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Champ Trail -
June 30, 2015 |
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series visited the Riverhead Raceway on Long
Island in what turned into a two day affair. Moments before the 28 car field
was about to take the green a large rain storm moved in forcing officials to
re-schedule to Sunday afternoon. Topping the charts of the 35 cars on hand
was local runner Tom Rogers, Jr who toured the 1/4 mile oval to the tune of
74.888mph. Second fastest was Timmy Solomito at 74.788mph. Vinnie
Biondolillo, Justin Bonsignore and Doug Coby. Rogers made an unapproved
impound adjustment after time trials, however, and will fall to the rear of
the 28-car field prior to the start of the race on Sunday.
Justin Bonsignore passed Timmy Solomito in Turn 3 on Lap 9 and waited out
a rain delay and a late charge by Todd Szegedy to score his seventh career
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win and second at his home track. Bonsignore
piloted his No. 51 M3 Technology Chevrolet around some late race traffic to
hold off Szegedy and continue of his streak of scoring at least one tour win
every year since 2011. Doug Coby followed Szegedy in third to score his best
career finish at Riverhead with Eric Goodale fourth and Woody Pitkat fifth.
Timmy Solomito, who led the first eight laps of the race, followed in sixth
while pole-sitter Tom Rogers, Jr. rebounded from having to start the race at
the rear of the 28-car field to finish seventh. Current points leader Ryan
Preece was eighth with Vincent Biondolillo and David Sapienza rounding out
the top 10.
There were six cautions for 74 laps. Among those who failed to finish was
Ken Heagy who dropped out on lap 149 with handling problems, Rowan Pennink
parked it as a result of a black flag, Frank Vigliarolo parked it after
being rear ended by Heagy, Ron Silk lost a rear end and James Civali driving
the Hillbilly 79 wrecked on lap 18. Sixteen of the original 28 starters
finished on the lead lap.
Thankfully NASCAR did not elect to start all that showed up. Not making
the starting grid was Wade Cole, Gary McDonald, Anthony Nocella, Paul
Hartwig, Danny Watts and Melissa Fifield.
This event will be showed taped delayed, according to TVGuide.com on
Thursday, July 2 at 6:00pm. on NBC Sports Net. NASCAR says it will air at
6:30pm.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series now goes on a three week vacation
before heading to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for All-Star Shootout
(non-points) event on Friday, July 17 and the New England 100 on Saturday,
July 18.
At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night the Valenti Modified
Racing Series made its second of three visits during the 2015 season to
Stafford Motor Speedway for the 5th Annual VMRS 80. Woody Pitkat took the
checkered flag to make himself 2 for 2 in 2015 at Stafford in VMRS feature
action.
Pitkat used lapped traffic to his advantage as he went by Steve Masse for
the lead on lap-43 as they were navigating their way through a pack of
lapped cars. Todd Szegedy was third, with Rowan Pennink fourth and Mike
Willis still running in fifth. Dylan Kopec brought out the race’s first
caution flag with 56 laps complete as he spun in turn 3.
Pitkat took the lead back under green with Szegedy and Masse side by side
for second. Chris Pasteryak was fourth and Willis was fifth, just in front
of Keith Rocco. The caution came back out with 58 laps complete as George
Sherman and David Schneider spun in turn 3.On the restart, Schneider got
turned around and into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution right back out.
Pitkat took the lead back under green with Pasteryak moving under Szegedy to
take second. Szegedy was side by side with Rocco for third with Masse right
behind them. Rocco got the better of the duel with Szegedy to take third but
the action was slowed again by the caution flag for a spin by Dan Meservey
in turn 2 with 61 laps complete.
Pasteryak got a great restart and powered to the lead, but Pitkat came
back strong in turns 3+4 and they were side by side at the line. Pitkat
moved to the front on lap-63 and Szegedy was also able to get by Pasteryak
as Rocco and Masse were fourth and fifth. Pennink’s car dropped off the pace
on the backstretch on lap-65 and he limped back to pit road. Rocco's bid for
a top finish came to an end on lap 73 as he began to lose power which
ultimately put him out. Pitkat was stretching out his lead over Szegedy,
Pasteryak, and Masse. Pitkat cruised to the checkered flag to pick up his
second consecutive Valenti Modified Racing Series victory at Stafford.
Szegedy finished second, with Pasteryak, Masse, and Richard Savary rounding
out the top-5. Sixth thru tenth were Carl Medieros, Jr, Mike Willis, Jr,
Todd Patnode, Dennis Perry and Dan Meservey, Jr.
