Champ Trail - July 5, 2016

  The Modified Tri-Track Series visited the Seekonk Speedway on Wednesday night. With 39 cars on hand it made for an exciting set of qualifying heats. Doug Coby scored a double shot as he won the Boston Louie NEMA Midget event and the Tri Track Modified 100. It was the third time that Coby won the Tri Track event.
  In the 100 lap event that paid $10,000, Coby started fourth and took the lead following a lap 40 restart. Coby fought off challenges from Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore to the end which came at 11:30pm. Silk prevailed in second spot while Bonsignore was penalized for an improper restarting spot and placed in sixth spot at the finish. Rowan Pennink finished third with Les Hinckley and Matt Hirschman rounding out the top five.
  Twenty three of the original 27 starters finished on the lead lap. Among those who didn't finish was Tommy Barrett who was making his first start of the season. Barrett was up to sixth with 15 laps to go when his car quit. He ended up dead last. Among those who didn't qualify was Ted Christopher who was eliminated after a crash in the fifth heat. Christopher was third fastest in practice.

  Due to the severe weather forecast for Friday night that included thunderstorms and hail, Stafford Speedway cancelled their Fourth of July Celebration program. The fireworks and Senior Champ Kart feature that were scheduled have been rescheduled to Friday, July 29th.
  Racing resumes at the Stafford Speedway this coming Friday night with the 3rd Annual NAPA SK 5k. The SK Modified race will pay the winner a guaranteed $5,000 out of a total purse of over $27,000.In weekly Friday night racing at Stafford.
  The competition at Stafford this year has been nothing short of being fabulous with close wheel to wheel action in all divisions.

  Ted Christopher had a tough couple of weeks in SK Modified competition at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. On Saturday night at the shoreline oval his previous bad luck awarded him a pole shot in the feature which he took full advantage as he led every lap to record his first victory at the track in 2016. Diego Monahan was second and Keith Rocco, third. Todd Owen and Justin Gaydosh rounded out the top five.
  In other events Keith Rocco won the first Late Model feature, Anthony Flannery was victorious in the second Late Model feature, Andrew Molleur won the SK Light Modified feature, Monte Gibbs topped the field in the Limited Sportsman feature, Wayne Burroughs Jr. won the Mini Stock feature and Ryan Locke won the NEMA Lites feature.
  Keith Rocco continues to build on his record setting feature win total. Rocco's recorded a win in the Late Model division at the shoreline oval brought his track win total to 126 wins. The win also took Rocco over the top to a career overall total of 222 wins which also include victories at Thompson and Stafford Speedways.

  The Valenti Modified Racing Series was at the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH on Saturday night for a 100 lapper. Jon McKennedy made four attempts in the final nine laps only to make the last one count for the win. McKennedy drove it in hard in turn three and snuck under leader Russ Hersey to steal a victory. Todd Patnode finished third and was followed by Steve Masse and Chris Pasteryak.

  At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island, sophomore NASCAR Modified talent Kyle Soper rewarded his hard working team with a win on Saturday night winning the 66th Year Celebration 66-lap feature for his second straight Whelen All American Series triumph. Shawn Solomito was runner-up noting afterwards, "this is our tour car, we were just a tick off but hats off to Kyle he earned it". Dave Brigati was third with John Fortin Jr. and Howie Brode rounding out the top five.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week, all three speedway stocks ended the week on the plus side. Leading the pack was the International Speedway Corporation which went up 1.66 to 34.22. Speedway Motorsports went up 0.91 to 17.89 and Dover Entertainment went up 0.06 to 2.14. NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear went up 0.33 to 25.90 and NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint went up 0.41to 4.53 while NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) dropped 1.31 to 37.68. With the exception of Toyota which dropped 4.32 to 99.64 the car manufacturers had a fairly decent week. General Motors went up 0.54 to 28.89 and Ford went up 0.20 to 12.72. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went up 3.22 to 129.62 and Lowes went up 1.54 to 79.60. The big team's sponsor's stocks were all up. McDonalds went up 1.96 to 120.40, Coca-Cola went up 4.23 to 144.82, Target Department Stores went up 0.70 to 70.05, Aarons Rentals went up 0.65 to 22.38 and Fedex went up 3.27 to 153.34.

  On the tube this week:

  Thursday, July 7
1:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Kentucky practice, NBC Sports Net
2:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
2:30 PM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kentucky practice, NBCSN
4:00 PM, NXS Kentucky practice, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kentucky qualifying, FOX Sports 2
6:30 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NXS Kentucky final practice, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NCWTS SetUp, FOX Sports 1
8:30 PM, NCWTS Kentucky race, FS1

  Friday, July 8
1:30 AM, NCWTS Kentucky race re-air, FS2
2:00 AM, NXS Kentucky final practice re-air, NBCSN
3:30 AM, NCWTS Kentucky race re-air, FS1
12:00 PM, NSCS Kentucky practice, NBCSN
1:30 PM, NSCS Kentucky final practice, NBCSN
4:00 PM, NASCAR The List - Best Daytona Moments, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NXS Kentucky qualifying, NBCSN
8:00 PM, NXS Countdown, NBCSN
8:30 PM, NXS Kentucky race, NBCSN
11:00 PM, NXS Post Race Show, NBCSN

  Saturday, July 9
4:00 PM, 1979 Daytona 500, FS2
4:30 PM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS2
4:30 PM, NSCS Kentucky qualifying re-air, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR America Saturday, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NSCS Countdown, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NSCS Kentucky race, NBCSN
11:00 PM, NSCS Post Race Show, NBCSN
11:30 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

  Sunday, July 10
12:00 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
4:00 AM, NCWTS Kentucky race re-air, FS2
10:30 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
11:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

   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 5, 2016