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SANTOS SEALS
THE DEAL WITH LAST LAP PASS FOR THE WIN
by
Polly Reid |
 Bobby
Santos of Franklin, MA in the Mike Curb owned, Tinio
Corporation, Dan Kelley, Curb Records sponsored
Chevrolet maximized a restart in the final circuits
engaging in a side by side battle with leader Max
Zachem- white flag in the air, Santos tucked low,
Zachem high going into turn one, Santos emerged the
leader out of turn two capturing the NWMT Thompson
125 win at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in a
dramatic yellow/checker finish.
Zachem of Preston, CT crossed for second,
16-year-old rookie Matt Swanson from Acton, MA
followed third with Patrick Emerling of Orchard
Park, NY fourth and Jeff Goodale from Riverhead, NY
fifth.
“It’s been a long year and a half to get back here,”
said Santos whose last win was at New Hampshire
Motor Speedway July 12th, 2014. “No one gave up,
everyone continued to work hard as a team. It feels
really good to finally win a race.”
 Being
in a position to win began with early, unplanned
strategy. “We had a slight malfunction in our tire
situation,” said Santos. “I’m honestly not exactly
sure but it caused us to pit early and do a little
bit different strategy than most guys but it worked
out in our favor tonight for sure.”
“I’m pretty excited, we worked really well as a team
today. I’ve got to thank Steve (Lemay, crew chief),
the entire team and the Tinio family.” Santos also
thanked his sponsor Curb Records, Ray Graham, Danny
Kelly and “everyone that makes this happen. There is
a lot of people that are involved in this team.”
Qualifying for the Thompson 125 in seventh, Santos
was forced to pit twice during the first caution on
lap 27 for a tire issue putting the 44 down a lap in
the early going. A free pass put Santos back on the
lead lap setting Santos up for tires on the next
caution just before the half way mark on lap 60. The
tide started to turn when the leaders pitted on lap
79. Santos followed the front runners, Ryan Preece,
Justin Bonsignore, Timmy Solomito and Doug Coby down
pit row but stopping for an adjustment only, Santos
was first off of pit row.
When the lead pack all pitted, the door opened for
Max Zachem who inherited the lead on lap 79. Zachem
nailed the restart with Shawn Solomito, Matt
Swanson, Patrick Emerling and Ron Silk the top five.
Previous leaders, Doug Coby, Ryan Preece and Timmy
Solomito were bogged down in traffic out of the top
ten after pitting on the lap 83 restart.
A caution turned red flag on lap 93 for Preece
around in turn two that involved Craig Lutz, Rob
Summers and Nick Salva kept the action close- Preece
was able to continue. Zachem, Swanson, Eric Goodale,
Emerling and Silk the top five, brought the field to
green with 27 to go. Santos held a solid eighth
before making significant gains through the next two
cautions.
The key turned out to be the final restart with
three to go, Santos and Zachem put it all on the
line for the finale. Charging into turn one on the
white flag circuit, Santos was not to be denied-
side by side with Zachem outside, Santos cooled his
admitted hunger for a win to seal the deal with a
pass for the checkered flag.
 Santos
and the Tinio Racing crew have quelled any doubts
about this team- they are back in the game.
“It wasn’t one of my prettier races,” smiled Santos,
“but I wanted to win really bad and we did what it
took to win.” The challenges Santos and the 44 Tinio
team overcame tonight was impressive. Speaking on
behalf of the car owner, Lawny Tinio could not have
been more proud and pleased with the effort and
outcome. “The team was just unbelievable,” said
Tinio. “The team worked together, made decisions,
made the changes we needed to make, overcoming a
tire falling off, pressing forward again and as
Bobby mentioned, the strategy worked out perfectly
for us the way the race shook out. To be watching
the last ten laps, knowing where we were, knowing we
had a shot at it, but you always have in the back of
you mind down there in the pits stressing out- I saw
him go into turn one, pass the 20 car, wow. We were
excited going into the race tonight, we were able to
overcome all the adversity thrown at us and pulled
off the win.”
It's one thing to inherit the lead, it’s another to
keep it. Zachem more than held his own as the
Lu-Macs, VWS sponsored Chevrolet confidently and
consistently pulled from the pack as the cautions
seemed to rack up taking rookie Matt Swanson with
him. Emerling, as high as third, appeared to be part
of the podium finish until Santos made his move
claiming second over Emerling and then passed
Swanson- Santos setting his sights on Zachem.
 “We
had a great car, I can’t thank my crew enough,” said
Zachem. “We came in under that first caution to try
and adjust it to make it a little better and it paid
off in the end. We short pitted- we knew we had to
come up with a strategy because those guys are just
so good, you have to figure out a way- play the
cards right- we did- we led some laps – we’re here
to play now.” The family team headed up by car owner
Ken Zachem with Shaun Ruszczyk as crew chief
impressed the fans at Thompson with an undeniably
strong run narrowly missing out on their first
career NWMT win.
“The first thing I said over the radio to my dad
when I was second I said, wow, this is what it’s
really like to be on the front row on the Tour,”
smiled Matt Swanson. His first career NWMT podium
finish, Swanson is backed by his car owner John
Swanson with Ken Barry as crew chief for the SPAFCO
Race Cars sponsored Chevrolet. “I just had to get my
restarts down. Max and I had a real good battle
going, he just had a little bit stronger car- then
Bobby came on strong at the end.”
This would be a good place to remind everyone that
Swanson is sixteen years old, a rookie and was
mixing it up with the best of the best tonight.
“This gives us a big confidence booster going into
Riverhead,” said Swanson. “Especially us being such
a small team and us having an open motor (Billy The
Kid) compared to the specs. Max has an open motor
too, it shows open motors can still run out front,
you just need the car handling right.”
Pole sitter Doug Coby had cracked the top five with
less than ten to go when NASCAR officials penalized
the 2 car for being “out of line before the start
finish line on the restart.” Coby rebound to finish
eleventh.
Timmy Solomito who led 35 laps, suffered what
appeared to a brake issue. The Icebreaker winner
parked close to the track apron under the red flag
on lap 94 as track safety personnel activated a fire
extinguisher taking care of the overheating
situation. Solomito ended his night fifteenth.
Dominating the early going, Ryan Preece could not
catch a break after the pit stop on lap 79- the
Berlin, CT driver however remained persistent to
capture a sixth place finish.
Santos, Zachem, Swanson, Emerling and Jeff Goodale
the top five- Preece, Rowan Pennink, Brendon Bock,
Jimmy Blewett and Ken Heagy completed the top ten.
Next up for the NWMT is Riverhead Raceway on June
25th. Doug Coby carries a 19-point lead over Max
Zachem heading to the New York quarter mile oval.
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Source:
Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
June 16, 2016 |
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