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10/16/2012 |
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NWMT SUNOCO -
TOWN FAIR TIRE - WORLD SERIES 150
Thompson
International
Speedway
by
Polly Reid |
 The
World Series of Speedway Racing at Thompson
International Speedway once again delivered – Bobby
Santos passed Todd Szegedy with just over 20 laps to
go, held off Ryan Preece after the final restart
with ten to go capturing the Sunoco-Town Fair Tire
World Series 150 victory while Doug Coby crossed a
solid sixth, his finish more than high enough to
officially crown the Milford, CT driver the 2012
NASCAR Whelen Modified Champion.
Following Santos to the line was Preece in second,
Szegedy third, Mike Stefanik fourth, Eric Beers
fifth. Coby sixth, Tommy Barrett, Jr, Patrick
Emerling, Keith Rocco and Woody Pitkat the top ten
with Ron Silk eleventh.
Santos in the Imperialscars.com sponsored, Sully
Tinio owned Chevrolet started second at the green
flag along-side Coors Light pole award winner Eric
Berndt. Berndt led the opening circuit but was
immediately challenged by Preece who became the
second leader by lap three. Preece set the pace of
the Sunoco- Town Fair Tire World Series while Coby
who was ninth at the green fell back to 12th by the
first caution on lap seven. Santos who was shuffled
to fourth passed for second before a dozen circuits
were on the board.
As Coby maintained his position just out of the top
ten, contact sent Berndt’s car running fifth around
and involved at least seven cars bringing out the
third caution of the day on lap 30- Coby, his first
close call of the day, was able to avoid the melee.
Championship contender Preece leading the restart
was challenged by Santos then Donny Lia in the
Mystic Missile. Lia made his bid for the lead
becoming the front runner on lap 49. The field
settled into a green flag run, Lia leading at the
half way mark with Preece, Santos, Eric Beers and
Szegedy the top five. Coby was sixth and Ron Silk in
the T.S. Haulers Chevrolet who entered the finale
one of three title contenders was ninth. The lead
cars made their pit stop during a caution on lap 80.
The 16 Flamingo Motorsports crew gained position
getting Preece out first with Santos lining up
second, Lia, Szegedy, Mike Stefanik and Keith Rocco
the top five- Silk in seventh. Coby exited pit row
lining up 11th.
Szegedy made his move on lap 93 becoming the fourth
different leader of the day using the low groove in
turns three and four to take the spot from Preece.
Two more cautions kept the field close, the yellows
allowed Santos to play out his strategy on the lap
128 restart. Santos made his move in turn three
passing Szegedy to become the final leader on lap
130. A last yellow set up a ten lap shootout with
Santos, Preece and Szegedy running nose to tail-
each there to take a spot should there be any
bobbles. Santos held off Preece and Szegedy to claim
his 8th career win, his third at Thompson with
Preece, Szegedy, Mike Stefanik and Eric Beers the
top five. Meanwhile, Coby who restarted 8th gained
two positions in the closing circuits finishing
sixth and officially claiming the 2012 NWMT Champion
title.
“That was just a lot of fun,” said Sunoco-Town Fair
Tire World Series winner Santos. “It’s awesome
working with these guys, I just try to race as hard
as I can, I figured I’d just try to be a modified
driver this week and that’s what I did today
sometimes I don’t think I have it in me but today I
raced like a modified driver. Thanks to Steve Lemay
and this whole team here, they gave me an awesome
car, I’m just the driver. They haven’t had a live
pit stop all year and they gained us a spot, that’s
pretty awesome- I just can’t thank this team
enough.” Santos who was the World Series winner in
2007 continued, “I felt like from the beginning of
the race I had a car that could win and I got up on
the wheel and did everything I could to win this
race. Every restart it seemed like we were in the
wrong spot, we were either second which put us on
the bottom or third that put us on the bottom and it
kills you here. The second to last restart I was in
fourth and I said I’ve got to win this race now or
never – I got a good restart, made my run on Todd,
got out front, once I had the lead I could restart
on the top, right where I needed to be, run my own
race. I have to thank Billy the Kid, awesome motor,
Stevie Lemay, Brad Lafontaine, everyone that’s
involved in this deal, the whole Tinio family, it’s
awesome.”
