33rd Annual Tribute to Tommy Druar & Tony Jankowiak ‘110 Holland Speedway July 30 Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 9 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 8 2 12 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY 10 3 5 73X Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY 2 4 15 45 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 11 5 1 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA -4 6 4 25 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY -2 7 18 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 11 8 23 54PJ Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 15 9 6 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -3 10 14 56PJ Trevor Catalano Trevor Catalano Ontario, NY 4 11 25 0 Randall Richard Randall Richard 14 12 19 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 7 13 11 11 Kirk Totten Kirk Totten Lockport, NY -2 14 17 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY 3 15 13 2 Tony Hanbury Tony Hanbury Owego, NY -2 16 16 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA - 17 20 27 Danny Hartzell Danny Hartzell Sweet Valley, PA 3 18 10 14M Dan Majchrzak Dan Majchrzak Perry, NY -8 19 3 71 Jimmy Zacharias Jimmy Zacharias Candor, NY -16 20 7 65 George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY -13 21 2 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -19 22 8 14 Patrick Emerling Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY -14 23 22 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY -1 24 24 83 Jeff Szafraniec Jeff Szafraniec Akron, NY - 25 21 45PJ Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -4 26 27 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 1 27 28 21 Paul Townsond Paul Townsond Guelph, ON 1 28 26 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA -2
Clash at Claremont 150 at Claremont Motorsports Park- July 29 The Clash at Claremont 150 was a relatively peaceful outing for McKennedy. Once he passed rookie Jake Johnson for the lead in the opening laps, McKennedy set the pace and finished the night uncontested ahead of the rest of his competition. Despite breaking his long dry spell, McKennedy was unable to bring home the $5,000 paycheck that came with winning the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup.That honor belonged to veteran Matt Hirschman, whose fourth-place finish in the Clash at Claremont 150 allowed him to edge out NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship leader Ron Silk by two points to claim the honor. Hirschman, who has been a part-time Whelen Modified Tour competitor since 2016, was honored to bring home the inaugural Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup and said the initiative highlights the need for fans and competitors to support Modified racing in the Northeast.“I probably wouldn’t have gone to all three races had they not been tied together with a bonus,” Hirschman said. “I remember going to Beech Ridge last year and they thanked me for coming. Stuff like that is appreciated, and I talked to my car owner [Roy Hall] about [the Granite State Short Track Cup] and he said this is something we should support.”The Granite State Short Track Cup was far from a smooth experience for Hirschman, who saw a win in the series’ second race at Monadnock Speedway slip away late after contact with the lapped car of J.B. Fortin.Hirschman still thinks about that near miss at Monadnock, but considers himself fortunate the outcome did not significantly hinder his chances of winning the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup. He also expressed his gratitude to JDV Productions and the full-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers for mostly racing him clean during the three-race series. “I don’t think I’ve ever won a three-race series that paid that much to the champion,” Hirschman said. “This is certainly appreciated. The guys that we were contending with are in for the big prize during the whole season. Hopefully they have a good race up until the end, but we’ll join them a couple of more times.” One of those drivers expected to contend for the championship is McKennedy, who trailed Silk by 10 points entering the Clash at Claremont 150 and is expected to trim that deficit slightly as the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion finished right behind him in second. Now that he has a win during the 2022 season, McKennedy feels confident heading into the final six races on the schedule and believes that he can overtake Silk in the standings and add a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship to his resume. “This gives us some momentum heading into the last handful of races,” McKennedy said. “We’re heading to Thompson next, which is a really great track for me. I feel really good, and we’ll be going to Thompson with a brand new car, so hopefully that’ll give us a little extra.” Johnson followed McKennedy and Silk in the running order with a third-place finish. Kyle Bonsignore finished behind Hirschman to complete the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 were Justin Bonsignore, Tommy Catalano, Brian Robie, Doug Coby and Matthew Kimball.
Jon McKennedy Scores Whelen Mod Tour Clash At Claremont Victory; Matt Hirschman Takes Granite State Bonus July 30, 2022 by Shawn Courchesne
It was a second and a first Friday at Claremont Motorsports Park for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Jon McKennedy. The Chelmsford, Mass. driver dominated on the way to victory in the Whelen Modified Tour Clash at Claremont 150 Friday at Claremont (N.H.) Speedway.It was the second series victory for McKennedy, but his first driving for first year team owners Tim and Cheryl Lepine. McKennedy got his first career series victory on March 17, 2018 at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway in his first start for team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. McKennedy drove for Baldwin through the 2021 season. The pair parted ways after last season and McKennedy began work building the a new team for the Lepine’s. “This was way overdue,” McKennedy said. “My last few years I had a real good deal with Tommy Baldwin and the 7NY group. It’s a been few years since we won. We had so many seconds with Tommy … I think we had eight or nine seconds. We were always in contention. Just couldn’t get that W the last years. But we’re back here. We won tonight. This is awesome. We’ve got a great group of guys. They worked really hard today. The last few months really switching cars back and forth. It’s a team effort. Big thanks to them. My car owners Tim and Cheryl Lepine, it’s the whole package.” McKennedy came into the night sitting second in the standings, 10 points behind Ron Silk. “This gives us some momentum going into the last few Tour races,” McKennedy said. “We’re in a point hunt here. We’re only a few points out of the lead so this was really big. We’re heading to Thompson [Speedway on Aug. 17] which is a really great track for me.” Silk, of Norwalk, was second. Nineteen year old rookie Jake Johnson of Rehoboth, Mass., coming off a win last Saturday in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H., was third. It was a career best Whelen Modified Tour finish for Johnson, who was making his fifth series start. Johnson won the pole for the event, his second pole of the season. McKennedy became only the second full-time series driver to win this year over the first 10 races of the season. Reigning series champion Justin Bonsignore (two wins) is the only other full-time driver to win in 2022. Other series winners this year include Doug Coby (two wins), Hirschman, Mike Christopher Jr., Kyle Soper, Jimmy Blewett and Anthony Nocella. Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. used a fourth place finish to clinch the inaugural Granite State Cup. The Granite State Cup was comprised of the JDV Productions series events held at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. (May 21), Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. (June 19) and Claremont. Hirschman edged Silk to capture the $5,000 bonus. Hirschman was third at Lee and second at second at Monadnock. Silk was fourth at Lee and third at Monadnock. “I’m glad they tied them all together, JDV Productions and Josh Vanada,” Hirschman said. “Probably would not have gone to all three races had it been tied together with a bonus that we were eligible for. I appreciate that.” Friday’s event marked just the third Whelen Modified Tour event at Claremont and first since James Civali won at the track in 2007. Richie Evans won the only other series event at Claremont in 1985. Kyle Bonsignore of Bay Shore, N.Y. was fifth Friday. Justin Bonsignore, Tommy Catalano, Brian Robie, Doug Coby and Matthew Kimball rounded the top respectively at Claremont.
1 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 150 2 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 150 1.885 3 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Huntington Honda 150 3.725 4 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 150 4.081 5 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 150 4.538 6 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 150 5.908 7 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 150 7.366 8 25 Brian Robie* Maurice Enterprises 150 7.851 9 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150 8.242 10 76 Matthew Kimball* Kimball Trucking & Firewood/Gomarlos Supermarket 150 8.956 11 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 150 9.867 12 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 150 10.682 13 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service 150 11.399 14 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 150 11.631 15 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 149 1 Lap 16 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 149 1 Lap 17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 148 2 Laps 18 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict 148 2 Laps 19 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas 148 2 Laps 20 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 112 38 Laps 21 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 110 40 Laps 22 06 Sam Rameau Dennison Lubricants/Powdis Stone & Gravel 95 55 Laps 23 12 Todd Patnode* APEX Racing/Swanzey Oil 62 88 Laps RACE STATISTICS
Time of Race: 0 hrs., 45 mins, 13 secs
Average Speed: 65.684 mph
Margin of Victory: 1.885 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 64-69 (Car #12 turn 1 lost power, no FP); 81-86 (Car #36 & #82 turn 4 contact, no FP); 97-101 (Car #06 & #36 turn 3 & 4 contact, FP #01); 111-116 (Car #92 turn 1 lost power, FP #36). 4 for 23 laps.
Lap Leaders: Justin Bonsignore 1-11, Jake Johnson * 12-13, Jon McKennedy 14-150.
Total Laps Led: Jon McKennedy 137, Justin Bonsignore 11, Jake Johnson * 2. 2 changes involving 3 drivers.
Fast Learner: Jake Johnson Wins Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 At Star on July 23
EPPING, N.H. – Last October in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series season finale at Seekonk Speedway, Jake Johnson turned plenty of heads by scoring a third place finish in his series debut. Saturday at Star Speedway the 19-year old from Rehoboth, Mass. made sure the world of Modified races knows his name. Johnson was a dominant force in cruising to victory in the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 Saturday at Star Speedway. Johnson was making his fifth Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series start Saturday at Star. “It really is just a dream come true,” said Johnson, who has also made four starts this season with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “It couldn’t have worked out any better.” Before Saturday’s event at Star Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series managing partner Wayne Darling had to leave the track due to a medical issue. For Johnson, the celebration of victory couldn’t begin until he had a chance to speak with Darling. After climbing from his car in victory lane Johnson was handed a phone with Darling on the line. “Wayne is the reason I’m running with this series,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to thank him for everything he’s done for us. I was glad that I was able to do that.” Woody Pitkat of Stafford was second and Max Zachem of Preston third. Johnson was able to easily hold off the field on seven restarts over the final 44 laps. He said he didn’t mind the rash of cautions late in the event. “It felt good when your spotter is talking to you and telling you you’ve got a gap,” Johnson said of being able to pull away from his pursuers on each restart. “The fans like to see a lot of restarts at the end. It keeps the interest up. I knew we had a good car. The fans love to see the action. It made it more fun for me, it made it more meaningful. You’ve got to put your elbows up and drive for it.” Despite finishing second, Pitkat was one of those celebrating Johnson’s victory. Before starting in a Modified last year, Johnson had spent a number of years competing in Late Models. “It’s cool to see.” Pitkat said. “I feel like a lot people can’t jump from a Late Model to a Modified. It’s a lot. Thankfully I’ve been able to accomplish that. But to see a guy like that adapt so quickly, and win one of the biggest races out there is really cool. It’s nice to see somebody different. If you can’t win it’s nice to see somebody different win.” ohnson started on the pole. Chase Dowling went by him for the top spot on lap four. On lap 52 two cars at the tail of the end the lead lap got together forcing Dowling to slow in turn four and allowing Johnson to get by him for the lead. The first caution flew on lap 74, sending everybody to the pits. Matt Galko won the race out of the pits with Pitkat in second and Johnson third for the ensuing restart. Johnson went to second on the restart, but caution flew once again on lap 75. Following the next restart Galko drifted up the track in turn three, allowing Johnson to assume the lead once again. Johnson was never challenged again at the front.
