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10/6/2009
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STAFFORD
MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
Carquest Fall Final 150
by
Polly Reid |
And then there were two.
26 points separate first and second place as the race for the title
comes down to essentially two competitors, Donny Lia and Ryan Preece. In two
weeks at the season finale at Thompson, it will be the Bob Garbarino Mystic
Missile team or the Jan Boehler Davidson Co/Reynold’s Auto Wrecking team
claiming the coveted crown.
Coming to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Carquest Fall Final 150
at Stafford Motor Speedway, it was a four - way battle that included Ted
Christopher and Todd Szegedy. But when the checkers fell, it was Lia of
Jericho, NY who made his move taking the lead for the final time on lap 115,
held off a hard charging Doug Coby in the closing circuits to claim the win,
Lia emerging the new points leader.
Meanwhile, Preece of Berlin, CT taking the green deep in the field
starting 20th, stayed out of trouble to cross the line a strong third, his
finish stout enough to keep him within an arms length of his first
championship.
Christopher and Szegedy encountered bad luck, Christopher’s day ending
behind the wall after an early race incident resulting in heavy damage and a
31st place finish while trouble found Szegedy later in the feature. Szegedy
was able to finish, but took a big hit in points when he crossed the line
20th. Both remain mathematically in the mix but Christopher trails the
leader by 109 points, Szegedy 113.
“I just want this deal to be over,” said Lia. “Like in ‘07 we won
the championship, I think we had some better luck than this year. This year,
we’ve had moments of bad luck and we’ve been able to overcome them, make up
for it and be here now at the end, leading the points. We have a shot at
winning the championship. That’s just all the hard work these guys have put
into this deal, it’s unreal.”
“My team has worked so hard to get me in the position to where I am
now,” said Preece about closing in on a championship title. “My crew is
behind me 100 percent, they want me to win that race, they don’t want me to
finish fifth if say he’s (Lia) is running 11th. They want me to get that
win, bring that trophy home. Every race you want to get every dollar you can
and first pays the most. It’s all luck right now. Racing is 100 percent
luck. I know I want to win that championship, but I’m not going to lay over
and not have something go my way, I’m going to make it happen.”
“I’m real happy that the 3 car is where they are and that we’re
both going for the championship,” said Lia. “He’s a good kid, he’s got a
great future ahead of him, what is he 18? He could come out of Thompson
winning a championship. Hopefully we can hang on and win it but if they do,
that’s pretty cool. The 3 car and the 4 car as far as the Modified Tour
history goes, they’ve been around forever, so for me, whether I was driving
the car or not, I think it’s pretty cool these two cars are going for it.”
Knocking on the door of Lia in the closing circuits, Doug Coby of
Milford, CT brought his Major Motion Trans./Family Auto Chevrolet across the
line for 2nd. “I’m really happy for my car owners George and Lisa (Bierce,
Jr.) We’re just a part time team here and we did good today. We’ve got a
bunch of new guys and I really want to thank them, Kevin, Jimbo, JR all
those guys, Scottie, Kevin and I want to thank my other guys who are usually
here but not today, Rickie, Rusty, Bubba, Weskee, Kurt, Jeff - it’s a great
feeling to be here. We had a great car at the end, it was a great race for
us today.” Coby was able to recruit the sudden idle Kevin Crowley to crew
chief the 19, other members of the 09 joining for the event.
Coby had one more shot at the checkered flag when the feature came down to a
green, white, checkered finish. “I got hand it to the 19,” said Lia. “Those
guys run a part time deal there, they did a good job, they were right there,
congratulations to him.”
“It was just a great race today, the guys did an awesome job with
the car and I didn’t want to throw it away at the end for them,” said Lia
about the extended finish. “I hung in there, got what we could, ran a smart
race.” Summing up about being the new points leader Lia added, “That’s what
we’re going for. Wins are going to get that job done right now. We’re going
to Thompson, do the best we can and hopefully win another race. Keep doing
what we’re doing and move forward.” His 15th career win, the NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour Carquest Fall Final was Lia’s third win at Stafford Motor
Speedway.
The script for the 2009 season goes to final print October 17th and
18th at Thompson International Speedway where the champion will be crowned.
Like this last weekend at Stafford, you just never know what or how it’s
going to happen until the checker flag waves. But we all know, that’s
racing.
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Source: Polly Reid
/ TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: October
6, 2009 |
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