome." George Brunnhoelzl III, of West Babylon, N.Y., started the inaugural showcase of NASCAR's Modified stars by winning a 125-lap points race for the Southern Tour. After scoring his first points-paying Tour win since April 30, 2006, at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway, Coby prevailed in the $15,000 dash for cash. Including bonuses for leading laps, as well as the money earned in the 125-lap race, he pocketed more than $25,000 in one afternoon. For Coby, who won a $10,000-to-win Modified open race in the same car at Seekonk Speedway earlier this year, it was a bit of redemption after a pair of near-misses at Thompson, including in last October's season finale. "I have a lot of favorite racetracks, and Thompson is one of them," Coby said. "It means a lot to me to be here, not only because of the '05 (Thompson) 300 and last year's World Series." While the first race was a snoozefest, the prospect of winning at least $15,000 drove the 36 competitors in the Showdown. The WMT drivers, who race at Thompson several times a year, held the advantage at the 5/8-mile track and dominated the finishing order. Coby, Ted Christopher, James Civali and Ryan Preece shuffled positions numerous times over the 50 green-flag laps. However, it was Coby occupying only spot that mattered for most of it. "In this type of stuff, everybody's good," Christopher said. "But those guys (Coby's team) were exceptional." In the opening race, Coby drove ahead of Ryan Preece on the ninth of 125 laps and never surrendered that lead, holding off a late charge by Civali for his second career checkered flag. The main reason for the flag-to-flag domination is that the fields get strung out easily due to the lack of a mandatory pit stop, especially when there are few caution flags to bunch the cars back together. Extending the race even another 25 laps would put a pit stop in play, where teams could opt to change tires. This event used to be a full 300-lap race, but it's no longer your father's Thompson 300 - like it or not. "I think it can be tweaked," Christopher said of the format. "There's no racing." A bit of drama took place late in the Southern Tour feature, as it appeared as though Steve Masse would cruise to the win in his first NASCAR touring series start. He had taken the lead from Donny Lia on lap 47 and was well in command until being penalized for taking off too soon on a late-race restart. Masse, of Bellingham, Mass., received the black flag from NASCAR officials for hitting the gas about 25 feet before the designated restart line, but he refused to serve the penalty. When Brunnhoelzl, who was running second at the time, was given the win, both he and Masse drove to Victory Lane. As Brunnhoelzl exited his car, the pro-Masse crowd greeted him with a chorus of boos. Defending WSMT champion Burt Myers finished second, while Masse was relegated to 14th place. "Rules are rules," Brunnhoelzl said. "I've been on the other end of that."

Sept 4 - Delaware Speedway - 5
Ron Silk appeared to have a game plan that even a 48-minute rain delay could not derail. He patiently waited for the right moment on Sunday at Delaware Speedway and won the Delaware 150 in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour action. In the tour’s inaugural race beyond the borders of the United States, Silk, out of Norwalk, Conn., started from the outside pole position and held on to that track position until it was time make his move. That time came with a Lap 107 pass of Erick Rudolph, who led the race’s first 106 circuits after earning his second career pole position on Saturday afternoon. From there, it looked as if it was going to be smooth sailing for Silk behind the wheel No. 6 T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet. By Lap 132, he built a 1.222-second lead on Rudolph, but a spin in Turn 4 by Rowan Pennink brought out the caution flag and allowed weather into the equation.
Pennink’s broken oil line forced NASCAR officials to display the red flag to allow the clean-up crew easier access to the spill which trailed from Turn 1 all the way into Turn 3 on the half-mile track. In the meantime, rain began to fall on the track. The weather coupled with the clean up sent the cars to pit road on Lap 143. After the weather delay, Silk survived two green-white-checkered finish attempts before beating Doug Coby to the finish line.
For Silk, it was his second win of 2011, having emerged victorious on May 27 at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway, and the sixth of his tour career. Todd Szegedy picked up third followed by James Civali and Eric Beers in fourth and fifth, respectively. Eric Berndt, Justin Bonsignore, D.J. Kennington, Jaime Tomaino and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top 10. Kennington, the reigning NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion hailing from nearby St. Thomas, Ont., was making his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour debut at his home track. Pennink’s DNF caused him to drop from second to third in the season standings with 11 of 16 races complete. Silk now leads Szegedy by 77 points and Pennink by 117. The race was slowed due to caution a season-high 13 times. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads to familiar territory for its next outing to take on its counterparts from the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour on Sunday, Sept. 11 at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway in the UNOH Showdown. Each tour will have a 125-lap feature event followed by a 50-lap exhibition event with competitors from each tour pitted against one another.NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Delaware 150 Unofficial Results
Sunday At Delaware Speedway, Delaware, Ont.
Lap length: 0.5 miles

Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 159 laps, 58.828 mph.
2. (5) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 159.
3. (8) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 159.
4. (7) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 159.
5. (4) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 159.
6. (10) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 159.
7. (18) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 159.
8. (6) D.J. Kennington, St. Thomas, Ont., Dodge, 159.
9. (16) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 159.
10. (13) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 159.
11. (3) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 159.
12. (9) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 159.
13. (12) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 159.
14. (1) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 159.
15. (17) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 159.
16. (15) Cole Powell, Mt. Brydges, Ont., Chevrolet, 156.
17. (11) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Pontiac, 153, accident.
18. (14) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 133, accident.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 21 minutes 5 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.362 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: E.Rudolph (102.360 mph, 17.585 seconds)
Caution Flags: 13 for 67 laps.
Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: E. Rudolph 1-105; R. Silk 106-159.

Standings: 1. R. Silk, 1736; 2. T. Szegedy, 1659; 3. R. Pennink, 1619; 4. E. Beers, 1589; 5. B. Santos, 1531; 6. D. Coby, 1529; 7. M. Hirschman, 1473; 8. J. Bonsignore, 1428; 9. J. Civali, 1401; 10. E. Rudolph, 1386

Aug 24 - Bristol Speedway - NASCAR - 6

The 2nd set of tire never came in and the car was toooo tight after a great first half of race run

In the top five during both practice sessions, Eric Beers of Northampton, PA has a reason to smile. “We have a very stable race car- it’s going to race well.” Beers cruised to the top of the speed chart in the final practice holding the position for a good portion of the session until Bonsignore and Santos made their final runs. “We did our time trial run there a little too early I think. We did it then the guys who did it at the end beat us. But it’s no big deal. Everyone is going to have to time trial on the same race track. We go out a little early so I’m not sure we have a shot at the pole but we’ll be in the top five or six cars.”

NWMT UNOH Perfect Storm 150
Qualifying
8/24/11
By Polly Reid

Bobby Santos has even more to smile about as the Franklin, Mass. driver followed up his stout practice sessions in the Mystic Missile Dodge with a 15.035 second lap at 127.622 mph to claim the Coors Light pole award for the NWMT UNOH Perfect Storm 150. “I’ve got a great car under me and the guys have done a great job all day” said Santos. “I think we’ve been pretty close to the top of the board all day and from what I learned here last year it’s really going to help me in tonight’s race. I’m really excited.”
“Car was a little bit on the free side which probably wasn’t a bad thing because when you’re here a lot of people are tight. It was kind of tough it out and drive the best lap I could,” Santos smiled. “I mean it’s scary running two laps as fast as you can on the bottom but it’s a lot of fun.”
It is Santos third Coors Light pole award of the season. “The pole means a lot here,” continued Santos. “Last year we were close and to get it this year, that’s pretty neat. The track is a lot of fun and there is a lot of prestige coming here in a modified- it’s pretty cool.”
A combined event with both NWMT and NWSMT, a separate Coors Light pole award went to the top NWSMT qualifier, Tim Brown of Cana, VA.
“We were good in the first practice with our Wall to Wall Chevrolet but we struggled in the second. We changed a lot of stuff on the car for qualifying and that’s what we’ll race. We seemed to be OK for qualifying but I’m still not happy with the car but it was good enough to get the pole for the southern side.” Brown hesitated before continuing, “But we still don’t stack up well to the rest of the field. We’re looking forward to getting this race on, try and make some adjustments on the car and contend for the win- especially for the southern side for the points.”
Mike Stefanik had mentioned motor issues during practice, their time posting deep in the field at 26th in the final session. The Flamingo Motorsports team, with a little help, finally discovered the culprit “The alternator wire was broken,” said crew chief Stan Szaban. “We changed the wire, put in new plugs and charged the battery- it seemed to be better for time trials.” Indeed a huge improvement, Stefanik will take the green flag sixth.
The hint of motor problems earlier in practice turned out to be a reality for Todd Szegedy. After qualifying the UNOH/Wisk Laundry Ford seventh, the decision was made to change motors. “We went through the car checking the motor,” said car owner Mike Smeriglio. “We can’t send him out with something that’s not safe.” The MSR team headed up by crew chief Phil Moran was last seen working feverishly pulling the motor. For the main event, Szegedy will drop to the back of the pack just prior to the green flag. Equipped with an in-car camera, the 2 car should make for interesting viewing during the UNOH Perfect Storm 150 for the fans.

NWMT UNOH Perfect Storm 150
By Polly Reid

Same car, same driver, different motor- same results. Ryan Newman of South Bend, IN made good use of timing to make a final pass for the lead with 22 to go repeating what he did a year ago- score the win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour UNOH Perfect Storm 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Following Newman across the line for the combined annual NWMT and NWSMT event was Justin Bonsignore for second, Todd Szegedy third, James Civali and Patrick Emerling the top five.
“I felt we had a better car in practice this year than we did last year” said Newman. “You never know how it’s going to play out- I don’t think anyone anticipated the multiple yellows. Once we got racing which seemed to be around lap 75 then we got another caution and we came in, pitted for tires. Gary Putnam did a great job with both the car and the calls during the race. With Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion not being here after the Loudon deal this is a little bit of redemption for us just to come out here and redeem ourselves a little bit with respect to people’s opinions after the last Loudon.”
His fourth career NWMT win, second in a row at Bristol Motor Speedway for Newman, the key to the event appeared to be when the leaders pitted just past the half way mark on lap 86. Szegedy who had pitted earlier inherited the lead followed by L.W. Miller, Tim Brown, Civali, Andy Seuss with the fresh Hoosier group lining up after that including Bonsignore, Newman, Mike Stefanik, Eric Beers Eric Berndt the top ten. Civali made his pass to become the newest leader on lap 94- Civali, Szegedy and Newman making it a three car break away from the pack. The ninth and final caution on lap 104 changed the complexion of the top ten when contact between Ron Silk and Eric Goodale set off a chain reaction collecting up the hard charging Brown and Stefanik. Brown and Stefanik joined the growing list of teams that would collect DNF’s for the event. The double file restart with 38 to go lined up with Civali leading, Szegedy, Newman, Seuss and Bonsignore the top five. With 22 to go, Civali and Szegedy still out front, Newman timed his move to become the new and final leader on lap 128. “Civali got tight- he was good on the restarts, really fast, then he would get tight just past the center of the corners. Szegedy was on older tires so I wouldn’t say he was a sitting duck but we had an advantage over him in respect to just the tires themselves,” explained Newman. “Todd did a good job sneaking around the 79 while I was trying to work the bottom - I got around the 79 at the same time - Todd got a little tight off of turn four and I just timed it right going underneath him - it got me a head of him at the start finish line and so I just went a little extra harder going into turn one and got the lead.” From there on in it was a race for second. On the move, Bonsignore had worked his way into the top three, his sights on Szegedy making the pass low on the front stretch for second with 14 to go. As the green continued, the top four spaced out their run with Newman keeping a solid distance from Bonsignore to score the win, Szegedy worked to keep up with Bonsignore as his handling faded for third while Civali hung on to a somewhat distant fourth. Meanwhile Emerling recovered to score his best rookie finish of the season at fifth. “It was just really a fun race,” said Newman. “The yellow flags at the start of the race kind of slowed everybody’s thoughts but getting back to green flag racing I thought we saw some really good racing. We had some really good restarts, at least from my standpoint. I think I came from 8th to 3rd in a lap and a half. It was all fun- I have to thank Aggressive Hydraulics, Menards and Chevrolet for all of there help - this race car, it’s a lot of fun to come out here. Like I said on one hand we redeem ourselves after Loudon on the other hand starting all over to prove we can do it.” “We had a pretty good day- we had an early draw for time trials which killed us, we qualified 19th,” said Bonsignore. “The first half of the race we avoided some wrecks we should have been in, got lucky getting through those- a couple of guys pitted and on the restarts, we were on the outside, our car was really good on the top. We got up to fifth or sixth there and decided to pit when the leaders did - the guys had a great pit stop, we were the first ones off of pit row which I’ve got to thank my guys for that, that was the first time we’ve done that as a team. We were buying our time after that, picked them off one by one.” On the final restart, Bonsignore did have to start on the bottom. “That allowed Newman to get further away from us than I would have liked. He just got too far out in front of us then. I got past Todd with 20-something to go - the car was good but I had knocked the toe in around lap 100, 110, the car got too tight in the center. I don’t know if Newman was playing with us, he just took off the last 15 laps and we just kind of salvaged what we could. I’ve got to thank my guys, M3 Technology- since our first win we’ve been able to turn our season around, show we can run up in the top five every week.” The day started memorable for Todd Szegedy, the Mike Smeriglio owned Ford topping the speed chart in the first practice. The rest of the day however was a head scratching struggle for crew chief Phil Moran and the rest of the MSR team but when the checker dropped, crossing the line third had to feel like a near victory. “The day started off real smooth,” said Szegedy. “The car was real fast, we were fastest in the first practice but we were only quick for a couple of laps then the car would go right to tight, it was odd, different than what I’ve ever felt. It would be so tight I could come out of the corner and crank the wheel to the left and still be going straight. Exiting the corner I had the wheel turned to the left and still be going straight it wouldn’t be turning towards the infield like you’d think it would, that’s how tight it was- that was baffling. The second practice we came out pretty decent but at the end of practice I noticed a skip, something weird in the engine but I didn’t know if it was any cars around me because I was still going fast, I didn’t really feel the engine loose it’s power. As a per-caution, we checked the ignition, changed the spark plugs on it, thought it was running a little lean and put a little jet in it, then we went to do our qualifying run and it was absolutely terrible. We had to swap the engine.” Changing motors after qualifying put Szegedy to the back of the pack for the initial green flag. An in-car camera on the UNOH/Wisk Detergent Ford, the Speed viewers had plenty to see. “I was just biding my time, passing on the outside but we got involved in a bunch of wrecks- just in the middle of them I don’t know what people were doing, they were wrecking on the straight away, in the middle of the corners, they were everywhere. Then a spark plug wire fell off, I couldn’t believe it- we pitted for that, went a lap down, meanwhile I was just taking it easy back there then drove hard. We waited for a caution to come out, it did, we got our lap back, made another run, decided to pit early, take tires then rode the wrecks and made our way to the front. We ended up too tight, that killed us. If we didn’t tighten up the car so much we would have had something for Newman.” Szegedy continued, “Man, we have such a phenomenal team, words don’t explain it, the guys work together so well, we’ve got the best team on the Tour, there’s no question about it. The wins will come, the championships will come if we keep this up.” “You get such a good head of steam going here, we got within five or six car lengths but the car was just getting tighter and tighter as the track rubbered up,” Bonsignore added. “I might have been a little too aggressive wanting to tighten the car up on our pit stop- they left that up to me - I feel I might have over compensated then I got the toe knocked in so it made it even worse. We had the second best car on new tires. I knew we could get Todd and James (Civali), they raced me really clean, I knew they would. It was a really good day, we’ve really turned our season around it seems since our first win. We’re contending every week now which is were we feel we should be. It’s just a shame we got so far behind in the beginning of the season. We’re building towards next year because we think we can contend for championships like Ronnie and Todd and all those guys.”
Crew member of Newman’s 77, Gary Putnam talked about their day from his perspective. “We were a little too tight in practice. We got it where he was pretty happy with it and we were trying a couple of different things just to build up our notebook a little bit better. We thought we would have a decent shot at the pole, then we missed the autograph session, that was my fault. It was on the entry blank, mandatory, Ryan missed it so we only got one lap for qualifying, that’s probably what hurt us. We still got a good starting spot, kind of paced ourselves for the first half of the race. We went into the deal with thinking anything past half way we’ll come in and change tires.” Putnam continued. “There’s always a concern when you pit, some guys stay out and you’re back in the pack. It took both Civali and Todd a long time to get back up through the field and ultimately it took the rest of the field to pit for them to get up there. For whatever reason this year it was hard to pass cars, for everybody, I mean even if you were a fair amount quicker than the guy in front of you, it was tough. Then we got an awesome restart right after the pit. He cleared all the mess, that helped a tremendous amount.” Like the elephant in the room, Putnam offered a few words about the disqualification at Loudon. “The whole deal was just unfortunate, it was an oversight on someone’s part. We all paid the penalty, it wasn’t good for us, it’s not good for the division, its not good for anybody, we felt really, really bad about it. We worked on getting ready for here, read the rule book for the 3rd time, make sure everything else was right.” Putnam, whose wife Marcy is listed as the car owner of the 77 added, “We want to show people we can win races. It was the first race on that motor, it was brand new built. I’ve been telling people for the last three years, it’s the guy in the seat. There’s a reason why he is 8th in the Cup points.” The 77 will be at Loudon in September. “That was the plan all along. He loves driving there, he loves driving here and he really wants to try Thompson.” Coors Light pole winner Bobby Santos became one of several engine failures of the day as well as outside pole starter Erik Rudolph. His first trip to Bristol Motor Speedway, Doug Coby adjusted well to the high banks of BMS, starting his day ninth, the Milford, CT driver was running as high as fourth at the half before motor issues sidelined the Reynolds Auto Wrecking machine with 95 laps complete.
With Ryan Newman representing the north and taking the lead spot, the first car for the southern tour received credit for a NWSMT win. The surprised victor was series regular, Frank Fleming, who managed to avoid mishaps and used a late race pit strategy to give him the win. Fleming has had a lot of race wins but this was his first ever modified tour win. Having his first tour win occur at Bristol was a major accomplishment for the small family race team. For the past two years at the Bristol combo race the Fleming race team battled an ill handling race car. This year the team finally found the right combination that helped them be where they needed to be during the final laps of the race.“In practice I have come up here for two years and I drove the race as loose as I could be,” Fleming said from his hauler. “I turned some good times in practice and even had a top ten car in practice. But in the race I would be so loose that I could not drive it. I told Chris today we have to keep it from bottoming out and get this car where I could drive it in the corners and not be loose. So we worked on it during practice all day. Everybody thinks that my car got faster, but it didn’t. I did not put my new tires on until fifty to go and that helped me."
"My car was good all day long. I could drive it in the corners hard without it being loose. I just think that we made the right calls for the chassis. I do not know what we could have done to qualify better but these other boys just seem to know how to do it. Guess I will just keep hunting.” All smiles as he continued to work with officials to get the car through post race inspection Fleming had the reality of the day’s accomplishment finally sink in. He not only had a top ten finish but a win on the southern modified tour. And just when he did not think it got any better, he realized that the team’s performance was nationally televised. “We got the southern win. This is a combination race with both the north and the southern cars. I really love to run the northern cars but they always have an edge on us for some reason or other and I do not know why. I like a lot of competition and man it was here today. I was sitting here looking at that field of cars over there and those are the best field of cars in the country. And I finished eighth out of the thirty-four or thirty-five cars that started this race I think that is terrific. We were the first southern car in the race and that will put my name in the NASCAR books. I have won a lot of races here in the south. I probably won sixty or seventy races all together but I have never had a NASCAR tour win. Now we have one to our credit and we had live TV on Speed.” Southern modified driver Andy Seuss made his way up through the field and after a great pit stop found himself among the top five. Cars with fresher tires though soon pushed Seuss back further in the top ten. In the end Seuss managed to pull off a ninth place finish and was only one spot shy of a southern modified win. “I really wanted to run in the top five in the whole race but I am happy to come out with a top ten for the whole race. We had a really good car and after that whole pit stop situation shook out we got back up to third. Then we got real, real tight. We will put that in our notebook and figure it out. Nothing changed on the stagger or anything the tire just got tight. We are thinking that maybe the stagger closed up or something but we are real happy with a second. It was a good point’s day and we managed to stay pretty clean throughout the race. Somebody got my rear though when the field checked up to avoid accidents. But overall we real happy and the car is in one piece.” Seuss has had an up and down time since loosing his car owner late last year. But it now looks like things have stabilized and are finally going in the right direction. Seuss has joined George Brunnhoelzl on the Harvey team and things are working out good for the new team. “This year has been unreal. The second that I walked in the shop, the only thing I could think of was if you want to be real serious with a modified this is the place where you have to do it. In the shop you could eat off the floor. You could even eat off the cars. I did not know how a teammate situation would go. I have never been in one. And they are more helpful than I ever would have thought. I am having a blast. If it were not for a late race wreck at Bowman Grey, I would have three top fives in out first three races. So I am real happy about that and just want to build on it.”