Heated: Long Day At Star Speedway Leaves Matt Hirschman Perturbed With Officiating At SBM 125 July 24, 2022 by Shawn Courchesne
EPPING, N.H. – When it comes to the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series SBM 125 at Star Speedway, it’s fair to say Matt Hirschman is typically the odds-on favorite to win before teams even arrive for the event. Hirschman has long shined at the tight Epping, N.H. bullring. In the last five SBM 125 events at Star before Saturday’s event Hirschman had three wins, a third place and a fourth place. It’s clear Hirschman knows his way around the Star quarter-mile. Unfortunately for Hirschman in Saturday’s SBM 125 it wasn’t getting around the track that hurt him, but getting around the tight confines of the Star pitting area that was his demise. Frustrations building up through the steamy afternoon and into feature time Saturday for Hirschman reached a crescendo when he was penalized for speeding in the pits under caution during the feature.The penalty put him Hirschman, a six-time Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series champion, down one lap and removed him from eligibility for the lucky dog free pass for the remainder of the event. Hirschman ended up 21st in the 29-car field at Star. After the event Hirschman insisted he wasn’t speeding. Hirschman said he feels like series officials have been searching for reasons to penalize him through the first four events of the 2022 season. “I kind of feel since the beginning of the season there’s been things that have happened and I feel like they’ve been trying to get me on something,” Hirschman said. “It’s a judgment call, so anytime you have a judgment call you can get somebody.” Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series rules state that the times from tire scrub set the lineup for heat races. Because of a timing issue with the track on Saturday the heat lineups were set by practice times. Hirschman was fastest in practice which put him starting fourth in the third heat race. Hirschman said he thinks the rule is unfair and ultimately was what set his issues in motion on Saturday. Early in the the third heat Hirschman got driven high up the track by Sam Rameau. After getting out of the groove Hirschman fell back and finished last in the 9-car heat. “I’m not complaining about the series or anything. but the format they have now puts the fastest car in fourth place,” Hirschman said. “Which, you’re already out of the potential invert. To me that’s too severe of a handicap. But, A, there was an issue with the [timing], and that might be a track issue and not the series. That’s legit, whatever, it’s fine. Then when they realized that the scoring wasn’t going to work, then they went by practice speed, which I was first. So I got that fourth place penalty, and so didn’t the second and third place [in practice]. We all started fourth in our heats and ended up getting washed out and sent backwards. To me that wasn’t fair to the racer. You penalized those cars for going fast in practice? What are you supposed to do? Because of the scoring issue, if they wanted to go heads up, fine. Even if they had inverted three and put the fastest three cars in [starting position] three in each heat, then you’re already in the invert and you’ve still go to maintain or move forward. To me that would have been fair. But I don’t see what happened as fair.” It left Hirschman starting 28th in the feature. From the start it was clear Hirschman’s plan was to back off and save tire from the start. Hirschman rode around at or near the back of the field for most of the early going.By l ap 40 then race leader Chase Dowling was closing quickly on Hirschman at the rear of the field and at that point Hirschman started passing cars. Eventual race winner Jake Johnson went to the lead on lap 52 and quickly began working traffic at the tail end of the lead lap. In front of him Hirschman was frantically trying to pick up spots. The first caution of the race flew on lap 74 with Hirschman running 19th. The majority of the field went to the pits. When the cars arrived back out on the track Hirschman was 10th in the running order, having picked up nine spots during the pit stop. Under caution though Hirschman was deemed to have violated the speeding in the pits rule and was assessed a one-lap penalty. Monaco Modified rules state that along with the one-lap penalty for speeding, offenders are not eligible for the Lucky Dog free pass for the remainder of the event. Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series managing partner Ed Bennett said series official Greg Felton made the definitive judgment to call Hirschman for speeding. Bennett said the speeding rule is not judged simply by speed, but also by the effort to not put other drivers, crew members or officials in danger in the tight confines of the pit area. Hirschman was seen by multiple officials making what were deemed unsafe maneuvers to get around other cars and crews to get back to the track. He also hit the car of Dylan Izzo in the pit area. “I don’t feel I was speeding,” Hirschman said. “I did weave my way through. Meaning, if a car pulled out or tried to pull out or stalled, I didn’t break my momentum. I just weaved my way through. I don’t feel I was speeding.” Said Bennett: “Greg [Felton] made the call. I mean, he jumped wheels with Izzo’s car. I witnessed that. He blew by me and I was waving for him to slow down.” After the penalty Hirschman rode near the rear of the field for the remainder of the event. There were seven cautions following the penalty. “The penalty is so severe you basically can’t get [your lap] back,” Hirschman said. “Obviously in today’s racing lead lap cars go to the front so anytime a caution comes out you’re automatically going to go backwards. So you’re never going to get there. It’s such a severe penalty that if you want to get somebody on it, they got me.” Ultimately, Hirschman seemed to regret pushing the limit and putting himself in a position to be called for speeding. “If I would have stopped – whatever – and just let people go – even if five cars got out ahead of me – I just needed to go beat them on the track,” Hirschman said. “I guess I allowed myself to be subject for a judgment call. … Basically, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I’ll make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
St.John’s, PA 7-22-22) Friday night at Evergreen Raceway, Matt Hirschman diced his way to his third victory of the year at the track over Roger Coss. It would be Hirschman’s 50th feature win at the track.
Geary Rinehimer Jr. started on the pole for the 50 lap main but the caution flew with only one lap recorded after Steve Shultz suffered a right rear flat. On the ensuing restart, Cody Kohler would clear Rinehimer for the lead. It would be short lived as Roger Coss would overtake Kohler by lap 4. Several cautions slowed the event, but Coss proved he had a strong car early as he and Lou Stohl pulled away from the field. On a lap 27 restart, Earl Paules would find the wall coming off of turn two after touching wheels with Chuck Hossfeld. Coss would stay in command through three more cautions, but on lap 39, Hirschman used the inside line off on turn four to take the lead. There was no looking back and the fans once again saw the red number 60 in victory lane. Coss held on for second, followed by Hossfeld, Austin Kochenash and Austin Beers.
Tour Modifieds: MATT HIRSCHMAN, Roger Coss, Chuck Hossfeld, Austin Kochenash, Austin Beers, Lou Strohl, Bobby Jones, Darren Scherer, Nick Baer, Jerry Hildebrand, Artie Perdersen III, Carl Altemose, Jason Harman, Geary Rinehimer Jr, Cody Kohler, Steve Shultz, Earl Paules, Brian Defebo, Tom Rought
Squeeze Play: Anthony Nocella Scores Victory After Wild Whelen Modified Tour Finish At NHMS July 16, 2022 by Shawn Courchesne
Austins Thoughts: Had an up and down day at @NHMS in the KLM Motorsports #64! Qualified 9th on Friday and spent the first 20 laps in the lead pack just learning. After a restart at about lap 30 I ended up getting loose into turn one and spun. We checked on the car under yellow and it was still good other than some rub rail damage. After that we had a run all the way to lap 80 where we were riding in 11th. After an awesome pit stop with 15 to go we were all the way up to 6th. After restarting on the bottom with 5 to go. We got stuck down there and came across the line in 11th place which puts us 5th in points! Thank you to Mike Murphy and everyone at KLM Motorsports for not giving up all day and thanks to @Tjmajors for spotting for me last minute!
LOUDON, N.H. – For those who drive Tour Type Modifieds in New England, a victory in a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the stuff of dreams. For Anthony Nocella, who grew up just an hour south of the track in Woburn, Mass., those dreams have long been envisioned in his mind. But it’s fair to say the 29-year old Nocella probably never could have pictured the way he was able to score his first win in Loudon and on the Whelen Modified Tour Saturday. Nocella, running fifth going into turn three on the final lap, crossed under the checkered flag first in a chaotic finish in the Whelen Manufactured in America 100 Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Nocella was able to find a lane under the wrecking cars of Patrick Emerling, Eric Goodale and Kyle Bonsignore coming to the checkered. “I knew if you’re close down the backstretch [on the last lap] you have a shot here,” Nocella said. “Everyone knows how chaotic the finishes usually get here. I knew we had a pretty good car.” It was the first series victory in 54 Whelen Modified Tour starts for Nocella since 2015. Before Saturday Nocella’s best finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in nine career starts on the 1.058-mile oval was a fourth place run in the Musket 200 on Sept. 12, 2020.“It’s pretty awesome to get a Tour win and here of all places,” Nocella said. “Obviously it’s one of the big ones, and especially because it’s close to home. It’s a big one. It’s a nice one to get.” Bonsignore, of Bay Shore, N.Y. was second, Emerling, of Orchard Park, N.Y. crossed the finish sideways in third with Eric Goodale of Riverhead, N.Y. pushing him across in fourth.The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 94 when Donny Lia, running in fourth, spun in turn two after contact from Bonsignore. The race restarted on lap 98 with Goodale out front, Emerling in second, Jon McKennedy in third, Bonsignore in fourth and Nocella in fifth. Goodale initially got away from Emerling on the restart. Emerling got back to Goodale’s bumper on the backstretch on lap 99. Goodale and Emerling came to the white flag bumper to bumper. Emerling looked to the low lane into turn three and got under Goodale in the corner and darted ahead through the corner. Behind them Nocella moved past McKennedy into fourth place through turns three and four. Goodale got back to Emerling’s bumper in turn four. Goodale made the move to go low under Emerling coming onto the frontstretch. Contact turned Emerling’s car pointing toward the outside wall, sending Emerling sliding sideways in front of Goodale. Bonsignore on the outside tried to clear Goodale as Nocella was diving low to under the sideway sliding Nocella. Contact from Goodale pushing up the track behind the sliding Nocella pushed Bonsignore into the outside wall as Nocella found a clear lane away from the chaos on the low side of the track. Bonsignore was able to clear Goodale just before getting to the start/finish line, but by then Nocella had the momentum edge him at the line. Emerling came across the start finish line sideways with Goodale pushing him there. “We were right in the position we wanted to be,” Emerling said. “We just got together. I don’t know what happened, I’ve got to watch the video. We were there. We put ourselves in position to be there at the end. Unfortunately that happened. It just makes us hungrier for the next time. We’ve been really close to winning here many times. I feel like New Hampshire owes us one a little bit. We’ll just be hungrier and come back even stronger. … Just close quarters. All I know is we went spinning coming to the checkered.” Said Goodale: “I was going for the win. I knew he had a run on me going down the backstretch. I lifted early and let him slide up in front of me. I got to his back bumper. I didn’t want to cross him over that early so I got to him and he dove underneath me, he blocked obviously, and before I got to his bumper I wanted to move to not give him the shot, otherwise I had no chance. So I just moved up the track a little bit and we hooked bumpers. His right rear nerf bar just hooked my front bumper and he spun in front of me. I hate it for Patrick and myself. One of us was going to win that race. It sucks. … I would have like to have finish second. We still finished fourth. We had a really good car. We led some laps. It felt good to be out front. Just sucks. I feel like one got away from us today.” Like Nocella, Bonsignore, Emerling and Goodale were all looking for their first win at NHMS. “From what I could see, and I’m going to be honest, I was looking in my mirror for [Nocella] for a lot of it,” Bonsignore said. “ looked ahead of me. I thought [Goodale] had it won because he had a really good run off of [turn] four. It looked like [Emerling] tried to cut across him or something and misjudged and turned him. I darted to the outside to just try to get to the line and [Goodale] got into my left side and just jammed me up into the fence and that just cost me enough momentum to lose the race. By the time I got to the line I looked over and [Nocella] was ahead of me and I knew I didn’t get it. “Everybody is going for it. Off of [turn] four it’s just a drag race and if you’ve got a little bit of a run you’ve got to try to do what you can with it. I’m glad that we made it out pretty much unscathed. It was a good day for us, so I’ll take it.” Doug Coby went to the lead early and held that spot until the first caution flew on lap 21. Most of the leaders pitted under the first caution, but Goodale, Nocella and Lia chose to stay out and assumed the front spots in the field. On the lap 26 restart it was Goodale and Nocella controlling the pace up front, but the race quickly went back to caution. On lap 28 Austin Beers, Dave Sapienza, Kyle Ebersole and Ron Silk – who came into the race as the series points leader – wrecked together in turn two. Following lap 38 restart it was Nocella powering by Goodale for the lead off of turn four. But on lap 40 Goodale found his way back under Nocella for the lead into turn one. On lap 44 Donny Lia got by Nocella to take over second behind Goodale. On lap 46 Lia made a diving move under Goodale into turn one to move out front for the first time. By lap 50 Lia in the front and second place Goodale had checked out by nearly half a straightaway on third place Tommy Catalano. By lap 60 the tandem of Lia and Goodale out front had checked out to a four second advantage over then third place Patrick Emerling. By lap 65 Lia and Goodale had extended the advantage over third place Emerling to 7.5 seconds. By lap 70 the difference was up to 8.5 seconds. By lap 75 Lia had built up about a half second lead over Goodale in second with then third place Coby about 8.5 seconds off the lead. On lap 80 Lia had built up a 1.8 second lead over Goodale with Coby in third, nine seconds off the lead. Caution flew for the third third time on lap 83 when Catalano slid to the grass in turn four. Under caution Lia took only fuel and came off pit road holding his lead. Goodale followed him off pit road in second. Emerling restarted third with Craig Lutz in fourth and Coby in fifth. On the lap 89 restart it was Lia holding the top spot but not for long. Goodale got under Lia for the lead going into turn one on lap 90 with Emerling following to second in turn three. McKennedy ended fifth. Ryan Preece, Doug Coby, Donny Lia, Corey LaJoie and Craig Lutz rounded out the top-10 respectively.