In regular NASCAR Weekly action at Stafford, taking down weekly feature
wins on the night were Keith Rocco in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Tom
Fearn scored in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Joey Ferrigno in the 20-lap
SK Light Modified feature, Andrew Hayes in the 20-lap Limited Late Model
feature, Tyler Trott in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature, and Devin O’Connell
was the winner of the 20-lap Legend Cars feature.
Rocco's win also brought him closer to a career overall total of 200 wins
which now total 199 which also include victories at Thompson and The New
London-Waterford Speedbowl.
The New London-Waterford Speedbowl held a somewhat abbreviated program
because of rain. Craig Lutz, who hails from Long Island, scored his second
career SK Modified win at the Speedbowl in an event that was red-checkered
at the 20 lap mark. John Montesanto was running second at the time with Matt
Gallo, third. Among the missing was Keith Rocco who was at Riverhead for a
Whelen Modified Tour Series event. Rocco's car was on hand in the event that
Riverhead had postponed early. Other winners at the shoreline oval on
Saturday night were Jack Aqualina in the Limited Sportsman, Anthony Flannery
in the Late Models and Dana DiMatteo won the 25-lap Legends feature.
Down in the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem NC
racing was cancelled due to thunder storms. Racing resumes on July 11.
Coming up this week on Wednesday night, July 1, is the 11th annual Open
Wheel Wednesday event at the Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, MA. This years
event carries a total purse payout of $37,200 with $10,000 going to the
winner of the 100 lap event. Second spot pays $3,500 with $2, 500 for third.
Pit gates open at 1:00pm, practice starts at 3:15pm and qualifying begins at
7:00pm. Just about every top Modified in New England and New York is
expected for this event.
On the speedway stock market scene last week two of the three speedway
stocks had positive results. Speedway Motorsports went up 0.81 to 23.24 and
the International Speedway Corporation went up 0.54 to 37.69 while Dover
Entertainment dropped 0.10 to 2.21. NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint dropped 0.12
to 4.56 and NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) dropped 1.97 to
53.17 while NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear went up 0.19 to 31.40. Two of the
three auto manufacturers had positive results for the week. Toyota went up
1.44 to 135.46 and Ford went up 0.25 to 15.40 while General Motors dropped
1.73 to 34.38. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went up 0.17 to
112.60 while Lowes dropped 1.38 to 68.61. With the exception of Fedex which
dropped 2.28 to 173.66 the big team sponsor's stocks had a positive week.
McDonalds went up 1.21 to 97.29, Coca-Cola jumped 11.77 to 148.98, Target
Department Stores went up 0.73 to 84.08 and Aarons Rentals went up 1.22 to
36.53.
On the tube this coming week:
Tuesday, June 30
2:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, Fox Sports 2
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7:00 PM, Classic NASCAR: 2002 Brickyard 400, NBCSN
8:30 PM, Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...NASCAR Fabs for Hating Jeff Gordon,
ESPN Classic
9:00 PM, Classic NASCAR: 2002 Brickyard 400, NBCSN
11:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
Wednesday, July 1
5:00 AM, Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...NASCAR Fabs for Hating Jeff Gordon,
ESPNC
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:30 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:30 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
7:00 PM, Classic NASCAR: 2005 Martinsville, NBCSN
9:00 PM, Classic NASCAR: 2004 Brickyard, NBCSN
Thursday, July 2
12:00 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
12:30 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:30 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:30 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
6:00 PM NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series Riverhead, LI NBCSN
7:00 PM, Classic NASCAR: 2001 Pepsi 400, NBCSN
9:00 PM, Classic NASCAR: 2004 Daytona 500, NBCSN
Friday, July 3
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:30 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:30 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
10:30 AM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
11:00 AM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
11:30 AM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
12:00 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
12:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
1:30 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
2:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Daytona practice, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona practice, NBCSN
4:00 PM, NXS Daytona practice, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NSCS Daytona practice, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NXS Daytona practice re-air, NBCSN
9:00 PM, NSCS Daytona practice re-air, NBCSN
11:00 PM, NXS Daytona practice re-air, NBCSN
Saturday, July 4
12:00 AM, NSCS Daytona practice re-air, NBCSN
2:30 PM, NXS Daytona qualifying, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NSCS Daytona qualifying, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NXS Pre-race Show, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NXS race, NBCSN
Sunday, July 5
5:00 PM, NASCAR America Sunday, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NSCS Daytona race, NBC
11:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN
That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and
R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.
Phil Smith has been a
columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
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Source: Phil
Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: June
30, 2015 |
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