RPW Exclusive: The Champ Trail: Monaco Modifieds, NASCAR Modifieds, Modifieds Everywhere
Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – The Monaco Tri-Track visited the Seekonk Speedway last Wednesday, June 25 with 31 cars strong. Matt Hirschman took the lead on lap five after starting third and led the way to victory in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Midweek Madness 125 lapper in 95 degree heat.
Jon McKennedy finished second and George Bessette Jr. was third. Joey Cipriano was fourth with Charlie Pasteryak, fifth. Sixth thru tenth included Jacob Perry, Ron Williams, Chase Dowling, David Arute and Tyler Hines. The first yellow was displayed on lap 8 when Austin Beers made contact with the wall in turn three.
Eric Berndt was the culprit and was penalized. On the restart Hirschman re-took the lead while Craig Lutz took over the second spot. The second caution was displayed on lap 16 when Kevin Folan spun. On the restart Hirschman again took control. Caution was back out for the spinning car of Kevin Folan on lap 16.
Hirschman controlled at the front again on the lap 16 restart. On lap 31, with Hirschman checked out at the front, Bessette got under Lutz to move into second. Yellow fever continued on lap 42 when Mikey Flynn spun
The restart seened to take forever which allowed Matt Swanson, Stephen Kopcik and Woody Pitkat to pit. When the green flag finally dropped Hirschman was firmly out front. Bessett was second with Ron Williams, third. By lap 58, with Hirschman and Bessette building a good lead, McKennedy made a gut move under Williams to move into third.
Hirschman had built up nearly a two second lead by the 87th lap which allowed McKennedy to take over second place. The yellow was displayed again as Kevin Folan spun. A wholesale shake-up of the running order occurred as Bessette,Williams, Lutz and Pasteryak pitted. Berndt, who had been put to the rear, moved into third, Kopcik moved into fourthand Swanson to fifth for the restart. Hirschman continued to lead. On lap 106 Kopcik went up top to grab second from McKennedy.
Yellow fever again prevailed as Eric Berndt spun on lap 122 in the second turn. On the lap 122 restart, Hirschman and Kopcik went wheel to wheel then yellow fever again when Craig Lutz appeared to have dumped Matt Swanson in turn four. Lutz was sent to the rear. While the field was under caution Kopcik developed a deflated let rear tire which moved McKennedy to the second spot., Joey Cipriano to third and Jacob Perry to fourth. With three to go Hirschman cruised to a convincing win. Sixteen cars finished on the lead lap.
Last Friday night at Stafford saw ideal racing weather for the evening’s program and fireworks display. Stafford Speedway’s Street Stock division took center stage on Friday, June 27 with their lone extra distance feature event of the 2025 season, the Midstate Site Development 30. PJ Evans was the big winner of the night, scoring his first career Stafford Speedway feature victory in the biggest Street Stock event of the season, the MSD 30.
Evans became the 701st different feature winner in Stafford history just after Dean Lambros notched his first career Stafford feature victory in the SK Light feature and became the 700th different winner. Other feature winners on the night were Michael Christopher, Jr., who drove to his third consecutive SK Modified® feature win of the season, Kevin Gambacorta in the Late Model feature, and Devon Jencik in the Limited Late Model feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Steven Chapman took the early lead at the drop of the green flag with Tyler Chapman and Dylan Izzo going wheel to wheel for second. Tyler Chapman took second on lap-2 witih Izzo slotting into third. The caution came out with 2 laps complete as David Flammia, Jr. got into the frontstretch wall and Wade Gagner spun in turn 1. Tyler Chapman took the lead on the restart with Steven Chapman in second.
Izzo was third behind the Chapman brothers with David Arute fourth and Cory DiMatteo fifth. Troy Talman went by DiMatteo on lap-7 to move into fifth place behind Arute as the two Chapmans and Izzo continued to occupy the top-3 positions.
Michael Christopher, Jr., who started 10th worked his way around Talman to move into fifth place on lap-10 just before the caution came back out with 11 laps complete for Wesley Prucker, who spun coming out of turn 4.Tyler and Steven Chapman resumed their places at the front of the field back under green with Izzo third. Christopher was now up to fourth with Arute holding down fifth place.
Just behind Arute was Marcello Rufrano, Talman, Mikey Flynn, Keith Rocco, and Jon Puleo.
