Champ Trail - July 14, 2015

  Racing resumed this past Wednesday, July 8th at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) where the track played host to the 2nd annual Late Model 20/20 Sprint featuring TSMP’s premier fendered division. The first two 20-lap races gave the opportunity for Late Model teams to earn championship points. The third 10-lap race, though not counting for points, was factored into determining the purse for the evening, which included a $1,000 prize for the race winner. As an added bonus, the winner also earned a position as a guaranteed starter for the 100-lap American Canadian Tour race at the World Series on Oct. 16-18, 2015.
  The Dunkin’ Donuts Late Model 20/20 Sprint also included TSMP’s three other NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions of racing.
  The first segment of the event started quiet but 15 laps into the event a crash in turns one and two slowed the field with yet another accident sparked on the restart seeing Chad LaBastie, running second at the time, spin out in turn two, collecting a series of cars in the ensuing chaos. Following another quick caution, again in turns one and two, the segment went green for the final five laps as Jeff Rocco took a victory in segment one. Rocco started on the pole. Larry Gelinas finished second and was followed by Brian Tagg, Keith Rocco and Marc Curtis.
  John Lowinski-loh started on the pole of the second segment but in the end it was Brian Tagg taking the win over Glen Boss. Lowinski-loh finished third with Jeff Rocco, fourth.
  The third segment, a 10-lap sprint, had drivers line up using the fastest laps times from the first segment for the front row and average finish in the previous segments determining the rest of the field. Jeff and Keith Rocco started side by side but in the end it was Curtis who was the spoiler. Jeff Rocco won the ten lap sprint followed by Curtis, Keith Rocco and Gelinas.
  Jeff Rocco was declared the winner overall followed by Tagg and Keith Rocco.
  In other Thompson racing action, a 30-lap sprint for the Sunoco Modified division proved to be disastrous for a few heavy hitters in the series as Cam McDermott stayed out of trouble and scored his first ever Sunoco Modified SK type win. The action started early when defending champion and series points leader Ryan Preece, who started near the rear in the 14-car field, hit the wall attempting a pass on lap two going into turn one. While Preece’s car continued the race it would not survive long, stalling on the track during a caution six laps in and requiring a push to pit lane. He would continue the race after falling several laps down.
  Keith Rocco found himself out of the race after failing to clear Kerry Malone out of turn four eight laps into the event. Malone, who had momentum coming off the turn, clipped Rocco’s right rear quarter panel, sending Rocco into the outside wall and ending his day. Malone would continue the race and would be collected in a wreck after a restart 24-laps into the race as drivers scrambled to gain position going into turn one. Malone who drove the wrong way on the track and the wrong way in the pit area was parked for the night by officials. The troubles for Preece, Rocco and Malone meant all three of the frontrunners in the points had trouble during the 30-lap feature.
  The drama continued when the race restarted after Nick Ladyga, who led most of the race to that point and was chasing his first Thompson win, was black-flagged after dogging it on the restart and failing to maintain speed. While Ladyga would come from the rear and go on to finish fourth, it was Cam McDermott who took home the hardware with his first win in the division after holding off a hard charging Woody Pitkat for the final five laps. Having a great run with some heads-up driving was Ryan Morgan who recorded a solid third. Rounding out the top five was Ladyga and John Studly.
Other Wednesday night winners were Scott Michalski in the Mini-Stocks and Corey Hurchins in the Limited Sportsman. The entire racing program was completed by 8:45pm. Racing resumes at Thompson on Wednesday, July 29.

  At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night the 2nd Annual NAPA Auto Parts SK 5k, which paid the winner $5,000 out of a purse of over $30,000 was the main attraction. With the Dunleavy’s Truck and Trailer Sales Gambler’s Challenge bonus of $7,500, which included a contribution from Rayner Real Estate, the total posted awards were over $38,000. The Gambler’s Challenge was voted on by the fans on how it would be paid out and the top-3 choices were put into a hat in victory lane with Ryan Preece pulling a chip with the winning formula on it. He pulled the winner take all chip, giving himself a payday of $12,825 dollars. In other feature action, Michael Bennett scored his fourth win of the year in the Late Model feature, D.J. Burnham scored his second win of 2015 in the SK Light feature, David Arute scored his second win of the year in the Limited Late Model feature, Phil Evans won the 15-lap DARE Stock feature, and Cory DiMatteo won his fourth race of the season in the Legend Cars feature.
  Preece, who took the lead after Frank Ruocco and Ron Williams tangled on lap 86 of the 100 lap main, staged a spirited battle with Justin Bonsignore as the pair finished up one-two when the checkered flag was displayed. Keith Rocco finished third with Williams and Jeff Malave rounding out the top five. Sixth thru tenth was Ted Christopher, Ruocco, Jeremy Sorel, Eric Berndt and Joey Cipriano.
  It was rumored that Bonsignore's finish would be dis-allowed as word leaked out that his car was under weight at the finish. Todd Szegedy passed race leader Chris Pasteryak on lap 92 and went on to win his second race of the season before a large crowd

