August 11, 2017 |
Seventy years ago in 1947, the Lonsdale Sports Arena, just
outside of Providence, R.I. opened. Lonsdale featured a 1/3-mile high-banked
speedway with the midgets as headliners. Lonsdale was also one of the first
speedways to hold races for production automobiles, which was the forerunner
of what we consider today as being stock cars. Lonsdale took four months to
build and was dubbed the Worlds Greatest Midget Track. The chutes were 45
feet wide with a 7-foot bank. The turns were 60 feet wide with a 15-foot
bank. Lonsdale ran until 1953 when the track was severely damaged by a
flood, which wiped out half of the backstretch. The track was never rebuilt.
The remains are still there on the banks of the Blackstone River. If in
operation today, the track would be perfect for the modern modifieds as it
would be comparable to a mini-Bristol. Wall Stadium, in Belmar, NJ is an
almost carbon copy of the Rhode Island oval.
Sixty five years ago in 1952, rain
prevailed at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Wednesday night. Cy Yates
won the 50 lap mid-season Sportsman championship at the shoreline oval on
Saturday night. Ed McAvoy was the Claiming Car winner.
Sixty years ago in 1957 Red Bolduc
made it three in a row at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl as he won the
Wednesday night Sportsman feature. Irwin Fox was the non-Ford winner.
Saturday night racing at the Speedbowl rained out. Johnny Zeke was the
feature winner at Islip.
Fifty five years ago in 1962, Dick
Beauregard was the 50 lap Modified winner at the Waterford Speedbowl. Eddie
Moody was the Bomber feature winner.
Fifty years ago in 1967, the All Star
League had a scheduled stop at Riverside Park but rain prevailed. Friday
night at Stafford saw Gene Bergin make it two in a row as he won the 30-lap
feature. Eddie Flemke finished second with Ted Stack, Smokey Boutwell and
Wild Bill Slater rounding out the top five. Ernie Gahan, like Bergin, made
it two in a row as he won the Friday night 30 lapper at the Albany Saratoga
Speedway. George Pendergast finished second with Bob Bruno, third. Don
MacTavish and Lou Lazzaro rounded out the top five. Lee Osborne made it two
in a row at Fulton and George Wagner took a victory at the Riverhead
Raceway. Fonda ran a 100 lapper on Saturday night. Rene Charland made it
four in a row at the Track of Champions. Bill Wimble finished second with
Lou Lazzaro, third. Newt Palm scored his ninth Modified win of the season at
Waterford. Airborne Park Speedway near Plattsburg, NY ran twin 50’s with
Eddie Flemke winning both. In the first event, Pete Hamilton finished with
Don MacTavish, third. Billy Harman, who was racing full time, finished
seventh. In the night cap, Hamilton and MacTavish followed with Richie
Evans, fourth. Harman finished eighth. At Utica-Rome on Sunday night,
Defending NASCAR Modified Champion Ernie Gahan took the win in the scheduled
30-lap feature. Lou Lazzaro finished second and was followed by Jerry Cook,
Bernie Miller and Rene Charland.
Forty five years ago in 1972, Bobby
Sprague was the big winner at Seekonk on Friday night. Freddie Schulz
finished second with Johnny Tripp, third. At the Albany-Saratoga Speedway,
Eddie Pieniezak took the win over Denis Giroux, Dave Lape and Eddie Flemke.
George Summers, in the Ken Curley No.31 took a popular win at Stafford on
Saturday night. Eddie Flemke finished second with Fred DeSarro, Bob Santos
and Ernie Gahan rounding out the top five. Islip ran a 200-lap national
championship event on Saturday night, which drew in many outsiders. Once the
checker dropped and the dust settled it was Jim Hendrickson sitting in
victory lane. Jerry Cook finished second with Bernie Miller, third. Fonda
ran a double point event with Jack Johnson taking the win. Dick Watson was
the Modified winner at Waterford. At Utica-Rome on Sunday night, Dave Kotary
held off Richie Evans, Lou Lazzaro, Jerry Cook and Denis Giroux for the win.
Forty years ago in 1977, Bugsy
Stevens made it three in a row at Stafford in Friday night modified action.
