|
|
NWMT NAPA
FALL FINAL 150
Three Way Run to the Title Tightens With Two Races to Go
by
Polly Reid |
 The
first two thirds of the event played out about as
ideal as one could want in a tight points battle
with the top three leading the way. It was a
different story in final third with a
bigger-than-life feel involving unexpected twists
and turns. In the end, when the checker flag waved,
it was Doug Coby of Milford, CT in the Mike
Smeriglio owned, Dunleavy’s Repair/HEX Performance
Chevrolet crossing the stripe to collect the NWMT
NAPA Fall Final victory at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT followed for second, Timmy
Solomito of Islip, NY third, Donny Lia from Jericho,
NY fourth and Shawn Solomito of Islip, NY completed
the top five.
Woody Pitkat of Stafford, CT leading the points by
eight over Ryan Preece going into the NAPA Fall
crossed the line 12th. The finish jumbled up the
standings and with only one event left on the
schedule, the Sunoco World Series at Thompson
Speedway Motorsports Park October 18th, Coby and
Preece head to the finale tied for the lead in
points with 565. Pitkat, a solid threat for the
title is only four back with 561.
“Buckle up,” said Coby when he heard about the tied
points, “it’s coming down to the last race.”
 While Coors Light Pole Award winner Doug Coby
brought the twenty-seven car field to green it was
Ryan Preece in the Ed Partridge owned, TS
Haulers/East West Marine Chevrolet that made the
move on the outside taking the lead. Coby in second,
Timmy Solomito in third made it a three car break
away. By lap twenty-five, while Preece held the lead
and Coby a close second, Woody Pitkat starting tenth
had gained several spots marching forward to the top
five taking over fourth by lap 27. But the field was
stretched out- Pitkat needed a caution which waved
on lap 29 when Todd Szegedy spun in turn 4. That
closed up the field for the restart on lap 35-
Preece, Coby, Timmy Solomito, Pitkat and Bobby
Santos the top five.
The restart appeared solid- Preece was again
followed by Coby. Pitkat took over third from
Solomito on lap 41 and from there, the three point
leaders settled in that order for a green run.
At the half way mark, Preece continued to fend off
Coby’s attempts to pass for the lead, Pitkat
regained the one spot lost to Solomito without
incident and now, in the preferred pit window time,
it was a matter of waiting for the next yellow. Lap
94, Matt Swanson spun in turn two- the caution was
out- it was time to come down pit road for new
Hoosiers. James Civali was the first out. Preece and
Coby next, wheel to wheel exiting the pits, Preece
getting the edge, Timmy Solomito and Pitkat
completed the top five.
Donny Lia and Ronnie Williams who had both pitted
earlier, led the field to green on the lap 99
restart with Civali, Preece, Coby, Solomito, Pitkat,
Justin Bonsignore, Ted Christopher and Eric Goodale
the top ten. Just after the green, things went
south.
 On lap 100, one car up front got out of shape on the
back stretch and Preece with no place to go, was
collected up. The carnage stopped in turn three- the
day was over for Williams, Patrick Emerling and Jeff
Goodale. Preece was able to come down pit road but
the crew was halted from making any repairs when the
red flag came out for track clean up.
Seven minutes later when the yellow waved, crew
chief Tommy Grasso and the TS Haulers team set to
task getting Preece out of the pits without going a
lap down. Unfortunately, NASCAR called a penalty for
too many men over the wall and Preece lined up at
‘the tail end of the line.’
Lia at the point for the restart led Coby, Pitkat,
Ted Christopher, Timmy Solomito and Chase Dowling
the top five. Coby fired up solid at the green and
moved around Lia on the outside to take the lead for
the first time on lap 106. Pitkat in third didn’t
stay there long passing Christopher for second and
by lap 120 – Coby and Pitkat had pulled from the
pack with Timmy Solomito third, Lia and Christopher
the top five.
Preece had worked his way up to seventh.
 A caution on lap 123 brought out another red flag
when the motor blew on the Santos machine.
On the restart with twenty-one laps to go it was
Coby, Pitkat, Timmy Solomito, Lia and Preece the top
five. It appeared Pitkat spun his tires on the
restart and Preece shot into third.
Three laps later, Christopher and Max Zachem spun
through the infield on the front stretch both
continued but the yellow waved setting up another
restart on lap 136 with Coby, Timmy Solomito,
Preece, Pitkat and Shawn Solomito the top five.
