Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – Seventy five years ago in 1948 Tony Bonaides was the Midget feature winner at the Seekonk Speedway.
Seventy years ago in 1953 rain cancelled Wednesday night racing at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. The Modifieds had Saturday night off. Bud Matter won a special event for the non-Fords. At Seekonk, Lloyd Lockhart was the Class A winner at Seekonk.
Sixty-five years ago in 1958 Ray Moran won a Thursday night Fourth of July Special Modified event at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Dick Beauregard was the non-Ford winner. Red Foote was the Saturday night Modified winner at the Connecticut shoreline oval. Charlie Webster was the 25 lap non-Ford winner and Ed Moody was the Bomber winner. The midgets ran at Seekonk with Ronnie Evans taking the win. Herbie Tilman was the winner at Old Bridge
Sixty years ago in 1963, Area Auto Racing News reported that Dennis Zimmerman led the charge of the Eastern Bandits at Old Bridge, NJ where he won the Sunday night Modified feature over Frank Myroncuk and Joe Kelly. Eddie Flemke finished seventh in a borrowed car. Joe Kelly won at the Fort Dix Speedway. Al DeAngelo was the Modified winner at the Islip Speedway on Long Island. On the Connecticut shoreline at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl a special Fourth of July racing program was run on Wednesday night which was highlighted by twin 25-lap Modified features which were run with Joe McNulty and Don Collins taking the wins. Jerry Dostie, recently transplanted from the Maine woods, won the 15 lap Bomber feature. On Saturday night at the Speedbowl Hank Stevens took the Modified feature while Walt Dombrowski took the Bomber main. Wild Bill Slater put the V-8 in victory lane at Norwood. Rain prevailed at Seekonk. Local favorite George Janoski was the Modified winner on the dirt at the Stafford Springs Speedway.
Fifty-five years ago in 1968, modified action started on Thursday night at Catamount Stadium where Bugsy Stevens took the win. Stevens carried his winning ways over to Stafford on Friday night where he beat out Fred Harbach for the win. Smokey Boutwell, Fred DeSarro and Frank Faria rounded out the top five. At the Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Lou Lazzaro out dueled Phil Spiak for the win. Jerry Cook finished third with Ken Canestrary and Pete Corey rounding out the top five. Lazzaro made it two for two on the weekend as he also won at Fonda on Saturday night over Cook and Dave Lape. Roland LaPierre Sr. was the Saturday night winner at Norwood Arena. and Lee Osborne was the winner at the Fulton Raceway. At the Waterford Speedbowl Dick Caso won a Wednesday night Fourth of July Special Modified event. Newt Palm was the winner of the Modified event held on Saturday at the Bowl. Bill Sweet won Late Model Daredevil events on both nights. Deke Astle was the Class A winner at Seekonk.Bugsy Stevens won twin 25’s at Thompson on Sunday and at Utica-Rome, Dick Fowler took the win over Robbie Kotary, Sonny Seamon, Dick Clark and Bernie Miller. Down in the southland Ray Hendrick took another win at South Boston.
Fifty years ago in 1973, Fred DeSarro started the weekend off with a win at Malta on Friday night. Denis Giroux finished second with Jerry Cook, Richie Evans and Ronnie Bouchard, following. Bouchard was not to be denied on Saturday at Stafford as he took the hotly contested 35 lap main. A second 35 lapper was run but Bouchard had to settle for third behind Eddie Flemke and Bugsy Stevens. Charlie Jarzombek won at Islip and at Tioga; Geoff Bodine took the win over Evans and Dick Fowler. Dick Watson, a legend at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, won the Tuesday night Fourth of July Modified Special at the Waterford Speedbowl. George Allum won a held over Modified event from the previous week. Ron Cote and Dick LaFlesh were the Late Model Daredevil winners. George Savory was the Late Model Sportsman winner at SeekonkRounding out the weekend was a 100 lapper at Utica-Rome, which was won by Evans over Stevens, Lou Lazzaro, Jerry Cook and Fred DeSarro.
Forty five years ago in 1978, the Yankee All-Star League visited the Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. on Wednesday. Geoff Bodine continued his domination as he took the win. Bugsy Stevens finished second with George Savory, third. Plainville ran an open show on Thursday, which saw Kenny Bouchard take the win over Eddie Flemke, Ron Bouchard, Ron Wycoff and Ronnie Rocco. Stafford fell to rain on Friday. Riverhead went to Charlie Jarzombek and Maynard Troyer got his eighth at Spencer. Rain washed out Waterford and Seekonk on Saturday. Islip ran a 150 lapper that saw Richie Evans take the win over Jerry Cook and Don Howe. Mike Stefanik won the main at Riverside and Troyer continued his winning ways as he won at Lancaster. Leo Cleary won at Thompson on Sunday and at Monadnock, Geoff Bodine beat out Jack Bateman.
