Austin Beers wins the 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com Published: October 23, 2025
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — We all have dreams. Some dreams can be simple, like hoping Santa Claus brings you a new PlayStation for Christmas. Other dreams, like the one shared by Austin Beers and Mike Murphy, are a bit more complicated. Beers, a 22-year-old, second-generation racer from Northampton, Pennsylvania, and Murphy, a 68-year-old Irish immigrant, dreamed of someday winning the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship together. On Thursday night, Beers and Murphy got to live out their dream. Driving Murphy’s No. 64 KLM Motorsports Modified, Beers finished second in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 to clinch his first championship in NASCAR’s oldest division. “The biggest thing for me coming in was don’t think about it; don’t think about it, or you’re going to jinx it,” Beers told himself. “I didn’t really think about what I’d say or how I’d feel.” He didn’t have to say much. In 2025, Beers let his driving do the talking.In 16 Modified Tour races this season, Beers never finished worse than ninth. He scored two wins – at Lancaster Motorplex and Riverhead Raceway – to go along with 12 top fives and 16 top 10s. He was the only driver to complete every possible lap this season, and he led all drivers with a 4.6 average finish. Despite all those incredible stats, he still had to survive Thursday’s race to win his first championship. He avoided a multi-car melee during a restart and survived an overtime sprint to finish second, more than enough to clinch the championship. Anxiety and stress levels were at all-time highs, but Beers showed maturity and composure beyond his years during a race that could have easily derailed his entire season. “I knew I just had to do what I’ve been doing my whole life – that was the biggest thing,” Beers said when discussing the final restart. “I brought it home to the line and heard (on the radio) 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion. That was a great feeling.” As if that wasn’t good enough, Beers wrote a new chapter in the Modified Tour history books with his first championship. At 22 years, seven months and five days old, Beers is now the youngest champion in the history of the Modified Tour. He broke the record set by current NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, who was 22 years, 11 months and 25 days old when he won his Mods championship in 2013.Beers has come a long way from playing video games with Preece between practice sessions at Modified Tour races a decade ago. “Ryan was young running the Tour and just getting started, and my dad (Eric) was running the Tour. He’d hang out in the camper with me, and we’d play video games,” Beers remembered. “All the other drivers and crew members would go to the bar after the races. I’ve looked up to Ryan my whole racing career and pretty much since I was 6 years old.” Murphy, who most of his friends and family affectionately call “Murph,” has watched Beers take his small team from a mid-pack organization to champion in the span of just four years. For the native of Waterford, Ireland, just being in position to win a Modified Tour championship was something he never fathomed when he bought his first race car in the mid-1990s. This beats all of our expectations,” Murphy said. “We never even dreamed we’d be in a position like this when we started 25 or 30 years ago. Dreams come true, right? “I’d never even seen what the (championship trophy) looked like, because we’d usually be pitted way over (in Turn 4) and the (trophy) would be over (in Turn 1). In all the years we’d been doing it, I never saw it for that reason.” The KLM Motorsports team is truly a family operation. The team, which is named after Murphy’s wife Maggie and children Lyndsey and Kelly, is led by former driver Ron Yuhas and Sly Szaban. The group has flourished since tabbing Beers to drive the No. 64 for his rookie campaign in 2022. Beers delivered the team’s first Modified Tour win in 2023 at Richmond Raceway, and since then, he has added four more checkered flags to Murphy’s growing collection. It’s all still a bit surreal for Murphy, who was forced to sit on the sidelines for much of the 2024 season and the start of the 2025 season due to a host of health issues. In January, Murphy got a new lease on life when he received a bilateral lung transplant. By May, he was back at the race track watching his driver and team chase a championship. This could have been the worst year of Murphy’s life. Instead, he’s the living embodiment of the American dream. “This is the best year of my life. I got a second chance at life,” Murphy said. “Hard work, I would say, is all it takes. This is a great country. A country of opportunity. The only thing that is going to stop you is yourself.” While the championship meant the world to Beers and his family, Beers felt it was more important to deliver the title to Murphy. After all, Murphy is the one who took a chance on an unproven, 18-year-old kid.Murphy gave Beers all the tools he needed to become the Modified Tour champion. And Beers delivered.“Murph gave me the ultimate break to run this car and get my name out there,” Beers said. “Obviously the last year was really tough not having him at the race track. With him getting that lung transplant, you don’t know what’s going to happen. It was a pretty emotional time for our whole team. “He’s been running the Tour since my dad (Eric) was running (the Tour), so 2010 or 2011. After all these years of ups and downs, to finally deliver that championship to him, it means more to me to give that championship to him than for me to win that championship, honestly.“I owe everything to Murph and Maggie for giving me this opportunity to begin with, because I wouldn’t have it without them.” With a Modified Tour championship secured, Murphy hopes to have Beers back next season to chase another championship. However, what Murphy really wants is for Beers to get an opportunity to move on to bigger and better things. That’s his new dream. It’s a dream Murphy believes that, like Thursday’s championship, Beers can make a reality. “I hope this is a stepping stone,” Murphy said. “He’s still young. He’s only 22. Hopefully there is somebody out there watching and will see how good he is, and maybe they’ll offer him a ride somewhere along the way. “I’d love to see him walking in Preece’s footsteps. Can you imagine? You turn the television on Sunday and see him at the race and you say, ‘We knew him when he was only a kid.’ “That would be another unbelievable dream as good as this. Maybe better.”
Matt Hirschman Completes Seekonk Hat Trick, McKennedy Claims Tri-Track Championship Matt Hirschman completed a Seekonk Speedway hat trick on Saturday, winning the USNEPower Haunted Hundred XL for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. Zach Evans on Oct 25, 2025
Matt Hirschman completed a Seekonk Speedway hat trick on Saturday, winning the USNEPower Haunted Hundred XL for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. With a second-place finish, Jon McKennedy claimed his second championship with the series.Hirschman led all 125 laps of the feature event, giving him a trio of wins at Seekonk. Along with two Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series wins, Hirschman also won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at the Massachusetts 1/3-mile. "What a great year here at Seekonk," said Hirschman in victory lane. "Swept the season, all three races. They've got four total here next year between Whelen and Tri-Track, so even better. We're definitely on a streak here at Seekonk. It'll come to an end at some point, for sure, but while we've got something working for us, we'll keep riding the wave. "We are having a really good season with some good wins. When we are mistake-free, like we were today, we can win a good amount of races. When we're not, you know, we're just not." McKennedy chased Hirschman throughout Saturday's race, hoping to save enough tire for a late-race charge to the victory. Not content to rest on a second-place finish to secure the Tri-Track championship, McKennedy fought the entire way but came up just short. "We had a really good car the whole day. We really did," said McKennedy. "I really wanted to win. It would have been obviously pretty special if we could win in the championship. We had a really good car. Matt's just so good here. I rode behind him in second for obviously the majority of the race. "I was literally in save mode for over half that race, saving as much as I could. When it was time to go, he had a tenth or so on us. As you could see, those last five or six laps, he was able to pull away. Congratulations to him. He's so tough. I think I've finished second to him four or five times here." "A very emotional year, up and down. I think we've won six or seven Modified races throughout three different touring series, a handful of Supermodified races, but we also had a few that got away from us, a couple of big wrecks. Big picture, we won the championship, another Tri-Track Modified Series championship for me. Just great. Thanks again to all my guys, all my sponsors, Seekonk for having us, and, again, congratulations to Matt Hirschman." While the two front-runners were familiar names to Modified fans, Chase Grennan may have been a surprise joining them on the podium. The 18-year-old from New York finished third, ecstatic with a strong run against a stout field of competitors. "This is amazing for our team," said Grennan. "We never expected to have a run like this when we came here. I've never even seen this place before yesterday, got a lot of great practice laps, but we had a good piece from the moment we unloaded. "To run up front with two of the best guys in the country is really a dream come true. I watched these guys growing up. I'm only 18 and these guys are my heroes to me. Running next to them like that really is amazing." Patrick Emerling finished fourth, with Brett Meservey rounding out the top five.
Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series USNEPower Haunted Hundred XL Unofficial Results Fin No Driver Laps Diff 1 60 Matt Hirschman 125 --- 2 79 Jon McKennedy 125 1.663 3 38 Chase Grennan 125 2.110 4 NY1 Patrick Emerling 125 2.496 5 76 Brett Meservey 125 2.544 6 179 Austin Beers 125 3.252 7 1 Stephen Kopcik 125 3.686 8 06 Tyler Chapman 125 3.863 9 88 Woody Pitkat 125 4.100 10 66 Timmy Solomito 125 4.579 11 C20 Dana DiMatteo 125 5.038 12 31 Noah Korner 125 5.102 13 A10 Keith Rocco 125 5.204 14 CT5 Chris Pasteryak 125 5.326 15 7 Jon Puleo 125 5.542 16 20 Max Zachem 125 5.573 17 75 David Arute 125 5.978 18 24 Mikey Flynn 125 6.128 19 25 Matt Swanson 125 6.358 20 CT76 Cory DiMatteo 125 6.452 21 39 George Bessette, Jr. 125 6.480 22 50 Ronnie Williams 125 6.704 23 55 Ryan Doucette 125 6.971 24 81 Nathan Wenzel 125 7.356 25 CT05 Teddy Hodgdon 125 8.788 26 3 Tyler Rypkema 116 9 Laps 27 19 Jeffrey Battle 116 9 Laps 28 82 John-Michael Shentte 54 71 Laps 29 47 Joey Mucciacciaro 31 94 Laps 30 27 Derek Robbie 31 94 Laps
Justin Bonsignore scores bittersweet season-ending win at Martinsville; Austin Beers takes home championship By Brandon White NASCAR.com Published: October 23, 2025
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The ending to Thursday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season finale at Martinsville Speedway carried mixed emotions for Justin Bonsignore.A year-long pursuit of his fifth series championship ended in a runner-up finish to Austin Beers in the point standings. Despite losing the war, Bonsignore did claim one last battle in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200, putting together a strong performance for his second victory of 2025 and his 47th overall.From Bonsignore’s perspective, more showings like the one at Martinsville could have shifted the title battle with Beers in his favor. While he could not help but reflect on the missed opportunities in 2025, Bonsignore took solace in defending his Martinsville triumph from last year’s championship campaign.“We had a great car all day, unloaded well, obviously qualified on pole and did everything we could to keep [Beers] honest,” Bonsignore said. “We just didn’t do a good enough job all year for that as far as the points. A great night to cap off a so-so season by what we feel our standards are.“It was amazing we had a shot [at the title], but it was nice to get a second win and a second grandfather clock.”The Modified Tour championship was well within reach of Bonsignore entering Martinsville, as he only trailed Beers by 14 points. A maximum points night with a victory, pole, a lap led and the most laps led would have given Bonsignore the title if Beers finished eighth or worse.Bonsignore took care of the pole and led the opening portion of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200, giving him two crucial bonus points to help erase his deficit. Even with Beers bogged down in traffic from his eighth-place starting position, Bonsignore anticipated the running order would change several times throughout the night.Cautions brought strategy into play, as teams came down pit road twice per Modified Tour rules to change tires or insert fuel. Bonsignore ended up losing track position through the two pit stop sequences, all while Beers gained spots to re-establish control of the points lead.The speed in Bonsignore’s car enabled him to methodically climb back toward the lead, but a victory ended up being his only feasible goal on the evening. Beers never lost track position after the first pit stop sequence and secured a runner-up finish to become the youngest champion in Modified Tour history.Bonsignore offered nothing but praise for Beers at the end of their championship bout, making sure to congratulate the young competitor in Victory Lane. From the moment he first met Beers, Bonsignore noticed plenty of characteristics that he knew would one day translate to success on the Modified Tour. “I hate that [Beers] beat me to [become champion], but he’s a great young man,” Bonsignore said. “He joined the series four or five years ago, and I don’t know how, but we just hit it off. We became really good friends at the track, tried to give him advice and took him under my wing a little bit.“He’s a super good kid. He was raised by great people.”Beers, who is the son of two-time Modified Tour race winner Eric Beers, joins an elite list of previous series champions that include Bonsignore, Tony Hirschman, Doug Coby and Mike Stefanik, among many others. The idea of being a part of such a group was a surreal one for Beers, who always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a successful Modified driver. After three full-time years of hard work and patience on the Modified Tour, Beers will now forever be immortalized as a series champion.“It’s pretty insane to think about,” Beers said. “Growing up, going to these Modified races with my dad, [I] was dreaming of running on the Tour. Now to be a champion with all those guys like Mike [Stefanik], and Justin, someone who I have a lot of respect for. I pride myself in trying to be like Mike a little bit with how he was championship-wise. “[Mike would be OK] with running second, but championships mean more than wins. To be a champion in this division is unbelievable.” With Beers only being 22, he still has plenty of time to one day reach the highs of previous Modified Tour champions, which includes the four titles Bonsignore has claimed during his illustrious career.Bonsignore knows he is still more than capable of at least tying Hirschman with five total championships, which is why the lack of victories in 2025 was frustrating. The last two years saw Bonsignore win five races apiece, a trend that was replaced with only two this year. A handful of suboptimal showings mixed into his decreased efficiency prevented Bonsignore from celebrating both a victory and a championship on Thursday. “I crashed myself at Seekonk [Speedway] on the last lap and I probably would have won the championship [if I didn’t],” Bonsignore said. “We just didn’t run great. There were times throughout the summer when we were eighth or ninth. Our big goal in this series is to make it to tech every week and you’ll have a shot. “I’ve been doing this 16 years and have only won four of them. You’re going to lose way more than you win in this game.” Instead of lingering too much on the hypotheticals, Bonsignore plans to enjoy his second Martinsville victory with his family and team before regrouping for 2026, where the pursuit for a fifth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title will begin once again.Stephen Kopcik ended the 2025 Modified Tour season with a third-place finish. He was followed in the running order by Joey Coulter and Craig Lutz to round out the top five.The rest of the top 10 finishers consisted of Tyler Rypkema, Eric Goodale, Conner Jones, Matt Hirschman and Mike Christopher Jr.The Modified Tour now enters a three-month hiatus before the 2026 season commences. New Smyrna Speedway will open the new year on Feb. 7, with the race being broadcasted live on FloRacing.
1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 206 – 2 64 Austin Beers G&G Eletric Supply/Dell Electric 206 1.107 3 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 206 1.229 4 2 Joey Coulter IV SRI Performance/ 206 1.33 5 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 206 1.37 6 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE Power/SYP/Northeast Drilling 206 1.568 7 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 206 2.247 8 99 Conner Jones* Driveshaft Shop 206 3.559 9 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports/Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 205 1 Lap 10 77 Michael Christopher Jr* Curb Records/Mohawk Northeast 205 1 Lap 11 25 Danny Bohn Alpine Partners/Amerifast/Cutting Edge Stonework 205 1 Lap 12 8 John Michael-Shenette USNE Power Midwest/Eighty-Two Services 204 2 Laps 13 70 Andy Seuss Rockingham Boat 202 4 Laps 14 55 Jeremy Gerstner JT’s Services/Garage Doors of the Triad 201 5 Laps 15 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 201 5 Laps 16 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 200 6 Laps 17 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc./Middlesex Interiors 198 8 Laps 18 5 Teddy Hodgdon IV* Montanari Fuel/ 198 8 Laps 19 18 Ken Heagy Speed 77 197 9 Laps 20 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara/USNE 191 15 Laps 21 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotive 181 25 Laps 22 40 Luke Fleming William E Smith Trucking/Taylor’s Auto Parts 172 34 Laps 23 29 Mike Marshall* MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric 151 55 Laps 24 4 Ryan Newman Bobcat/USNE/Finzer Rollers/Montrose Molders 120 86 Laps 25 14 Jake Lutz* Advantage Trucks/Washtronics/Anastasi Trucking 111 95 Laps 26 23 Carson Loftin L&R Transmission/LeBleu Water/QMF Metal & Electronics 52 154 Laps 27 11 Norman Newman* Family Funland 33 173 Laps 28 38 Bobby Labonte Cook-Out/PSR Products/Pace-O-Matics 7 199 Laps
Ron Silk dominates at Thompson, earns 30th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory on October 11 By Brandon White NASCAR.com
THOMPSON, Conn. – Even though Ron Silk is now a part-time competitor on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, he will end the 2025 season with more victories than any other driver. Silk clinched that distinction in Saturday’s World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park by leading half the event for his fourth victory this year. With his dominant performance, Silk became the eighth driver in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour history to tally at least 30 wins. The two-time series champion pulled away to earn the win with an eight-second advantage at the checkered flag. While Silk did not expect the final margin of victory to be that wide, he possessed plenty of optimism about winning the World Series 150 once he got comfortable. “We just had a great car,” Silk said. “We didn’t qualify great in 11th, but I knew the way it practiced and even how it drove in qualifying that I’d be able to get it to the front. It was probably a weird race for the fans, and I’m sure they would have liked to see some excitement there toward the end, but it was pretty good from my seat.” Thompson has long carried plenty of significance for Silk throughout his storied career. He earned his first three Modified Tour victories at the track between 2007-08 and has now visited Thompson’s Victory Lane on nine different occasions.The first time Silk prevailed at Thompson with his current team in Haydt-Yannone Racing in 2023 also proved to be a special moment. Finding himself in the middle of a heated championship battle with Justin Bonsignore, Silk’s victory that afternoon was crucial toward his earning his second Modified Tour title.Voluntarily skipping several events this year meant another championship was off the table for Silk and Haydt-Yannone Racing, yet they remained one of the most potent combinations on Tour. Not only does Silk have the most wins in 2025, but he has also led the most laps, a statistic he bolstered at Thompson on Saturday. Silk is grateful for the chemistry he shares with everyone at Haydt-Yannone Racing and how the program continues to be efficient despite scaling back to part-time. No matter the number of events they run in a Modified Tour season going forward, Silk takes pride in knowing he and Haydt-Yannone Racing remain atop the pedestal. “I thought there were a couple [of races] we could have won earlier in the year, but you don’t want to get greedy,” Silk said. “Four [wins] was good for the amount we ran, and we’re happy with it.” Matt Swanson was the closest driver to Silk in the closing stages, earning a distant-but-stellar second at Thompson. By finishing runner-up to Silk, Swanson clinched the FloRacing Connecticut Challenge, an in-season championship between the three Thompson events exclusive to new teams or programs that have not competed in the past three years. Modified Tour points leader Austin Beers departed Thompson with a slightly larger margin over Justin Bonsignore. After methodically biding his time behind Bonsignore for most of the second half, Beers finally overtook the veteran driver to come home in third. The rest of the top five consisted of Matt Hirschman and Craig Lutz. Bonsignore, Kyle Bonsignore, Patrick Emerling, Tyler Rypkema and Stephen Kopcik rounded out the top 10.