Preece did all that he could to put the East West
Marine/Diversified Metals Ford in position for the
win and the championship title including leading the
most laps. “I got to thank Flamingo Motorsports,
Eric Sanderson for letting me drive this car this
year, East West Marine, everybody involved in this
race team here- we gave it everything we had, I
tried my hardest today, gave it everything- we came
up a little short.” Preece was proud of the team and
the pit stop they pulled off. “They’re amazing, I
don’t think there is a team out here that can get a
pit stop done like those guys – they made
adjustments on it too, it was unbelievable, I think
we were out way ahead of everybody. I know if I was
deep in the field they could pull me out of a hole
easily- they work their butts off, practice all the
time, they earned it. I’m happy for Doug, happy for
Bobby- we’ve got the car in one piece. I can’t wait
for Daytona- I love quarter miles and I’m ready to
go win that race.”
Todd Szegedy was a contender all day, starting 14th
at the green. In the front pack with his Mike
Smeriglio owned, Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano
Construction Ford, Szegedy was a threat to take the
checkers. “I got to thank my team, my car owner,
everyone who helps, my fans, sponsors- we had a
really tough year for whatever reason – we almost
won a championship last year at this track- I’m glad
to see Doug win it- all the guys I race with, we’re
friends and it’s nice to see things work out for
people. I’m glad we were able to turn it around on
the last race. It would have been nice to get the
win- our stagger blew up over half an inch, there
was nothing I could do to hold them off we were
getting really free in the center – I’m happy with
this, Thompson has not been good to us for the last
couple of years, it’s nice to leave the season on a
high note, rebuild and get these cars ready for next
year.” Szegedy raced the afternoon with a strong
confidence leading nearly forty laps. The
Ridgefield, CT driver was candid about the season.
“We call it the Carl Edwards year. Carl didn’t
forget how to drive but he can’t get out of his own
way. I had a chance to win a championship last year
and this year, we didn’t. That’s the way racing is,
you can never be over confident – you do everything
the same, then things aren’t working so you change
and fix things, it still doesn’t work – then you
come back the next year and you’re on fire, it’s a
mystery – definitely a lot of highs and lows. All’s
I want to do is leave the race track happy and we
did that- now I can get through winter- it’s a good
boost for the team morale.”
Seven career wins, five of those trips to victory
lane coming in 2012, Doug Coby had no trouble
finding his way to where the championship trophy was
waiting. “This race track has a lot of special
meaning to the 52 team-to come out here, we kind of
look at ourselves as a bunch of misfits- we were
both fishing around – they were looking for the
right driver I was looking for the right team – we
get along really well, have fun, communicate well,
we got each other’s back and that’s what kept us
going through this season – I just can’t thank them
enough- my car owner Wayne Darling, can’t say enough
about him, can’t thank him enough for coming on
board for a full season, his first full season on
the modified tour- Harvey and Kim from Reynolds Auto
Wrecking, they were the ones that got this ball
rolling a couple of years ago to get me in a full
time ride, they believed in me, all these people
here believed in me and I can’t thank them enough
for the opportunity to drive this car.”
Coby had a strategy that played out in his favor. “A
lot of those guys spun out in front of us, lucky
nobody got crossed up too bad – we just kind of
stayed on the bottom. The closest call I think was
the next to last restart – I almost caught the fence
out there. It was one of those deals where we just
took what the lanes gave us, tried to be smart, run
the bottom quite a bit. The way I looked at it, if
you are on the bottom and there’s an accident you
have the whole infield to get in to. Plus the fact
the car was good and fast down there helps- we had a
decent cad. I wasn’t driving safely, I gave it
everything I had, we had a 6th place car today and
that’s all we needed.”