Rufrano took fifth from Arute on lap-17 while Christopher got around Izzo to move into third place behind the Chapman brothers with Tyler still leading Steven. Christopher worked his way around Steven Chapman for second and he made his move for the lead on lap-24 to take the lead from Tyler Chapman. The order with 25 laps complete was now Christopher, Tyler Chapman, Steven Chapman, Rufrano, and Arute. With 5 laps to go, Christopher was still in the lead with Rufrano now up to second. Tyler Chapman was third with Steven Chapman fourth and Arute fifth. Christopher led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his third consecutive win of the 2025 season. Rufrano, whos’parents were in Italy on vacation, finished second with Tyler Chapman, Steven Chapman, and Arute rounding out the top-5. sixth thru tenth included Keith Rocco, Troy Talman, Dylan Izzo, Mikey Flynn and Jon Puleo,
In the 30 lap Street Stock event, PJ Evans took down his first career feature victory at Stafford. Travis Downey finished second with Brentt Gleason, Bert Ouellette, and Kolton Gambacorta rounding out the top-5. Dean Lambros took the lead from Amanda West on lap-12 and West now had to contend with Nicholas Hovey, who was looking high and low for a way around to make it four in a row. Megan Fuller was fourth with Robert Bloxsom fifth. Hovey was able to make the pass on lap-18 but he wasn’t able to get close enough to Lambros who scored his first career feature win at Stafford and in the process became the 700th different feature winner in Stafford’s long and storied history. Hovey finished second with West, Bloxsom, and Sami Anderson rounding out the top-5.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series visited the White Mountain Motorsports Park Speedway event on Sunday.. Kyle Bonsignore dominated on the way to victory in the NASCAR Modified Thunder In The Mountains 200…Bonsignore, of Bay Shore, N.Y., became the sixth different winner in six NASCAR Modified Tour in New Hampshire last Sunday. A somewhat short field of 19 cars were on hand for the 200 lap event.
Bonsignore started on the outside of pole sitter Jake Johnson who led the first 30 laps before taking the lead from Jake Johnson. Bonsignore led from lap 31 to lap 180 when he pited for tires. Trevor Catalano assumed the lead for seven laps before Bonsignore took the lead for the final run to the checker. Stephen Kopcik came from a tenth starting spot to finish second.Johnson finished third. Rounding out the top five were Matt Hirschman and Austin Beers. Sixth thru tenth were Craig Lutz, Luke Baldwin, Trevor Catalano, Jon McKennedy and Justin Bonsignore.
Next stop for the Modified Tour is at the Lancaster Motorplex on July 19.
NASCAR is scratching their heads wondering where the cars are after only 19 cars turned out at White Mountain last week. First of all the drivers and car owners are getting older. Human nature dictates that as we get older our get up and go has got up and went. Most want to stay close to home and enjoy some of the family life they missed when they were younger. The younger crowd does not have the interest that many of us once had when we were younger.Many of today’s Modified owners and drivers are content to race close to home and like to sleep in their own beds at night. It is what it is!
There were big doings on Long Island last weekend. The last weekend of June 2025 will forever standout as a special one for Chase Grennan of Glen Cove as just hours after graduation high school, Chase went on to score a clean sweep of the “Flying Dutchman” 75 NASCAR Modified event Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway. The 2024 Islip 300 winner set fast time in qualifying and promptly led all 75-laps of the race celebrating the late Fred Harbach and 75th Anniversary of Riverhead Raceway
Jay Sundeen has raced at the Thompson Speedway for close to 30 years and is moving his racing over to the Stafford Motor Speedway. The following thoughts are his but reflect those who have raced at Thompson for years.
“I’m excited to announce that we will be converting our car over to a Limited Late Model for Stafford Motor Speedway. We are leaving Thompson Speedway in the rearview and racing off into the sunset. I love the track. My family has been going there faithfully since I was 5 years old to watch my dad race. At 16 I started racing and have been there fairly regularly for the last 20 years. However, I knew once Don stepped down and the road course went in then it would be an uphill battle for us circle track guys and only a matter of time before shit really hit the fan. I had a glimmer of hope when the PASS and ACT guys took over because of the apparent success of those divisions. However, they have just continued to disappoint.