Forty years ago in 1983, Kenny Bouchard, in the Ted Marsh no.55 took the modified win at Stafford. George Summers finished second with Bugsy Stevens, third. Bo Gunning was the SK modified winner. At the Spencer Speedway, Mike McLaughlin beat out Richie Evans and George Kent. At New Egypt it was John Blewett Jr. over Tony Siscone. At Riverhead, Dan Jivenelli won the Thompson 300 qualifier. Saturday night at Waterford, the modified field was 38 cars strong. Mark LaJunesse took the win with Bob Potter and Jerry Pearl in tow. At Riverside, Brett Bodine took top honors. Other weekend winners were John Blewett JR at Islip, Eddie StAngelo at Seekonk and Tom Bolles at Thompson.
Thirty-five years ago in 1988, the Modified tour was at Riverhead on Wednesday for a 151 lapper. Mike Ewanitsko took charge and won the event. Reggie Ruggiero finished second with John Blewett JR, third. Ted Christopher won at Stafford on Friday and at Monadnock, Reggie Ruggiero took the checker. Lee ran a modified event, also on Friday, which was won by Tom Bolles. On Saturday at Waterford, Ed Flemke JR was the winner and at Riverhead, Dan Jivenelli took the win. Dick McCabe won the Oxford 250 and on Sunday, the mods went to Jennerstown where Bolles beat George Kent for the win.
Thirty years ago in 1993, Ted Christopher was the Friday night winner at Stafford. Bob Potter finished second with Tom Tagg, third. The Modified Tour was at Loudon on Saturday for a 40-lap event, which saw 10 lead changes. Reggie Ruggiero was the eventual winner with Doug Hevron, Rick Fuller and Ed Flemke JR following. The Busch North cars were also on hand with Mike McLaughlin winning out over Kelly Moore. At Waterford it was Mark LaJunesse over Jerry Pearl. Other weekend winners were Richie Gallup at Riverside and Bob Park at Riverhead. In Winston Cup action at Loudon, Rusty Wallace started 33rd and took the win. One day later, on July 12, Davey Allison and Red Farmer were flying into the Talledega Speedway when Allison’s helicopter crashed. Farmer survived but Allison died one day later.
Twenty-five years ago in 1998, Stafford and Waterford rescheduled their race nights to accommodate those going to Loudon for the Winston Cup weekend. Stafford had planned on running on Tuesday but their event rained out. Waterford ran on Friday night and it was Dennis Gada taking the modified win over Jeff Pearl and Mark LaJunesse. The Modified Tour Series and Busch Grandnational North Series ran at Loudon on Saturday afternoon. Mike Stefanik scored his seventh mod tour win of the season in an event that saw 25 lead changes among seven drivers in 100 laps. Jan Leaty finished second and was followed by Reggie Ruggiero, Mike Ewanitsko and Ed Kennedy. Kelly Moore was the BGNN winner and was followed by Dale Shaw, Brad Leighton and Tom Bolles. George Brunnhoelzl ended a long dry spell as he won at Riverhead on Saturday night. Jeff Burton won the Loudon Winston Cup event after leading 191 of the scheduled 300 laps
Twenty years ago in 2003, winner. In Saturday night Thunder action at Thompson, Todd Ceravolo ended a long dry spell as he took the win in the Sunoco Modified-SK Type modified feature that was run in conjunction with the visit of the Busch North Series. Ceravolo, driving a car owned by his dad, “Dickie Doo” Ceravolo, started on the pole and never looked back as he took the win in the 30 lap contest. Bo Gunning, who recovered from an early caution, came from the back of the pack to finish a close second. Matty Adante finished third and was followed by Eric Berndt and Jeff Malave. Tom Carey was the Busch North Series winner. Series point leader Andy Santerre finished second.