Ronnie Bouchard finished second with Ray Miller, third. At Riverhead, also
on Friday, Fred Harbach took the win over Wayne Anderson and Charlie
Jarzombek. At Seekonk, on Saturday night, John Rosati took on the big boys
and came home the winner. Henri ”Red” Barbeau finished second with Jim
Wilkins, third. At Westboro, George Savory mastered the high-banked quarter
mile oval. Mike Murphy finished second with Butch Walch, third. It rained at
Waterford and Thompson but at Monadnock on Sunday night, Donnie Ayer beat
the rain and Don Miller to take down the win. Brian Ross finished third.
Thirty five years ago in 1982, Reggie
Ruggiero won a hotly contested 40 lap-Thompson 300 Pole Qualifier over Greg
Sacks and Ronnie Bouchard. Ruggerio took the lead on the start from pole
sitter, Ronnie Bouchard. Sacks was declared the winner after a post race
inspection indicated that Ruggerio’s carburetor was illegal. Ray Miller took
the Friday night win at Stafford despite the fact that Ruggerio was
breathing down his neck during most of the feature. Ruggerio settled for
second with Greg Sacks, third. In other Friday night action, George Kent won
at Spencer over Jerry Cook and Billy Griffin, John Blewett JR won a 100
lapper at Riverhead over Fred Harback and George Brunnhoelzl and at New
Egypt, Richie Evans won out over Jamie Tomaino and Tony Siscone. Thirty-four
Modifieds were on hand at Waterford on Saturday night. Harry Rice took the
win over Randy Lajoie and Moose Hewitt. Brian McCarthy was the Super Stock
winner. At Riverside Park it was Mike Stefanik over Stan Gregger and at
Seekonk, George Summers outran Ronnie Bouchard and Mike Murphy for the win.
George Kent made it two for two on the weekend as he took the win at
Shangri-La over Doug Hewitt and Richie Evans. At Islip, Wayne Anderson
mastered the 1/5th mile oval.
Thirty years ago in 1987, the NASCAR
Featherlite Modified Tour Series was at Riverhead for a 151 lapper on
Wednesday night. Rain postponed the event to Thursday night. Mike Ewanitsko
slipped by Bob Park on lap 132 and went on to record the win. Tom Baldwin
led the early going until he got caught up in a wreck, which had been
triggered by a blown engine in the Don Howe car. Park finished second and
was followed by Mike Stefanik, Bill Park and Jim Spencer. Ed Flemke JR was
the SK-Modified winner at Stafford on Friday night but the big story was
that NASCAR Chief Steward, Leo Waters, resigned after a dispute with General
Manager Ed Yerrington. What happened was that Waters had suspended and fined
Bo Gunning for a rough riding incident the previous week. During the week,
Gunning appealed to Yerrington who, in turn, over-ruled Waters. Needless to
say, Yerrington never told Waters of his decision. Waters felt that
Yerrington had made a fool out of him and quit on the spot and would never
return. Saturday night at Waterford, Moose Hewitt beat out Jerry Pearl and
Ronnie Rocco. At Riverside it was Dan Avery over Stan Gregger and at
Riverhead, Bill Park beat out Tom Baldwin and Eddie Brunnhoelzl. In other
weekend activity, Lee Sherwood took the win at Tioga and rain prevailed at
Thompson on Sunday
.
Twenty five years ago in 1992, Mike
Christopher was the Wednesday night winner at Thompson. Tom Tagg finished
second. Bo Gunning put the S&S 33 in victory lane at Stafford on Friday
night. Richie Gallup finished second with Ronnie Rocco, third. Ricky Fuller
went two for two as he put the Mario Fiore No.44 in the winners circle at
Monadnock on Friday and at Riverside on Saturday. At Waterford on Saturday
night, Ted Christopher drove the North End Auto Parts No.54 to victory lane
over Jerry Pearl. In late model action, Phil Rondeau scored his eighth win
of the season. Mike Ewanitsko won the Charlie Jarzombek Memorial at
Riverhead and Tony Siscone won his fifth of the season at Wall.
Twenty years ago in 1997, Steve
Chowanski was the Friday night winner at Stafford. Todd Ceravolo won his
sixth of the year at Waterford on Saturday night. Don Fowler finished second
with Eric Berndt, third. John Brouwer was the late model winner. Ted
Christopher made it three in a row at Riverside and backed it up with a
Busch North Series win at Watkins Glen. In the BNS event, Christopher
started third and had to pit on the first lap when his shifter jammed.
