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DOUG COBY
FINDS THE STEEL TRAILS
AT OSWEGO SPEEDWAY TO RIDE TO VICTORY
Coby Scores Fourth 2016 Win
by
Denise DuPont |
 Twenty-one
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) took the green
flag at Oswego Speedway for the NWMT Toyota Modified
Classic 150 Presented by McDonalds. The last time
that the NWMT teams came to Oswego Speedway was 1989
and the winner was Tony Hirschman. Hirschman had led
the race from wire to wire to earn his win.
On Saturday, Bobby Santos of Franklin, MA.
established a new qualifying record for the tour
with a time of 17.853 seconds or a speed: of 126.029
mph. The previous record for Oswego Speedway was
etched in the books twenty-eight years ago when
prior champion, Mike McLaughlin ran an 18.259 lap
(123.226 mph). Santos also broke another NASCAR
record for Oswego by being the youngest pole winner
(30 years and two months) that was also held by
McLaughlin.
Doug Coby from Milford, CT. may not have led all
circuits but he led 121 laps out of the 150 lap
feature race and the one that meant the most, the
last lap. This win maintains Coby’s point edge on
the championship run ahead of second place contender
Justin Bonsignore from Holtsville, NY by twenty
points.
 When
the field came around to take the initial green
flag, Santos had the pole with Coby on his outside.
Coby wasted no time passing Santos to secure the top
position. Then just past the 50 lap mark Coby
selected to pit for tires. Rowan Pennink of
Huntingdon Valley, PA. inherited the lead and kept
the top spot until lap 91 when Coby passed him to
take back first place. Coby was a man on a mission.
He wanted to stay ahead of competitors in the NWMT
championship chase and yes, he tasted victory. Coby
survived three more restarts and several passing
attempts by Bonsignore and Timmy Solomito of Islip,
NY, to take the win.
When modified teams had practiced, they learnt all
the nuances of the new tour track. Race time meant
more laps, learning and strategies for the teams.
The #2 Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano Construction, Mike
Smeriglio owned Chevrolet proved they were fast
learners. Coby provided feedback and crew chief Phil
Moran turned the wrenches. Together they provided
Coby what he needed to wheel the car to victory
lane. “As you run a lot of laps here, there are a
lot of quirks. I just wanted to make sure that I did
not take the left front off on the boiler plate in
the corners,” Coby stated. “I did not want to leave
the bottom open too much. I know that Timmy
(Solomito) was pretty good. When you have the guys
that are chasing you for points are right behind you
on the restart, you know that they are going for it.
The last ten laps I wanted to send a message that
they were going to have to be awfully fast to catch
us tonight. “
 “My
car was awesome so it helped to be able to learn the
track. It is good to have a car that allows you to
do that.” Coby confessed. “We were great from the
time that we unloaded. I just had to get us to what
I need here. The more laps I got here I felt like I
raced here hundreds of times. It felt like another
Thompson to me. It was very comfortable. I
understood where all the bumps were and I understood
how to use the outside lane on restarts to my
advantage. It was really just a biting my time,
saving fuel and just doing my best to keep the thing
going in the right direction. It was just a great
car. For me it was just hang on, drive the thing and
don’t do anything stupid.” So Coby used his head,
stayed clean and captured the checkered flags and
his fourth 2016 win.
The final caution was a pivotal one for Solomito, It
allowed him to slide under Bonsignore for second. “I
was trying like heck there,” acknowledged Solomito.
“I just burnt it up to much getting back through
traffic and heading back towards the front. I had a
great car and I think if I had saved it a little bit
I would have had something for him at the end. I
think I was better than him on the short runs but at
the end he pulled away on the longer runs. But that
is alright. It was my first time here and I look
forward to coming back it is a pretty cool race
track.”
 Solomito’s
runner up finish also closed the point gap between
himself, Coby and Bonsignore. The top three drivers
have now shifted their focus to the championship
possibilities forcing them to pay more attention to
where drivers are during races. So as the race
season winds down, top race finishes become more and
more important.
Summarizing his night Solomito was all smiles: “It
was a lot of fun. When I looked at it this morning I
thought it would be one groove racing and it proved
me wrong. There was a lot of two groove side by side
racing were you had to think to put yourself in
position to get to the car in front of you. So that
was cool”
“It is a really cool track and obviously a tough
place to pass.” Expressed Bonsignore after the race.
“They put some syrup down. So now that is the third
track in a row now that they have done that for us.
I think that they could have used a little bit more
in turn one and two. Turn three and four were pretty
cool, you could roll the top pretty good. But it was
still very hard to pass.”
“It was the first time here in a long time for the
series with a lot of us being our first time here,”
stated Bonsignore. “So I knew it was going to be who
ever hit it best was going to buy a win. Doug just
had really good drive all the way through the corner
and this place is one big turn. So he had the drive.
We were starting to roll back to him at the end of
the long run before the last yellow. I sure did not
want to see that, it cost us a position.” Stated
third place finisher Bonsignore. “But all and all it
was a really cool day and I am really proud of the
day that we had. Obviously we want to beat the #2
every week to catch him in the points. But we did
not lose a lot today. So we will go to Seekonk where
we always have had really good cars. The Art Barry
stuff should just translate over and I have no doubt
that we can win there. I am excited to get the rest
of the season going here and hopefully make these
guys work if they are going to beat us this year”.
Rob Summers of Manchester, CT. for fourth, Patrick
Emerling of Orchard Park, NY fifth, Chuck Hossfeld
from Ramsonville, NY. sixth, Rowan Pennink, seventh,
Chase Dowling of Roxbbury, CT eighth, Ron Silk of
Norwalk, CT ninth and Craig Lutz from Miller Place,
NY round up the top ten.
Next week the NWMT will move onward from the ‘Steel
Palace’ of Oswego Speedway to the ‘Cement Palace’ of
Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, September 10th.
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Source:
Denise DuPont / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
September 4, 2016 |
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