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6/26/2010 |
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NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW ENGLAND 100
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Polly Reid |
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up and shout, it’s expected at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when the
modifieds make their trip to the Magic Mile. Expectations were met
as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour had the fans on their feet for a
blistering finish as Teddy Christopher and Ryan Newman battled it
out in the closing circuits, swapping the lead so many times that if
you took the time to write it down you would miss the next lead
change.
Down to the last lap, with two turns left to the checkers, it was
the famed number 7 modified with NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ryan
Newman behind the wheel taking the New England 100 over Ted
Christopher with Ryan Preece third and Ron Silk fifth.
“It was a good one,” admitted Newman who set fast time on Thursday
in qualifying earning the Coors Light Pole Award. “Any chance you
can race Bobby Santos and Teddy Christopher and the other guys there
at the end for the win in a modified race you’re doing something,
I’ve got to thank Aggressive Hydraulics and Menards for sponsoring
the race car to come up here. Bono (car owner Kevin Manion) and the
guys did a great job on the car. The back and forth like we did at
the end that’s what fans love to see and I have to thank Teddy for
racing me clean there at the end.”
It was definitely interesting,” said Christopher about the final ten
laps in his Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet. “We fell back there then
my car started working better, we had some good laps there, side by
side, swapping the lead back and forth.” Christopher started his day
8th, admitting they struggled in the practice sessions. “I was real
happy with the car because I thought it drove horrible on Thursday
and horrible this morning. I commend my crew for making a lot of
changes to it and it was just where I wanted to have it for today’s
race.”
Ryan Preece equaled his best finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
bringing his Cape Cod Cooper/Mizzy Construction Chevrolet across the
line for third. “I wish we had 10 more laps maybe Bobby and I could
have caught up to Teddy and Ryan. It was a good day or us. Hopefully
it will be the start of a string of top five’s for us and some wins
this season,” said Preece who started the day 12th.
I’m happy to finish the race with a top three. I keep trying to move
up,” Preece said laughing referring to his finish. “I think if we
had a caution I think we would have been in the front.”
While
the field settled into a stints of serious green runs, seven
cautions kept the field close. Two top five drivers in points who
are also previous NHMS winners found unwanted trouble that was not
their doing. An early yellow took Mike Stefanik out of contention
when a car unexpectedly spun leaving Stefanik no where to go. With
front and right front damage, Stefanik’s Diversified Metals, R.B.
Enterprises Pontiac went behind the wall for repairs.
Able to make
it back out, Stefanik, finished 27th, the day dipping the Coventry,
R.I. driver to fourth in points. Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT
turned a tough day into a slightly better one than Stefanik when he
suffered left rear damage after being run over from behind the
Wisk/Snuggle/UNOH Ford needing a couple of unplanned pit stops.
Szegedy however was able to continue and salvaged a 15th place
finish, good enough to move up one spot in the standings to 3rd in
points.
However, when talking points, Santos is still the rabbit the
division is chasing with a 129 point lead over Christopher. Newman
got his own view of the Mystic Missile rear bumper today chasing
Santos. “Bobby Santos is a heck of a race car driver, he’s real
smooth, real aggressive and pretty mild mannered from what I’ve
seen,” said Newman. “He’s a pavement specialist I guess you could
say kind of like when I grew up racing USAC midgets, he’s built
quite a resume for himself. He’s a good race car driver, it was fun
racing with him.”
Hats off to 8th place finisher Doug Coby who contended, led and kept
the Cliff Nelson Chevrolet in the hunt for a podium finish for more
than three quarters of the event. Coby may have been overtaken by Ed
Flemke, Jr. and James Civali in the closing circuits, but a great
effort none the less for a driver who has pieced together a patch
work season for rides.
A quick turn around for the teams, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
heads to Lime Rock, CT Saturday July 3rd for some road racing. And
for the Newman fans, look for the 7 to make two more shows this
year, Bristol and then back to New Hampshire in the fall. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: June
26, 2010 |
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