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9/22/2010 |
JUSTIN
BONSIGNORE AND RICHIE PALLAI, JR. DUELING FOR
WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR HONORS |
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With
a tight race for the championship on the Whelen Modified Tour this
season, there is another tight battle brewing between Justin
Bonsignore and Richie Pallai, Jr. for Sunoco Rookie of the Year
honors. Bonsignore comes to Stafford leading Pallai 116-112 in the
Rookie of the Year standings, having won 8 Rookie of the Race Awards
to Pallai’s four this season. Bonsignore is currently 11th in the
Whelen Modified Tour Standings, while Pallai is 13th in the
standings, only 46 points behind Bonsignore.
“At the start of the season, I would say that we exceeded our
goals,” said Bonsignore. “At the start of the season, we had a new
car, a new team, and a new driver. As we got some good finishes, we
adjusted our goals midway through the year. Lately we’ve had some
hard luck getting finishes, so we’re hoping to get some good
finishes in the last couple of races this year. We really weren’t
concerned with winning the Rookie of the Year, but we’ve had good
runs this year and now that it is something that we want to win.
It’s a great honor and something that we can use to build on for
next season.”
While Bonsignore is looking at winning the rookie title this season,
Pallai and his team have a different outlook on the rookie duel.
“We’ve been watching the rookie points, but we’re more concerned
about the overall points standings and staying in the top-15, and
getting a win” said Pallai. “We’re 13th right now, and if you’re in
the top-15, you get two free tires every week, which is a huge
financial help to us. For us it’s not about beating another rookie
driver, but it’s about beating 33 other drivers on the track, we
want to win a race. Our season has been up and down, we had a great
first 5 races but then we’ve broken a driveshaft, broken a shifter,
and we’ve got caught up in some wrecks. We’ve run really well
everywhere we’ve been, we just haven’t had a lot of luck.”
For Pallai and the #39 Bosch Spark Plugs team, they are coming off a
top-10 finish in New Hampshire and Pallai is returning to Stafford,
a track where he has raced weekly for the past three seasons in the
SK Modified® and SK Light Modified divisions.
“We were fast right off the truck in Loudon and that was really a
finish that we needed,” said Pallai. “Once the race started, it
seemed like we were picking guys off one by one. The race was a lot
of fun and we turned a lot of heads with our finish. Stafford is our
home track and any time you can go back to your home track is nice.
This Stafford race won’t be an impound race, so we can throw the
kitchen sink at the car for qualifying and go for the pole without
worrying about having a race setup in the car. We know what we need
for the race and we have qualified well for every Stafford race so
far, which we will need to do again because track position is going
to be important. Last time out at Stafford I think we had the best
car that we’ve had all year long and we’re looking for a top-5
finish or even winning before the season is over.”
For Bonsignore and the #51 M3 Technology team, they are also looking
for a strong finish at Stafford to get their team back on track. “We
wrecked at Loudon last week and we fell out of the top-10 in
points,” said Bonsignore. “Our goal is to get back into the top-10
and build our notebook for next season. We’ve run well at Stafford
this season, but we struggled a little bit the last time we were
there. We’re getting stronger as a team and I think that as long as
we can have a good qualifying run and keep the car up towards the
front, we can be contenders for the win.”
Race fans can meet and greet with Bonsignore and Pallai, as well as
the rest of the Whelen Modified Tour competitors and Stafford’s
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series drivers, at the CARQUEST Belts and
Hose Pit Party on Sunday, starting at 11am.
The Whelen Modified Tour cars hit the track for the first time
during CARQUEST Fall Final weekend on Saturday October 2nd with a
practice session from 11:00am-12:30pm. Time trials to set the field
will begin at 2:15pm on Saturday and the 150-lap race will take the
green flag at approximately 3:15pm on Sunday.
Tickets for the 38th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are now on
sale at the Stafford Motor Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced
at $35.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children
ages 6-14, $38.00 for reserved seats, and free for children ages 5 &
under. Tickets are good for admission to the Saturday, October 2nd,
and Sunday, October 3rd portions of the Fall Final. As always,
Stafford Motor Speedway offers plenty of free parking with overnight
weekend parking available
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For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track
office at 860-684-2783 or visit us us on the web at
www.staffordspeedway.com. |
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Source: Scott Running / Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted: September
22, 2010 |
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