Yet another picture-perfect day greeted the fans at Thompson Speedway to finish off the 52nd Icebreaker with the help of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Single car, time-trial qualifying saw Mike Christopher Jr. leading much of the session before Matt Hirschman and Jon McKennedy both tied with a 19.125-second lap. Hirschman would lead the twenty-nine car field to green for the Icebreaker 150.
McKennedy took over the top spot with a strong inside exit off turn two, leading the pack as Christopher Jr. and Stephen Kopcik dug in and followed in second and third. McKennedy’s day almost came to a grinding halt with Trevor Catalano backwards by the turn two gate with the leader narrowly escaping calamity as the yellow lights flashed. A long green flag run would follow with McKennedy leading the way as Matt Swanson cut his way through to third on the grid before Ronnie Williams’ left rear decided to leave the building on lap 107.
The majority of the field jumped into the pits for fresh American Racer rubber with Stephen Kopcik winning the race off pit road and just 35 laps remaining. Kopcik tried to pull away on the outside groove but McKennedy held on. It wasn’t until a brewing battle with Ron Silk finally put the nail in the coffin for McKennedy, allowing Stephen Kopcik to run all the way to Icebreaker victory lane for his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win at Thompson Speedway making it two in a row on the NASCAR circuit. Ron Silk and Mike Christopher Jr. rounded out the top three followed by McKennedy and Hirshman rounding out the top-five.
A strong field of SK Light Modifieds made their start of the season with Daltin McCarthy quickly taking control over last year’s championship runner-up John O’Sullivan. A freight-train quickly began around the top side as O’Sullivan calculated his move behind McCarthy with each lap coming on the scoreboard. Following a quick-spin caution, Kevin Davis joined the front row picture, sharing a few divebomb moves with McCarthy before the original frontrunners made contact on the final lap sending McCarthy into the turn one wall and O’Sullivan penalized to last of the lead lap cars. Young Kevin Davis took down the Big-T win over Danny Gamache Jr. and newcomer Milania Shilosky.
Matt Lowinski-Loh took charge of the Late Model front row after getting the jump on defending champion Jake Johnson as ‘The Jet’ went to battle Jacob Burns for second. Just after the halfway point Johnson made his way underneath Jacob Burns to finally put the #91CT before time ran out at the end. Matt Lowinski-Loh dominated to the end with the 25-lap Icebreaker win over Johnson and Burns at the line.
Sophomore racer Zack Sangermano jetted off with the Thompson Sunoco Modified feature event as Saturday front-runners Todd Owen and Keith Rocco worked to build momentum at the tail end of the top-ten. Contact with Rocco and Derek Ramstrom in turn two sent Ramstrom pitside and Rocco to the rear for the assist with Sangermano and Chase Cook bringing the field back to green. Rocco would make it back into the top spot underneath Todd Owen with ten laps remaining, reigniting Saturday’s duel between the two masters. With Rocco on the defense watching Owen in his mirror, Jon Puleo remained in the cat-bird seat in third, waiting to pounce just inches away if the two rivals made a poor choice. Unfortunately for Puleo, that chance never came with Keith Rocco making it two-for-two at the 52nd Icebreaker with Owen and Puleo rounding out the podium.
The Street Stocks finished off the evening with Austin Erickson and Jarrod Soucy bringing the field to green for their 20 lap closer. Erickson led the way but multi-time 2025 winner George Baldwin rapidly made his way into second. Saturday’s R&R Open Street Stock winner Ryan Lineham made his presence known at the halfway point, passing Baldwin for second and setting his sights on Erickson’s one second lead. It was too much to overcome as Austin Erickson took the checkered flag over Lineham and Baldwin at the line.
Thompson Speedway returns to Wednesday Night Racing with the Midweek Modified Madness on Wednesday, May 13 headlined by special, extra-purse events for both the Thompson Sunoco Modifieds and the SK Light Modifieds. The Late Models, Street Stocks and Thunderstock Crown Vics join in for an action-packed midweek opener with a 6:00pm start time on Wednesday, May 13!
The North East Short Track Network (NESTN) will stream Wednesday Night Racing at Thompson Speedway all season long, visit www.nestn.tv for more info including Pay-Per-View pricing and ways to subscribe!
Thompson Speedway – Thompson, CT
52nd Icebreaker – Day II
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – Icebreaker 150 (150 Laps)
Thompson Sunoco Modifieds – (30 Laps)
Late Models – (25 Laps)
SK Light Modifieds – (20 Laps)
Street Stocks – (20 Laps)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – Icebreaker 150 Results:
1 Stephen Kopcik 150
2 Ron Silk 150
3 Michael Christopher 150
4 Jonathan McKennedy 150
5 Matt Hirschman 150
6 Austin Beers 150
7 Justin Bonsignore 150
8 Craig Lutz 150
9 Chase Dowling 150
10 Tyler Rypkema 150
11 Teddy Hodgdon 150
12 Eric Goodale 150
13 Patrick Emerling 150
14 Eric Berndt 150
15 Matt Swanson 150
16 David Sapienza 150
17 Andrew Molleur 150
18 Doug Coby 149
19 Tommy Catalano 149
20 Andrew Krause 149
21 Joey Cipriano 149
22 Kyle Bonsignore 149
23 John-Michael Shenette 149
24 Max Zachem 149
25 Ken Heagy 146
26 Cory Plummer 143
27 Ronnie Williams 106
28 Paulie Hartwig 98
29 Trevor Catalano 45
Thompson Sunoco Modifieds Results:
1 Keith Rocco
2 Todd Owen
3 Jon Puleo
4 Zack Sangermano
5 Mikey Flynn
6 Danny Cates
7 Nathan Pytko
8 Robert Georgiades
9 Rob Schultz
10 Mike Mayberry
11 Chase Cook
12 Andrew Brousseau
13 Zach Leone
14 Derek Ramstrom
DNS 57 Justin Beecher
Late Models Results:
1 Matt Lowinski-Loh
2 Jake Johnson
3 Jacob Burns
4 Brian Tagg
5 Connor Souza
6 Travis Hydar
7 Rick Gentes
8 Manny Dias
9 Jeff Belyea
10 Jared Materas
11 Eddie Gomarlo
12 Adam Pettey
13 Shaun Kekacs
14 Jason Williams
15 Charles Bailey
16 Jared Roy
SK Light Modifieds Results:
1 Kevin Davis
2 Daniel Gamache Jr.
3 Milania Shilosky
4 Austin Goff
5 Gerard Giordano
6 Brady Parolo
7 Thomas Herrington
8 John O’Sullivan
9 Daltin McCarthy
10 Todd Douillard
11 RJ Marcott
12 Dennis Smeade
13 TJ Tomasi
14 Dylan Houghton
15 Corey Caddick
16 Riley Paul
Street Stocks Results:
1 Austin Erickson
2 Ryan Lineham
3 George Baldwin
4 Andrew Gillis
5 Al Stone III
6 Aaron Plemons
7 Ryan Waterman
8 Jarrod Soucy
9 Charles Beal
