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09/29/2014 |
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RYAN PREECE
WINS AT
STAFFORD
NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour
Fall Final NAPA 150
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by
Polly
Reid
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 The Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway lived up to its expectations when
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour NAPA 150 went into overtime with a green
white checker finish between two of the hottest home track drivers. Ryan
Preece brought the field around for the closing circuits with Ted
Christopher on the outside and while Christopher took the edge going into
one, Preece wheeled back and using his NAPA Know How around Stafford Motor
Speedway pulled ahead to claim the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour NAPA 150
checkers. Ron Silk restarted sixth but after pitting for fresh Hoosiers with
ten to go passed Tommy Barrett, Jr. for third. Barrett half a wheel behind
crossed fourth with Patrick Emerling the top five.
“My pit crew did a phenomenal job, I think everyone saw that,” said Preece
in victory lane. “That got me out there in front then Sly (Szaban) we talked
before we came in and we made the right adjustments, the car was awesome.”
Preece in the Eric Sanderson owned, East West Marine/Diversified Metals
sponsored Ford gained key track position coming out first after a pit stop
setting up the Berlin, CT driver’s march to the front on the lap 64 restart.
Sixth at the green behind cars that did not pit, Preece was up to third one
circuit later behind leader Bobby Santos and Woody Pitkat, both yet to pit.
It took only one circuit later for Preece to get by Pitkat for second, his
sights now set on Santos. Then just prior to the half way mark, Preece made
his move passing Santos to become the new leader on lap 74.
At the half it was Preece, Santos, Eric Goodale, Ted Christopher, Donny Lia,
Barrett, Pitkat, Rowan Pennink, Doug Coby and Ron Silk the top ten. One more
quick caution on lap 81 then it was green flag racing and Preece dominated
with as much as a ten car length lead over Christopher who moved into second
on lap 82.
With twenty-five to go, Preece led Christopher, Goodale, Barrett and Pitkat
the top five. A caution waved on lap 137 closing the field up with half a
dozen cars pitting including Ron Silk and Patrick Emerling. Silk and
Emerling who picked up the field for the green after their late pit stop
deep in the pack had already moved into sixth and seventh when the final
yellow waved on lap 145.
Coors Light Pole winner Bobby Santos, hovering around the top five, suddenly
pitted on lap 145 under caution for a possible tire going down but officials
made the call the tire was not flat and Santos went back out. Nursing along
what he had, Santos who dominated early and led a total of 64 laps, became a
non- factor in the hunt for the checkers finishing the Fall Final 12th.
The final restart went green on lap 150 with Preece at the point,
Christopher on the outside, Goodale third, Barrett, Pitkat, Silk, Emerling
and Coby the top eight. Christopher with a slight lead high going into turn
one was thwarted by Preece and while the duo battled side by side, it was
Preece at the checkers with a .151 margin of victory over Christopher. Silk
came from sixth on the final restart to take third from Barrett at the line
with Emerling crossing for fifth. Pitkat, Goodale, Coby, Donny Lia and Rowan
Pennink completed the top ten.
“When I got to the lead I was like ‘alright, it’s early, I’ve got to save
some stuff and see what we got,” said Preece. “Then the laps kept clicking
off and I knew the 44 and the 88 weren’t really coming hard so the call to
come in when we did was a good decision- we did everything we did just to
hold on. I know my crew did what they did to get me track position. Sly did
what he did to give me a car and I did what I did to win on that green,
white, checker. Everything kind of played in our favor, everything that we
needed to happen, obviously the strategy, the pit crew, the adjustments, it
all added up today.”
“That’s what helped win the race,” said winning crew chief Sly Szaban about
the team effort on the pit stop. “These guys practice all summer for that,
they work hard at it and that’s what won the race. I mean obviously Ryan did
a great job, the car was good, but it wouldn’t have happened without that
pit stop- this was definitely a team win. We needed that- the morale was
kind of down not winning. We won four races last year, won a championship
and we’ve been struggling this year. It’s huge for the team morale.”
The NWMT NAPA 150 was the first Tour win of the season for the 16 Flamingo
Motorsports team.
“I didn’t want to see that green, white, checker,” admitted car owner Eric
Sanderson. “I was on the edge of my seat all day. What a pit stop these guys
made. To go in wherever we were then to come out first, the guys- it was a
real team effort. Ryan is 150% driving that car, never gives up and the guys
never give up. I think we got rid of the black cloud hanging over us.”
“This is huge,” said Szaban. “The season was just wearing us all down, not
winning races, not getting the results we want, going into the off season,
this helps realize we can still do it. It’s easy to doubt yourself, no
matter what your past was, what you’ve done, when things go away, you can’t
help but start to doubt yourself and we were.”
“It was a good race,” said second place finisher Ted Christopher who had
earlier in the afternoon clenched his ninth Stafford Motor Speedway SK
modified championship. The Plainville, CT driver edged out Ryan Preece for
the SK title where Preece did all he could including winning the SK event.
Christopher was pleased with his NWMT finish. “A couple of times we had him
on the outside but he did what he had to do - he’s as hungry to win just as
much as we are. It was good to win the championship earlier, this is a good
second place finish for us, we gained a little bit in points on some guys
and we’ll go to Thompson. This is a really good car, I really want to thank
Mike O’Sullivan, he’s the one who put this car together for us, Robert Yates
Racing and everyone else who is involved with it, it’s a great race car, one
of the old Mystique cars that we redid. We didn’t do anything on the pit
stop except tires, it was a good car.”
“The car was pretty good the whole race,” said Ron Silk of Norwalk, CT in
the TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm sponsored, Ed Partridge owned modified,
who pitted with ten to go and up on the wheel, drove from the back passing
Tommy Barrett at the line to finish the Fall Final third. “It didn’t look
that good because we were on such old tires. Luckily we got that caution at
the end and we came in – there was only ten laps left at that point so we
freed the car up like you’re going time trialing then go as fast as you can
and see what you got. We made a few minor adjustments to free it up and
went. A couple of more laps, it would have been pretty tough to hold me off
I think- to rally back to finish third, it’s a good day. It was fun.
Congratulations to Ryan and those guys, we’ll get them at Thompson.”
“It sets us up with some momentum I think at Thompson,” said Preece about
the importance of the win. “We’re going to run a spec motor there at
Thompson and see how that goes- I’m really looking forward to that. This is
giving us momentum and that’s what we needed right now.”
“We had a lot of good fortune the last two years and we just haven’t had it
this year,” said Szaban who confirmed the 16 will run a spec motor at the
NWMT season finale at Thompson. “We’ve had some fast race cars but something
always seemed to go wrong that we couldn’t control. I guess it’s just fate.
You have so much good luck, tides turn and it goes to someone else and you
lose it. You can’t put a finger on it why it happens but it just does.”
Doug Coby in the Mike Smeriglio owned Dunleavy’s Repair sponsored modified
heads to the Thompson World Series on October 19th with a 28 point lead over
Ted Christopher. If you can’t make the NWMT season finale in person, please
join Denise DuPont on thechromehorn.com for live updates all weekend. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: September
29, 2014 |
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