NASCAR PR STORY & FINISH

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman drove away with the UNOH Perfect Storm 150 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday. Newman successfully defending his 2010 Bristol win and registered his fourth career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory overall. Wednesday’s triumph came in Newman’s first start on the tour after he was disqualified from a win in July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. “This is a little bit of a redemption for us, to come out here and redeem ourselves a little bit in respect to people’s opinions after Loudon,” Newman said.
Newman led twice for a race-high 109 laps. After one top-10 effort in his first four Modified races, Newman has won each of his last four official starts. “It was just a really fun race,” Newman said. “The yellow flags at the start kind of slowed everybody’s thoughts, but getting back to green flag racing, I thought we saw some really good racing. It was a lot of fun.” Justin Bonsignore finished second in the annual combination race between the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour. The pole winner in 2010 at Bristol, Bonsignore has earned top-five finishes in three of his last four outings this year and is up to a season-best 10th in the standings. “I’m just a go-kart racer - where you flat-foot it - and this is similar,” Bonsignore said of his fondness for racing at Bristol. “It just fits my driving style. I like it, and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve been looking forward to coming back since last year and I can’t wait to go back next year. Maybe we should get two races here.” Todd Szegedy rallied from an eventful day for third place. An engine change relegated him to the rear to start, and he was caught in multiple on-track incidents that preceded a spark plug wire falling off. He then came back from a lap down for his fifth podium finish in the last seven races.
James Civali and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top five. It marked the first top-five finish of Emerling’s rookie season and the best finish of the year for Civali. Eric Beers was sixth, followed by Ron Silk, Frank Fleming, Andy Seuss and Eric Goodale.
Fleming was the top finishing NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour driver and will be credited with a win on the tour. It is his first career victory. The race, which aired live on SPEED, saw four lead changes among three drivers and was slowed by caution nine times for 51 laps. It was the third edition of the combo race at the ‘World’s Fastest Half Mile.’ Silk stretched his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points lead to 41 over Rowan Pennink, who finished 21st overall. Szegedy is third, 16 points behind Pennink. George Brunnhoelzl III, the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour points leader, finished 29th overall and his lead is 110 over John Smith and 123 over L.W. Miller. The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour will return to the track in just two days at Caraway Speedway on Friday, Aug. 26. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour gets back on track with the inaugural event at Delaware (Ont.) Speedway on Sept. 4.

UNOH Perfect Storm 150 Unofficial Results
Wednesday At Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn.
Lap length: 0.533 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (4) Ryan Newman, South Bend, Ind., Chevrolet, 150 laps, 58.369 mph.
2. (19) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
3. (7) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 150.
4. (3) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 150.
5. (27) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 150.
6. (11) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 150.
7. (5) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
8. (21) Frank Fleming, Mt. Airy, N.C., Chevrolet, 150.
9. (22) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 149.
10. (10) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 149.
11. (24) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 149.
12. (16) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 149.
13. (8) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 149.
14. (28) Jason Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., 148.
15. (34) Austin Pack, Winston-Salem, N.C., Chevrolet, 148.
16. (20) John Smith, Mount Airy, N.C., Chevrolet, 147.
17. (32) Burt Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 144.
18. (31) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 136, vibration.
19. (25) L.W. Miller, Dushore, Pa., Chevrolet, 131.
20. (26) Jamie Tomaino, Jr., Lexington, N.C., Chevrolet, 131.
21. (13) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 131.
22. (33) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 127.
23. (14) Tim Brown, Cana, Va., Chevrolet, 105.
24. (6) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 104, accident.
25. (9) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 95, engine.
26. (1) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 76, engine.
27. (30) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 53, drive shaft.
28. (17) Corey LaJoie, Concord, N.C., Chevrolet, 42, accident.
29. (15) George Brunnhoelzl, III, W. Babylon, N.Y., Chevrolet, 42, accident.
30. (23) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 42, accident.
31. (2) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 14, engine.
32. (29) Daniel Hemric, Kannapolis, N.C., Pontiac, 9, rear end.
33. (12) Andy Petree, Hickory, N.C., Chevrolet, 8, accident.
34. (18) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 8, accident.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 22 minutes 11 seconds
Margin of Victory: 1.826 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: B.Santos (127.622 mph, 15.035 seconds)
Caution Flags: 9 for 51 laps.
Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Newman 1-86; T. Szegedy 87-93; J. Civali 94-125; T. Szegedy 126-127; R. Newman 128-150..

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
NWMT COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Patrick Emerling *, 07 Emerling Chevrolet Ford
NWMT COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Bobby Santos, 4 "Mystic Missile" Dodge
NWMT FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Eric Berndt, 46 Cape Cod Agts/North End Auto Parts Chevrolet
NWMT SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Patrick Emerling *, 07 Emerling Chevrolet Ford
NWSMT COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE: Austin Pack *, 31 B&J Bldrs./Shady Grady/Comtech Chevrolet
NWSMT COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Tim Brown, 02 Hayes Jewelers/Wall to Wall Chevrolet
NWSMT FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Frank Fleming, 40 Autos by Nelson/Lewisville Motors Chevrolet
NWSMT SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Austin Pack *, 31 B&J Bldrs./Shady Grady/Comtech Chevrolet
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE AWARD: Ryan Newman, 77 Aggressive Hydraulics/Menards Chevrolet

NWMT Standings: 1. R. Silk, 1551; 2. R. Pennink, 1510; 3. T. Szegedy, 1494; 4. E. Beers, 1434; 5. B. Santos, 1401; 6. D. Coby, 1359; 7. M. Hirschman, 1346; 8. M. Stefanik, 1323; 9. T. Christopher, 1296; 10. J. Bonsignore, 1282.

Aug 13 - New Hampshire Speedway - NASCAR - 5

What a weekend - The car was fast all weekend - the team was close to winning as Eric pushed Stefanik to the lead with two to go then Eric went under Stefanik and had the lead but unfortunately the caution came out and that put Eric back into third. As you know at New Hampshire anyhting can happen on restarts and there were three more starts but it was close at the end as you could have thrown a towel over the top five at the line - Great job by all -

NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY GRANITE STATE CLASSIC
by Polly Reid
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Granite State Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway went into double overtime needing two attempts at a green white checker finish to get it done extending the event an extra ten circuits beyond it’s 95 advertised distance. Holding off challenges from Eric Beers, Todd Szegedy and then Woody Pitkat, it was a determined seven-time NWMT Champion Mike Stefanik from Coventry, RI in the Eric Sanderson owned, Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises sponsored modified who crossed the line for the win, his first of 2011. Pitkat claimed second at the line, Szegedy third with Justin Bonsignore and Beers the top five. “It’s been a long time coming,” admitted Stefanik about his 71st career victory, his 7th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “The team gave me a great car. I’m so happy for the team, more so than for myself. Nobody wants to win more than I do. Sly and the team gave us that opportunity today.” A day that was dominated early on by Coors Light pole winner Bobby Santos III, Stefanik took the green 12th, cracking the top ten before a half a dozen circuits had been displayed on the new NHMS scoring tower. When the fourth caution flew on lap 32 for Teddy Christopher who was suddenly off the pace and unable to get to pit row under his own power, the call was made to bring Stefanik, now running third, down pit row for tires. Santos leading with Erik Rudolph second stayed out as over half the field came in including Beers and Szegedy. “Sly called me in around lap 35,” said Stefanik. “The tires are going to stay under the car, they don’t really wear out here if you have a good car, you’re going to stay good. He made a great call to bring it in when we did, he gave me a great car. I could go where I wanted to go, it felt good.”
“We planned on pitting about half way and when the caution came close to that we decided to come in,” explained Stefanik’s crew chief Stan ‘Sly’ Szaban. “It would also give us enough time to get back to the front. We didn’t make any changes, the first set of tires Mike was happy with the car so we wanted to match the second set with the first.” First off pit row, Stefanik lined up 12th for the restart while Santos continued to lead the way into what would be the longest green flag run of the day, the Franklin, MA driver swapping the front spot back and forth with Bonsignore. Santos back on top when the next caution waved on lap 58 herald most of the remaining field to the pits including Santos and Bonsignore. Pitkt in the Ramar-Hall Chevrolet who had not pitted at all, inherited the lead with Stefanik lining up second on the lap 65 restart, James Civali third, Beers and Szegedy the top five. Pitkat and Stefanik picked up where Santos, Bonsignore and Erik Rudolph left off, swapping the lead several times around the Magic Mile. Stefanik leading, Szegedy had taken possession of second from Ptikat and just as the Ridgefield, CT driver made his move on Stefanik, it was another caution in the books, now only 13 to go. Stefanik, Szegedy, Beers, James Civali, Pitkat and Ryan Preece your top three rows in the double file restart didn’t get far when a melee on the front stretch pulled the field back in, the multi-car tangle bringing out the red flag for an extensive clean up on lap 86. Stefanik and Szegedy heated up the restart with a side by side battle when all was cut short with two to go as the ninth caution was recorded for a three car tangle in turns three and four setting up the first green, white checker attempt. Stefanik leading the way with Szegedy, Beers, Pitkat and Bonsignore the top five would do it all over again as the tenth and final caution waved on lap 100. Another shot at a green white checker, Stefanik kept the Sanderson machine out front while Pitkat battled side by side with Szegedy edging past the Wisk/A & J Romano Construction Ford to claim a career high second for the Stafford, CT driver. The double green white checker finish extended the Granite State Classic from the expected end of 95 laps to 105. “I tried to come up with a plan, I knew if I could be leading down the backstretch, I could do it,” said Stefanik whose last career win was September 2009 at Martinsville. “I told the guys on the radio when it got to be green, white, checker, I said this might get a little ugly. I wouldn’t do anything stupid, put anyone in jeopardy, but I was going to do what I could to make my car difficult to pass. When it comes to one to go, you just can’t let anyone drive by you.” “We knew Mike was going to have to do what he had to do because there were some pretty strong cars behind us,” added Szaban. “Because of the draft here, we weren’t sure we could hold them off or not- Mike did a great job. The team gave him a good car to try and win this race, but in the end, it was Mike’s driving ability that got the win.” Deep in the pack, on the starting grid in 22nd, Woody Pitkat played out a strategy in the Don King owned machine that paid off big in the end. “We had a plan before the beginning of the race, if were going good, because I’m not a great qualifier, we’d probably try and stay out and grab some positions that way. We didn’t pit, our car pretty much stayed the same throughout the whole race. I’ve never raced up there with those guys before, it was a lot of fun. I tried to hang in there, be there at the end and finish. I just can’t thank the guys enough, Don King for giving me the opportunity, Bob Fill helping me and my spotter Michael O’Sullivan, just an awesome, awesome day.” On the final restart, Szegedy was poised to claim a second win this year at the Magic Mile for car owner Mike Smeriglio when things changed in a hurry. “When I went to make a move on Mike on the backstretch- right when I went to make my move, I got bump drafted and nailed him in the left rear and just about turned him into the fence. It messed me up and it allowed everyone to get closer to us. Woody was able to get on the inside, I might have been able to roll around him on the outside but he was getting a good solid push from someone behind him. I hung tough on the outside there.” Starting the Granite State Classic a solid third, Szegedy appeared to struggle in the beginning, slipping as far back as 8th before making their first pit stop of two on lap 22. “For some reason our car was real free- it wasn’t like that in practice. I knew other people were too but when it was getting close to time to pit, I didn’t want to beat the car up more- try and stay ahead of guys when I couldn’t so when a guy made a run on me, I let them go. We put a wedge in it, dropped stagger, spring rubbers, we did what we had to do and it came to me, I was pretty amazed. Phil Moran (crew chief) he’s absolutely phenomenal, what can I say, I wouldn’t be in this position if they didn’t give me the car that they do every week. They brought me back up front again, they’re the best.” Stefanik’s Granite State Classic win will remain memorable for car owner Eric Sanderson. “Wow, ever since I’ve been coming here as a car owner I’ve wanted to go to this victory lane. 16 years. I’m kind of speechless to say the least. Winning any of the New Hampshire races is like winning Daytona, the World Series, the Superbowl, whatever you want to call it, it’s just incredible.”
“The crew works hard, they practice and they’re serious about it,” said Szaban. “We have a bunch of young guys that are into it and they do a great job. The effort that goes into this, every race- the win, I don’t even know how to put this into words, it’s huge.” “It’s a nutty game we play,” smiled Stefanik. “There is nothing that can bring you as high up as you are right now then in a week drop you like a rock. But you can be a rock as long as you know you have another peak coming. This is a huge peak for us and we’re going to try and enjoy it. Last week was great (2nd at Stafford) we would have loved to have hung on but we couldn’t, Teddy got by us. But we had a great pit stop, put us in position and this team, they’re digging and digging. They’re a great bunch of guys and I’m very happy for them.” Santos crossed the line sixth, Ryan Preece seventh, Glen Tyler, Erick Rudolph and Doug Coby completed the top ten. Point leader Ron Silk rallied to take 11th, his finish strong enough to remain the leader over Rowan Pennink who crossed 16th. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads to Tennessee, the August 24th event at Bristol Motor Speedway will be telecast on SPEED at 6pm ET.