Climbing out of the 52 as the 2012 NWMT Champion,
Coby had an emotional moment- the possible
culmination of a driver who has paid his racing dues
- a sport that takes and only gives at random and
unpredictable times, “When you have a team with a
lot of people, everyone has an individual story and
then there is the teams collective story. I know a
lot of their individual stories, personal battles
they fought in and out of racing. My own story has
been well publicized- our team has a lot of stories
behind it- from the car owner to the crew chief and
their families, all the people, they have a reason
why they help that team. They’re a cool bunch of
people to hang around with. I always said when I
lost my full time ride in 2006 with the Chase’s I
said I don’t care if I drive part time for the rest
of my life, the next full time team I want to drive
for is going to be a team that wants me and only me
in the car and I have that with this team. That
means a lot to me- confidence wise, showing up every
week knowing they’re giving their best effort and
I’m giving my best effort.”
Car owner Wayne Darling shared the day with his
girlfriend Terri. “She doesn’t come to many races
and I asked her to come to this one, its special. I
was asked when did I think the championship was
possible, I said as soon as they threw the checkered
flag. It hasn’t sunk in yet- we were going race to
race hoping for top tens, top fives, wins even
better. We just had a phenomenal year all around – I
get the credit for owning the car, but I don’t do
any of the work, it’s all the crew. I pay the bills,
I don’t get involved in the car, they know more
about it than I do.
Reynolds Auto Wrecking, they came on board, that’s
the reason we decided to run the full season.
Furnace and Duct is still on the car, he’s been with
us since the Busch (K&N) car- he is part of the
team- John McHenry, owner of Furnace and Duct in
Providence, he’s the reason we’re modified racing. I
told him we couldn’t afford the K&N Series anymore
so I asked him what he wanted to do and he said
let’s start a modified team and that worked well for
4 or 5 years. This year, Reynolds came in, they
wanted to do the whole season- it worked out.”
A racing resume that started with trucks, pro
stocks, K&N and now modifieds, Darling and the team
has been together for a long time. “We started with
my son David when he was 16, now he’s 33. What’s
even better, David won the pro stock championship
this year at Seekonk.” Darling is David’s spotter on
Saturday nights.
NWMT Champion Crew Chief John McKenna admits it’s
‘pretty amazing’ to win the title in his first year
running a full schedule. “We knew we were going to
run good from the year before with Doug, but as far
as winning the championship, I don’t think we
focused on that. We tried to focus on running good.
We had some tracks that we didn’t have as many laps
as a lot of teams, we had to figure that out too.
The big thing is, Doug knows we’ll work on the car,
we’ll keep firing things at it until we hit it.
The first race Doug drove for us, it was here at the
World Series, led most of the laps, was going to win
the race when a jet fell out of the carburetor and
we finished third.” Today, McKenna focused the team
on what has worked for them, “We came here with the
attitude let’s do what we do every week.”
“Most of the guys have been with the team for a long
time,” said McKenna. “Deb’s been with us for what,
20 years? Zip Zella the motor tuner was tuning
motors for Bugsy Stevens, he used to build the
motors for the Kozellas back in the 60’s and 70’a.
Josh is the mechanic- he works at a Nissan
dealership, so he handles the mechanics on the car
when we have to change something. Simon, he’s the
tire guy, this is his first year, a lot of pressure
on him- we were consistent every week so that tells
you what kind of a job he did. Colleen, Josh’s wife,
she feeds us, Super Cop- Pat- he is the tire carrier
and helps with sponsors, my nephew Alex Ensign, he’s
a student at URI, he works on scaling and setting up
the car, Shawn Sellew, he’s a tire carrier and Brian
Sullivan, he drives an SK at Stafford, he’s our
spotter.” McKenna who began his racing career
working with Dale Quarterly on his motorcycle team
in 1997, has the support of his family including
daughters Maddy and Kaylee and special support from
his wife Melissa.
The racing journey is never an easy one. There are
only a few that make it a lifestyle like Wade Cole
whose racing career started 40 seasons ago at
Monadnock Speedway- his first green flag waving in
1972. The 2012 season is a done deal- Coby and the
Wayne Darling team will celebrate their hard earned
NWMT Championship title in Charlotte in December.
Thank you all for supporting Denise DuPont and
myself this year – we look forward to bringing you a
new year of Cover It Live updates in 2013 starting
with Daytona in 124 days. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: October
2, 2012 |
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