MATT HIRSCHMAN WINS 35TH US OPEN AT LANCASTER ON SEPTEMBER 23- Austin fights for a 7th place finish LANCASTER, N.Y. (September 24, 2023) – For the seventh time in his career, “Big Money” Matt Hirschman from Northampton, PA won the US Open 125 for the Race of Champions Modified Series on Sunday evening at Lancaster Motorplex. Mark Hoch from West Seneca, NY won his second straight US Open event in the Budget RV Outlet of Buffalo Street Stocks. Jeff Brown from Hamburg, NY won his third US Open Late Model event. Jeff Szafraniec from Akron, NY won his first US Open in the Rusty Diamond Cores 4 Cylinders. Tony Hanbury and Matt Swanson were on the front row for the 35th US Open 125 for the Race of Champions Modified Series, with Andy Jankowiak going three wide for the lead with Swanson and Hanbury, with Jankowiak taking over the lead on the opening circuit. Hanbury would regain second from Jake Lutz on lap four, with Jack Ely and Austin Beers racing in the top five. Lutz and Hanbury would battle for several laps in the early stages, with Lutz reclaiming second on lap six, and would waste no time to go after Jankowiak. The field would get into a long green flag run, with 2023 Race of Champions Modified Series Champion Zane Zeiner worked his way into the top ten on lap 25. The battle for fifth took place on lap 28, as Matt Hirschman and Patrick Emerling were both able to race their way past Austin Beers. Paul Townsend would spin on the back straightaway to bring out the race’s first caution on lap 37. The restart would see Jankowiak, Lutz, Matt Hirschman, Ely, and Emerling race in the top five. The caution would fly on lap 56 as Austin Beers got loose and slid through the back straightaway grass. The restart would see a “Wavin’ Woody” from starter Larry Woodruff, indicating the lap 63 restart, with Andy Jankowiak leading Zane Zeiner, Paulie Hartwig III, Lutz, and Hanbury. Lutz would apply the pressure to Hartwig on lap 81 for third place and would complete the pass on lap 82. Zane Zeiner would pressure Jankowiak for the lead and would take over the lead on 88. Tony Hanbury and Daren Scherer got together in turn two to bring out the caution on lap 95. With Jankowiak, Lutz, and Hartwig going into the pits, that would move Matt Hirschman into second place behind Zeiner. The lap 100 restart would see Hirschman use the outside groove to take over the lead, with Emerling moving into second on lap 102. Jankowiak would work his way back through the field to enter the top five on lap 105. Jankowiak would take over third from Zeiner on lap 107, with Lutz moving into fourth place. Jack Ely spun while running inside the top 10 to bring out the caution on lap 116. Hirschman would pull away on the restart and would go on to earn his seventh US Open title, and 13th career win, tying him with Tony Jankowiak and Bill Carey for 18th on the Lancaster all-time wins list.
RACE RESULTS – US OPEN DAY 2 Race of Champions Modified Series: MATT HIRSCHMAN, Patrick Emerling, Andy Jankowiak, Jake Lutz, Tony Hanbury, Zane Zeiner, Austin Beers, Jack Ely, Paulie Hartwig III, Sean Verwys, Tim Connolly, Gunnar Zeiner, Danny Knoll Jr, Tommy Rought, Daren Scherer, Matt Swanson, Evan Rygielski, Daryl Lewis Jr, Paul Townsend, George Skora III, Scott Wylie, Timmy Lewis Jr, Andy Lewis Jr Qualifying Heats: Jake Lutz, Matt Hirschman, Andy Jankowiak Fast Time: Jake Lutz (17.160 seconds)
Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., raced his way to his first-ever Race of Champions victory this past Sunday at Lake Erie Speedway in North East, Pa., in the 73rd Annual Race of Champions 250. The race was telecast on live on MAVTV. Emerling fended off the challenges of eight time race winner Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., to earn the victory.Andy Jankowiak of Tonawanda, N.Y., who was the last winner of the “250” finished third.George Skora, III of Eden, N.Y., and Paulie Hartwig, III of Galloway, N.J., rounded out the top-five.
Justin Bonsignore earns 11th Riverhead victory in thrilling battle with Ron Silk during Eddie Partridge 256 Austin gets slammed out of 3rd for a 4th place finish
By Brandon White, NASCAR.com
RIVERHEAD, New York — For all 256 laps of Saturday’s Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway, Justin Bonsignore and Ron Silk never lost sight of one another. The tension gradually built between the two frontrunners in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings as the checkered flag drew closer. Neither driver gave the other any breathing room, with Bonsignore and Silk trading bumps numerous times as the finish neared.By the time the two champions settled their duel, Bonsignore was the one who emerged as the victor. The resilient effort during the final laps earned Bonsignore his 11th career Riverhead victory while simultaneously putting him back on top of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings.“It was a heavyweight fight for sure,” Bonsignore said. “It was going to be whoever [bumped the other] last, but we timed it perfect tonight. Sometimes you just have to be aggressive in this deal, but I was going to get wrecked if I let [Silk] get back behind me.” Bonsignore has been more motivated than ever to claim his fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship following a hard crash at Oswego Speedway that caused him to lose significant ground to Silk in the standings.When the Ken Massa Motorsports team convened the following week, Bonsignore jokingly remarked to his team owner that he was going to win the final five races on the schedule.Bonsignore kicked off his quest to run the table by leading every lap from the pole in last weekend’s Winchester Fair 150 at Monadnock Speedway. He carried over that speed into the Eddie Partridge 256 by putting his No. 51 on the pole with a time of 11.561 seconds.Silk, who was eliminated from contention at Monadnock following two early crashes, ensured that the Eddie Partridge 256 would not go as smoothly for Bonsignore.Despite the two mostly engaging in a clean fight for the championship through 14 races, both Bonsignore and Silk were not afraid to be assertive at Riverhead. Nearly every lead change came because of shots to the rear bumper, which only intensified in frequency as the laps dwindled.Silk fought valiantly to keep control of the top spot even as the rear brakes on his No. 16 glowed bright red as he entered each corner, but one last bump from Bonsignore coming to the white flag was enough to give him the lead for the final time. Silk attempted to return the favor in Turns 1 and 2, but ended up falling to third as a result.As Silk decompressed after a heartbreaking defeat, Bonsignore celebrated two major milestones in Victory Lane.Not only did Bonsignore become the fourth driver to reach 40 wins in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour alongside Mike Stefanik, Reggie Ruggiero and Ted Christopher, he also tied Mike Ewanitsko for the all-time Whelen Modified Tour win record at Riverhead.An exhausted Bonsignore was elated when he was informed he matched Ewanitsko’s Riverhead win total. He has long considered the Modified veteran to be one of his heroes and felt honored to celebrate that moment after having to exert so much energy to defeat Silk.“With all that went on there, I forgot about tying Mike,” Bonsignore said. “That was a goal of mine since I was fortunate enough to start winning a few [at Riverhead]. I’m sure he’ll voice text me something extremely funny.“Momentum has been going pretty good so far, but I’m ready for a week off.”Bonsignore now has five victories during the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season compared to Silk’s four. Although he triumphed in another battle on Saturday, Bonsignore’s war for the championship with Silk is far from over.Riverhead regular Mark Stewart took advantage of the chaos to finish second in front of the home crowd. Following Silk in fourth was Austin Beers, with J.R. Bertuccio completing the top-five a lap behind Bonsignore.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 256 -- 2 81 Mark Stewart Cromers Market/Truck & Auto Works 256 0.514 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 256 1.283 4 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 256 1.468 5 2 J.R. Bertuccio Gershow Recycling 255 1 Lap 6 66 Timmy Solomito Natural Design/USNEPOWER/Kennedy Realty 255 1 Lap 7 88 Roger Turbush Rheem 255 1 Lap 8 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 254 2 Laps 9 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO Lighting 254 2 Laps 10 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 251 5 Laps 11 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 236 20 Laps 12 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 235 21 Laps 13 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 223 33 Laps 14 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 198 58 Laps 15 5 John Beatty Jr. MSM Elite Motorsports Inc. 197 59 Laps 16 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 197 59 Laps 17 34 JB Fortin A&R Materials/John’s Fuel Oil 98 158 Laps 18 96 Matthew Brode* Peter Clark Motorsports 90 166 Laps
Austin grabs his 3rd straight 2nd place finish as Justin Bonsignore dominates Winchester Fair at Monadnock Speedway on September 9
One weekend ago, Justin Bonsignore was involved in a crash at Oswego Speedway that could have ended his dreams of winning a fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship. Fast forward to Saturday’s Winchester Fair at Monadnock Speedway and he’s right back in the fight. Bonsignore dominated the 150-lap Winchester Fair event that served as the finale of JDV Productions’ Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, allowing him to close the gap to Ron Silk in the battle for the series championship.“We needed this after last week,” said Bonsignore, who suffered a broken thumb on his left hand in that crash at Oswego. “I made a big mistake last week and put myself in a bad spot racing for a championship.”Bonsignore started from the pole Saturday at Monadnock and was never seriously challenged throughout the 150-lap event, but there was plenty of drama behind him. Most if it involved his championship rival Silk. Just as the field completed lap one at the quarter-mile bullring, Jacob Perry clipped the left-rear of Silk’s No. 16. The contact turned Silk around in front of the field and Perry’s No. 21 Modified climbed over the left-front tire of Silk’s car as several other drivers piled into the crash. Silk continued on and quickly went to the pits, somehow emerging just in time to stay on the lead lap. However, moments after the green flag waved for the restart, more trouble found Silk as a left-rear tire went flat, causing him to spin and bring out another caution. His crew was able to bolt on a new tire, but Silk’s car was never the same and he finished two laps down in 12th.“We’re back in it. It looks like he (Silk) might have had a bad night tonight,” Bonsignore said after his 39th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. “You just can’t give up in these things. Four more to go. It’s going to be a dog fight.” While Bonsignore was able to celebrate a win after 150 hard fought laps at Monadnock, Doug Coby and team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. also had plenty of reasons to be happy after claiming the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup championship. The accomplishment for Coby and Baldwin comes just weeks after Baldwin announced that his Tommy Baldwin Racing team would be parked while he undergoes cancer treatments. For Baldwin and Coby, the opportunity to race for the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup and the $5,000 bonus that comes with it was too good to pass up. A fifth-place finish by Coby was just enough for Baldwin’s team to claim the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup ahead of Bonsignore and Austin Beers, who finished second on Saturday evening. “Just to be here with our family and Tommy battling cancer, I mean he’s a warrior,” Coby said. “He told us from the beginning he was going to fight through this and he’s been courageous enough to share his battle and everything on social media, which is pretty uncommon. “To be here as the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup champions just means a lot. We missed two races and kind of threw our season up in the air, but we’ve got a great group of guys and Tommy really wanted to be here to do this.” Following Bonsignore and Beers was Sam Rameau, who earned a career-best finish in third. Kyle Bonsignore was fourth ahead of Coby, followed by Anthony Nocella, Jake Johnson, Brian Robie, Craig Lutz and Matt Kimball.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150 2 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 150 4.331 3 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 150 5.241 4 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 150 5.935 5 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150 8.595 6 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 150 9.108 7 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 150 10.211 8 25 Brian Robie* Maurice Enterprises 150 11.285 9 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 149 1 Lap 10 43 Matt Kimball* Adam LaPoint Electrical/Edmunds Ace Hardware 149 1 Lap 11 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 148 2 Laps 12 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 148 2 Laps 13 21 Jacob Perry* The Royal Screw Machine Co. 148 2 Laps 14 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 148 2 Laps 15 59 Brett Meservey* BNP Machine 147 3 Laps 16 81 Nathan Wenzel* 1812 Paint and Auto Body 142 8 Laps 17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 135 15 Laps 18 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 40 110 Laps 19 1 Cory Plummer* Apex Racing/Gene’s Auto Service 1 149 Laps
Austin comes close with 2nd straight second place finish at Oswego Speedway on Saturday, September 2
Not only did Silk move into sole possession of 10th on the all-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins list with his 21st career victory, but Silk increased his advantage in the series points standings after Justin Bonsignore was collected in a late-race accident. Silk entered the Toyota Mod Classic 150 with just a one-point lead on Bonsignore in the battle for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champinoship. While he was relieved to build some breathing room between himself and Bonsignore, Silk understands that his fortunes can easily change during the five races of the year. “It was nice to capitalize with a win, but there’s still quite a bit to go and anything can happen,” Silk said. “We hadn’t had a bad race yet. Hopefully we don’t, but there’s always that chance, so we’ll try to keep [the momentum] going.”Silk’s points lead was in jeopardy during the opening stages of the Toyota Mod Classic 150, as Bonsignore controlled the field from the pole.The path to the front from his eighth-place starting position was a grind for Silk. He had to patiently time his moves around Oswego’s unique five-eighths-mile layout to gain crucial track position, but he made gradual progress on Bonsignore as the laps clicked off.A restart shortly after the halfway point was the opportunity Silk needed to take advantage of Bonsignore’s ill-handling car to take the race lead.“I really slipped up in qualifying, which got us back to eighth,” Silk said. “I was able to drive to third on that first run. The guys had a great pit stop and we came out second. I was better than [Bonsignore] was at the beginning. He looked tight in the middle and I could cross him over and get the lead.“My car was phenomenal during the second half of the race.”Bonsignore was attempting to chase down Silk when disaster struck for the three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion.While trying to pass Tommy Catalano for second, Bonsignore collided with the slower car of Gary McDonald on the low side of the track entering Turn 1. All three cars crashed, with Bonsignore and Catalano taking heavy hits into Oswego’s foam barriers.The damage to Bonsginore’s Modified was significant enough to keep him on the sidelines for the final 20 laps, all while Silk fended off an aggressive charge from Austin Beers to pick up his second career Oswego victory.Silk knows Bonsignore is going to make a push for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in the final five races of the year, especially with two of Bonsignore’s best tracks, Riverhead Raceway and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, still on the schedule.“It’s always good to win,” Silk said. “We’ve had quite a battle so far and it’s not over yet. You don’t want to see someone have something like that happen to them, but there’s quite a few races to go.”Following Silk and Beers in third at Oswego was Bobby Santos III, with Anthony Sesely and Kyle Bonsignore completing the top-five. The rest of the top-10 finishers were Jimmy Zacharias, Jon McKennedy, Tyler Rypkema, Tommy Catalano and Tyler Catalano.
