By Lou Modestino
This week starting on Thursday through Sunday is the first annual Mello Yello NHRA National at the New England Dragway in Epping, NH. It’s the first time since the early 70’s since that series has made an appearance at NED. All of the top names in several pro classes will be in action including Funny Car standout John Force. Also competing in that class is Bob Tasca, III of Cranston, RI. Qualifying goes Friday, Eliminations Saturday and the Finals go Sunday.
Wild ‘n Wacky Wednesday racing was back at Waterford Speedbowl under clear skies Wednesday evening, placing five more winners into Victory Lane on the night. Notching wins included included George Whitney of Westbrook, who returned to the winner’s circle in INEX Legend Cars action after a few year absence. New London’s Zach Thomas was
a first time winner in the X-Cars and Dan Butler of Waterford scored the honors in Super X-Car action. Anthony Marvin of Colchester won his second INEX Bandolero feature and Chuck McDonald of Groton won the night’sWacky Race in the X-Car division.
With a heavy downpour forecast by meteorologists throughout New England, Thompson Speedway pulled the plug on Thursday Night Thompson Thunder race program. By canceling the June 13th events, changes in the schedule for the next two weeks became necessary.
The originally scheduled twin Sunoco Modified 30-lap features will be run on Thursday, June 20. That program will also include Vintage Outlaw Modifieds and double feature events for the Lite Modifieds brought on by a rain-interrupted race on June 6. The night will be action packed as the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Models, Xtra Mart Limited Sportsman and Monster Mini Stocks will also be part of this full, 8-feature event, night of exciting racing action.
Fans will continue to get a bonus on Thursday, June 27th. Already scheduled for that night is a special 40-lap event for the Late Models. That event will be run along with double features for the Xtra Mart Limited Sportsman also due to the rain-interrupted June 6 event. Add the Sunoco Modifieds, Lite Modifieds, and Monster Mini Stocks and fans will be treated to a second evening of additional high-speed racing action.
All of this extra racing will be offered to fans at no additional charge. It’s a great deal for a great night out at the races from Thompson Speedway. Grandstand will open at 4 p.m with racing slated for a 6 p.m. start.
Rob Fuller was looking for a solid start to his 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season in the series’ season-opener at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway in April, but what looked to be a very promising start ended in disappointment after he was collected in a wreck midway through the race. Looking to rebound and bring new sponsor 15-40 Connection a top finish Fuller and team are set to test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, N.H.) on June 20 in preparation for the Town Fair Tire 100 on Saturday, July 13.
“The Town Fair Tire 100 is a huge race for both Rob Fuller Motorsports and 15-40 Connection,” said Fuller. “This will be the first NASCAR event for our sponsors at the 15-40 Connection, so we are really putting in an extra effort to make it a great experience for Mr. C and everyone at that great organization.”
Fuller and his RFM team have had a lot of work to do to their No. 15 15-40 Connection machine since their first race of the season in the Icebreaker at Thompson. With a fast car throughout practice and a promising race run, Fuller was biding his time in the 12th position on lap 62 when he was caught in a wreck ending his day early and severely damaging his modified car. While running two-wide, on the outside, going into turn one another driver behind Fuller’s No. 15 on new tires got a run making it three-wide. With the tight corners at Thompson the three drivers ran out of room and Fuller, who was pegged on the outside, was hit and sent into the wall. The wreck damaged the front clip and the RS rail of Fuller’s No. 15 machine.
“We had a great 15-40 Chevy at Thompson and were patiently waiting for the last 30 laps to show our hand,” explained a frustrated Fuller. “Unfortunately, with the Modified Series you have guys that unplug their brain when they plug in their helmet. To wreck three-wide on lap 60 is just plain stupid. The driver that made that move needs to evaluate his talent level before he destroys more racecars. We are working hard to get the car back together and come back to Loudon even better than we were. I am confident we will have a great day and keep our 15-40 Chevy at the front of the pack.”
With all the damage that needed to be fixed, Fuller and his RFM team have been hard at work getting the car put back together, but a solid test to shake down the car at Fuller’s home track, Thompson Intl. Speedway, and the upcoming test at NHMS has Fuller feeling very confident.
“The Loudon test on June 20 will be a great test for us. There will be ten cars there so we should really know where we are at by the end of the day. Loudon is such a HUGE race for our team and 15-40 Connection. We are working extremely hard to put on a good showing and solid finish with our 15-40 Connection Chevrolet.
While it will only be the second race of the season for Fuller, the Town Fair Tire 100 is the sixth stop of the season for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
The 21-year-old driver fought his way up from the back of the field to overtake Ron Silk in the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 presented by G-Oil Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway en route to capturing his sixth career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.
Preece, who was second-fastest in qualifying earlier in the evening, had to start the race shotgun on the field instead of the front row. Before the completion of the first official lap of the race, he made slight contact with pole sitter Bobby Santos and went spinning with a cut tire that brought out the caution.
But in the shortest of the four races on the schedule this year at Stafford, Preece patiently worked his way up through the 27-car field. Silk dominated the race for the first 106 laps, but he couldn’t hold off the hard-charging Preece, who took the top spot and held it through the final 18 circuits.
“Sometimes it’s better to come from the back to the front – you know what kind of race car you have,” Preece said. “I had a really good race car. I could pass on the outside, I could pass on the inside. We were really good.”
For Preece of nearby Berlin, Conn., it ended a 13-race winless streak in Whelen Modified Tour action at his home track.
