The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour invaded White Mountain Motorsports Park Sunday afternoon for the Thunder in the Mountains 200. Eighteen cars tried to beat the clock in time trials with Northampton, Pennsylvania’s Matt Hirschman taking the fast time of 11.611-seconds but the redraw determined a change in line-up. Hirschman spun the wheel for a top-eight redraw with Patrick Emerling drawing chip #1 to steal the pole starting spot under the green flag.
Emerling maintained a comfortable lead early with Hirschman content to ride in second with Tommy Catalano in tow. Catalano decided enough was enough taking the lead on lap 30 with defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Austin Beers stealthily following the New Yorker through. Beers kept the momentum up to lead lad 42 under Catalano prior to the caution flag for debris that sent Emerling pit-side for a new air cleaner.
Beers continued to lead the fight under green with a pitstop change doing good for Paulie Hartwig III who kept consistency enough to take third by the halfway point. The second caution flew on lap 119 for the slowed Trevor Catalano machine atop turn two with the majority of the field jumping pit-side for tire strategy and adjustments. Hartwig and Emerling fought hard at the front with Hartwig leading lap 128 before Emerling took lap 129 and began to drive away. Meanwhile the battle for third, fourth and fifth was a wild back-and-forth showdown that included Hirschman, Tyler Rypkema, Stephen Kopcik, Beers and Mike Christopher Jr., among others!
The rest of the journey was hammer down and don’t look back with point leader Patrick Emerling coming back from the early air-cleaner mishap to take the Thunder in the Mountains 200 for his first White Mountain Motorsports Park win with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Austin Beers grabbed second after motoring around Paulie Hartwig III with Tyler Rypkema and Matt Hirschman rounding out the top five.
Stacey Cahoon and Kyle Goodbout brought the 1764 Sports Bar & Grill Late Models to green to kick off feature racing ahead Sunday afternoon. Goodbout drove away with a healthy lead in the green-to-checkers, caution free showdown as championship hopefuls Quinny Welch and Kasey Beattie drove up through the field. The two former champs battled so hard they split rookie Jason Woodard on lap 33 with desperation setting in as laps wound down. Goodbout held on for the 50-lap win as Beattie charged to second over Cahoon.
Following up the clean Late Model show, the NELCAR Legends also went green-to-checkered in their 20-lap main event ahead of NASCAR qualifying. Ethan Aveller nailed down his first White Mountain win in the seven minute wire-to-wire feature over a hard-charging Cole Robie, who started dead last, and Dave Stone III.
The Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Strictly Minis saw JJ Goodbout take the lead from polesitter Tyler Thompson early in their 25-lap main and take off running with a mirror full of Donnie Baumgardner. The two would duke it out side-by-side throughout the final ten laps with Baumgardner getting the edge and Tyler Thompson rounding out the top-three.
Multi-time champion Shane Sicard launched from the pole starting spot in The Farmyard Store Flying Tiger feature event and looked to take win number one by the halfway point. From there, Luke Peters found the speed to make it happen and pulled up alongside Sicard with thirteen laps remaining. Peters drove around Sicard to take the win with Mike Clark keeping pace to finish third behind Sicard.
White Mountain Motorsports Park returns to racing action on Saturday, July 25 with the second round in the Wall’s Ford Platinum Series for the 1764 Sports Bar & Grill Late Models. The Kancamagus 112 is presented by CSV Motorsports and Passumpsic Bank with the Late Models joined by The Farmyard Store Flying Tigers, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Strictly Minis, Dads 4 By Tool & Supply Kids Division and the NELCAR Tour Legends and Bandoleros with a 7:00pm Post Time.
