by Jay | Sep 11, 2012 | Connecticut, Thompson
Three NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track championships will be the highlight of the competition this Sunday at the Thompson International Speedway. The most closely watched division will be the Super Late Models where, mathematically, there are seven drivers in contention for that division’s title.
Derek Ramstrom, the 2009 and 2010 champion, holds a slim 8 point lead over Jim Banfield going into the final points event of the year with Mike O’Sullivan a mere 14 markers behind the leader. The 2011 champion, Larry Gelinas finds himself 38 points down with veteran Dick Houlihan 44 off the pace. They may be long shots, but George Bessette and Colby Fournier are still in the running as well. A win is worth 50 points and every finishing spot that follows is reduced by two points each.
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by Jay | Sep 10, 2012 | Connecticut, Modified, New England, Thompson
Thompson, CT: Ted Christopher earned a hefty payday for the “Ole Blue” with a victory in the UNOH Showdown 50-lap shootout between the Whelen Modified Tour and the Whelen Southern Modified Tour. Christopher took the lead on lap six and held off Jimmy Blewett for the victory.
Christopher, of Plainville, CT, finished fifth in the Town Fair Tire Northern 75 and advanced to the Showdown field by virtue of his finish.
“We had a pretty good run in the first race,” said Christopher. Scott (Richards, crew chief) said he’d make some adjustments and make the car better and he really did.”
Justin Bonsignore led the 32-car field into turn one, but it was Bobby Santos out front by the completion of the second lap. Ryan Preece followed his line into second before caution flew at lap four for Richie Pallai, Jr., who wrecked in turn two. Santos wasted no time getting in front of Preece on the restart, but had to contend with Ted Christopher who muscled his way into the second position. Christopher was all over Santos, and on lap six, dove underneath Santos to take over the lead coming out of turn two. Preece, Santos, Bonsignore, and Stefanik rounded out the top-five at lap seven. Donny Lia joined the front-runners in sixth and all of the top cars pulled away from the rest of the field.
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by Jay | Sep 9, 2012 | Connecticut, Modified, New England, Thompson
The Fuller legacy continued at Thompson International Speedway when Rob Fuller captured his first career NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour pole Saturday afternoon with a lap of 18.947 seconds. Ryan Preece set fast time in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and earned his 11th career pole and fourth at Thompson Speedway. Both divisions will compete in 75-lap races before the top-10 finishers in each event advance to a 50-lap exhibition race on Sunday afternoon. In other NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action, Cam McDermott earned his 13th season victory in the Lite Modified division and Chad LaBastie checkered the Thompson Modifieds.
McDermott clinched the Lite Modified track championship at Thompson International Speedway after holding off John Studley for the win in the 20-lap feature. McDermott, who has dominated victory lane this season, won in one of the largest fields this season.
“Everybody keeps getting better,” said McDermott. “We had 10 cars here this week so we knew we had to step up our game.”
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by Jay | Sep 7, 2012 | Connecticut, Modified, Thompson
A full field of NASCAR Whelen Modified race cars is expected for the UNOH Showdown this weekend at Thompson International Speedway. NASCAR has confirmed that 46 entries have been filed to date with more expected before Saturday. Upwards of 25 race teams from the south are expected to make the trip north to compete at the track that has hosted more NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races than any other track in the country. Fans will have their last chance to see this many Modifieds assembled in New England all year.
The UNOH Showdown is a unique race event for the NASCAR Whelen Modified northern and southern tours. Each Tour will compete in its own 75-lap race for NASCAR points. The northern group will compete in the Town Fair Tire 75 and the southern contingent in the Green Pointe Energy 75. Upon completion of these two races, the best of the two Tours will be combined and lined up for a 50-lap, no holds barred scramble in the $50,000.00 UNOH Showdown with the winner collecting more than $15,000.00.
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by Jay | Sep 1, 2012 | Connecticut, Modified, New England, Thompson
The final night of Thompson Thursday Night Thunder saw Lite Modified driver Cam McDermott secure his 12th victory of the season. Other winners in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action included Woody Pitkat in the Sunoco Modifieds, Tommy O’Sullivan in an action packed Late Model feature, Jay Sundeen in the Thompson Modifieds, Larry Barnett in the Limited Sportsman, and Chad Baxter in the Mini Stock division.
Woody Pitkat held off Ryan Preece in an exciting Sunoco Modified 30-lap feature. Pitkat took the lead on lap six and battled Preece until lap 20 when he was able to shake him off his rear bumper and drive on to the checkered flag. Kerry Malone held off Todd Ceravolo at the start to take the early lead. The top-four – Malone, Ceravolo, Woody Pitkat, and Ryan Preece – were bumper-to-bumper until lap three when Ceravolo went underneath Malone to challenge for the top spot. Malone held him off as Pitkat and Preece drove by Ceravolo using the outside groove. On lap six, Pitkat went underneath Malone and maneuvered around a lapped car to take over the lead in turn four. Preece moved into the second spot on lap 10 and attached himself to the back bumper of Pitkat. On lap 13, Preece went to the inside and took over the lead in turn three, but Pitkat retaliated and reclaimed the lead on lap 14. In a nail-biting duel, Preece challenged Pitkat several times, but Pitkat continuously closed the door. On lap 19, Pitkat pulled away enough from Preece to have some breathing room. The field began to stretch out until Pitkat took the checkered flag a commanding ten-car lengths over Preece.
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by Jay | Aug 28, 2012 | Connecticut, Thompson
The Labor Day weekend will start a day early with the final Thursday Night Thompson Thunder race program for 2012 slated for this Thursday, August 30th. Attention after this week will be focused on the next two weekends of racing at Thompson that will include the UNOH Showdown weekend featuring the NASCAR Whelen Modified north/south Tours on September 8th & 9th and the final points race of the year on Sunday, September 16th.
This week, Thompson’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions will be preparing for their very important role in the UNOH Showdown weekend and will be looking to gain valuable track points in the quest of race teams to secure a championship title in their respective divisions.
Ryan Preece holds a 98 points advantage over Kerry Malone in the Sunoco Modified division with only three points races left on the schedule. Tommy O’Sullivan’s advantage in the Late Model division is 52 points ahead of Mike Scorzelli with John Falconi only 8 points behind Scorzelli. Randy Tucker is also in the hunt. In spite of his incredible success in the Thompson Modified division, John Lowinski-Loh, Jr. still faces title challenges from Jay Sundeen, Brian Tagg and Chad LaBastie.
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