1 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 152 -- 2 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 152 0.252 3 14 Bobby Santos III Advantage Trucks/Anastasi Trucking 152 0.865 4 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 152 1.051 5 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 152 1.23 6 71 Jimmy Zacharias Danny’s Cesspool Service, Inc. 152 1.525 7 77 Jon McKennedy Curb Records/Mowhawk Northeast 152 2.08 8 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 152 2.284 9 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprera 152 2.513 10 84 Tyler Catalano Catalano Motorsports 152 2.994 11 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 152 3.383 12 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 143 9 Laps 13 59 Andy Jankowiak BNP Machine 138 14 Laps 14 4 Tim Connolly Connolly Companies LLC 137 15 Laps 15 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 129 23 Laps 16 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 117 35 Laps 17 3 Bryan Narducci* Florida Connection 94 58 Laps 18 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 32 120 Laps
Austin and the Car Struggle to find set up for the Maynard Troyer Memorial Race at Spencer on Sept 1 Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 12 25 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 11 2 2 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY - 3 3 73H Paulie Hartwig III Paulie Hartwig III Galloway, NJ - 4 1 65NY George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY -3 5 7 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 2 6 6 54PJ Tommy Catalano Tommy Catalano Ontario, NY - 7 13 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA 6 8 4 95 Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -4 9 9 56PJ Trevor Catalano Trevor Catalano Ontario, NY - 10 16 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 6 11 14 9 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 3 12 10 10 Daryl Lewis Jr Daryl Lewis Jr Ontario, NY -2 13 17 64PJ Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 4 14 19 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 5 15 15 11 Ricky Knapp Jr Ricky Knapp Jr Buffalo, NY - 16 8 17 Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY -8 17 18 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA 1 18 20 47 Joey Mucciacciaro Joey Mucciacciaro Wolcott, CT 2 19 5 8 Chris Finocchario Chris Finocchario Macedon, NY -14 20 11 45PJ Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -9 21 21 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA - 22 22 21 Paul Townsend Paul Townsend Guelph, ON - 23 23 14 Jake Lutz Jake Lutz Hamburg, NY -
Austin leads laps 1 -146 as Kyle Bonsignore’s return to Victory Lane on the Modified Tour arrives in dramatic fashion at Langley on August 26
HAMPTON, Va. — Kyle Bonsignore’s trip to Victory Lane at Langley Speedway on Saturday night was a blissful execution of the routine. With a smile that could light up the entire Hampton Roads region, the 34-year-old accepted his trophy, conducted interviews and posed for photos. The fact that this was the Bay Shore, New York native’s first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win in almost five years didn’t become evident until he was told he was about to receive a sticker. “What sticker?” Bonsignore asked before realizing he was primed to commemorate his victory with a checkered flag decal next to the name plate on his pink and gray No. 22 Modified.The detail was easy to forget for a driver who entered the CheckeredFlag.com 150 with a 58-race winless streak on the Modified Tour. During the time in between Bonsignore’s first victory (Stafford Motor Speedway in September of 2018) and his triumph Saturday, his cousin Justin Bonsignore won 19 races and three Modified Tour championships. That’s why Justin Bonsignore rushed to his cousin’s car in Victory Lane and said “it’s about time” as he congratulated Kyle.“It’s been a really long drought,” Kyle Bonsignore said. “It’s really hard to keep coming back, but you keep coming back for nights like this.” Bonsignore noted his win Saturday at Langley was ironically similar to his victory at Stafford all those years ago. He won his first Tour race after leading the final five laps, and only the final five laps. He pulled off the same feat Saturday in dramatic fashion, stealing the lead from Austin Beers with five to go and beating his rival in a dash to the finish. Beers, who recorded the best lap in practice and earned the Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award in qualifying, led the first 145 circuits of the 150-lap race. But Bonsignore’s speed was evident, too, as he spent the entirety of the event lurking behind Beers in second. Beers and Bonsignore both knew the latter had the faster car. After Bonsignore made the pass, Beers fought hard to take back the spot before settling for the runner-up result. “I knew he was going to do everything he could to get back to my bumper, and I would have done the same thing to him,” Bonsignore said of Beers. “I immediately went into defensive mode. Our car was really good off the corner, and here that’s everything, so he couldn’t get a good enough run through the corner and off. So as long as I could hold him off on entry, I knew I could pull away from him enough on the straightaway to not have to worry about him as much. “I probably was over-driving it those last few laps trying to keep him behind me. If I would have just done what I was doing, I probably would have pulled away. But there was just a few laps to go, so I did whatever I had to do.” Beers confirmed he did everything he could to get back to Bonsignore, but he had no intentions of making any kind of move that might cause an accident. He said Bonsignore took the lead clean, and that he was going to race clean in return. Bonsignore’s win at Langley is the new high point of a 2023 season that has seen the team succeed in many ways. His average finish of 10.3 thus far this year is tied for his second best average for a season in his career. He has seven top-10 finishes in 12 races, including a fourth-place effort at New York’s Riverhead Raceway in June. Though this triumph had been elusive over the last few years, the win Bonsignore earned Saturday was not a fluke. He was second quick in practice and fourth in qualifying. He was the only driver who was able to keep pace with Beers before asserting his clear advantage in the closing laps. Beers, who has a pair of Modified Tour wins in 2023 as he hangs on to third place in the championship points battle, notched his seventh top-five finish of the season Saturday.Justin Bonsignore finished third ahead of Ron Silk in fourth and Kyle Ebersole in fifth. Tyler Rypkema, Jake Johnson, Max McLaughlin, Craig Lutz and Anthony Nocella finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
1 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 150 -- 2 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 150 0.165 3 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150 7.484 4 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 150 7.959 5 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating, Inc. 150 8.22 6 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 150 8.854 7 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 150 14.471 8 77 Max McLaughlin Curb Records/Mowhawk Northeast 150 15.688 9 82 Craig Lutz Horton Avenue Materials 149 1 Lap 10 46 Anthony Nocella Riverhead Building Supply 149 1 Lap 11 4 Tim Connolly* Connolly Companies LLC 148 2 Laps 12 28 John-Michael Shenette * Eighty-Two Services/Heinz Performance 147 3 Laps 13 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 147 3 Laps 14 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 141 9 Laps 15 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 136 14 Laps
Late race restart propels Austin Beers to Evergreen Modified laurels on August 20 and sweep of weekend;
Austin's Observations: After winning Saturday at Chemung Speedrome with the Race of Champions Modified Series, we headed to Evergreen on Sunday! We started 4th in the heat and finished 2nd. After starting 4th in the 50 lap feature we ended up getting the lead with 7 to go and completed the weekend sweep for wins 4 & 5 on the year!
Thanks to the crew: Spotter - Mustache Jack Ely Glenn Eberwein Vincent Isabella III Brennen Coulter Richard Kresley Charlie Brinkman David Glass My dad
Thank you to our sponsors: Tom Wanick Sly from SSR Suspension Horwith Freightliner Brembo Brakes The Joie of Seating Bassett Wheels Troyer Race Cars/ TFR Manufacturing Black Flagged Podcast Thomas Capuano at Fenceline Films
By: DINO OBERTO In under a 24-hour period and working off minimal hours of sleep, Austin Beers capped off his weekend of racing with a second straight win coming at Evergreen Raceway in a 50-lap Tour Type Modified feature. The evening prior he drove the same Beers Motorsports car to victory at Chemung Speedrome in the Night Before the Glen Rod Spaulding Classic 75 with the Race of Champions Modified Series. “It was a really great weekend and this crew did an amazing job. We did have some power steering problems but fortunately it got fixed in time for the race and ya, it was a little bit tiring with the long weekend for us but I’m very happy to get back in Victory Lane here at Evergreen,” said Beers. Lou Strohl started on the pole and led the way and thanks to a rapid pace of green flag laps, he was able to advance to a comfortable gap over Roger Coss, Brian DeFebo, Beers and Blake Barney. That running order stayed in line until the first caution waved with 26 laps complete. With it being a ‘cone race’ second running Coss opted to take the inside lane for the restart and go behind Strohl while Beers made the choice to procure the outside and line-up alongside the leader. When the action resumed Strohl was again up on the wheel and showing the way while Coss and Beers began a torrid side-by-side battle. They would actually trade-off second spot several times over the next dozen laps. By lap 35 Beers then locked the position and set his sights on Strohl. And despite losing one spot Coss remained close as well as Barney. With 10 laps remaining Beers was now hounding Strohl and as they were about to begin the 45th tour, Beers was in the motion of making a pass for the lead only to see it called back when the final caution waved at the same time. On the ensuing restart, however, there was little doubt that Beers was going to strike again and that he did. Off the fourth turn he squeezed to the inside of Strohl and then completed the race winning pass at the opposite corner. Once in front he was perfect across the concluding laps and put the punctuation mark on his sweeping weekend. “I always like the top here and when Roger (Coss) gave it to me on that one restart I was pretty happy for that. It didn’t work the first time but the second time I was able to get in,” said Beers. “This was a first for us to win twice in the same weekend and it’s really sweet. This one is also for George Wambold. He was a legend and his passing this past week was sad news and we send our condolences to his entire family.” Strohl and Coss raced hard in the closing laps in taking second. Point leader Barney was fourth while James Pritchard Jr., rounded out the top five. “It was bittersweet and second is always good but we wanted to win. The car was super good in the beginning and then we had those two cautions and I don’t know if it just glazed the tires over but the car just got loose after that and was a bit of a handful,” explained Strohl. “We were just riding at that point and my son Jesse was telling me on the radio to ease it up and it still felt like we were driving away when I was backing it down and I really didn’t care who took the outside at that point because I felt they had nothing for me,” he continued. “It was a great race and it just got to free towards the end and we’ll go back and fix it and be ready for the next time.”
