Ramstrom Breaks The Ice With Pair Of Wins
THOMPSON, Conn. — Derek Ramstrom got his Super Late Model season off to a fine start at Thompson International Speedway.
The reigning track champion swept a pair of 25-lap features for the division as part of the track’s annual Icebreaker event over the weekend.
“It was great to come right out and win two races like that,” Ramstrom said. “It was a big boost of confidence — just huge for the whole team. I needed that.”
The 18-year-old driver from West Boylston, Mass., became the youngest champion in Thompson history last year after winning four Super Late Model races on the season. In just two days, he’s already halfway to that total this year.
Ramstrom won’t defend his track championship in 2010, instead opting for a full schedule of NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races complemented by partial PASS North Series and Thompson weekly schedules. The lightened workload at Thompson has changed his motivation, he said.
“We’re going out to race for the win every time,” Ramstrom said. “We’ll go out and do whatever it takes to get to the checkered flag first. It’s wreckers or win for us.”
On Saturday, Ramstrom started on the outside pole in the 16-car field and waited until leader Louie Mechalides encountered a transmission problem on an early restart. He took the lead and never looked back en route to winning.
Less than 24 hours later, Ramstrom started from the pole but conceded the lead to Mike O’Sullivan. The two cars spent the final 10 laps racing door-to-door, with O’Sullivan holding the high line and Ramstrom occupying the low side of the high-banked race track.
As the two cars rolled through the final corner with the checkered flag in sight, Ramstrom got a run under O’Sullivan and won the drag race to the start-finish line by half a car length.
“It wasn’t easy at all,” Ramstrom said.
“I could tell his car was tight in the center of the corner, and I did a little high-low move and moved him up the track. I gave him a little bump and run, and it worked.”
Ramstrom’s family-owned No. 35 Chevrolet won’t be back in action until May, with an eye on being back on track for either the PASS 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway (Scarborough, Maine) on May 1 or the beginning of Thompson’s weekly Thursday Night Thunder series on May 20.
“This is the best we’ve ever started out for a season,” Ramstrom said. “We’ve had a couple tough weeks in the K&N Pro Series and this is how you rebound.”