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03/31/2013 |
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Thompson International Speedway
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Test and Tune
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by
Polly Reid
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The calendar says it, the budding daffodils say it and Saturday, under
bright blue skies and a slight March breeze, the roar of engines said it
all- racing season is here. The 2013 Icebreaker at Thompson International
Speedway, the traditional NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season opener is less
than two weeks away.
Thompson
held their open Test and Tune Saturday with several NWMT teams taking
advantage of the track time including defending NWMT champion Doug Coby, Ron
Silk, Rowan Pennink, Ryan Preece, Eric Goodale, Rob Fuller and Patrick
Emerling.
Like everyone else, Ron Silk is glad the winter is over. “It’s much better
being here than at home on the couch watching it snow.” Winner of the
Icebreaker in 2012, Silk was making good use of the open practice, the
Norwalk, CT driver planned to take the Calverton Tree Farm sponsored
modified out several times under the watchful eye of Tommy and Danny Grasso
and car owner Ed Partridge. “We’ve had some success here at Thompson-
hopefully we’ll have more and get the season started off on a good foot.”
His first time hitting the track since the UNOH Battle of the Beach at
Daytona and New Smyrna in February, Silk is more than ready for the green
flag to wave. “Over the winter, the work really falls on Tommy and Danny
Grasso. They get everything rebuilt- do all the hard work that goes into the
cars. We talk about what we want to do, the direction we want to go in, but
they do all the work. We’re excited to get going. Hopefully we can do a good
job to get ourselves in contention.” The 2011 NWMT champion, Silk will again
be one to watch all year.
Shaking
down two NWMT cars, Ryan Preece in the Eric Sanderson owned, East West
Marine sponsored modified with crew chief Sly Szaban, kept busy at Thompson
as he was also practicing his Thompson SK modified entry. “We’re in pretty
good shape this year,” said Preece. “The car we had at Daytona, we took it
out for a few laps and we’ll run that here in a couple of weeks.”
Preece will be the first to tell you, with a smile, that he didn’t have much
of an ‘off’ season. “I think every month I raced. The indoor races, Daytona
and last week we were at Southern National Speedway.” Preece is strong at
Thompson- including taking the pole award last year at the Icebreaker, but
the big ‘W’ has eluded the Berlin, CT driver. “We always run well, we just
have not been able to get to victory lane. The day I pull into victory lane
here, the fans are going to have a show when I climb the fence. Thompson has
not made it easy for us- we’re going to change that.”
Rowan
Pennink fans will have plenty of opportunities to cheer as the Huntingdon
Valley, PA will be hitting the track this year competing in both the full
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season under the watchful eye of crew chief Don
Barker as well as the complete Modified Racing Series schedule in the Gary
Casella machine. “I’m planning on being at all the races for both series. A
couple will be tight but we’ll make it. “Feels good to be back in the car,
hope to get a good jump start today for the season opener. This officially
begins the busy season,” smiled Pennink. “We’re on old tires today, but
we’ll get it dialed in and see how it goes later on with some newer tires.”
Fresh
off a run at Southern National Speedway last weekend, Eric Goodale is ready
to get the NWMT season under way. “We’re sticking to the northern tour- the
race at Southern National looked enticing, so we went down there.” The UNOH
Battle at the Beach, New Smyrna World Series of Asphalt Racing, a trip to
North Carolina last weekend, Goodale is turning his focus to the upcoming
NWMT season. “To run good on the Tour all year, there are two staple tracks
you need to be good at, here at Thompson and Stafford. We’ve had a pretty
good car here in the past.” Motor issues last year kept the Riverhead, NY
driver from “putting together good finishes.” However, Goodale is optimistic
for the Icebreaker in two weeks. “We’re definitely capable of having a top
five car every time we show up here. We’re trying to get close to that today
so when we come back we only have to make small adjustments.” Ask Goodale
what he thinks about Thompson and he’ll bust into a big smile. “I love
Thompson. We could race 16 times a year here and it wouldn’t get old. This
is one of my favorite tracks to drive at, we’re pretty excited.”
Doug
Coby will be back to defend his NWMT title in the Wayne Darling owned
modified with crew chief John McKenna- the championship combination is
looking forward to the new season. The winter is long but as McKenna puts
it, “there is never enough time to do everything you want to do. We’ve got
one car we probably won’t use as much as we did last year.” McKenna
hesitated smiling, “well it depends on how this one goes.” Car owner Wayne
Darling confirmed they will be doing the full NWMT again this year along
with the open shows at Seekonk and Star. A top ten finish last year at the
Icebreaker was the start of a title winning run for the Coby who ran his
first full season with Darling in 2012.
Darling has something special planned for the Doug Coby ride for the first
NWMT event at Riverhead Raceway June 29th. “We have a one race deal to carry
Red Roof Inn which will be on the rear quarter panel when we get to
Riverhead. We’re going to auction off the rear left and right quarter panels
after the Riverhead race. The proceeds will go to Meeting Street School in
Providence, RI a school for children with autism. I’m hoping to have all the
drivers sign the quarter panels before the race.” Bids are already starting,
if you want to put in your bid and win a quarter panel off of Coby’s
modified, as well as support a great cause, you can go right to their
Facebook page “Meeting Street School Charity Auction.” Just checking the
page now, the bidding is fast and furious, all in fun and for a great cause.
Rob Fuller made his practice runs putting down some comfortable laps as he
prepares for the season opener. Jimmy Fuller will be the crew chief of the
15 car that will be running a part time schedule. “We’re planning on
Thompson, Bristol, two Loudon’s and maybe a Stafford.” Being behind the
wheel of a modified may seem like a natural thing for Fuller, but the
beginning of this season is a little different. Fuller had rotor cuff
surgery in December and was still having physical therapy as late as last
week. “My biggest concern coming here today was not the car test but the
driver test. The surgery was more than the doctors thought which made the
recovery take longer. It doesn’t feel too bad so far,” said Fuller. “I’m
sure after a 150 laps, it could be a different story.” Thompson is Fuller’s
home track, a place he has been coming to since he was 5 years old. “Back
when there were sandbanks here,” said Fuller who added, “It’s pretty cool to
have this place only 20 minutes from the house.” Fuller staying busy with
work was taking a look at his Thompson statistics earlier in the week. “I’ve
only had eleven starts in the NWMT and I think five of them were here. We
can qualify on the pole, we can run top five- it makes me curious thinking
what the stats would look like if I 30 or 40 starts here like everybody
else. A lot of people think because of who I am, that I should be running up
front here but I really haven’t raced much in a modified.” Fuller is looking
forward to being back in two weeks.
A quick road trip to Waterford Speedbowl later in the afternoon to catch
their open practice for the season kick off there next weekend, Denise
DuPont will have that full report. While at Waterford, Karl Fredrickson,
publisher of Dick Berggren’s Speedway Illustrated was on hand passing out
copies of their latest issue. Always a great read, be sure to check out
Bones Bourcier’s piece on Lew Boyd - it sure made me smile.
2013 is off to a fantastic start and as long a Mother Nature doesn’t get any
silly ideas, the countdown to the Icebreaker is on.
See you April 13th and 14th. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: March
31, 2013 |
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