Modified feature finish (50 laps): 1. Austin Beers, 2. Lou Strohl, 3. Roger Coss, 4. Blake Barney, 5. James Pritchard Jr., 6. Justin Gumley, 7. Nick Baer, 8. Jacob Kerstetter, 9. Jayden Harman, 10. Jaden Brown, 11. Brian DeFebo, 12. Thomas Flanagan
Austin Beers wins the Race of Champions Modified Series "Night Before the Glen" Rod Spalding Classic August 19 at the Chemung Speedrome - Racing at the Drome. Zane Zeiner came home second with Jack Ely third.
1 3 9 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 2 2 1 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA -1 3 7 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA 4 4 2 72 T.J. Potrzebowski T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY -2 5 11 53 Brian Defebo Brian Defebo Berwick, PA 6 6 5 56PJ Trevor Catalano Trevor Catalano Ontario, NY -1 7 8 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 1 8 4 73H Paulie Hartwig III Paulie Hartwig III Galloway, NJ -4 9 10 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY 1 10 16 64PJ Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 6 11 9 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -2 12 17 65NY George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY 5 13 20 95K Jacob Kerstetter Jacob Kerstetter Allentown, PA 7 14 18 12 Brian Sones Brian Sones Sandy Valley, PA 4 15 19 24 Greg Krause Greg Krause West Valley, NY 4 16 6 95S Bryan Sherwood Bryan Sherwood APALACHIN, NY -10 17 15 51 Shawn Nye Shawn Nye Lancaster, NY -2 18 13 45PJ Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -5 19 12 76 Gunnar Zeiner Gunnar Zeiner Bath, PA -7 20 14 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY -6 21 21 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA - 22 22 10 Daryl Lewis Jr Daryl Lewis Jr Ontario, NY -
Austin win Pole and finishes 4th as Justin Bonsignore reaches another career milestone with his latest Modified Tour win at Thompson on August 16
Wednesday evening saw three-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore reach an important milestone at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.By dominating the second half of the Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com, Bonsignore earned an impressive 13th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at the facility. This puts him in a tie with Tour legend Ted Christopher on the series’ all-time list for Thompson victories.As has been the case in many races this year, Bonsignore had to battle 2011 champion Ron Silk all the way to the checkered flag to bring home the historic win.“It feels amazing to tie Ted Christopher on the all-time wins list [at Thompson],” Bonsignore said. “It’s something we had been wanting to do for a couple of years now. I was just trying to mind the gap with Ron [Silk], and I didn’t know how much he had left in the tank.“On that last restart, he gave me a lot of respect.”Bonsignore admitted matching Christopher’s Thompson win total was a moment that was long overdue During the late 2010s, Bonsignore was an unstoppable force at Thompson back when the track was featured four times on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. From 2018-19, Bonsignore won seven of eight races, including six in a row.The turn of the decade featured diminishing returns for Bonsignore around Thompson. He gradually fell down the running order with each appearance, which culminated into an abysmal showing last October that saw him finish two laps down in 14th.Bonsignore was initially unsure if he would shake off a streak of inconsistency at the start of Wednesday’s Thompson 150 after struggling to gain track position in the opening stint. Once he got fresh tires and clean air, nothing could stop Bonsignore from adding another accomplishment to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour record book.“For a place where we had so many wins, we really lost our confidence in the last year and a half,” Bonsignore said. “We got lapped a bunch of times in October, but [Ryan] Stone went to work on this car and tried something really different today. We missed it a little bit on the first set [of tires], but it was really good on the second set.”Silk tried everything to keep pace with Bonsignore in the closing stages of the Thompson 150 and even found a couple of good looks underneath him for the lead. A late-race caution failed to provide Silk another opening, and he was forced to watch Bonsignore take the checkered flag.“I don’t think I could have gotten [Bonsignore] anyway,” Silk said. “He was a little bit better than we were. He could roll the center better, but it was still a good effort. I was loose during the first run and made some aggressive changes to tighten us up for the second. We just got it a tiny bit too tight.” Although Wednesday’s outcome means he will lose some of his advantage in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings, Silk was proud of the hard work his team put in to improve his car and minimize the damage from a Bonsignore win.For Bonsignore, who now has 38 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour to his name, Wednesday carried more significance than just tying Christopher’s record at Thompson. As Bonsignore embarked on a Polish victory lap around Thompson, he took an extra moment in Turn 1 to honor the late John Blewett III, who earned one of his 10 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories at the facility before tragically passing away in a crash at the track in 2007.“I left the [checkered] flag up in Turn 1,” Bonsignore said. “That’s where John Blewett III was killed. I saw Doug Coby do that years ago, and I had always wanted to do that. [Wednesday] was the day we lost John all those years ago, and he was the biggest badass there was.“If we could do anything to honor him, that’s pretty cool.”With one more visit to Thompson scheduled on the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour calendar in October, Bonsignore has an opportunity to inch closer to another late series legend in Mike Stefanik, who holds the record for most Thompson wins with 15.Regardless of whether he is able to eclipse Stefanik’s total, Bonsignore’s triumph on Wednesday further cemented him as one of the greatest to ever race at Thompson alongside the many he idolized growing up.Following Silk in the finish order was the most recent Thompson winner in Eric Goodale, with Austin Beers and Craig Lutz completing the top five. Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Bobby Santos III, Patrick Emerling, Doug Coby, Anthony Sesely and Tyler Rypkema.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150 – 2 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 150 0.299 3 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 150 1.655 4 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 150 2.05 5 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Service 150 2.392 6 44 Bobby Santos III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 150 2.85 7 07 Patrick Emerling Bonesteel Aerospace 150 4.286 8 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150 4.453 9 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 150 5.332 10 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 150 5.97 11 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 150 7.176 12 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 150 7.544 13 26 Max Zachem Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 150 8.959 14 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 150 9.181 15 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 144 6 Laps 16 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds 130 20 Laps 17 46 Anthony Nocella Riverhead Building Supply 112 38 Laps 18 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Co. 90 60 Laps 19 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 90 60 Laps 20 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Baker Racing 90 60 Laps 21 1 Eric Berndt Ferguson Motorsports 90 60 Laps 22 21 Anthony Bello* Bello Motorsports/SKM/JB Mgmt 48 102 Laps 23 89 Matt Swanson Cervado Auto 3 147 Laps
JAKE LUTZ DECLARED THE WINNER OF THE 34TH ANNUAL TRIBUTE TO TOMMY DRUAR AND TONY JANKOWIAK AT LANCASTER MOTORPLEX ON AUGUST 12 FOLLOWING POST RACE INSPECTION GIVES AUSTIN A 5th PLACE FINISH
Following the conclusion post-race inspection of Sunday’s 34th Annual Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak at Lancaster (N.Y.) Motorplex, Jake Lutz of Hamburg, N.Y., was declared the winner of the event. Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., originally crossed the finish line first, however following post-race inspection and analysis after measurement of the bore and stroke in regard to the 358 Steel Cylinder Head Engine in section M.1.A. Race of Champions Asphalt Modified – sub-section 1.0-2 358 Steel Cylinder Head Modified Engine Rules. There were four other engines inspected following post-race inspection that met the specifications as stated per the Race of Champions Asphalt Modified Series rule book and competition formats per weight rules.It will be the first victory of Lutz’s career in the Series. George Skora, III of Eden, N.Y., finished second, with Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., finishing third. Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., and Andy Jankowiak of Tonawanda, N.Y., rounded out the top-five.
Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 3 14L Jake Lutz Jake Lutz Hamburg, NY 2 2 10 65 George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY 8 3 11 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 8 4 7 45 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA 3 5 5 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY - 6 2 10 Daryl Lewis Jr Daryl Lewis Jr Ontario, NY -4 7 6 56PJ Trevor Catalano Trevor Catalano Ontario, NY -1 8 18 73H Paulie Hartwig III Paulie Hartwig III Galloway, NJ 10 9 16 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 7 10 9 51 Shawn Nye Shawn Nye Lancaster, NY -1 11 1 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA -10 12 17 88 Sean Verwys Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 5 13 4 64PJ Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY -9 14 19 11 Ricky Knapp Jr Ricky Knapp Jr Buffalo, NY 5 15 13 0 Randall Richard Randall Richard -2 16 12 66 Austin Kochenash Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA -4 17 20 17 Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY 3 18 15 8 Earl Paules Earl Paules Palmertown, PA -3 19 23 57X Bobby Hanel Bobby Hanel Cheektowaga, NY 4 20 14 45PJ Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -6 21 22 47 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 1 22 21 2 Tony Hanbury Tony Hanbury Owego, NY -1 23 24 55PJ Tommy Catalano Tommy Catalano Ontario, NY 1 DQ 8 14E Patrick Emerling Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY
Austin Beers fends off Matt Hirschman at Lancaster for second career Modified Tour victory at Lancaster Speedway August 5
By defeating Hirschman on Saturday evening, Beers continued a stellar sophomore campaign on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The son of former competitor Eric Beers, who won two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events between 2005-06, the younger Beers impressed many in the garage area by leading 102 of 150 laps from the pole at Richmond Raceway in March to score his maiden victory. Since then, Beers has tallied two more poles (Riverhead Raceway and Wall Stadium) with both races seeing him lead more than 50 laps apiece. A 17th in the first Riverhead event is Beers’ only finish outside the top 10 in a year that has seen him complete all but one lap. Beers carried that efficiency into his first Lancaster appearance on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. A time of 17.317 seconds in qualifying put him third on the starting grid behind Hirschman and three-time series champion Justin Bonsignore. After dispatching Bonsignore on the first green flag run of the evening, Beers took advantage of a long pit stop from Hirschman to slot into the lead. Hirschman methodically worked his way back through the field to chase down Beers but ran out of time to claim his third win on the season. A late caution for Anthony Sesely’s crash gave Hirschman one last chance to chase down Beers, but he saw his chances evaporate with every lap Beers led under green. “We were just making up for lost ground on the pit stop there,” Hirschman said. “To make a better race, we needed a caution. We just gave up a little bit more than I would have liked to have seen. With every lap, [Beers] was inching away and [the pass] would needed to have come on the restart. “I just didn’t get it done tonight.” The start of the Nu-Way Auto Parts 150 had the makings of another dominant Hirschman victory after he passed the pole-sitter in Bonsignore. Hirschman’s other two NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins in 2023 saw him lead 323 of 325 possible laps. Although he was disappointed to come home second, Hirschman enjoyed the challenges provided by Lancaster’s unique layout. He hopes the speed and hard work shown on Saturday carries over into his next NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour appearance. “I enjoy coming to Lancaster,” Hirschman said. I’ve always said this place is made for Modifieds. With that [late] caution, we made a race out of it. I would have liked to come out on top, but we’ll have to try again next time.” With his victory, Beers joined Patrick Emerling as the only other driver to take home a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour checkered flag at Lancaster. Emerling’s triumph in the inaugural event came in 2021. Trying to fight off Hirschman to become the second Lancaster winner was far from an easy task for Beers. Although he was flawless on track during the final laps, Beers said the crucial turning point was his crew perfectly executing their lone pit stop to get him the lead, which he did not surrender for the rest of the evening.“This means a lot, especially with everything that has happened the last month,” Beers said. “Since we switched [tire] compounds, we’ve been struggling a little bit, but we’ve been trying to get back on track. This team did a hell of a job and had a hell of a pit stop. “They won me this race.” Beers still has plenty of ground to make up to get back in contention for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title, but his confidence is high as he looks to add to his win total over the final eight races of the year. Ron Silk maintained control of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points lead with a third-place run over Bonsignore in fourth. Chuck Hossfeld completed the top-five finishers. Tommy Catalano, Doug Coby, Bryan Narducci, Kyle Bonsignore and Kyle Ebersole rounded out the top 10.