Inconsistency, carelessness, and lack of respect towards the true supporters of the track have pushed a lot of people away and now we are next on that long list. You never know what you’re going to get from year to year or even race to race anymore. Then they wonder why there is single digit car counts. Dumping the outlaw mods then bringing them back when they feel like it. Dumping the SKs then bringing in the 604s. Threatening to dump the mini stocks. And then there’s us street stocks. Just a few years ago car counts were 15-20 cars. However, several rule changes later they drove everyone away and start crying about car count. We kept going as long as we could still be competitive, but swapping to open rules a week before this last race was the final straw. That gave us less than 7 days to try to scramble and find nearly a second of lap time. We did a few small things to try to be somewhat competitive and gave it a shot. We tried to put some offset wheels on and took out some weight, but we were still over a half second off the pace of the open “street stocks.” So for the first time in my career I decided to willingly load it up and head home after practice. I enjoyed my night with my 2 little girls instead of banging my head against the wall and wrecking my car for 10th place in a circus act. I’d rather keep in one piece to get it ready for Stafford. There’s no hope at Thompson without spending some serious money in addition to the money wasted previously on rule changes they have already made over the last handful of seasons.
I have a 20 year old full framed car. No tube chassis. Not even a Johnson front clip. Still have a 7.5in rear with drums. Stock 602 crate motor. She’s a dinosaur, but at least we had a chance with the Thompson street stocks. Yes car count started to suck, but the track was the only one to blame for that. And now with the current rules, there’s no point. I refuse to sink anymore money into this ever changing shit show. I’m racing to win and this track doesn’t deserve my support, loyalty, and dedication anymore. With that being said, we will invest our time, money, and effort at Stafford where at least they have a stable schedule and rulebook. It’ll only be part-time, but you should see us at Stafford with a limited late model before the end of the summer.
Lastly, a huge thank you to Don Hoenig for providing us with an amazing place to race for many years. Thompson will always be my home track. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. On to the next chapter
P/S after almost 30 years at Thompson, my father will also be heading to Stafford part-time in a street stock!”
Coastal 181, Reading For Racers has released their 2024-2025 Catalog of great books. Among the newer titles is “Lazzaro, the man and his machine”. Lou Lazzaro became one of the Northeast’ most revered drivers of all time. He was equally as good on dirt as he was on asphalt. For many years he raced and won, sometimes three to five times a week at his home tracks, the Albany Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY, Fonda Speedway in Fonda, NY and at the Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York. Lazzaro was a regular track representative for the All Star League that raced on dirt and asphalt tracks during the late 60’s. The most remarkable thing was that he did it all with the same car. One of his biggest fans believe it or not was Richie Evans. Other great reading in the Coastal 181 catalog include “Ray Everham-Trophies and Scars”, “Bugsy”, “Richie”, “Eddie Flemke” and “The Soul of a Modified” Lenny Boehlers Ole Blue. Call Coastal181 at 877-907-8181.
The all new book, The Modified Years At Stafford, by the Grace of God and 600 hp, is gaining interest and has become a must have in race fans and competitors library. Race by Race, Year by Year, it’s all there. Read all about it! Books are now available on Amazon.com and Coastal 181 (877-907-8181 toll free) and are available thru Stafford’s web site in their store. Order yours now. Makes a great gift!
With the cooperation of the Arute family another book has been published with pictures and biographies of the 50 Greatest Drivers at Stafford.
The Stafford Motor Speedway had become the epicenter of NASCAR Modified racing in the northeast by the late 1980’s. From its dirt beginnings to its lightning-fast asphalt, Stafford had become the toughest and most gratifying track to score a victory. The Arute family which has owned and guided the destiny of the facility commissioned their thousands of loyal fans to name their favorite drivers. In alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone:
Tom Baldwin, Gene Bergin, Brett Bodine, Geoff Bodine, Ken Bouchard, Ron Bouchard, Mario “Fats” Caruso, Rene Charland, Ted Christopher, Leo Cleary, Tim Connolly, Jerry Cook, Corky Cookman, Pete Corey, Fred DeSarro, Richie Evans, Mike Ewanitsko, Ed Flemke, Sr., Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller, Ernie Gahan, Bill Greco, Bo Gunning, Ray Hendrick, George “Moose” Hewitt, Tony Hirschman, George Janoski, Charlie Jarzombek, George Kent, Buddy Krebs, Randy LaJoie, Jan Leaty, Jerry Marquis, Mike McLaughlin, Ray Miller, Steve Park, Bob Polverari, Bob Potter, Brian Ross, John “Reggie” Ruggiero, Greg Sacks, Ollie Silva, “Wild” Bill Slater, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Stefanik, Carl “Bugsy” Stevens, George Summers, Jamie “The Jet” Tomaino, Maynard Troyer and Satch Worley.
Books are priced at $17.95 each and be purchased at the track at the Novelty Booth or at the Stafford Motor Speedway on line store. Books are also available at Amazon.com and at Coastal181 (877-907-8181).