LOUDON, N.H. – Mike Stefanik survived several restarts in the closing laps and picked up a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win in the Granite State Classic on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Under perfect weather conditions, Stefanik, out of Coventry, R.I., in the No. 16 Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Pontiac, earned his first win of the season and the 71st of his Tour career by edging Woody Pitkat at the line. It was Stefanik’s seventh win at the track and first since Aug. 2, 1998. Additionally, it was his first overall victory since winning at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sept. 27, 2009. The runner-up marked the best career finish for Pitkat, from Stafford, Conn. Todd Szegedy crossed the line in the third position followed by Justin Bonsignore and Eric Beers in fourth and fifth, respectively. Bobby Santos, Ryan Preece, Glenn Tyler, Erick Rudolph and Doug Coby rounded out the top 10. Pit stops in the middle portion of the race shuffled the field which left Stefanik and Pitkat at the front to battle it out through two red flags brought out by separate multi-car accidents. Perennial championship contender and five-time New Hampshire winner Ted Christopher experienced mechanical problems on Lap 33 and had to go behind the wall for repairs relegating him to a 28th-place finish. In Friday’s qualifying session, defending Tour champion Bobby Santos claimed his second Coors Light Pole Award of the 2011 season and the sixth of his career. It was, however, his first at the New Hampshire track.

1 12 16 Mike Stefanik Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Pontiac 105 185 5 Running
2 22 28 Woody Pitkat Ramar-Hall Chevrolet 105 175 5 Running
3 3 2 Todd Szegedy Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Const. Ford 105 165 Running
4 4 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology Chevrolet 105 165 5 Running
5 2 45 Eric Beers Horwith Frghtlnr/John Blewett Inc. Chevrolet 105 155 Running
6 1 4 Bobby Santos "Mystic Missile" Dodge 105 160 10 Running
7 16 40 Ryan Preece Mizzy Const./Reynolds Auto Wrkg. Chevrolet 105 146 Running
8 21 8 Glenn Tyler Jayfor Chevrolet 105 142 Running
9 8 98 Erick Rudolph Accell Const./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet 105 143 5 Running
10 14 52 Doug Coby Reynolds Auto Wrkg/Johnson Ldscp Chevrolet 105 134 Running
11 13 6 Ron Silk T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 105 130 Running
12 25 88 Bryon Chew * Buzz Chew Chevrolet/GT Vodka Chevrolet 105 127 Running
13 19 7 Patrick Emerling * Emerling Chevrolet Ford 105 124 Running
14 23 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 105 121 Running
15 29 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Pontiac 105 118 Running
16 5 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 105 115 Running
17 31 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard's Autos/Kleer Lumber Chevrolet 99 112 Running
18 26 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 97 109 Running
19 7 79 James Civali Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac 92 106 Accident
20 18 70 Andy Seuss Rockingham Boat/GEX Publishing Chevrolet 92 103 Accident
21 6 64 Ron Yuhas, Jr. The A-Team/Beaver Bats Chevrolet 92 100 Accident
22 10 3 Matt Hirschman Cape Cod Copper/Riverview Chevrolet 86 97 Accident
23 15 50 Kevin Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 86 94 Accident
24 24 58 Eric Goodale Perimeters for the Home Chevrolet 86 91 Accident
25 20 11 Donny Lia Night Train Motorsports Ford 86 88 Accident
26 30 38 Jake Marosz Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 62 85 Handling
27 11 46 Eric Berndt Cape Cod Agts/North End Auto Parts Chevrolet 58 82 Accident
28 17 36 Ted Christopher Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet 50 79 Rear End
29 9 14 Jimmy Blewett Ling Trucking/Atlantic Sprinkler Chevrolet 47 76 Engine
30 28 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 41 73 Engine
31 27 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood/MacLad Drywall Ford 24 70 Ignition

Aug 5 - Stafford Speedway - NASCAR - 4

The team had a really good car - diffence between winning and a fouth place finish was that the car needed a little more forward bite

STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY:TOWN FAIR TIRE 150
by Polly Reid

With 15 to go, Ted Christopher made his made his move, committing low going into turn three, the Plainville, CT driver cleared Mike Stefanik for the lead and held off Stefanik to the wire scoring the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Town Fair Tire 150 win at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Stefanik crossed for second, Bobby Santos third, Eric Beers and Eric Goodale the top five.
“We were really tight in the beginning there but it probably played in our favor because I think everyone was getting loose,” said Christopher, “but in the end you just have to go with this thing. It’s weird because it started to get tight again so I had to run a little different line to hold Michael off - it was a lot of fun.” The Town Fair 150 ran the first 116 laps under the green flag and while Coors Light pole winner Doug Coby led the 28 car field to green, it was outside starter Tom Rogers who powered on the outside to become the first leader of the night, the Patchogue, NY driver holding the position until Coby made his calculated move on lap 16 becoming the second leader.
With Coby out front, the field stretched out and while Christopher worked his way to second under green, the laps continued to tick off and at the half way mark it was Coby, Christopher, Todd Szegedy, Rogers, Beers, Santos, Justin Bonsignore, Ron Silk, Stefanik and Erik Rudolph the top ten. Christopher finally closed the gap enough to take the lead from Coby on the 88th circuit and did what Coby had done earlier, checked out from the field. Christopher’s lead all went away with a muddled incident on lap 116 in turn four. Coby and Szegedy running second and third took the brunt of it and while both drove away, their stellar night in an instant, evaporated. Pit row came alive, the action heated up as Christopher led the way for fresh Hoosiers. But three tires later, it was Stefanik’s Flamingo Motorsports team that came off pit row first, the Coventry, RI driver moving from seventh to become the new leader of the night followed by Santos, Eric Goodale, Christopher and Rowan Pennink the top five. A caution on the restart for a spin in turn two closed the field up again, Stefanik at the point with 20 to go was strong, but Christopher in the Eddie Whelan owned, Al-Lee Installations sponsored Chevrolet, was not going to let this one get away and made his move heading into turn three edging a nose, then completed the pass before coming out of four to become final leader of the night. While Stefanik stayed on Christopher’s bumper, it was Christopher at the line collecting his 41st career NWMT victory, his 11th at Stafford, his third of 2011. “It was a lot of fun,” said Christopher’s crew chief Brad Lafontaine. “This is our third time here, the other two times, Teddy likes a loose race car, but every time we have a loose race we don’t win. This time here, I kept it tight, so it fell right into our plans because the race went so long without a yellow they just backed right up to us and then we were able to pull away from the rest of the field. I was hoping it would go green the rest of the way because there was no one coming and we were still pulling away.”
“When the caution came out, that was the last thing I wanted to see,” admitted Lafontaine. “We took three tires, made a wedge adjustment and came out fourth, the guys did an excellent job and Teddy took over from there. I said to Teddy, ‘I’m hoping you’re as hungry as me’ and he said, ‘I’m always hungry’.” The newest car in the Whelan stable now has two wins in the four times it’s been on the track. The pit stop became truly pivotal, crucial to the eventual outcome of the Town Fair Tire 150. “This one’s for our team,” said Stefanik. The Eric Sanderson owned, Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises machine collecting a strong podium finish. “They put me out front - that was a fantastic pit stop - we were just a little too snug to hold it but it was great to have a car up front like that - it’s just hats off to the team - I can’t say enough for the hard work they put in and that pit stop showed it.” Santos slipped out of the top five only once in the 150 lap event, but a strong pit stop put Bob Garbarino’s Mystic Missile Dodge, immediately back in the hunt lining up second on the final restart. “We had a good run,“ said Santos. “I just have to thank the guys who kept fighting and getting me an awesome pit stop that got us a good finish, I just got to thank the team for doing such a good job.” Ron Silk’s seventh place finish was enough to keep the Norwalk, CT driver in the points lead by one over Rowan Pennink, the Huntingdon Valley, PA driver crossing sixth. Rudolph, Coby and Jimmy Blewett completed the top ten. Christopher’s win moved him up to third in the standings over Szegedy while Santos claims the fifth spot in points as the NWMT heads to Loudon, NH for the Granite State Classic Saturday August 13th.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Town Fair Tire 150 Unofficial Results
Friday At Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford, Conn.
Lap length: 0.5 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (3) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 150 laps, 82.142 mph.
2. (8) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 150.
3. (5) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 150.
4. (4) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 150.
5. (12) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
6. (17) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 150.
7. (10) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
8. (11) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
9. (1) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
10. (6) Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 150.
11. (7) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
12. (16) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
13. (22) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 150.
14. (9) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 149.
15. (15) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 149.
16. (13) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 149.
17. (18) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 149.
18. (19) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 149.
19. (2) Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y., Chevrolet, 149.
20. (28) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 148.
21. (23) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 148.
22. (21) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 148.
23. (14) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 147.
24. (25) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 146.
25. (26) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 145.
26. (20) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 127.
27. (27) Jake Marosz, Middletown, Conn., Chevrolet, 121, handling.
28. (24) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 17, engine.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 0 hours 54 minutes 47 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.247 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: D.Coby (98.776 mph, 18.223 seconds)
Caution Flags: 2 for 14 laps.
Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Rogers,Jr. 1-15; D. Coby 16-87; T. Christopher 88-120; M. Stefanik 121-134; T. Christopher 135-150.

Standings: 1. R. Silk, 1275; 2. R. Pennink, 1274; 3. T. Christopher, 1217; 4. T. Szegedy, 1159; 5. B. Santos, 1132; 6. E. Beers, 1129; 7. M. Hirschman, 1119; 8. D. Coby, 1113; 9. M. Stefanik, 1023; 10. E. Rudolph, 1012.

July 30 Riverhead Raceway - NASCAR

Justin Bonsignore converted his home-track advantage into his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. The 23-year-old from Holtsville, N.Y., drove away with the Lighthouse Mission 200 Saturday at Riverhead Raceway.
Bonsignore, the 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco Rookie of the Year, also runs regularly in Riverhead's weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modified Division. He is second in the track's point standings. Todd Szegedy was second, followed by Ron Silk, Ryan Preece and Doug Coby. Rowan Pennink rebounded from an early wreck to finish sixth. The finish allowed Silk to take the points lead by five over Pennink.
Jamie Tomaino, Patrick Emerling, Bobby Santos and Richie Pallai rounded out the top 10, Earlier in the day, Riverside veteran Howie Brode earned his first career Coors Light Pole Award on the tour. His night ended early, though, when he was caught up in a multi-car accident in the first half of the race. Brode led the first 17 laps before Bonsignore made the decisive move to the front on Lap 18. With his sixth-straight top-five finish, Silk passed Pennink for the season points lead. Silk now leads by five tallies with nine races remaining.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Lighthouse Mission 200
Unofficial Results
Saturday At Riverhead Raceway, Riverhead, N.Y.
Lap length: 0.25 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 175 laps, 34.464 mph.
2. (3) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 175.
3. (16) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
4. (7) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
5. (9) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
6. (6) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 175.
7. (10) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 175.
8. (28) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 175.
9. (19) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 175.
10. (27) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 175.
11. (23) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 175.
12. (18) Dave Brigati, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 175.
13. (24) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 175.
14. (22) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
15. (20) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 172.
16. (25) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 160.
17. (4) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 158, accident.
18. (21) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 158.
19. (8) Shawn Solomito, Islip, N.Y., Chevrolet, 146, accident.
20. (26) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 124.
21. (12) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 119.
22. (13) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 85, radio.
23. (1) Howie Brode, East Islip, N.Y., Chevrolet, 69, accident.
24. (5) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 69, accident.
25. (15) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 60, suspension.
26. (17) Donny Lia, Jericho, N.Y., Chevrolet, 58, accident.
27. (11) George Brunnhoelzl, III, W. Babylon, N.Y., Chevrolet, 22, accident.
28. (14) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 1, accident.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 16 minutes 10 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.352 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: H.Brode (75.898 mph, 11.858 seconds)
Caution Flags: 11 for 100 laps.
Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: H. Brode 1-17; J. Bonsignore 18-175.

Standings: 1. R. Silk, 1129; 2. R. Pennink, 1124; 3. T. Szegedy, 1038; 4. T. Christopher, 1032; 5. M. Hirschman, 995; 6. D. Coby, 970; 7. E. Beers, 969; 8. B. Santos, 967; 9. R. Yuhas,Jr., 890; 10. E. Rudolph, 870.

July 16 New Hampshire Speedway - NASCAR - 12th

The 45 Car was alot better than the 12th place finish - Car was fast all weekend and the team had it change tires ready to be even better at the end of the race. The problem was that the race went green for the last 90 laps giving no one a chance to pit. One caution would have changed the entire complextion of the event, but thats racing.