1 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 150 2 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports 150 0.287 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 150 2.129 4 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150 3.659 5 14 Chuck Hossfeld Advantage Trucks/Anastasi Trucking 150 4.346 6 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprera 150 4.493 7 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150 4.976 8 3 Bryan Narducci* Florida Connection 150 6.681 9 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 150 7.923 10 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating, Inc. 150 10.229 11 77 Max McLaughlin Curb Records/Mowhawk Northeast 149 1 Lap 12 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 148 2 Laps 13 46 Anthony Nocella Riverhead Building Supply 146 4 Laps 14 9 Tommy Wanick* Wanick Construction Inc. 144 6 Laps 15 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 142 8 Laps 16 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 134 16 Laps 17 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 128 22 Laps 18 4 Tim Connolly* Connolly Companies LLC 125 25 Laps 19 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 115 35 Laps 20 25 Mike Leaty Northeast Industrial Technologies 112 38 Laps
Austin and the Prestige Motorsports Team get a 10th place finish at Star
1 12 15MA Johnson, Jake Rehoboth, MA 11 2 14 88 Pitkat, Woody Bellingham, MA 12 3 18 24 Patnode, Todd Swanzey, NH 15 4 6 1 Kopcik, Stephen Newtown, CT 2 5 24 25NH Robie, Brian Sunapee, NH 19 6 5 99 Savary, Richard Holbrook, MA -1 7 7 50 Williams, Ronnie Lebanon, CT 0 8 15 06 Hinckley, Les Windsor Locks, CT 7 9 11 04 Jarvis, Joey Windsor, VT 2 10 13 13 Beers, Austin Northampton, PA 3 11 2 60 Hirschman, Matt Northampton, PA -9 12 4 07 Bonsignore, Kyle Bay Shore, NY -8 13 21 76 Alexander, Kirk West Swanzey , NH 8 14 1 5CT Pasteryak, Chris Moosup, CT -13 15 16 9 Dowling, Chase Bethlehem, CT 1 16 25 02 Collins, Mike Strafford, NH 9 17 8 25 Swanson, Matt Harvard, MA -9 18 17 3 Narducci, Bryan Colchester, CT -1 19 3 50R Rameau, Sam Westminster, MA -16 20 22 24MA Flynn, Mikey Hampden, MA 2 21 23 55 Doucette, Ryan Framingham, MA 2 22 19 75 Arute, David Stafford Springs, CT -3 23 10 55CT Hodgdon, Teddy Danbury, CT -13 24 20 27 Robbie, Derek Bellingham, MA -4 25 9 76CT DiMatteo, Dana Canton, CT -16
Justin Bonsignore edged Doug Coby by half a car length to conclude a thrilling Mohegan Sun 100 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) race on July 15 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) - Austin has awesome 4th Place Finish
Annually one of the crown jewel stops in the NWMT, “The Magic Mile” brought out the best in the popular series as Bonsignore, Coby and Ron Silk all exchanged the lead across the final 10 laps, sometimes multiple times in the same circuit.“That was just crazy,” said Bonsignore, the pole winner, a two-time New Hampshire winner and a three-time NWMT champion. “The way we were able to drag race back to the line and beat Doug was amazing. This is our Super Bowl, this is our Daytona 500. There’s nothing like racing here.”The dramatic finish came after the race was delayed by more than an hour following a passing rain shower that put the race under red flag conditions with 69 of the scheduled 100 laps complete.Once the drivers returned to their cars, a round of pit stops for fuel and tires ensued, scrambling the field. Bonsignore restarted 10th after the delay and slowly picked his way through the field until taking the lead for good on the backstretch just before taking the white flag. The 35-year-old from Holtsville, N.Y. kept the No. 51 Chevrolet on edge from there, with Coby and Silk just behind at the end.“I’m glad we got that back going again for the fans that stuck it out,” said Bonsignore after his second victory of the season. “[Cody, Silk and I] have a good rivalry but there’s a lot of respect involved. They came over and congratulated me. We went really conservative [on pit road], stayed patient and got to the lead. I knew where I wanted to be [on the track] on the last lap. Coby was second, Silk finished third, with Austin Beers fourth and Patrick Emerling fifth. NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) regular Corey LaJoie finished seventh. “I started this race really good and then we got too loose,” LaJoie said. “The etiquette for modified racing is a bit more brash than I was used to. The modifieds is one of my favorite series to run. They are unlike any other car I’ve driven.” Twenty-two drivers finished on the lead lap.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 100 – 2 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 100 0.045 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 100 0.289 4 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 100 0.721 5 7 Patrick Emerling Bonesteel Aerospace 100 0.966 6 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction, Inc. 100 1.19 7 1 Corey LaJoie Celcus 100 1.267 8 89 Matt Swanson Cervado Auto 100 1.557 9 70 Andy Seuss Rockingham Boat 100 1.913 10 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 100 2.907 11 17 Chase Dowling Start Finish Production/S&S Paving 100 2.973 12 99 Ronnie Williams Tony’s Competition Engines 100 3.182 13 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing/Riverhead Building Supply 100 3.358 14 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds 100 3.53 15 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 100 3.782 16 46 Anthony Nocella Riverhead Building Supply 100 4.19 17 77 Max McLaughlin Curb Records/Mowhawk Northeast 100 4.3 18 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 100 4.576 19 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 100 8.424 20 20 Edward McCarthy, Jr. McCarthy’s Marine Sales 100 10.278 21 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprera 100 11.472 22 4 Tim Connolly* Connolly Companies, LLC 100 30.406 23 43 Matt Kimball* J&M Towing Recovery/Poodlack Wealth Mgmt 99 1 Lap 24 21 Anthony Bello* Bello Motorsports/SKM/JB Mgmt 98 2 Laps 25 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 98 2 Laps 26 97 Bryan Dauzat Brother-In-Law Motorsports 96 4 Laps 27 44 Bobby Santos, III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 82 18 Laps 28 1 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 22 78 Laps 29 26 Max Zachem Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 18 82 Laps 30 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 4 96 Laps
Ron Silk bumps his way past Justin Bonsignore to win Jersey Shore 150 at Wall Stadium Speedway on July 8 By Adam Fenwick - NASCAR.com
WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Modifieds have front bumpers for a reason, and Ron Silk put his to good use Saturday night at Wall Stadium Speedway. The 40-year-old racing veteran used the chrome horn to move friend and rival Justin Bonsignore out of his way with fewer than five laps to go in the Jersey Shore 150 to earn his third NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory of the season.“I think we were all pretty much sliding around there at the end,” Silk said in Victory Lane after his 20th career Modified Tour victory. “It seemed like I had maybe a little bit better car than Justin, but he fought hard on the restart before that. Luckily I was able to get him back there at the end.” The day didn’t start off on the right foot for Silk, who qualified 11th in the 23-car field. That meant he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to race for the victory at the third-mile oval, but he was up to the task. Silk was in the top five before Lap 50 and took the lead for the first time on Lap 90 from pole-sitter Austin Beers. Six-time Modified Tour champion Doug Coby appeared to have a faster car than that of Silk and nearly got by him with 42 laps to go, but contact with the slower car of Anthony Nocella took Coby out of contention just as he was making the pass for the lead.With Coby out of the picture, it was down to Silk and Bonsignore, the latter of whom was making his 200th Modified Tour start. Bonsignore was able to get around Silk on a restart with 21 laps left, but the race was slowed multiple times by cautions, one of which took out Beers and Eric Goodale on the backstretch. The final caution of the evening waved with 10 laps left with Bonsignore still leading Silk, setting up a five-lap dash to the checkered flag. Bonsignore was able to pull clear of Silk through Turns 1-2, but Silk used his bumper to move Silk out of the way entering Turn 3 to regain the race lead. Silk led the remainder of the race, though Bonsignore did everything in his power to return the favor. He gave Silk a big shot to the bumper with three laps left in Turn 3, but it wasn’t enough to regain the lead.“We were throwing haymakers at each other,” Bonsignore said. “It’s been like that all year. We’ve been really putting on a lot of good battles. Nobody has crashed; it’s about as aggressive as you can get without crashing each other. “I used him up down in [Turn] 1, and I thought I got him maybe far enough back. He just lined my bumper up getting into [Turn] 3, and that was it. He just drove me up the hill, and I couldn’t get back to him.”Silk’s victory allows him to further pad his advantage at the top of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings as he continues his pursuit of his second series championship.“It’s always good to be on a little bit of a win streak, and while you’re leading the points, it’s good,” Silk said. “It’s really early for points. We just want to keep trying to get some wins.”Eddie McCarthy earned a career-best finish in third, with Anthony Sesely and Andrew Krause completing the top five. Coby finished sixth, followed by Matt Hirschman, Blake Barney, Beers and Dave Sapienza.
1 Ron Silk 2 Justin Bonsignore 3 Eddie McCarthy 4 Anthony Sesely 5 Andrew Krause 6 Doug Coby 7 Matt Hirschman 8 Blake Barney 9 Austin Beers 10 Dave Sapienza 11 Kyle Bonsignore 12 Anthony Nocella 13 Ken Heagy 14 Tyler Rypkema 15 Tommy Wanick * 16 Melissa Fifield 17 Tom Martino, Jr. * 18 Jake Johnson * 19 J.B. Fortin 20 Max Zachem 21 Eric Goodale 22 Jimmy Blewett 23 Craig Lutz
Austin and Prestige Motorsports earns a fantastic 2nd place finish at Seekonk Open Wheel Wednesday Tri Track Series on June 28
Austin's thoughts: Rallied back to finish 2nd last night in the Prestige Motorsports #13 at Seekonk for Open Wheel Wednesday! Started on the pole and dropped back early. Pit for a right rear around lap 30 and was guided by Ryan Blanchard all the way back up to finish 2nd! Super proud of this team for even getting to the racetrack after breaking down on the way there and getting towed into the pits. As well as all the adjustments they made throughout the day! Congrats to Matthew Swanson and Gary Casella on the win!
