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8/23/2009
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CHRIS PASTERYAK
BEATS THE WEATHER FOR SEEKONK WIN
Only Thunder Was On The Track With
The Modifieds At Seekonk Speedway
by
Denise DuPont |
It is another month and another win at Seekonk Speedway for Chris Pasteryak,
this time driving the Pasteryak family’s #15 modified. It has only been a
little over a month since the young driver won the fifth annual Seekonk Open
Wheel Wednesday Modified Madness event which netted the Darling #52 race
team a $10,000 purse. This TVMRS win will move Pasteryak, the 2008 series
champion, up into the top five in series points.
“Seekonk is fun,” said Chris Pasteryak after Victory Lane
ceremonies. “I love this place. It is nice to be back racing at a track on
Saturday night and just having fun racing. We finally had another good run
with my car.” The #15 car has been plagued with issues and an inconsistent
car all year long. “I think that we finally got it sorted out. We will see
how it is a Thompson, but I think that we are on to something with it
though. It was a good night. It was nice.”
On lap 45, Pasteryak inherited the lead after his uncle, Carl
Pasteryak, spun while leading the front of the pack into turn one. Once he
had the lead, Pasteryak had to hold off several hard charging moves from
veteran driver Les Hinckley. Hinckley tried the outside groove while
Pasteryak protected the bottom of the track but he just could not make the
move stick long enough for a pass. “Les was much better than I was on the
long runs. I guarantee that if that last caution had not happen than he
probably would have got me with ten to go. I was better that he was on the
re-starts so it was about fifty-fifty. The race played into my hands with
the short runs and sometimes you have got to be lucky too.”
Les Hinckley who has had his unfair share of bad luck this year
came to Seekonk to try to repeat what he did in 2007 and win the summer time
TVMRS race. But in the end he came up one spot short of a win. “It was good
racing. It was fun racing with the leaders again. It has been over due. We
have been struggling to run up front again.”
Hinckley took the pristinely prepared #06 car to the front fast as
he charged forward for the win. For several laps he tried the outside of the
track to get around Pasteryak but he always seemed one lap short. On the
last lap he gave it his all and doing it almost lost control of the car on
the last lap. “I hung the car out there wide getting in and trying to cross
over Chris and Rowan saw and opening there and he (Rowan Pennink) stuck it
in there.”
When Pennink brought his car down to make the move for the second
spot at the end of the race, Hinckley got squirrelly and almost spun the car
around. “I do not know how far up he was but I did not think he was very far
up. He says he was a little further up then I think that he was. I will have
to see the tape.”
As far as the potential race end incident itself, Hinckley was not
overly upset. “I do not know exactly what to say about that, but it was hard
racing and it is what it is. Rowan is a decent kid and is good racer. I am
not happy about potentially having been wrecked going for the white lap
again but I know that his intentions were not bad. It is just racing. It is
what it is.” Hinckley held on to his car in the end and made it across the
finish line a little sideways but second was his.
Rowan Pennink started the race from the back of the race qualifiers
after chalking up his first ever TVMRS win at Waterford Speedbowl last week.
“We had an awesome car to come up through the field like that after starting
at the back of the pack.”
At the end of the Seekonk event, he made a charge when he saw an
opening. “Down there (fourth turn) Hinckley was trying to pass Pasteryak and
he was not going to get him on the last lap there. I drove all the way
underneath him and got along side of him and I do not know if he just
decided to come down or if his spotter did not tell him but he came down on
me and got all sideways. He almost wrecked.”
But in the end he backed the car off as he maneuvered to prevent an
accident to the front runners. “I had to back out of it so he would not spin
out. If he had spun out they would have put me to the back no matter if it
was my fault or not. It was just racing hard I was just trying for second
there on the last lap I do not know maybe he just wanted to come down on me
there.” It was not a win but a solid podium finish for the #25 race team. “I
have to thank Gary Casella and the #25 crew and Brian for an awesome job
spotting.”
Mike Holdridge and the #0 team had a great run at Seekonk. The team
started the race in sixth and made a charge to the front settling in for a
run in third. He maintained the third spot for most of the night until Rowan
Pennink passed him to take his podium finish away from him in the last ten
laps. Holdridge’s efforts were rewarded with a fourth place finish.
Young Steve Masse came from the back of the pack and passed veteran
Dwight Javis to claim fifth spot at the end of the race. The car did not
qualify well but sure did dial in as Masse was able to move through the
field towards the front as the race progressed. “First of all I have to
thank my crew,” said Masse after the race.