The Featherlite NASCAR Modified Tour Series went to Maine that weekend to the Beech Ridge Speedway on Saturday night. Todd Szegedy led from start to finish to record his second victory of the year in the series. Tony Hirschman and Chuck Hossfeld staged a serious battle to take the top spot but Szegedy kept his cool and never faltered. Ricky Fuller finished fourth with John Blewett III rounding out the top five. Thirty-two modifieds were on hand for the 150-lap event that carried a purse of $67,475. Not making the starting grid were Carl Pasteryak and Jake Marosz. Twelve cars finished on the lead lap. Ted Christopher, Chris Kopec, Jim Broderick, Kenny Barry and Bob Polverari. rounded out the top ten. There were five caution periods for 36 laps
It wasn’t dull by any means as Rain played havoc at the Stafford Speedway last Friday night forcing officials to red flag the SK 150 lapper at the lap 18 mark. The event would resume on August 1. Mike Quintiliano was the late model winner.
At the Waterford Speedbowl last Saturday night in a race against time, Jeff Pearl went pole to pole to take the win. It was the Speedbowl’s intention to get their program in the books in order for fans to be able to view the fireworks in New London or head up to Thompson for the Busch North Series event. Eddie Reed Jr. finished second with Dennis Cherette, third. The event had to be red flagged after Jay Miller took a hard shot into the second turn. Miller was taken to the Backus Hospital for observation. NEAR Hall of Fame Inductee Ray Miller stated that his son suffered a fracture of the C2 vertebrae plus a swollen hand Miller will be out of action the rest of the year. Zach Sylvester will fill his seat at Waterford for the remainder of the year. John Brouwer Jr. and Chris Pasteryak rounded out the top five.
Fifteen years ago in 2008, the True Value Modifieds made their second visit to the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH. Kirk Alexander managed to successfully maneuver through lapped traffic in the last 10 laps of the 100 lap event and Dwight Jarvis’ #28 began to fade. Alexander would take the win, his 30th in the True Value Modified Racing Series. Dwight Jarvis held on to second while Jack Bateman finished third. Jon McKennedy and Rob Goodenough rounded out the top five. Pre-race favorites Ted Christopher, 17th, Les Hinkley, 18th, and Dave Pinkham, DNS, failed to finish.
The Thompson Speedway’s Thursday Night Thunder program avoided the rain gods and welcomed an almost full crowd to the double feature program for the Sunoco Modifieds. Jimmy Blewett scored back-to-back Sunoco Modified victories while Randy Cabral enjoyed an emotional NEMA Midgets victory for one of his fallen comrades. In a touching tribute, Cabral left his car in turn three where his fallen friend, Shane Hammond, lost his life in April. Derek Ramstrom continued his domination of the Pro Stock ranks with his third-straight feature win, Leo Oliveira celebrated with a victory in the biggest event of the season for the TIS Modifieds along with Limited Sportsman competitor Ernie LaRose and Mini Stocker Tim Taylor of each visited victory lane.
The Stafford Motor Speedway celebrated the fourth of July holiday with multimedia fireworks display set to music. The fireworks on the track were provided by Frank Ruocco, who won the SK Modified feature, Ryan Posocco, who won his 30th Late Model feature, Chris Matthews, who won the SK Light Modified feature, Charlie Newman, who won the Limited Late Model feature, and Dan Flannery, who won the DARE Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified feature event, Frank Ruocco drove to his first feature win of the 2008 season by out dueling Keith Rocco over the final laps. Doug Coby took the early race lead and held the top spot from the green flag to lap-22, when Ruocco overtook him on a restart. Rocco moved by Coby for second place on lap-27 and brought Ted Christopher with him past Coby. Christopher and Rocco would swap the second position several times over the final laps through several restart situations, with Rocco taking the spot on the final green, white checker restart. Rocco stayed glued to the back bumper of Ruocco but couldn’t make a pass for the win. Rounding out the top-5 behind Ruocco and Rocco was Tom Bolles, Christopher, and Jimmy Blewett.
At the Waterford Speedbowl it was the annual Pepsi 300. A major water main break closed a good portion of the lower section of Route 85 but it didn’t hold back the competitors or fans. Jeffrey Paul took advantage of Doug Coby’s misfortune as he scored the biggest win of his young career as he won the 100 lap SK Modified portion of the Pepsi 300. With less than 10 laps to go, Coby missed a shift on a restart and all but handed the win to Paul. Coby had passed Keith Rocco for the lead just beyond the halfway-point and looked to be on cruise control, headed for victory. Pole-sitter Tyler Chadwick led the early going of the 100-lap SK feature before he was passed by Keith Rocco. For several laps the leader was pressed by Coby, Dennis Gada, and Paul. On lap ninety-three, Frank Ruocco and Rocco made contact, the latter slamming into the back-stretch wall, with Ruocco sent to the back for rough-riding. The resultant restart saw Paul bolt into the lead, passing Coby. Coby held-on for the runner-up spot followed by Rob Janovic Jr., Ron Yuhas Jr., and defending champion and current point-leader Dennis Gada. It was the first win of 2008 for Paul.