1 8 25 Swanson, Matt Harvard, MA 2 1 13 Beers, Austin Northampton, PA 3 6 60 Hirschman, Matt Northampton, PA 4 4 99 Savary, Richard Holbrook, MA 5 9 10 Coby, Doug Marion, CT 6 11 55 Doucette, Ryan Framingham, MA 7 21 06 Hinckley, Les Windsor Locks, CT 8 3 15MA Johnson, Jake Rehoboth, MA 9 17 51 Cipriano, Joey Plymouth, CT 10 7 50R Rameau, Sam Westminster, MA 11 13 75CT Pasteryak, Chris Moosup, CT 12 20 82 Murphy, Robert ROCHESTER, MA 13 25 1 Wenzel, Nathan Granby, MA 14 26 24MA Flynn, Mikey Hampden, MA 15 19 02 LaPlante, Paul North Attleboro, MA 16 24 2 L'Etoile, Frank Jr Wethersfield, CT 17 16 88 Pitkat, Woody Bellingham, MA 18 23 75 Arute, David Stafford Springs, CT 19 22 3 Narducci, Bryan Colchester, CT 20 15 47 Mucciacciaro, Joey Wolcott, CT 21 14 50MA Medeiros, Carl Westport, MA 22 2 07 Bonsignore, Kyle Bay Shore, NY 23 5 16 Silk, Ron Norwalk, CT 24 10 50 Williams, Ronnie Lebanon, CT 25 18 76 Alexander, Kirk West Swanzey , NH 26 28 36RI Cooper, Michael Pawtucket, RI DNS DNS 9 Dowling, Chase Bethlehem, CT DNS DNS 58 Zachem, Max Preston, CT
After nearly two decades of trying, Ron Silk finally wins at Riverhead Raceway on June 24 - Austin captures pole but was just too tight during race and comes home 10th
In nearly two decades of competition with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead Raceway, Ron Silk had never taken home a checkered flag from the Long Island quarter-mile. The current series points leader finally added that milestone to his resume Saturday evening with a dominant victory in the Miller Lite Salutes Mike Ewanitsko 200, which also served as his second victory of the 2023 season. Silk had come close to Victory Lane many times at Riverhead, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s most recent outing there in May, which is why he was relieved to put together a full race at a track that has meant so much to him during his career.“I felt like we had the car to beat [at Riverhead] last time, but I got beat on those last restarts” Silk said. “Luckily, we didn’t have to face that again and my guys brought a great car. This is Eddie Partridge’s track and obviously we all wish he was still around, so it’s really cool to [win here].”A staple of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for many years, Partridge balanced out being a team owner in the series with overseeing the day-to-day operations at Riverhead up until his sudden passing on Sept. 10, 2021. Silk drove for Partridge when he won his lone NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2011, making Saturday’s victory that much more special. Since last year, Silk has never finished a Riverhead race worse than third, but was not able to claim that elusive win until Saturday evening. Silk patiently bided his time behind polesitter Austin Beers before a mid-race restart provided him the perfect opportunity to take control and lead the entire second half of Saturday’s feature.The only driver who could keep pace with Silk was Justin Bonsignore, who wrestled the lead away from Silk in May to earn his 10th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Riverhead. A win on Saturday would have tied Bonsignore with his childhood hero Ewanitsko for most Tour victories at Riverhead with 11.A different tire compound and the nighttime conditions made it difficult for Bonsignore to fight his way through the field. He managed to get to Silk’s rear bumper, but gradually lost ground as the laps clicked off.“We were able to run a harder pace than we had in the past,” Bonsignore said. “I tried the bottom groove at around Lap 130 and I lost about six car-lengths. You’re just glued to the top, which is unfortunate. I would have loved to win with Mike [Ewanitsko] here tonight and I appreciate [Riverhead] for everything they did to honor Mike. He’s well deserving of it.”Bonsignore commended Silk and his team for the work they put in to make his silver No. 16 so efficient in both trips to Riverhead this season, adding that Silk would have won in May if not for a late caution.Bonsignore will have one more opportunity to match Ewanitsko’s win record at Riverhead this year in September, but he knows Silk will be the one to beat if he carries over the speed from the first two Riverhead events. “Ron has been the best car here both times so far,” Bonsignore said. “We snuck away with one last time and even if there was a late caution, I don’t think I could have done anything with him. Maybe if we had track position, he might have had a tough time getting by us.”Silk enjoyed the chance to celebrate with Ewanitsko in Victory Lane, who he considers to be one of the best to ever make a lap around Riverhead.While Silk does not envision beating Ewanitsko’s Riverhead win record, he knows another championship is feasible with Haydt Yannone Racing and is confident he can further extend his advantage over Bonsignore during the summer.“I’m so lucky to have such great owners,” Silk said. “I also lucked out to have a great crew chief like Phil Moran. These guys spend a lot of time on these cars and we work on them a lot together, so it’s a lot of fun.”Doug Coby finished third in Saturday’s Miller Lite Salutes Mike Ewanitsko 200, where he was followed by Kyle Bonsignore and Riverhead regular Jack Handley Jr. Rounding out the top-10 were Roger Turbush, Tyler Rypkema, John Beatty Jr., Timmy Solomito and Beers.The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to action on July 8 for the Jersey Shore 150 at Wall Stadium. The green flag will fly at 8 p.m. ET with FloRacing providing the coverage.
1 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 200 -- 2 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 200 1.245 3 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 200 1.654 4 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 200 2.071 5 45 Jack Handley, Jr.* Hydro-Action/Suffolk Precast 200 11.089 6 88 Roger Turbush Rheem 200 11.381 7 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 200 11.752 8 5 John Beatty, Jr. Elite Sound Studios, Inc. 200 12.477 9 66 Timmy Solomito Natural Designs/USNE Power/Kennedy Realty 200 12.651 10 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Andrew James Interiors 200 12.957 11 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 199 1 Lap 12 34 J.B. Fortin A&R Materials/CYA Screen Printing/Queens Concrete 199 1 Lap 13 81 Mark Stewart* Mike Smith/Cromers Market 199 1 Lap 14 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 199 1 Lap 15 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports 199 1 Lap 16 26 Max Zachem Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 199 1 Lap 17 49 Chris Young* Sendlewski Architects 198 2 Laps 18 46 Justin Brown* Riverhead Building Supply 197 3 Laps 19 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 196 4 Laps 20 3 Bryan Narducci* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 194 6 Laps 21 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 193 7 Laps 22 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 183 17 Laps 23 2 J.R. Bertuccio Gershow Recycling 59 141 Laps
Weekend Recap- June 9-10 Started off the weekend at Spencer Speedway for their Opening night with Race of Champions Series. Started the day out strong and was p4 overall in qualifying, which set us p3 for the heat race. We ended up finishing 3rd and made the redraw, picked p7 to start the feature. Coming to the initial green we ended up in a wreck which ended our night coming in on the roll back. Not the way we wanted our night to go , but we will rebuild and come back stronger. I wanted to give a thank you to Step of Faith Trucking for towing the car to the track for us, as well as all my sponsors and the crew for all their hard work. After the races Friday night we made the long journey to Seekonk Speedway for the Nascar Tour Race. Ended up 3rd fast in practice, went out for time and qualified p2 where it ended up being an all “Mud Lane” front row to start the 150 lap feature. We struggled all day trying to get the balance in the car and it showed up with 50 to go that we were too tight. Still running 5th on the last restart and got pinned on the bottom, and ended up p8. Not the day we were looking for but we will regroup and move onto Riverhead Raceway. I just wanted to thank Murph and Maggie and the whole KLM team for all their hard work. Now with all of that being said we have decided to take a break from running the family owned #9, which means we will not be running the Tour Mod race at Evergreen Raceway this coming Sunday 6/18. Stay tuned for updates for when and where we will be racing the #9 next. Our next race will be at Riverhead Raceway with the KLM #64. Tune into FloRaicing if you cannot make it there in person! Also all of us at Beers Motorsports want to wish all the father’s out there a Happy Father’s day! We cannot thank our father enough for all he’s done for us all these years!
Matt Hirschman dominates at Seekonk Speedway on June 10, becomes Whelen Modified Tour’s first multi-race winner of 2023 as Austin was super strong early but faded from starting 2nd to 8th
SEEKONK, Mass. — Matt Hirschman sports his “Big Money” nickname in part because of the success he’s experienced racing Modifieds at Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway. Yet entering the 2023 Seekonk 150, the 40-year-old had never won a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race in five such starts at the third-mile bullring. That changed emphatically Saturday night. Hirschman led all 150 laps at Seekonk and left just five cars on the lead lap en route to the victory. Having also won the Granite State Derby at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway a couple weeks prior, Hirschman’s win at Seekonk made him the Modified Tour’s first multi-time victor this season. Hirschman earned the Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award with the best lap in qualifying Saturday. He left no doubt in the main event, driving away from outside pole-sitter Austin Beers at the drop of the green flag and proceeding to lap, at one point, all but two cars. “Pretty dominant performance, doing it from the pole,” Hirschman said. “It’s not a pit-stop race, so as long as you have a car that’s going to handle and stay with you, you can keep it out front.“I believe this [race] was a big unknown for a lot of teams because of the [new] pavement and the characteristics of the track changed. I think I’m going to like it. This has always been a good track for me, not a great track. But now winning a Whelen Tour race here — we’ve kind of won it all here.”Six-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby was the only driver who could keep Hirschman in his sights Saturday, but even Coby finished more than a second behind the race winner.Ron Silk finished third behind Hirschman and Coby. Justin Bonsignore and Anthony Sesely rounded out the top five, the only five drivers who finished on the lead lap.J.B. Fortin, Jon McKennedy, Austin Beers, Kyle Bonsignore and Anthony Nocella completed the top 10. Saturday’s Seekonk 150 featured three cautions, two of which were the products of Jake Johnson spins. The third and final caution of the race came when Nocella spun with just 16 laps remaining.
A replay of the Seekonk 150 will broadcast on CNBC on Sunday, June 18 starting at 12:30 p.m. ET.
The NASCAR Whelen Modifed Tour will return to action on Saturday, June 24, for its second visit to New York’s Riverhead Raceway this season. The Miller Lite Salutes Mike Ewanitsko 200 will be shown live on FloRacing starting at 8 p.m. ET.
1 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports 150 – 2 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150 1.262 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 150 1.765 4 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150 2.347 5 19 Anthony Sesely* Wanick Construction, Inc. 150 7.063 6 34 J.B. Fortin A&R Materials/CYA Screen Printing/Queens Concrete 149 1 Lap 7 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Industries 149 1 Lap 8 64 Austin Beers AP Marquadt & Sons/Andrew James Interiors 149 1 Lap 9 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 149 1 Lap 10 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 149 1 Lap 11 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 148 2 Laps 12 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 148 2 Laps 13 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 148 2 Laps 14 46 Justin Brown* Riverhead Building Supply 148 2 Laps 15 25 Brian Robie* Maurice Enterprises 148 2 Laps 16 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 147 3 Laps 17 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 144 6 Laps 18 26 Max Zachem Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 141 9 Laps 19 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 114 36 Laps 20 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 59 91 Laps
CHUCK HOSSFELD RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE AT SPENCER SPEEDWAY IN 68TH ANNUAL OPENER JUNE 9Chuck Hossfeld of Ransomville, N.Y., returned to victory lane this past Friday in the 68th Annual Opener at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y. Hossfeld jumped out to an early lead and had to fend off his closest challenge from Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., before out distancing Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., for the victory. “We had a good car,” stated Hossfeld in victory lane. “These guys really give me a great piece to drive. It’s a great car to drive and their preparation is second-to-none, it just feels great to be back in victory lane here. It was a great night for our team, my guys and just everyone that supports us doing this. You couldn’t really ask for a better night.” Zeiner finished second with Andy Jankowiak finishing third. Leaty finished fourth and Tommy Catalano of Ontario, N.Y., rounded out the top-five. Hossfeld, Leaty and Zeiner won the qualifying races with Hossfeld posting the fastest time in green-white-checker qualifying. Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 3 14 Chuck Hossfeld Chuck Hossfeld Lockport, NY 2 2 12 22 Zane Zeiner Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 10 3 4 73 Andy Jankowiak Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY 1 4 11 25 Mike Leaty Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 7 5 8 54 Tommy Catalano Tommy Catalano Ontario, NY 3 6 16 8P Earl Paules Earl Paules Palmertown, PA 10 7 18 17K Danny Knoll Jr Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY 11 8 1 10 Daryl Lewis Jr Daryl Lewis Jr Ontario, NY -7 9 22 47 Scott Wylie Scott Wylie Blasdell , NY 13 10 9 99 Paulie Hartwig III Paulie Hartwig III Galloway, NJ -1 11 15 0 Randall Richard Randall Richard 4 12 21 40 Tommy Rought Tommy Rought Rome, PA 9 13 19 21 Paul Townsend Paul Townsend Guelph, ON 6 14 17 56 Amy Catalano Amy Catalano Ontario, NY 3 15 14 55 Trevor Catalano Trevor Catalano Ontario, NY -1 16 10 3 Daren Scherer Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY -6 17 6 8F Chris Finocchario Chris Finocchario Macedon, NY -11 18 2 81 Jack Ely Jack Ely Northampton, PA -16 19 5 45 Timmy Catalano Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY -14 20 7 9 Austin Beers Austin Beers Northampton, PA -13 21 13 65NY George Skora III George Skora III Eden, NY -8 22 20 64 Tyler Catalano Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY -2
MATT HIRSCHMAN ARNS “MR. MODIFIED 75” VICTORY IN FIRST RACE OF CHAMPIONS MODIFIED SERIES VISIT TO LORAIN RACEWAY PARK ON JUNE 3 - AUSTIN BATTLES FOR 7th Place Finish
Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., scored his first victory in Race of Champions Modified Series competition this past Saturday night at Lorain Raceway Park in South Amherst, Ohio in the “Mr. Modified 75”, the Series first visit to the track. In Hirschman’s career, it was the 35th different track for him to record a win at and the 11th different state where he’s visited victory lane. Hirschman had to earn the victory after starting 8th and tracking down Jack Ely. Hirschman and Ely of Wall Township, N.J., battled for the top spot for many laps until Hirschman finally slipped by on a late race restart with less than 15 laps to go. “That was an exciting race for the fans,” offered Hirschman from victory lane, reflecting on his battle with Ely. “We had to work to get there. It is very competitive, as competitive as it’s ever been at the front and I didn’t know if we’d have a chance to get by Jack (Ely), he was running great. We had our chance and made it work. I need to thank all of my guys on this team and everyone for coming out tonight, this was a great day for many of us.” Ely started 2nd and quickly jumped into the lead after the start out-dueling Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa. Ely and Zeiner paced the field until after the lap 50 mark when Hirschman slipped past Zeiner into 2nd. A late race caution on lap 61 setup one last double-file restart which provided Hirschman the ability to restart outside Ely. The duo battled for a few laps before Hirschman cleared Ely for the top spot.Ely finished 2nd with Zeiner coming home 3rd after repairing the shifter during pace laps.Earl Paules of Palmerton, Pa., ran a steady race to finish 4th and Andy Jankowiak of Tonawanda, N.Y., recorded his top-five of the season.Ely, Hirschman and Austin Beers of Northampton, Pa., won the qualifying races. Hirschman posted the fastest lap in green-white-checker qualifying.