Restarting in the rear, Christopher marched to the front and took the lead
with 27 laps to go. Kim Baker finished second with Martin Truex, third. Pole
sitter Mike Stefanik led the first two laps before losing a transmission.The
NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Series was at Riverhead for a 201-lap
event. Mike Ewanitsko took the lead on lap 60 and managed to weave his way
through the lapped traffic to take the win over Mike Stefanik, Tom Cravenho
and Tim Connolly. In Winston Cup action at Watkins Glen, Jeff Gordon scored
his first ever road course win. Geoff Bodine finished second with Rusty
Wallace, third. In other news, NASCAR announced that the Las Vegas Speedway
would have a Winston Cup date in 1998. Dave Blaney won $1 million in a
sprinter at Eldora Speedway in Ohio and Danny Johnson won $17,500 in the
Mr.DIRT USA event at the Lebanon Valley Speedway.
Fifteen years ago in 1992, the racing
weekend started on Thursday at Thompson where an elated John Brouwer Jr. won
his first feature at the 5/8-mile oval amid some tough customers. Brouwer,
who left the Waterford Speedbowl after an early season dispute with track
officials, made Thompson his new home. In fact, it was probably a good
career move especially if Brouwer has a design to move up to one of NASCAR’s
touring divisions. Brouwer took the lead on lap five of the 30 lap main
event and led the rest of the way to take the victory over Bobby Santos III.
Ted Christopher fought with an ill handling car and finished third. Bo
Gunning and Tom Tagg finished fourth and fifth after recovering from a first
lap jingle with Eric Berndt. Defending track champion Bert Marvin finished
sixth. Stafford ran a 150 lapper for the SK-Modifieds on Friday night. With
$3,500 and valuable track points on the line, Bo Gunning was hoping to pad
his point lead and get car owner Eddie Partridge his first track
championship. Gunning seemed to have the race well in hand until a lap 86
restart when Lloyd Agor booted him. The spin and eventual wreck also
collected Ted Christopher and Jeff Baral. Ron Silk, who had been running
second, took the lead and went on to record his first Stafford win. Eric
Berndt, who has had a miserable season, got the monkey off his back as he
came home in second spot. Doug Coby, Lloyd Agor and Mike Holdredge rounded
out the top five. The Featherlite Modified Tour Series was represented by Ed
Flemke Jr. who finished seventh and rookie sensation Todd Szegedy who
finished 33rd. Gunning ended up 23rd and Christopher finished out the night
in 24th spot. There were ten cautions 109 of the scheduled 150 laps run
under green. The regular Saturday night racing program saw Dennis Gada score
his fifth win of the season. It was also a milestone for car owner Harry
Wyatt as it was his 50th win at the shoreline oval. It looked like tech
inspector Everett Marvin was not fooling around as he made extensive checks
looking for traction control devices. Marvin even had those checked remove
their body tin. All those checked were legal. Ed Reed JR finished second.
Ten years ago in 2007, the NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour started the weekend of on a wet note as rain washed out
the scheduled event at Stafford on Friday. The entire event was rescheduled
for Saturday night. Ted Christopher ended an almost year long dry spell as
he won the event over Todd Szegedy and Mike Stefanik. It was Christopher’s
seventh win at the track where he is the all-time winningest driver and the
points leader in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series’ SK Modified
Division. But it was his first trip to Victory Lane on the Whelen Modified
Tour since Aug. 17, 2006 at Thompson (Conn.). Christopher led 58 laps before
pitting on lap 76. He quickly worked his way back up front and retook the
lead on lap 114. Doug Coby, making his first start of the season for the No.
77 Race Against Cancer Foxwoods/Subway Pontiac, finished fourth. Donny Lia
(No. 4 Dodge), who won the first two Whelen Modified Tour stops of the
season at Stafford, was fifth. Matt Hirschman, Jerry Marquis, Eric Beers,
Jimmy Blewett and Woody Pitkat rounded out the top 10. Thirty-two cars,
light by Tour standards, were on hand. All started the event. Numerous
wrecks and spins were the cause of 13 caution periods as almost half
(73laps) of the 150-lap distance was run under the yellow.
In True Value Modified Series action Jon McKennedy took the checkers at
the Canaan Speedway in New Hampshire.