Other feature winners were Bruce Thomas Jr. (Late Model), Al Stone III (Sportsman), and Danny Field (Mini Stocks).
In the 100-lap Late Model feature it was defending champion Bruce Thomas Jr. scoring victory in round-two of the Triple Crown series. Starting in the second-row and passing Ron Yuhas Jr. for the lead on lap forty-two, Thomas motored to a dominating twenty-seventh career triumph over Tim Jordan, Yuhas, Vin Esposito, and Diego Monahan.
Al Stone III kept his Triple Crown expectations alive with a victory in the 50-lap Sportsman feature and scoring the 50-lap Mini Stock main event by an ever-so-slight margin was Danny Field.
Denny Hamlin held off teammate Kyle Busch to win Friday night at Daytona International Speedway and extend Joe Gibbs Racing’s dominance in the Nationwide Series. Hamlin had a comfortable lead over Busch as they headed toward the last lap, but rookie Colin Braun spun out to bring just the third caution of the race. NASCAR reset the laps to create a two-lap sprint to the finish. Hamlin got a great jump on the restart and Busch couldn’t challenge him as Hamlin drove to his third Nationwide Series win of the year. Busch bested Carl Edwards in a race that ended under caution with Busch earning his Sprint Cup-best sixth victory of the season. Busch and Edwards were racing side by side with a little over a lap remaining when a multicar accident brought out the caution behind them. The field was frozen, and while Edwards was pretty sure Busch was a nose ahead, no one was 100 percent certain. Edwards finished second and was disappointed not to have one last lap.
Ten years ago in 2013, the Thompson Speedway Thursday Night Thunder Series resumed under threatening skies. John Lowinski-Loh, Steve Kenneway and Chad Baxter all captured their first season wins on Whelen Engineering night in Thursday Night Thunder at Thompson (TNTT). Other NASCAR Whelen All-American Series winners included Keith Rocco in the Sunoco Modified division with his fourth victory of the season and John Studley in the Lite Modifieds.
Rocco used a late-race restart to take down his fourth victory of the 2013 season as he held off Ryan Preece and Todd Ceravolo for the win. A caution flew at lap 28 for a car in the turn three wall setting up a two-lap dash to the checkers. Rocco drove to the front again with Ceravolo and Preece battling for the second spot right behind him. Preece took the second spot with Woody Pitkat taking over third before the checkers fell. Ceravolo ended up fourth with Kerry Malone, fifth.
At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night held a special Girls Night Out program featuring each division racing an extra two laps as part of the 5-Star Series Mid-Season Stretch. Keith Rocco scored his first victory of the 2013 season in the 42-lap SK Modified® feature, Tom Fearn picked up his third win of the 2013 season in the 32-lap Late Model feature, Chase Dowling scored his second consecutive victory and fourth overall win of the 2013 season in the 22-lap SK Light Modified feature, Josh Wood picked up his third win of the 2013 season in the 22-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Jeremy Lavoie took down his third win of the season in the 17-lap DARE Stock feature.
In the SK Modified race, Rocco led Todd Owen back to the checkered flag to pick up his first victory of the 2013 season. Eric Berndt finished third, with Rowan Pennink and Woody Pitkat rounding out the top-5. In postrace inspection, Pennink’s car was found to have illegal brake components and he was dropped to the 20th (last) place position in the running order.
The Waterford Speedbowl did not race on Saturday night as they gave way to New London’s Sailfest and Fireworks. On Friday evening the shoreline oval hosted the inaugural Belltown Tire Service Center Little Guys 200, putting four of the track’s support divisions into the spotlight. Open competition Mini Stock and Street Stock events paid each winner $1,000.00. Corey Hutchings was the Street Stock event winner and Glen Thomas Jr. took the checkered flag in the night’s Mini Stock race. Giovanni Giarratana won his third INEX Legend Cars event in the last four at the track and Brad Voglesong won the X-Car race. Belltown Tire Service Center put on a Pit Crew Challenge on the track’s front chute between races, won by the team of Glen Thomas Jr.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series headed to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Town Fair Tire 100. The event drew 32 cars for 36 open starting positions. Jimmy Blewett secured his first pole at the “Magic Mile” on his first lap of qualifying at 29.691 seconds (128.281 mph), but his No. 76 John Blewett Incorporated Chevrolet wrecked hard into the wall in the second circuit. Blewett hit a batch of dirt on the track that had not been cleaned up by the track crew. Blewett stated as he was coming around turn two he cut a right front tire in the dirt from the Global Rally Cars that had raced on Thursday night.