1 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas 100 2 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 100 0.071 3 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 100 0.228 4 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 100 0.357 5 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 100 0.392 6 40 Ryan Preece Hunt Brothers Pizza/www.racechoice.com 100 0.513 7 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 100 0.730 8 3 Donny Lia Propane Plus/Huntington Honda 100 0.884 9 17 Corey LaJoie Needham Bank 100 1.095 10 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service 100 1.345 11 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 100 1.600 12 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 100 1.890 13 44 Bobby Santos, Jr. Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 100 2.668 14 20 Ed McCarthy McCarthy Marine Sales 100 5.411 15 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 99 1 lap 16 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel 98 2 laps 17 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racin 98 2 laps 18 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric 96 4 laps 19 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 92 8 laps 20 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 81 19 laps 21 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 49 51 laps 22 70 Andy Seuss Rockingham Boat 46 54 laps 23 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 35 65 laps 24 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 27 73 laps 25 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Technique Chassis Ford 27 73 laps
Jimmy Blewett scores one for the hometown crowd at Wall Stadium Speedway on July 9- Austin runs great to 7th
ByAdam Fenwick NASCAR.com WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Jimmy Blewett is one of the best to ever race at Wall Stadium Speedway. He reminded everyone of that by topping the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour field in the Jersey Shore 150 on Saturday night at the popular third-mile high-banked oval. The victory, Blewett’s seventh with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and first since 2016, was his 81st victory overall at Wall Stadium Speedway. He ranks second on the all-time win list at the track. “Tommy and these guys just prepare such a good car. He makes all the drivers who drive this thing look so good,” said Blewett, who was piloting the No. 7NY for team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. “Just riding, biding our time watching these guys burn it up so we had some stuff there at the end.” Blewett spent much of the race riding in the top five, content to let pole-sitter Ron Silk and defending track Modified champion Andrew Krause take turns at the front of the field. A caution for a spin by Eric Goodale with 17 circuits left in the 150-lap event presented Blewett the perfect opportunity to take control of the race. Restarting second with 13 laps left, Blewett rocketed under Krause to take the lead by the time the field got back to the start/finish line. Once in front, Blewett inched away from the battle for second, ultimately crossing the finish line nearly two seconds ahead of runner-up finisher Matt Hirschman. “I want to dedicate this win to my grandfather,” said Blewett, who also won a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Wall Stadium Speedway in 2007. “He always is my biggest supporter and he never, ever doubts me. He just knows I need the right opportunity to get it done. Thanks, Grandpa.” The victory by Blewett gave team owner Baldwin his fourth victory of the season with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Doug Coby drove Baldwin’s No. 7NY to victory at New York’s Riverhead Raceway and New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway, and Mike Christopher Jr. earned a victory for Baldwin at Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway. Hirschman, a multi-time winner of the annual Turkey Derby event at Wall Stadium Speedway who added Saturday’s race to his schedule at the last minute, snuck past both Krause and Silk to finish second. “This wasn’t on our schedule, I just knew there was going to be a great crowd here tonight,” Hirschman said. “Glad to come race in front of them tonight. A good run. It’s no surprise there at the end, Jimmy’s first and I’m second. Congrats to them.” Patrick Emerling also managed to make his way past Krause and Silk in the final laps to complete the podium. It was his second top-five finish this season. “It was a little rough out there, but had a lot of fun tonight,” Emerling said. “We had a pretty good race car for only running here once before.” Krause settled for fourth after leading prior to the final restart. Silk faded to fifth after starting from the Mayhew Tools Pole and leading a majority of the race. Justin Bonsignore, Austin Beers, Jon McKennedy, Blake Barney and Kyle Bonsignore completed the top 10.
1 7 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett, Inc. 150 2 60 Matt Hirschmann PeeDee Motorsports 150 1.91 3 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 150 3.037 4 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mtg 150 3.603 5 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 150 4.422 6 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 150 5.418 7 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 150 5.566 8 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 150 5.906 9 14 Blake Barney Atlantic Sprinkler 150 6.575 10 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 150 7.05 11 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service 150 7.561 12 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 150 8.189 13 71 James Pritchard, Jr.* Freeway Tire & Tire Pros 150 9.871 14 20 Ed McCarthy* McCarthy Marine Sales 150 13.527 15 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 149 1 Lap 16 81 Jack Ely* J.C. Smith Landscaping 147 3 Laps 17 76 Matthew Kimball* Gomarlo’s Supermarket 147 3 Laps 18 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 145 5 Laps 19 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 144 6 Laps 20 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict 143 7 Laps 21 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction, Inc. 97 53 Laps 22 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 54 Laps 23 66 Timmy Solomito Natural Designs/Highmark 80 70 Laps 24 65 Danny Bohn North American Construction 76 74 Laps 25 03 Tom Rogers, Jr. Licensed to Chill/Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm 66 84 Laps 26 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/LIN’s Propane Trucks 49 101 Laps 27 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 48 102 Laps RACE STATISTICS
Time of race: 43 mins, 12 seconds Average speed: 68.750 Margin of victory: 1.910 seconds Caution flags: Laps 63-68 (Car #76 turn 2 no contact, FP #78); 70-78 (Car #34, #81, #76, #22, #14, #26, #19, #71, #66, #36 turns 1 & 2 contact, no FP.); 124-130 (Car #14 & #20 turn 2 contact, FP #71); 133-136 (Car #58 turn 1 spin no contact, FP #20). 4 for 26 laps. Lap leaders: Ron Silk 1-37, Andrew Krause 38-68, Ron Silk 69-98, Andrew Krause 99-137, Jimmy Blewett 138-150. Total laps led: Andrew Krause 70, Ron Silk 67, Jimmy Blewett 13. 4 changes involving 3 drivers.
PATRICK EMERLING RUNS TO RACE OF CHAMPIONS MODIFIED SERIES WIN AT SPENCER SPEEDWAY ON JULY 2 - Austin has tough night as he was taken out
Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., captured the “rain-shortened” Billy Whittaker Ford “F-50” this past Friday evening in Williamson, N.Y., at Spencer Speedway after the race was halted on lap 36 by a substantial downpour. It was the first time, since prior to 2016, that the Race of Champions Modified Series had to end a race early due to inclement weather. “Joe Steans, Billy Putney and this Advantage Motorsports Team gave me a very fast race car,” stated Ermerling following the race. “The car was fast off the trailer and we had things going good. We had a good heat race and a great draw. Things went our way tonight, we wish we could have run all of the laps, but the rain came and ended things early, we will take it.” Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., drove from 9th to 2nd with Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., driving from 7th to finish 3rd. Roger Coss of Lafeyette, N.J., finished 4th with Amy Catalano of Ontario, N.Y., rounding out the top-five. Leaty, Zeiner and Daryl Lewis, Jr., of Ontario, N.Y., scored qualifying race victories. Emerling turned in the fastest overall time during timed hot laps.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 2 14 Patrick Emerling Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY 1 2 9 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 7 3 7 25 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 4 4 5 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 1 5 1 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY -4 6 8 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 2 7 13 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 6 8 16 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY 8 9 12 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY 3 10 6 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA -4 11 4 17T Kevin Timmerman Kevin Timmerman Ontario, NY -7 12 15 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 3 13 3 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -10 14 21 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 7 15 19 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA 4 16 20 99 Gary Noe Gary Noe Barton, NY 4 17 18 0 Randall Richard Randall Richard 1 18 10 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA -8 19 22 33 Eddie Hawkins Eddie Hawkins Marion, NY 3 20 17 5 Mark Tychoniewicz Mark Tychoniewicz Rochester, NY -3 21 14 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY -7 22 23 39 Geary Rinehimer Geary Rinehimer Moosic, PA 1 23 11 45 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA -12
Hirschman Wins Open Wheel Wednesday June 29 at Seekonk For A Fifth Time- Austin get 5th
By Kyle Souza
Matt “Big Money” Hirschman lived up to his name once again on Wednesday night, June 29, capturing the top $10,000 prize and winning his fifth Open Wheel Wednesday title at Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts. Competing in the third round of the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series season, Hirschman passed Woody Pitkat for the lead on lap 31 and never looked back, rolling to his second Tri-Track win of the season in three series events. Hirschman’s fifth Open Wheel Wednesday victory came in the 17th running of the race. He’s the only driver to have passed the three win mark in the prestigious event. The Pennsylvania native opened what will be a busy week – as he will now move to Stafford Motor Speedway to compete with the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) Series on Saturday, July 2, against top stars from across multiple racing disciplines. The Seekonk action aired to a live audience on FloRacing.TV, and was also presented in front of a packed Massachusetts grandstand. “I’ve been at almost all of these events and this is the first time we went back-to-back winning it,” Hirschman said. “There are so many variables that always play into this race. Tonight we had just the night we needed – a good clean night and we were able to keep the car out front. I never really left the bottom all night. We’ve been on a good run of success leading into Saturday at Stafford – hopefully we can keep it going.” While Hirschman sealed another Seekonk win, Kyle Bonsignore charged through the field in the second half of the race and captured an impressive second-place finish. Driving the No. 07 for Justin Albernaz, Bonsignore worked his way to second, but couldn’t make a run at Hirschman. Even still, it was a good run for the 07 team – especially since they just got the car together for the first time in the last two weeks – after struggling to gain the parts they needed for much of the beginning of the season. Anthony Nocella finished third, while young guns Matt Swanson and Austin Beers finished the top-five in the 100-lap event. Woody Pitkat was sixth, followed by Matt Kimball, Ronnie Williams, Tommy Barrett and Jake Johnson. Thirty-two cars attempted to qualify for the $10,000 winning prize.
SEEKONK ANNOUNCEMENT: There have been many legendary drivers including 3 drivers from Mud Lane that have driven the Famous Ole Blue #3 car. I’m very excited and blessed to announce that on Wednesday June 29th in the Tri Track Modified Series Open Wheel Wednesday race at Seekonk, I’ll become the 4th driver from Mud Lane to race the 3 Car. It has been a dream of mine since before I can remember to run this car and I can’t thank Michael Boehler and everyone from the BRE team enough for this opportunity! I have known Greg and Scott since I was very young and can’t wait to work with them! It is truly a dream come true and a day I’ll remember forever! Thank you for the support of the following: Propane Plus B&M Maintenance ACG Island International Logic Automation Jerico Transmission And locally Shear N Vee Salon
Local hero Kyle Soper knocks off NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regulars at Riverhead on June 25 - Austin battles a tight race car to finish 9th
Austin's Thoughts: Had an eventful night at Riverhead last night for the “Buzz Chew Chevrolet 200” in the KLM Motorsports #64! Started off in practice very well feeling like I could put the car anywhere and running consistent laps. When we did our mock run late we set a lap that had us 8th on the charts! Then we had qualifying which unfortunately the car just didn’t have the turn in it that it had in practice which ended up being the story of the night for us which had us starting 20th. Starting 20th that’s about where we’re for the first quarter of the race. We had 2 amazing pit stops by the crew which never put us a lap down! After that the car was a little better but still not great. We never gave up and ended up finishing 9th with no damage and on the lead lap! Amazing job by the whole crew and Jack Ely for spotting again! Thanks to Mike and Maggie Murphy for everything they do and once again the crew for those amazing stops! Also stay tuned for a exciting announcement later today regarding the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Open Wheel Wednesday race at Seekonk this week!