1 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine/Future Homes 150 2 25 Matt Swanson Ceravolo’s Auto/Mully’s Auto Repair/Casella Snowplows 150 8.122 3 64 Austin Beers /Andrew James Int/AP Marquadt & 150 12.447 4 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 150 13.432 5 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 150 14.936 6 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 150 15.663 7 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 150 19.097 8 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc. 149 1 Lap 9 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE Power/SYP/Northeast Drilling 149 1 Lap 10 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 149 1 Lap 11 17 Anthony Nocella Sontag Motorsports/Bells Septic 149 1 Lap 12 44 Chase Dowling S&S Paving/Harshaw Paving 149 1 Lap 13 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 148 2 Laps 14 82 Woody Pitkat Metro Door Boston/Hartford 148 2 Laps 15 55 Teddy Hodgdon IV* Montanari Fuel/Business Time Motorsports 148 2 Laps 16 11 Eric Berndt Ferguson Motorsports LLC 147 3 Laps 17 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara/USNE 147 3 Laps 18 18 Ken Heagy Speed 77 145 5 Laps 19 8 John Michael-Shenette Anglers Choice 145 5 Laps 20 63 Dylan Slepian Eastport Feeds 144 6 Laps 21 29 Mike Marshall MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric 140 10 Laps 22 66 Timmy Solomito USNE/Natural Design/FX Caprara/McKinney Construction 27 123 Laps 23 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 27 123 Laps 24 12 Brian Sones* DW Machine & Fabricating Co./Bergen Industries 26 124 Laps 25 20 Max Zachem USNE/Lu-Mac’s 17 133 Laps
Matt Hirschman Earns 'One For the Other Thumb' in 75th Race of Champions at Thompson Speedway on October 11
A new location produced a familiar outcome in the 75th edition of the Race of Champions, as Matt Hirschman became a 10-time winner of the historic event on Saturday at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Zach Evans on Oct 11, 2025
Matt Hirschman lifted the Al Gerber Trophy for the 10th time in his remarkable career on Saturday, winning the Race of Champions in its first visit to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.Over the course of the 150-lap race, several drivers spent time contending for the win. Jon McKennedy, Friday's Outlaw Open Modified Dash for Cash winner at Thompson, led the first 64 laps, with Ron Silk and Patrick Emerling also spending time at the front of the field.However, Hirschman dominated the second half of the race, claiming his first win at "The Big T" since 2008."It went really smooth, actually," said Hirschman in victory lane. "Early in the race, the 79 [of McKennedy] was real strong. The 16 [of Silk] came on after going to the back. Knowing those guys, they were going to be really tough to beat here today. I give them credit, I think they're better at Thompson than I am."I've been gaining ground on it. We finished second-place with Tri-Track in October here last year, second in August with the Whelen Tour. After being away for a long time, I hope I'm getting the knack of it and figuring it out a little bit."Earlier this year, Jake Lutz picked up the win in the "72nd Race of Champions" at Lake Erie Speedway, finally made up after multiple thwarted attempts since the 2022 season. In eight runnings of the Race of Champions 250 at Lake Erie, Hirschman went to victory lane five times.Hirschman did not expect that track record to continue at a track that had troubled him in the past, but his dominance of the long-running event continues."It's pretty crazy," remarked Hirschman. "It's expected that we would win the Race of Champions at Lake Erie, which we did not. I don't think we were the favorite here at Thompson today, but we pulled it off. The race has just been incredible for my career. Ten wins, and they came at four different race tracks along the way."I'm not done yet, but certainly having one for the other thumb is a good thing. I know I'm probably getting to the back nine of my career. I don't know how many more I can win, but I'll certainly try. This one's extra special, I think. I think it was a bigger challenge and some of the other ones were at tracks that I was a little bit more familiar with and a little bit better at."McKennedy settled for a second-place finish behind Hirschman, his car trailing smoke and losing power in the closing laps. It wrapped up a solid Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing for McKennedy, including Friday's win and a victory with the New England Supermodified Series on Saturday."It was a pretty unique race," said McKennedy. "A lot of strategy came into it, a lot of coming and going, pit stops. It was a neat little format, a lot of fun. The guys in the pits were awesome again. All year, they've been great. Big thanks to them. Overall, a great weekend. We won the Open race last night, won the Super race today, and a second here with the Race of Champions. Pretty awesome weekend "Matt was just really good. He's one of the best. I thought maybe we had a chance with around 10, 12 to go, but we started losing a little bit of power and it started smoking. Luckily, we were able to finish second, considering the circumstances. Emerling finished third, recovering from a restart where he fell back to sixth. Like in Friday's Dash for Cash, restarts were the trouble spot for Emerling and his hopes to win."We had a good car," said Emerling. "The whole team, we executed. We put ourselves in a pretty good position on that last pit stop there. I think Matt, his strategy kind of fell in a little bit for him there. I don't know. I had a hard time firing again on the restart. Just come late up out of the corner, had that little it of wheel spin on the late exit of that restart, just enough for him to put an edge on us and then, you know, get run into the marbles in the next corner there."I was pretty scared with the 79 there. He was blowing up. Something was going on with him, smoking. I wasn't even in the racing groove on the bottom. When stuff went loose there, I didn't want to be in it."Silk finished fourth, with Jacob Christman rounding out the top five.With the win, Hirschman also secured the 2025 Race of Champions Modified Series championship. It is his eighth championship with the series, and his first since 2015.Hirschman crossed the line two seconds ahead of Jon McKennedy, who won the New England Supermodified Series feature earlier Saturday. Patrick Emerling finished third, followed by Ron Silk and Jacob Christman.During two-lap qualifying, Jon McKennedy set fast time for the Race of Champions Modifieds. The top six qualifiers are locked into the Race of Champions 150, with the rest of the field set by heat races.Max Zachem and Andy Jankowiak won the two heat races, which will place them on the fourth row for the feature event. The 75th running of the Race of Champions 150 is the first to take place at Thompson. The event is one of the longest-running in all of short track racing and American motorsports.
Race of Champions Unofficial Results Fin No Driver Laps Diff 1 60 Matt Hirschman 150 --- 2 79 Jon McKennedy 150 2.106 3 11 Patrick Emerling 150 2.782 4 16 Ron Silk 150 5.831 5 48 Jacob Christman 150 6.402 6 5 Chris Pasteryak 150 6.611 7 20 Max Zachem 150 10.934 8 9 Austin Beers 150 11.103 9 8 Kyle Bonsignore 150 12.515 10 25 Matt Swanson 150 13.748 11 51 Jayden Harman 150 18.893 12 58 Eric Goodale 150 19.696 13 15 T.J. Bleau 150 21.535 14 3 Daren Scherer 145 5 Laps 15 50 Ronnie Williams 134 16 Laps 16 66 Austin Kochenash 125 25 Laps 17 0 Randall Richard 117 33 Laps 18 07 Justin Bonsignore 87 63 Laps 19 19 Jeffrey Battle 87 63 Laps 20 73x Andy Jankowiak 49 101 Laps 21 81 Jack Ely 22 128 Laps 22 80 Jacob Perry 2 148 Laps
Austin Beers makes a statement with his Eddie Partridge 256 victory at Riverhead Raceway on Oct 4 By Brandon White NASCAR.com
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A perfect October in the closing stages of the 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season was something Austin Beers knew would be imperative to fend off Justin Bonsignore for his first series championship. Riverhead Raceway‘s Eddie Partridge 256 presented a major hurdle toward Beers’ goal. Bonsignore holds the all-time Modified Tour wins record at Riverhead with 12, while Beers only possessed three top fives at the quarter-mile bullring prior to Saturday evening.Beers stood tall in the face of immense pressure, denying Bonsignore a 13th series victory at Riverhead while securing his first checkered flag at the Long Island bullring. Being able to outlast Bonsignore at one of his best tracks and consolidate his points lead was a much-needed relief for Beers following a disappointing showing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway two weeks ago. “We struggled really bad at New Hampshire, and I lost a lot of confidence in myself,” Beers said. “This team just had a bad ass race car. We kind of struggled in practice there, but they did a hell of a job working on it. We were able to get the car to rotate in the center really good there throughout that last long run and were able to pick off Justin [Bonsignore].”Beers’ 2025 season reflects that of many past Modified Tour champions. Not only has Beers completed every possible lap, but he also does not have any finishes outside the top 10.Despite the consistency displayed by Beers all year, Bonsignore has remained within striking distance. The four-time Modified Tour champion entered the Eddie Partridge 256 just seven points back from Beers in the standings with momentum on his side following a second place run at New Hampshire.Bonsignore possesses a combined 27 victories between the final three tracks on the schedule in Riverhead, Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park and Martinsville Speedway. There would be no margin of error for Beers, who got a head start over Bonsignore on Saturday by lining up second on the grid following the redraw.Although he battled an ill-handling car all evening, Bonsignore took advantage of several cautions to cycle his way toward the front but found himself vulnerable to Beers in the closing stages. With Bonsignore keeping his car glued to the bottom, Beers utilized his fresher tires to overtake Bonsignore. Not even a late caution was enough for Bonsignore, who ultimately surrendered second to Ron Silk. Bonsignore knew creativity with strategy would be required to usurp Beers, but he now heads into the final two races knowing he has a slightly larger points deficit to overcome. “You always want to win, especially at home,” Bonsignore said. “Congrats to Austin; they executed really well and probably had the best car throughout the entire race. It’s so hard to know what the right strategy is going to be, and we short-cutted because we weren’t too good and got the track position, but it just didn’t play out at the end.” Beers’ victory at Riverhead gives him an advantage over Bonsignore in another regard: multiple wins on the season. He joins Silk, Patrick Emerling and Craig Lutz as the Modified Tour competitors with more than one trip to Victory Lane so far, with Bonsignore’s only triumph occurring earlier this year at Riverhead. Victories are only one part of the championship formula for Beers. With Bonsignore following him closely in nearly every measurable statistic, Beers knows his team has to stay vigilant while trying to stay ahead of the seasoned Modified veteran at Thompson and Martinsville.If Beers manages to keep Bonsignore behind him in the standings, he will surpass Ryan Preece as the youngest Modified Tour champion. Now that one major hurdle is cleared, Beers is ready to face Bonsignore head-on for a grueling title fight that could come down to the last lap.“This is big,” Beers said. “[Riverhead] is a track where we’ve kind of struggled, but we’ve had good runs here and bad runs here. This gives us confidence going into Thompson and pad the points lead a little bit there. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ve been consistent all year, and this win is going to help us.”Completing the top five in the Eddie Partridge 256 were Lutz and Kyle Bonsignore. Eric Goodale, Stephen Kopcik, Trevor Catalano, Matthew Brode and Tommy Catalano rounded out the top-10 finishers.