In regular Thursday Night Thunder action at the Thompson Speedway Keith
Rocco picked up his third Sunoco Modified (Sk) win of the year. Jay
Macedonio wired the field for his first-career Pro Stock win. Rick Gentes
continued his dominance of the Late Model division with his sixth win of the
season. Larry Barnett turned his recent bad luck around with a win in the
Limited Sportman division while Kurt Vigeant made it two in a row in TIS
Modified competition. Brad Caddick scored his second Mini Stock feature win
of the season. Rocco of Wallingford, CT, scored his win with an impressive
performance in the Sunoco Modified division. The headline division was
stacked up three-wide before they entered turn one on lap one. Things got
worse when a struggling pole-sitter, Danny LaJeunesse, spun in turn two. Bad
luck continues to plague Todd Ceravolo, who, once again, was in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Danny Cates and Steve Masse occupied the front row
when the racing went back to green on lap one. Masse lost ground on the
restart handing the lead temporarily to Danny Cates. Before the completion
of the lap, Tommy Cravenho was the new leader. A grinding wreck in turn one
that included Russ Blanco, Brian Tagg, LaJeunesse and Dave Lacroix brought
the action to a halt with the red flag on lap three. Under caution, Jimmy.
Blewett headed to pit road. When racing resumed, Cravenho continued to show
the way with Rocco moving into the second position. The caution flew on lap
six when the #5 of John Blewett came to rest with a ball of flame in turn
four. The restart pitted Rocco against Cravenho for the lead. The two went
wheel to wheel, even bouncing off each other, as they headed toward the
start/finish line. Rocco was able to grab the top spot from Cravenho on lap
eight. Masse and Cates were hanging tough inside the top five. Kerry Malone,
Woody Pitkat and Bert Marvin were getting racey for the fifth position. The
duo of Rocco and Cravenho were putting some distance back to third. They
watched their lead fade when the caution flew on lap 14 for further troubles
for the T.S. Haulers Team. Jimmy Blewett came to rest in the infield off of
turn two. The green flew again one lap shy of halfway with Rocco and
Cravenho still showing the way. Rocco got away a bit from Cravenho while
they went two-by-two inside the top five. The fourth spot was a busy place
with Masse holding off Cates, and Marvin, who had made quick work of Pitkat
and Malone after the restart. Again, it was a two-car breakaway with Rocco
leading Cravenho. Masse ran third while Cates was being hounded by Marvin.
Pitkat, Buddy Charrette and Kerry Malone took chase. Marvin was able to take
the third spot from Cates with less than ten laps remaining. Marvin caught
Masse with five laps to go. Pitkat and Malone ganged up on Cates as they
were able to advance their positions on the rookie. With Rocco checked out
on Cravenho, Marvin continued to dog Cates. Malone turned up the heat on
Pitkat for the fifth position. At the finish, it was all Rocco. Cravenho
settled for the second position. Steve Masse had a career day in the
Modified finishing third. Marvin ran a smart race to quietly finish fourth
over Pitkat.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Stafford Motor
Speedway Woody Pitkat and Ryan Posocco continued their streaks with Pitkat
taking his fourth consecutive SK Modified® feature victory, while Posocco
scored his third consecutive Late Model feature win. Glen Reen took down the
SK Light feature win for his fifth win of the 2007 season, Rick Lanagan
scored his fifth Limited Late Model feature win of 2007, and Megan
Bienkowski scored her first career victory in the 15-lap feature event. The
40-lap SK Modified® feature took the green with Todd Owen leading the field,
but he was surpassed for the lead by Jeff Malave on lap-4. The first 27 laps
of the race ran under green flag conditions, with Malave building up a full
straightaway lead over Owen before the caution erased that margin. Woody
Pitkat moved from third to second on the restart on lap-31 and then took the
lead from Malave on lap-34. Pitkat held serve on two final restarts in the
last four laps to score the feature win. Brad Hietala charged through the
pack in the closing laps to come home second, with Malave, Ted Christopher,
and Frank Ruocco rounding out the top-5.
In NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action at the Waterford Speedbowl Tommy
Fox went pole to pole as he ended a shutout season at the shoreline oval.