NEW HAMPSHIRE F.W. WEBB 100
by Polly Reid
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With only two short cautions inside the first ten circuits, it was green flag racing to the checkers and an impressive finish by Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman of South Bend, IN who bested the field to take the victory in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, F. W. Webb 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. A last lap pass by Todd Szegedy brought the Ridgefield, CT across for second with Ron Silk of Norwalk, CT third, Matt Hirschman and Doug Coby the top five. His third consecutive win at the Magic Mile in the Kevin Manion owned modified, Newman admitted a caution could have changed things. “I didn’t know what was going to happen if a yellow came out whatever lap it was going to be- it was sure going to changed the complexity of the race. We were loose, but we were the tightest loose of the top three up front there. Fortunately it all worked out for us.” Setting fast time on Thursday, Newman chose the outside lane for the green with Silk, Szegedy, Bobby Santos and Doug Coby the top five. Andy Petree, expected to make his first NWMT start, suffered damage in the final practice and did not start.
A caution on the first circuit slowed the pace when three cars tangled in turns one and two ending the day for Justin Bonsignore- the field lined up for another try. Newman again taking the outside, lined up with Silk, Santos, Szegedy and Rowan Pennink- only to be reined in again when Andy Seuss spun in turn four. Once again under way, it was quick to see who were the cars to beat as Newman, Szegedy and Silk set the pace, pulling away from the pack and as the long green run continued, the top trio continued to separate themselves from the rest of the field the circuits clicking off the board - eventually working lap traffic and before the half, they had put a good ten seconds between themselves and Ted Christopher in fourth. Ryan Preece made his return to the NWMT and had worked his Bustout/Reynolds Auto Wrecking modified up to fourth just past the half mark when suddenly he was down pit row- out with engine issues with 40 to go. Earlier, engine issues plagued several teams including Patrick Emerling who was out 16 laps in, then Jimmy Blewett with only 26 circuits in the books followed by Dale Quarterly with 29 laps completed and Mike Stefanik with 30- all pushed behind the wall. 25 to go, Silk leading, the green flag still out- only 14 cars remained on the lead lap- with Szegedy and Newman keeping the T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet in their sights. But as the laps ticked down and the green continued, Newman turned up the wick and moved low in turn three to nab second from Szegedy on lap 80 and after a brief side by side battle with Silk, made his pass in turns one and two, 16 to go on the scoreboard to secure the lead for the final time- taking the Aggressive Hydraulics/Menards Chevrolet across the line for the win. “This is really special,” said Manion whose regular job is crew chief for Sprint Cup driver Jamie McMurray. “This whole program we started with Gary, myself and Russell, we won here as a team in the early 90’s when we first started coming up here with Jeff Fuller then Steve Park. As a kid, to come up here and race with the Cup guys, it was really special. We made sure our car looked good because we had a lot of guys watching, it was one of the best races up here so 20 years later to come back here and be part of a team, learning the aspect of owning a car, the expense of getting up here and all the expense that goes on, just trying to get a pit crew together, it’s important to us and it’s special to win and pretty exciting.” Manion noted they brought two modifieds and they will be swapping them out then head to Seekonk on Wednesday, Thompson on Thursday and Riverhead on Saturday with Gary Putnam behind the wheel. Pulling down his fourth top ten finish with six events to date in 2011, Szegedy was able to capitalize when Silk went high on the last lap, making a smooth pass for a second. “Second to me was kind of a win to me. I mean we beat all the regulars and we’ve had some bad luck here in the last four or five races here, so this was definitely a good run- we had a great car. Towards the end I kind of went in a fuel conservation mode because we didn’t bank on knowing how many green laps we were going so I started backing out of it a little bit.” Referencing Newman’s recent dominance Szegedy offered this, “I think we have some work to do. We have to drive the track a little bit different, set the car up different- you know, he is not unbeatable. He definitely can be beat so we just have to work harder. They got a good car underneath him, he understands the cars now but anyone one is beatable, I don’t care if they’re superman.” Szegedy in the hunt all day in the Wisk Detergent/A.J. Romano Construction, Mike Smeriglio, III owned Ford led a handful of laps in the first third of the event.
Silk continues to be one to watch this season in the NWMT as the Norwalk, CT driver once again earned a top three, his fourth podium finish in six races. “I was surprised how long it went green, I’m sure everyone was. We had a pretty good car, all my guys did a great job all weekend, we really made about a thousand adjustments since we got here. We got a little bit close to Newman on the last lap there -Eric Beers gave me like a tow to get me within range of him and I really tried to sail down there into turn one on the last lap and I just got up there in the loose stuff and once you get up there you can’t get out. That was how Todd was able to get me on the last lap.” Silk smiling added, “It was a good day, we’ll work a little harder for the next race- maybe that 7 won’t be here for the Indy weekend, maybe we’ll get a break.” NWMT points leader Rowan Pennink crossed for sixth, Eric Goodale seventh, Ron Yuhas,Jr who started 24th crossed for 8th with Ed Flemke, Jr. and Woody Pitkat the top ten. Ted Christopher faded to 11th the last car on the lead lap. New Hampshire Motor Speedway got it right when they named Rachel Gilbert the Grand Marshal for the F.W. Webb 100. In April, the 100 year young- yes, 100, celebrated the milestone by driving the track’s pace car around the one mile oval. As the Grand Marshal today, the Laconia, NH resident who came to the Bryar Motorsports Park in the early 60’s, continues to make headlines as she gave the command ‘drivers start your engines.’ From the Magic Mile to the Long Island quarter mile, the NWMT heads to Riverhead Raceway July 30th.

1. (1) Ryan Newman, South Bend, Ind., Chevrolet, 100 laps, 112.987 mph.
2. (3) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 100.
3. (2) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 100.
4. (9) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 100.
5. (6) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 100.
6. (7) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 100.
7. (12) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 100.
8. (24) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 100.
9. (14) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 100.
10. (21) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 100.
11. (10) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 100.
12. (11) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 99.
13. (4) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 99.
14. (18) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 99.
15. (16) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 99.
16. (19) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 99.
17. (13) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 99.
18. (28) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 98.
19. (26) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 98.
20. (20) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 98.
21. (22) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 98.
22. (23) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 98.
23. (27) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 98.
24. (31) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 98.
25. (32) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 97.
26. (33) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Chevrolet, 89.
27. (8) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Chevrolet, 60, engine.
28. (17) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 30, engine.
29. (30) Dale Quarterley, Westfield, Mass., Chevrolet, 29, engine.
30. (15) Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 26, engine.
31. (25) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 16, engine.
32. (34) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 1, accident.
33. (5) Andy Petree, Hickory, N.C., Chevrolet, 0, dns.
34. (29) Rob Fuller, Boylston, Mass., Ford, 0, dns.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 0 hours 56 minutes 11 seconds
Margin of Victory: 1.901 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: R.Newman (184.857 mph, 20.604 seconds)
Caution Flags: 2 for 6 laps.
Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Newman 1-33; T. Szegedy 34-36; R. Newman 37-47; R. Silk 48-83; R. Newman 84-100.

Standings: 1. R. Pennink, 969; 2. R. Silk, 959; 3. T. Christopher, 916; 4. M. Hirschman, 866; 5. T. Szegedy, 858; 6. E. Beers, 836; 7. B. Santos, 826; 8. D. Coby, 810; 9. R. Yuhas,Jr., 777; 10. E. Rudolph, 776.

By Brian Danko
LOUDON, N.H.---Whenever the NASCAR modified tour returns to the New Hampshire Motor speedway, from the fans up to the competitors, they know that it is going to be one of the must see races of the year but this year, fans who were used to seeing the high powered rockets won’t be able to watch either live or on tape delayed because the spring race won’t be broadcast. After watching the race, it’s a good thing as the race wasn’t one of the best.
Last year, fans of the open wheel series and fans of racing in general knew watching the mods at the one mile speedway was something special but this year fans will only be able to watch the modifieds twice on the tube this year beginning with the mid August race at Bristol and the fall race here at New Hampshire. Both of those races will be shown live on Speed.. Part of the problem was when the parent company of Versus was sold and they changed their upper management and dropped the coverage of the modified tour that they had in 2010, which consisted of at least 8 races, taped for a later broadcast and shown in a one hour version. The fans, crews, drivers and car owners loved it. The modifieds, after years of neglect were finally getting the long overdue television exposure that NASCAR had promised for at least 10 years. And not only did they get a couple of live events but the taped shows were just as good as they replayed a couple times giving sponsors a reason to hop on board the modified tour. When the 2011 television schedule was released, needless to say, competitors of the modified tour were downright ticked off at going from 8 races to just two, albeit it live events. I caught up with a trio of drivers to get their views during Saturday morning and none were two happy with it. “It’s not disappointing.” Doug Coby said, “Its downright ridicules. We’ll do everything we need to do to get television and then we have it and lose it.”; Doug was aware of the deal with Versus but he can’t understand how the K and N Series East and West has 24 of their 25 events on TV and the modifieds get two. “There is TV here for the Cup practice, Nationswide practice and race and they tape the K and N race (on Friday) and we can’t get something, especially here.”;
“You can’t build up a following if you only have one or two races a year on TV. Right now, we need to start now for next year. We’ll all bitch and complain about it and nothing will get down. It almost seems the K and N got more races at the expense of the modified tour.”; Doug’s biggest complaint was ‘don’t tell us your working on something when you’re not.’; Teddy Christopher is another driver used to being at the front of the pack and he and his sponsors would love the exposure but he too was disappointed. “It’s very disappointing. I understand that they lost a deal with Versus but they don’t say anything. We are expecting it and we don’t have it.”;
Mike Stefanik, a seven time modified tour champion too was disappointed in the lack of coverage this year after the large exposure last year. “Everyone wants TV. I know that but it’s very disappointing to go from the number we had to two. It was great morale booster for our team, our crew and our car owner. It gave our car owners business great exposure which otherwise we wouldn’t have had.”; NASCAR said that they never promised the modified tour competitors anything in 2011 and that, like all their sanctioned races, they would like TV for them but this year the deal with Versus fell through and it was too late to secure anything other than the two live events at Bristol and New Hampshire later this year. Many of the drivers did say that they lost potential sponsorship when the lack of television dates dried up and in today’s economy that hurts every team that banked on coverage in 2011.

PETTREE INVOLVED IN PRACTICE WRECK
Many eyes were looking at what Andy Pettree, III, the long time Sprint Cup car owner turned announcer would do in his modified. He turned many heads when he qualified fifth for the F.W. Webb 100 but his day turned sour on Saturday morning when he was clipped by another car and turned into the wall on the front stretch during the modifieds only practice of the day. His team was seen working feverishly to get the car repaired for what would be his first ever event at New Hampshire but he was forced to withdraw from the race.

NEWMAN DOES IT AGAIN
If Ryan Newman ever loses his full time ride on the Sprint Cup circuit, he might be willing to come and play in the NASCAR Whelen modified tour series as he captured his third straight modified pole for the Saturday companion event. Newman, running a Kevin Manion/Gary Putnam owned modified not only won the pole position, his third straight at Loudon but he captured the 100 lap race in dominating fashion. There is some question on the win as reports on the way home were that Newman’s car was found to have issues but that no decision would be made until during the upcoming week. Newman who loves racing on the modified tour when asked if would like to see the modifieds at more races with the Cup series said it would be great for the series.
“These cars would be awesome at the one mile tracks. They would be great at Phoenix, Richmond and Martinsville.”;
That’s when crew chief, Kevin Manion spoke up and said he remembers going Richmond and Watkins Glen with the tour back in the 90’s and how awesome the modifieds were at Richmond in particular. The modified tour returns here next month as part of the Indy Car weekend while the Sprint cup series are in Watkins Glen, N.Y. A quick trip today by air but would they come? According to Kevin Manion, they have discussed it but they haven’t made any decisions. You can tell that Newman loves running the modifieds and the tour regulars, while they don’t like getting beat by him, like him running because of the respect factor. It goes both ways.

34 CARS FOR 38 SPOTS
A sure sign of the struggling economy is that only 34 modifieds showed up in New Hampshire for the 38 starting spots available. It surprised many that teams with multiple cars didn’t do a start and park, a ritual performed weekly on the Cup and Nationwide series weekly. The track was paying $1800. To take the green yet nobody budged. Chad Little the modified tour director even called on one competitor who usually runs the two Loudon races to inquire if he would consider running Loudon. The reported response out of the drivers mouth was, “are you going to buy me a set of tires?”; Rob Fuller, nephew of tour champions Rick and Jeff Fuller qualified for the race but he lost the motor early Saturday morning and they loaded up for the weekend.

TOUGH DAY FOR MANY TOUR REGULARS
It wasn’t the kindest day for defending series champion, Bobby Santos. Although the talented driver finished 13th, it was a distant 13th as he and former champion, Teddy Christopher, who finished 11th just couldn’t get a handle on the car. You usually expect both these drivers to be battling for the win at NHMS. Mike Stefanik’s streak of lousy luck continued as he finished in 28th after having issues during the early part of the race.

GOOD DAY FOR COBY AND HIRSCHMAN
While some drivers had their problems, Doug Coby and Matt Hirschman has great days finishing fifth and fourth respectively. Eddie Flemke, Jr. had underneath his hood a Rousch motor and while Eddie said the team did have problems, a ninth place finish is what the doctor ordered after his rough stretch.

June 30 - Thompson Speedway - NASCAR- 8

The day started out with the motor feeling flat and not being as good as it had been the past couple of races - They fixed that by having Eric switch ignition boxes. From there the race was just a wait and see game and wiat to make the move - but then the race changed when Eric was going to pass the #2 car and they all checked up in front and the 2 car came down and Eric actually went up over his tire bending the shock. It was a little touch and go from there as Eric wasn't sure how bad it was bent and if if would break going through the corner. But it held up and the team held on for a top ten finish despite some adversity.

by Polly Reid

Ted Christopher overcame what could have been a disastrous day by sticking to pit strategy that turned out to be key for the Plainville, CT driver who after winning the pole, started from the back of the field at the green, pitted with 25 to go and with fresh tires, ‘carved’ his way forward taking the lead with 8 circuits remaining to win the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Budweiser ‘King of Beers’ 150 at Thompson International Speedway. Ron Silk wagered a valiant battle as the two went side by side in the closing laps, but it was Christopher’s fresh Hoosiers that gave him the edge for the victory, Christopher’s 40th NMWT career win, his seventh at Thompson in the last nine NWMT events. Silk crossed for second, Rowan Pennink third, Bobby Santos and Eric Berndt the top five. “I’m probably glad we didn’t start on the pole because that thing was so evil, it was good that we could make changes with it, made some more and I told them at the end, give it some stagger and a little bit of wedge and let me do what I got to do - I got turn three down pretty good at this place,” said Christopher. “I’ve got to thank Eddie Whelan, this is a brand new car, brand new motor, Tony’s Competition Engines, Northeast Race Car and Parts, Brad sets it up, like I said, it’s always nice to have new pipe.” Earning his 23rd career pole earlier in the afternoon, Christopher missed the drivers meeting and penalized, would start the event last. While Rowan Pennink led the field to green, Christopher, climbed to just inside the top twenty when the first yellow waved at lap 53 and pitted for adjustments with the leaders. Doug Coby inherited the lead after electing not to come brought the field back around for green on lap 63 only to be reined in for a second caution on lap 66, a four car tangle that included Christopher in turn three. Pitting again for adjustments, Christopher was off the radar deep in the pack on the restart while Coby, Bobby Santos, Pennink, Justin Bonsignore and Todd Szegedy led the way. Just past the half way mark, Pennink passed Coby for the lead as the field settled into a long green run, Silk appearing in the top five by lap 80, while Bonsignore’s night ended with battery problems. It was the caution on lap 118 that proved to be the turning point for Christopher who was able to come in for fresh tires, however lining up deep in the pack on the lap 124 restart led by Pennink, Silk, Coby (who still did not pit), Santos and Szegedy the top five. Silk wasted no time taking over the front spot at the green while in the back, Christopher picked off the field one by one, up to fourth when the next yellow waved on lap 134. Eleven laps to go at the green, Christopher moved into second and set his sights on Silk leading using his familiar passing move in turns three and four with 8 to go when the final yellow of the night came out. The field closed up, Christopher chose the inside lane on the restart and never looked back scoring to score the win. “It really doesn’t bother me (the penalty) the biggest thing about starting in the back is worrying about getting wrecked you have to be extra cautious- it’s pretty fun to watch that stuff from back there that’s for sure.” Christopher continued, “Racing to win is one thing but to put on a good show is another. It was a good show and hopefully people will come back to watch more racing.” “New car, new motor, new everything,” explained crew chief Brad Lafontaine. “We didn’t practice much, only 3 laps in practice, 2 laps in time trials, sat on the pole- we were on a high note, hung around here so long we just lost track of time I guess and we missed the drivers meeting. I missed it, Teddy missed it and we weren’t even hanging around together. It was just one of those things- I apologized to Eddie. Teddy and I talked when we realized we got penalized, we said we have to keep the wheels on the car and move forward the best we can.” Suspecting they might have had a bad tire when the car wasn’t ’good’ the first 100 plus laps. “We kept pitting, trying to figure out what was wrong with the car. The other guys are putting tires on, we’re checking rotor temperature.” A list of adjustments then finally tires at the end, as Lafontaine put it, “who else do you want in your car with 25 to go?” Lafontaine realized they indeed had a chance to win as he was clicking off his stop watch. “I’m thinking to myself, this thing is so fast, it’s back to where we were in practice and time trials.” Four pit stops, a spin, Lafontaine admitted, “We got lucky with the cautions, we got lucky with the spin, you know, you have to have a little luck in the game too. The team, they did a great job, everything I was barking out to them they were just doing it, everyone went 100 percent. When you have a good bunch of guys that know what they’re doing, you know, it just works.”
His share of success at Thompson, Silk almost pulled off the win. “He got some tires there at the end, we took tires around lap 60. The guys did a great job, we weren’t that good on the first half of the race we made adjustments, really got the car a lot better. Ted and all those guys did a great job, congratulations to them and we’ll go get ready for Loudon and try to win one.”
The podium finish for Pennink keeps the Huntingdon Valley, PA driver in the points lead. “We had a great car through the whole race, we didn’t need those last couple of cautions at the end, man that 93 car there, when we were out front it was just unbelievable. I could drive it anywhere I wanted. For some reason when that caution came out, I don’t know what the tires did but we didn’t need that heat cycle on the tires and the thing gave up a little bit after that caution.”
Todd Szegedy fresh off his victory at Monadnock Speedway four days ago finished sixth, Doug Coby, who never pitted was seventh, Eric Beers eighth, James Civali rallied after motor problems in practice was ninth and Eric Goodale tenth

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Budweiser 'King of Beers' 150 Unofficial Results
Thursday At Thompson International Speedway, Thompson, Conn.
Lap length: 0.625 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 150 laps, 87.164 mph.
2. (9) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
3. (2) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 150.
4. (3) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 150.
5. (7) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
6. (5) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 150.
7. (4) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
8. (12) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 150.
9. (23) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 150.
10. (17) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
11. (14) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
12. (13) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 150.
13. (8) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
14. (11) Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
15. (6) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
16. (18) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 150.
17. (21) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 150.
18. (20) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 150.
19. (16) Dave Etheridge, Portland, Conn., Chevrolet, 148.
20. (24) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 145.
21. (22) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 143.
22. (26) Rick Gentes, Woonsocket, R.I., Chevrolet, 116, electrical.
23. (27) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 113.
24. (15) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 83, battery.
25. (25) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 64, engine.
26. (10) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 53, fuel pump.
27. (19) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 29, engine.