Kyle Soper accomplished something Saturday evening that no other Riverhead Raceway regular had done in 27 years. By earning his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory in Saturday’s Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 on Saturday evening, Soper became the first Riverhead regular to win a Tour race at the track since Ed Brunnhoelzl Jr. back in 1995. Although Soper’s achievements at Riverhead include three track championships, he considered ending the long drought for Riverhead regulars to be a major highlight in his career. “I wasn’t even born when [Brunnhoelzl] won, so this is quite an accomplishment,” Soper said. “I’m just so glad that I’m a [Whelen Modified] Tour winner now.” The path to a Whelen Modified Tour victory at Riverhead on Saturday was a long, arduous process for Soper. Eight of Soper’s 14 Whelen Modified Tour appearances entering the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 had been at his home track of Riverhead. Although Soper had finished inside the top five three times, he came away from each race feeling more could have been done to position himself better for the win. One recurring issue that Soper attributed to his struggles in Whelen Modified Tour races at Riverhead was his qualifying speed, as his front row start back in 2017 marked the only time Soper had qualified inside the top five at the facility. Soper was determined to resolve his qualifying woes during the Whelen Modified Tour’s second of three visits to Riverhead this season, and he turned to a fellow Modified veteran in Jimmy Blewett for advice on how to get more out of his No. 15 Feeds car in time trials. The advice Blewett gave Soper allowed him to qualify fifth, which gave Soper all the track position he needed to run at his own pace. “I was texting Jimmy Blewett [on Friday] night about a qualifying setup,” Soper said. “He got us close and we got up to the front. Usually I start in the back, and that means I have to burn my tires up coming to the front. Luckily we started closer up, and I was able to save my tires.” Soper applied a relentless amount of pressure to polesitter Timmy Solomito during the first half of the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 before finally pulling in front with 86 laps remaining. Once he got the lead, Soper then had to contend with three-time Tour champion Justin Bonsignore, who has put together an impressive resume at Riverhead himself that includes eight series victories. Bonsignore managed to overtake Soper on the final restart of the night but struggled to pull away as the race neared the checkered flag. A daring crossover maneuver by Soper with 10 laps remaining allowed him to re-take the lead, forcing Bonsignore to settle for second. While Bonsignore was disappointed to finish second, he was happy to see a Riverhead regular finally visit Victory Lane again after over two decades. “It’s been a long time since Ed Brunnhoelzl won that race [at Riverhead] in the ’90s, so it was cool to see [Soper win],” Bonsignore said. “It sucks that he beat us to do it, but our car was really good through the middle section of the race and we got to second. I thought I was in good shape when I got the lead, but I started to free up with about 30 to go, and [Soper’s] car was way too good at that point.” Bonsignore’s second-place finish proved to be another positive step toward getting back into championship contention. Two poor finishes at Riverhead and Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway to open the 2022 season placed Bonsignore deep in the Whelen Modified Tour points, but he is confident that a fourth championship is still feasible following a more efficient showing at the end of June. “All in all, this was a good run,” Bonsignore said. “We got the win [at Monadnock Speedway] last week and now a second [on Saturday], so I can’t thank this whole team enough. It was a hot one, but now it’s on to Wall Stadium in a couple of weeks.” For Soper, fending off someone as talented as Bonsignore made Saturday’s victory all the more special. Soper grew up idolizing the local heroes who helped build up Riverhead’s proud reputation, and he wanted nothing more than to honor those legends by representing them in Victory Lane during a Whelen Modified Tour-sanctioned race at the track. With another Whelen Modified Tour race at Riverhead coming up in September, Soper plans to celebrate Saturday’s triumph for as long as he can with his father Tom and car owner Wayne Anderson before the series regulars invade the track once again. “[Wayne] is probably stroking out right now because he’s so excited,” Soper said. “My dad worked so hard on this car. We were actually going to take the new car, but luckily we didn’t. There’s so many people that come to help us out and make this dream work.” Whelen Modified Tour points leader Ron Silk ended up third, while Jon McKennedy and Dylan Slepian were the other top-five finishers. Completing the top 10 were Kyle Bonsignore, John Beatty Jr., Solomito, Austin Beers and Doug Coby.
1 15 Kyle Soper Eastport Foods 200 – 2 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 200 1.912 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 3.906 4 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 200 6.001 5 10 Dylan Slepian* Eastport Foods 200 6.559 6 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT’s/Munn’s Auto 200 7.313 7 5 John Beatty Jr. Elite Sound Designs 200 9.632 8 66 Timmy Solomito Natural Designs/Highmark 200 10.727 9 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 200 11.141 10 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 200 12.057 11 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 199 1 lap 12 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 199 1 lap 13 96 Matthew Brode* Peter Clark Motorsports 199 1 lap 14 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 199 1 lap 15 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Pool Service 198 2 laps 16 26 Eddie Brunnhoelzl Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric 198 2 laps 17 49 Chris Young* J&H Homestead 197 3 laps 18 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 197 3 laps 19 88 Roger Turbush Rheem 196 4 laps 20 71 James Pritchard Jr.* Freeway Tire & Tire Pros/Wicklow & Lauren Landscaping 194 6 laps 21 3 Donny Lia Propane Plus/Hunting Honda 165 35 laps 22 78 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. Last Minute Racing 59 141 laps 23 81 Chris Turbush Cromers Market 57 143 laps 24 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 57 143 laps 25 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 25 175 laps 26 01 Melissa Fifeld Pine Knoll Auto Sales 9 191 laps RACE STATISTICS
Time of race: 54 mins, 36 seconds
Average speed: 54.945 mph
Margin of victory: 1.912 seconds
Caution flags: Laps 17-21 (Car #88 spin turn 4 no contact, no FP); 27-42 (Car #3, #34, and #88 turn 4 contact, no FP); 58-65 (Car #78, #18, #71 and #81 turn 1 contact, FP #88); 176-179 (Car #26 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #1); 137-142 (Car #71 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #96). 4 for 35 laps.
Total laps led: Timmy Solomito 114, Justin Bonsignore 47, Kyle Soper 39. 3 changes involving 3 drivers.
Lucky Strike: Justin Bonsignore Gets Duel At The Dog Win At Monadnock After Late Fireworks - Austin has a great Race after starting in the back on June 19, 2022
Austin Thoughts: We had a good showing at Monadnock on Sunday in the KLM Motorsports #64. After qualifying was rained out when we were sitting 6th on the board with a couple cars to go we started 15th. By lap 50 we were up to 7th just riding. After a couple restarts we were sitting in 6th with about 30 to go. Then on the final restart of the race we got shuffled back to 10th after some contact. We recovered and ended up 8th! The car was great all race and I was happy to leave there with another top ten this season. Thank you to Mike Murphy and everyone at KLM Motorsports for everything that they do. Also thank you to Jack Ely for doing a great job spotting on short notice! Shoutout to Josh Vanada and everyone at JDV Productions for putting on a great show! Excited to head into Riverhead this Saturday for the "Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200" 5th in points with momentum on our side!
by Shawn Courchesne
A simmering feud between Matt Hirschman and JB Fortin proved fortuitous for Justin Bonsignore Sunday at Monadnock Speedway When Fortin decided to exact payback on Matt Hirschman with just over two laps remaining, it was Bonsignore who was in the right place to take advantage and win the Whelen Modified Tour Duel at the Dog 200 Sunday in Winchester, N.H. “I guess you have to be more lucky than good any day,” Bonsignore said. “Matt had us beat there at the end. We were close. We were neck and neck. I don’t know what’s going on between [Hirschman and Fortin].” It was the fourth victory in nine Whelen Modified Tour starts at Monadnock for Bonsignore, of Holtsville, N.Y. It was Bonsignore’s second win of the season. He also won at Richmond (Va.) Raceway on April 1. Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., ended up second and series points leader Ron Silk of Norwalk was third. Hirschman went by Silk for the lead with 44 laps remaining and looked to have the car to beat out front. After getting to second, Bonsignore was able to close up Hirschman’s lead while the two navigated lapped traffic with about seven laps remaining. Then the drama began. On lap 197 Hirschman and Bonsignore came up on the car of Fortin, who was running at the tail end of the lead lap, in turn four. On lap 198 Hirschman went to the outside of Fortin through turns one and two. The pair went down the backstretch side-by-side. Through turns three and four Fortin pushed Hirschman up the track. In turn four Bonsignore went to the low lane under both cars to take over the lead from Hirschman. On lap 199 Hirschman tried to go low under Fortin into turn one but Fortin blocked him on that maneuver also, allowing Bonsignore to easily roll away out front. “I could kind of seeing it coming from a mile away,” Bonsignore said. “I just got into [turn] three, hooked the bottom and just stood on the throttle.” “We had a good run today either way. We were a second or third place car all day long. That’s what you’ve got to do to win these races, just keep yourself in position. Fortunate today to pull it off.” Third place running Silk said the move by Fortin to cost Hirschman the win looked intentional. “Fortin just ran the [Hirschman] all over the track,” Silk said. “Looked like it was intentional.” It seemed Fortin was exacting payback for some late contact between himself and Hirschman during the Whelen Modified Tour Granite State Derby on May 21 at Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. In that event Fortin was battling with eventual race winner Doug Coby for the lead with 28 laps remaining, but a spin by Bonsignore brought out the caution and sent the leaders to the pits. Hirschman was third and Fortin fourth on the ensuing restart. After the restart there was slight contact battling for position between Hirschman and Fortin. After the contact Fortin went up the track with an issue. Hirschman ended up third and Fortin eighth in that event. “He thinks I cost him that race when the car that spun to bring that caution out when he might have had a chance to win that race is the guy he just helped win the race,” Hirschman said Saturday at Monadnock. “It shows how smart he is.” Later Hirschman told RaceDayCT that he looked back on the Lee event and couldn’t understand the anger brewing from Fortin. “[After the race at Lee] he was so mad at me that he came after me after the checkered flag,” Hirschman said. “He swerved and tried to rip my front wheels off after the checkered flag. I had no idea, I wasn’t it expecting it. I didn’t know what had happened. I asked everyone on my team and nobody had seen anything that for any reason he should be mad at me. He was still cussing me out after he was out the car. I watched the replay of the race at Lee and I didn’t really see anything. There was nothing there. “He’s mad at me for something when I didn’t do anything. And he can go and watch the video and see that and he’s still mad. Something ain’t right there with him. We got close and maybe touched but that did not put him out of the groove or anything like that. It’s unfortunate for my team because they don’t deserve that. … For that to happen is just unfortunate for my team to lose a race that way.” Fortin posted a message on the JB Fortin Racing Facebook page following the event Sunday and denied intentionally blocking or running Hirschman up the track. The message from Fortin read: “We were hanging on from lap 100 on. What happened was definitely not intentional. I should have backed the corner up more. I struggled the whole race down in that corner. When we got down into [turn three] I was afraid to take Matt out with the back of the car [or] else I would [have] turned down under the yellow. Unfortunately the [right front] bumped his bar and ripped the wheel out of my hand. By the time I got a hold of the wheel Justin was to my door spotter screaming inside. “I feel terrible for what happened. You never want to be the cause of someone’s bad day. I understand how everyone feels and see’s what happened. We don’t operate as a team like that. I don’t condone taking people out of races. We were running 13 second laps with split second decisions. Sorry for costing Matt a win not that it matters much at this point.” Sam Rameau of Westinster, Mass. was fourth and Doug Coby of Milford fifth Sunday at Monadnock. Eric Goodale, Jake Johnson, Austin Beers, Tommy Catalano and Jacob Perry rouned out the top-10 respectively in the 25-car field.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 200 – 2 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 200 0.776 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 1.051 4 06 Sam Rameau Dennison Lubricants/Powells Stone & Gravel 200 1.946 5 7 Doug Coby Stuart’s Automotive 200 3.418 6 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 200 4.795 7 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/LIN’s Propane Trucks 200 7.221 8 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 200 7.521 9 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 200 8.166 10 47 Jacob Perry* Jacks Competition Engines 200 8.325 11 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn”s Auto 200 8.434 12 50 Ronnie Williams Jr. Empower Financial Advisory & RB Enterprise 200 10.233 13 1 Mike Christopher Jr.* John Blewett Inc. 200 13.436 14 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 199 1 lap 15 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 199 1 lap 16 36 Dave Sapienza SAP Enterprises 198 2 laps 17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 195 5 laps 18 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 193 7 laps 19 78 Walter Sutcliffe Jr. Last Minute Racing 192 8 laps 20 71 James Pritchard Jr.* Freeway Tire & Tire Pros/Wicklow & Lauren Landscaping 192 8 laps 21 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric 192 8 laps 22 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway 164 36 laps 23 25 Brian Roble* Maurice Enterprise/Gromando’s Market 149 51 laps 24 76 Matthew Kimball* Gomarlo’s Supermarket 37 163 laps 25 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 13 187 laps
RACE STATISTICS
Time of race: 53 mins, 55 seconds Average speed: 55.641 mph Margin of victory: 0.776 seconds Caution flags: Laps 73-78 (Car #07 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #18); 126-131 (Car #78 spin turn 1 no contact, FP#82); 168-173 (Car #71 spin backstretch no contact, FP #34); 176-179 (Car #26 spin turn 4 no contact, FP #1). 4 for 22 laps. Lap leaders: Justin Bonsignore 1-17, Matt Hirschman 18-45, Ron Silk 46-155, Matt Hirschman 156-197, Justin Bonsignore 198-200. Total laps led: Ron Silk 110, Matt Hirschman 70, Justin Bonsignore 20. 4 changes involving 3 drivers.
