Savary Wins First VMRS Race At Thompson
Thompson, CT. – Richard Savary, of Canton, MA, won his first Valenti Modified Racing Series event Thursday night, August 22, with an impressive run in the 75-lap feature race
Savary, who started 15th in a 21-car lineup, chased race leader Rowan Pennink, of Huntingdon Valley, PA, for five laps before passing Pennink on lap 72 to go on to victory.
It was a special win for the second-generation driver who has won races in other divisions at Thompson but this was his first score in a full-blown modified.
“I have to thank all these guys (crew) for the work they did to get this car done, sponsors, Bob Bruneau’s motor, the fans of Thompson Speedway, my home track for awhile. I always wanted to win a race here in a modified we did that tonight and I’m happy for that”
“It was a tough week with what happened last week (Seekonk DQ) we wanted to prove our point and we got it done.”
Savary said the race staying green and cautions not coming till later was a little concern,” Our strategy was to ride around for 30 laps and let the race come to us. This is the fewest cars we’ve had here and it got strung out. It seemed like it could go all the way so we had to just take (pass) one at a time and even then I had to conserve.”
Point-leader Rowan Pennink continued to run strong and led for 24-laps before Savary slipped by.” We had a good car. It looked like it was going to go green there for awhile. We might have run a little bit too hard at the beginning. Richard had a good car at the end and was able to get by us.”
Three-time series champion Jon McKennedy, of East Chelmsford, MA, made a late race charge to finish third.
McKennedy was pleased the Art Barry crew was able to dial-in a car that was tight in practice.
“We changed a bunch of stuff and the crew worked hard. I knew after the heat we had a pretty good piece. Art tuned the motor. I wish the race was a little bit longer. Maybe I held back a little. I had a lot of car left,” said McKennedy.
Tommy Barrett, of Millis, MA, drew the attention of fans with another late race charge to finish fourth. Keith Rocco, of Meriden, CT, ran a strong race settling for fifth.
Rounding out the top ten were; Dan Meservey, Jr, Chris Pasteryak, Max Zachem, Jeff Malave, and Louie Mechalides.
The race was completed in 50:44 with 13 of the 21 starters on the lead lap at the finish. Six caution flags were displayed throughout the event for spins and crashes.
Heat winners were; Ted Christopher, Barrett, and Mechalides.
Race No.11 of 17- Thompson Speedway
Entrants: 23 (21 starters) Kopec, Doucette (engine)
Distance: 75-laps
Time of Race: 50:44:19
Best Lap Time: 19.169 (Savary)
Lead Changes: 2 (among 2 drivers)
Lap Leaders: Pasteryak (1-48) Pennink (49-72) Savary (73-75
Cautions: 6 Laps 1, 47,48,51,69,69
Unofficial Order of Finish: (1) Savary (2) Pennink (3) McKennedy (4) Barrett (5) Rocco (6) Meservey (7) Pasteryak (8) Zachem (9) Malave (10) Mechalides (11) Owen (12) Van Houten (13) Mead (14) Wrenn (15) Christopher (16) Holdridge (17) Preece (18) Bitondo (19) Fifield (20) Masse (21) Nocella.