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06/24/2012 |
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MR. ROOTER
161
Waterford
Speedbowl
by
Polly Reid |
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 In
front of a capacity crowd, Doug Coby of Milford, CT
in the Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Furnace and Duct
sponsored, Wayne Darling owned Chevrolet held off
the hard charges of Ryan Preece and Justin
Bonsignore in a green white checkered finish to
score the victory in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Mr. Rooter 161 at Waterford Speedbowl.
Bonsignore crossed for second, Preece third, Ron
Yuhas, Jr. fourth with Donny Lia fifth.
The win is Coby’s third of the 2012 season, fifth of
his career, his first at Waterford.
“I’ve been trying to win at this track in a Tour car
for a long time,” said Coby. “My first career win
should have come back in like ’04 with the 28 team,
that was the one that got away.
These guys on the 52 team- we were really terrible
in practice, we were really struggling today, they
put their heads together and came up with a new set
up for time trials today, we got to start up front
(3rd), the car was just flawless- I’ve got thank
them- this is a win for them.”
Coors Light Pole award winner Ted Christopher led
the twenty-four car field to green with Coby moving
into second by the first completed circuit. As the
green flag laps ticked off the board, Coby made his
move getting past Christopher to become the new
leader on lap 44. Christopher would not get a chance
to threaten again when the first caution of the
evening waved, contact with a lap car sending the
Plainville, CT driver around on the front stretch.
Christopher recovered but was forced to pit on the
next yellow and working his way forward, ended his
night ninth.
Todd Szegedy was the next challenge for Coby.
Szegedy had reclaimed the ground lost on the
original start, the Ridgefield, CT driver more than
a solid contender when lap traffic came into play.
Contact just before the turn one entry ended
Szegedy’s chances for a run at the checkers his
night ending abruptly in 19th.
As Coby continued to lead, it was Preece from
Berlin, CT in the Diversified Metals/R.B Enterprises
Ford that gave Coby a run for the 161 Richie Evans
trophy. A restart with less than 20 to go, Coby and
Preece battled side by side for several circuits,
Preece edging out Coby at one point- credited with
leading a lap until Coby mustered the power to
regain the lead.
A final caution for an incident on the front stretch
involving Jamie Tomaino and Johnny Bush turned into
the second red flag of the night setting up the
finale- a green, white, checkered dash to the
finish. Coby’s lead vanished- Preece had another
shot to win.
Coming out of turn four, the green in the air, the
pair sailed towards turn one. Coby adjusted his
line, there was a ‘hip check’ as Coby called it
unsettling the 16 car which quickly led to Justin
Bonsignore in the M3 Technology Chevrolet, seeing
opportunity and tucked low under Preece to claim
second place.
Coby cruised to the checkers, Bonsignore who had
never raced at Waterford before, crossed second,
Preece third.
“The outside was the place to be on the restarts, he
(Preece) was getting great runs there,” said Coby in
victory lane. “My spotter kept telling me, ‘raise
your entry,’ I knew I had to take away the entry for
him, kind of stay on the bottom, up off, change his
line a little bit. I knew Ryan wasn’t going to do
anything stupid so I guess I would take the chance.”
A thoughtful Preece put into context the white flag
circuit. “He was leading- he had to do what he had
to do. It was green white checker, what do you
expect? I would have run somebody just as hard as
Doug did. He ran a great race and congratulations to
him and that whole team- I’m not taking anything
away from them.”
“We’re trying to get a good finish, maybe get a
string of wins like they (52) are,” said
Bonsignore.“We got a little behind on the initial
start, got shuffled back but the car was coming to
us, we picked them off one at a time- got to third,
thought I had something for Ryan. I don’t know if
the right front gave out but we struggled the last
30 or 40 laps. This is our first time here, I’m
proud of our guys.”
“I’ve been here to watch two MRS shows,” explained
Bonsignore who made the trip from Holtsville, NY,
“sat up in the stands and enjoyed some good times.
It was awesome to see the place packed the way it
was. I’m glad, I want to keep coming back, it was a
blast to race here. It always helps when you run
good but I love the place, it was pretty racey
tonight.”
“I thought the green white checker was going to work
out in my favor. The 16 team, Sly Szaban, everybody
on the team, they did a phenomenal job there – I
hate it for them because I know we had a car that
was real good on the short runs and pretty good on
the long runs- I’m pretty sure we’ll be coming back
next year and I hope we’re going to be the ones up
there,” said Preece nodding in the direction of
victory lane.
“With three laps to go, Ryan could hang there, I
wasn’t sure,” said car owner Wayne Darling admitting
he questioned how the finish would play out.
Darling, who spent the race in the stands echoed the
consensus of the night, “I thought it was a good
show, not too many cautions. The crowd I thought was
very appreciative, they were into it. There’s
nothing better than when the crowd gets into it.”
“The practice, it wasn’t anywhere what they were
thinking,” said Darling who had something else to
celebrate, his son winning a 75 lap pro stock race
at Seekonk earlier in the evening. “John (McKenna)
and Doug got together and decided what to do. They
talked it over and it was their decision on what to
do.” 17th on the final practice speed chart, the
last and only time the 52 Tour team had been to
Waterford was six years ago when Matt Hirschman
drove. Crew Chief John McKenna had his work cut out
for him. “We probably changed ten things after
practice,” said McKenna. “We were happy after time
trials.” With not much of a notebook to fall back
on, the communication between Coby and McKenna was
critical and it’s clicking. “Doug doesn’t tell me
what to change on the car; he tells me what it’s
doing.” Leading the points heading to Loudon,
McKenna is encouraged. “Loudon has not been a good
track for us. The test got us going in the right
direction. When Dale (Quarterly) drove for us there,
he started us going forward, then the test- we
learned a lot.” Jigsaw, Inheritance or No Groove,
whatever the name, Coby will for sure be one to
watch at the Magic Mile.
Rowan Pennink finished the Mr. Rooter 161 sixth,
Eric Beers seventh, Rookie of the Year Contender
Keith Rocco, Ted Christopher and Jon McKennedy
completed the top ten.
Waterford Speedbowl pulled off a short track dream
night- maximum attendance, perfect weather, a great
short track show- Preece had a quote worth
repeating. “You can’t even describe the feeling when
you pull onto the frontstretch, get out of your car
and you see this place packed, it was just awesome.”
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour meets again Saturday
July 14th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the
Town Fair Tire 100. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: June
24, 2012 |
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