“It’s been so long since I’ve been in Victory Lane here in a tour modified,” Preece said. “I was just waiting for something [bad] to happen and it never did. I just can’t explain how happy I am right now. This is unreal.”
It was Preece’s second come-from-behind win of the night. In the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified event earlier in the evening, Preece found himself behind the rest of the field after spinning out on Lap 2. In similar fashion, he worked his way back up to the front and captured the lead in the final laps.
Silk finished in the runner-up spot followed by Rowan Pennink, Donny Lia and Santos. Doug Coby, Justin Bonsignore, Mike Stefanik, Jimmy Blewett and Woody Pitkat completed the top 10.
The runner-up finish was the best for Silk since his win at Bristol Motor Speedway last August, a span of seven races.
“We had a good car, the guys did a great job,” Silk said. “It’s disappointing to lead that many laps and not win, but Ryan [Preece] was really flying there at the end.”
With his pair of wins Friday at Stafford, Preece is not only the Whelen Modified Tour points leader, but the track’s SK Modified division frontman as well. On the tour he holds a six-point lead on Pennink through three races.
Friday’s TSI Harley-Davidson 125 presented by G-Oil was twice postponed due to rain. It had been 50 days since the previous race that the Whelen Modified Tour had been in action, the longest in-season layoff since 2006. The tour will next head to Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl for the Mr. Rooter 161 on June 22.
NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR-TSI Harley-Davidson 125 pres. by G-Oil
Unofficial Results
Friday
At Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford, Conn.
Lap length: 0.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Ford, 125 laps, 33.678 mph.
2. (3) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
3. (9) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 125.
4. (17) Donny Lia, Jericho, N.Y., Dodge, 125.
5. (1) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Chevrolet, 125.
6. (10) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
7. (4) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
8. (13) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Chevrolet, 125.
9. (6) Jimmy Blewett, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 125.
10. (14) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Pontiac, 125.
11. (12) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
12. (15) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 125.
13. (5) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 125.
14. (20) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
15. (11) Zane Zeiner, Bath, Pa., Chevrolet, 125.
16. (8) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 125.
17. (19) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 125.
18. (25) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 125.
19. (24) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 124.
20. (16) Cole Powell, Mount Brydges, Ontario, Chevrolet, 120.
21. (18) Richie Pallai,, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 119.
22. (21) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 96, suspension.
23. (7) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 86.
24. (27) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Chevrolet, 76, accident.
25. (26) Brian Schofield, Monson, Mass., Chevrolet, 48, overheating.
26. (23) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 45, rear end.
27. (22) Timmy Solomito, Islip, N.Y., Chevrolet, 21, accident.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 51 minutes 21 seconds
Margin of Victory: 2.056 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: B.Santos (98.355 mph, 18.301 seconds)
Caution Flags: 7 for 35 laps.
Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Silk 1-106; R. Preece 107-125.
Standings: 1. R. Preece, 130; 2. R. Pennink, 124; 3. M. Stefanik, 118; 4. J. Bonsignore, 115; 5. B. Santos, 113; 6. D. Coby, 113; 7. R. Silk, 111; 8. T. Christopher, 110; 9. J. Blewett, 109; 10. D. Lia, 95.
Stafford Speedway returned to NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing action with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in the house for the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 Presented by G-Oil. Taking down weekly feature wins on the night were Ryan Preece in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Jay Stuart in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Chase Bob Charland in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Josh Wood in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Dave Secore in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
Matt Hirschman manged to win the SBM 125 Modified at Star Speedway in Epping, NH and in the process took home $9,595.64. Several top name drivers made the trip up to southern NH. Total prize money was $45,000 and drew a field of 40 Modifieds. Second generation driver Hirschman held off all challengers and to and some big name driver for a big payday.
In the support classes Joe Squeglia of Derry, NH won the Late Model main his second victory of the season besting Jim Renfrew and Ron Bolduc. In the Street Stock feature Billy Osborne picked up that win.
SBM-125 Official finish: 2. Les Hinckley, 3. Ryan Preece, 4. Steve Masse, Bellingham, 5. Richard Savary, Canton, 6. Todd Patnode, 7. Andy Seuss, 8. Jacob Dore, 9. Zane Zeiner, 10. Austin Kochenache, 11. Jon McKennedy, 12. Justin Bonsignore, 13. Doug Coby, 14. Rob Summers, 15. Jeff Rocco, 16. Ted Christopher, 17. Anthony Nocella, 18. Chris Pasteryak, 19. Tommy Barrett, Millis, 20. Max Zachem, 21. Ron Silk, 22. Todd Annarummo, 23. Mike Stefanik, 24. Mike Douglas, Jr., 25 Josh Contara.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour moves into the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night with time trials going off at 4 p.m. and the rest of the program follows which includes several support classes. The facility opened to auto racing on April 15, 1951. Waterford is a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series-sanctioned track with SK Modifieds as the headline division. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour held 18 races at Waterford from 1985-2012. The track has also played host to seven NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races during its history, and the former NASCAR North Tour visited twice.
The previous 18 races produced 14 different race winners and 11 different pole winners. There has never been a driver earn back-to-back victories at Waterford. Jamie Tomaino is the only driver to compete in all 18 previous NWMT events at the track. Seven current NWMT drivers have won weekly SK Modified races at Waterford, including: Ted Christopher (33), Ron Yuhas Jr. (24), Eric Berndt (15), Doug Coby (4), Ed Flemke Jr. (4), Ron Silk (2) and Woody Pitkat (1).