164Austin Beers Andrew James Int/AP Marquadt &256– 216Ron SilkBlue Mountain Machine/Future Homes2560.378 351Justin BonsignorePhoenix Communications Inc2561.296 446Craig LutzRiverhead Building Supply2562.386 522Kyle BonsignoreMTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto2562.423 658Eric GoodaleGAF Roofing2562.703 721Stephen Kopcik*Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction2562.729 856Trevor CatalanoUSNE Power2563.11 996Matthew BrodePeter Clark Motorsports2563.47 1054Tommy CatalanoFX Caprara2563.798 113Tyler RypkemaUSNE Power/SYP/Northeast Drilling2564.029 1218Ken HeagyHunter Mechanical2567.755 131Patrick EmerlingFleetworks Inc.2551 Lap 140Chris RogersCoors Light/JDL Environmental2497 Laps 1560Matt HirschmanElite Towing/Bar Harbor Bank and Trust22432 Laps 1629Mike MarshallMLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric22036 Laps 1726Gary McDonaldLakeland Ave Landscaping Supply15898 Laps 1888Roger TurbushRheem48208 Laps 1981Mark StewartCromers Market/Keith Grimes Exc/Hydro Action18238 Laps
Silk Survives Yellows For Fall Final Triumph on Septemeber 27 SPEED SPORT Staff September 27, 2025
STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Stafford Motor Speedway welcomed the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series to the track for the NAPA Fall Final on Saturday. Ron Silk survived a host of caution flags late in the event to win the NAPA Fall Final.The NAPA Fall Final took the green flag with Eric Berndt taking the early lead with Jake Johnson right on his back bumper in second. Johnson quickly made his move to the inside of Berndt and he went to the lead on lap-2.Ron Silk was third behind Johnson and Berndt with Stephen Kopcik fourth and Jon McKennedy fifth. Joey Cipriano moved into sixth place on lap-4. The top five cars were glued together with very little space between them as they clicked off lap-8 The caution came out with 11 laps complete for a multi-car incident in turn 3 involving the cars of David Arute, Wesley Prucker, Michael Rutkoski and Jacob Perry.Rutkoski, Arute, and Prucker came together again on the restart and got into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution back out before a lap could be completed.Johnson again took the lead on the restart with Silk moving into second. Kopcik took third with Berndt sliding back to fourth, just in front of Tyler Chapman in fifth. McKennedy was sixth followed by Teddy Hodgdon, Matt Hirschman, Chris Pasteryak, and Joey Cipriano.The caution came back out with 20 laps complete for debris on the track in the form of an air cleaner from the car of Joey Mucciacciaro.Johnson was back in the lead on the restart with Silk, Kopcik, McKennedy, and Hodgdon giving chase. Tyler Chapman was sixth followed by Hirschman, Berndt, Woody Pitkat, and Ronnie Williams. The caution came back out with 29 laps complete for a spin in turn 2 by Prucker.Johnson took the lead back under green with Silk still holding second place. McKennedy got around Kopcik to move into third with Teddy Hodgdon taking fifth from Hirschman.George Bessette, Jr. spun in turn 4 after contact with Joey Braun, which collected the cars of Rufrano, Mucciacciaro, Perry, Rutkoski, Zachem, and Eric Goodale to bring the caution flag out with 33 laps complete.Johnson took the lead on the restart while McKennedy nearly took second from Silk, but settled back into line in third behind him. Hodgdon was up to fourth with Chapman in fifth. Pitkat was sixth with Doug Coby, Williams, Ryan Newman, and Brett Meservey making up the top-10. As the race hit the halfway point it was still Johnson in the lead with Silk, McKennedy, Hodgdon, and Chapman behind him. Zachem spun on the backstretch to bring the caution back out with 50 laps complete.The caution period brought the majority of the lead cars to pit road for a new tire and adjustments.Silk won the race off pit road followed by Johnson, McKennedy, Williams, Pitkat, Hodgdon, Dana DiMatteo, Chapman, Goodale, Coby, and Matt Swanson. Of the cars that stayed out on the track, Meservey was now the race leader with Austin Beers in second, Dylan Izzo third, Perry fourth, Rufrano fifth, and Mucciacciaro sixth for the upcoming restart.Meservey set off into the lead on the restart with Beers second. Perry was third with Hirschman fourth and Rufrano fifth. The red and yellow flags came out with 53 laps complete as the cars of Chris Pasteryak and Mucciacciaro touched with Pasteryak climbing up and over the right rear tire of Mucciacciaro as both cars slid backwards into the turn 1 wall. Meservey took the lead back under green with Beers, Perry, Bessette, and McKennedy lined up behind him. Hirschman’s car dropped off the pace on the restart and he limped back to pit road where his crew went to work under the hood. McKennedy was on the charge as he moved into third on lap-57 and then second on lap-58. Silk was up to fourth behind Meservey, McKennedy, and Beers with Bessette going around Perry to take over fifth on lap-59.McKennedy completed his charge to the front by taking the lead from Meservey on lap-60. Silk took second from Meservey on lap-63 and began the task of reeling in McKennedy, who had pulled out to a half straightaway lead. McKennedy was keeping the gap back to Silk in second at just over 1 second and Silk was beginning to run out of laps to catch back up to McKennedy. The caution came back out with 75 laps complete for Meservey, who got into the wall and came to a stop in turn 3. This erased McKennedy’s margin over Silk and set up a 5-lap sprint to the finish.On the restart, the cars of McKennedy and Johnson touched with both cars going into the turn 3 wall and about 10 other cars were involved as the caution came right back out along with the red flag. This put Silk into the lead with Bessette second, Rufrano third, Perry fourth, Berndt fifth, and Cipriano sixth for the restart with 5 laps to go.Silk powered into the lead but a 3-wide move by Rufrano saw him make contact with Perry, Bessette and Goodale, which sent Goodale and Perry into the turn 3 wall and collected several others and brought the caution flag back out again before a lap could be completed.Silk took the lead on the restart with Berndt taking second. Cipriano took third from Bessette on lap-77 while DiMatteo was wheel to wheel with Newman for fifth place. Silk led the field to the checkered flag to win the NAPA Fall Final. Berndt came home in second with Cipriano, Bessette, and DiMatteo rounding out the top five.
Tyler Rypkema earns first Modified Tour victory with Ole Blue in wild finish at New Hampshire on September 20 By Brandon White
LOUDON, N.H. – One thought crossed Tyler Rypkema’s mind as he entered Turn 3 on the final lap of Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He was not going to be denied.Justin Bonsignore had put on a defensive clinic during the final 20 laps of Saturday’s race, ensuring that Rypkema and anyone else behind him could not get to his inside. An overtime restart gave Rypkema one final opportunity to go on the offensive and deny Bonsignore a third consecutive New Hampshire win. Out of patience while simultaneously running out of time, Rypkema muscled Bonsignore out of the groove in Turn 3 to take the lead on the final lap, only for Bonsignore to get back to his bumper. The ensuing scuffle to the checkered flag saw Rypkema emerge battered and bruised, but also as a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour winner for the first time. “Every race at New Hampshire seems to be a race to Turn 3 and who could get to the bottom,” Rypkema said. “Justin protected really early and really low, so I hooked back to the top and got a better arc down into [Turn] 3. We made a little contact there, but nothing I haven’t seen [Bonsignore] do many times here.“I knew we were really good, we just had to get up and be there going into [Turn] 3 [by getting] a run off of [Turn] 2.”Rypkema’s breakthrough NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour triumph was eight years and 83 starts in the making After he spent his first seven seasons competing for his family-owned operation, Rypkema took over Boehler Racing Enterprises’ iconic No. 3 Ole Blue Modified near the end of 2024. Rypkema became Ole Blue’s full-time driver for 2025 with the goal of joining names like Ryan Preece, Tony Hirschman and Bugsy Stevens as a winner in the historic car. Entering the Mohegan Sun 100 with three top 10s on the year, everything fell into place for Rypkema to have his best run of the season. He maintained solid track position throughout the morning, but found himself trailing Bonsignore in the closing stages, unable to overtake the four-time series champion. Knowing that Bonsignore would not give him the bottom on the final lap, Rypkema charted his own path to the lead. The aggressive maneuver on Bonsignore in Turn 3 got Rypkema the top spot, but it also left an opening for Bonsignore to get back to his outside on the frontstretch. Rypkema attempted to block Bonsignore’s momentum and the two made contact. Rypkema and Bonsignore both ended up against the outside retaining wall, but it was Rypkema who got to the finish line first, albeit without his right-front tire. Although the overtime restart and the presence of the draft at New Hampshire were going to leave him vulnerable, Bonsignore felt better execution on the final lap could have prevented Rypkema from building the run he needed. “[Rypkema] had too good of a run and I didn’t have a good [Turns] 1 and 2,” Bonsignore said. “There was not much I could do. I tried crossing him over and didn’t get a good exit. He had me clear off of [turn] four and I don’t know why he decided to go to Victory Lane junked. But congrats to him, he executed well.” Ole Blue was towed to Victory Lane after sustaining damage at the end of the Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR Regional) By holding on to the lead with a destroyed car, Rypkema successfully continued Ole Blue’s winning legacy that has been ongoing in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for decades. Prior to Saturday, the most recent driver to win in Ole Blue was Jake Johnson, who did so at Monadnock Speedway last May. The only thing Rypkema didn’t enjoy about his win was seeing Ole Blue sustain so much damage, but he knows Boehler Racing Enterprises will remain resilient, much like his resolve to finally earn a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win. “[Bonsignore] went a little early to make the block,” Rypkema said. “I was able to get back up top and get a good arc down in. If he had done it a little later, I would have had to roll him on the top and that probably wouldn’t have happened. It just happened to work out, but it sucks the car is torn up. “I wasn’t lifting until I was crossing that start-finish line, so we got it.” Bonsignore brought his damaged car home in second, with Craig Lutz, Andy Seuss and Matt Hirschman following him to round out the top five. The rest of the top 10 finishers included Woody Pitkat, Anthony Nocella, Eric Goodale, Austin Beers and Jon McKennedy.
