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10/03/2011 |
STAFFORD'S FALL FINAL
by
Polly Reid |
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Stafford
Motor Speedway’s last event of the year came down to
a green, white, checkered finish complete with a
nearly patented pass in turn one on the final
circuit by Ted Christopher to take the victory in
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour CARQUEST Fall Final.
A late caution turned red flag for track clean up
sent the CARQUEST Fall Final into overtime with
Erick Rudolph bringing the field around for the
final restart, Ted Christopher on the outside, Ryan
Preece, Donny Lia and Eric Beers the top five. At
the green, Christopher tucked into line for second
behind Rudolph and with the white flag waving, made
his move low on the front stretch, finishing the
pass through turn one and never looked back.
Fans on their feet watched as Christopher and
Rudolph made contact going into one, Christopher
nearly sideways managed to continue while Preece
slid into second, Lia following for third, Beers
fourth and Rudolph recovering for fifth.
“I
had my right front at his left rear and he was
almost trying to come down back at the start finish
line,” explained Christopher. “I was already
part-way there. I understand he is trying to win but
I always pit late and have good tires. I almost got
him before the yellow came out and if you think you
can hold me off in a green, white, checker at
Stafford, that ain’t happening.”
Pit strategy was key for Christopher in the Al-Lee
Installations Chevrolet. The Plainville, CT driver
pitted twice, first on lap 78 for chassis
adjustments and after working his way back up to
eighth pitted one more time on lap 103 for fresh
tires.
“The car was really, really tight in the beginning,
we waited, it came around a little bit better.
Actually the race probably played out good for us
because it really didn’t have any long green runs.
It would start to get tighter then a caution would
come out and it would be good again. Then we elected
to adjust on it and get the thing right almost like
we did at Thompson, adjust the car and get it right
on bad tires then put our good stuff on and that’s
what we did.”
Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT had one of the best seats
in the house as the last circuit unfolded in front
of him.
“Hard racing- you knew it was the last lap. Teddy
was underneath him and he was going to do what he
had to do to win and Erick was going to protect the
bottom, do whatever he had to do to win.” Preece who
started the day eighth in his American Lamp
Recycling/Mizzy Construction Chevrolet made it up to
second until pitting just past the half way mark for
fresh tires. At 25 to go, his Jeff Preece owned
machine was back in the top five- caught a break on
a restart and when the field lined up for the last
time, Preece in third, stayed low to move into
second at the line.
“It was awesome to be able to drive up to second,”
said Preece. “I wish we could have gotten up there a
little sooner, maybe we could have dueled it out
with Teddy- if we had a couple more laps to go, I
think we had just as good a car as him.”
“To come here, run with these guys, Justin in the
beginning, be right there with Teddy at the end,
it’s awesome to be back up front in the Tour. The
2011 SK Modified Champion at Stafford, Preece is
closing out the season on a high note. “This year
has just been phenomenal, I don’t even know what to
say I’m so happy right now. Maybe I can get my dad
to go to Thompson now, we’ll see.”
“It was a great day, I have to thank John Lukosavage
for having me drive this car,” said Donny Lia about
his third start of the season for car owner
Lukosavage. “The guys are working really hard, we
struggled a little bit with this thing the first few
times out but today was fun. I ran up front and was
able to battle the guys a little bit. Our pit
strategy I thought was going to be good then towards
the end there were so many cautions, we would have
been a little better off with a less cautions of
course, but it was a good race, it was a lot of fun,
it’s nice to be back.”
Lia who wished his Dad a happy 60th birthday, pitted
just past the fifty lap mark and made his way back
to the top five shortly after the half. “We just
missed the pole, just missed the win, but we gave it
a shot.” Lia ends his season on a high note with the
podium finish, the Jericho, NY driver will not be
competing in at Thompson for the World Series as he
has a date with the alter.
Coors Light Pole winner Justin Bonsignore set the
pace in the first half of the CARQUEST Fall Final,
his M3 Technology was consistent and strong on the
restarts. But after pitting just past the half,
Bonsignore became collected in some unwanted action
in turns three and four- the Holtsville, NY driver
recovered to cross for tenth. Erick Rudolph of
Ransomville, NY became the second leader of the day
on lap
80 and had his Mohawk N.E/Original Pizza Logs
Chevrolet dialed in pulling from the pack on each
restart and nearly pulled off the victory until the
final restart where Christopher flexed his strength
on his home court.
Christopher’s 12th career Tour win at Stafford, his
fourth of the season, 42nd of his career,
Christopher remained in constant communication with
his crew chief Brad Lafontaine.
“I just love these kind of races where you can have
pit strategy,” said Lafontaine. “You can come in,
make your changes and still come back in for
tires-it’s a fun kind of a race. A race like this,
you’re more in control as a crew chief and that’s
what we did. We came in on lap 70 something and we
ended up making all chassis adjustments on the car,
we went back out to make sure we had a good car- he
said it was a 100 percent better. Now we have a good
car, ride along a little further then put tires on-
now we have an advantage on the whole field. It
worked out well, you can only do it with certain
drivers- you need a driver like Teddy to be able to
drive it back to the front, that means a lot
especially when you get into a situation where’s it
a green, white, checker. Teddy did a great job
today, even though we were tight at the beginning of
the race he stayed calm, we stayed calm, everybody
just did their job. You know, we have a great team
and everybody did their job- that’s the major, major
factor.”
“He’s
the best, that’s all you can say,” smiled car owner
Eddie Whelan. “The last lap, I didn’t watch,
somebody just told me my car was airborne.” Teamed
up with Christopher ‘going on seven years,’ Whelan
added, “There’s nobody better to make a late pit
stop with than Teddy.”
Eight points separated Ron Silk and Todd Szegedy
going into the Fall Final. Szegedy on the starting
grid 15th was challenged at the get go spinning
around before 20 laps were on the board. The
suspect, a tire down, Szegedy pitted for a change.
Working on the nose of the car on a second pit stop
on lap 33 and another pit stop fifteen circuits
later, Szegedy was marching to the front and back
into the top ten by the half. Things looked like
they had turned for the better, the Wisk Detergent/A
& J Romano Construction Ford in second before the
board hit 100 laps. Shuffled back to sixth after
three more restarts, Szegedy was battling for
position when after contact resulted in a tire
suddenly down and in turns three and four Szegedy
went around. The MSR team waiting for the red flag
to lift, sprang into action to get the 2 car back
out- their day ending 22nd.
Taking the green seventh, Silk may have started out
better than Szegedy but following their pit stop on
lap 78, the T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm
Chevrolet was looking at a long way to the front
restarting just inside the top twenty. Silk became
part of a five car tangle on lap 97, the Norwalk, CT
driver suddenly forced to pit. Silk however survived
four more cautions to end his day seventh his points
tally up to 2328 leading by 57 over Szegedy with
2271.
The NWMT season wraps it all up in two weeks at
Thompson International Speedway where the 2011
champion will be crowned in the World Series. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: October
3, 2011 |
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