The #13 car of Masse was severely damaged last week at Waterford
and the crew had to work hard to prepare it for this week’s race. “We did
not get the car back until Thursday afternoon and we worked non-stop on it
without them there was no possible way we were making it here. We had a bare
frame on Thursday and we put every hour that we had into the car. We got our
own wheels and we did the setup this morning. It paid off. We had a great
run.”
The TVMRS will head to the 5/8ths mile, high-banks of Thompson
Speedway for the “Town Fair Tire 75” event, Thursday, August 27th. Racing
action is planned to start at 6:00 PM
Race Notes From Seekonk Speedway
Chris Pasteryak
How did it feel to be back on a flat track after racing the high
banks of Bristol?
“It felt really, really flat this time”.
Next race for the #15 Pasteryak race team:
“We will be taking this car to Thompson on Thursday night and it is
in one piece which is even better”.
 Les
Hinckley
Was Les Hinckley frustrated with his second place finish?
“Chris used up a lot of the race track and as the leader that is
what he should have done. He did a good job doing exactly what he did.
Exactly what he did is exactly what I would have done. He made it difficult
for the second place guy to get to where I needed to be. He did that so
everybody wanted to know if he ran me around or did something wrong. As the
leader at that point of the race he did what he needed to do. I have done it
and it is not dirty pool it is good hard clean racing. I know if I had got a
full wheel up on him he would have given me that lane, I am confident on
that. But with the lane that he was running it made it very difficult for me
to do that. That is what is racing for the lead with ten or fifteen to go.
You have to expect that”
Les Hinckley did a good job of saving the car on last lap.
“I hung the car out there wide getting in and trying to cross over
Chris and Rowan saw and opening there and he (Pennink) stuck it in there”
Rowan Pennink
Do you feel you have made your stride in this series?
Pennink has been moving up event week and is finally making it to the front
of the pack every week.
“We definite have put some good runs in a row together. We should
have had more at the beginning of the year. We had some bad luck and we did
not end up with the finishes that we wanted to at the beginning of the year
and they are now finally starting to come.”
Steve Masse
The Masse team has been struggling since their win at ThunderRoad?
“It has been a grind and you just have to keep that feeling inside
when you get a win. And you need to know how that feeling is. It is one of
the greatest feelings to get a win. You just have to keep chugging along
just to get that feeling back. And you can get it and I know I can get it.”
Where will the Masse Team head for racing next?
“The car has been going good. We do not really change too much from
track to track. I like Thompson. We will see what Thompson can do for me.”
Jon McKennedy
Point leader, Jon McKennedy started the Seekonk race on the pole
but soon had time handling the car and running with the leaders.
“We just over adjusted for the race. All day today we were good and
for the race I made my usual adjustments and the car just never came to me.
It was way too tight. I turned the wheel left and the car just wanted to
keep going straight. At the end there we decided to come into the pit and
make some adjustment. Because we were falling pretty fast, we were way back
in tenth. We should have stayed out. We ended up coming in and the car was a
lot better but we got caught up in a wreck and we ended up twelfth and we
got a wrecked car. So we should have stayed out. There is nothing you can
do.”
Last week TVMRS Tech Officials pulled the MSD box of the #73
team? Did that effect the car if any?
“It did not affect the car at all. There were a lot of complaints
from drivers in this division. They basically thought that we had traction
control so before the heat race they said that they wanted my MSD box. And
they were going to give me an MSD box off the parts truck. I said fine. They
said they were going to send it out and get it tested. I hope that they do.
When that box comes back fine, I said that they better make sure that they
announce that at the driver’s meeting. There is certainly nothing with that
box. It is just a big waste of time, but the tech guys have to do their job.
They had to do it because everyone was complaining and I cannot wait until
it comes back. They are all going to be shocked. It is the same part as you
buy off the truck.”
Mike Douglas, Jr.
It was a tough night for young Mike Douglas, Jr. Every time he
had a good run going he spun and had to go to the rear of the pack. Did he
have assistance?
“The first time Jack put me up in the fence as plain as day. I do
not know how far up you have to be on him before he can see you.”
“The second time Dave Berghman and I talked. It was just a racing
deal.”
“There is a lot of wide area here at Seekonk . Sometimes you can
think when someone is up so high that you have more room than what you do.
It was just a racing deal and the same thing with the #76 car. We were just
both going for the same piece of real estate. There is just not enough here.
“
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Source: Denise DuPont
/ The Chrome Horn
Posted: August
23, 2009 |
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