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 4 minutes 32 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.711 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: T. Christopher (120.366 mph, 18.693 seconds)
Caution Flags: 5 for 27 laps.
Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Pennink 1-56; D. Coby 57-75; R. Pennink 76-124; R. Silk 125-141; T. Christopher 142-150.

Standings: 1. R. Pennink, 819; 2. R. Silk, 789; 3. T. Christopher, 786; 4. E. Beers, 709; 5. M. Hirschman, 706; 6. B. Santos, 702; 7. T. Szegedy, 683; 8. M. Stefanik, 669; 9. E. Rudolph, 664; 10. D. Coby, 655..

June 25 Monadnock Speedway - NASCAR - 12th

After practice and many adjustments the team thought they had about a 12th place time trial car. Well that changed when Eric picked the #1 pill for time trails. Eric picked up a bunch of debris being the first car out and the car was wiggly and timed 23rd. When the race started Eric just took his time and picked cars off one at a time. The team used three early cautions to come in and make adjustments. Air out of the right rear then take out a bump stop and then add in some rubber in. The car obviously was better but as you can see from the finish there was not much passing in the top 10 cars. In fact Eric won the award for passing the most cars on the track. Eric was heading for a top ten finish when he got bunched up with a pack of cars racing hard and to make the matter harder, he had a car in front of him dumping water which made it slick. The team is disappointed in 12th because they race to win, but not terrible considering all they overcame and the car is in one piece. Like Eric said, the track is banked but then when you drive it , it doesnt feel banked and if you miss your mark by even half a tire width you are not as fast as you need to be.

Todd Szegedy showed everyone why he is still someone to watch on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Szegedy, the 2003 tour champion, started from the pole and led every lap to win the Monadnock 200 Sunday for his 15th career tour win and first since August of last year.
With his win Szegedy became the fourth different winner in as many races this season on the tour and it was his first top-five finish of the season. Szegedy held off Justin Bosingnore who followed in second while Matt Hirschman was third. Ron Silk was fourth and James Civali completed the top five. Defending race winner ted Christopher finished sixth with Mike Stefanik seventh and Ron Yuhas Jr. eighth. Erick Rudolph and point leader Rowan Pennink completed the top 10. Pennink used his solid finish to retain the points lead by 25 over Silk (644-619.
The race was slowed six times for caution.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Monadnock 200 Results
Lap length: 0.25 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 175 laps, 48.491 mph.
2. (7) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 175.
3. (4) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 175.
4. (2) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
5. (5) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 175.
6. (14) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
7. (10) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 175.
8. (6) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
9. (8) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 175.
10. (12) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 175.
11. (11) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
12. (23) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 175.
13. (9) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 175.
14. (19) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 175.
15. (13) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 175.
16. (15) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 175.
17. (3) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 174.
18. (17) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 174.
19. (27) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 174.
20. (26) Dave Etheridge, Portland, Conn., Chevrolet, 173.
21. (21) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 173.
22. (16) Renee Dupuis, Glastonbury, Conn., Chevrolet, 172.
23. (24) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 172.
24. (25) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 172.
25. (22) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Chevrolet, 171.
26. (18) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 171.
27. (28) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 171, clutch.

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Todd Szegedy, Time: 12.447 Seconds, Speed: 72.307 mph
Time of Race: 0 hrs., 54 mins, 8 secs Average Speed: 48.491 mph Margin of Victory: 0.417 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 2-5; 38-45; 48-54; 85-95; 106-112; 153-161. 6 for 46 laps.
Lap Leaders: Todd Szegedy 1-175.
Total Laps Led: Todd Szegedy 175. 0 changes involving 1 drivers.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Eric Beers, 45 Horwith Freightliner Chevrolet
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Todd Szegedy, 2 Wisk Laundry Detergent/AJ Romano Ford
FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Justin Bonsignore, 51 M3 Technology Chevrolet
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Patrick Emerling *, 07 Emerling Chevrolet Ford
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE AWARD: Todd Szegedy, 2 Wisk Laundry Detergent
Top 10 Driver Points: Rowan Pennink 644, Ron Silk 619, Ted Christopher 601, Mike Stefanik 584, Matt Hirschman 579, Eric Beers 567, Erick Rudolph 546, Bobby Santos 542, Todd Szegedy 533, Ron Yuhas, Jr. 505

MONADNOCK SPEEDWAY
by Polly Reid
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After setting fast time earlier in the afternoon earning his first Coors Light Pole award of the season, Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT in the Wisk/AJ Romano Ford kept the momentum going leading all 175 laps, green to checker, to score the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Monadnock 200 victory. Szegedy survived six cautions and held off the challenges of Ron Silk then later Justin Bonsignore to collect his first victory of 2011, the 15th of his career. Bonsignore crossed for second with Matt Hirschman, Silk and James Civali the top five. “Phil Moran prepared an awesome car for me, it makes my job a lot easier, coming here certainly helped.” Szegedy said referring to the previous week at Monadnock where he competed in the Twin 25’s where he finished fourth and second. “It’s a unique track, there are little knacks you have to learn at this track to figure it out. I knew what the car needed, we struggled a little bit in practice and we kind of threw a big change at it, then we put it on the pole and kept this Mike Smeriglio Ford up front - I can’t thank Michael my car owner enough, he puts this all together, and the guys at the shop, it’s some of the best chemistry we’ve ever had. I’m hoping there is going to be more to come after this.” Szegedy’s car owner Mike Smeriglio could not agree more about the chemistry. “To have this much success this early, it’s a great feeling. I could not be happier for the guys and ladies of this team.” During the long green runs, as expected, lap traffic comes into play on the tight quarter mile high banked oval. There was one very close call just before the half way mark that could have ended Szegedy’s night when in turns three and four, a lap car spun just in front of the leaders. “Randy my spotter did a heck of a job. He told me to go high, go high. I couldn’t see a thing there was so much smoke. I got lucky. It got hairy a couple of times coming up to lap traffic, it always does. This track, you have to hang on, there’s no doubt about it.”
Bonsignore from Holtsville, NY started the Kenneth Massa owned M3 Technology Chevrolet seventh and using patience, made his way into second passing a stout running Silk for the position with 30 to go. “I think we used our stuff up too much trying to get up to second, we didn’t need that last caution, the car just took 15-20 laps to get going,” said Bonsignore. “It’s unfortunate but we have had a dismal start to the season, so this is real good. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going for Thursday, Loudon and from then on out.” Bonsignore continued smiling, “We’ve been having great luck at Riverhead, we’re actually leading the points there, just waiting for it to turn around on this end of it. Can’t thank my guys and crew chief Aaron Clifford enough, hopefully we can keep this going.” While it is the second time in two years the Tour has visited Monadnock Speedway, Matt Hirschman has not- at least not ever as a driver which makes his podium finish even more special. Lining up fourth at the green, the Northampton, PA driver never dropped his Cape Cod Copper/Riverview Chevrolet out of the top five during the entire 175 laps. “This is the first time I’ve ever raced here - I haven’t been here since 1993. I certainly remember the track from when I was here in ‘93 with my dad, but nothing that you could use to my advantage today. It’s nice to come here and get a top five here with the Boehler team. We showed that we could finish in the top ten, but that’s not what we’re after, we want to perform better than that. The top five is were it’s at and a top three is even better. This is something for us to build on- it’s our fourth race together and there’s a lot of racing coming up so I’m looking forward to it and hopefully we can get in victory lane this year.” Collecting his second top ten in four races, Ron Yuhas of Groton, CT brought the A-Team/Beaver Bats Chevrolet over the line 8th. Yuhas ran a weekly show at Monadnock in early June, that trip paying off. “It was actually a phenomenal learning experience. I got to talk to Kirk Alexander for quite some time and he was very helpful. Whether he knows it or know, he was kind of like a mentor for me - he gave me a couple of tips and tricks for this place. Then I got to race with him, follow him, actually all the regulars here, they know this place better than anybody. It was definitely well worth the trip and it was fun doing it.” A big mention to Glen Reen, finishing 13th, Andy Seuss and Renee Dupuis, all three coming to Monadnock for their first Tour race of 2011. Seuss qualified a strong third, holding that position until a restart just before lap 50, contact sending the Hampstead, NH driver into the infield. Seuss recovered to finish the night 17th. Points leader Rowan Pennink qualified 12th and was running as high as 8th when just after a restart, contact in turn two shuffled the Huntingdon Valley, PA driver out of line. Pennink was able to keep control but lost several spots, his 10th place finish not reflecting how many cars he actually did pass.
Pennink remains the point leader, 25 over Silk as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads to Thompson International Speedway this Thursday for the Budweiser King of Beers 150.

May 27 - Stafford Speedway - NASCAR - 11th

Eric and the team recovered from a stuck lug nut after pitting while running 4th and then a tangle while passing a car to finish 11th

by Polly Reid

At the drop of the green it was Ron Silk’s to lose, but not this time. Silk followed up his dramatic time trial run with a commanding performance in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour TSI Harley-Davidson 125 taking a trip to victory lane at Stafford Motor Speedway, the Norwalk, CT driver leading every lap. Rowan Pennink crossed for second, Bobby Santos third, Ted Christopher and Erik Rudolph the top five. Silk survived lap traffic, three cautions including a red flag to collect his fifth career NWMT victory.“The car was just flawless the whole time. The guys did a great job, at the beginning of practice we struggled a little bit, they worked really hard for that hour and a half, it was about a hundred degrees out, they really made the right changes. I want to thank my car owners Connie and Eddie Partridge for letting me drive their cars, it’s great equipment, all the guys who work on it, Tommy Grasso our crew chief who works just as hard as anybody if not harder, I’m really happy for those guys.” The last driver out for time trials, Silk bested the field with his run earning his fourth NWMT career pole, his second at Stafford. It did not take long for the 31 car field to settle into single file as the laps began to tick off. A timely caution on lap 45 brought more than half the field down pit row- Silk elected to stay out along with Santos and Rudolph while Pennink and Christopher came in. “We were hoping our car was good enough where we wouldn’t have to make stop and adjust on it.,” said Silk. “The guys did a great job getting it right in practice. This place is getting harder and harder to pass, the cars are almost the same speed, starting out front is definitely a big help.” Silk, Santos, Rudolph and Doug Coby restarted the field only to be reined in when the 50 car of Kevin Goodale took a hard hit into the front stretch wall crossing back across the track finally stopping in the infield. The caution turned red flag to clean the debris and remove the heavily damaged car hammock style. Strong on the lap 62 restart, Silk wasted no time pulling his T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet away from the pack, his quest solid only to be pulled back in on lap 70 for a two car tangle in turn four involving Eric Beers and Buzz Chew. The caution quick, Silk continued his precision restarts and by lap 80 had a ten car length lead over Santos in second, Rudolph, Christopher and Todd Szegedy the top five. Meanwhile, Pennink was making his moves and just outside of the top five, continued to pick off the competition, first Szegedy by lap 90, Christopher one circuit later, Rudolph two rounds later, his sights set on Santos running second. With 15 to go, Pennink made his move passing Santos and continued marching forward to Silk, but ran out of time. At the checkers, Pennink scored his third 2nd place finish in as many races. “We had an awesome car, I got to thank all the guys, Doug Chouinard the crew chief, awesome power by Hutter, we were a little loose in the beginning, the guys made an awesome pit stop getting us out first off pit road, the car was good from there then we almost got in a couple of tangle ups which set me back a little bit but we just ran out of time at the end and couldn’t quite get to Silk with the lap traffic- congratulations to Ron and the 6 team.” Santos never waived out of the top three, his Mystic Missile Dodge running second most of the night until Pennink entered the picture to make a claim on the position. “We had a good car,“ said Santos. “The guys did an awesome job tonight, it was a little bit loose getting in the turns and I kind of hurt it a little bit but I want to congratulate Ronnie and those guys, they deserve it.” While Pennink continues to hold the points lead, Sillk’s win propelled him to second in the standings, Christopher third. Justin Bonsignore just wasn’t sure how his night was going to pan out when he had to take a provisional starting spot lining at the green. A very long day turned out a little better when the Holtsville, NY driver crossed the line a well earned 17th. Getting in a couple of rounds of practice, Bonsignore suffered motor issues throwing the M3 Technology 51 team into action pulling the motor from their primary car. Swapping that out with the motor they pulled out of their backup car, the crew nearly got the Kenneth Massa owned machine out for time trials, but a transmission issue kept them from rolling any further. “It’s been a long day,” confessed Bonsignore. “We were fast in practice (on old tires), consistent, but what are you going to do, it’s part of the deal.” A top twenty finish doesn’t sound so bad after a day like that. Next up for the NWMT is Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH on June 25th, the high banked quarter mile oval will not disappoint, if you like action that is

Ron Silk returned to Victory Lane for the first time in a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race since 2009 and he did it in dominating fashion with a wire-to-wire run in the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway. Silk, who hadn’t taken a checkered flag home since winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 19, 2009, led all 125 laps to collect his fifth career win in his 25th start at Stafford. Points leader Rowan Pennink followed in second with defending Whelen Modified Tour Champion Bobby Santos third. Ted Christopher and Erick Rudolph completed the top five.
“The car was just flawless the whole time,” Silk said. “At the beginning of practice we struggled a little bit. They worked really hard for that hour and a half, and really made the right changes.” Following those adjustments, Silk went out last of the 31 cars in time trials and claimed his fourth career Coors Light Pole Award. Once the race began, he was rarely challenged, and at one point had nearly two seconds on the field.
The Norwalk, Conn., native became the first Whelen Modified Tour driver to win a race leading flag-to-flag since Ryan Preece did it at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway on Aug. 1, 2009. With the win, Silk improved from seventh to second in points after three races. Silk also delivered the No. 6 TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet team its third win in the last four years at Stafford. The two previous victories came with Jimmy Blewett behind the wheel. Friday was Pennink’s third runner-up finish in a row to start the season, and it extended his lead in the standings to 51 points.
“Just ran out of time at the end there, I couldn’t quite get to Silk with the lap traffic,” Pennink said. “I’ve been saying this three weeks in a row, but hopefully we’ll make that one more position up next race.” It was a bounce-back night for most of the rest of the top 10; Todd Szegedy, Chuck Hossfeld, Doug Coby, James Civali and Matt Hirschman. All but Hirschman suffered DNFs when the Whelen Modified Tour visited Stafford on May 1.
On the other side of the ledger were Mike Stefanik and Preece. Stefanik trailed Pennink by just 20 points following the first two races, and brought a streak of nine-straight top-five finishes into the race, but had to settle for 15th. Preece entered the race sixth in points, but suffered engine failure with five laps to go and was relegated to 24th. The race was slowed just three times by caution with the red flag displayed during the second yellow on Lap 53 to clean up a multi-car incident. The TSI Harley-Davidson 125 marked the 100th Whelen Modified Tour race at Stafford since the Tour’s inaugural season of 1985. Stafford’s Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Mark Arute was presented with a commemorative checkered flag prior to the race with the signatures of all 31 of the Tour drivers. The Whelen Modified Tour will return to action with the Monadnock 200 on June 25 at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-TSI Harley-Davidson 125 Unofficial Results
Friday At Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford, Conn.
Lap length: 0.5 miles

(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 125 laps, 72.278 mph.
2. (6) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 125.
3. (2) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 125.
4. (4) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
5. (3) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
6. (9) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 125.
7. (19) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
8. (7) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
9. (18) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 125.
10. (13) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 125.
11. (5) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 125.
12. (15) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
13. (22) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
14. (27) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
15. (11) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 125.
16. (17) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
17. (28) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
18. (21) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 124.
19. (12) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 124.
20. (25) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 124.
21. (10) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 124.
22. (24) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 124.
23. (30) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 123.
24. (20) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Ford, 120, engine.
25. (14) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 119.
26. (26) Dave Etheridge, Portland, Conn., Chevrolet, 112.
27. (29) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 109.
28. (23) Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y., Chevrolet, 65, engine.
29. (31) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 58, brakes.
30. (8) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 51, accident.
31. (16) Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 51, overheating.

