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9/4/2009
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THOMPSON
INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY: BUDWEISER 150
by
Polly Reid |
He made it look easy. Set fast time, redraw ninth on the grid, get the lead
for the final time with ten to go and win the race. But oh my, my, my, it
was so not easy.
“I’m glad to be here in victory lane, we’re having a good time,”
said Donny Lia following his determined win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour Budweiser 150 presented by the New England Dodge Dealers at Thompson
International Speedway. That may have been an understatement from the
Jericho, NY driver whose night nearly ended after a heated side by side
battle with Ted Christopher just after the 100 lap mark that found Lia up
against the turn 2 wall bringing out the 6th caution of the night.
Rewind to the restart on lap 98. Lia leading the way to the green
with Eric Berndt on the outside, it was Ted Christopher third, Rowan Pennink
and Todd Szegedy the top five.
Christopher moved low for second, Szegedy followed moving into top
three, Lia, Christopher and Szegedy pulled from the pack. Coming down the
backstretch, Christopher again low, pulled up side by side with Lia,
Christopher becoming the need leader on lap 104. Lia battled back, the two
once again side by side, with Lia on the outside when coming down the front
stretch heading into one, contact slid Lia up towards the turn two outside
wall. It didn’t look good but Lia, after doing a self assessment, noting
that it was the front bumper that kissed the wall, he drove away and
eventually lined up in the back of the field.
“I knew we were OK. I knew I didn’t hit a wheel on the wall or
anything like that so I figured we’d be alright,” said Lia about his
decision not to pit. “And I didn’t want to give up anymore track position
than I had to. There were still a couple of cars behind us.”
“I don’t blame him totally,” said Lia about the contact with Christopher who
admitted he ‘may have’ pinched the corner. “It was just hard racing. I was
on a mission, seeing red.”
“He turned down on me,” stated Christopher afterwards in matter of
fact manner who added smiling, “There was a good race going on there.”
There were still 22 cars on the track. Lia lined up way deep in the
field. While watching Szegedy take over the lead from Christopher following
the lap 114 restart, Lia, in just 10 circuits was passing Bobby Grigas for
fifth.
It looked like that might be where Lia would stay, in fifth, as the
laps ticked down, the field stringing out. Until that is, the yellow flew
with 19 to go for a two car tangle. A tough break for Szegedy who was close
to bringing home his first win of the season, a lucky one for Lia whose Bob
Garbarino owned Mystic Missile Dodge, while stout, was not gaining enough
ground to catch and pass the top two, the caution was exactly what he
needed.
Christopher and Lia used the high groove to move past Szegedy on
the restart, the crowd was suddenly electric watching in anticipation. With
10 to go, in turn three, Lia dove low and came out of the move the new and
final leader.
“I knew we could come back,” said Lia. “We were able to get through
them it’s so hard to do that because there is so many factors out of your
control. Somebody could have wrecked in front of me, all you can do is just
go as hard as you can, I knew that we could win the race and that’s what I
was going to do.”
Christopher in the Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet on Lia’s bumper
finished second, Szegedy third.
The concern for Christopher was not Lia as he explained what his
real challenge of the day was. “We had issues all day we had some mechanical
stuff that was wrong on our car to start with earlier, then some other stuff
then the thing caught on fire, the fan switch caught on fire. During the
caution, we came in and pitted I was fine so when I’m leaving, I leave my
fans off and let them cool, so we were leaving and I turned my fan on and
(Christopher with hands animated and waving) poof ! Smoke is billowing so I
turned everything off it was like holy cow. I turned on the oil fan and that
one didn’t cause any fire so I’m not on the radiator fan I’m on the oil fan.
So now we take off and go and I’m on the backstretch and the MSD shuts off.
I flipped to the other MSD and that was good. Then when the red came out I
was like I hope this thing starts again. It did, it was alright,”
Christopher adding, “Second sucks for us but we’ll be ready for Loudon and
the rest of the races.”
Clearly under the weather, Szegedy was smooth and steady as he worked his
Wisk/Snuggle Ford to the front from his 14th starting position. However the
Ridgefield, CT driver did not need that final caution that closed the field.
“I didn’t expect to get that far up. Obviously I want to go and win
every time but I dealt with the circumstances I had. I didn’t have the best
car but I thought I had a top three car and definitely a top five. Once I
got in the lead I was surprised how I could hold him (Christopher) off. I
had good forward coming off but those guys were a little bit better in the
center. I could hold them off but on the last restart, I was on the inside,
I was tinging off of Teddy’s nerf bar, I had that wheel cranked all the way
to the left, there was nothing I could do here, so I stepped on the throttle
and hoped that I can get in behind Teddy and that’s what I did.”
“We’re real happy, we’re running good every week, the guys are
working hard,” said Szegedy about his Mike Smeriglio Racing crew. “I was
down under the weather today, I drank a Red Bull and it helped. We’re
nipping on it; we just can’t quite finish it off. We’re going to get it here
at some point. Top 5’s matter the unfortunate thing is the guy we need to
finish in front of finished in front of us. We’ll get it, we’re there every
week.”
Szegedy was asked what it was like to be right behind Christopher
and Lia, referring to their recent history. “Don my spotter says watch out,
those two have been feuding the last couple of weeks and don’t get caught up
in there mess and I almost did. I kind of expected it to happen and luckily
I got out of the way. But you want to know something? They’re driving their
heart out, every lap. To make passes, the cars are so equal you have to bang
nerf bars. I don’t blame them for driving as hard as they do. If I knew I
could go forward I’d probably drive just as hard too.”
Four races remain on the 2009 schedule as everyone continues to
chase Christopher for the title. Ryan Preece lost a spot falling to fourth
overall after a power steering pump issue dropped him to an 18th place
finish. The top five, Christopher, Szegedy, Lia, Preece and Pennink cannot
afford a ‘bad’ finish, not unless they all have one. Each lap counts.
Quote of the week from Ted Christopher. “To win the championship,
sometimes you have to finish second.”
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Source: Polly Reid
/ TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: September
4, 2009 |
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