Matt Hirschman Fuming After Late-Race Incident At Monadnock on June 18
Matt Hirschman is still angry over the ending of Sunday's NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway.
Jun 20, 2022 by Rob Blount
Matt Hirschman Fuming After Late-Race Incident At Monadnock With five laps to go in Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour “Duel at the Dog 200” at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway, it looked as though Matt Hirchman had his second win of the season on lockdown. But with three laps to go, Hirschman had trouble putting JB Fortin a lap down and that handed the win over to Justin Bonsignore. When Hirschman came upon Fortin’s No. 34 machine, he tried to go to the outside in turn three, but Fortin came up off the bottom and ran Hirschman up another lane, opening the door for Bonsignore to squeak by underneath. Then, going into the next corner, Fortin went from the second lane abruptly to the bottom lane right in front of Hirschman, letting Bonsignore begin to drive away. Completed · Jun 19 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Monadnock Speedway Fortin took to Facebook after the race and apologized to Hirschman, saying that, “what happened was definitely not intentional.”FloRacing connected with Hirschman Monday morning over the phone, and he said he does not believe Fortin to be truthful.“It makes it worse, because I know that it was intentional,” said Hirschman. “It was basically telegraphed for weeks. You’re not going to fool me. And to be honest, you didn’t fool the top three finishers. It made it worse, because if that’s what he felt he needed to do, then he did it and he needs to own it.”Fortin’s explained in his Facebook post that he was struggling in turn three all race and was worried he’d make contact with Hirschman. “I should have backed up the corner more,” Fortin wrote. “When we got down into three I was afraid to take Matt out with the back of the car (or) else I would have turned down under the yellow. Unfortunately, the RF bumped his bar and ripped the wheel out of my hand. By the time I got a hold of the wheel, Justin was to my door.” Fortin continued by saying, “I feel terrible for what happened. You never want to be the cause of someone’s bad day.” Hirschman explained that he believes the incident was payback for something that happened between them in the late stages of the May 21 event at Lee USA Speedway. Fortin was running in the top three on a restart when he and Hirschman made side-bar contact that sent Fortin into the marbles and took his chances of a win away. “After the race at Lee, he caught me by surprise because he came after me with his car after the finish, and I had no idea what he was mad about,” said Hirschman. “I went back and watched the video, and of course he can go back and watch the video, and I don’t see anything there where he should be mad at me. Did we maybe touch a little bit at the end of the straightaway on a restart? Yes, but it had nothing to do with the entire corner where he got wider than he maybe should have. But he was side-by-side with the car behind me and they made contact. So that’s between them two. “And prior to that, he was in second and closing on the leader and had a real chance at winning that race, and the car that spun to bring the caution out is the car that he helped win the race yesterday. So that just shows you how smart he is. And in interviews he kept making reference to it, so he basically telegraphed it. You decided that was what you needed to do, then own it. So to put that out and try to make an excuse and lie about it, that just makes it worse in my opinion.” Hirschman explained that since he’s had time to reflect on what took place on Sunday, he has not cooled down at all, but instead is actually more upset about it than he was after it initially happened. But, he also added that he has no plans to seek out Fortin to discuss the incident. “When you wake up the day after, and you wake up probably earlier than you should have, and you lay there and think about it, it hurts a little bit more,” he said. “This is not how the outcome of races should be decided. It’s discouraging and disappointing. I know he’ll read this. I have nothing to say to him. I have no use for talking to him. But he owes me a win on the Whelen Tour. How is he going to repay me that? You get me the win back that you stole from me and my team yesterday and we’re good.”
Evergreen Raceway: 11th to 1st for Matt Hirschman at Evergreen on June 17th
Matt Hirschman is silky smooth no matter where he goes to race and Friday night at Evergreen proved, why he will be a threat for his 7th straight track championship.
Hirschman diced his way through the field like a fine chef dices his onions. Starting 11th and grabbing the lead from Roger Coss with more than 30 laps remaining. Coss and Cody Koehler shared the front row and Coss jumped out to an early lead with Koehler hot on his heels. Coss who was having his best run to date, was no match for Hirschman as he cruised to his second straight win in as many races. Chuck Hossfeld who started 10th ended up P2.
Modifieds 1. Hirschman 2. Hossfeld 3. Coss 4. Jerry Hildebrand 5. Austin Beers 6. Brian DeFebo 7. Ricky Collins 8. Earl Paules 9. Daren Scherer 10. Nick Baer 11. Bobby Jones 12. Carl Altemose 13. Cody Koehler 14. Austin Kochenash 15. Geary Reinhimer Jr.
SPEEDY” MIKE LEATY GOES BACK-TO-BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS CAREER ON THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS MODIFIED SERIES WITH LANCASTER MOTORPLEX VICTORY ON JUNE 11
Special shout-out to Timmy and Kyle Strohl this weekend! We were about to load the car for Lancaster on Friday when we found the water pump was leaking after we ran it. We did not have a spare nor could get one. We called them and without hesitation they said to come up and they would have it off the engine of the car they were going to run the next day. How many people in racing would do that for you? Congrats to Kyle on the second place run last night!
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., earned his second straight victory in Race of Champions Modified Series competition this past Saturday night as he held off a star-studded field of competitors to reach victory lane at the newly named, Lancaster (N.Y.) Motorplex, formerly Lancaster National Speedway. Leaty was awarded $4,000 for his efforts driving his family-owned machine. “Tonight was intense, that was for sure,” stated Leaty following victory lane festivities. “Patrick (Emerling), was back there in the the Stearns-Putney car that I had the privilege to drive last week and then there’s Matt (Hirschman), we were all right there, those guys know how to race and they have respect. It was great to win last week, but it’s extra special to win in our family owned-car with my Dad and my family here. We can now focus on July 1 at Spencer.” Leaty came from the third starting position to inherit the lead when race leader, Andy Jankowiak of Buffalo, N.Y., who had led the early stages of the 59-lap affair spun, under caution, on the “one-to-go” lap while he was aggressively scuffing his tires. Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., started 8th and worked his way to finish second. Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., drew the 12th starting position for the second consecutive week and finished third.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 4 25 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 3 2 8 14 Patrick Emerling Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY 6 3 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 9 4 2 73X Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -2 5 3 65 George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY -2 6 11 1 Chuck Hossfeld Chuck Hossfeld Lockport, NY 5 7 6 45 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA -1 8 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -3 9 19 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 10 10 10 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA - 11 7 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -4 12 1 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -11 13 16 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 3 14 15 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 1 15 13 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY -2 16 14 0 Randall Richard Randall Richard -2 17 23 21 Paul Townsond Paul Townsond Guelph, ON 6 18 17 40 Alan Bookmiller Alan Bookmiller Castile, NY -1 19 9 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY -10 20 18 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA -2 21 22 01 John Barber John Barber Bliss, NY 1 22 20 62 Cameron Ruggiero Jr. Cameron Ruggiero Jr. Lancaster, NY -2 23 21 88 Tim Garlock Tim Garlock Kenmore, NY -2 24 24 65L Andy Lewis Andy Lewis Ontario, NY
“SPEEDY” MIKE LEATY MAKES HIS WAY TO VICTORY LANE IN “FAST 40” 67TH ANNUAL SPENCER SPEEDWAY OPENER on June 3
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., has made his mark at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., and every time there is a new race promotion, Leaty seemingly finds his way to victory lane. This past Friday night was no different as Leaty piloted a new ride two victory lane, surviving several restarts to drive into victory lane in the “Fast 40” at Spencer Speedway, earning $4,000 for his efforts. “This deal came together to drive for Joe Stearns and Billy Putney recently due to Patrick Emerlings NASCAR Xfinity schedule and I’m glad it happened this way tonight,” stated Leaty in victory lane. “We have a really good car at home, but this car was spot on. I’m very thankful for everyone’s effort and it is a great way to kick off the 2022 season.” Leaty held off Matt Hirschman to claim the victory. Hirschman drove from 12th to 2nd in the race, making a late race pass of Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., who finished 3rd. Roger Coss of Lafayette, N.J., and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., the defending Series champion rounded out the top-five.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 1 14 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY - 2 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 10 3 2 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA -1 4 6 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 2 5 9 45B Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 4 6 13 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 7 7 8 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 1 8 11 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 3 9 4 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -5 10 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -5 11 17 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY 6 12 23 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 11 13 19 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 6 14 24 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 10 15 14 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -1 16 7 17T Kevin Timmerman Kevin Timmerman Ontario, NY -9 17 22 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 5 18 21 5 Mark Tychoniewicz Mark Tychoniewicz Rochester, NY 3 19 3 11T Ricky Knapp Jr. Ricky Knapp Jr. Buffalo, NY -16 20 18 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA -2 21 20 27 Danny Hartzell Danny Hartzell Sweet Valley, PA -1 22 15 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -7 23 10 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -13 24 16 00 Randall Richard Randall Richard -8
Austin preservers to bring the DeLange #45 how in 5th place after running top 3 early in the race at Spencer June 3
Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., has made his mark at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y., and every time there is a new race promotion, Leaty seemingly finds his way to victory lane. This past Friday night was no different as Leaty piloted a new ride two victory lane, surviving several restarts to drive into victory lane in the “Fast 40” at Spencer Speedway, earning $4,000 for his efforts. “This deal came together to drive for Joe Stearns and Billy Putney recently due to Patrick Emerlings NASCAR Xfinity schedule and I’m glad it happened this way tonight,” stated Leaty in victory lane. “We have a really good car at home, but this car was spot on. I’m very thankful for everyone’s effort and it is a great way to kick off the 2022 season.” Leaty held off Matt Hirschman to claim the victory. Hirschman drove from 12th to 2nd in the race, making a late race pass of Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., who finished 3rd. Roger Coss of Lafayette, N.J., and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., the defending Series champion rounded out the top-five.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 1 14 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY - 2 12 60 Matt Hirschman Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 10 3 2 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA -1 4 6 17C Roger Coss Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ 2 5 9 45B Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 4 6 13 45C Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 7 7 8 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 1 8 11 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 3 9 4 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -5 10 5 10 Daryl Lewis Jr. Daryl Lewis Jr. Ontario, NY -5 11 17 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY 6 12 23 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 11 13 19 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 6 14 24 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 10 15 14 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -1 16 7 17T Kevin Timmerman Kevin Timmerman Ontario, NY -9 17 22 1NY Chris Ridsdale Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 5 18 21 5 Mark Tychoniewicz Mark Tychoniewicz Rochester, NY 3 19 3 11T Ricky Knapp Jr. Ricky Knapp Jr. Buffalo, NY -16 20 18 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA -2 21 20 27 Danny Hartzell Danny Hartzell Sweet Valley, PA -1 22 15 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -7 23 10 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY -13 24 16 00 Randall Richard Randall Richard -8
Tommy Baldwin Racing just keeps winning no matter who is driving the No. 7NY Modified at Jennerstown May 28
Austin's Thoughts on Jennerstown Had an up and down day to say the least at Jennerstown on Saturday in the KLM Motorsports #64 Tour Modified. Ended up 12th in practice with a very balanced and comfortable car. Went out for time and was just too tight and ended up 13th. Then the race started and we were sideways. Just too loose to stay in contention and struggled to keep the rear of the car from sliding. It ended up going green until around lap 100. Unfortunately during that time we went 2 laps down. We pit for our tires and the car was pretty decent and ended up being the best car on our lap and finished 12th. Proud of the team for sticking with it and not giving up. We turned a rough night into a decent recovery. Thank you to Mike Murphy and everyone at KLM Motorsports for all that they do! Excited to get back in the 45 for Dave and Laura DeLange this Friday at Spencer to defend our RoC Championship!
Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com
After consecutive victories at New York’s Riverhead Raceway and New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway with Doug Coby at the wheel for the team owned by Tommy Baldwin Jr., the team turned to rookie Mike Christopher Jr. to keep its winning streak going during the Jennerstown Salutes 150 at Jennerstown Speedway on Saturday.Christopher did exactly that, running down and passing Tyler Rypkema late in the 150-lap event to earn his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory in just his third Tour start.The victory by Christopher added to his family’s legacy of success on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. His uncle, the late Ted Christopher, won 42 races and the 2008 Tour championship during his legendary career before dying in a plane crash in 2017.For Baldwin, whose father Tommy Baldwin Sr. was a Modified racing legend in his own right, the win by Christopher added to the already impressive season for Tommy Baldwin Racing.Below are the key takeaways from Saturday’s Jennerstown Salutes 150, beginning with Christopher’s maiden NASCAR WHelen Modified Tour triumph.Christopher, who is from Wolcott, Connecticut, had to travel roughly seven hours to Jennerstown, Pennsylvania, to compete in the Jennerstown Salutes 150 at a track he’d never raced at before.That didn’t seem to phase Christopher, who started eighth and methodically worked his way to the front of the field.Christopher took the lead following a restart just shy of the 100 lap mark, but he lost the top spot to polesitter Tyler Rypkema a few laps later. The two then engaged in a tug of war for the final 50 laps, with Christopher rarely more than a few car lengths behind Rypkema.After a move around the outside failed to pay dividends, Christopher made the race-winning pass in Turns 1 and 2 with 11 laps left. He took the checkered flag 1.7 seconds clear of Rypkema as the 23-year-old earned his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.While Saturday’s race was only his third start on the Tour, it was far from his third Modified race. He has been racing Modifieds for several seasons in the Northeast, earning victories at tracks like Stafford Motor Speedway and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.The victory by Christopher helped Tommy Baldwin Racing further pad its lead at the top of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour car owner standings. The team now holds a 33-point advantage on the No. 16 team of Ron Silk after five of 16 scheduled races this season.
Rypkema leads the most laps but comes up short Saturday very easily could have been Tyler Rypkema’s day.Rypkema started the day off by going second fastest in practice and backed that up by winning his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour pole shortly thereafter.His impressive performance continued into the race, with Rypkema leading more than 100 laps during the Jennerstown Salutes 150.Unfortunately, Rypkema wasn’t able to keep his momentum going through the checkered flag, as Christopher was able to overtake him and score his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.Despite the disappointing end to an otherwise great race, Rypkema still kept his head held high after a runner-up finish.“It’s a great day for us. We led a ton of laps. We’ve got a good notebook going again for here and a really solid finish,” Rypkema said.The runner-up result was Rypkema’s third top-five finish in Tour competition and his second in as many starts so far this year. He finished fifth in the opener at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway in February.
J.B. Fortin, driver of the #34, races during The Jennerstown Salutes 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Jennerstown Speedway in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania on May 28, 2022. (Nate Smallwood/NASCAR) J.B. Fortin, driver of the No. 34 Modified, races during the Jennerstown Salutes 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Jennerstown Speedway on May 28, 2022. J.B. Fortin turns in his best performance to date An untimely caution cost J.B. Fortin a shot at a victory on May 21 at Lee USA Speedway. That caution also eventually led to a disappointing finish of eighth when he was running as high as second late in the race. Fortin would not suffer the same sort of luck Saturday night at Jennerstown Speedway. The driver from Holtsville, New York, was able to power his way to a third-place finish in the Jennerstown Salutes 150, his first top-five finish in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competition.“We had a stout car from the beginning,” Fortin said. “On that long green flag run the car was coming to me. I thought we were going to have the win here, we just made a bad adjustment on the pit stop. I can’t thank my team enough. This is a killer car for me. “It’s been a long way coming. At Lee we had a pretty good car. I think we could have won there.”Prior to Saturday night, Fortin’s best finish with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was a seventh-place run at New York’s Riverhead Raceway in 2019.
NOTES: The battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour continues to be tight between four competitors. Ron Silk holds the lead by three points ahead of Tommy Catalano, with Jon McKennedy four points back of Silk in third. Eric Goodale sits fourth, only five points out of the championship lead. Speaking of Ron Silk, he is the only driver to finish inside the top 10 in every race this season. A torrid pace was set by the leaders during the Jennerstown Salutes 150. Of the 22 competitors that started the race, only six finished on the lead lap. Despite qualifying second, Patrick Emerling struggled for speed during the 150-lap race at the 0.522-mile oval and eventually finished two laps off the pace in 13th. The man many considered a likely contender to win Saturday’s race was Justin Bonsignore, but he was never in contention and finished eighth. Bonsignore had won two of the last three races at Jennerstown prior to Saturday night. Andrew Krause earned his best NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour finish with a fourth-place result Saturday evening. Prior to the Jennerstown Salutes 150, his best Tour finish was a pair of sixth-place results at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Donny Lia was a late scratch for Saturday’s race and was replaced in the Boehler Racing Enterprises Ole Blue No. 3 by Riverhead Raceway polesitter Timmy Solomito. He qualified ninth and finished 14th.
1 7 Mike Christopher, Jr.* Stuart Automotive 150 -- 2 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO 150 1.702 3 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 150 10.347 4 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mtg 150 12.695 5 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 150 13.429 6 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 150 14.92 7 77 Max McLaughlin Curb Records 149 1 Lap 8 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 149 1 Lap 9 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 149 1 Lap 10 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials/Riverhead Building Supply 149 1 Lap 11 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 149 1 Lap 12 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 148 2 Laps 13 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina 148 2 Laps 14 3 Timmy Solomito Propane Plus/SYP/Natural Design 148 2 Laps 15 36 Dave Sapienza SAP Enterprises 148 2 Laps 16 71 James Pritchard, Jr.* Freeway Tire & Tire Pros/Wicklow & Laurano Landscaping 147 3 Laps 17 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Technique Chassis Ford 147 3 Laps 18 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 142 8 Laps 19 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 141 9 Laps 20 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict 136 14 Laps 21 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 133 17 Laps 22 29 Spencer Davis Ionx Supreme Lubricants 83 67 Laps
Doug Coby gallops to victory in the Inaugural Granite State Derby at Lee USA Speedway on May 21 while Austin battles for 7th
By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com
LEE, N.H. – Unlike the Kentucky Derby a few weeks ago, there would be no upset winner in the inaugural Granite State Derby presented by USA Insulation. Doug Coby conquered Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway to earn his second Tour victory of the season in as many starts.The 175-lap event was the first Tour event held at the 0.375-mile paved oval since 1998. Coby, who was back in Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7NY for second straight race following a victory last weekend at New York’s Riverhead Raceway, spent the first half of the race conserving his equipment while Matt Hirschman led the way. “Tommy Baldwin gave me a good car for two races in a row,” Coby said. “Just setting my pace with Matt (Hirschman) out front and just kind of seeing what his car was doing and it was really good. (We) just stuck to our plan.” Coby moved into the lead for the first time following a restart on Lap 104, but he appeared to be in trouble as J.B. Fortin began marching through the field with fresh tires. Fortin had nearly caught Coby when the caution flag waved for a spin by Justin Bonsignore. That allowed the entire field to hit the pits for fresh tires, with Tommy Catalano beating Coby off pit road to take the lead. Catalano’s stint at the front was brief, as Coby quickly returned to the lead during the restart with 19 laps left. Coby had the race under control at that point and looked well on his way to victory until contact between polesitter Jake Johnson and Eric Goodale brought the caution flag back out with two laps left. Coby held serve during the Overtime restart, fending off Jon McKennedy and pulling away to his 33rd NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.“This is a tough track, you can spin your tires real easy,” Coby explained. “Jon is a clean driver, Matt is a clean driver, but I didn’t want to worry too much about Jon and open the door for Matt to be the hero. They’re both so good. “To be able to race with those guys is a great feat for this 7NY team and the Baldwin family.” McKennedy’s runner-up result was his best finish of the season in the No. 79 Modified. It was his seventh runner-up finish in Modified Tour competition since scoring his lone Tour win in 2018, ironically driving for Baldwin at the now-defunct Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina. “Just needed to rotate a little bit better. We were a little bit too pushy,” McKennedy said about his race car. “I just had to wait that little bit right in the middle of the corner to get the car to turn, and ultimately that’s where we struggled all day. “Still a little bit off, but hey, I’ll take it. Hirschman dominated the opening 100 laps of the race but struggled to race his way back through the field following his first pit stop. He eventually recovered to finish third, but he admitted there were some decisions he would like to have back after he dominated the opening portion of the event. “Good start, just ended up a little bit off on strategy,” Hirschman said. “Sometimes you live or die by some of the decisions you make, and some of them start earlier in the day. What you do with your tires and how you plan on using them. I think we just ended up a little bit off. I’d like to re-do a couple things, but still a good run.” Ron Silk finished fourth for his second top-five of the season, while Johnson was fifth in his second career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start. Kyle Bonsignore, Austin Beers, Fortin, Goodale and Justin Bonsignore completed the top 10. Saturday’s event was promoted by JDV Productions and was first in the three-race Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, a mini-series within the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule that features an additional purse structure and bonus money for competing teams.
