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09/12/2011 |
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NASCAR WHELEN
MODIFIED TOUR UNOH NORTHERN THOMPSON 125
by
Polly Reid |
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 Doug
Coby can check one more thing off his list of things
to accomplish in his racing career. The Milford, CT
driver cruised to his second career victory in the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Northern Thompson 125,
his first win at Thompson International Speedway.
James Civali crossed for second, pole winner Ryan
Preece third, Ted Christopher and Todd Szegedy the
top five.
“This thing is stout at this race track,” said Coby.
“You know we lost one here at the World Series, if
any one was here you know we definitely had that one
wrapped up. It’s been a dream of mine to make that
right hand turn into victory lane. This is my first
victory at Thompson in any division here. These guys
with the 52 team, what an awesome car for this
track. I want to thank Johnson’s Landscaping and
Harvey from Reynolds Auto Wrecking, he makes this
all happen for me. He believed in me last year and
said he wanted to get me in a full time Tour ride
and get you out there running every week. Without
him, I wouldn’t be here, so Harvey and Kim, this
one’s for you.”
Pole winner Ryan Preece led the 25 car field to
green with Coby tucking in for second, the pair
pulling away from the pack. “I think Ryan and I were
sizing each other up early on and for a while we
broke away,” said Coby. By lap 25, it was Preece,
Coby, Christopher, Eric Goodale and Erik Rudolph the
top five. Four circuits later Coby made what turned
out to be the winning pass- Coby moving low under
Preece to take the lead on lap 29. Once out front,
Coby put some distance from the field until the
first caution on lap 59 waved- Eric Berndt into the
turn one and two outside wall.
On the restart, it was Coby lining up next to
Preece, Christopher, Civali, Eric Goodale, Tom
Rogers, Szegedy, Matt Hirschman, Ed Flemke and Bobby
Santos the top ten. Going green, the field was
quickly reined in to do it all again with a three
car tangle in turn two- while all drove away, it was
the end of the day for Buzz Chew.
Just past half way on what became the final restart
of the event, it was here that Civali was able to
make his move into second place, a sudden threat for
Coby. “The restart was big,” said Civali. “We got
from second to fourth, the car was really good on
the restart. Doug was a little bit off from what I
was on the restart, I had a little shot at him there
but then my car backed off a little bit and Doug’s
got better, we really couldn’t do anything with
him.”
The field quickly became single file and while there
was certainly passing going on, it was not for the
lead.
Coby was able to stretch away from Civali and while
heavy lap traffic slowed the leader in the closing
circuits, Coby’s lead appeared to not diminish as
the Reynolds Auto Wrecking Chevrolet crossed the
stripe for the victory.
“You got to have something get away before you get
something, at least in my racing career. Some guys
like Ted seem to knock them off left and right but
he’s also 18, 20 years older than me so I’m sure the
next 18 years or so I’ll have a shot at winning more
races.” Coby paused before continuing, “The stars
were aligned today. We just had a really good car.”
“The whole weekend was good,” said John McKenna,
crew chief for winning car owner Wayne Darling.
“We’re ecstatic, especially at this place. We have a
lot of young guys on the team that are enthusiastic.
We’re going to try harder, keep it going. This is a
tough series to win in, this is great.”
“This is huge,” said Civali about finishing a strong
second, another sign that the season for the Hill
Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac is taking an turn in
the right direction. “Our only podium finish this
year. We ran well in Canada and Bristol, we’ve made
some changes in the car and it seems to be paying
off. We just cracked the top ten in points after
Canada and this is another good points run for us
here - we’d like to get into the top five in points
before the end of the season, we know it’ll be
tough.”
“I had a good car but it was Doug’s race to win,”
explained Preece, “I was saving myself as much as I
could, he just had a little more than I did. My car
started to get a little free in the center but it
was still pretty good where I could still roll and
pick up the throttle and have good bite off. I was
happy to finish third.”
“Thompson is everybody’s favorite track,” continued
Coby. “I mean it’s not Loudon but it’s everybody’s
favorite track - it’s the track I have the most
career starts on besides Stafford and to have come
close so many times and finally get it, it does mean
a lot. It means a lot for it to happen on 9-11. I
didn’t say that in victory lane but that is of
course something everyone is thinking about,
everything our country has been through. 10 years
later we’re still living the American Dream but
we’re all thinking about the men and women that
serve our country, that protect us.”
Points leader Ron Silk closed out the Northern
Thompson 125 with a solid top ten finish crossing
the line 9th. Todd Szegedy continues to make strides
forward, his fifth place finish adding valuable
points, the gap now at sixty points with Silk at
1874, Szegedy 1814. Rowan Pennink who finished 8th
stands third in points at 1761.
Next for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is the road
course event, the Town Fair Tire 100 at Lime Rock
Park in Lakeville, CT this Saturday September 17th. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: September
12, 2011 |
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