13Tyler RypkemaUSNE Power/SYP/Northeast Drilling101-- 251Justin BonsignorePhoenix Communications Inc1010.072 346Craig LutzRiverhead Building Supply1010.216 470Andy SeussRockingham Boat1010.438 560Matt HirschmanElite Towing/Bar Harbor Bank and Trust1010.48 682Woody PitkatUSNE Power/McKinney Construction/Horton Ave Materials LLC1010.752 717Anthony Nocellaontag Motorsports/Bells Septic1010.906 858Eric GoodaleGAF Roofing1011.302 964Austin Beers/Andrew James Int/AP Marquadt &1011.565 1079Jonathan McKennedyStuarts Auto/Christophers To1011.647 1143Matt KimbellJ&M Towing/Birch Financial/Central Mass Tree1011.96 1244Chase DowlingS&S Paving/Harshaw Paving1012.283 1318Ken HeagySpeed 771012.85 148John-Michael ShenetteUSNE Power Midwest/Eighty-Two Services1015.592 1529Mike MarshallMLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric1016.101 1613Michael Christopher Jr*Mohawk Northeast992 Laps 171Patrick EmerlingFleetworks Inc.992 Laps 1806Sam RameauQuality Fleet Services/Powell’s Stone and Gravel947 Laps 1921Stephen Kopcik*Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction947 Laps 2022Kyle BonsignoreMTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto938 Laps 2156Trevor CatalanoUSNE Power938 Laps 2254Tommy CatalanoFX Caprara7724 Laps 2377Gary PutmanCurb Records/Mohawk Northeast7229 Laps 2416Ron SilkBlue Mountain Machine/Future Homes6536 Laps 2515Joey Cipriano IIIEastern Propane & Oil/The Bass Plating Company2972 Laps 2614Jake Lutz*Advantage Trucks/Washtronics/Anastasi Trucking1685 Laps 277Doug CobyBaldwin Automotive/ Mohawk Northeast695 Laps
MATT HIRSCHMAN RACES TO THIRD STRAIGHT TOUR TYPE MODIFIED WIN AT EVERGREEN RACEWAY ON SEPTEMBER 7
The race distance may have changed but the results stayed the same as Northampton’s Matt Hirschman scored his third consecutive Tour Type Modified victory at Evergreen Raceway on Sunday afternoon. The first two events held this year were run as 50-lappers, which Hirschman both won over Roger Coss. Sunday, it was a 35-lap contest but even before half the race was completed, he was in command and would go on to make it three conquests in a row at the paved 1/3-mile oval.“It’s a shorter race and some of the other guys were going to be a little more impatient, a little more aggressive and that may have resulted in a few more cautions then our previous two races here,” said Hirschman. “The first race we had the lead by lap 35 and the last one we got there by lap 12 so I knew 35 (laps) was still enough time. It may change the mindset of some of the racers that think they have a little less time, and they become impatient, but I felt it was a good clean race and it’s always good to get a win close to home.” After a redraw to set the starting grid, Hirschman began the feature in fifth. At the front Ricky Ross Jr., who started from the pole, set the early pace over Brian DeFebo. As for Hirschman, he was fourth following a lap two restart, then began to put the power down by picking his way to third by lap 10 and advanced another two spots forward by the 14th go-around. When Thomas Flanagan spun on the same lap, Hirschman then used that restart to overhaul Ross for the lead which he would not surrender the rest of the way. And, as Hirschman was making his way to the front, virtually at the same time Austin Beers was following his path and on an ensuing lap 17 restart, passed Ross for second and then settled there until the finish. “I was able to make good passes. I had four cars to pass and then I was able to keep the 71 (Beers) behind who also rose to the top and he passed four cars to get to second and it was definitely a good day,” relayed Hirschman. After giving up first and second, Ross remained third. Jayden Harman scored a solid fourth while DeFebo rounded out the top five. Coupled with three Sport Mod wins, Hirschman moved into a tie with Brian DeFebo as the all-time wins’ leaders in Modifieds at Evergreen with 58. “This track this year, it kind of reminds me of the Evergreen I grew up racing on. To me it’s a little bit different than it was in recent years and I feel that it’s played right into my hand,” he said.
Tour Type Modified feature (35 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Austin Beers, 3. Ricky Ross Jr., 4. Jayden Harman, 5. Brian DeFebo, 6. Nick Baer, 7. Lou Strohl, 8. Don Wagner, 9. Brian Romig Jr., 10. Donny Hartzell, 11. Brian Romig Jr., 12. Thomas Flanagan, 13. Jake Christman, 14. Steve Shultz, 15.
Late pit stop propels Ron Silk to third Oswego Speedway victory on August 30, 2025 By Brandon White NASCAR.com
OSWEGO, N.Y. – Despite now being a part-time competitor on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Ron Silk now has more victories than any other driver on the 2025 season. The two-time champion earned his third checkered flag of the year at Oswego Speedway on Saturday evening after cycling to the front after a sequence of late pit stops. The triumph was Silk’s third at Oswego and 29th overall with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, moving him into sole possession of eighth on the all-time win list. With Matt Hirschman dominating the opening 100 laps of the Toyota Mod Classic 150, Silk knew the inevitable pit stops would prove pivotal. Silk successfully capitalized when he opted to make two pit stops to for a total of three tires, a decision that allowed him to add a third Oswego win to his stellar resume. “We were a little bit tight that whole first run,” Silk said. “Our car was good, but I figured there probably wasn’t going to be another yellow, so we needed to take as many tires as we could. My guys had a great stop and got us out first of all the guys that took three [tires].”Ever since returning to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule in 2016, Oswego has been one of Silk’s best tracks.In seven prior Oswego starts, Silk’s only finish outside the top 10 came in 2022. Silk secured his first Oswego victory in 2021 after a dominant performance that saw him lead 111 laps in Kevin Stuart’s No. 85 Modified. Two years later, Silk was back in Oswego’s Victory Lane, this time with his current team, Haydt-Yannone Racing.Unlike his first two Oswego wins, Silk needed to exercise patience around the Steel Palace on Saturday evening. Passing proved to be at a premium throughout the event, which initially forced Silk to follow in Hirschman’s tire tracks as he waited for the right opportunity to get his Modified in clean air.Tommy Catalano’s spin with less than 50 laps remaining brought the field down to pit lane for what would be the only round of pit stops. After his Haydt-Yannone pit crew got him the track position he needed, it only took Silk a few laps for him to overtake Austin Beers and pull away from the field with no resistance behind him.The closest challenger to Silk in the Toyota Mod Classic’s final moments was Craig Lutz, who built off the momentum from his Richmond Raceway victory to finish second. Although he did not have enough time to chase down Silk, Lutz was thrilled to see his team’s hard work pay off with another solid result.“We had a really solid car,” Lutz said. “The guys had an awesome pit stop, so it put us in contention. We fired off a little tighter than we needed to for that first run. The last two races have really turned the momentum around, so I can’t thank everyone enough who gets the car here. All in all, an awesome effort by us, but we just came up a little bit short.”The time Silk has spent away from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has not disrupted four years of chemistry he has carefully curated with Haydt-Yannone. That cohesion is what gave Silk confidence in his pit crew to execute a perfect pit stop and give him the opening he needed to finish the job on track.“Everyone on my team did a fantastic job all day,” Silk said. “The pit crew won us the race and got us the track position. It’s pretty tough to pass [at Oswego], so I want to thank all the guys who volunteer their time to come do this.”Emerling followed Silk and Lutz home in the third position, with Beers and Hirschman rounding out the top five.Jake Lutz, Stephen Kopcik, Kyle Bonsignore, Trevor Catalano and Justin Bonsignore were the rest of the top 10 finishers.
1 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine/Future Homes 150 -- 2 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 150 0.817 3 1 Patrick Emerling Middlesex Interiors/Fleetworks Inc. 150 1.852 4 64 Austin Beers G&G Eletric Supply/Dell Electric 150 2.079 5 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 150 2.358 6 14 Jake Lutz* Advantage Trucks/Washtronics/ 150 2.668 7 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 150 6.815 8 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 150 8.155 9 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 150 10.192 10 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 150 10.938 11 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE Power/SYP/Northeast Drilling 149 1 Lap 12 77 Michael Christopher Jr* Curb Records/Mohawk Northeast 149 1 Lap 13 8 Andy Lewis Jr* USNE Midwest Operations/Eighty- 149 1 Lap 14 18 Ken Heagy Hunter Mechanical 140 10 Laps 15 12 Brian Sones* DW Machine & Fabricating Co. 113 37 Laps 16 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 110 40 Laps 17 84 Tyler Catalano Catalano Motorsports 42 108 Laps
Matt Hirschman Captures Third Victory in Maynard Troyer Classic VI on Aug 30, 2025 The 2025 edition of the event became the first rain-shortened race in the history of the Classic, declared official after 43 laps were completed when persistent lake-effect drizzle forced an early conclusion. Racing America
For the third time in the six-year history of the Maynard Troyer Classic, Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa., drove to victory lane at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, N.Y. The win came under unusual circumstances as the 2025 edition of the event became the first rain-shortened race in the history of the Classic, declared official after 43 laps were completed when persistent lake-effect drizzle forced an early conclusion.Hirschman, who started fourth, worked his way past early leader Jack Ely of Northampton, Pa. before the halfway point and held the top spot until the weather intervened. “This is a great race to win,” stated Hirschman. “We circle it on our calendar every year and this is big. It’s a short race, big payoff, the way Modified races used to be. I have to thank everyone involved with putting it together like Kenny Troyer and the Series. It’s a shot in the arm to Modified racing. I also want to thank my family and my team — we had a great night.”Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., advanced from fifth starting spot to finish second, while Jake Lutz of Hamburg, N.Y., made a strong run from ninth to third. Local favorite Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., and Ely rounded out the top five. Hirschman also posted the fastest time in green-white-checker qualifying. The scheduled qualifying races were canceled due to the weather conditions.Because of the inclement weather, the Race of Champions Sportsman Modified Series and Rocket Performance 602 Sportsman Modified Series features were postponed to Friday, September 5.
