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10/4/2010 |
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STAFFORD'S
CARQUEST FALL FINAL
by
Polly Reid |
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 What’s
better on your birthday- cake and ice cream? Or a win and a little
pad on the points lead? For Bobby Santos, there could not be a much
better present than a win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Carquest Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway. The Franklin, MA
driver powered past Ryan Preece on the outside on the final restart
to lead the last six circuits capturing his fourth win of the 2010
season for car owner Bob Garbarino in the Mystic Missile. Ron Silk
followed for second, Erik Rudolph third, Rowan Pennink and Mike
Stefanik the top five.
Santos victory combined with Stefanik’s fifth place finish advanced
the now 25 year old driver from 7 points at the green to 37 points
at the checkers ahead of nine time NASCAR champion Stefanik. “It was
a great team effort, the guys gave me an awesome race car,” said
Santos. “This place is tough, you have to be in the right lane on
the restart and in the beginning of the race we were in the wrong
line and the end of the race we were in the right one.”
At the green, Ron Silk who passed Eric Beers for the lead on lap 3,
was indeed the car to beat. But in the end, it was “close again” for
Silk, the Norwalk, CT driver bringing his T.S. Haulers/Calverton
Tree Farm across for second. Silk led 92 laps during a long green
run before being passed by Beers just before a yellow waved at lap
101. The caution prompted whole sale pit stops for the front
runners. “We pitted late, we wanted to pit a little before that but
there were no yellows,” said Silk. “We pitted and took two.” The car
was a little tight after that, but Silk explained, “That’s the
problem with taking two, sometimes you can’t match the rear tires up
quite right. The guys made the best guess they could at it and I
think we just missed a little bit.“ The podium finish was enough to
elevate Silk into third place, 99 points shy of Santos, Silk
mathematically in the title chase. Silk will have one more shot for
the checkers at Thompson where he has posted three of his four
career Tour wins there.
 Five
different drivers led laps in the Carquest Fall Final including
Ransomville, NY driver Erik Rudolph. Heading to pit road early,
Rudolph brought his Mohawk N.E./Original Pizza Logs machine in on
lap 31 along with Berlin, CT shoe Ryan Preece. When the majority of
the field finally made their stop on lap 101, it was Preece in the
Davidson Co/Mizzy Construction Chevrolet who led the field back to
green. However, Rudolph made his move taking the lead for the first
of two times in the final 50 circuits that became marred with
cautions that included a red flag to repair the barrier in turn
three. Restarts bumped Rudolph back as far as fifth before
recovering in the late stages to take third. “Yes, we had a chance
to win,” said Rudolph. “You know when you’re here, it always comes
down to restarts. On one of the restarts we got caught up on the
outside and that dropped us back a few positions but we were still
there at the end.” Rudolph improved his Stafford statistics from
fourth in the last outing to third this time, smiling he added, “A
couple more times and we’ll be winning I guess.”
It will be a showdown for the 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Championship title at the World Series at Thompson in two weeks. Ted
Christopher 113 points out and Ron Silk 99 down are still
contenders. The focus however is on 37 points separating Santos and
Stefanik. Santos who lost the points lead briefly during the season
to Christopher carries the pressure to seal the deal. “It‘s been an
exciting year, a lot of fun. I have to keep approaching (the last
race) the same way we‘ve been approaching them all, we just really
want to win races. If we didn‘t win the four races that we‘ve won,
we probably wouldn‘t be ahead.” Meanwhile, Stefanik keeping
consistent including nine top five finishes this season, left
Stafford knowing clearly what the goal is for the Diversified
Metals/R.B. Enterprises entry. “We have to go to Thompson and try to
win a race, that’s what we have to do.”
A mention this week to Rookie of the Year contender Justin
Bonsignore who earned the pole on Saturday. In dramatic fashion, the
Holtsville, NY driver went out last in time trials and on the final
circuit, set fast time capturing his second pole award of the
season. “There’s a lot of history at this place, we’ve been coming
here for a long time watching races,” said Bonsignore who also set
fast time at Bristol in August. “We knew we had a good chance at
getting the pole, we just backed up our practice laps and that was
enough to do it.” Driving for car owners Ken and his wife Jeanine
Massa, Bonsignore redrew 7th and wheeled his M3 Technology Chevrolet
to as high as 4th before pitting on lap 101. Unfortunately, the next
restart would not be kind to the rising star whose afternoon ended
in a multi car tangle in turn one, Bonsignore eventually posting a
29th place finish.
Eric Beers of Northampton, PA drew the pole after qualifying second,
led twice during the Carquest Fall Final including the opening
circuits then later, bested Silk on lap 94 holding the point
position until the next yellow flew at lap 101 when the leaders
including Beers pitted. The Horwith Freightliner Chevrolet was part
of the mix in the closing stages and held on to cross the line 9th.
Too early to think about 2011? Not for the 2 team. The Mike
Smeriglio owned, Wisk/Snuggle sponsored Ford headlined their
Carquest Fall Final run with a brand new Troyer. Shaking down the
chassis, Todd Szegedy was close to a top five finish until just
after the final restart, with a little help from behind, was sent
into a spin. Szegedy recovered quickly to finish 11th.
See you in two weeks to crown a champion and close out the 2010
season at the show of shows, the Sunoco World Series of Racing at
Thompson International Speedway. You can catch the Carquest Fall
Final this Tuesday, Oct 5th on Versus at 7pm ET.. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromehorn.com
Posted: October
4, 2010 |
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