|
|
PASTERYAK
CLAIMS VALENTI MODIFIED RACING SERIES
SEASON OPENER |
 If
the opening event at the Monadnock Speedway on
Saturday night, April 30, is any indication of how
things will go this year, then this should be one of
the best racing seasons to date.
Thirteen years ago Larry Cirillo, promoter of
Monadnock, gave series founder Jack Bateman the
opportunity to showcase the new Modified Racing
Series. Bateman must have done something right
because the MRS has opened all but two seasons at
the high-banked 1/4-mile speedway.
In the end a packed grandstand witnessed some hard
fought side-by-side bumper-to-bumper action with
Chris Pasteryak of Jewett City, Ct. besting a
stellar field to take down his first victory of the
MRS 2016 season. It was his 11th win overall with
the MRS putting him 4th on the all time win list.
Chris commented, "I ran a little harder than I
wanted to in the heat to finish second which gave us
a good starting position for the feature because of
the heads up start.”
Pasteryak ran in the top six until lap 20 when he
stepped up his program and started pressuring the
leaders. "I really didn’t know how the car would be
and I guess I could have taken it a little easier
and stayed around 5th or 6th but I did what I
thought was right. Jon's (McKennedy) car was getting
better but he spun himself out trying not to wreck
me. It took off real good on restarts, just a little
tight on entry had to slow down to keep it on the
bottom, other than that it never changed, it was
flawless. Any time you have guys like Jon McKennedy
and Kirk Alexander lined up behind you and beat them
for the win is a good night" he said.
Even though the season is one race old, Kirk
Alexander looks to be a serious challenger for
another MRS championship. Starting midpack,
Alexander of West Swanzey, NH, showed why he was the
2004-05-07 MRS champion working his way into 8th
place by the quarter century mark, then pressing
race leaders Woody Pitkat and Pasteryak when flagman
Tim Bennett showed the crossed-flags. By lap 60,
with Pitkat now in his rear view mirror in the
Trader John's Gun Shop sponsored modified set his
sights on Pasteryak for the lead. McKennedy worked
his way under Alexander taking second place from him
but McKennedy spun himself out six laps later while
going for the lead.
For the last 20- laps, Pasteryak and Alexander put
on an edge of your seat duel for the victory but
three yellow flags tightened the field and Pasteryak
jetted into the lead on each restart crossing the
finish line 0.282 seconds ahead of Alexander.
One second behind Alexander's #43 was another local
favorite. Russ Hersey of Swanzey, NH, had to be the
hard charger of the event after starting from the
fourth row and working his way forward until a lap
24 caution where he suffered a flat tire under
yellow. But a new tire and an adjustment saw him use
the next 75 laps to drive his way to the front for a
podium finish.
"We have an all new rear suspension in the car,
trying to figure it out. Things we changed on the
car didn’t work out so we threw some stuff at it and
got really good. We set fast time in warm-ups and
was fast in our heat. We got a cut tire under
caution and pitted, then worked our way methodically
back to the front, then we got back to Chris and
Kirk but just didn’t have the car to get by them. I
had to keep an eye on guys behind me like Todd
Patnode and Richard Savary, those guys ran me
awesome. We just didn’t have the forward drive we
needed. To come out for the first time with a new
suspension, have to pit with a flat and come from
the back to finish 3rd with a chance for a win is
all we can ask."
Hersey also added, "Jack and his staff have done a
great job with the 15s and 28s (Hoosier tire
compounds). You can come and race, the other tires
were so hard, they would last but you couldn’t race
anybody on the outside. You still have to be careful
with this tire but now you can race on the outside."
Rounding out the top 5 were Donnie Lashua 4th, and
Jon McKennedy recovering from his lap 81 spin to
finish 5th.
|
|
|
Summary - VMRS Spring Dash
100
Monadnock Speedway
1-15CT.-Chris Pasteryak
2-43-Kirk Alexander
3-88- Russ Hersey
4-117- Donnie Lashua
5-29- Jon McKennedy
6-24- Todd Patnode
7-99- Richard Savary
8-52- Woody Pitkat
9-16-Colbey Fournier
10- 0- Mike Holdridge
11-72- Ryan Kuhn
12-04- Brandon Dion
13-38- Mike Willis Jr.
14-15NH-TJ Bleau
15-22- Roy Seidell Jr.
16-50-Carl Medieros Jr.
17- 4- Jeffrey Gallup
18-32-Chris Bajaj
19-55-Joe Doucette
20-19-Dave Schneider
21-77-Mathew Mead
22-93- George Sherman
Heat winners: Richard Savary, Mike Willis Jr., Dave Schneider
Time of race: 54: 41
Lap leaders: 1-24 (Savary), 25-49, (Pitkat), 50-100 Pasteryak
Cautions: Laps-24, 31,40,64,73,81,83,92
Margin of victory: 0.282
Best lap time:12.912
Best speed: 69.703
Next event: Stafford Springs, CT. May 20
|
Source:
John Spence / Valenti Modified Racing Series
Posted:
May 3, 2016 |
|
|