Maynard Troyer Classic VI Finish Start # Competitor Hometown +/- 1 4 60 Matt Hirschman Northampton, PA 3 2 7 11 Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY 5 3 12 14 Jake Lutz Hamburg, NY 9 4 6 25 Mike Leaty Williamson, NY 2 5 1 81 Jack Ely Northampton, PA -4 6 11 73 Andy Jankowiak k Tonawanda, NY 5 7 5 71Z Jimmy Zacharias Oswego, NY -2 8 3 48 Jacob Christman Walnutport, PA -5 9 14 66 Austin Kochenash Danielsville, PA 5 10 10 10 Daryl Lewis Jr Ontario, NY - 11 9 51N Shawn Nye Lancaster, NY -2 12 8 51H Jayden Harman sugarloaf, PA -4 13 2 65NY George Skora III Eden, NY -11 14 16 33 Eddie Hawkins Marion, NY 2 15 20 76 Gunnar Zeiner Bath, PA 5 16 19 40 Alan Bookmiller Castile, NY 3 17 21 3S Daren Scherer Binghamton, NY 4 18 22 0 Randall Richard 4 19 24 86 Tim Nies Elma, NY 5 20 23 1NY Chris Ridsdale Rochester, NY 3 21 25 21 Paul Townsend Guelph, ON 4 22 17 8F Chris Finocchario Macedon, NY -5 23 18 72 T.J. Potrzebowski Elmira, NY -5 24 13 8S John-Michael Shenette Concord, NC -11 25 26 71B Austin Beers Northampton, PA 1 26 15 3R Tyler Rypkema Owego, NY -11
Jake Johnson dominated the end of the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Belltown Motors/Fowlers Auto Wrecking 100 on August 23. It was his second Speedbowl win of his career after a 2020 Legend Car victory.
Matt Hirschman made it back-to-back wins in the Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak 110, winning on August 16 with the Race of Champions Modifieds at Lancaster Motorplex.
A little more than a month after winning the 35th edition of the race, finally made up at Spencer Speedway after multiple attempts during the 2024 season at Lancaster, Hirschman claimed the win the 36th "Tommy/Tony 110" for his 63ard career RoC Modified Series victory. When a caution flag flew with 18 laps to go, the field dove to pit road to prepare for the dash to the finish. Hirschman's crew got him and his No. 60 machine off pit road in front of the pack, taking the lead from Jack Ely. From there, Hirschman led the rest of the way for his third RoC win of the season. "We gained spots there on pit road and came out in the lead," said Hirschman in victory lane. "Being out front is always a good thing. I think, maybe more important now than it ever was. I raced here recently. We ran the Whelen race the last few years. The last time we ran RoC, I think we won the U.S. Open back in '23. That kind of felt like a vintage Matt Hirschamn race, an RoC race here at Lancaster. I feel like I used to run races that ran like that in a car that ran like that. "That was probably 15 years ago now. I always love coming up here to Lancaster, and even New York in general. Everywhere you see those signs, I Love NY. I really do love racing these tracks in New York. We've been to Evans Mills, Chemung, Shangri-La, Holland, Spencer, and we've won at how many of them now. I'm even growing to like Riverhead a little, even though it's almost not New York, but it is." Hirschman leaves Lancaster as the points leader for the Race of Champions Modifieds, and he hopes to battle for the championship in the coming months. "We're really enjoying the RoC season here, and we're going to finish it out. I might not have been here, but we're leading the points. I feel like I owe it to the series to be here and have a title fight right to the end, because I know it's still close and it can go both ways right now. We'll see if we can finish strong. They're all big races. We're looking forward to it and see if we can get more wins." Andy Jankowiak finished second, passing Austin Beers for the runner-up spot in the final 10 laps. The long green-flag run to start the race was not part of Jankowiak's strategy or expectation for the race, forcing him to adjust his gameplan. "We were kind of set up to pit earlier, so I started getting free," said Jankowiak. "I figured pit with the lead would be your best shot, but I didn't think it would go that long. We were a little free trying to save the right-front. You know, probably letting Matt get by me didn't help me much there in the track position thing. "I think we were a little better at the end. We were definitely getting through lapped traffic a little better but, you know, maybe a couple more laps we could have at least put some pressure on him. I could see he picked it up once I got to second. We were pretty similar." Ely finished third after leading 25 laps before the caution flag flew. While Ely knew he'd pit if the caution did indeed come out, he certainly hoped for a green-flag finish to maintain his advantage. "As soon as we got past lap 45, I knew that if the caution came out, we were coming in for a tire. It would have been interesting if that yellow didn't come out on lap 92 to see if Matt would have been able to get to me. I think he was a little bit better than us. "I was struggling a little bit with lapped traffic, but onc I got back into the preferred groove, I feel like we were pretty good. It would ahve been more interesting for me, at least, if the caution didn't come out, but I'm sure it was great for the fans to rerack them there with 18 to go and try again." "Finishing third is bittersweet, especially when you have a car that good. We just fired a little too tight after the pit stop. Anytime you can finish on the frontstretch is a good night." Austin Beers, currently second in RoC Modified Series points, finished fourth, with Patrick Emerling rounding out the top five.
36th Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak 110 Unofficial Results Fin No Driver Laps Diff 1 60 Matt Hirschman --- 2 73x Andy Jannkwoiak 110 0.954 3 81 Jack Ely 110 3.751 4 45 Austin Beers 110 4.515 5 11 Patrick Emerling 110 5.018 6 20 Paulie Hartwig, III 110 6.324 7 25 Mike Leaty 110 6.750 8 51N Shawn Nye 110 7.752 9 65 George Skora, III 110 9.110 10 66 Austin Kochenash 110 10.448 11 51H Jayden Harman 110 12.311 12 48 Jacob Christman 109 1 Lap 13 88 Sean Verwys 108 2 Laps 14 21 A.J. Emms 107 3 Laps 15 3 Daren Scherer 107 3 Laps 16 0 Randall Richard 107 3 Laps 17 33 Eddie Hawkins 10 100 Laps 18 14 Jake Lutz
Craig Lutz earns a ‘special’ Modified Tour victory with flawless execution at Richmond Raceway on August 14 By Tadd Haislop NASCAR.com RICHMOND, Va. — Thursday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond Raceway delivered Craig Lutz multiple opportunities to experience joy. After five straight NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour finishes outside the top five, the No. 46 Goodie Racing crew unloaded a rocket ship at Richmond. Lutz posted the second best lap in the afternoon’s first practice, and he paced the second session. He qualified fourth despite a mistake on his hot lap. In the race, his team employed a strategy that placed him amongst a handful of contenders on the lead lap in the closing stages.That’s when Lutz found himself running down race and Modified Tour points leader Austin Beers.That’s when the joy reached a climax.“Seeing the gap close and knowing you have the better car … it’s awesome,” Lutz said. “As a driver, that’s the best feeling ever, especially in the closing laps.”Lutz, of course, easily executed the winning pass in the closing laps of Thursday’s Modified Tour race, the first of a NASCAR weekend trio at Richmond Raceway ahead of Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series tilt and Saturday’s Cup Series event.That winning pass, though, was the only thing easy about Lutz’s triumph. The 31-year-old racer from Miller Place, New York in his post-race media sessions consistently cited the Modified Tour’s parity. He became the series’ third driver to win multiple races this season, a year that began with eight winners over the first eight events.“It’s so hard,” Lutz said. “You do this, and the end goal is to win races, and you put so much time and effort into all you do. All the money it takes. All the frustration, all the time. So when you do win, it’s that much more special. Especially when the field is so close. Everyone has the same car, same motor, same package, so when you do win, it’s just that much more special.”Now a six-time winner in 148 Modified Tour races over a 12-year span, Lutz knows nothing is promised in this series, even with what he described as the best strategy with the best car at the track Thursday.A caution for a Tommy Catalano spin on Lap 26 of 150 allowed Lutz and others a chance at an early pit stop. During the subsequent, 58-lap green flag run, he needed every millisecond of speed and every inch of track position to reach a second and final stop. But for Lutz and five others, the long-run strategy paid dividends. More so for Lutz than the others.Lutz on the final restart of the race with 42 laps to go fired off tight. He was furious.And his anger proved premature. Just as the team hoped, Lutz’s car reached an ideal balance as his tires faded. The opposite was the case for Beers, who lost the lead with eight laps to go in what quickly became an inevitability.“Austin’s the points leader, great team — they’re running really good,” Lutz said. “When you race those guys, you race them with respect, and they give it back to you. So it was fun racing with him at the end.”dding to the context of Lutz’s massive win Thursday is the fact that Richmond is far from his best track. He won the Tour race at North Wilkesboro Speedway earlier this season, another “bigger” track for series standards, but he knew the team would need more than just raw speed to succeed at a track where he had never finished better than seventh. Lutz said his brother and some team members are big into iRacing, and he used the platform to prepare for Thursday’s tilt: “I buckled down and did some races, and it helped.“The last three or four times here, I really struggled. It’s just one of those places I couldn’t get a hold of. I tried to do a lot of homework.” Lutz’s win at Richmond places him in a tie with Matt Hirschman for fourth in Modified Tour championship points. When asked after the race whether his standing is top of mind, he was quick to deflect and reference the joy of a single win. He said he’s here to win, and hopefully, a championship will present itself as a goal in the near future. He’s chasing a title, yes. But he’s also chasing the thrill of victory, the joy that overcomes a race-car driver when he knows he and his team have done exactly what they set out to do.That’s the joy Lutz experienced Thursday.