At the green and down the backstretch, Pitkat moved
high and Timmy Solomito with a nose on the outside
ran out of room. Sudden calamity on the backstretch,
the contact collected up Pitkat, Christopher, Zachem
and Anthony Nocella. The field under red to clear
the track, Pitkat was not allowed to move from the
entrance of turn three which made a complete
assessment of the damage a challenge. Once back to
yellow, Pitkat circled around to pit road for a new
tire and help with the toe out in the front.
Coby
and Preece- first and second, Pitkat lined up 14th,
the restart with only eight to go logged one more
circuit when James Civali suffered a right front
flat bringing out another yellow on lap 143.
Closing up again for what would be the final restart
on lap 146- Coby, Preece, Timmy Solomito, Lia and
Shawn Solomito brought it home for the top five with
Chase Dowling in sixth, Matt Swanson seventh, Jamie
Tomaino, Ken Heagy and Todd Szegedy the top ten.
Pitkat ran out of time and crossed the line for
12th.
 “I tell you, Ryan was very strong and the two of us
were taking off in the first half of the race,” said
Coby in victory lane. “I know he wanted to lead as
many laps as he could for the bonus point and I just
wanted to lead one. He drove his tail off to keep me
behind him. You know, we did what we had to do- he
had some problems on the restart and we didn’t so we
got out front and here we are in victory lane, the
first time ever in the Fall Final, it’s a special
feeling to win this race – it’s been something I’ve
been coming to since I was 16 years old and tried in
so many different divisions to win. Great day for
our team, the car was awesome all day. Ryan was
strong, I tell you even a little stronger than us.
The harder I tried to get him- I just couldn’t. But
once we got out front, I know he had some issues, I
saw Woody had some issues so I was just running my
line and that was it. I can’t thank my team enough,
they just work so hard – whether you’re a fan of
ours or not, you can appreciate a car that comes to
the racetrack well prepared every week and a team
that does their job – they had a great pit stop –
it’s not just about me driving this thing around the
track against Ryan, it’s about this team really
putting in a huge effort to try and win a
championship, we’re really excited.”
“My team never gave up,” said Preece. “They worked
real hard, they gave me a good change on that stop-
then I drove it back to the front. Tommy Grasso and
this TS Haulers team deserves as much credit as
anybody, they do such a good job. Eddie and Connie
Partridge, they give us everything we need. It looks
like it’s going to be a dog fight there at
Thompson.”
“The guys gave me a really good car all day,” said
Timmy Solomito. “I hate that I spun them on that
restart when we got to second. That outside lane
like Ryan said felt like you couldn’t get any
traction. Doug was kind of creeping to the restarts
and he was like going a little bit before the go
zone, he was kind of like rolling to it and that’s
what caught me off guard so I see him fire and I
jump on it and got kind of sideways and that’s what
kind of killed us. Unfortunately, Woody had gotten
underneath us and we just ran out of racing room
down the back straight away. I was on his outside, I
mean I was up against the concrete, I couldn’t go
any higher- I hate to see that for him. I’m trying
to race all these championship competitors with as
much respect as possible and we just ran out of
racing room. It’s not always roses and this year it
has proved that, we’ve really had to work at it. I
can’t thank the Flamingo Team enough- they’ve stood
behind me, we’ve had bad races, we’ve had good races
and we’ve had in-between races but they’ve never
lost faith in me. They have asked me to come back
again next year and I’m excited for that. I’m happy
I’ll be back in such a good car with such a good
team and hopefully we’ll have all our notes from the
previous year and grow stronger next year. Eric
Sanderson gives us the best of the best – I just
can’t thank him enough.”
Car owner Mike Smeriglio III couldn’t be more proud
of the way his team has pulled together to get them
back in the hunt for the title. “I don’t know where
to start,” said Smeriglio. "There’s no discussion
about ever quitting. When you look at the
performance of the 2 team this year, it’s better
than last year. The stats speak for themselves, we
just had a couple of issues that we put ourselves a
little bit in a hole but Doug doesn’t give up. Phil
doesn’t give up nor do the guys behind him give up.
You can’t worry about what you can’t control, just
do the best you can – Phil Moran’s taught me that-
he knows I’m the accountant and I’m going to watch
points but the way you get maximum points is leading
the most and you win. We knew, in order to come back
from a 32 point deficit from Bristol with four races
to go, a second at Riverhead, a New Hampshire win, a
Stafford win we’re going back to Thompson with a
pretty dominant setup. MSIII Racing, we’re there.”