  The Valenti Modified Racing Series headed north to the Claremont Speedway in northwestern New Hampshire on Friday night. The 100 lap event drew 24 cars. The event, which took an hour and a half to run, turned into a crash fest as 13 of the original starters were running at the finish. Szegedy passed race leader Chris Pasteryak on lap 92. Mike Douglas Jr. finished third. Rounding out the top five were Norm Wrenn and Todd Patnode. Sixth thru tenth were Russ Hersey, Jon McKennedy, Richard Savary, Steve Masse and Mike Willis Jr.
  Following post race inspections at Claremont Speedway, Claremont, NH, on July 10, 2015, the # 85 car, powered by an 18-degree engine, was found to have a non-compliant carburetor pursuant to the 2015 Modified Racing Series rulebook. As a result, Todd Szegedy and the # 85 car owned by Kevin Stuart was disqualified from Friday’s event. Car # 5ct (Chris Pasteryak) was declared the winner with everyone behind him moving up a spot.
  The Valenti Modified Racing Series is off until July 24 when the series makes it’s first visit at Devils Bowl Speedway in Fair Haven Vermont.

  The New London-Waterford Speedbowl was quiet last Saturday night as the track gave way to the annual New London Sailfest and Fireworks. In the SK Modified division Keith Rocco leads Tyler Chadwick by 21 points. James "Diego" Monahan sits in third, 30 points behind the leader. One point behind Monahan is Joe Gada and one point behind Gada is Rob Janovic. In the Late Models, Jason Palmer leads Keith Rocco by four points. Five points behind Rocco is Anthony Flannery. In a distant fourth spot is Jeff Rocco, some 36 points behind the leader. Other division leaders are Al Stone III in the Limited Sportsman, Wayne Burroughs JR in the Mini Stocks, Corey Barry in the SK Lites and Cory Dimatteo in the Legends.
  Racing resumes this Saturday night at the shoreline oval.

John Fortin scored his first win of the season at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island. Ryan Preece finished second with Vinny Biondolillo, third.

  Down in the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem NC it was New Jersey driver Danny Bohn who held off Burt Myers to win the final 100-lap Modified race of the season, but it was Lee Jeffreys who stole the show by winning the Colors Edge Challenge. With the challenge victory, he won $6,000 because it was the final Colors Edge Challenge of the year.
  Bohn took second in the draw and overtook draw winner Cale Gale five laps into the race. Jeffreys qualified third, and by qualifying in the top four during a challenge, he elected to go to the back of the field and started 20th. He was the only one of the pack of Burt Myers, Jason Myers and Tim Brown who elected to take the challenge.
  For Jeffreys, it was great to pick up the money after struggling lately. He started strong with five top-5 finishes and eight top 10s. He started Saturday’s race in fifth place in the points race. Tim Brown started and remained in first place after starting the race third and finishing third.
Jeffreys said starting in the back was nothing new for him. He overtook Chris Fleming on the 78th lap for fourth place and had to hold off Jason Myers in the final 22 laps.
  Burt Myers and Tim Brown went for position with three laps to go. Myers held off Brown for the final three laps.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week all three speedway stocks showed positive results for the week. The International Speedway Corporation was the leader of the pack as they went up 0.95 to 35.50. Speedway Motorsports went up 0.27 to 22.40 and Dover Entertainment went up 0.05 to 2.27. NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint dropped 0.70 to 3.78. NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) dropped 0.62 to 52.64 and NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear dropped 1.30 to 28.99. The auto manufacturers also had a down week. Ford dropped 0.39 to 14.48 while General Motors dropped 1.83 to 31.40 and Toyota dropped 1.23 to 131.52. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went up 1.60 to 113.09 and Lowes went up 1.15 to 67.85. With the exception of Fedex which dropped 2.67 to 168.46, the big team sponsors stocks did all right for the week. McDonalds went up 1.48 to 97.65. Coca-Cola which has gone up over 41.00 a share in the last four weeks, went up 11.08 to 164.41. Target Department stores went up 1.64 to 83.91 while Aarons Rentals went up 0.47 to 36.51.

  On the tube this coming week:

  Wednesday, July 15
3:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 2
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
4:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

  Thursday, July 16
2:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS2
4:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7:00 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN

  Friday, July 17
2:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS2
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
11:30 AM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire practice, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series New Hampshire practice, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NXS New Hampshire final practice, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NSCS New Hampshire qualifying, NBCSN

  Saturday, July 18
11:00 AM, NXS New Hampshire qualifying, NBCSN
12:30 NSCS New Hampshire final practice, NBCSN
1:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
3:30 PM, NXS Countdown to Green, NBCSN
4:00 PM, NXS New Hampshire race, NBCSN

  Sunday, July 19
10:00 AM, NASCAR: Fans Speak, FS1
10:30 AM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
12:00 PM, NASCAR America Sunday, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NSCS Countdown to Green, NBCSN
1:30 PM, NSCS New Hampshire race, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NSCS Post Race Show, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
11:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

  Monday, July 20
12:00 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
3:30 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
12:00 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NASCAR 120, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

   That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: July 14, 2015