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03/15/2011 |
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2009 CHAMPION GEORGE BRUNNHOELZL III RETURNS
And Return He Does
with a Win
by Denise DuPont |
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 On
Sunday March 13th the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour (NWSMT) started
their 7th season at Caraway Speedway. The grandstands were packed with race
fans, pits were filled with cars and the sun was shining. It was a perfect
race day!
Going into the race the winning odds were in strong favor for Coors Light
Pole winner Brian Loftin, who also has seven Caraway wins to his credit.
Loftin led thirty laps mid race but a lap 120 tangle with LW Miller ended
his day.
After taking the 2010 season off from the NWSMT to run the NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour George Brunnhoelzl III beat the odds and collected the win,
his fourth career Caraway victory.
“It was a great day today. Everything played out to our advantage,” said
2009 NWSMT champion Brunnhoelzl, “The guys did great all day working on it
(#09 car) and we came out on top. We know where we need to improve on and I
think if we improve on a win that is pretty good.”
Tim Brown came across the finish line second. “We had a good car today.
Second place is not bad. The car is in one piece. It is a beautiful day for
racing modifieds. We will take second.”
“This is a fun race track and it is the heart of the modifieds here,” Said
Brown. “Caraway has always taken care of us. You definitely have to be good
here it is good to see the fans packed in the stands here. It just was a
great day for racing and hopefully we put a good show on for them.”
Tom Stinson came to Caraway to join the southern tour after his home track
did not open for the 2011 race session. His home track of Southside Speedway
in Va announced recently that it was not going to open this year. This was
the first time since 1950’s. The trip to Caraway paid off for the Stinson
team. After a consistent run he completed the race in third place. “It was a
really good run for us today,” said Stinson. “It is almost like a win to the
crew. They worked hard car over the year. We did not have a whole lot to
work with cause we have not ran a lot of races with them. We had to work
hard on the brakes. It is hard to believe that the brakes are what would
pick you up here.”
Both surprised and delighted with his third place finish, Stinson is now
ready to go forward and race the tour with the southern mods. “This is a
good start at it for us. Caraway has never been good for me because I felt
like it is a horse power track. And we did not have a lot of horsepower. You
get the car right and you can drive. But like I said we got our brakes
better and made a better showing for the start of the season. We will see if
we can get some top fires and top tens. If we keep the cat in one piece and
don’t blow it up and we will make every race.”
The NWSMT will have a week off to regroup and they will return to Caraway
Speedway on March 26th ready for a rematch.
Race Notes:
What did you see in the accident that took out LW Miller and Brian
Loftin on Lap 120?
George Brunnhoelzl
“It is restarts that breed cautions, everybody knows that. Double file in a
modified everybody is up on the wheel. They started bouncing off one another
going into turn one and two and from there I do not know what happened.
Maybe the car got loose under him (Miller) and he got into Brian. Next thing
I know is that they both hung a left.”
What happened in the accident that took Ted Christopher out on Lap
109?
George Brunnhoelzl
“We had a really good car but I had to run my line. Brian (Loftin) was in
the same situation and it just happened that his line was mine after arching
it (the car) in the corner I got a nose under him a little and he just
turned me sideways.”
Thoughts on completing the First NWSMT Race in Second:
 Tim
Brown
“To start the session off in second place is a good way to work towards that
championship this year. We are pleased with it. We worked real hard all
winter. We are scheduled to run the full season. Last year I had to do some
testing where I work at Michael Waltrip’s place. And it conflicted with the
schedule. I could not do the whole deal last year. We are trying to work
around it so we can compete for the championship.”
“It is a deal if you are going to compete for the championship you have to
be here at Caraway.” And Brown knows all this too well after finishing
second in points for four out of the last six years. “Almost half of our
races on our tour schedule are here so it is big to get here. Like Georgie
said you have to be better. I am sitting here thinking what I had to do to
get my car better and he just won the race and he said the same thing to be
better.”
Thoughts on Caraway:
 Andy
Seuss
Seuss was the defending Spring Classic Champion. He finished the race ninth
after being involved in the same accident that took TC out on lap 109.
“I love racing around this place. The car is good. It is a new team, so we
have our expectations. We just want to keep progressing. Hopefully we will
just take this and learn from this and just build on it.”
Todd Szegedy
“I like it track a lot. It is a fast little track. It has some good banking.
I like the infield pitting. That is a big plus especially for testing. You
get a lot of track time out there. I think that it is going to be good. Plus
the weather is the best part about it.”
“We have a new car and we are putting together a brand new team. So what
better way to test than to bring it into race conditions? You can go out and
test all you want but there is no better test than actually racing.”
“So basically we came down here to have some fun and to make sure that we
have everything right with the car”. |
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Source: Denise DuPont / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: March
15, 2011 |
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