The Chrome Horn - Champ Trail with Phil Smith

Champ Trail - July 28, 2015


  The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returned to action this past Saturday, July 25, for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 200 at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH. Twenty eight cars were on hand for time trials with Ryan Preece taking the pole with a time of 12.428 seconds around the high banked quarter mile oval. Doug Coby was second fastest and started outside pole. Coby passed Ryan Preece on Lap 45 and was able to remain at the point in the caution filled 200 lap race. Preece faded and ended up going a lap down and finished tenth. Woody Pitkat followed closely in second with Justin Bonsignore coming up just a little short in his bid for a third straight win at the quarter-mile track finishing third. Todd Szegedy and Troy Talman completed the top five. For Coby and Talman it was redemption of sort as they wrecked the previous week at Loudon. Eric Goodale rebounded from an early incident to finish sixth with Shawn Solomito, Andy Seuss, Chase Dowling, and Preece rounding out the top 10.
  The race was slowed six times by caution with a pair of red flags thrown during the race for track cleanup caused by a pair of multicar accidents. Coby's average speed was calculated to be 46.071 mph. The first caution came on lap 32 when Keith Rocco had a steering malfunction, a possible broken rack and pinion, and clipped Eric Goodale, sending him into the wall. Rocco's crew was unable to make repairs and he ended up in 28th finishing position. The second caution came on lap 49 when Anthony Nocella ran into the tire barrier in turn one and suffered a flat. The third caution came on lap 63 when Ken Heagy hit the wall in turn two. The fourth caution was displayed when Timmy Solomito, Anthony Nocella, Bobby Santos and Heagy tangled in turn two All were able to rejoin the field except Nocella. Wade Cole brought out the fifth caution on lap 118 when he spun in turn four. The sixth and final caution waved on lap 126when Andy Seuss got out of shape and collected Santos, Jeff Goodale, Solomito, Joe Osborne and Max Zachem.
  The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes a week off before returning to action Friday, Aug. 7 for the Call Before You Dig 150 at the Stafford Motor Speedway. The O’Reilly Auto Parts 200 race will be shown, taped delayed on NBC Sports Net on Thursday, July 30 at 7 p.m. ET

  At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night Ron Williams got the benefit of Ryan Preece's overly aggressive driving style as he was awarded the SK Modified win. In the closing moments of the 42 lap feature Rowan Pennink made a move to the inside of Preece for the lead in turn 4 with 5 laps to go and he took the lead but Preece came back strong with a crossover move in turn 3 on the very next lap and he was the leader at the line by a nose. Preece got clear of Pennink as they hit the line to complete lap 40 but Pennink made another move to the inside of Preece in turn 3 to take the lead as they came to the white flag. Preece gave Pennink a tap to the bumper, upsetting Pennink's forward motion, as the cars were coming to the checkered flag and Preece took the checkered flag with Williams edging out Keith Rocco for second. Pennink crossed the line in fourth but NASCAR Officials penalized Preece back to fifth place for his move on the final lap, making Williams the winner thanks to his last lap pass on Rocco. Matt Galko finished third, Pennink was fourth, and Preece rounded out the top-5 after the penalty was applied.
  For Williams it was his third win of the year in the SK Modified® feature, Tom Butler was a first time winner in the Late Model feature, D.J. Burnham scored his third win of the year in the SK Light feature, Andrew Hayes took down his third win of the season in the Limited Late Model feature, Frank L’Etoile, Jr. won for the second time this year in the DARE Stock feature, and Dana DiMatteo was a winner for the time this season in the Legend Cars feature.

  When the cat is away, the mice will play at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. In the Modified division and Late Model division at the shoreline oval "The Cat" Keith Rocco was at a tour event at the Monadnock Speedway in New Hampshire. "The Mice", Tyler Chadwick in the SK Modifieds and Jason Palmer in the Late Models, took advantage of Rocco's absence and recorded wins in their respective divisions. Chadwick, who dedicated his win to his recently murdered sister, started 10th. Joe Gada finished second with Rob Janovic, third. Craig Lutz and Diego Monahan rounded out the top five. Ted Christopher, who bypassed the Monadnock event, finished seventh. Palmer beat out Vinnie Esposito and Joe Curioso. Other winners were Paul Buzel in the SK Lites, Brad Caddick in the Mini-Stocks and Chris Myer in the Limited Sportsman.