1 8 60 Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 2 2 81 Jack Ely Northampton, PA 3 4 76 Zane Zeiner Bath, PA 4 3 8P Earl Paules Palmertown, PA 5 5 73 Andy Jankowiak Tonawanda, NY 6 1 54 Tommy Catalano Ontario, NY 7 12 9 Austin Beers Northampton, PA 8 6 55 Trevor Catalano Ontario, NY 9 11 99 Paulie Hartwig III Galloway,NJ 10 14 17K Danny Knoll Jr Amherst, NY 11 10 3 Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 12 15 45 Timmy Catalano Ontario, NY 13 18 65NY George Skora III Eden, NY 14 9 64 Tyler Catalano Ontario, NY 15 13 8F Chris Finocchario Macedon, NY 16 7 10 Daryl Lewis Jr Ontario, NY 17 19 0 Randall Richard 18 17 88 Sean Verwys East Stroudsburg, PA 19 22 14 Dan Majchrzak Perry, NY 20 16 72 T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY 21 20 57X Bobby Hanel Cheektowaga, NY 22 21 17C Roger Coss Lafayette, NJ
Matt Hirschman wins the LEE Speedway the Granite State Derby on May 27 - Austin Podium 3rd place finish A schedule conflict around last week’s Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 at Riverhead Raceway forced Matt Hirschman to miss his first race of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. But on Saturday in the Granite State Derby at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway, Hirschman quickly established himself as the lead horse in his return to the series. After passing pole-sitter Doug Coby on Lap 3, Hirschman easily pulled away from the field to score his sixth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win. One of the most accomplished Modified competitors of the past decade, Hirschman has endured struggles trying to find Victory Lane on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which is why he was elated to have such an efficient performance at Lee USA.“We finally closed one,” Hirschman said. “These races are tough to win, and I feel like we should have had five or six of them in recent years. When the car was good enough to win, we either didn’t have a good pit stop, or maybe the driver wasn’t good enough to win.“We finally put it all together, and it was a complete performance right from the drop of the green.”Prior to Saturday evening, the 2023 season in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour had been inconsistent by Hirschman’s standards.After finishing inside the top five in all seven of his starts last year while also leading 384 total laps, the only lap Hirschman had led entering the Granite State Derby came at New Smyrna Speedway, which was also the site of his lone top-five finish in the first three races.Hirschman assembled a vintage performance Saturday by methodically conserving his equipment while simultaneously minding a healthy gap between him and second place. Yet he nearly received a late challenge in the form of defending Modified Tour champion Jon McKennedy. Lapped traffic briefly stalled Hirschman’s momentum and allowed McKennedy to erase the sizable gap he had accumulated over the field. Once Hirschman found clean air, there was nothing McKennedy could do to mount a successful charge toward the lead. 1 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Baker Racing 175 – 2 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Industries 175 1.12 3 64 Austin Beers Hughes Motors/AP Marquadt & Sons/Dell Electric 175 6.669 4 6 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 175 6.826 5 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 175 8.129 6 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 175 9.754 7 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 175 13.721 8 22 Kyle Bonsignore Bonsignore Performance Tools/Chalew Performance 175 14.931 9 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 174 1 Lap 10 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprera 174 1 Lap 11 25 Brian Robie* Maurice Enterprises 173 2 Laps 12 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 173 2 Laps 13 46 Justin Brown* Riverhead Building Supply 173 2 Laps 14 34 J.B. Fortin A&R Materials/CYA Screen Printing/Queens Concrete 173 2 Laps 15 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 173 2 Laps 16 43 Matt Kimball* Naughton & Sons Recycling/Chucky’s Fight 172 3 Laps 17 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 172 3 Laps 18 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 172 3 Laps 19 26 Max Zachem Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 170 5 Laps 20 1 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 155 20 Laps 21 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 76 99 Laps
Justin Bonsignore denies Ron Silk, claims 10th win at Riverhead Raceway- Austin gets spun going for 3rd at end
For most of Sunday’s Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200, it appeared Ron Silk would finally visit Victory Lane at Riverhead Raceway in his 23rd NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start at the track. Instead, Justin Bonsignore ended up celebrating his 10th career Whelen Modified Tour victory at Riverhead. A dominant performance for Silk was undone by a perfect restart from Bonsignore on the outside line with less than 10 laps remaining. Bonsignore subsequently held off Silk during an overtime restart to further establish himself as the most dominant driver at Riverhead in the last decade “Ron and I have been beating the hell out of each other all year,” Bonsignore said. “That caution with 15 to go was good for us, and I got a really good restart after he spun the tires bad. We were beating and banging, and I thought we were going to wreck when that yellow came out but thank God we didn’t. “It’s unbelievable to get No. 10 here and it’s a cool way to get into Victory Lane after a battle like that.”Bonsignore’s dominance at Riverhead dates to 2011 when he earned his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory after leading 158 of the 175 laps.With accomplishments at the facility that include four consecutive victories spanning from 2018-2019, Bonsignore has set a commanding precedent for both full-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competitors and track regulars each time the series visits Riverhead.Silk was confident his car was strong enough to outrun Bonsignore heading into the weekend. He quickly wrestled the lead away from Bonsignore after the initial start and methodically controlled the race while navigating his way through slower traffic. The decision by Silk to take the inside line on the penultimate restart ultimately gave Bonsignore the opening he needed to pull ahead and deny the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion the opportunity to add a Riverhead win to his resume.Despite the disappointment, Silk still considered the afternoon a success and believes the speed he showed on Sunday will carry over into the next two Riverhead events on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour calendar. “This is the best car we’ve had here in a while,” Silk said. “I thought I was a little bit better than Justin even after he got by me. The bottom is where you want to be on the restart, but I didn’t do a good enough job and he was able to get in front of me. This is the best we’ve run here so far, and hopefully we’ll do a little better [in the next race].”Bonsignore said Silk’s efficiency in the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200 highlighted just how tough NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins are to obtain, but he added the challenge provided by the series only made his 10th Riverhead victory even more memorable. “Anytime you can win one of these races is special,” Bonsignore said. “We’ve won our fair share over the years, but they never get any easier because everyone is always trying harder each year to take down the previous year’s champion. We had a tough year last year but have had at least a second-place car just about every race.“[If] you put yourself in that position, you’re going to win races.”Bonsignore will have two more chances to add to his Riverhead win total during the 2023 season. His next triumph at the facility will tie him with Mike Ewanitsko, who claimed 11 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour wins at Riverhead from 1987 to 2000. Defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Jon McKennedy finished third in the Buzz Chew Chevrolet Cadillac 200, with Tyler Rypkema and Eric Goodale completing the top-five. J.B. Fortin, Patrick Emerling, Jake Johnson, Craig Lutz and Kyle Bonsignore rounded out the top-10 finishers. 1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 212 2 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 212 0.175 3 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Industries 212 0.662 4 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 212 1.402 5 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 212 1.972 6 34 J.B. Fortin A&R Materials/CYA Screen Printing/Queens Concrete 212 2.428 7 07 Patrick Emerling Bonesteel Aerospace 212 2.705 8 3 Jake Johnson* Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 212 2.714 9 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 212 3.264 10 22 Kyle Bonsignore Bonsignore Performance Tools/Chalew Performance 212 4.486 11 66 Timmy Solomito Highmark/Natural Designs 212 4.902 12 49 Chris Young* Sendlewski Architects 212 5.3 13 60 Kyle Soper Elite Towing/Baker Racing 212 5.386 14 45 Jack Handley, Jr.* Hydro-Action/Suffolk Precast 212 5.438 15 5 John Beatty, Jr. Elite Sound Studios, Inc. 212 5.72 16 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K and D Associates/Airgas 212 6.018 17 64 Austin Beers Hughes Motors/AP Marquadt & Sons/Dell Electric 212 12.645 18 46 Justin Brown* Riverhead Building Supply 211 1 Lap 19 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 210 2 Laps 20 27 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 209 3 Laps 21 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 209 3 Laps 22 96 Matthew Brode Peter Clark Motorsports 205 7 Laps 23 10 Dylan Slepian Eastport Feeds 196 16 Laps 24 88 Roger Turbush Rheem 196 16 Laps 25 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 171 41 Laps 26 26 Eddie Brunnhoelzl III Lakeland Landscape Supply 79 133 Laps 27 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds 79 133 Laps 28 81 Chris Turbush* Mike Smith/Cromers Market 3 209 Laps
AUSTIN BEERS SCORES FIRST-EVER RACE OF CHAMPIONS MODIFIED SERIES VICTORY AT CHEMUNG SPEEDROME ON MAY 13
AUSTIN THOUGHTS: Got the win tonight at Chemung in my dads car! Very special win for me and was definitely a challenge to hold off the pack behind us! Thank you to Thomas Wanick for making this possible with a great Power Plant under the hood! As well as all of our sponsors: Horwith Freightliner, The Joie of Seating, Jones Racing Products, Tri Boro Fencing Contractors, Bassett Wheels, Troyer Race Cars/ TFR Manufacturing, Quartermaster, ASI Racewear, and The Black Flagged Podcast! Also thank you to all of the crew that helps out week in and week out! Everyone make sure to come to Mahoning Valley Speedway on May 21st for the Thomas Wanick Jr race!
Recap Austin Beers from Northampton, Pa., became the most recent winner of a Race of Champions Modified Series event after he drove to victory lane this past Saturday at the Chemung (NY) Speedrome.Beers started in third and took the lead on lap 6 and survived several restarts and challenges from Daren Scherer of Binghamton, NY and Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., before he reached victory lane.“We had a good car today, it was a wild one,” offered Beers. “This track can be tough and it bit some people today. It’s just great to finally get our first Race of Champions victory and driving my Dad’s car of course, this is just awesome. I have to thank everyone involved for helping and making this possible.”Scherer led in the early going after drawing the pole with Beers and the Series most recent winner Jack Ely of Wall, NJ, giving chase.Beers and Ely would eventually work around Scherer and battle for the top spot, before Ely had engine woes. Zane Zeiner, who started 7th had an eventful day, working his way back into contention after going a lap down and using multiple caution periods to work on his car and drive his way back into contention. Zeiner took one shot at Beers, but the caution waved and Zeiner could not work his way around Beers at the finish. Scherer ended up third. Trevor Catalano of Ontario, NY wound up fourth while Jimmy Zacharias of Owego, NY, rounded out the top-five. Zacharias, Andy Jankowiak of Buffalo, NY and Zeiner won the qualifying races. Jankowiak posted the fastest lap in green-white-checker qualifying.