Race Statistics

Time of Race: 0 hours 51 minutes 53 seconds
Margin of Victory: 1.475 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: R.Silk (99.053 mph, 18.172 seconds)
Caution Flags: 3 for 19 laps.
Lead Changes: 0 among 1 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Silk 1-125.

Standings: 1. R. Pennink, 510; 2. R. Silk, 459; 3. T. Christopher, 451; 4. E. Beers, 440; 5. M. Stefanik, 438; 6. B. Santos, 424; 7. M. Hirschman, 414; 8. E. Rudolph, 408; 9. D. Coby, 369; 10. R. Preece, 368..

May 1 - Stafford Speedway - NASCAR

BOBBY SANTOS SPRINGS TO SIZZLING WIN AT STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY
2010 Champion Mystic Missile Team Regain their Momentum
by Denise DuPont
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Stafford Motor Speedway's Tech-Net Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST brought the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) right from the “Ice Breaker” into a sizzling spring. With that move, Bobby Santos and the Mystic Missile team rocketed to a win successfully recovering from an early end to his day at Thompson’s opening race to taste the sweet milk of victory. “We are here to win. We won last year and anything less than that is going to be disappointing. That is what our whole team expects. And that is the goal.” Santos expressed about the team’s 2011 goals. Bobby Santos definitely had a strong car and it may not have been the fastest in qualifying but it was where it needed to be when the checked flags flew. “It is awesome. We should have won this race last year so we made up for it this year,” said Santos from Victory lane. “It is great to be a part of Mystic Missile racing these guys are awesome and it is great to be a part of this team. The car was great. We had a little bit of vibration that I felt after the pit stop and I was a little nervous about it.” Santos did not take any risks and drove conservatively during the 200 lap event. It was a long race and he wanted to be there in the end. “I was being too cautious. Last year I was being cautious when I was in lapped traffic but obviously last year I was not being too cautious. This year I have been as careful as I could. Sometimes that bites you when you are too careful and sometimes it bites when you are too aggressive but I was definitely being real careful thinking about last year.” As the race closed in on the last ten laps, the front two cars were nose to tail on the track. Rowan Pennink was right there waiting for one wrong move or an opening that would allow him to take the lead from Santos. Seeing Pennink in his rear view mirror had to be a little intimidating even for a cautious champion. “Rowan was fast and he is a good clean racer. I did not expect him to send it in where he did not belong. He definitely will be aggressive at the end and try to pass you. Rowan is fast. They have their stuff together this year. They are going to be tough to beat all year.” So how did Santos manage to hold off Pennink for the win? “Good race car and a fast motor and all the right stuff here at Stafford. You know protect the bottom and hold on to the end.”; But was it really all in car and motor that ensured Santos the win or did he brake check Rowan Pennink during the final laps of the race? “I do not think it was a brake check, I was just protecting the bottom. I was not trying to brake check him in anyway. I was just trying to hold the bottom the best that I could. I am not good enough to do that. If I did brake check him that is pretty good because it happened by accident.”; Rowan Pennink followed Santos across the start finish line bringing the Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet in for a second place finish. “We had an awesome car all weekend. Right out of the trailer the thing went right to the top of the charts on the practice sheet. That accounts for all the hard work at the shop to unload like that. It was an awesome car but I just could not get by Bobby at the end. Second is going to keep us in the points lead. We will come back at the end of the month.” Pennink had to check up more than once during the race’s last ten laps. What did he see from his driver’s seat? Was it brake checking or not? “As soon as I pulled down to pass him he pulled down. His spotter must have told him I was there. I could have sent it (car) in underneath him but who knows what would have happened but being in the points lead even thought it was just after the first race and things like that. I thought that I would give it another shot. Down in one he kind of brake checked me a little bit and I had to get on the brakes hard because I did not think that he was going to do it and then it kind of killed my run a little bit on the last couple of laps. But what are you going to do.” Pennink stated the race in fifth and finished in second so he has nothing to be ashamed of. The driver, the car and the team have all shone they are looking to make 2011 their year. “This car has been one of the most comfortable cars that I have ever driven. And this was the second time right here. The thing (car) has been awesome right off the trailer. Hopefully it will keep being strong the rest of the season.”; Ron Silk completed the race with a podium finish recovering from a disappointing twenty third place finish at Thompson. “We had a good car. We thought that our strategy was pretty good. We waited a while to pit. Not as much as some of the other guys did. The first run we were just a little too free and over adjusted on our stop and got too tight at the end. It is a much better outcome than a couple of weeks ago at Thompson. We keep all four wheels on the ground so we will be happy with that this week.” Silk struggled for a win but the car was a little off for the race. “I was driving as hard as I could. Once I started racing a little bit I would make up a little bit of ground and get kind of where I could get within something. But they were just a little bit better than we were at the end of the race.”;
Eric Beers had on of the fastest cars all weekend and if there were betting at the track the odds would have been in his favor. But a fast car with a shifter problem plagued Beers just when he did not need it to. He finished in fourth and was all smiles with the results. “We had a great race. We got out there in the beginning from fourth to second. We were chasing Bobby around and we ended up having a shifter jumping out of gear. It went into third turn on one lap and it popped out of gear and I slid up the race track. I pulled it back in thinking that maybe I did not have on right for the restart and we keep going and going and ten laps later it popped out again so I had to hold it in until the first caution so it was getting tough. Doug would start gaining on me by two cars lengthens and I would try to drive away from him again and pick it up a little bit. It was getting hard driving with one hand and I am not use to that. I always have two hands on the wheel. When we got to the pit stop we fixed that and bungee corded it in, we made some adjustments put some tires a little bit late and we got back to fourth. We definitely were as fast as the guys that won. We ran those guys down. We raced Stefanik to take fourth. We got by Mike and then we caught Silk there and then we just ran out of laps. It was our first time here with Don and the rest of the crew and we cannot be happier.”;
The Whelen Modified Tour now gets a few weeks off and will return to Stafford Motor Speedway on May 27th for their next event of the season and their third race this year.

Stafford Motor Speedway Race Notes:

Did you take fuel and was it a gamble?

Bobby Santos
“No I did not think that it was a big gamble but the last couple of years it did not seem like it was a big issue so I do not think that it is as close as it is made out to be. I think that if the whole race went green then it would have been an issue.”

Eric Beers
“Yes we did, I have a heavy foot. We could not make it on gas so we were coming in anyways.”

So how bad did the last three weeks weigh on Santos’ mind after not finishing the first race of the 2011 season?

Bobby Santos
“I have been so busy I have not even thought about it. It is definitely disappointing to start the season like that. I have honestly been so busy that I have not had time to think about it until it is time to go racing again.”;
Will your team have to do anything for the shorter race at Stafford at the end of the month?

Bobby Santos
I do not think that we anything really. We really won’t change much, just the race strategy changes a little bit and depending on how the race falls.

The #93 team now has a pair of second place finishes. What is the difference between last year and this year?

Rowan Pennink
“We are real happy with two top two finishes in the first two races. You cannot do too much better than that. We worked so hard on this new car that we built. We are not overlooking one thing that we did on the car. Doug Chenard and my crew chief has been a big part of it. We worked a lot of long hours over the winter getting that thing (Car) where we wanted to be. I have to thank him for that. I want to thank my dad for giving us the backing that allows us build such a good car like that. Spotter Brian Crowley did an awesome job today keeping us out of trouble. And all the guys in the pits, everyone did an awesome job making the right adjustments on the pit stops that we needed. It was a total team effort.” In 2010 a lot of people thought that it was Rowan Pennink turn to shine. But the team and driver missed their mark. They did not give up though. They regrouped and worked hard all winter and their efforts so far definitely show they can do it. “2010 was taking a step back from where we were in 2009 last year it was not a good feeling to run that good in ’09 and then come back again the next year and not run as good. It definitely feels good to show people that we still have it on team #93 and I think that we will be better this year than ever. Well at least the start of the season so far it shows.

STAFFORD, Conn. -- Bobby Santos rebounded from an opening season mechanical failure with a win Sunday in Stafford Speedway's Tech-Net Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST.
Santos, the defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, held off points leader Rowan Pennink over the closing laps to claim the victory. Santos opened the season with the Coors Light Pole Award at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway but lasted just 16 laps before engine issues ended his day. Sunday at Stafford, the engine was never a problem.
It was Santos' third career win at Stafford and first in the track's annual season kickoff, which was running its 40th edition. Those three wins for Santos and the No. 4 Mystic Missile Racing team have come in the last four races at the historic half mile. Ron Silk edged Eric Beers for third, while Mike Stefanik finished fifth. Erick Rudolph was sixth. Ted Christopher, three-time defending race winner, finished seventh. Matt Hirschman, Tom Rogers Jr. and Woody Pitkat rounded out the top 10.
Doug Coby, who won the Coors Light Pole Award on Saturday, was involved in the first caution of the day and finished 29th. Santos led a race-high 152 laps while Christopher paced the other 48. The first of four races in 2011 at Stafford was slowed by eight cautions for 43 laps.

1 3 4 Bobby Santos "Mystic Missile" Dodge 200 190 10 Running
2 5 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 200 170 Running
3 7 6 Ron Silk T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet 200 165 Running
4 4 45 Eric Beers Horwith Freightliner Chevrolet 200 160 Running
5 27 16 Mike Stefanik Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises Pontiac 200 155 Running
6 8 98 Erick Rudolph Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs Chevrolet 200 150 Running
7 10 36 Ted Christopher Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet 200 151 5 Running
8 12 3 Matt Hirschman Cape Cod Copper/Riverview Chevrolet 200 142 Running
9 11 9 Tom Rogers, Jr. * Miss Mariana Lee Chevrolet 200 138 Running
10 24 28 Woody Pitkat Ramar-Hall/TSI Harley-Davidson Chevrolet 200 134 Running
11 29 58 Eric Goodale Perimeters for the Home Chevrolet 200 130 Running
12 21 88 Bryon Chew * Buzz Chew Chevrolet/GT Vodka Chevrolet 200 127 Running
13 17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Ford 200 124 Running
14 25 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 200 121 Running
15 26 8 Glenn Tyler Sypher Construction Chevrolet 200 118 Running
16 18 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard's Autos/Kleer Lumber Chevrolet 200 115 Running
17 31 11 Ryan Preece Mizzy Construction Ford 200 112 Running
18 15 14 Jimmy Blewett Ling Trucking/Atlantic Sprinkler Chevrolet 200 109 Running
19 20 64 Ron Yuhas, Jr. Fast Track Electric/Beaver Bats Chevrolet 200 106 Running
20 16 46 Eric Berndt North End Auto Parts/Cape Cod Agts Chevrolet 200 103 Running
21 22 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 199 100 Running
22 28 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 197 97 Running
23 19 7 Patrick Emerling * Emerling Chevrolet Chevrolet 190 94 Running
24 2 2 Todd Szegedy Wisk Laundry Detergent/AJ Romano Ford 175 91 Accident
25 9 79 James Civali Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac 174 88 Accident
26 14 50 Kevin Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 161 85 Accident
27 30 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Pontiac 131 82 Engine
28 6 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology Chevrolet 87 79 Engine
29 1 52 Doug Coby Reynolds Auto Wrecking Chevrolet 83 76 Accident
30 13 59 Chuck Hossfeld Ed Bennett Properties Chevrolet 31 73 Engine
31 23 38 Dave Etheridge Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 0 70 Axle

RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Doug Coby, Time: 17.985 Seconds, Speed: 100.083 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 32 mins, 20 secs Average Speed: 64.982 mph Margin of Victory: 0.244 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 83-89 (Car #52 spin backstretch); 111-116 (Car #39 spin Turn 2); 132-137 (Debris Turn 2); 140-144 (Car #33 spin frontstretch [Red Flag 10 mins.]); 151-154 (Debris Turn 3); 162-168 (Cars #11, #58 spin Turn 2); 175-178 (Cars #79, 8, 10 spin backstretch); 183-186 (Cars #14, 46 spin Turn 4). 8 for 43 laps. Lap Leaders: Bobby Santos 1-86, Ted Christopher 87-134, Bobby Santos 135-200.
Total Laps Led: Bobby Santos 152, Ted Christopher 48. 2 changes involving 2 drivers.

CONTINGENCY AWARDS
COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD: Mike Stefanik, 16
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Doug Coby, 52 Reynolds Auto Wrecking Chevrolet
FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD: Bobby Santos, 4 "Mystic Missile" Dodge
SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD: Tom Rogers, Jr. *, 9 Miss Mariana Lee Chevrolet
WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE AWARD: Bobby Santos, 4 "Mystic Missile" Dodge

April 30 - Stafford Speedway - NASCAR TIme Trials - 4th

STAFFORD, Conn. — Limited to just one lap during Saturday qualifying, Doug Coby took home the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Tech-Net Spring Sizzler presented by CARQUEST at Stafford Motor Speedway. Coby was one of four drivers limited to one qualifying lap because their spotters were late to report prior to time trials. It didn’t make a difference, however, as his lone lap of 17.985 seconds (100.083 mph) topped the rest of the 30-car field.
It was the third career pole for Coby, and first at Stafford. Todd Szegedy will start alongside Coby in the front row for Sunday’s 200-lap race, the second of the Whelen Modified Tour season. Szegedy posted a fast lap of 17.990 (100.056).
Row Two will be made up of the only other two drivers that registered sub-18-second laps; Bobby Santos (17.992/100.044) and Eric Beers (17.999/100.006). Rowan Pennink, Justin Bonsignore, Ron Silk, Erick Rudolph, James Civali and Ted Christopher rounded out the top 10. Christopher enters Sunday as the three-time defending winner of the Spring Sizzler: Stafford’s season-opening weekend. He already holds the record for most Whelen Modified Tour wins in the event with five, and has an additional triumph in the track’s SK Modified division.