And ‘keep digging’ has indeed taken on a new meaning
for the winning team. After the incident in Bristol,
a new LFR Chassis was unloaded at Loudon and that
same car was used here at Stafford. “The first time
that car was on the track was in practice at
Loudon,” said winning crew chief Phil Moran. Today,
the MSIII Racing team pulled off their sixth win of
the 2015 season and Moran had only high praise for
the team. “The pit stop was awesome. We had a great
stop actually- we don’t get to practice that much-
our practice is basically when we are at the race
track because a lot of the guys live from three to
five hours from the race shop- it’s tough to get
them to come down there. They are awesome at what
they do- they put their game face on. I try to be a
little bit of a cheerleader when the car is coming
down pit row and they hit it just right.”
Winning three races in a row at Thompson, Moran has
planned and prepared for the season ending event
putting MSIII Racing into the best possible positon
for a fourth win- they will be using the same car
that carried them to victory lane the first three
times. “It’s a known car, I know what the car will
do at Thompson- I saved the Thompson car for
Thompson. We didn’t want to take a chance and bring
that to Stafford even though it’s run really well at
Stafford before, we didn’t want to take a chance and
have something happen. We could have been in the
same situation that Woody or Ryan was in.”
“After so many years doing this, it’s not that it’s
routine, it’s just what we do,” said Moran about
looking ahead. “Spot (Ron Ste Marie crew chief for
the 88) is in the same situation. Tommy Grasso (crew
chief for the 6) is in the same situation- you go in
Monday morning- OK the weekend’s gone now we
concentrate on the next race. It’s what we do, it’s
what everybody does. The cream always rises to the
top- you could see that today at Stafford- at what
lap 60- Ryan’s leading, Doug’s second and Woody’s
third. And here you are, first, second and third in
points and it’s been like that all year.”
Moran has a philosophy etched from a seemingly
lifetime of working on modifieds. “Hope for the best
and expect the worse. Racing, it’s the cruelest
sport in the world. You could be on the highest high
and in two seconds you could be the lowest low. You
go through the day optimistic but as a realist- deal
with reality. We’ll go home- run through this car,
figure out what we need- then bring two good cars to
Thompson. Bring a good back up car and bring a
really good primary car. We’re going to put all our
best bullets in the gun.”
There is no question that every team will be working
hard to be at the top of their game for Thompson.
Each driver, crew chief, team member and car owner
knows what they need on October 18th- a perfect day.
“We’re going to do some homework this week,” said
Preece. “That seems to be the track we’re struggling
with a little bit but I have all the faith in the
world in Tommy (Grasso). I know we’re going to do
everything we can to show up and be one of the
fastest cars there. That’s what it’s going to come
down to- it’s not about finishing anymore it’s about
winning that race. We’ll see who is willing to drive
the hardest and win that race. That’s what it’s
going to take.”
“I’m excited to go to Thompson and hopefully deliver
another championship for my guys,” said Coby. “This
is the fourth straight season I’ve gone to Thompson
with a mathematical chance to win the championship
and that’s really neat. I’ve been there before,
Ryan’s been there before- I know that he has
additional pressure in terms of his career
aspirations – take that aside, Ryan isn’t somebody
who is going to crack under pressure and he’s
certainly able to perform well. Woody has come a
long way and after today it’s going to be important
for him to just rebound mentally and get in the
right state and certainly he can go out and win that
race. It comes down to winning the race- if you win
the race, you win the championship. That’s what
we’re going there to do.”
“Strap in- boy, it’s pretty neat,” said Coby about
Thompson. “It’s good for the fans, good for the
series. I know Ryan has a lot of opportunity ahead
of him and he deserves it. Regardless of Loudon- I
speak very highly of Ryan. I had a really good
relationship off the track- I don’t know if we still
do- it’s one of those things, I said in one
interview over the week that this is going on four
years of us slugging it out and the previous three
years it was I want to get as many points as I can,
as many spots as I can. But this year, with Woody in
the mix, it’s literally; every position on the
racetrack is like gold. And you have to drive that
way or you’re going to come up a spot short at the
end of the year. I’ve tried my hardest all year to
maintain every position I have to win races, run up
front and the guys have tried their hardest to give
me a good car – we’re leaving it all on the table
right here- whatever happens, happens. If we don’t
win it, we don’t win it but we’re trying our hardest
and it’s making it interesting.”
“It’s going to be a barn burner at Thompson,” said
Coby. “I hope everyone that was here today gets a
ticket and goes to Thompson to support that race-
it’s certainly going to be an exciting day up
there.”
The NAPA Fall Final at Stafford will air on NBCSN
Saturday October 10th at 4pm.
Look forward to seeing everyone at the Sunoco World
Series at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park and if
for some reason you can’t make the finale, tune in
to www.thechromehorn.com Denise DuPont will have
live updates all weekend.
|
Source:
Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
October 6, 2015 |
|
|
