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09/23/2011 |
RON SILK GOES
TO THE TOP ON THE NEW ENGLAND 100 POLE DAY
Silk will Start 100
Lap feature Event from the Pole
by
Denise DuPont |
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The
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) returned to New
Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) this week for the
fifty-fifth time in their history. On Thursday,
September 22nd twenty-nine drivers competed for the
Coors Light Pole. In the past there have been 22
different pole winners at NHMS. History books has
the leader in NHMS pole wins recorded as Jan Leaty
with six , followed by Ted Christopher with five.
Mike Ewanitsko has the qualifying record at 28.693
seconds (132.743 mph), which he set in 2001. Bobby
Santos won the last pole winner at NHMS in August
2011.
When qualifying ended, Ron Silk won his first ever
pole at NHMS and his second for 2011. Silk won his
last race at NHMS in 2009 and he is ready for a
repeat win. “A win here would mean a lot. I won here
in 2009, I think, the first time that we ever drove
for Eddie Partridge. That was the high of my racing
career. I am chasing that again. It would be cool to
win again that is for sure. Hopefully our car is
good enough on Saturday and we make the right
adjustments for the race and we win the race.”
Silk is second in points making a charge for the
lead. With only twelve points separating Silk from
the point leader, Todd Szegedy, he has a good chance
to make his mark in this race. Szegedy is starting
the 100 lap race back in eighth. So Silk has an
opportunity to go home from NHMS the leader.
On Saturday Silk could make a charge forward and be
the rabbit, win the race in the pits or just have
the winning strategy and the luck needed to take him
to victory lane. “We have a good car. The car was
good right off the hauler. I just had to go out
during qualifying and drive the car. I thought that
we had a good car after practice but sometimes you
think that you are good and you go out for time and
you have not what you expect for a run. It was nice
to get the pole it was a good start for the weekend.
It helps get everyone’s morale up to start the
weekend. Hopefully we get win on Saturday.”
So what is the race strategy of the #6 team going
into to Saturday’s race?
“I am sure that we will end up pitting unless the
race gets shortened for some reason. You cannot get
away here without pitting. So we are going to go try
and win the race. It is an honor to race and win
here.”
Eric
Beers had the fastest car in practice but for
qualifying he ended up one spot short of a pole at
NHMS. This race season Beers has just been waiting
in the wings for his first 2011 win. We may see it
happen at NHMS this week. “We put on some good laps
during qualifying on older tires and we put on new
tires during qualifying. We have a really good race
car for the race. We will be racing Saturday for a
win.
On Thursday as the #45 race team put their car in
the hauler their minds were already focused on
Saturday’s race and what they can do to be at the
right place at the right time when the checkered
flag flies. During the August NWMT race at NHMS
Beers passed for the lead with only two laps to go.
Then the caution came out stealing his lead from
him. Beers found himself back in third for a race
restart on the bottom of the track, exactly where
you do not want to be in a modified for a green,
white, checker shootout. “We have a long way to go
before we can think about winning the race. We have
a good enough car to win. But there are a lot of
real good cars. Our pit stop has top be right. The
adjustment has got to be right. You have to be in
the right lane on some of those restarts at the end
because of the draft here. Hopefully everything
works out and we can sneak our way back to the front
like we did last time. If we take the lead and the
green stays out long enough to record a lap then we
can hold them off from there.”
Justin
Bonsignore was third in practice time which was a
good gauge for where he would be after qualifying. A
third place start was just shy of where the #51 team
wanted to be, but it places them up front for the
race start. “I wish that we were starting fourth
because it is better here on the outside. We had a
good run and we just barely missed the pole. I
probably gave up a little bit on the second lap. We
had the fastest first lap. Once I get up front
hopefully we will be out of the mess and hopefully
our strategy plays out. Then we can pit when we need
to and be up front at the end.”
So what would a win here mean for young Justin
Bonsignore in his sophomore year racing Mods?
“It would mean a lot. It would be my biggest win
ever in anything. I won a few in all types of
racing, but this would blow everything out of the
water. So we will hope.”
NWMT teams have Friday off and they will be back at
NHMS on Saturday, September 24th for 100 laps of
racing at 12:45 PM. Hope to see you there! |
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Source: Denise DuPont / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: September
26, 2011 |
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