  The NASCAR Modifieds had the week off at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island.

  Down in the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem NC twin 50's were run for the NASCAR Modifieds. Jason Myers won the first 50-lap race, holding off Tim Brown. It was his fourth win of the year and also his 22nd win of his career, tying him with his grandfather Billy Myers, who died in a race at Bowman Gray in 1958, for 19th on the all-time wins list. Chris Fleming finished third and Burt Myers was fourth. In the second 50 lapper, In the second race, John Smith won his second of the year and held off Ronnie Clifton, who started first. Clifton started first because they had the Madhouse Scramble and Jason Myers drew 14th, which meant the field was inverted starting at 14.

  The Thompson Motorsports Park returns to oval track racing this coming Wednesday night, July 29 with the Sunoco Modified 20/20 Sprint which will kick off with two 20-lap point races, with the second being inverted based upon finishing position in the first race. The final race will be a 10-lap sprint, and the best combined finish will determine the overall winner. A new twist this year will be a bounty for the leader following the second segment. If the driver opts to start last in the final segment, and still emerges the overall winner, they will receive a cash prize! This will also feature the return of their annual Whelen Night and TSMP will honor first responders.

  The Valenti Modified Racing Series had an event scheduled for last Friday at the Devils Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vermont. With showers and possible thunderstorms expected until at least 6:00 p.m., management from Devil’s Bowl Speedway and the Valenti Modified Racing Series agreed to postpone the inaugural Newport Chevrolet-Buick-GMC 100.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week all three speedway stocks showed negative results. Speedway Motorsports went down 1.51 to 21.65 while the International Speedway Corporation dropped 0.87 to 34.88 and Dover Entertainment dropped 0.01 to 2.23. NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) dropped 2.44 to 50.24, NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear dropped 1.21 to 29.27 and NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint dropped 0.40 to 3.44. Two of the three auto makers were also down for the week. General Motors went up 0.41 to 31.06 while Ford dropped 0.30 to 14.39 and Toyota dropped 2.81 to 132.55. In the home improvement sector, Lowes took a dip as they dropped 5.75 to 61.78 and Home Depot dropped 0.88 to 113.59. All the big team sponsors stocks took a hit. Coca-Cola dropped 10.58 to 151.62 while McDonalds dropped 1.40 to 96.10, Target dropped 4.48 to 80.21, Aarons Rentals dropped 2.00 to 34.99 and Fedex dropped 5.84 to 162.41.

  On the tube this coming week:

  Thursday, July 30

3:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 2
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America Live, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
6:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
7:00PM NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Monadnock NBCSN

  Friday, July 31
2:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS2
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
8:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
11:00 AM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pocono practice, NBCSN
1:00 PM, Being: Stewart-Haas Racing, FS1
2:00 PM, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Pocono practice, FS1
4:30 PM, NSCS Pocono qualifying, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Iowa final practice, NBCSN

  Saturday, August 1
8:00 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
8:30 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
9:00 AM, NSCS Pocono practice, NBCSN
10:00 AM, NCWTS Pocono qualifying, FS1
11:30 AM, NSCS Pocono final practice, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NCWTS Pocono race, FS1
4:30 PM, NXS Iowa qualifying, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NXS Iowa race, NBCSN

  Sunday, August 2
6:00 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
10:30 AM, NSCS Pocono qualifying re-air, NBCSN
12:00 PM, NASCAR America Sunday, NBCSN
1:30 PM, NSCS Pocono race, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NSCS Post Show, NBCSN
11:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

  Monday, August 3
12:00 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
12:00 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
3:30 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane re-air, FS1
3:00 PM, NASCAR 120: NSCS Pocono race re-air, 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 28, 2015

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