Matt Hirschman opens Evergreen Raceway season with 50-lap Tour Type Modified win - Austin Started 19th and was making his way to the front until he gets hooked by a fellow competitor but saves the car and finishes 5th By DINO OBERTO
(Butler Township, Pa. 5-7-23) Evergreen Raceway got its 2023 season underway on Sunday afternoon with a full slate of racing, a full pit area of race cars and it was also a return to victory for a driver who is known for doing so on a regular basis but had been going through a rough patch of late.Matt Hirschman of Northampton, started out the year like gangbusters with a successful stint at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway in February and then followed up with a victory at Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, SC at the SMART Tour opener on March 4 but his next four starts did not fare in typical Hirschman fashion as he was shutout from Victory Lane.But a trip back to where it all began, Evergreen Raceway, was just what the doctor ordered as he parlayed his outside front row starting spot with a return to his winning ways as he cruised out front for all 50 laps and earned his 50th career Tour Type Modified win here.“This is my home track and where I started my career and hopefully a home win here helps propel us to get back on track and get some more wins,” said Hirschman, who collected $2000 for his afternoon efforts.“We’ve been on a little bit of a dry spell, a little slump and it’s been two months since we won a race and we’ve had some disappointments in-between there so it’s really good to come back home here for Opening Day and to see a full pit area for all the classes and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season here and it’s nice to see a local track do well.”Heat finishers dictated the starting grid of the 50-lapper which gave Eddie McCarthy and Hirschman the front row with Brian DeFebo and Earl Paules lined up behind them. When the race got underway there left little doubt as to who had the upper hand as Hirschman out-jumped McCarthy for the lead and was never headed from there on. While Hirschman would continue to show the way McCarthy was doing a great job of holding second spot over DeFebo. However late into the event he began to fall off the pace, making things quite interesting for the runner-up spot.“The 20 (McCarthy) was running really well and I think his handling was probably falling off some because he couldn’t maintain his position there late,” said Hirschman. DeFebo was now runner-up but in heavy company with, Roger Coss, Blake Barney, Jimmy Blewett and 19th place starter Austin Beers. All ran extremely close while Hirschman was able to keep a safe distance from them.“We were able to get a gap and I was about o navigate some lapped traffic if needed and didn’t have to thanks to the way the cautions fell,” said Hirschman. In the final few laps there was no denying Hirschman’s dominance on this day, even despite a caution with three laps to go. However, it was a thrilling battle for second as Barney and Blewett went at it back and forth with the No. 14 getting the spot as the took the checkers.“It was a great run and starting where we did and getting up to second I was really happy with that. At the beginning I got by a couple cars and then I kind of conserved a little bit and the cautions also fell the right way so I could get on the inside for restarts,” said Barney.“I did get past Blewett at one point and then I let him get back by. He then made the whole a little bit bigger and bigger for me to get in and I had a good car near the end.”Joey Merlino ran smooth and steady all race long and notched fourth while Beers settled for fifth.For Barney he admitted that trying to catch and pass Hirschman was tough on this day.“It’s difficult especially when you start straight up and he got to start on the outside pole and I was in his heat and its difficult in any circumstance when he’s at the race track and when you give him a good starting spot it’s damn near impossible I feel like at times and I got to work harder next time.”
Modified feature finish (50 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Blake Barney, 3. Jimmy Blewett, 4. Joey Merlino, 5. Austin Beers, 6. Brian DeFebo, 7. Bobby Jones, 8. Roger Coss, 9. Jacob Kerstetter, 10. Eddie McCarthy, 11. James Pritchard Jr., 12. Nick Baer, 13. Kurt Vigent, 14. Daren Scherer, 15. Earl Paules, 16. Brian Sones, 17. Don Wagner, 18. Randall Richard, 19. Chris Risdale, 20. Lou Strohl
AUSTINS THOUGHTS: We had a nice run on Saturday in the Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock with the Nascar Whelen Modified Tour! After starting in 9th place we fell back a little just saving some tire to about 15th place. After that we slowly started to make our way to the front and we’re about 9th at halfway. A couple restarts later we were up to 6th and got into 5th with about 10 to go. We ended up chasing down 3rd and 4th and passed 4th out of turn two on the last lap! Thank you to all the crew for their hard work and dedication! As well as Mike and Maggie Murphy for allowing me to run their racecar!
1 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 200 2 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Interiors 200 3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 4 64 Austin Beers Dell Elect/Lumierre Elect/Andrew James Interior 200 5 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 200 6 06 Sam Rameau Quality Fleet Services/Dennison Lubricants 200 7 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 200 8 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chateau Performance/MTT/Munn’s Auto 200 9 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports 200 10 07 Patrick Emerling Bonesteel Automotive 200 11 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Drilling/MUSCO Lighting 200 12 34 J.B. Fortin A&R Materials/John’s Fuel Oil/Rapid Recovery 200 13 25 Brian Roble * Maurice Enterprises 200 14 3 Jake Johnson * Propane Plus/Lins Propane Trucks 200 15 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumber 199 16 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 199 17 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara/Catalano Motorsports 199 18 46 Justin Brown * Riverhead Building Supply 199 19 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood and Restaurant 198 20 43 Matt Kimball * J&M Towing/Poodlack Wealth Mgmt/Post & Beam 197 21 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Inc. 197 22 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing 197 23 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric 193 24 4 Tim Connelly * Connelly Companies LLC 187 25 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 142 26 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 121 27 92 Anthony Nocella Nocella Paving/K&D Associates/Airgas 94 28 47 Jacob Perry * Jacks Competition Engine/Rick Rak 20 29 1 Cory Plummer * Apex Racing/Gene’s Auto Service 11 30 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise/Eastport Feeds 4
Jack Ely bags $4000 Race of Champions Series 75-lapper at Mahoning Valley Speedway season opener, April 8
By DINO OBERTO
Jack Ely of Wall, NJ made an inside pass on Zane Zeiner for the lead during a lap 57 restart and once there was able to remain in control en route to the Opening Night win at Mahoning Valley Speedway in the 75-lap Spring Meltdown for the Race of Champions (RoC) Modified Series. It was Ely’s first win on the RoC and first at Mahoning since September of 2017. “It’s absolutely amazing and we’ve been running on this Tour for five years now and to pick up my first win at this race track is something special to me. This is where I cut my teeth and where I started my full size stock car career and to have the Race of Champions come here and be able to park it in Victory Lane it’s nothing short of amazing,” relayed a very happy Ely after his $4000 win.“This is our first time here with this car so coming into the day I knew we were going to be close but I didn’t think it was going to be that good for the feature and overall I’m so happy for this entire team and I can’t thank them enough and I also want to thank Joe Skotnicki and the entire Race of Champions family for coming back to this race track and putting on a great Series for us to race in.”When the action began Zeiner jumped out front over Daren Scherer, Roger Coss, Austin Kochenash and Lou Strohl. Strohl, who has a record four Opening Night wins at Mahoning, soon began a charge to the front as by lap 10 he worked into second and in that offensive drive brought Ely with him.It was then a torrid three car battle that ensued as Zeiner had plenty to deal with against the latter two. Strohl then flexed his muscle even more when he powered his way to the outside of Zeiner on lap 20 and three laps later took over as the leader. And while that was taking place Austin Kochenash came into the hunt grabbing third spot from Ely.With the race moving along at a steady pace Strohl continued to lead although Zeiner and Kochenash stayed very close and likewise with Ely and Scherer hovering.There then came a thrilling moment on lap 43 when Strohl got slightly loose on the back straight and saw Zeiner and Ely go three wide for the lead. The heart stopping moment played out with Zeiner getting back the lead and Ely falling into second.From there Ely was persistently putting the pressure on Zeiner. Time and again as the laps clicked of Ely tried to get by and the successful opportunity finally presented itself on the lap 57 restart.“Lou (Strohl) got real loose and that opened the door for that three wide move. And then I knew we were better than Zane and I just didn’t have quite enough drive to make the move work but on that restart he just slipped up enough in turn two that I was able to get my nose in there and I wasn’t giving it up after that,” said Ely.When Ely got the lead he clearly showed that his car was performing at its peak as he was able to pull away from Zeiner and the rest of the pack, crossing the finish line by a solid two car lengths. Zeiner would hold onto second as in the waning laps Kochenash was making numerous attempts to take the spot from him.“We just struggled a bit after the restarts and I don’t know if the right front (tire) went away on us and got super tight and it’s a shame because we worked real hard to get this car out here and we haven’t raced it since 2017 but we’ll take it. It was a nice hard fought second place and congrats to Jack (Ely) on his win, he deserves it and was a better car then us tonight,” said Zeiner. Kochenash was indeed dialed in over the second half of the race as he was in constant sight of the leaders and his third place tally was well-earned. Likewise with Strohl who was a strong runner all race long and settled for fourth. Rounding out the top five was Blake Barney.Earl Paules, Scherer, Matt Hirschman, Austin Beers and Brian DeFebo completed the top five in the 26 car field. Timmy Catalano, Hirschman, Ely and Beers annexed heat wins.
Modified Feature Finish (75 laps): 1. Jack Ely, 2. Zane Zeiner, 3. Austin Kochenash, 4. Lou Strohl, 5. Blake Barney, 6. Earl Paules, 7. Daren Scherer, 8. Matt Hirschman, 9. Austin Beers, 10. Brian DeFebo, 11. Jacob Kerstetter, 12. Paulie Hartwig III, 13. Rod Snyder Jr., 14. Roger Coss, 15. TJ Potrzebowski, 16. Tyler Catalano, 17. Andrew Lewis Jr., 18. Timmy Catalano, 19. Don Wagner, 20. Frank Parastino, 21. James Pritchard Jr., 22. Danny Knoll Jr., 23. Andy Jankowiak, 24. Kyle Strohl, 25. Sean Verwys, 26. Nick Baer
Mahoning Valley Speedway opens its season Saturday with one of the featured events being the Race of Champions Modified Tour race. When public address announcer Dino Oberto introduces the drivers one of the biggest ovations will go to Northampton High graduate Austin Beers.But the ovation will also come in part to congratulate Beers on his most recent win, the biggest one of his career.Beers won his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race, the Virginia is for Lovers 150, taking the checkered flag last Saturday at Richmond Raceway. Several days after, he was still feeling emotional about the win. “It feels awesome,” he said. “It took awhile to sink because in the moment there’s just so much going on after the race. We did the hat parade in Victory Lane where there’s like eight different hats you have to put on and I did like four different interviews and then I went to the media center. There was not a lot of time to process it.”Beers said it was easily the biggest win of his career“It was actually my first win outside Pennsylvania,” he said. “All of my other wins were at Mahoning and Evergreen.”The win was special not only for Beers but also for his car owner, Mike Murphy, who has been involved with the circuit for 12 years.“Looking back at the videos that NASCAR put out, seeing the team’s reactions to the win and seeing a bunch of them crying and stuff, that really hit home,” Beers said. “I honestly believe it meant as much to them as it did to me and seeing their celebration was better than the win itself.” Beers was also emotional because he joined his father, Eric Beers, as a winner on the Whelen tour. Eric Beers won twice.Racing is a family tradition and Austin thought about his grandfather and father as the victory began to set in.“This family has made a lot of sacrifices over the years, a lot of long nights and long days and a lot of hard work was put into it going back to my grandfather in the 1970s,” Beers said. “My grandfather started it all and then my dad pretty much stepped aside to propel me in my career. It’s pretty crazy to know my name will always be among the winners at Richmond Raceway.”The win came in Beers’ 22nd start on the tour. His best previous finish was third last year at Langley Speedway, also in Virginia.In his first race this season, Beers was running first for a quarter of the race but said a problem with his pit guns on this last pitstop ruined his chances and he finished eighth.“We had a car that could have won, but we had a malfunction and it wasn’t our day,” the 20-year-old Beers said.But last Saturday was his day and there’s bound to be many more to come as Beers gets more comfortable and used to the competitive level of the Whelen tour. “It’s a big step up for me,” he said. “You have to be on point. If you are off even in the slightest, you can go laps down even if you’re the best driver out there. You have to be on point all day and even in practice and qualifying. If you go to a track where you have to race hard for the whole race and you qualify bad, your day is almost done before it begins. The level of competition is outstanding.”It’s the challenge that Beers has always wanted.“When I went to all of these races as a little kid with my dad, he was running this tour, so this tour kind of introduced me to racing,” he said. “To now join him on this tour’s win list means a lot.”Beers praised Murphy for giving the team “whatever we need and whenever we need it. He spares no expense. He’s an awesome guy and if I wasn’t driving for him and I was just a friend, I’d still think the world of him. He’s the nicest guy ever and when we won, everybody came over to our pit crew and congratulated Mike and everybody. They knew how much bad luck they’ve had over the years. To see the team finally break through and get a win, everybody was happy about it.”And that’s the beauty of racing, at least in this series. There is a family feel to it all.“Just like any family we all get ticked off at each other at times, but everybody respects everybody,” Beers said.Beers has earned his respect in a short period of time on the tour. This series was a launching point for current Cup series driver Ryan Preece. Preece has become a friend and mentor. “When my dad was on the tour, Ryan was like 16 and he’d come in our camper and play video games with me,” Beers said. “So while all of the other drivers were out drinking, he’d come and hang with me and we’d drink juice boxes together and play PlayStation. Ryan and his father are genuine people, great to be around. I’ve always looked up to Ryan.”Does Beers want to keep climbing up the NASCAR ladder? “The next level would be great, but it takes a lot of sponsorship and a lot of money to get there,” he said. “It’s really tough. There’s a small chance for me, but it could happen. I’m at the point where if I get there, it would be amazing. “But if I don’t, I am 100% happy to stay with Murph and running with him until he’s done. Murphy and I were just texting and we said it’s great to get this one race, but we don’t want to slow down now.”And wherever Beers goes, his family, including his mother, Cherie, and his sister, Kailyn, will be there cheering him on. “Everybody pulls together in this family and I wouldn’t be where I am without them,” he said.
