Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – THOMPSON, CT – Justin Bonsignore took home the final race of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season on World Series weekend at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
Bonsignore started the race in 2nd and quickly got to the lead. Justin led from lap 5 to 99 for 95 laps and then lap 108 to 150 for 48 laps, for a total of 143 laps led today. Bonsignore has had a very good season and able to win a lot or races and if Justin and Doug had tied in points, Justin would have won the championship but, didn’t get that chance of tying.
Doug Coby is the 2019 NWMT champion. This is Doug’s 6th championship, since he won his first championship in 2012, he has won 6 championships in 8 years. In those 8 years Doug hasn’t finished worse than 3rd in the point standings. 6 championships, one 2nd place and one 3rd place finish in the standings in 8 years. He is now tied for 6 championships with the legendary Jerry Cook, getting his 6th championship to tie Cook is an amazing accomplishment for Doug.
To win the championship Doug had to finish 14th or better no matter where Bonsignore finished. Coby started 3rd and in the beginning of the race, Woody Pitkat noticed that Coby had a tire going down. After getting the tire fixed Coby was in the back, he restarted on lap 12 in 28th place. But, by lap 28, he was 16th and was on the radio saying he was incredibly loose. Then there was another caution on lap 56 and the 2 car of Coby was in 11th. Everyone was anticipating the pit stops, just didn’t know when they would be happening, then on lap 101 there was a caution for a slow car on the front stretch, everyone came to pit road. Everyone seem to stay the same after getting off of pit road, with Doug still being in 11th place. With 20 laps to go on lap 130, Doug was up in the top 10 in 7th place, which is pretty good for a car that was as far back as almost 30th place in the beginning of the race. It just shows how good Coby is and what it takes between him and his crew to get things done when they are almost down and out. They stay positive and don’t worry about things they can’t control.
Ron Silk finished the race 2nd today. Silk had on of his best seasons in his 16 years on the NWMT. Ron had 3 wins, 10 top 5’s, 12 top 10’s, 121 laps led, and his best starting and finishing positions were both 7th place, which is pretty consistent and good for a touring series. Silk also finished the season off in 3rd in the point standings. Matt Swanson finished the race 3rd. Matt had a good season, four top 5’s, nine top 10’s, and 14 laps led this NWMT season. Swanson finished the racing season 5th in the points.
