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08/10/2012 |
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NASCAR WHELEN
MODIFIED TOUR - BUD 150
Thompson
International Speedway
by
Polly Reid |
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 It
may have been a while and it may have not been the
easiest way to get there but two time Tour champion
Donny Lia from Jericho, NY driving the Bob Garbarino
Mystic Missile found his way to victory lane taking
down the win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour,
Budweiser King of Beers 150 at Thompson
International Speedway.
Lia qualified ninth, suffered issues on pit road,
went down a lap, got a free pass getting his lap
back, then made his charge to the front and the
winning pass to become the final leader on lap 129.
Following Lia was Ron Silk who held off Doug Coby
for second, point leader Coby crossing third with
Ted Christopher in the Boehler 3 fourth and pole
winner Mike Stefanik fifth.
“It feels really, really good,” said Lia about being
back in victory lane, his first win since October of
2009 at Stafford. “I want to thank Bob Garbarino for
sticking with this program, giving us what we need,
I love the guy and I’m so happy to win this for him.
All these guys, they’ve been busting their butts in
the shop- this means a lot to me- my first win since
both my sons were born.” Lia acknowledged long time
crew member Jimmy Savage, welcoming him into victory
lane with the entire Mystic Missile team. “I wanted
to get to victory lane for him, for everybody. This
is what it’s all about.”
While it is Lia’s sixteenth career win, his third at
Thompson, it is the first win for Dan Laferriere as
crew chief of the legendary Mystic Missile. “We have
two motors, one went back to Hutter to get rebuilt
after the rainout at Riverhead- that one’s not
ready,” said Laferriere. “Then last week at Stafford
we broke a tranny, so we were down to no motors.
Luckily Al Heinke was kind enough to lend us a
motor. But, it wasn’t one of our motors so it didn’t
exactly slide right in. We spent a lot of time in
the shop getting everything right.” Laferriere has
been with Garbarino since 2007 and was part of the
team that earned two NWMT Championship titles with
Lia in ’07 and ’09. “It feels good,” said Laferriere
about his first trip to victory lane as crew chief.
“We kind of got used to being there then the last
couple of years, it’s been quite a while, now that
we finally got back, it makes it that much more
rewarding. It’s an honor to be the crew chief of
this car. This is a car that has its own fans, made
history; it’s an honor to be calling the shots.”
Laferriere learned under Bob Mueller, the former
crew chief of the Mystic Missile. When Bob stepped
aside, he recommended Laferriere to Garbarino. “I’m
glad Bob gave me the chance.”
Coors Pole winner Mike Stefanik led the entire first
half of the Budweiser King of Beers 150. Lia
challenged for the top spotaround the 59 lap mark
but Stefanik fought back and the seven time champion
kept his lead in the Ed Marceau entry. Stefanik
pitted on lap 90 and was in a solid 8th by lap 100.
The Coventry, RI driver made his way to fifth by lap
128 and ran with the pack taking down a solid top
five finish.
It was when the caution fell on lap 62 that things
got interesting for Lia.
“The first time we came in, we were planning on
taking our tires and we stripped out a lug nut, we
couldn’t get the tires off,” said Laferriere. “We
left our time trial tires on, went back out and we
put together a game plan on how we were going to get
it off. We came back down, we had to change how we
did things and we got it right. It was all in the
drivers hands from then on.”
“We couldn’t get a tire off so they decided not to
put any on, not get the change set out of cycle,”
said Lia. “It took another two pit stops, we went a
lap down but we were lucky no one else was a lap
down and we got the lucky dog right away. It’s kind
of like our season in one night, in a nutshell, it’s
been a tough year. I know everyone says their guys
work hard, but these guys have been in the shop
since Stafford every single night until two in the
morning working on this car. My guys, hats off for
even getting here today.” Lia became thoughtful when
talking about his mindset coming into evening.
“After qualifying, I sat in the car just thinking,
shaking my head, after a while, every driver, I
don’t care who it is, goes through a point where ‘is
it me? Did I forget how to do this?’ You start
doubting yourself. Tonight was a really good night
to get back on track and give these guys a win, it
means so much to me.”
“There is nothing like victory lane,” said
Garbarino.“Everybody wants to be there and everybody
should get a shot at being there.” Garbarino was not
sure about the night when they had the trouble on
pit road. “I was thinking, what else could go wrong?
We had a decent car but we couldn’t get the lug nuts
off, but it worked out. We got that caution, got him
in, tires changed, got the lucky dog, it kind of
fell our way a little bit there as far as that was
concerned.”
After the red flag incident involving Ed Flemke and
Wood Pitkat, Lia lined up 10th, for the restart on
lap 92. Todd Szegedy was the current leader with Ron
Silk who put on a spirited side by side battle with
Szegedy, Silk taking over the top spot on lap 95. Up
to fifth by lap 100, Lia made his way forward to
second fifteen circuits later. A caution on lap 117
that collected the field, Silk electing the outside
row, Lia inside on the restart with 28 circuits left
in the event that became pivotal. “I got a little
run on him, just drove it into the corner, got
underneath him, he was nice enough to give me a lane
there,” said Lia. Lia became the final leader of the
night on lap 129. The confidence is re-ignited.
Coby, in the Wayne Darling, Reynolds Auto
Wrecking/Furnace & Duct sponsored Chevrolet had
another good points night, the seventh consecutive
podium finish for the Milford, CT driver keeps the
points tally 41 ahead of Silk who moved up a notch
to second place. “It’s a night where you stay out of
trouble,” said Coby who took the green fourteenth.
“It was a good honest effort from our team- anybody
who knows Wayne or how our team works knows they are
a real fun team to be around, level headed, never
snap out at anything, it’s really fun to be around
them because it’s one of those deals where you can
just go to the track and whatever you have you have.
Tonight it was a third place car. Six races to go,
we’re trying to keep this streak going, top threes,
it’s pretty cool. I’ve never had anything like this
in my career. The wins are one thing, they’re in the
books, its nights like tonight where you start
fourteenth and finish third that means a lot too.”
Rowan Pennink was sixth followed by Jimmy Blewett
seventh, Bobby Santos, digging deep from an earlier
spin crossed for eighth, Ron Yuhas who ran as high
as third bringing home ninth and Szegedy who led
nearly 20 laps just past the half way mark claimed
tenth.
The next stop for the NWMT is the UNOH Perfect Storm
150 in Bristol, TN on August 22nd. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: August
10, 2012 |
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