ORDER CAR # NAME FAST TIME
1 52 Doug Coby 17.985
2 2 Todd Szegedy 17.99
3 4 Bobby Santos 17.992
4 45 Eric Beers 17.999
5 93 Rowan Pennink 18.04
6 51 Justin Bonsignore 18.046
7 6 Ron Silk 18.066
8 98 Erick Rudolph 18.109
9 79 James Civali 18.111
10 36 Ted Christopher 18.115
11 9 Tom Rogers 18.126
12 3 Matt Hirschman 18.145
13 59 Chuck Hossfeld 18.147
14 50 Kevin Goodale 18.181
15 14 Jimmy Blewett 18.222
16 46 Eric Berndt 18.23
17 18 Ken Heagy 18.263
18 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. 18.309
19 7 Patrick Emerling 18.347
20 64 Ron Yuhas, Jr 18.355
21 88 Bryon Chew 18.386
22 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. 18.387
23 38 Dave Etheridge 18.387
24 28 Woody Pitkat 18.409
25 99 Jamie Tomaino 18.475
26 8 Glenn Tyler 18.483
27 16 Mike Stefanik 18.517
28 33 Wade Cole 18.671
29 58 Eric Goodale 18.768
30 26 Gary McDonald, No time
31 11 Ryan Preece No time

April 10- Thompson Speedway - NASCAR- 6th

What a great start to a new season with the Dave and Laura DeLange #45 NASCAR Modified that will be running the entire NASCAR season. This all started with some hard work and many hours in the Garage over the winter with Frankie and Heavy doing a great job putting together solid race cars. The season opener this weekend at Thompson kicked off the campaign with a bunch of new faces and went well. (See Eric's comment's below in Polly Reid's story) Saturday morning saw the new crew getting acquainted and then off to work they went. They fell just a little behind in practice while fixing the in car fire extinguisher. During practice Eric reported he was a little tight and ended up 28th on the speed charts in practice. After consulting with the crew they made some adjustments and probably surprised themselves and ripped off a lap that was half a second faster than practice and good enough for a eight place starting spot.

To start the race the car was a little free and despite being blocked in his pits the crew made a pan hard bar adjustment and sent Eric out on his way. Eric drove his his way back up to third and was still moving forward when the caution came out. The caution was not a friend as the tires did not come back to life like like they thought and Eric dropped a few spots for solid 6th place finish.

Kudos to the entire crew starting from the top - New crew Chief Don Barker and Eric had an unbelievable connection and communication discussing options and letting the crew implement changes. Don was also a calming and reassuring influence over the radio during the race letting Eric know what the plan was. Stay tuned for updates on the team page as we will highlight the new crew including Don Barker, Ken, Terry, New England Muff, Scott, Squishy as well as some of the long time crew mebers of Glenn E, Mike I, Max, Justin, Howie, Billy, Punky, Terry and Frankie.

By Polly Reid
The ability to recover was key to Ted Christopher’s storied Icebreaker win at Thompson International Speedway. The Plainville, CT driver came back from a two lap deficit, one for a spin, the other for a pit road infraction, not to mention racing with one hand that has two taped fingers, then injuring his other hand during that spin off the backstretch- Christopher pulled a late pit stop for fresh tires, hauled it to the front taking the lead with 35 to go and never looked back scoring the season opening NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.
“Now I messed up the other hand,” smiled Christopher who came to the press box holding a bag of ice on his left hand. “I really have to thank my crew, I owe it all to these guys. They kept working on it, working on it, stuff fell just right for us and you know me, I love pitting late, I got tires on late, that’s fun.”
Christopher’s final pit stop on lap 95 put the Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet back in the pack but when the second red flag of the day waved just past the century mark for a nine car incident on the front stretch, Christopher lined up 8th on the lap 107 restart. It took four circuits to get to second and only four more times around the .625 mile oval to catch and pass Ryan Preece to become the final leader of the day on lap 115.
“We wanted to make sure we got the toe somewhat right, once they got the car to where it felt pretty good with the tires that were on it, we waited until the last possible point we could to put on new tires and it worked out great. I really have to thank Eddie Whelan for letting me drive this car, Tony’s Competition Engines, Troyer race cars, everybody who helps work on this thing.” Christopher led three different times for a total of 50 laps. It was the incident on lap 51, contact with Ron Silk, the duo battling for the lead, that sent Christopher around out of turn two hitting the inside wall on the backstretch that sprung a series of runs to pit road.
“The car wasn’t right, I mean the spindle was all bent, but they got the toe back in - I’ve driven worse ‘stuff’ than that before.” Christopher has visited the Thompson winner’s circle 6 of the last 8 NWMT events, his total career NWMT victories now at 39. “Everything fell our way today, with the cautions. My first time back with Brad (Lafontaine), we had a pretty good car. I’m looking forward to Stafford, I’ve always liked the Sizzler, can’t wait for that.”
Crossing a strong was second was Rowan Pennink, third Mike Stefanik, Ryan Preece and Justin Bonsignore the top five. Pennink started the day seventh in his Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner machine and after two pit stops, one with the leaders at the half mark, then other for a possible heating issue on lap 94, Penninik worked his way from the back to the front for a runner up spot. “We had a great car all day long here today. I’ve got to thank Doug Chouinard (crew chief) and the whole team, the thing was awesome all day long. We just tried to stay out of those wrecks, get ourselves in a position where we could win. I think we had the best car at the end, just got a little too far behind there and couldn’t really make it up with 15 to go there. We had to pit, the car was getting a little hot and we lost some track position, but the thing drove right back to the front. The guys did an awesome job, came home second, can’t do much better than that the first race of the year.”

12 cautions and 2 red flags plagued the Icebreaker. However, one car that spun and did not bring out the caution was Mike Stefanik. Taking a hit in turns three and four, Stefanik running 6th at the time in the Eric Sanderson entry, ended up in the grass on lap 82, his track position suddenly history, but was able to continue on. Two laps later, the caution flew, a break for the Diversified Metal/R.B. Enterprises machine, the Coventry, RI driver came in for a second stop. “We came in again after the 6 car got into us. You’re last, so, we came in. They made a great adjustment and the car was the best it had been all day. Not quite as good as the two cars ahead of us were- but the car came alive and we salvaged a third out of it- we’ll take it and see if we can improve for Stafford.”
One of six drivers that led the Icebreaker, Ryan Preece brought his Mizzy Construction machine across the line 4th. “Qualifying we were good, my team did a great job, they gave me a great car, qualified fourth my first time out, finished fourth so I didn’t really loose any spots.” A new ride for Preece in the John Lukosavage modified, Preece is happy with his first race. “The crew, I worked with a lot of these guys with the SK at Stafford, we have team chemistry. Mike Paquette is setting the car up, Jimmy Fuller is calling the shots on pit road and during practice and Bob Cuneo helps out with his input. There’s just so much time put into this car. Jerry McKarski, he’s our mechanic at the shop during the week, he works his tail off, 12 hour days. I have a great group of guys (like the tire guy Mike), I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the year goes.” Preece adding, “I’m unbelievably psyched for Stafford, that’s my track. Hopefully we’ll be fast.”
Defending champion Bobby Santos who set a new track record the day before winning the Coors Light pole award and was fast at the green easily led the opening circuits. But Santos never had a chance to play out the day when a motor blew, his day done on lap 16. A number of solid cars ended up behind the wall including Todd Szegedy who got tangled up in the 9 car pile up on the front stretch on lap 101. Also involved was Ron Silk, Eric Goodale, James Civali, Woody Pitkat, Erick Rudolph, Glenn Tyler, Chuck Hossfeld and Ron Yuhas. Yuhas, Hossfeld and Tyler re-fired and were able to continue on to finish the full distance.
Richie Pallai Jr. started the field from the scratch position after a blown motor the day before in practice kept the Yorktown Heights, NY driver from making a qualifying attempt. Running as high as third at one point, Pallai’s day would end when he became part of the final caution with less than 25 to go, finishing 19th. “We had a good practice, but we had heating issues all the way through it,” said crew chief Denis Pruchnik. “We thought we had an air pocket in the water system so we purged it in the middle of practice. By the end of practice, the water temp just kept creeping up and creeping up so we started looking at stuff and realized we had a blown head gasket. We couldn’t fix it here so we went back to the shop. This is a brand new car, brand new motor. I had already put last years car together because we were going to go testing at Monadnock Speedway next weekend. So we had to go home, take the motor out of that, take the motor out of this car and put that motor in this car. It actually went really smooth, we were done in four hours. It was a lot of work but we have more crew guys this year than last and it’s worked out really well. It’s part of racing, it’s nobody’s fault, there’s nothing you can do about it. Everybody pitched in.”
Eric Beers of Northampton, PA has 2011 off to a solid start- crossing to finish 6th, Beers was part of the front running pack, in third, when the last caution waved. The restart was not his friend, Beers slipping just out of the top five after a torrid battle with Justin Bonsignore with just under five to go. “We have a bunch of new crew guys this year including crew chief, Don Barker,” Beers spoke earlier in the day about the DeLange owned 45 sponsored by Horwith Freightliner. “Yesterday, we got off the trailer and we weren’t that good. Just working together and figuring stuff out, we went from 20th fastest car in practice to to 8th fastest in time, that’s a huge jump. Missing that practice two weeks ago hurt us a little bit. But we’re getting accustomed to each other and it’s coming along pretty quick, a lot faster than I thought.”

THOMPSON, Conn. -- Ted Christopher rallied from two laps down and a hand injury from an early-race spin to maintain his dominance of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway. The 52-year-old Plainville, Conn., driver led the last 35 laps en route to victory in the season-opening Icebreaker Sunday.
It was 39th career tour win for Christopher at Thompson, where he is a five-time champion of the track's NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Sunoco Modified Division. Christopher has won nine times on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at the .625-mile oval, including six of the last eight races.
Rowan Pennink finished second, followed by Mike Stefanik. Ryan Preece and Justin Bonsginore were fourth and fifth, with Eric Beers finishing 6th.

1 Ted Christopher 36
2 Rowan Pennick 93
3 Mike Stefanik 16
4 Ryan Preece 11
5 Justin Bonsignore 51
6 Eric Beers 45
7 Doug Coby 52
8 Ron Yuhas, Jr 64
9 Matt Hirschman 3
10 Patrick Emerling 07
11 Ed Flemke, Jr. 10
12 Chuck Hossfeld 59
13 Ken Heagy 18
14 Glenn Tyler 8
15 Dave Etheridge 38
16 Wade Cole 33
17 James Civali 79
18 Rick Gentes 44
19 Richie Pallai, Jr 39
20 Erick Rudolph 98
21 Gary McDonald 26
22 Todd Szegedy 2
23 Ron Silk 6
24 Eric Goodale 58
25 Woody Pitkat 28
26 Kevin Goodale 50
27 Tom Rogers 9
28 Eric Berndt 46
29 Bryon Chew 88
30 Jamie Tomaino 99
31 Tony Ferrante 31
32 Rob Fuller 71
33 Bobby Santos, III 4

