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02/15/2014 |
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NSS NIGHT
#1:
SILK
TAKES
OPENING NIGHT CHECKERS
AT NEW SMYRNA
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by
Polly Reid
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 Opening night victory for the 48th Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car
Racing went to Ron Silk of Norwalk, CT in the TS Haulers, Calverton Tree
Service sponsored/Ed Partridge owned modified making a solid pass with 12 to
go and never looked back scoring a convincing win in the 35 lap feature.
“I think this is the first time I’ve ever won on night one. This is
definitely a good start to the week,” said Silk.
Following Silk across the line was Jimmy Zacharias second, Chuck Hossfeld
third, Ryan Preece and Eric Goodale the top five.
Tommy Barrett set fast time earlier in the day and after the top four
re-drew for starting position, it was Jimmy Zacharias and Eric Goodale
leading the 14 car field to green. Silk lined up third but at the drop of
the flag, fell back several positions. Zacharias at the point led the field
with Barrett, Andy Seuss, Goodale and Hossfeld the top five.
 The lone caution of the night came when battling for second place, there was
contact between Barrett and Seuss. Seuss ended up in the outside wall of
turn 2 and while Barrett was able to continue he was eventually black
flagged and forced to pit for a side bar that was dragging. “It’s all bolt
on, cosmetic stuff,” said Seuss about the damage on the Lexington Hotel,
Shark Lounge sponsored ride. “We’ll get her back and hopefully have a better
finish than tonight.” Despite the disappointment of the finish, Seuss was
truly optimistic about the rest of the week. “We found some things right
after qualifying and it really woke it up. I think if we had that stuff in
for qualifying we would have had an even better starting spot. The car was
really good, I hate it for these guys, this is a small team and a bunch of
hard working guys. I’ve got to thank Dan and Tommy for all of their hard
work as well as my dad, Charlie Brown and my girlfriend Jen for coming down
here. It felt good to be racing against those big teams. Tonight is just a
minor setback.”
The caution closed up the field with Zacharias and Barrett on the front row -
Goodale, Hossfeld, Silk and Preece coming to the restart with 29 to go. As
the field stayed green, Zacharias led the way as Barrett pulled into the
pits, the Millis, MA driver acknowledging the black flag. Silk made his way
to fourth by lap 15 and one circuit later passed two cars to take over
second. Carrying the momentum, Silk made his move on the inside of Zacharias
going into turn three and coming out of four, completed the pass to be the
second and final leader of the night on lap 23.
“Zacharias, you could see he was pretty tight through the center,” said Silk
about the winning pass. “He had to slow it down to get it through the
center. I drove in a little easier, making it so I could get a run off of 2
and get by him in 3 and 4.”
While Silk stretched his lead, the rest of the field was sorting it out with
Zacharias being closely shadowed by Hossfeld, Preece and Goodale. Zacharias
ended the night with a solid run joining Silk for a podium finish.
“We’ve been coming here for several years this is a good way to start the
week,” said a smiling Zacharias. “Kevin Crowley is the crew chief this year,
his brother Brian is doing tires, I think it’s going to be a really good
week.”
Hossfeld will take what they learned from night one and go forward. “The
car, it was just a little too tight in the center. We have a little work to
do on the car, not much. We qualified 9th which was embarrassing, but I was
comfortable, probably too comfortable,” confessed Hossfeld. “I made a
mistake, I was probably a little too over confident. For the first night, we
kept it clean, it was a good run.”
JR Bertuccio finished the night sixth with Matt Hirschman, Patrick Emerling,
Spencer Davis and Danny Watts the top ten. Al Emmarino, Barrett, Seuss and
TJ Zacharias completed the rundown.
Tonight’s action at the 48th Annual World Series of Asphalt Racing begins
with qualifying for all divisions at 5:30pm. Features begin at 7:30 with the
Tour Modifieds the third division out on the track. Join Denise & Jim
DuPont and I for coverage on the Chrome Horn. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: February
15, 2014 |
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