Ted Christopher qualified second-fastest at 29.783 (127.885). Bryon Chew joined him on the qualifying podium with a fast lap of 29.806 (127.786) around the 1.058-mile oval. Rounding out the top five were Bobby Santos and Eric Goodale.
Defending series champion Doug Coby nipped Ted Christopher by .153-seconds to score the win in Saturday’s Town Fair Tire 100 at the New Hampshire one-mile oval. It was the eighth career win for Coby but the first since last September, also at New Hampshire. It was a redemption of sort as Coby was a victim of a stuck throttle at Riverhead Raceway on Long Island which resulted in his car being trashed in a violent wreck. Coby started 15th and worked his way to the front. He drove the No. 52 Furnace & Duct Supply/Seekonk Grand Prix Chevrolet of Wayne Darling past Ryan Preece with four laps to go to take the lead and eventual win. Preece faded to third as Ted Christopher put Ole Blu in the runner-up spot on the closing moments.
During the first half of the event Christopher and Rowan Pennink put on a brilliant and very competitive show of their driving skills as they swapped the lead at high speed numerous times. Pennink was robbed of a good finish as his car developed front end problems and after being put to the rear, finished 15th, two laps down. Andy Seuss and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five at the finish. Sixth thru tenth were Woody Pitkat, Eric Berndt, Chuck Hossfeld, Richie Pallai,, Jr and Jamie Tomaino.
The Valenti Modified Racing Series was at the Canaan Fair Speedway in New Hampshire. With the field at 27 cars strong Tom Barrett scored his second win of the season. Barrett started on the pole but did not have an easy time of it as he swapped the lead on numerous occasions with the likes of Richard Savory and Chris Pasteryak. Pasteryak ended up second with Anthony Nocella, third. Rob Goodenough and Charlie Pasteryak rounded out the top five. Sixth through tenth were Savory, Louis Mechalides, Rowan Pennink, Todd Patnoad and Todd Owen. Two days later Pennink saw his finish turn from an eighth to a 13th when his team was assessed a one-lap postrace penalty for an unapproved tire change during the event.
The intense heat on Long Island brought out some short tempers at the Riverhead Raceway. To start, there were 2 cautions before a lap could be completed, eliminating three of the original 15 starters. On the restart after the 3rd caution, officials determined that the #0 of Tommy Rogers jumped the start and he was sent to the rear. Rogers took a hissy fit as he did not agree and showed his displeasure by spinning the car around in front of the officials to discuss it with them.
After the next caution flew, it got nasty. Tommy Rogers lost his temper and decided that he was going to end Kevin Orlando’s evening. Unfortunately, Tommy didn’t think he did a good enough job and returned to the track after pitting, coming out with the only intention to wreck Kevin Orlando’s car. To do what was done put many people in danger, both on the track and in the pits, and is unacceptable. It will be interesting to see what action will be taken by track and NASCAR officials.
After the dust settled, the #96 of Howie Brode set the pace and was never headed.
Down in the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC Jason Myers went pole to pole to win the scheduled 100 lapper that 121 laps because of cautions. Intermittent rain made a long night longer. Myers hung tough through it all and won for the 13th time in his career, holding off Danny Bohn, Jonathan Brown and Junior Miller.
Jason’s brother Burt, the Modified points’ leader, finished fifth. He did some excellent driving, moving up after drawing the 17th starting position, and still leads the standings by 30 points, ahead of his younger brother. Tim Brown, the defending division champion and a nine-time season champ, had his mechanical problems on lap 99 and wound-up 16th.
In Nationwide Series racing at Loudon, Kyle Busch needed to drive 213 laps of a scheduled 200-lap race to win his seventh race of the season. He snapped a four-race winless streak and won his 58th career Nationwide race. Brian Vickers ran out just as he crossed the finish line in second spot. Vickers scored an upset victory in Sunday’s Sprint Cup event at Loudon.