1 3 7 Doug Coby John Blewett, Inc. (Tommy Baldwin) – 181 running 78 47 2 5 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors (Dale Hedquist) – 181 running 0 42 3 2 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports (Matt Hirschman) – 181 running 100 43 4 9 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes (Philip Moran) – 181 running 0 40 5 1 3 Jake Johnson * Propane Plus / LIN's Propane Trucks (Greg Fournier) – 181 running 3 40 6 4 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chateau Performance / MIT / Munn's Auto (Cam McDermott) – 181 running 0 38 7 6 64 Austin Beers * Dell Elect / Lumierre Elect / Andrew James In (Ron Yuhas, Jr.) – 181 running 0 37 8 13 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing / Johns Fuel / John Tree Rem (Kenneth Lechner) – 181 running 0 36 9 7 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing (Jason Shephard) – 181 running 0 35 10 10 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. (Ryan Stone) – 181 running 0 34 11 14 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara (David Catalano) – 181 running 0 33 12 11 06 Sam Rameau Dennison Lubricants / Powells Stone & Gravel (Russ Hersey, Jr.) – 180 running 0 32 13 12 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise (Tommy Grasso) – 180 running 0 31 14 8 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials / Riverhead Building Sup (TBA) – 180 running 0 30 15 15 47 Jacob Perry * Jacks Competition Engines (TBA) – 178 running 0 29 16 17 98 Steve Dickey,, Jr. * USA Insulation – 176 running 0 28 17 18 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing (Kevin Anderson) – 175 running 0 27 18 16 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape / TRC Electric (Chad McDonald) – 166 running 0 26 19 19 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales – 108 power steering 0 25
Hirschman takes Mod Mains on May 15 after Auston was competing for the lead earlier in the Race
By Ted Grow
(St, John’s, PA) What's the saying? “You win some, you lose some”? Well, Evergreen Raceway finally snatched a win! Completing all racing events, in three and a half hours, and across seven different division's. Kuddos to all the driver's and track crew! Especially Jason, he rolled the dice and prevailed! A 75 lap held over modified main from May 1st, proved to only delay the inevitable; a Matt Hirschman win. It, however, did not come easy starting 15th. Hirschman would have to work through some heavy hitters in front. Things got a little interesting on lap 11, as numerous cars headed pit side for an adjustment on an extremely slick race track, including Hirschman, had climb to the top 10. Kyle Strohl, Blake Barney, and Austin Beers all took shots at the 41 machine of Nick Baer. Each time, Baer was able to fend them off. As Baer lead the field, Hirschman mounted the charge moving to the outside. As Beers and Hirschman ran side by side, Baer using every inch of race track, thwarted the attempts of Beers and couldn't hold off Hirschman. Earl Paules has not been to victory lane at Evergreen Raceway since the.
Results: Tour Mods: MATT HIRSCHMAN, Austin Kochenash, Earl Paules, Austin Beers, Daren Scherer, Brian Defebo, Blake Barney, Kyle Strohl, Nick Baer, Carl Altemose, Bobby Jones, Cody Kohler, Chris Ridsdale, Roger Coss, Lou Strohl. DNS: Geary Rinehimer
One week ago, Doug Coby had no idea that he would be racing in Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Miller Lite 200 at Riverhead Raceway as Austin has bad luck to finish 13th
Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s decision to put the six-time Tour champion in the famed No. 7NY as a substitute for Jimmy Blewett paid off for both parties, as Coby took control of the race early to claim his 32nd career victory. Being able to win in a car as famous as the No. 7NY was a tremendous honor for Coby, but he dedicated Saturday’s victory at Riverhead to Blewett’s family as they take care of his sick daughter, Kayla. “More important than anything, Kayla Blewett is home with her family,” Coby said. “I guess I was kind of the pseudo-Riverhead guy tonight driving the No. 7NY. Tommy gave me a great car and I want to thank him and all his guys for the hard work. It was an unfortunate circumstance, but you’ve got to make the most of it.” Saturday’s victory marked the first time Coby had taken part in a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event this season. A longtime staple of the division, Coby elected to scale back his own operation for 2022 to focus on obligations away from the track. His plan was to compete in four races with the Tour as part of a limited schedule. Coby immediately jumped at the opportunity to drive for Baldwin when he got the phone call on Tuesday and promptly reminded the rest of the Tour field why he was so efficient in the series for a decade. After passing polesitter Timmy Solomito, Coby was nearly uncontested for the rest of the evening at Riverhead as he perfectly executed multiple restarts and methodically carved his way through the ever-prevalent lapped traffic around the quarter-mile bullring.The closest challenge Coby received came during a green-white-checkered attempt, where he was tasked with holding off the hard-charging Patrick Emerling, who had climbed his way up from the 15th starting position. Emerling believed he was faster than Coby’s during the second half of the race, but admitted that the tires on his car were too exhausted to mount a challenge on the restart, forcing him to settle for second. “My tires were just marbled up and I could not quite get it going,” Emerling said. “[Coby] started early and he did get me a little bit. When I got on it, the car was standing still, but I’m proud of what the team did today. We were able to drive ourselves up to the front and we had an awesome car tonight.” For Coby, his three wins in the last four Riverhead races are the only times that he has visited Victory Lane at Riverhead during his career, which he attests to how taxing it can be to navigate the quarter-mile bullring’s tight turns. Coby knows that no win on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is easy to come by and considers himself grateful for the diligent work Baldwin and his crew put into the No. 7NY to make it so efficient Saturday evening. “A lot of people like to think that I need to drive certain cars with certain setups to do well,” Coby said. “This is a team that I’ve never really talked with that much, but they put great cars together. There are so many Whelen Modified Tour teams that have great equipment and I’m happy to showcase that for Tommy and his team.” Ron Silk maintained track position up front all evening to secure a third-place finish. Riverhead regular Dylan Slepian finished fourth while Solomito completed the top-five.A replay of Saturday’s Miller Lite 200 at Riverhead Raceway will be broadcast on USA Network on Friday, May 20 at 1 p.m. ET. The Whelen Modified Tour returns to action next Saturday, May 21 at Lee USA Speedway for the Granite State Derby
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Miller Lite 200 Riverhead Raceway May 14 2022
1 7 DOUG COBY JOHN BLEWETT, INC. 213 -- 2 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina 213 0.593 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 213 0.866 4 10 Dylan Slepian* Eastport Foods 213 1.281 5 66 Timmy Solomito Natural Designs/Highmark 213 1.343 6 87 John Baker Staria Automotive/Elite Towing 213 1.636 7 15 Kyle Soper Eastport Foods 213 1.896 8 5 John Beatty, Jr. Elite Sound Studios 213 2.311 9 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 213 2.469 10 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/nn’s Auto 213 5.594 11 49 Chris Young* J&H Homestead 212 1 Lap 12 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 212 1 Lap 13 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 212 1 Lap 14 50 Ronnie Williams, Jr. Empower Financial Advisory & RB Enterprise 212 1 Lap 15 34 John Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 211 2 Laps 16 81 Chris Turbush* Cromers Market 211 2 Laps 17 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 208 5 Laps 18 36 Dave Sapienza SAP Enterprises 207 6 Laps 19 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 206 7 Laps 20 03 Tom Rogers, Jr. Licensed to Chill/Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm 206 7 Laps 21 78 Walter Sutcliffe, Jr. Last Minute Racing 206 7 Laps 22 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict 202 11 Laps 23 2 J.R. Bertuccio, Jr. Gershow Recycling 144 69 Laps 24 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/LIN’s Propane Trucks 143 70 Laps 25 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 143 70 Laps 26 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Service/Riverhead Building Supply 124 89 Laps 27 96 Matthew Brode* Peter Clark Motorsports 123 90 Laps 28 88 Roger Turbush Rheem 87 126 Laps 29 02 Joey Coulter IV SRI Performance/Air Shok/Race-Fan 83 130 Laps 30 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 9 204 Laps
RECAP OF RICHMOND - APRIL 1ST
Had a very eventful day at Richmond on Friday. Started the day by having a left rear go flat into turn one and backing it into the fence. The crew did an amazing job repairing the car and getting it ready for qualifying and ended up 13th. Started the race holding our own running right around the top 10. After the first stop we had to avoid an incident in front of us and lost a ton of track position. We worked our way back up and after a great pit stop by the guys restarted 12th with 50 to go. We went from 12th to 5th in 3 laps on the start. Unfortunately the car got pretty tight after that and we fell back to 11th where we finished. Still a great recovery by the team and we are just going to get better and better! Thank you to Mike Murphy and everyone at KLM Motorsports for everything they do, all the sponsors and all our fans! Special shout-out to Freddie Kraft for helping get a spotter on such short notice! AUSTIN
Last To First: Justin Bonsignore Rallies Late To Win Whelen Modified Tour Event At Richmond April 1 April 1, 2022 by Shawn Courchesne
Justin Bonsignore celebrates victory in Friday’s Whelen Modified Tour event at Richmond Raceway (FloRacing Image) It was a start to the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season that literally couldn’t have been any worse for Justin Bonsignore. Due to a mechanical issue early, the two-time reigning series champion Bonsignore finished last in the season opening event for the series at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Feb. 12. Friday the three-time series champion bounced back in the best way possible, from last in the opener to first in the second event. Bonignore used a late pass of Tommy Catalano to win the Whelen Modified Tour Viriginia Is For Racing Lovers 150 Friday at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. “I’ve been wondering for seven long weeks what was going to happen when we got here,” Bonsignore said. “We were really good here last fall and just had that mechanical failure that knocked us out. But [crew chief] Ryan Stone prepared a great car again. … The whole team, great pit stops.” Catalano, of Ontario, N.Y., held on to finish second. Chuck Hossfeld of Ransomville, N.Y. was third. It was the 32nd career Whelen Modified Tour victory for Bonsignore, of Holtsville, N.Y. “As a team we’ve been looking at the points and seeing ourselves dead last for seven long weeks,” Bonsignore said. “Confidence wise for us as a group it’s good. We know what we can do each and every week. … We gave everybody a mulligan, we’ll just have to be perfect for the rest.” Bonsignore won the pole and started up front, but it was Catalano who seemed to have the dominant car for much of the show. Catalano went by Max McLaughlin for the lead on lap 108 and then began to check out from the field. By the time Bonsignore got by McLaughlin for second on lap 119, Catalano had built up nearly a one-second lead. Bonsignore didn’t seem to be doing much to cut into the lead until Catalano endured lapped traffic and then suddenly the advantage disappeared quickly. By lap 138 Bonsignore was all over Catalano’s bumper and on lap 139 Bonsignore went past him for the lead for good. “It wasn’t easy by any means,” Bonsignore said. “[Catalano] made me earn it. He’s really coming into his own and it’s awesome to see, but our car was just really good on that long run. … Lapped traffic was definitely not too favorable to [Catalano]. Once I was able to get to him I just made quick work of him.”
