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SOLOMITO
STRONG TAKES DUNLEAVY'S 200
Monadnock
Speedway
by
Polly Reid |
Mother
nature moved in and rain delayed the NWMT Dunleavy’s
200 at Monadnock Speedway from Saturday night to
Sunday afternoon, but nothing could put a damper on
the dominating performance Timmy Solomito displayed
in the Eric Sanderson owned, Diversified Metals/R.
B. Enterprises sponsored Ford at Monadnock Speedway.
The Islip, NY driver set fast time earlier on
Saturday, earning his first Coors Light Pole Award
of the season, brought the twenty-three car to field
to green, survived two restarts, threats from Doug
Coby and then Rowan Pennink to lead every lap, a
hard charging, strong performance that put Solomito
in victory lane for the NWMT Dunleavy’s Truck &
Trailer Repair 200 at Monadnock Speedway.
Rowan Pennink taking the green sixth became the
final threat for the top spot in the final quarter
of the event crossing the line second with Jimmy
Blewett closing the gap to finish third, Eric
Goodale fourth, Justin Bonsignore fifth and Doug
Coby sixth, the last car on the lead lap.
“The guys gave me a great car right off the trailer,
we had minimal adjustments all weekend, they made me
look good today,” said Solomito. “I just can’t thank
Eric Sanderson, Sly (Szaban) and the crew, they are
just unbelievable. They’ve given me great cars all
year, hopefully we’ll keep this going.”
“I was running hard pretty much the whole race,”
continued Solomito. “It’s really good the car
lasted, that’s what you need to win these races.
It’s a testament to the crew, shows you what they
can do, shows you how good this car was today- they
made it last the whole 200 laps and we ran hard
every lap.”
Solomito
was shadowed by point leader Doug Coby in the
Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano Construction sponsored,
Mike Smeriglio III owned Chevrolet. As the green
flag laps ticked off the board, Coby kept Solomito
in his sights, the duo working lap traffic as they
broke from the field, setting a pace that by the
half way mark, lap 100, only nine cars remained on
the lead lap.
Solomito continued to put car after car down a lap-
his level of maturity, patience and big picture
racing showed as he methodically worked lap traffic
during the long green runs.
“There was a few times there they weren’t cutting us
any breaks but I really don’t blame them,” said
Solomito about the lap traffic. “They are trying to
stay on the lead lap- once you go a lap down here,
the day gets really long here. We were basically
racing them like they were traffic for the lead-
that’s what happens on a tight quarter mile- it’s
all part of the game. The guys gave me a good enough
car to go around the lap cars- we just had to take
our time and not bang the car up, that was the main
thing.”
As the green flag run continued, Coby remained in
striking distance at second, Pennink third, Eric
Goodale fourth and Jimmy Blewett fifth when on lap
152, the first caution waved for debris in turn
three. The top five, Solomito, Coby, Pennink,
Goodale and Blewett, were the only cars on the lead
lap. Justin Bonsignore who had just gone a lap down,
was the free pass boosting the lead lap car count up
to six.
“I had some good company on the restarts,” said
Solomito. “Doug is always strong on starts, the 3 is
always strong on the starts too- Rowan- they’ve both
won a lot of races, I knew I had to be sharp on the
starts. I knew if I could clear them by the
start/finish line and get our entry into turn one
where we needed to be, I knew we’d be alright. We
just had to calm down after that, set our pace and
continue that pace. We were able to do that.”
Solomito
led the restart clean at the green while Pennink in
third tucked tight to Solomito leaving Coby hung up
on the outside. Coby fell in line for third,
however, the action was closed up again for the
second and final yellow flag on lap 166. Bobby
Santos, off the pace, was forced to pit for a right
front flat.
Solomito, Pennink, Coby, Blewett, Goodale,
Bonsignore and now Max Zachem, the free pass car,
led the field to green on lap 173. Solomito and
Pennink, nose to tail broke from the pack while Coby
slid back to sixth as Blewett took over third,
Goodale and Bonsignore moving into fourth and fifth.
Blewett, gaining momentum, joined- in to make it a
three way run for the top spot, but Solomito
remained solid. Even the heavy lap traffic
encountered with less than ten to go did not deter
Solomito as he brought the Eric Sanderson owned
machine safely across the line for the NWMT
Dunleavy’s 200 win.