Five years ago, in 2018, The Tri-Track Modified Series in conjunction with Open Wheel Wednesday at the Seekonk Speedway was continued on Tuesday after a six day rain delay. Unfortunately, rain intervened on lap 22 of the event. The 100 lapper was continued on Tuesday night, July 3. Richard Savory led the restart with Keith Rocco in the runner-up spot. Ryan Preece, Jon Kievman, Anthony Nocella, Les Hinckley, Mike Holdridge, and Steve Masse withdrew. Chase Dowling pinch hit for Rowan Pennink.
Ron Silk took the lead on lap 36 in turn one and held it until pitting for tires on lap 57. Restarting in the rear Silk made a determined run as he re-took the top spot on lap 72 and never looked back. Hirschman rallied after losing a lap early on and recovered to finish second with Chase Dowling, third. Russ Hersey and Todd Annarummo rounded out the top five. Sixth thru tenth were Sam Rameau, Jon McKennedy, Woody Pitkat, Savory and Dana D’Matteo. Rocco finished 11th.
The Stafford Motor Speedway added fireworks to their Friday night program. Scoring feature wins were Ronnie Williams in the SK Modified® feature, Tom Fearn in the Late Model feature, Joey Ferrigno in the SK Light feature, Jeremy Lavoie in the Limited Late Model feature, George Bessette, Jr. in the Street Stock feature, and Jason Chapman in the Wild Thing Karts Junior Outlaws feature.
In the 40 lap SK Modified feature, Williams passed Eric Berndt on lap 36 and then held off Berndt’s challenges over the final three laps. Stephen Kopcik was third. Keith Rocco came into the evening leading Williams in the standings by 28 points. An 18th place finish for Rocco allowed Williams to move into the points lead by six ahead of Rocco.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour traveled across Long Island Sound to the Riverhead Raceway on Saturday.
Justin Bonsignore held off Ryan Preece through a furious finish to capture the Buzz Chew Auto Group 200 checkered flag. A member of the Long Island Gang, Bonsignore took the lead for good on Lap 171 and drove to his fifth career victory at the Long Island quarter-mile.It marked the 16th career Whelen Modified Tour victory for Bonsignore, who has won four of seven in 2018 as the season nears the halfway point. He now has a 33-point lead atop the standings.
Bonsignore won his seventh career pole earlier in the afternoon, but Timmy Solomito gained the lead from the drop of the green. Preece moved to the front on Lap 19, and it was a two-horse race with Bonsignore from there. Preece had a commanding lead when a caution came out on Lap 100. On the ensuing restart, Preece appeared to get loose, allowing Bonsignore to move to the front. There would be one more lead swap with 60 to go before Bonsignore’s decisive pass.
Preece settled for second while Doug Coby came home third as only the podium drivers finished on the lead lap. Dave Sapienza and Solomito brought home the top five. Craig Lutz rallied from a mid-race incident to finish sixth, followed by Chase Dowling, Tom Rogers Jr., Kyle Soper and Ronnie Williams.
Dowling is second in championship points, behind Bonsignore and 18 in front of Solomito. Lutz and Preece are fourth and fifth, respectively.
An era came to an end with the last of the Mystic Missile Modifieds going up for sale. Chuck Hossfeld is the sales agent. The last two, v4 Mystic Missiles are 100% complete. Just add seat. One, 2016 Troyer TA1 with NASCAR spec engine built by Ron Hutter. 6 races on it. $60k. The second is a 2014 Troyer 01-08 style also with a Hutter spec engine built in 2015. $50k. These are turn key complete cars, gas in the tank and air in the tires!.
Hossfeld, a former driver of the Mystic Missile, is the Co-owner/Sales Consultant at Jerry Gradl Motors Inc.in Lockport, NY.
On the Connecticut shoreline at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, Todd Owen was the SK Modified winner over Rob Janovic and Kyle James. Ryan Morgan scored a convincing win in the Late Models, Bo Norman won the Limited Sportsman feature, Charles Canfield won the Mini Stock feature and Brett Meservey was the Pro 4 winner.
In the 40 lap SK Modified feature, Owen kept digging and digging until he finally struck gold.The Somers Ct driver made several attempts to dive-bomb underneath Rob Janovic Jr. during the first half of the 40-lap SK Modified feature. With 18 laps remaining, however, Owen got a dazzling run off turn 4 and swooped underneath Janovic in turn 1 to move into the lead. He maintained it the rest of the way to grab his second feature of the season.
In the Late Models, Mike Benevides led the early laps of the race, however, and then Tyler Chapman took over the lead before Morgan zipped into the top spot on lap 10. He spent the rest of the feature holding off a hard-charging Flannery and Palmer.