146Craig LutzRiverhead Building Supply150 264Austin BeersFastrack Electric/AP Marquadt & Sons1500.686 31Patrick EmerlingFleetworks Inc.1501.041 456Trevor CatalanoUSNE Power1504.316 577Corey LaJoieCurb Records/Mohawk Northeast15012.026 660Matt HirschmanPeeDee Motorsports15015.993 751Justin BonsignorePhoenix Communications Inc1491 Lap 840Ryan PreeceRacechoice.com/Mizzy Construction1491 Lap 958Eric GoodaleGAF Roofing1491 Lap 1021Stephen Kopcik*Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction1491 Lap 1148Danny BohnSmith Trucking/Taylor Auto Parts/Perkins & Associates/Hodges Realty/Simmons Powersports1491 Lap 1218Ken HeagyHunter Mechanical1491 Lap 133Tyler RypkemaUSNE Power/SYP/Northeast Drilling1482 Laps 1422Kyle BonsignoreMTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto1482 Laps 1529Mike Marshall*MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric1419 Laps 164Ryan NewmanBass Pro Shops10050 Laps 177Luke Baldwin*Baldwin Automotive8763 Laps 1870Andy SeussRockingham Boat7476 Laps 1999Conner Jones*Jones Utilities Construction7080 Laps 2059Tyler Barry*Pro Systems/BNP Machine6882 Laps 2123Carson LoftinL&R Transmission/LeBleu Water/QMF Metal & Electronics29121 Laps 2254Tommy CatalanoUSNE Power/FX Caprara27123 Laps 238John-Michael ShenetteUSNE Midwest Operations/Eighty-Two Services16134 Laps 2424Andrew KrauseSupreme Mfg. Co15135 Laps
MATT HIRSCHMAN RACES TO ANOTHER EVERGREEN RACEWAY TOUR TYPE MODIFIED WIN ON AUGUST 10
There is no question that Matt Hirschman continues to build upon a Hall of Fame career as the Northampton driver added another chapter to his undisputable legacy with his victory on Sunday afternoon at Evergreen Raceway, scoring a decisive win in the 50-lap Tour Type Modified feature. Hirschman drew the second starting spot and lined up to the outside of pole sitter Roger Coss. When the action got underway Coss took charge but there was heavy pressure coming from Hirschman, including some early laps when both went side-by-side for the race lead. Coss was then able to settle into the front spot, albeit with Hirschman still hot on his tail. After trying but not succeeding to pass from the outside, Hirschman then changed his strategy to the low lane, making the switch on lap 11 exiting Turn 2 and by the end of the backstraight he had already begun to clear Coss and completed the pass by the outset of the next circuit. From then on, he was reeling off steady, consistent laps, and not even a few additional cautions hindered his performance with any chance of letting Coss or anyone else, for that matter, take away his stance. “It’s always good to get a win here that’s close to home. Good work today by my guys too, we had an electrical issue during practice, and they did a great job to get it fixed and today worked out really well for us,” said Hirschman. "Roger (Coss) has been running real good here and he’s had two pole starts the last two races and that certainly has helped his case,” he continued. “It’s good that we have a track that we can have the Tour (Type) Modifieds to come and race at and thanks to Jason (Makarewicz/owner) for having them, we had some good support today for the track.” Of the multitude of wins Hirschman has collected in his 20-plus years of racing, Evergreen can be considered his most successful track. Sunday was the 56th time he has won here. “I think it just feels like home, it’s where I started my career and I won here before anywhere else and anytime I came back I was always successful,” he said. “Here at Evergreen, it taught me the right skills to go on and win at a variety of other tracks and on various levels. This track has taught me the right skillsets and there are times I may not have raced here an entire year or maybe once a year but anytime I did come I was immediately always back to where I was and it’s definitely been the best track throughout my entire career.” For the second time in a row Coss was runner-up to Hirschman and also second place in the last four Tour Type Modified features at Evergreen. “That’s four (runner-ups) in a row but at least it’s better than third,” said Coss. “The car was better today although it was the same results, so it doesn’t really look like it was better. We made a bunch of changes that made a difference, but just not quite as good as the 60 (Hirschman),” he continued. “I told my guys if Matt wasn’t here, we’d look like Matt Hirschman for how good we’ve been here compared to everyone else. We’ll just keep working hard.” The race for third to fifth was a real fan-pleasing affair in the closing laps between Jake Christman, Paulie Hartwig III and Austin Beers. Christman was holding down third since the halfway mark. Hartwig moved into fifth after a lap 36 restart, while Beers was sixth and coming on strong. In the closing laps that trio were under a blanket with Christman fending off Beers who had zipped by Hartwig for fourth. Beers’ drive was even more astounding given the fact that he started from 17th. On the final lap Christman held on for third while Hartwig and Beers crossed the line virtually deadlocked and the nod going to Hartwig.
Tour Type Modified feature finish (50 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Roger Coss, 3. Jacob Christman, 4. Paule Hartwig III, 5. Austin Beers, 6. Jayden Harman, 7. Brian DeFebo, 8. Ricky Ross Jr., 9. Lou Strohl, 10. Jacob Kerstetter, 11. Steve Shultz, 13. Ricky Collins, 14. Chris Risdale, 15. Brian Romig Sr., 16. Brian Romig Jr., 17. Brian Sones, 18. Mike Benevides, 19. Don Wagner
The Night Before the Glen - Rod Spalding Classic was truly a classic on August 9th Andy Jankowiak Snaps Drought, Returns to ROC Modified Victory Lane at Chemung For the first time since the 2021 Race of Champions 250, Andy Jankowiak went to victory lane with the Race of Champions Modified Series in the Night Before The Glen Rod Spalding Classic on Saturday night at Chemung Speedrome.
Zach Evans on Aug 10, 2025
Jankowiak's last RoC Modified series victory before Saturday night came at Lake Erie Speedway in the 2021 Race of Champions 250. While the well-traveled racer from New York has seen plenty of victory lanes in the past four years, including seven RoC Sportsman Modified victories, none of them had come with the top tier in the Race of Champions Family of Series during that span. "We tried to figure out how many laps are on this engine that's been in this car for about two years, so I looked up all my racing statistics," said Jankowiak. "It was fourth, second, third, fourth, second, third, fourth, second, third, win the pole, fourth, second. I don't know. It's been crazy. "It's our home-built car. It's a touchy car, but we just took off today and it just went. It surprised me a little bit. It actually got a little tight there at the end, and I was fighting with it a little bit." Jankowiak started to get emotional in victory lane, reflecting on the many opportunities he has to race across the country and how hard it is to get a win at any level of the sport. "Just happy to be able to do this," said Jankowiak. "You've got to cherish these moments. They are so precious. I'm so blessed that I get to do all this stuff, I get to race with KLAS Motorsports and Kevin Lapierre, Andy Seuss and all those guys. They take such good care of me. They brought me a badass race car at Watkins Glen yesterday and we could run in the to p10. We get to come back today and do this in my home-built Modified with my family and friends and all my sponsors. I'm just, it's emotional." The ROC Modified Series drought has definitely had an impact on Jankowiak, looking at the chances he's had to secure victories over the past four years. "It has really bothered me that we haven't been able to capitalize," said Jankowiak. "I know we're capable, I know we have the speed. It's just, every time something happens. Like Holland, I thought we had it and we just missed the stagger a little bit. Today was the perfect night. "It was so much fun battling with T.J. I was really good and I was saving. I think I had a little bit too much front brake in it trying to save. When I got going after I got him, the right-front just wouldn't cut like it would. It was a battle, it was fun. And Bryce Bailey, credit to him, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking at the scoreboard every 10 laps looking for that 60 [of Matt Hirschman]. "Just grateful, just really grateful. It takes a thousand people if you count everyone up that keeps me on the track and doing all this racing we do. I'm the one dancing on Facebook and doing all this stuff and making it look fun." While Potrzebowski faded in the closing laps, Bryce Bailey picked up a runner-up finish trying to chase down Jankowiak in the closing laps. "Paul just gave me a great race car at the end of the day," said Bailey. "Hats off to Andy there. He manages his stuff really well. I thought he went pretty hard there at the beginning. I thought he was going to come back to me. I was kind of waiting on Austin and Matt to start creeping up. I thought maybe I went a little too hard, but it just kind of stayed good. The first three laps of a run, I kind of struggled, but after that it just would take off really good. "Me and Andy had a good battle there on that restart. I wish I didn't screw up so bad when he run me up off four, but he did what he had to do to win the race and got it done." Austin Beers finished third, staying ahead of Matt Hirschman to claim the final step on the podium. "It's definitely harder to pass Matt, so leaving him behind me helped out," said Beers. "We were a little too snug. We tried a little something different that we usually don't do, and it kind of stabbed us in the back a little bit, but it is what it is." Hirschman finished fourth, with Shawn Nye rounding out the top five.
Worst to first: Patrick Emerling honors Geoff Bodine with a win at Thompson in the Big Red Modified on August 6 By Brandon White NASCAR.com
From Austin: Did the best we could with what we had tonight at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park - the 64 team played some strategy early & we took advantage. The KLM Motorsports team thrashed on it all day. Brought it home in one piece in 7th - a good run to set us up for the stretch run of the season!