“It definitely wasn’t easy,” said Solomito. “I had
the 2 car breathing down my neck in the beginning
and he was pushing me to run hard. I was a little
afraid there, at one point, that maybe we were
running too hard, but I was able to stay out front.
Track position is huge here- I knew I wanted to stay
out front as much as I could, so we were happy we
were able to do that and happy we could keep the car
underneath me for 200 laps.”
Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, PA in the
Boehler owned, Cape Cod Copper/Canto Paving
Chevrolet started sixth and became a threat for the
win in the closing circuits. “I actually think we
would have been a little better off without the
caution,” said Pennink about the yellow towards the
end of the Dunleavy’s 200. “We had a pretty good
roll there going and we were reeling the leaders
right in. We had just got to them when the caution
came out. I have to thank everyone on this 3 team,
they gave me an awesome car all weekend. I’ve got to
thank my sponsors Canto Paving, Van Wyck Auto
Supply, I’ve got to thank Dunleavy for doing all he
does for modified racing and all the fans for coming
out to Monadnock Speedway, thanks.”
Qualifying
seventh, Jimmy Blewett from Howell, NJ had an
impressive run, in the hunt at the end with his Bob
Garbarino owned, Starrett sponsored Dodge. “I was
just trying to save as much as I possibly could for
the end,” said Blewett. “Hopefully we were going to
get a yellow. With it being so hot out today,
starting seventh, I knew the lead pack was going to
take off. We saved what we could- to motor back and
get a third, I’m proud of these guys. Without Chip
Taylor at Starrett, this wouldn’t be possible. Bob
(Garbarino), my grandfather giving me the time off
from work, Mayhew coming on board the past couple of
weeks as an associate sponsor for our team, we have
a really good group of guys that work hard on this
team, we’re not giving up.”
“I want to thank the crowd for coming out here
today, I know it’s hot, it’s been a long two days
for everybody, thank you for coming out,” continued
Blewett. “And Doug Dunleavy for helping out with the
Tour, he’s been a huge help for us these past couple
of seasons. Even though I wasn’t here (last year), I
heard a lot of things about him and we appreciate
the support.”
“Doug Coby, Rowan Pennink, Justin Bonsignore, Jimmy
Blewett, all those guys- those are the guys I looked
up to growing up,” added Solomito. “I’m 24- I grew
up at Riverhead watching some of these guys run
every week. You always want to be that guy that
wins- I said to my dad when I was younger, I asked
him if I would ever have a chance in a modified at
Riverhead. He said to keep doing what you’re doing
and we’ll see. To be able to be on the Tour, win
races, race hard and competitively with them- to say
I’m doing that, it’s a pretty awesome feeling
looking back at it now. Definitely not something you
expect to happen, everything would have had to align
just right and so far it has. I’m just so very
thankful it’s worked out the way it has.”
The
victory marks Solomito’s third NWMT career win, all
collected in this 2016 season.
“You don’t always have days like this, obviously,”
said Solomito about winning the pole then leading
all 200 laps taking the Dunleavy’s 200 win. “I’ll
tell you, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
“It’s incredible,” smiled Solomito talking about his
season to date. “We came into the year winless. We
had struggled kind of leading up to this point. We
had some really good runs but no wins. We had
finished second, we had finished third, we had top
fives- but we didn’t have any poles or wins. To say
half way through the season that we have three wins,
it’s pretty incredible. I’m sure it’ll probably hit
me on the ride home- I’m just really happy to be
able to do it with these guys and thankful for the
opportunity that Eric Sanderson has given me. The
team does a great job- they’re working like a
well-oiled machine – that’s what we need to keep
doing this. We’re lucky enough to have such a great
owner and sponsors that allow us to do every week.”
Solomito, Pennink, Blewett, Goodale and Bonsignore
the top five, Coby, Max Zachem, Woody Pitkat, Rob
Summers and Donny Lia completed the top ten.
Next up for the NWMT is Friday August 5th at
Stafford Motor Speedway.
Thank you to everyone at Monadnock Speedway,
especially Larry, Dee and Fred for a great weekend.
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Source:
Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
July 24 2016 |
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