“It’s great that the three of us are duking it out all the time,” Morgan said. “There was some beating and banging, but we also respect each other.” Morgan also climbed into a tie for the point lead with Jason Palmer.
Down in the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina all was quiet as the Stadium celebrated the Fourth of July.
Justin Haley started last and crossed the finish line first. It would have been a stellar run in just his second Xfinity Series race if only he could have kept two tires above the double-yellow line at Daytona International Speedway.Kyle Larson was declared the winner of the Firecracker 250 on Friday night when Haley’s late pass in overtime was ruled illegal. Ryan Preece finished 39th after dropping out on lap 51 with overheating problems.
Erik Jones gets 1st Cup win in crash-filled race at Daytona. Jones survived several gnarly wrecks, defending Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. on his bumper late and the pressure of overtime at NASCAR’s most famous track. Jones won a crash-filled race at Daytona International Speedway, passing Truex on the final lap and then wildly celebrating the first victory of his Cup career. Jones created so much smoke during his burnout that he had trouble breathing afterward. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., had the most memorable run of the night. He started two early accidents that wrecked more than half the field and was part of two more cautions late.
Last year, 2022, The Stafford Motor Speedway opened the weekend of racing with the 6th Annual Dunleavy’s Modifieds Night. Prior to the event there had been some bad blood generated between Bryan Narducci and Ron Williams who crashed together between turns three and four. The two made contact going down the backstretch with Williams ending going thru the grass and ended up making contact with Narducci. It was later found out that Narducci was cleared too early by his spotter, pushing Williams into grass, hence causing #50 out of control, driving both into wall.
Stafford’s SK Lights took center stage with a 40-lap feature that paid over $10,000 in total posted awards. Chris Matthews took home the biggest prize of the SK Light season for his second win of the 2022 season after leaders Derek Debbis and Alexander Pearl tangled with 4 laps to go. Matthews’ victory was worth over $2,000 in purse and contingency money while in victory lane, Doug Dunleavy did his pick from the hat and the 4th and 10th place finishers, Josh Carey and Frank L’Etoile, Jr., each won a $500 bonus while the 7th place finisher, Meghan Fuller, won a $1,000 bonus from Dunleavy’s Truck and Trailer Repair. Stafford’s other four feature events all featured first time 2022 winners with Tyler Hines winning the SK Modified® feature, Tom Fearn won the Late Model feature, his 75th victory Jeremy Lavoie in the Limited Late Model feature, and Adrien Paradis, III in the Street Stock feature.
In the SK Light 40 lapper Derek Debbis took the lead from Alexander Pearl on a lap 26 restart. Tyler Chapman spun in the middle of turns 3+4 to bring the caution back out with 26 laps complete. Debbis took the lead on the restart with Chris Matthews briefly taking second but Pearl made a crossover move and the two cars ran wheel to wheel for second. Pearl got clear of Matthews on lap-29 with Stephen Chapman up to fourth and Nick Anglace in fifth. With 5 laps to go, it was still Debbis in the lead followed by Pearl, Matthews, Stephen Chapman, and Anglace. Pearl tried a move to the inside of Debbis for the lead on lap-37 but the two cars touched with Debbis spinning and backing his car into the wall to bring the caution flag out with 36 laps complete. Pearl was sent to the rear of the field for the contact with Debbis, which put Matthews and Stephen Chapman on the front row for the restart.
Matthews took the lead back under green with Chapman all over his back bumper in second. Anglace was up to third with Josh Carey up to fourth and Bob Charland in fifth place. Matthews led Chapman to the checkered flag to pick up his second win of the 2022 season. Anglace finished third with Carey and Tyler Barry rounding out the top-5. Meghan Fuller finished eighth. It’s just a matter of time before she gets a win. Pearl ended up 15th
Tyler Hines went pole to pole to win the 40 lap SK Modified main. Ron Williams nearly took the lead from Hines a lap 24 restart but Hines maintained the lead by a nose at the line. Hines got clear from Williams on lap-25 with Cory DiMatteo in third, Stephen Kopcik in fourth, and Bryan Narducci in fifth. DiMatteo made a move to the inside of Williams on lap-27 and he took over second place on lap-28 after two laps of wheel to wheel action. Kopcik was now side by side with Williams for third but he went by Williams and DiMatteo on lap-30 to move into second place. Williams and DiMatteo were side by side for third with Williams getting clear on lap-33. Narducci took over fourth and Todd Owen took fifth as DiMatteo slid back to sixth place with 6 laps to go.
