 Todd
Szegedy battled back after losing the lead during on
a pit stop and then making a pair of off-track
excursions to win the NASCAR Whelen Modified 66/99
presented by Town Fair Tire at Lime Rock Park on
Saturday.
It was a sweet win for the Ridgefield, Conn., driver
- who led all but the last four laps before being
relegated to second in last year's inaugural tour
visit to the 1.5-mile, eight-turn road course. With
his victory on Saturday, he took over the lead in
the championship standings.
Szegedy, who had experience at Lime Rock in other
racing series prior to his NASCAR career, dominated
the early action on Saturday. He started from the
pole in his No. 2 Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano
Construction Ford and opened up a lead of more than
two seconds early. However, he fell to fourth
following a pit stop during a caution on Lap 44. He
went off course twice during the last one-third of
the race, but quickly recovered and set out after
the leaders.
After moving up to second on Lap 60, Szegedy took
the lead from Mike Stefanik a lap later and then
pulled away from the field to win by a margin of
1.796 seconds.
“It got pretty dicey there, we got real tight with
the new set of tires for some reason, it just
wouldn’t come in and I drove off the track twice,”
Szegedy said. “On that last restart I got a good
restart and got by Justin Bonsignore and then I made
a pass on Mike Stefanik in Turn 1. I had to
out-brake him and out-down shift him. He ran me
clean and I just had to hit my marks after that.”
The win was Szegedy's 17th career victory and the
third this season for the 2003 tour champion. Three
wins and podium finishes in six of the last eight
events have propelled him to the top of the
standings, with 2,004 points over 1,992 for Ron
Silk, who finished 15th on Saturday.
Stefanik finished second followed by Bonsignore,
Richie Pallai Jr., and Ted Christopher. Rowan
Pennink, Erick Rudolph, Eric Beers, Kevin Goodale
and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top 10.
Saturday marked the best career finish for Pallai
and the fifth-consecutive top-10 finish for
Bonsignore, who has vaulted from 19th to seventh in
the season standings since his first career win at
Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway in late July.
“We’re still learning [road course racing] and every
year we’re going to get better and better,”
Bonsignore said from the podium at Lime Rock. “These
guys [Szegedy and Stefanik] have done it a lot, but
this is just my second time doing it, so I’m pretty
proud.
“We’ve turned this season around since we got our
first win and hopefully we can just build towards
next year.”
The race winner last week at Thompson (Conn.)
International Speedway, Doug Coby looked poised to
go back-to-back but wrecked while in the lead on Lap
55 and finished 18th.
The inaugural visit for the Whelen Modified Tout to
Lime Rock had just one lead change, but Saturday’s
return engagement featured seven among five
different drivers. Szegedy led a race-high 49
circuits.
The Lime Rock race marked the fourth of
six-consecutive weeks of racing for the Whelen
Modified Tour. The busiest portion of the 2011
schedule started at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
on Aug. 24 and will get a one-week break following
Stafford (Conn,) Motor Speedway on Oct. 2, a stretch
of six races in 40 days.
The next event on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is
the New Hampshire 100 at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 24.
|
|
|
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Whelen Modified 66/99 pres. by Town Fair Tire Unofficial Results
Saturday At Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn.
Lap length: 1.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 66 laps, 67.989
mph.
2. (5) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Ford, 66.
3. (4) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 66.
4. (7) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet,
66.
5. (9) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 66.
6. (8) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 66.
7. (3) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 66.
8. (17) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 66.
9. (12) Kevin Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 66.
10. (11) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, N.Y., Ford, 66.
11. (16) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 66.
12. (15) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 66.
13. (18) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 66.
14. (19) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 66.
15. (2) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 65.
16. (20) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 63.
17. (6) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 61.
18. (14) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 54, accident.
19. (13) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 50.
20. (10) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 46, accident.
21. (21) Bryon Chew, Mattituck, N.Y., Chevrolet, 3, transmission.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 27 minutes 22 seconds
Margin of Victory: 1.796 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: T.Szegedy (100.182 mph, 53.902 seconds)
Caution Flags: 5 for 19 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Szegedy 1-43; J. Tomaino 44; E. Flemke,Jr. 45-46; D.
Coby 47; E. Flemke,Jr. 48-51; D. Coby 52-54; M. Stefanik 55-60; T. Szegedy
61-66.
Standings: 1. T. Szegedy, 2004; 2. R. Silk, 1992; 3. R. Pennink,
1911; 4. E. Beers, 1843; 5. D. Coby, 1833; 6. B. Santos, 1767; 7. J.
Bonsignore, 1727; 8. M. Hirschman, 1718; 9. J. Civali, 1674; 10. E. Rudolph,
1620. |
|