Fox held off Shawn Monahan during the final two restarts. Tom Fox won his
first feature of what has been a tough season for the veteran driver,
leading from wire to wire and holding off Shawn Monahan on two restarts, the
last with 14 laps to go. Dennis Charette was third and Donnie Fowler fourth,
with Jeff Pearl, fifth. Bruce Thomas Jr won his ninth Late Model feature of
the year and has all but wrapped up the division title. Phil Evans won his
fourth Mini Stock feature of the season. Mark Lajoie passed Jim Procaccini,
who led from the start, on the outside with just two laps to go, to win his
first career Sportsman feature and Michael Gervais spun out Jason Palmer on
the final turn of the last lap, so track officials awarded Glen Billings,
who was running third, the victory for a win in the Legends INEX Nationals
qualifier in a caution-filled 50-lap feature.
Dirt tracker Brett Hearn scored his 500th win when he won a 100 lapper at
the Lebanon Valley Speedway on Saturday night.
Kevin Harvick had victory lane to himself, using perfect pit strategy to
win the Busch Series Zippo 200 Saturday at Watkins Glen International.
Harvick, the defending Busch Series champion, led 37 laps and beat Jeff
Burton by 3.5 seconds for his second consecutive win, fifth this season and
31st of his career. That ties him with Jack Ingram for second all-time
behind Mark Martin's 47. Polesitter Kurt Busch was third, followed by Paul
Menard and rookie Brad Coleman. Juan Pablo Montoya, who started on the front
row and was seeking a record third NASCAR road course win of the season, ran
up front much of the day but finished 33rd after being caught up in a crash
with Jason Leffler on a restart with 14 laps remaining in the 82-lap race.
With just two laps remaining in Sunday's Nextel Cup Centurion Boats at The
Glen at Watkins Glen International, Jeff Gordon had a two car-length lead on
Tony Stewart. NASCAR's top two road racers were preparing for a final clash.
It never happened. Gordon spun out on his own heading into the first turn,
Stewart zoomed past, held off a late charge from Carl Edwards, and won for
the third time in four races.
Five years ago in 2012, The Whelen
Modified Tour Series visited the Thompson Speedway on Thursday night. Donny
Lia took over the lead with 21 laps to go and pulled away to win the
Budweiser King of Beers 150. Lia, who started ninth on the grid in the No. 4
Mystic Missile Racing Dodge, initially challenged pole-sitter Mike Stefanik
for the lead on Lap 59. Stefanik battled back, however, to regain the lead
and stay out front to the midway point of the race. Lia, meanwhile, lost a
lap to the leaders due to a problem with a lug nut during a pit stop. He
gained the lap back as the beneficiary during a caution on Lap 83. Lia
steadily worked his way forward from there. He was up to sixth by Lap 95 and
moved by Todd Szegedy for second on Lap 108. Lia moved by Ron Silk for the
lead on Lap 129 and never looked back. Other lap leaders were Stefanik, lap
1 through 74, Szegedy, lap 75 to 94 and Silk, lap 95 to 128.
Silk held off Doug Coby for second. Ted Christopher, who was penalized
for aggressive driving and sent to the back of the pack on Lap 84, rebounded
to finish fourth. Stefanik was fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Rowan
Pennink, Jimmy Blewett, Bobby Santos, Ron Yuhas Jr. and Szegedy.
With this win, he secured a locked-in starting position for the inaugural
UNOH Battle at the Beach during 2013 Speedweeks on a temporary short track
at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
There were 25 Modifieds on hand as the car counts continue to drop.
Fourteen of the original 25 starters finished on the lead lap. There were
eight cautions for 34 laps. The first yellow flew on lap 16 when Justin
Bonsignore and Patrick Emerling wrecked in turn two. Bonsignore's damage was
terminal while Emerling was able to have repairs and despite losing laps was
able to work his way back as a "Lucky Dog" and ended the day on the lead lap
in 12th spot at the finish. The second caution came on lap 24 when Rob
Fuller and Eric Berndt were involved in an accident in turn two. Both would
continue but would finish laps down at the finish. The third caution flew on
lap 45 for Jon McKennedy who spun on the front stretch. McKennedy recovered
to finish 14th on the lead lap. Jimmy Blewett spun out in turn four on lap
63, bringing out the fourth caution. Blewett stormed back to finish seventh.
Six laps later on lap 69 Rowan Pennink spun in turn two for the fifth
caution. The yellow was displayed for the sixth time when Bobby Santos was
spun out by Ted Christopher. NASCAR felt that Christopher, who was driving
the famous ole Blu of the Boehler family, was overly aggressive and put him
to the rear. The sixth caution came on lap 83 when Woody Pitkat and Ed
Flemke wrecked on the backstretch. A red flag resulted while track crews
removed Flemke's car from atop Pitkats. The eighth and final caution came on
lap 116 when Ryan Preece spun in turn two.