April 1 - Richmond Raceway - NASCAR TOUR - Win
Despite Austin Beers’ best efforts to sweep Friday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour action at Richmond Raceway, rain forced the postponement of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 to Saturday. This after Beers set the best lap in practice and earned his first Mayhew Tools Dominator Pole Award.The only traces of moisture to be found at Richmond on a sunny Saturday evening were the tears flowing in Victory Lane after Beers scored his first Whelen Modified Tour victory. Beers, a 20-year-old from Northampton, Pennsylvania, joined his father Eric as a Modified Tour winner. And he did so exactly 14 years to the day after the passing of his grandfather Dale. “My dad just kind of stepped aside from our family car,” Austin Beers said. “That kind of propelled me to get this ride with [car owner] Mike Murphy. Without that — him kind of giving up his career — I would not be here today at all. I would still be racing at my local short track. I can’t thank him enough for that. “My grandfather; I would not be racing without him. He started this in my family, so to win on this day is pretty special.”Beers described his Richmond car as “unreal.” That was evident based on the results of the weekend.On Beers’ 29th lap of Friday’s practice, he set the fastest time of the session. And for the driver who entered the Richmond race with one top-five finish in his Modified Tour career, a third-place run at Langley Speedway last August, this speed wasn’t an anomaly. He proceeded to earn the pole with a 127.137 mph lap. As for Saturday’s race, Beers found himself leading six-time Modified Tour champion Doug Coby in the waning moments. A late caution could have spelled doom for Beers, but instead, a keen adjustment to tighten up his Modified allowed him to drive away from Coby and the rest of the field over the final stretch of laps. “I got a little nervous there in the middle of the run; Doug was really good,” Beers said. “But we made that last adjustment, and it was perfect.” After some shuffling behind Beers in the last few laps Saturday, J.B. Fortin finished second, and new career-best and his second top-five finish in Modified Tour competition. Max McLaughlin, who entered the Modified Tour race at Richmond driving for Mike Curb, finished third. He and fourth-place finisher Justin Bonsignore, the defending Richmond Modified race winner, exchanged some heated words on pit road after the event over how the finish played out. Patrick Emerling, who finished 29th in the Xfinity Series race that took place prior to Saturday’s Modified Tour event, rounded out the top five. NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte finished sixth in his first Modified Tour start at the 0.75-mile oval. Ron Silk, Bryan Narducci, Jon McKennedy and Eric Goodale completed the top 10. A replay of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond will air on CNBC on Saturday, April 8 starting at 3 p.m. ET.
Pos No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff. 1 64 Austin Beers Hughes Motors/AP Marquadt & Sons/Dell Electric 150 -- 2 34 J.B. Fortin A&R Materials/CYA Screen Printing/Queens Concrete 150 4.048 3 77 Max McLaughlin Curb Records/Mowhawk Northeast 150 4.178 4 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150 4.191 5 07 Patrick Emerling Captain Pips Marina & Hideway 150 4.369 6 38 Bobby Labonte Pace-O-Matic/Cook Out/Units/Coca-Cola 150 5.507 7 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 150 6.998 8 3 Bryan Narducci* Florida Connection/USNE 150 7.928 9 79 Jon McKennedy Middlesex Industries 150 8.51 10 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 150 8.849 11 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance, MTT, Munn’s Auto 150 9.618 12 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Inc. 150 11.12 13 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150 11.694 14 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises 150 11.881 15 46 Justin Brown* Riverhead Building Supply 150 12.115 16 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Company 150 14.179 17 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One 150 14.33 18 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Baker Racing 150 20.198 19 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 149 1 Lap 20 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 144 6 Laps 21 17 Cory Dimatteo* Xtreme Racing 112 38 Laps 22 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 98 52 Laps 23 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprera 73 77 Laps 24 78 Walter Sutcliffe Last Minute Racing 68 82 Laps 25 4 Tim Connolly* Connolly Companies, LLC 54 96 Laps 26 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction, Inc. 37 113 Laps 27 20 Edward McCarthy, Jr. McCarthy’s Marine Sales 16 134 Laps 28 82 Craig Lutz Horton Ave Materials 0 150 Laps
Here are some stories for reference from this amazing accomplishment Saturday:
Silk Scores Memorable Win in NWMT Season Opener After a fierce battle with Justin Bonsignore, it was Ron Silk holding The 1948 Cup in victory lane at New Smyrna.
NASCAR's 75th Anniversary began with a race for the ages in its oldest division. In a furious battle which included Justin Bonsignore and Matt Hirschman, Ron Silk stood victorious in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season opener at New Smyrna Speedway.Silk and Bonsignore exchanged the lead over the final 10 laps, but ultimately Silk held on the win. “I love this racetrack and we’ve been coming here for a long time," Silk told Racing America. "It feels good to win a Tour race here. We’re going to run a couple more this week with the Open stuff, so we’ll try to win another one.” “It was a lot of fun. It was intense. It was aggressive, but I don’t think it was over the line. We were both able to keep going. It was a lot of fun. I knew I could race around Justin like that and trust him. I think he feels the same way about me. That was everything we had, I couldn’t go any harder.”Silk took the lead on lap 169, sliding past Bonsignore just before Bonsignore and Coby made contact in turn one, triggering a multi-car incident. Bonsignore and Coby both carried on and salvaged top-five finishes, but that proved to be the opening Silk needed to capitalize.The victory marks Silk’s 18th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory. The 2011 series champion last won on the Tour in 2021 at Oswego Speedway. It also marks his first win with Haydt Yannone Racing after joining the team during the 2022 season. “This is my first Tour win with this team, too. Last year, we ran with them and had some really good runs, seconds and thirds, but couldn’t get over the hump."Between the fierce battle, the milestone achievement for Silk and his team, and celebrating the birth and birthplace of NASCAR by receiving the one-of-a-kind 1948 Cup in victory lane, it was a night to remember.“With the 75th anniversary, being 1948 when they ran the first one on the beach, it’s awesome to have our name associated with that anniversary."Bonsignore finished second, with Hirschman rounding out the podium. Anthony Sesely and Doug Coby rounded out the top five.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY
Ron Silk Justin Bonsignore Matt Hirschman Anthony Sesely Doug Coby Jake Johnson Dave Sapienza Austin Beers Anthony Nocella Tommy Catalano Tyler Rypkema Kyle Ebersole Spencer Davis Joey Coulter Justin Brown J.B. Fortin Jeremy Gerstner Craig Lutz Kyle Bonsignore James Pritchard Ken Heagy Gary McDonald Ronnie Williams Jon McKennedy Andrew Krause Brian Robie Eric Goodale Jimmy Blewett Eddie McCarthy J.R. Bertuccio Anthony Bello Matthew Kimball Melissa Fifield Patrick Emerling Chris Hatton
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour announces 2023 schedule DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As NASCAR prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2023, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour blends the old with the new as 19 race dates were announced on the 2023 schedule.
The Tour will kick off the season at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway for the second straight year, joining the track’s “World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing” during NASCAR’s Speedweeks, racing under the lights on Saturday, Feb. 11. The 65th running of the Daytona 500 at nearby Daytona International Speedway will take place the following weekend.
In 2022, Martinsville Speedway is hosting the Tour’s season finale for the first time in 30 years. And the Virginia short track will return as the season finale next year to crown the series champion on Thursday, Oct. 26. The Tour title race will kick off a weekend of excitement as NASCAR also will set the field for the Championship 4 in the Cup Series and Xfinity Series.
In a tribute to NASCAR’s past, the Whelen Modified Tour will take on North Wilkesboro Speedway for the first time in series history on Saturday, Sept. 30. North Wilkesboro will be hosting the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race and the NASCAR Xfinity Series in May, marking the first time a NASCAR national series has raced at the track since 1996.
“NASCAR has been running a Modified series since its founding, and it was important to honor that history in the Whelen Modified Tour schedule as NASCAR celebrates its 75th anniversary,” said Jimmy Wilson, Senior Director, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. “We’re excited to see our drivers put on a great show for fans at so many venues and cities that have played a large role in the success of NASCAR over the years.”
Richmond Raceway (Friday, March 31) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Saturday, July 15) will once again welcome the Tour in conjunction with NASCAR national series events. New Hampshire’s 74 Tour races is the second most among tracks on the 2023 schedule.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (Connecticut), one of the original tracks from the Tour’s modern era schedule (1985-Present), will host a pair of events on Wednesday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Oct. 8. Thompson has hosted 150 Whelen Modified Tour races, most all time.
Riverhead Raceway, third on the current tracks list with 70 Whelen Modified Tour races since first hosting the series in 1985, continues to be a cornerstone of the schedule. The Long Island, New York, track will hold three Saturday race dates again in 2023 – May 20, June 24, Sept. 16.
Seekonk Speedway (Massachusetts), which first hosted a Whelen Modified Tour event in 1987, returns to the schedule after a three-year absence with a race on Saturday, June 10. Langley Speedway (Hampton, Virginia) remains as a summer date, hosting the Tour on Saturday, Aug. 26.
Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire, will hold two races for the first time in the track’s history with the Tour, on Saturday, May 6, and Saturday, Sept. 9. Lancaster Motorplex (New York) – formerly known as New York International Raceway Park – will host its second ever Tour event with a Saturday, Aug. 5, race. The Tour’s only other event there was in 2021.
Additionally, the Tour will return to Oswego Speedway (New York), which has hosted 15 Tour races, on Saturday, Sept. 2, and to Wall Stadium on Saturday, July 8.
“These historic tracks and fans in the Northeast are the heart of the Whelen Modified Tour,” Wilson added. “They pack the stands and create an electric atmosphere for their hometown drivers.”
Two additional dates have been set (Saturday, May 27, and Saturday, July 29), with the venues to be announced in the near future.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour concludes the 2022 season tonight at Martinsville Speedway, with four drivers sitting within 13 points of each other for the championship. Jonathan McKennedy leads the points with 564, while Ron Silk is six behind him. Reigning champion Justin Bonsignore is third, 11 points behind McKennedy, and Eric Goodale trails the leader by 13 points in fourth place.
Below is the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. Schedule is subject to change. Race times and broadcast networks will be announced at a later date.
2023 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule Date Track Saturday, Feb. 11 New Smyrna Speedway Friday, March 31 Richmond Raceway Saturday, May 6 Monadnock Speedway Saturday, May 20 Riverhead Raceway Saturday, May 27 Lee USA Speedway Saturday, June 10 Seekonk Speedway Saturday, June 24 Riverhead Raceway Saturday, July 8 Wall Stadium Saturday, July 15 New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday, July 29 Claremont Motorsports Park Saturday, Aug. 5 Lancaster Motorplex Wednesday, Aug. 16 Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Saturday, Aug. 26 Langley Speedway Saturday, Sept. 2 Oswego Speedway Saturday, Sept. 9 Monadnock Speedway Saturday, Sept. 16 Riverhead Raceway Saturday, Sept. 30 North Wilkesboro Speedway Sunday, Oct. 8 Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Thursday, Oct. 26 Martinsville Speedway