And we are GREEN on 2011!
Santos shoots out to the lead on backstretch and Christopher quickly settles into second
Preece, Bonsignore, Szegedy, and Silk follow suit
Some shuffling going on throughout the field as cars get settled for a long run
Lap 4 - Christopher makes a move in Turn 2 and takes the lead away from Santos
Lap 5 - The top five cars have pulled away slightly, with Christopher leading Santos, Preece, Szegedy and Silk
Lap 7 - Pennink, Bonsignore, Beers follow
Lap 8 - Santos takes the lead back away from Christopher
Lap 9 - Szegedy has moved up to p3, and Silk to p4
Lap 10 - Christopher slides back under Santos in Turn 4 and back into the lead
Lap 11 - While leaders swap potitions, Silk and Szegedy battle for third.
Lap 12 - Top four have put a little ground on Preece and Pennink
Lap 14 - Szegedy pulls alongside Santos and takes p2 away; Silk follows in low line
Lap 15 - Szegedy now pressuring Christopher for lead.
Lap 16 - Santos is smoking and has slowed on the backstretch
Lap 17 - Defending tour champion has pulled down pit road and behind the wall
Lap 17 - Cole spins in Turn 2 to bring out the first caution
Lap 19 - Cole, Civali, EGoodale, Ferrante, Gentes and Emerling among cars to come down pit road for adjustments
Lap 20 - Leaders under yellow: Christopher,. Szegedy, Silk, Pennink, Preece, Beers, Bonsignore, Berndt, Coby, Rogers, Stefanik, Yuhas, KGoodale and Hirschman
Lap 22 - Green and Szegedy gets a run into the lead
Lap 23 - Silk has moved into p2, followed by Christopher, Pennink and Preece
Lap 24 - Christopher throws it in low in Turns 3 and 4 but can't make it stick under Silk
Lap 25 - Caution for Emerling bouncing off the wall in Turn 4 and the frontstretch; Cole is the free-pass car
Lap 27 - Leaders under yellow: Szegedy, Silk, Christopher, Pennink, Preece, Beers, Berndt, Bonsignore, Coby, Rogers, Stefanik, Yuhas, KGoodale, Hirschman, Rudolph and Flemke
Lap 28 - Green and Szegedy slides around Silk in Turns 1 and 2 to maintain the lead
Lap 29 - Christopher continues to struggle with restarts and drops to p4 behind Pennink
Lap 31 - Silk blows by Szegedy in Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead
Lap 31 - Caution for Ferrante spin in Turn 4
Lap 34 - Civali, Hirschman, Etheridge, Ferrante and Emerling back down pit road under yellow
Lap 34 - Gentes is the free pass car
Lap 35 - Szegedy gets the lead back as the field reverted back to last completed green flag lap
Lap 36 - Green
Lap 36 - Silk rockets into lead uner Szegedy on the backstretch
Lap 38 - Leaders are Silk, Szegedy, Christopher, Pennink, Bonsignore and Preece
Lap 39 - Christopher picks up a spot to p2
Lap 40 - Caution for multi-car spin in Turn 2 between Tomaino, Gentes, Ferrante and Fuller. Tomaino smoking down pit road, while Ferrante and Fuller will need tow trucks
Lap 40 - Free pass to Emerling
Lap 43 - Under caution, leaders are Silk, Christopher, Szegedy, Pennink, Bonsignore, Preece, Rogers, Beers, Yuhas, Berndt, Stefanik, Rudolph, KGoodale, Flemke, Coby, Hirschman, Heagy, Pallai, EGoodale and Pitkat
Lap 44 - Santos is the first car declared out of the race. Engine.
Lap 45 - After Pitkat is Civali, Chew, McDonald, Gentes and Tyler
Lap 47 - Track crew finishes clean-up in Turn 2 and cars doubling up
Lap 48 - Green is waved off
Lap 49 - Green
Lap 50 - Christopher has moved into second and is right on Silk's back bumper.
Lap 51 - Christopher goes under Silk in Turn 2, and Silk gets into the back of him coming out of the turn. Christopher goes spinning into the grass to bring out the caution
Lap 52 - Christopher and Tomaino both spend extensive time on pit road for separate issues
Lap 53 - Christopher gets a push from his crew to get going and pulls off in time to beat the field and stay on the lead lap; Emerling the free pass car
Lap 54 - Christopher will be assessed a one-lap penalty for pulling up to pit
Lap 55 - Silk and Szegedy will lead the field to green
Lap 55 - Green and Silk gets a great jump
Lap 56 - Bonsignore pressures Szegedy for p2 before settling in
Lap 57 - Caution for multi-car spin in Turn 4 including McDonald and Gentes
Lap 58 - Leaders under yellow are Silk, Szegedy, Bonsignore, Pennink, Rogers, Yuhas, Preece, Stefanik, KGoodale, Beers, and Coby
Lap 59 - Berndt pits, as does Pitkat, Etheridge, Heagy, Tomaino, Pallai
Lap 59 - Christopher is the free-pass car
Lap 60 - Ferrante is out, accident; Fuller is out, engine
Lap 61 - Green. Silk blasts into lead on backstretch on the outside.
Lap 62- Caution. Chew slides through infield. He comes back on to track near Turn 2 and catches a piece of Berndt. Tomaino also involved
Lap 64 - Red flag for cleanup; cars stopped on the backstretch
Lap 64 - Leaders under red are Silk, Szegedy, Bonsignore, Pennink, Rogers, Yuhas, Preece, Stefanik, KGoodale, Beers. Coby is p10, followed by Rudolph, Flemke, Civali, Tyler, Hossfeld, Hirschmaqn, Cole, KGoodale and Gentes. Pallai is p21, followed by Emerling, Heagy, Etheridge and Berndt
Lap 64 - Christopher will be the free pass car, which puts him back on the lead lap. He is 27th
Lap 64 - Chew is p28, followed by Tomaino, McDonald, Fuller, Ferrante and Santos. All those cars are done for the day
Lap 65 - Cars are rolling again; Hirschman penalized to the rear of the field for pitting too soon
Lap 67 - Lineup is doubled-up, but the green is waved off. Next time by, back to green
Lap 69 - Green. Silk leads Szegedy across the line. On the backstretch, Silk, Szegedy and Pennink get in line 1-2-3
Lap 70 - Preece up to p4, wich Bonsignore and Rogers right behind
Lap 72 - Stefanik is p7, and then a battle for position between Coby, Yuhas and Flemke
Lap 74 - Yuhas spins in Turn 2 to bring out the caution. Doesn't look like there is any contact, but Gentes spins by himself as back of field tries to check up
Lap 75 - Leaders come down pit road, led by Silk, Szegedy, Pennink, Bonsignore and Stefanik. Coby is the highest-running car to stay out and inherits the lead
Lap 76 - Preece and Stefanik win the race off pit road
Lap 77 - Coby, Hirschman, Hossfeld, Pallai, KGoodale, Pitkat stay out and are 1-6. Preece is p7, followed by Stefanik, Bonsignore, Flemke, Civali, Silk, Emerling, Szegedy, Pennink and Rudolph
Lap 79 - Green - Coby gets a jump as some of the early leaders look to slice way back to the front
Lap 80 - Coby, Hirschman and Pallaie are 1-3, then Pitkat, then Preece and Stefanik are side by side
Lap 81 - Preece gets by Stefanik and pulls alongside Pitkat
Lap 81 - Silk gets into left rear of Stefanik and Stefanik goes around in Turn 4. Stefanik keeps going, no caution
Lap 84 - Silk ordered for pass-through penalty for rough driving
Lap 85 - Caution for Cole, solo spin on backstretch
Lap 86 - Leaders are Coby, Hirschman, Pallai, Preece, Pitkat, Flemke, Szegedy, Hossfeld, KGoodale, Bonsignore, Civali, Beers, Pennink, Rudolph, Yuhas and Rogers
Lap 87 - Both Stefanik and Christopher come down pit road
Lap 88 - Green and Coby shoots into the lead, while Preece motors into p2
Lap 90 - Coby, Preece, Flemke lead, Pallie and Hirschman side by side for fourth
Lap 91 - Coby and Preece have pulled away. Flemke to p3, while Hischman struggles to stay in front of Pallai and Szegedy
Lap 93 - Rogers spins in Turn 4 to bring out caution
Lap 93 - Gentes gets the free pass
Lap 94 - Rogers car is being taken off by a tow truck; Christopher back down pit road again
Lap 95 - Leaders are Coby, Preece, Flemke, Hirschman, Pallai, Szegedy, Bonsginore, EGoodale, Pitkat, KGoodale, Beers, Civali, Rudolph, Yuhas, Silk and Stefanik
Lap 97 - Doubling up to go green
Lap 98 - Green and Preece into the lead on the backstretch; Flemke to p2 in Turn 4
Lap 99 - Preece pulls away quickly, as Flemke leads Coby, Hirschman, and Pallai
Lap 100 - Segedy and Bonsignore side by side for next spot
Lap 101 - Coby and Hirschman get by Flemke for p2 and p3
Lap 102 - Melee on frontstetch as Yuhas, Pitkatg, Rudolph, Tyler, Civali, Szegedy, and McDonald KGoodale and Silk involved.
Lap 102 - Silk goes airborn briefly before landing on all four tires
Lap 102 - Silk's car gets taken off on double wreckers; everybody is out of their cars
Lap 102 - Red flag for cleanup; Szegedy drove away but right side damage
Lap 102 - KGoodale's car going off on flatbed, while Pitkat gets double-hook
Lap 102 - Red flag is withrawn. Civaly and EGoodale pull down pit road - drive-able but with damage
Lap 102 - Leaders are Preece, Coby, Flemke, Hirschman, Pallai, Bonsignore, Beers, Stefanik, Christopher, Pennink
Lap 103 - Coby pits out of p2
Lap 105 - Cole is free pass car
Lap 106 - Field doubles up and green next time by
Lap 107 - Green and Preece jumps to the lead, followed by Flmeke. Pallai and Hischman are side by side for p3
Lap 108 - Hirschman slips up and drops several spots
Lap 109 - Preece, Flemke, Beers, Christopher and Pallai now the leaders
Lap 111 - Christopher and Beers go right by Flemke for p3 and p4
Lap 112 - Christopher now p2, followed by Beers in p3 and they quickly reel in Preece
Lap 114 - Stefanik goes by Pallai to take p5
Lap 115 - Christopher goes low out of Turn 2 and takes lead away from Preece
Lap 116 - Christopher, Preece, Beers have a cushion on p4
Lap 117 - Stefanik moves into p4, and he's followed by Pennink, who is p14 an d a lap down
Lap 119 - Flemke is p5, followed by Bonsignore, Pallai, Coby, Hirschman and Heagy
Lap 120 - CHrisopher has pulled away from second-place battle between Preece and Beers
Lap 122 - Pennink has gotten by Stefanik, although it's not for position
Lap 123 - Bonsignore, Coby and Flemke are battling for p5, with Flemke holding the spot
Lap 125 - Chrisophre holds a comfortable lead over Preece, Beers, and Stefanik
Lap 128 - Coby and Pallai spin in Turn 4
Lap 128 - Stefanik had taken over p5, followed by Bonsignore and Flemke
Lap 129 - Leaders under yellow are Christopher, Preece, and Beers
Lap 130 - Clarification: Pennink is on the lead lap and running p4
Lap 132 - Leaders are Christopher, Preece, Beers, Pennink, Stefanik, Bonsignore, Flemke, Hirschman, Hossfeld, Heagy, Emerling.
Lap 133 - Pennink missed a scoring loop on a previous caution when he went through the grass to avoid a wreck; his position was corrected in timing and scoring and he is p4
Lap 134 - Green and Preece is all over the back bumper of Christopher
Lap 136 - Christopher leads Preece, Pennink, Szegedy, Beers and Bonsignore
Lap 139 - Christopher has opened up a lead on Preece; Pennink slides under to take p2 in Turn 4
Lap 140 - Christopher now leads Pennik, Preece, Szegedy, Beers and Bonsignore.
Lap 141 - Pennink may need another caution to catch Christopher
Lap 142 - Preece now has his hands full with Stefanik
Lap 143 - Christopher has a half-second on Pennink, and then its another half-second back to Stefanik and Preece
Lap 145 - Stefanik takes over p3, followed by Preece, Beers and Bonsignore. Those four have are by themselves, while Coby leads the next pack
Lap 148 - Christopher lead is steady over Pennink
White flag - Christopher in cruise control, followed by Pennink, Stefanik and Preece
Pennink finishes second, followed by Stefanik, Preece, Bonsignore, Beers
It is Christopher's 39th career NWMT victory; his 12th at Thompson and sixth in the last eight races at the track
Unofficial top 10: Christopher, Pennink, Stefanik, Preece, Bonsignore, Beers, Coby, Yuhas, Hirschman and Emerling
Flemke was p11, followed by Heagy, Tyler, Ethridge, Cole, Civali and Gentes

April 9 - Thompson Speedway - NASCAR - Time 8th
By Polly Reid

The 33 car field is set for the opening NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event. The Icebreaker at Thompson International Speedway will be led to the green flag by defending champion Bobby Santos in the Bob Garbarino Mystic Missile. The Franklin, MA driver recorded a 18.237 second circuit around the .625 mile oval besting his own track record of 18.418 from one year ago to win the Coors Light pole award. “It feels really good to start the season like that,” said Santos. “I think we had to start the season good because it’s important to keep everyone’s morale up and keep everyone excited for the season. I think it’s great to keep the guys pumped up and start the season right. I’m having a lot of fun working with these guys, I’m excited to keep going.” “I thought for sure we had a car that we could put on the pole. Ummm, I didn’t think we were going to break the track record by 2 tenths, that’s pretty exciting. Everybody was fast, I think the track was fast today.” To Santos point, Ted Christopher and Justin Bonsignore both bested Santos time from one year ago and will start second and third respectively. “It’s the way we started last year and it carried us through the whole season. It’s very important and I’m happy we did it.” While it may have been what they hoped to do, win the pole, the time was a surprise for Bob Mueller, crew chief for Santos. “It’s really pretty much what we planned on doing, but we didn’t plan on running quite as quick as we did today.” “Bobby is a very special talent, it’s a joy to work with him,” said Mueller. “He loves to race, his mind is into racing, his family is racing orientated, everything is just right. We have the complete crew back from last year except for the spotter, we have a new one this year. Other than that, it’s the same group of guys- second trip around for them, second trip around for Bobby. The competition is good this year, there’s probably 6 or 7 guys that could win a race on any given weekend. It just kind of all fell into place today.” A right hand that felt ‘stiff’, Ted Christopher didn’t let recent surgery from his metacarpal ligament fracture slow him down any. “I should have my cast on,” Christopher shrugged his shoulders looking at his middle and ring finger taped together and the near 2x2 bandage covering the sutures. Still not sure how this particular injury happened when caught up in a tangle three weeks ago at Caraway, Christopher held nothing back during qualifying crossing the line .137 seconds behind Santos, the Plainville, CT driver will start the Icebreaker on the front row. Christopher is teamed up this season with crew chief Brad Lafontaine. “We won a championship together, I think it will be good.” The off season was a busy one for car owner Eddie Whelan. “Eddie stepped up the program,” said Christopher. “He bought two new cars, totally redid this car, redid the motor and bought two new motors. We ran this same car for four years. This thing has been like a workhorse. It’s still the same car this year, but they put a new front clip on, rail and new body- all new stuff on it - so he’s updated, everything’s been updated. You can only run stuff for so long and felt that was a good thing. He’s really making an effort to make sure we’re 100%.” Christopher’s attitude going into the new season? “I’m hungry everywhere we go. My attitude never changes. Once I strap in, I’m all set. I’ve already won five features this year and two championships, so I’m pretty happy.” If you’re a modified fan, chances are you feel good about coming to the season opener at Thompson and seeing the familiar Ferrante Racing #31. “Remember the season used to open and close at Martinsville?” asked Tony Ferrante, Jr. who started the Tour in 1989. “That’s 22 years ago, it goes so fast.” Why Thompson? “It’s where I run the best, I enjoy it the best. When I started my career, I started at Wall Stadium,” said the New Hyde Park, NY driver. “It’s a high banked fast track like Thompson. Because of where I started, you enjoy what you like. I enjoy coming here, I like the pit area here, the track’s not too far away, there’s a couple of grooves here you can pass. I guess it just fits into my style of racing.” Ferrante, who starts the Icebreaker 25th, has cut back significantly on his schedule in recent years, this season will be the same. “Don’t know yet (about 2011) Might be back here in the fall, maybe Riverhead. We’re just really busy at work.” Ferrante, who owns a body shop, for now will enjoy the weekend and his part time race schedule. “We want to have a good time and be competitive. If you’re not competitive you’re not having fun. You get down on yourself, you question what you’re doing, I’ll be happy just being competitive. It’s not that I’ve forgotten how to turn the car left, I just don’t have the latest technology on the car to be really competitive. The guys that have been helping me have been helping me for the last 20 years. I enjoy seeing everyone, we have so many friends here. My dad loves it. So when I come here and I see he’s having a good time, then I’m having a good time. People walk up to talk to you- Bob Garbarino came over to say hello- it’s so rewarding. Not that you made an impact, but that people remember you. And I think 95% of them have nice things to remember. Ferrante’s best finish at Thompson? “We had a second in the 300 here one time- we were so close!” It’s not uncommon for a driver to have some variety in his racing season. Chuck Hossfeld takes that variety to a whole new level this year. “We’re going to try racing dirt this year, more or less for fun at Ransomville a handful of times. We have a 2010 Troyer car I got from Jimmy Phelps, we went through it in my garage. We’re kind of going into it with a fun attitude. I don’t know if I’m going to fall in love with it and be good at it or not good at it. We’ll see what it’s like and what it’s all about and try to enjoy ourselves.” But that’s only one piece of Hossfeld’s racing season. “I plan on doing a bunch of ROC races with my car, race Ed’s (Bennett) car a little bit and try to be competitive in every race we run in.” Hossfeld, who lives in Ransomville, NY, will miss a ‘handful’ of Tour races this year. “The problem is for me, is I’m so far away from the races, it’s not because I prefer to do other races, just time wise and money wise it just makes more sense to run closer to my house.” Plus, Hossfeld is starting a new business having just bought a car lot with his friend that should be opening up in a few weeks. “I’m going to try and balance all that with racing and just do the best I can, be successful with all of it.”
Like everything else in Hossfeld’s world right now, look for him to move forward when he takes the green flag 27th.During practice, Jimmy Blewett walked away from a hard hit coming out of turn four, the incident reported to be the result of a broken hub. The Richard Barney entry is officially scratched from the event.The other tough break in practice was when Richie Pallai blew a motor. The team loaded up and left before time trails heading back to the shop to swap out the motor from their other car. Pallai is expected to start the Icebreaker 33rd, the final position on the grid.
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SANTOS OFF TO RECORD START
Breaks own track mark in qualifying for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour opener

Defending champion Bobby Santos shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, the Franklin, Mass., driver is getting faster. Santos broke his own track record in qualifying Saturday for Sunday’s Icebreaker, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour opener at Thompson International Speedway. Santos posted a lap of 18.237 seconds (123.376 mph) around the .625-mile oval for his fifth career Coors Light Pole Award. Santos also posted the fastest lap in Saturday morning’s practice for the Icebreaker. He is the defending race winner, too. He was not the only one to get off to a fast start – the top four qualifiers eclipsed Santos’ previous record lap set last year at 18.418 (122.418). Ted Christopher qualified second at 18.374 (122.456), followed by Justin Bonsignore at 18.386 (122.376) and Ryan Preece at 18.399 (122.289). Todd Szegedy rounded out the top five. Ron Silk was sixth fastest, followed by Rowan Pennink, Eric Beers, Doug Coby and Eric Berndt.

Qualifying Results

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour - Icebreaker Lineup
Race Sunday; Qualifying Saturday at Thompson International Speedway, Thompson, Conn.
Lap Length: 0.625 miles

1. (4) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 123.376
2. (36) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 122.456
3. (51) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 122.376
4. (11) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Ford, 122.289
5. (2) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 121.951
6. (6) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 121.925
7. (93) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 121.727
8. (45) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 121.517
9. (52) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 121.471
10. (46) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 121.444
11. (50) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 121.085
12. (9) Tom Rogers, Jr., Patchogue, N.Y., Chevrolet, 120.974
13. (64) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 120.656
14. (16) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 120.553
15. (8) Glenn Tyler, Hampton Bays, N.Y., Chevrolet, 120.501
16. (3) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 120.353
17. (58) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 120.231
18. (98) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 120.154
19. (18) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 120.077
20. (10) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 120.006
21. (59) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 119.981
22. (71) Rob Fuller, Boylston, Mass., Ford, 119.802
23. (79) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 119.579
24. (07) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Chevrolet, 119.516
25. (31) Tony Ferrante, Jr., New Hyde Park, N.Y., Chevrolet, 119.452
26. (28) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 119.338
27. (88) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 119.338
28. (38) Dave Etheridge, Portland, Conn., Chevrolet, 119.287
29. (99) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 118.210
30. (33) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 117.420
31. (44) Rick Gentes, Woonsocket, R.I., Chevrolet, 116.938
32. (26) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 115.848
33. (39) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, No speed

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