Thursday night Thunder at Thompson saw Ryan Preece in the Sunoco Modified
division, Danny Gamache, Jr. visited Thompson International Speedway victory
lane for the first time in his career when he checkered the Thompson
Modified division in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action. Other winners
included Tommy O’Sullivan in the Late Models, Jesse Gleason in the Limited
Sportsman division, Eric Bourgeois in the Monster Mini Stocks, and Cam
McDermott in the Lite Modifieds.
Preece took the lead in the Sunoco Modified feature event at lap two and
never looked back en route to his third consecutive win and eighth victory
of the season. Kerry Malone drove right out front at the drop of the green
flag with Dennis Perry and Todd Ceravolo rounding out the top three. On lap
two, Ryan Preece shot to the outside groove and drove by Ceravolo before
taking over the second spot from Perry on the inside groove. Caution flew at
lap six for a spun car in turn two putting Preece side-by-side with Malone.
Malone drove to the front, but Preece was persistent in his challenges. On
lap eight, Preece dropped to the bottom and drove by Malone for the lead.
Ceravolo and Ted Christopher rounded out the top-four. On lap 13, Ceravolo
went underneath Malone in a battle for second. Christopher got into the mix
and used the same line to try and take over third, but Malone fought back
and shut the door on his challenges. On lap 19, Christopher was able to get
the momentum to drive by Malone and take over third. Meanwhile, Preece had
pulled away to a half-a-straightaway lead over the rest of the field.
Preece, who has three wins in a row has now won 8 of the 14 events run at
Thompson.
At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night heavy showers forced the
Arute family to pull the plug on the night's racing.
In Saturday night action at the Waterford Speedbowl continuing rain kept
the shoreline oval quiet.
In NASCAR Southern Modified action at the Bowman Gray Stadium in
Winston-Salem NC the rain prevailed there too!
Shawn Solomito led from pole to pole as he won the NASCAR Modified
feature at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island. Ryan Preece, who started
fifth, finished second with Ted Christopher, third.
When push came to shove, Carl Edwards got the better of Brad Keselowski.
Edwards, making his first Nationwide Series start of the season, beat
Keselowski on a two-lap dash to the checkered flag on Saturday and won the
Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International. Austin Dillon's blown right-front
tire brought out the final stoppage of the 82-lap race around the 11-turn,
2.45-mile layout, and Edwards beat Keselowski on a restart for the second
straight time in the race.
Slipping and sliding around oil-spattered Watkins Glen International on
the last lap and fighting for the lead, Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski
didn't know what was around the next turn. Ambrose finally passed Keselowski
heading to the final turn in a stunning fender-banging duel Sunday and won
the Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen. It was his second straight Sprint Cup
victory at the track.
Last year, 2016, At the Stafford
Motor Speedway on Friday night in front of a packed house, the NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour was on hand with 25 cars for a 150 lapper. Jimmy Blewett and
Justin Bonsignore were in the right place at the right time as leaders Doug
Coby and Bobby Santos had fuel delivery problems on the closing laps. Coby,
who led twice, first from the start to lap 12, then from lap 16 to lap 143,
saw his vision of victory disappear when his car sputtered on lap 144 and
totally quit one lap later. Santos suffered the same fate on lap 151, after
slowing on lap 150. Justin Bonsignore led laps 150 and 151 before being
overtaken by Blewett. Coby ended up 20th and Santos, 17th. Brendon Bock,
Chase Dowling and Eric Goodale rounded out the top five. Sixth thru tenth
were Ron Silk, Max Zachem, Timmy Solomito, Woody Pitkat and Craig Lutz.
If the fields of Modifieds continued to dwindle Melissa Fifield, who
finished 22nd may finally break the top twenty. She completed 121 laps
before being black flagged for going too slow. At that point she had been
lapped 19 times!
Taking down NASCAR Whelen All-American Series weekly feature wins on the
night were Rowan Pennink in the SK Modified® feature, Tom Fearn
In the Late Model feature, Marcello Rufrano was a first time winner in his
very first career SK Light start, Justin Bren won the Limited Late Model
feature, and Ryan Fearn scored the DARE Stock feature win.
