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8/20/2009
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BRISTOL
MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
UNOH PERFECT STORM 150
by
Polly Reid |
Donnie Lia from Jericho, NY rallied to pass Ted Christopher for the lead
with 7 laps remaining, pulling away from the field in the closing circuits
to claim the inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour UNOH Perfect Storm at
Bristol Motor Speedway.
“We had a great car all day long, I can’t thank my guys enough,“
said Lia about his Bob Garbarino owned Mystic Missile. “For me, it was a
matter of not making any mistakes because we had such a great race car. I
didn’t want to give it away which I almost managed to do. But we were able
to get back around Teddy and get the win. Awesome day, couldn’t be any
happier. I really have to thank everyone here at the racetrack, everyone
involved with putting this on for us. I just hope we put on a good show for
everybody.”
It could have been the one that got away for Donnie Lia who
recovered from a restart penalty. After jumping the final restart with about
a dozen laps to go, Lia dropped back to second. Lia was not to be denied and
stormed back, passing Christopher and pulled away from the pack crossing the
finish line for the checkers with a 3.126 second lead over Christopher.
“I jumped the restart there so it got me more amped up to get back around
because it would have been pretty bad to give away a race like that. My guys
work too hard, Bob Garbarino puts too much into this, they give me
everything we need to go out and run good. I make mistakes, I’ll be the
first to admit it so this was kind of a redemption. Hopefully we can
continue, move forward and win some more races.”
“I won a Truck race last year and that was probably the biggest for
me but this means more to me. The first race at Bristol for the modifieds
and we had so many people watching, so many eyes on us that I hope it was a
good race and I’m happy that we won, that was just the icing on the cake
right there. Again, I have to thank the track and the University of
Northwestern Ohio and Whelen Engineering, it is a great Series to race in.”
Christopher dominated the first half, untouchable in the first 75
laps but when the checkers flew, Christopher crossed for second. Reporting
being a little loose when coming in for the mandatory 10 minute pit stop,
after new tires and adjustments, Christopher led the field back to green.
“We closed up stagger like we wanted to do” Christopher said about his
Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet, “but I never would have thought we would
have gotten that tight up off. I thought I was going to knock the wall
down.”
Christopher hoped it was a good show for the fans. “I thought it was going
to be ugly in the beginning because they had that first wreck like on lap 2
and I was like this is going to take forever and ever but then it went long
to the half way. I thought it was pretty good. I don’t think this was bad at
all and I think it could be even better again. Unfortunately it turned out
to be a good race where I got passed, but hey, what are you going to do? It
was a good points day. I hope they invite us back.”
After back to back wins, Ryan Preece finds himself back on the
podium taking down a strong third. “Fun, Superman ride,” said Preece about
running at Bristol. “If it was a 155 lap race we might have been able to get
Teddy but getting third, it’s a lot better than I thought. I was trying to
survive Bristol like everyone said and we did survive, a good points day. My
car, even in practice we were better on the long the run.” During the break,
the crew made some adjustments. “We put a round of wedge in it, tightened up
the car a little bit. My crew they do an awesome job on making the right
adjustments every week and the motor we have, Performance Technology that
Reynolds Auto Wrecking gave us was great, I have to thank them and everybody
who helps support us.” I want to come back now. I wasn’t going to say
anything until after the race. Now, I want to come back.”
“It was a real good run for us,” said George Brunnhoelzl, III who
finished fourth. “Fortunately we started from the outside front row. We
struggled a little bit on the restarts, our car took a couple of laps to
come in but once it came in I could run with just about anybody. The guys
worked real hard on the car, we had a lot of practice, made a lot of
changes. It was good race car, it was fun, it’s always fun to run at
Bristol, it was a pretty good race other than some of the lap traffic, but
for the most part it went very smoothly. It was a good show for the fans and
hopefully they’ll have us back next year.”
Sponsored by UNOH, Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT was the biggest
threat to Christopher in the first segment with his UNOH, Wisk/Snuggle Ford,
the pair running nose to tail through the long green run. “I expected a good
clean race. I didn’t expect to be able to maneuver as good as we were able
to, that was the unknown.“
Szegedy said a cylinder dropped at about the half way mark, but
knew shortly after the opening circuits, the motor was ‘lazy’.
“Our car was awesome, we just lost the motor. It’s amazing we lost
the motor and still finished sixth.”
When running side by side with Christopher, Szegedy said, “I would
have went right around him on the outside, I went in wide open and never
lifted going on the outside and I shoved the nose that was just enough for
him to get up around me again. But we were suffering before that. We were
hurting on restarts, the motor was slowly starting to go. I can’t believe it
didn’t blow up.” Szegedy continued, “I’m happy with a top ten, disappointed
we haven’t had a win yet. We need to get some wins.”
“First time coming here, we just wanted to come out with a good
finish,” said Erick Rudolph who started the day 21st and ended with a 10th
place. “I’m real happy with it, real proud of the guys, they deserve this as
much as anyone they worked hard. Rudolph, from Ransomville, NY in the
Original Pizza Logs/Prime Tyme Chevrolet like many others, hopes the
modifieds return to Bristol.
What you didn’t see on TV;
Mike Stefanik in the Diversified Metals/Sanderson-MacLeon Pontiac
started 19th and methodically worked his way through the field up to fifth
by lap 115. One of the fastest cars in the early practice session, Stefanik
without a doubt was on track to make a run for the leaders when his motor
blew, his ride done for the night. The disappointment was more than evident
from Stefanik when he climbed out of the car, once again robbed of a top
finish by something not in his control.
Watching from the stands, 9 time NWMT winner Tim Connolly was on
hand to see the NASCAR Whelen Modifieds take to the high banks of Bristol
for the first time. Connolly admits to getting the itch to get behind the
wheel again. While no news to report at this time, stay tuned on that one.
News and
notes can reach me at
reidp50@yahoo.com.
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Source: Polly Reid
/ TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: August
20, 2009 |
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