Hines led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the 2022 season in dominating fashion. Kopcik finished second with Williams, Narducci, and Owen rounding out the top-5.
At the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night Eric Berndt made it two in a row as he won the 75 lap SK Modified feature. Anthony Flannery finished second with Rob Janovic, third.
Tom Abele Jr. was victorious in the 25-lap SK Light Modified feature.
At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island JR Bertuccio was the 50 lap Modified winner. Kyle Soper finished second with Michael Rutkoski, third.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series headed for the Wall Stadium at the Jersey shore this past Saturday night. The event drew 27 cars and an overflow crowd. Jimmy Blewett picked up his 81st win in one of the most competitive events on the tour this season. Starting on the outside pole, Blewett was content to follow early leaders Ron Silk and Andrew Krause. With thirteen laps left to the 150 lapper Blewett made his move and made it stick as he out distanced Matt Hirschman for the win. Patrick Emerling finished third with Krause and Silk rounding out the top five. Sixth thru tenth were Justin Bonsignore, Austin Beers, Jon McKennedy, Blake Barney and Kyle Bonsignore.
The Modified Racing Series (MRS) was at the Wiscasset Speedway in Maine on Saturday night. Matt Swanson drove the Casella No. 25 ride to victory lane in the 75-lap event. Ryan Doucette Mass. was second and Jacob Perry was third. Perry had a good workout for his arms and shoulders as he drove the entire event without power steering.
In the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium Burt Myers won his 86th career race and second in a row. Myers beat defending champion Tim Brown, who is still winless this season, but is still very much in the points race. On a double-points night, Brown had a good night and Brandon Ward, the points leader, was third.
What helped Myers in the later stages was his restarts, but on at least one occasion he jumped the start and race officials had to redo it. Myers defended his starts, but Brown said it’s something that needs to be addressed. Brown worked his way toward the front with just nine cars left on the track for the final 25 laps. There were six cautions, but after Myers overtook Ward for the lead on a restart on lap 67, Myers never faltered the rest of the way.
Because Myers struggled early in the year, he says he’s out of the points races with six weeks to go. But he loves the fact that his crew has found something and he’s looking forward to the rest of the season, even if it doesn’t include a points championship.
Jeremy Gerstner, who was on the pole, dominated the first portion of the race and had a large lead until the first caution flag. On the cone re-start points-leader Ward took the outside lane and it paid off as he overtook Gerstner. On the second caution on lap 54 on another restart Ward stayed in front. The night turned into a wreck fest. After the third caution there were only nine cars left on the track on lap 64. Ward, who is still winless this season, says he’s somewhat frustrated even though he’s right there in pursuit of his first points’ championship.
FloRacing recently ranked the top pavement race car drivers during the month of June.
1. Matt Hirschman (Previous Rank: 1st) No surprise here as he has won 15 of the last 31 races he entered. Hirschman’s kept the wins coming during the month of June. “Big Money” collected a pair of wins at Mahoning Valley Speedway and a win at Evergreen Speedway before ending the month with his fifth Open Wheel Wednesday win at Seekonk Speedway. He also scored a controversial second-place finish in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway. One can argue that Hirschman would have won that race before he had a run-in with JB Fortin while he was putting Fortin a lap down.
2. William Byron (Previous Rank: 5th)
3. Bubba Pollard (Previous Rank: 3rd)
5. Sammy Smith (Previous Rank: 8th)
8. Bryan Narducci (Previous Rank: Unranked) When it comes to weekly pavement racing, it’s hard to find a better division than the SK Modifieds at Stafford Motor Speedway. Bryan Narducci was by far the strongest driver in that field throughout the month of June. Stafford ran four races in June and Narducci had finishes of first, second and third. Narducci had another second-place run, but he was disqualified from that finish for an infraction in post-race technical inspection.
10. Kyle Soper (Previous Rank: Unranked) Soper, driving for former NASCAR National Modified Champion Wayne Anderson is a multi-time NASCAR Modified division champion at Long Island’s Riverhead Raceway, but this month he pulled off the most powerful feat of any weekly competitor at Riverhead in a very long time. Soper passed Justin Bonsignore to win the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Riverhead, the first time a weekly competitor had scored a NWMT win at Riverhead in 27 years. Eddie Brunnhoelzl Jr. was the last driver to beat the NASCAR invaders in 1995 before Soper pulled it off.
The Thompson Speedway was supposed tocome alive on Wednesday, July 13. The second of three Wednesday night Outlaw Modified events was cancelled due to a tire shortage.
