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08/06/2011 |
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STAFFORD
MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
TOWN FAIR TIRE 150
by
Polly Reid |
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 With
15 to go, Ted Christopher made his made his move,
committing low going into turn three, the
Plainville, CT driver cleared Mike Stefanik for the
lead and held off Stefanik to the wire scoring the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Town Fair Tire 150 win
at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Stefanik crossed for second, Bobby Santos third,
Eric Beers and Eric Goodale the top five.
“We were really tight in the beginning there but it
probably played in our favor because I think
everyone was getting loose,” said Christopher, “but
in the end you just have to go with this thing. It’s
weird because it started to get tight again so I had
to run a little different line to hold Michael off -
it was a lot of fun.”
The Town Fair 150 ran the first 116 laps under the
green flag and while Coors Light pole winner Doug
Coby led the 28 car field to green, it was outside
starter Tom Rogers who powered on the outside to
become the first leader of the night, the Patchogue,
NY driver holding the position until Coby made his
calculated move on lap 16 becoming the second
leader.
With Coby out front, the field stretched out and
while Christopher worked his way to second under
green, the laps continued to tick off and at the
half way mark it was Coby, Christopher, Todd
Szegedy, Rogers, Beers, Santos, Justin Bonsignore,
Ron Silk, Stefanik and Erik Rudolph the top ten.
Christopher finally closed the gap enough to take
the lead from Coby on the 88th circuit and did what
Coby had done earlier, checked out from the field.
Christopher’s lead all went away with a muddled
incident on lap 116 in turn four. Coby and Szegedy
running second and third took the brunt of it and
while both drove away, their stellar night in an
instant, evaporated.
Pit row came alive, the action heated up as
Christopher led the way for fresh Hoosiers. But
three tires later, it was Stefanik’s Flamingo
Motorsports team that came off pit row first, the
Coventry, RI driver moving from seventh to become
the new leader of the night followed by Santos, Eric
Goodale, Christopher and Rowan Pennink the top five.
A caution on the restart for a spin in turn two
closed the field up again, Stefanik at the point
with 20 to go was strong, but Christopher in the
Eddie Whelan owned, Al-Lee Installations sponsored
Chevrolet, was not going to let this one get away
and made his move heading into turn three edging a
nose, then completed the pass before coming out of
four to become final leader of the night. While
Stefanik stayed on Christopher’s bumper, it was
Christopher at the line collecting his 41st career
NWMT victory, his 11th at Stafford, his third of
2011.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Christopher’s crew chief
Brad Lafontaine. “This is our third time here, the
other two times, Teddy likes a loose race car, but
every time we have a loose race we don’t win. This
time here, I kept it tight, so it fell right into
our plans because the race went so long without a
yellow they just backed right up to us and then we
were able to pull away from the rest of the field. I
was hoping it would go green the rest of the way
because there was no one coming and we were still
pulling away.”
“When the caution came out, that was the last thing
I wanted to see,” admitted Lafontaine. “We took
three tires, made a wedge adjustment and came out
fourth, the guys did an excellent job and Teddy took
over from there. I said to Teddy, ‘I’m hoping you’re
as hungry as me’ and he said, ‘I’m always hungry’.”
The newest car in the Whelan stable now has two wins
in the four times it’s been on the track.
The pit stop became truly pivotal, crucial to the
eventual outcome of the Town Fair Tire 150.
“This one’s for our team,” said Stefanik. The Eric
Sanderson owned, Diversified Metals/R.B. Enterprises
machine collecting a strong podium finish. “They put
me out front - that was a fantastic pit stop - we
were just a little too snug to hold it but it was
great to have a car up front like that - it’s just
hats off to the team - I can’t say enough for the
hard work they put in and that pit stop showed it.”
Santos slipped out of the top five only once in the
150 lap event, but a strong pit stop put Bob
Garbarino’s Mystic Missile Dodge, immediately back
in the hunt lining up second on the final restart.
“We had a good run,“ said Santos. “I just have to
thank the guys who kept fighting and getting me an
awesome pit stop that got us a good finish, I just
got to thank the team for doing such a good job.”
Ron Silk’s seventh place finish was enough to keep
the Norwalk, CT driver in the points lead by one
over Rowan Pennink, the Huntingdon Valley, PA driver
crossing sixth. Rudolph, Coby and Jimmy Blewett
completed the top ten. Christopher’s win moved him
up to third in the standings over Szegedy while
Santos claims the fifth spot in points as the NWMT
heads to Loudon, NH for the Granite State Classic
Saturday August 13th. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: August 6, 2011 |
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