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communication Inc. 150 – 2 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 150 0.374 3 2 Chuck Hossfeld Gershow Recycling 150 5.984 4 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Technique Chassis Ford 150 6.113 5 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MWSCO 150 6.454 6 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 150 7.022 7 7 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett, Inc. 150 7.517 8 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 150 10.784 9 3 Donny Lia Propane Plus – SYP 150 10.938 10 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 150 12.843 11 64 Austin Beers* Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical 150 13.833 12 77 Max McLaughlin Curb Records 150 18.204 13 39 Ryan Newman Pacematic/PSR Products 149 1 Lap 14 34 J.B. Fortin Red Camel Racing/Johns Fuel/John Tree Removal 149 1 Lap 15 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials/Riverhead Building Supply 149 1 Lap 16 36 Dave Sapienza SAP Enterprises 149 1 Lap 17 44 Bobby Santos, Jr. Thinkliteair/Harshaw Paving 149 1 Lap 18 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mtg 149 1 Lap 19 55 Jeremy Gerstner Jerry Hunt SuperCenter/KD Construction 149 1 Lap 20 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MIT 149 1 Lap 21 71 James Pritchard, Jr. Freeway Tire Pros & Automotive 148 2 Laps 22 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electrict 148 2 Laps 23 20 Ed McCarthy* McCarthy Marine Sales 85 65 Laps 24 97 Bryan Dauzat Brother in Law Motorsports 78 72 Laps 25 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina 62 88 Laps 26 29 Spencer Davis Ionx Supreme Lubricants 55 95 Laps 27 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 21 129 Laps
AUSTIN BEERS HAD A GOOD SHOWING IN MOD TOUR OPENER AT NEW SMYRNA ON FEBRUARY 12 By DINO OBERTO
(New Smyrna, FL 2-11-22) When the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour got underway Saturday of the World Series of Asphalt Racing at New Smyrna Speedway, a very familiar name was back in the lineup, Beers. 18-year old Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., son of former Tour standout Eric Beers, was making his first start at the on the ½-mile banked oval. His dad last raced here in 2008. Beers was in the Mike Murphy owned No. 64 and will be racing the entire NASCAR Modified Tour in 2022. “I’m excited and blessed. We have this race but then have to wait a whole month before we race again,” said Beers prior to the start of the race. “I feel more confident knowing that my ride is secure this year. We ran the last four races of the year last season and it was tough because I felt that was my opportunity to show them what I can do and now that I have a ride secured there’s less pressure but I still have to drive.” Beers, a track champion at Mahoning Valley Speedway and Evergreen Raceway and last year’s Race of Champions Series Tour Champion, got offered the seat late in 2021 and from the get-go was inspiring to watch. “Robbie Summers was running for us but then he had to have some surgery. We put Timmy Solomito in for a couple of races and then Joe Skotnicki and Sly Szaban (crew chief) recommend Austin so I went to see him and here we are,” said car owner Murphy, a longtime staple on the Tour. “He raced four races and was impressive, very smart. At Richmond he finished seventh which was unbelievable considering he never raced there or in a Tour Type Modified.” Aside from a some limited practice laps last year here, this was Beers’ first real time of making laps at New Smyrna. “I just wanted to learn the track and learn the lines. I ran behind Matt (Hirschman) and Ryan (Preece) who have a lot of laps here. Throughout practice the lines were definitely changing especially as more rubber got put down,” he said. As the day progressed so too did Beers. He timed ninth quick and when the green flag dropped to begin the 200 lapper he was very conscious of his surroundings and wisely settled into a rhythm. “I felt really good and we were able to run near the front after halfway and pit stops. We took fuel early and gave up some track position to do that. I felt we were in good position but unfortunately we didn’t get a late race caution when we could have pitted for more tires which I think would have put us in a great spot to finish in the top five,” he explained afterwards. “I was comfortable and whenever I go to a new track I take my time but with the Tour it can be tough too because everyone is go, go, go from the beginning. It’s truly my first time with laps around those cars so you have to figure out where to run and which lines to take.” Helping him throughout the day was Skotnicki who served as his spotter and interestingly also did the same for Eric. “Joe was a big help and got me set-up to pass cars in the turns and all that. I even told him under the red flag that I finally figured out how to pass so when we went back to green and I could charge up the through the field,” said Beers. During the waning laps the race went nonstop which for Beers and several others did not play into the strategy game plan of wanting to stop and change tires. When the final rundown was announced he was listed a very respectable 11th. “I didn’t know where we really finished at first because we had some lapped cars in there but when they said 11th. I was kind of upset because it was one spot away from a top 10. But getting all that experience those 200 laps and keeping the car in one piece it was a great way to start the season off,” he said. “The track is awesome and really fun and challenging also and I’m very proud of our team effort.” While Beers has all the needed resources to race perhaps the single best asset is his father who has years of experience and raced on all of the upcoming tracks that his son will be competing on. It’s really amazing to see how far he’s come in such a short time. The first Tour race I ran I was 29 and he’s only 18 so he is 10 years ahead of my progression,” said Eric Beers. “It was very impressive to see him time trial in the top 10 his first time here and every time he’s on the race track he gets better,” he continued. “Mike (Murphy) spares no expense and they have a great crew of guys who work in the shop all week and a great crew that comes to the track and we can’t thank them enough for the opportunity they are giving Austin.”
New Race, Familiar Face: Matt Hirschman Wins First Whelen Mod Tour Event At New Smyrna Speedway on Feb 12
In recent years Matt Hirschman has been the king of the Tour Type Modified division at the annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway. Saturday, with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at New Smyrna Speedway for the first time, Hirschman proved that his crown carried over to the series. Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., drove away from the field late to win the Whelen Modified Tour New Smyrna Visitor’s Bureau 200 Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway.“It means a lot,” Hirschman said. “I never made it to Daytona [International Speedway] or the Daytona 500, but coming down here to be part of Speedweeks and win races, this being the first time the [Whelen Modified Tour is] ever here, it just means a lot. It’s a lot of work. I appreciate all the effort by the PeeDee Motorsports team. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of yet this week. A lot of racing to go, which I’m really looking forward to. Eric Goodale of Riverhead, N.Y. was second. Mike Christopher Jr. of Wolcott, making his second series start, was third. It was the fifth career Whelen Modified Tour victory for Hirschman in his 107th series start since 2005. Hirschman also was the pole winner of the event. “Of all the things we’ve done with this team, and this is our sixth year, we’ve won other races, [Whelen Modified Tour] races, North-South Shootouts, [Tri-Track Open Modified Series] races, coming to Florida has really been the most enjoyable thing that I’ve done with these guys and this team,” Hirschman said. “You feel like you made it when you come down here and you win a big race. I never made it to Daytona, but this is huge for me. I’m really proud of everybody, myself included, that we’ve been able to accomplish so much down here. It’s awesome. “Just cool to be down here, [on] FloRacing, packed house here, sold out crowd, this awesome. I’ve been watching racing all week on Flo and others. I’ve watched Sprint cars, Dirt Modifieds, Dirt Late Models, I’ve been watching all kinds of stuff, and now to be part a headline maker here tonight at New Smyrna, this is cool. We’ll just try to keep it up and win some more races [next week].” Jon McKennedy of Chelmsford, Mass. and Tyler Rypkema of Owego, N.Y. rounded out the top-five respectively. Hirschman went by Christopher for the lead with 39 laps to go with Goodale moving into second two laps later. Hirschman was easily able to keep a healthy distance between himself and second place the rest of the way. “I knew I probably wanted to get him early on in [the last] run,” Goodale said. “Matt is way too good of a driver to make mistakes late in the race. I knew with about 15 laps to go that he probably had the better car. I was hoping lapped traffic or a mistake on his behalf would put us right back there in the mix. We were driving away from third. I was just driving the thing as hard as I could to not make any mistakes and stay with him in case he bobbled there.” Christopher made his only other series start last September driving for Baldwin at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway in an event where he finished 14th. “I hope I put on a good show for the fans,” Christopher said. “I proved to [car owner Tommy Baldwin Jr.] and everyone else that the PSR Chassis is here to play and we’ll be racing the rest of the week with the PSR. We’re here to compete and do well the best that we can. Obviously we were on older tires there at the end but just looking for that yellow. Gambled and it didn’t work out. But I’m pretty happy to be on the podium. Very thankful for this opportunity.” Ryan Preece looked like he would be Hirschman’s toughed competition for the night, but Preece ended up involved in a wreck with Andrew Krause with about 60 laps remaining coming off turn four while battling for fourth place. Preece ended up 10th. Two-time defending series champion Justin Bonsignore retired after 32 laps with mechanical issues and ended up last in the 31-car field.
1 1 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports Chevrolet 200 48 5 Running 2 13 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing Chevrolet 200 42 Running 3 8 7 Mike Christopher, Jr. * Chevrolet 200 42 1 Running 4 6 79 Jon McKennedy Hoosier/Christopher Towing/TFR/Willwood Brakes 200 40 Running 5 12 32 Tyler Rypkema Musco/Northern Drilling Chevrolet 200 40 1 Running 6 14 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials/Goodie Racing Chevrolet 200 38 Running 7 19 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes Chevrolet 200 38 1 Running 8 18 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara Chevrolet 200 36 Running 9 17 7 Patrick Emerling Captain Pip Marina & Hideaway Chevrolet 200 35 Running 10 2 3 Ryan Preece Propane Plus/CBYD Chevrolet 200 35 1 Running 11 9 64 Austin Beers * Dell Elect/Lumierre Elect/Andrew James Interior 200 33 Running 12 4 50 Ronnie Williams Empower Financial Advisory/RB Enterprises Ford 200 32 Running 13 15 21 Jimmy Blewett Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 200 31 Running 14 10 34 J.B. Fortin John’s Fuel Oil Inc/John’s Tree Removal Chevrolet 199 30 Running 15 3 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chateau Performance/MIT Chevrolet 199 29 Running 16 20 29 Spencer Davis Ionx Supreme Lubricants Ford 199 28 Running 17 11 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise Chevrolet 198 27 Running 18 7 2 JR Bertuccio Gershow Recycling Chevrolet 198 26 Running 19 28 59 Matt Kimball * BNP Machine Dodge 197 25 Running 20 25 20 Eddie McCarthy * McCarthy’s Marine Chevrolet 197 24 Running 21 21 70 Dylan Slepian * Eastport Feeds Chevrolet 197 23 Running 22 27 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Chevrolet 195 22 Running 23 23 28 Paul Charette * Polar Beverages Chevrolet 194 21 Running 24 30 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric Chevrolet 191 20 Running 25 24 2 Joey Coulter Race fan/Air Shok/Molecule/Simpson Chevrolet 149 19 Electrical 26 22 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating/Technique Chassis Ford 148 18 Accident 27 31 55 Jeremy Gerstner GMP Lawn Care Chevrolet 147 17 Accident 28 16 49 Chris Young JH Homstead Chevrolet 142 16 Accident 29 26 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet 140 15 Accident 30 29 1 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales Chevrolet 94 14 Handling 31 5 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet 32 13 Overheating
A new season is here for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. What better way to start the year than with a new venue?
For the first time in tour history, modifieds will hit Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway for an official race during the track’s World Series of Stock Car Asphalt with its season-opening event on Saturday, Feb. 12, the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200. Don’t mistake this as the first time tour-type mods have circled the eastern Florida short track, though. These vehicles have been racing around the high-banked, 0.48-mile bullring during its World Series since 1976, with its feature event being the Richie Evans Memorial 100 in honor of the late nine-time champion of the tour. Three-time tour champion Justin Bonsignore, winner of each of the last two series titles, highlights a stacked entry list along with a multitude of talented competitors ready to fight for the first checkered flag of 2022.
New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200 #lovensb at New Smyrna Speedway
What to watch for:
New Smyrna is ready to host a 200-lap contest around its high-banked, 0.48-mile oval that is sure to feature close-quarters racing and plenty of nerf-bar contact. The facility’s website boasts a telling quote from Evans, the NASCAR Hall of Famer: “If you can win at New Smyrna Speedway, you can win anywhere in the United States.” Three-time World Series winner Matt Hirschman, who has won three of the last four WSOA modified titles, returns to the tour in the No. 60 entry in the 2022 season-opener. Meanwhile, fellow three-time WSOA champ Ryan Preece moves back to car owner Jan Boehler and the blue No. 3 modified, a ride in which Preece won three races from 2008-09. Ron Silk, a two-time winner on the tour in 2021 and 2014 WSOA victor, shifts from the No. 85 car into the No. 16 Haydt-Yannone Racing machine for the 2022 campaign, headed by co-owners Tyler Haydt and Joe Yannone. Another former WSOA mod winner, 2008 victor Jimmy Blewitt will be back at New Smryna in the No. 21 car. Bonsignore returns in the familiar No. 51 car for the 2022 campaign chasing his third straight tour title and fourth overall. His main rival for the 2021 championship, Patrick Emerling, returns in the No. 07 car to hunt down a tour victory at New Smyrna. Additionally, Tommy Catalano is back on the circuit in a full-time effort with his family’s storied No. 54 car out of northern New York. Craig Lutz heads to Florida to compete in the No. 82 machine this season. The complete entry list for the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200 will be released in the coming days.
RACE FACTS
Race New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200 #lovensb Date Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022 Track New Smyrna Speedway Layout Half-mile paved oval Location New Smyrna Beach, Florida Start time 7:30 p.m. ET Laps 200 Tickets NewSmyrnaSpeedway.org TV channel USA (Delayed: TBA) Live stream FloRacing (Live) Schedule: Garage opens at 9:30 a.m. ET … Final practice from 2 – 3:20 p.m. ET … Single-car qualifying (two laps) at 5:45 p.m. ET … Race at 7:30 p.m. ET
Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the New Smyrna Visitors Bureau 200 #lovensb is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is twelve (12) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is six (6) tires, any position. To utilize the fifth (5th) and sixth (6th) change tires, the team will have to take a practice tire purchased at New Smyrna Speedway and turn in by the conclusion of practice.