In the SK Modified feature, Pennink led Michael Gervais to the checkered
flag to pick up his fourth win of the 2016 season. Keith Rocco finished
third with Danny Cates and Woody Pitkat rounding out the top-5.
The New London-Waterford Speedbowl their annual Wings & Wheels program on
Saturday night. Jon McKennedy held off Richard Savary to win the 100-lap
Valenti Modified Racing feature in the main event. Tyler Chadwick topped the
field in the 35-lap SK Modified feature. Cory DiMatteo was the winner of the
SK Light Modified feature. John Zych Jr. won the 25-lap NEMA Midget feature.
PJ Stergois was the winner in the NEMA Lite feature. Geoffrey Sutton won the
25-lap ATQMRA Three-Quarter Midget feature. Mike McVetta won the 50-lap ISMA
SuperModified feature
In the VMRS 100, McKennedy, who started sixth in the 29-car field,
rallied after being involved in a lap 32 crash that collected nearly half of
the field. Ted Christopher spun as he exited turn two and ultimately
collected 17 cars. Savary went to the lead by Woody Pitkat on lap 70 restart
with McKennedy following him to second. Three laps later McKennedy went to
the outside to take over the lead for good. Savary hung on to finish second
with Woody Pitkat, third. Rounding out the top five was Mike Willis Jr and
Dave Etheridge. Chris Pasteryak, Donnie Lashua, Geoff Gernhard, Brandon
Dion, and Keith Rocco, rounded out the top ten.
In the 35 lap SK Modified feature, Chadwick picked up his second victory
of the season. Ted Christopher finished second and Diego Monahan was third.
Bo Gunning took the field to the green from the pole with Chadwick to his
outside and the pair put on a show over the opening segment of the race. On
lap 6, Chadwick edged Gunning out for the lead at the line, but the pair
remained side-by-side in the lead battle.
With 20 laps left Gunning was able to get Chadwick to tuck in behind in
second. A lap later slight contact between the two sent Gunning sliding
sideways in turn two to bring out a caution and put Chadwick in the lead. On
the ensuing restart it was Joey Gada getting by Adam Gada for second place
with Christopher following to third place and Monahan to fourth. Caution
flew again with 12 laps remaining and on the restart it was Christopher
moving to second place past Joey Gada, with Monahan moving to third. But
Chadwick was up to the task of keeping Christopher at bay over the final 10
laps. Christopher took one bumping shot at Chadwick on the final lap, but
Chadwick held his line. Rounding out the top five was Joey Gada and Dennis
Perry.
At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island Defending NASCAR Modified
champion Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead and his team plotted out strategy
Saturday afternoon in the pit area of Riverhead Raceway and when the night's
40-lap feature event was over that game plan worked to perfection as Rogers
won his first feature event of 2016 after starting last. It was only the 5th
start of the season for Rogers who is on the road to recovery after some
early season health concerns. Said Rogers, "we decided this afternoon
(Saturday) instead of using up our tires in the heat race that I'd take the
green and pull into the infield. We knew that would start us last but with a
13-car field we felt we could march towards the front"
In action at the Bowman-Gray Stadium in North Carolina Tim Brown and Burt
Myers finished one-two in a rain shortened 100 lapper on Friday night. The
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour visited Bowman-Gray on Saturday night
and ran the Strutmasters.com 199. Burt and Jason Myers finished one-two with
Andy Seuss, third.
In NASCAR Sprint cup racing, Denny Hamlin came up one corner short of his
first road course victory earlier this season at Sonoma Raceway, but on
Sunday at Watkins Glen Int’l he made up for it by winning the Cheez-It 355
at The Glen. Martin Truex finished second with Joey Logano, third. In
Xfinity Series racing at Watkins Glen, Joey Logano won Saturday's NASCAR
XFINITY Series from the pole, giving Team Penske its first XFINITY victory
in what has been a disappointing season so far. The win in the Zippo 200 was
the second straight at the 2.45-mile road course for the 26-year-old driver,
who led 67 of 82 laps and drove his car to the limit, keeping teammate Brad
Keselowski behind him until a broken track bar mount forced Keselowski's No.
22 Ford out of the race after 79 laps.
That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and
R.I.02891.Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.E-Mail, smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.
Phil Smith has been a
columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades. |
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Looking Back Archive
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Source: Phil
Smith / Looking Back A Bit
Posted: August
11, 2017 |
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