|
|
|
09/23/2012 |
|
|
F.W. WEBB 100
New Hampshire Motor
Speedway
by
Polly Reid |
 There
has been no question this has been Doug Coby’s year.
Stellar runs and four wins had catapulted the
Milford, CT driver well into the points lead.
That may have waivered a bit when three less than
desirable finishes including motor issues last
weekend closed the gap to nine points between Coby
and Ryan Preece. Today, there were no waivers, no
bobbles and certainly no questions - Coby is ‘in it
to win it.’ And win he did- Coby piloted the Wayne
Darling owned, Reynolds Auto Wrecking sponsored
Chevrolet to a decisive victory in a dramatic green
white checkered finish in the NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour F.W. Webb 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
 “We
won the big race,” Coby said as he carried the
trophy into the media center. “I didn’t want to go
all year winning at just the Connecticut tracks.
I’ve only won at Stafford, Thompson and Waterford in
my career. Being a Connecticut boy, to come to this
stage, TV, it’s really an unbelievable feeling. You
all know here we’ve had a few bad weeks- I told
everyone we don’t quit, we don’t stop. Everybody
asked what my plan was today and it was run up front
because that’s what our car does. I’m really
fortunate to drive that thing; it was really
awesome, especially after the pit stop. We made the
perfect adjustment for what we had. I wasn’t as good
as Donny in the beginning- I was a good pusher
though. Once we got out front after that lap 50
break we were just awesome.”
Donny Lia finished the F.W. Webb 100 second with Ron
Silk third, Ryan Newman and Rowan Pennink the top
five.
Coby rolled off the grid second alongside Coors
Light pole winner Donny Lia at the green. Coby
slotted into third, slipped back to fifth but not
for long- Coby made his way back to the front
passing Lia to become one of the 16 lead changes in
the first half of the F.W. Webb 100. Lining up after
the break at the half, Lia, Patrick Emerling,
Preece, Coby, Silk, Woody Pitkat, Eric Goodale,
Newman, Pennink and Ted Christopher, the top ten,
brought the field to green. Coby turned it on and
following Lia, the pair broke from the pack- the duo
swapping out the lead until with less than 25 to go,
Christopher came into the picture taking the lead
from Coby. Coby battled back for the top spot when
the yellow waved for Jimmy Blewett who spun in turns
three and four. Coby choosing the outside for the
restart with Silk, Christopher, Emerling and Lia
completed a lap when Emerling, who led his first
career NWMT lap earlier in the F.W. Webb 100 spun in
turns one and two setting off evasive action by
others that resulted in a multi-car tangle. Todd
Szegedy and Justin Bonsignore were done for the day,
the other cars involved included Bryan Chew, Pitkat,
Blewett and Eric Berndt. The red flag waved while
the track crew cleaned the Magic Mile- the F.W. Webb
100 was going to be a green white checker finish.
Coby on the outside, Christopher on the inside,
Silk, Lia and Pennink the top five, took the
green-Coby was in command – the white flag in the
air, contact, admittedly by Lia, sent Christopher
hard into first the outside wall on the front
stretch then the inside wall. Officials waived the
yellow checkers as Coby claimed his first ever
career win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The F.W.
Webb 100 tallied twenty-three lead changes among six
drivers.
“I could have zero wins and have a win at New
Hampshire? It’s huge. We’re run 12 races and we’ve
won five of them, that’s really, really cool. It’s
really awesome to drive this car. At the pit stop we
made some small changes to change the attitude of
the car in a few spots – John (McKenna) knows his
car and the right tiny bit to make it perfect- it’s
such a cool deal for us.” “We’re going to celebrate
tonight then work hard for Stafford.”
Finishing second, Lia had a non-celebrate tone as he
spoke about the closing laps and the incident with
Christopher. “It was a good run for the Mystic
Missile- a good day other than those last few laps.
We were going to fight for the win. We got a run up
there on the 3 car, got into the back of him,
unintentionally, and caused a wreck. I feel really
bad about it. It was by no means intentional- I was
getting a run and go to the bottom- the left rear
corner of his bumper, probably the worst place you
can get somebody but you’re at risk for that when
you have a run- that’s it. It’s racing. I feel bad
about it. We finished second, I wished it had turned
out differently, wished it was a race for the win
but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
In the first half of the F.W. Webb 100, Lia was
swapping the lead with several cars but maintained
the top spot more often than not. It was after the
break at the half, that the Mystic Missile became
less dominate. “We didn’t make any adjustments at
the half- we just put tires on it. One of the big
issues we’re having now in our Series is the
inconsistency in tires. We got a bad right front-
it’s almost like there was a cue ball on that right
front. We were just so wicked tight that last run we
just couldn’t get back to the gas pedal. I got to
thank my guys, even struggling with tires, we had a
shot to win.”
“I think I still had a car to win,” said Silk who
claimed another podium finish at the Magic Mile. “I
got into second on that second to last restart, I
was only behind Doug for a lap but I thought I had
something I could work with – I know we went over
the start finish line and completed the lap, the
yellow came out and they put me from second to
fourth. Fourth isn’t the worse place to be, normally
the outside is good but when the guy on the bottom
runs into you, you got no shot, you get knocked up
into the weeds and from there, it was pretty much
over. We always run good here- it’s just
disappointing when you run up front and you don’t
win.”
Eric Beers took down sixth and is looking forward to
the final two events. “Stafford, we’ve been good all
year. Thompson, it’s hit or miss, hopefully it’s a
hit. If we get some luck, we’ll have some wins. I
guess we got lucky today because we didn’t get
wrecked.”
Running a limited NWMT schedule, Rich Pallai Jr.
crossed the line for seventh, Matt Hirschman also on
a limited schedule was eighth, Ron Yuhas Jr. ninth
and Preece crossed for tenth.
“We found the horse shoe again,” said winning car
owner Wayne Darling. “We had three bad races, and
here, we were lucky again. Like we said before, it’s
all luck. At Bristol, we had the wrecked cleared and
we got pushed into it.
Thompson, we had a good car the day before. We
started the race and the car was junk- there were no
cautions to fix it then last week, the motor. The
motor was half way through its cycle, it was just a
broken part, it’s all luck.” Darling could not be
happier about having a win at New Hampshire. “I
never thought I would. I wish my father was alive to
see it- he passed away three years ago- I keep
thinking he is watching over us.” Darling praised
his crew starting with crew chief, John McKenna.
“John’s been with me 16 or 17 years, part of the
crew has too, Doug fit right in, everything is
good.”
During the break, crew chief John McKenna did what
was needed to give Coby the edge. “We loosened the
car up a bit, added stagger and put in a little
wedge. When Doug was behind the 4 car he was a
better pusher. The first segment he didn’t really
have enough. The second half, we definitely made the
car a lot better. It was a good race.” Asking
McKenna how this win rates among the others McKenna
was thoughtful. We’ve been going to Loudon since ’89
–back then it was the Busch cars. We came close a
couple of times with Marquis but never won. It was
cool to do this with Doug. The Spring Sizzler win
was huge, Loudon- it’s huge, it’s right up there.”
His fifth victory of the year, Coby left the Magic
Mile 21 points ahead of Price, with Silk in the hunt
at third, 24 back. The NWMT heads to Stafford Motor
Speedway this next weekend for the Fall Final. |
|
Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: September
23, 2012 |
|
|