THOMPSON, Conn. — When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour visited Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park last August, Patrick Emerling led every lap from the Hoosier Tire Pole. Defending that victory Wednesday evening required Emerling to drive from the rear of the field. Piloting Geoff Bodine’s iconic No. 1 Big Red Modified scheme in the Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com, Emerling emulated the legendary competitor by methodically carving his way through the field. With 26 laps remaining, Emerling utilized fresh tires to make the race-winning pass on Jake Johnson and score his second victory of 2025. Being able to climb from dead last on the starting grid to Victory Lane carried plenty of catharsis for Emerling, especially since he got to celebrate the moment with Bodine himself. “We battled some adversity there,” Emerling said. “We weren’t running right all day and were tinkering around in qualifying. We qualified really good but were lacking a little horsepower and had a little bit of a stumble. We made some adjustments, started last, came back through and got it done.”Starting 27th out of 27 cars was not an auspicious scenario for Emerling, but it was also a familiar one. Emerling was forced to start in the rear for the season-opener at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway. With a record number of cautions befalling the event, Emerling used pit strategy to cycle his way toward the front of the field, which enabled him to overtake Craig Lutz late in the race and begin 2025 with a victory on his resume. As was the case in New Smyrna, Emerling on Wednesday stayed patient and waited for the right moment to bring his car down pit lane. Staying on sequence with leaders Ron Silk and Justin Bonsignore, the two stops from Emerling’s crew were quick enough for him to come out third within his group, though he would still need to negotiate his way around cars on older tires. With the second half going caution-free, Emerling had all the time he needed to muscle his way around Bonsignore and Matt Hirschman, who were both on the same strategy, and power his way to the front. Even though he only ended up leading a fraction of the laps he led last year, Emerling’s car on Wednesday proved to be just as efficient. Hirschman could only watch as Emerling’s Big Red Modified carved through lapped traffic with ease. A stack-up between the leaders caused Hirschman to surrender a pivotal spot to Emerling, but he departed Thompson confident that his team had made significant progress toward one day securing a victory at the historic track. “Only a win is a win, but for this team and our past history at Thompson, this was by far our best performance,” Hirschman said. “We had good long run speed once last October here, but that was the only time. I was going forward, and that got us all the way here to second. “We’re a work-in progress, but we took a big jump.” Hirschman did not even place inside the top 10 in the Modified Tour’s first visit to Thompson this year in April, a race that saw Emerling place second to Silk. Emerling, who had Bodine’s Big Red Modified scheme adorned on his car for that race, as well, knew he was strong enough to win at Thompson that night but was unable to do so. Bringing Bodine’s iconic colors to Thompson’s Victory Lane in the Modified Tour’s 750th race proved to be a more fitting outcome. After Emerling climbed out of his car, Bodine climbed on top of it like he had done so many times during his own Modified career. Bodine extended his praise toward Emerling for the poise he displayed with turning a poor start into a victory celebration. “It looked like the old days with the Big Red No. 1 going from the back to the front,” an exuberant Bodine said in Victory Lane. “I don’t know what they did on the pit stop, but they tuned [Emerling] up, and [he] was gone. “That was awesome. I’ve got to come to more of these.” During the final laps, Emerling started to wonder whether extraneous circumstances would prevent him from winning in the Big Red Modified. Emerling entered Thompson with the second most laps led of any Modified Tour competitor in 2025 but only had the New Smyrna victory to show for that efficiency. Nothing stood in the way of a win for Emerling on Wednesday. He continued the legacy of one of Modified racing’s most iconic rides, all while adding onto his own. “This is a beautiful car,” Emerling said. “I’ve got to thank everyone involved. I was tearing up on that victory lap. We’ve had the best car the past five races or so, but had a lot of inopportune cautions. We got bounced around, but here there wasn’t any caution and not a chance for anything to happen.” Following Emerling and Hirschman in third was Kyle Bonsignore, with Johson and Eric Goodale completing the top five. The rest of the top 10 finishers were Matt Swanson, Austin Beers, Justin Bonsignore, Silk and Jacob Lutz.
1 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc. 150 – 2 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 150 2.584 3 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 150 4.448 4 7 Jake Johnson Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane/Island Int. Ind./Axis Wealth/Nantucket Pavers 150 7.308 5 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 150 8.869 6 25 Matt Swanson Ceravolo’s Auto/Mully’s Auto Repair/Casella Snowplows/Arco Welding Supply 150 13.002 7 64 Austin Beers Fastrack Electric/ 150 15.954 8 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 150 16.609 9 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 150 16.828 10 14 Jacob Lutz* Advantage Trucks/Washtronic’s/Anastasi Trucking 150 17.036 11 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 150 20.423 12 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 149 1 Lap 13 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE Power/Northeast Drilling 149 1 Lap 14 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 149 1 Lap 15 20 Max Zachem USNE/Lu-Mac’s 149 1 Lap 16 44 Chase Dowling S&S Paving/Harshaw Paving 149 1 Lap 17 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 149 1 Lap 18 55 Teddy Hodgdon IV* Montanari Fuel/Business Time Motorsports 149 1 Lap 19 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Mfg. Co 148 2 Laps 20 59 Tyler Barry* Pro Systems/BNP Machine 148 2 Laps 21 18 Ken Heagy Hunter Mechanical 138 12 Laps 22 29 Mike Marshall* MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric 138 12 Laps 23 79 Jonathan McKennedy Stuarts Automotive/Levasseur HVAC/Hillsboro Ent./Christophers Towing 121 29 Laps 24 12 Brian Sones* DW Machine & Fabricating Co./Bergen Industries 93 57 Laps 25 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotive 66 84 Laps 26 63 Dylan Slepian Eastport Feeds 35 115 Laps 27 11 Eric Berndt Ferguson Motorsports 14 136 Laps
BLAKE BARNEY WINS MONACO MODIFIED RACECHOICE.COM 125 on AUGUST 2 (Austin has a piston break)
Star Speedway was a busy place Saturday, as the Monaco Modified Tri Track Series and R&R Street Stock Tours were both on hand for a special event.
Blake Barney was likely not on many people's lists as a favorite entering Saturday's RaceChoice.com 125 for the Monaco Modified Tri Track Series. However, that did not stop the New Jersey driver from claiming the big payday, and his first career win with the series. Second-position went to Teddy Hodgdon, while multiple-time Star Speedway 350 Supermodified champion Jeffrey Battle Jr. rounded off the podium with a third place effort.
1 16 14 Barney, Blake Jackson, NJ 15 2 8 55CT Hodgdon, Teddy Danbury, CT 6 3 9 19 Battle, Jeffrey Dunstable, MA 6 4 5 5CT Pasteryak, Chris Moosup, CT 1 5 12 20 Zachem, Max Preston, CT 7 6 10 1 Kopcik, Stephen Newtown, CT 4 7 7 31 Korner, Noah Canton, CT 0 8 19 55 Doucette, Ryan Framingham, MA 11 9 2 60 Hirschman, Matt Northampton, PA-7 10 11 8 Bonsignore, Kyle Mooresville, NC 1 11 15 04CT Izzo, Dylan Monroe, CT 4 12 13 50 Williams, Ronnie Lebanon, CT 1 13 14 25 Swanson, Matt Harvard, MA 1 14 1 79 McKennedy, Jonathan Chelmsford, MA-13 15 4 15 Johnson, Jake Rehoboth, MA-11 16 17 88 Pitkat, Woody Bellingham, MA 1 17 6 39 Bessette, George Jr. Danbury, CT-11 18 3 76 Meservey, Brett Brewster, MA-15 19 18 78 Sutcliffe, Walter East Haven, CT-1 20 20 179 Beers, Austin Northampton, PA 0
Patrick Emerling Powers to Transitowne 100 Win at Holland on July 26
Patrick Emerling scored the 25th Race of Champions Modified Series win of his career on Saturday night in the Transitowne 100 at Holland Speedway.
Zach Evans on Jul 27, 2025 Patrick Emerling scored the 25th Race of Champions Modified Series win of his career on Saturday night in the Transitowne 100 at Holland Speedway. The Orchard Park, New York driver took the lead with 25 laps to go and held off Jake Lutz for the victory, his first with the RoC Modifieds in 2025. Emerling finished third with the series at Lancaster Motorplex in the Ol' Boy Cup and second in the Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak 110 at Spencer Speedway on July 11. On Saturday, he continued the trend and finished on spot better at Holland. "I'm just super grateful and happy to be here," said Emerling in victory lane. "I've got to thank Jen Chadwick and Brian so much for the opportunity to drive this beautiful race car at places like Holland Speedway, Lancaster, Spencer. It's just absolutely incredible to be able to compete here, and something I was looking forward to all winter long and all season. bviously, we had a really good car tonight. We were playing the track position game a little bit. The 60, the 73, the 14, a bunch of them guys were really, really good tonight. We just played the track position game and I was able to stay out there. We were getting so many unlucky cautions lately, and here we didn't. Lutz finished second in the 100-lap feature, unable to keep up with Emerling late in the race. Still, that gives Lutz three top-five finishes in as many RoC appearances this year."As always, you know, the 14 guys brought a fantastic car," said Lutz. "I appreciate all the hard work at the shop and all day today. I don't know if we got clean air and got that track position if we would have been able to hold on to it or not. He was really good. We were a bit too snug and burned the right-rear off at the end there. "Second place, not too shabby. Besides Spencer when we had a transmission issue, we could have had a second-place finish there and it would have been three second-places in a row. Not too bad. Just knocking on the door for the win." Matt Hirschman unofficially moves into the points lead for the RoC Modified Series with a third-place finish. Hirschman drove from ninth to third, but acknowledged he didn't have enough speed to compete with Emerling and Lutz for the win. "The draw could have been a little kinder to us to maybe help, but, you know, I don't know if that would have made a difference or not," said Hirschman. "I don't think I'd use that as an excuse tonight. Just happy to be back here. I forgot really how much racing at this place is. It's been since 2018. So I think I'm a little behind these guys, considering I think the 14 won last year and Pat's always been local to here. "I think, more than anything, I'm just a little behind on maybe the notebook for Holland Speedway. I sure have missed not being here, just because of scheduling conflicts, it's been that long. Hopefully, it's not that long again before we're back." Andy Jankowiak finished fourth, with Austin Beers rounding out the top five. The next stop for the RoC Modfieds is Chemung Speedrome. The series races at Chemung on August 9 in The Night Before the Glen - Rod Spalding Classic.
1 11 Patrick Emerling 100 --- 2 14 Jake Lutz 100 0.764 3 60 Matt Hirschman 100 6.636 4 73 Andy Jankowiak 100 7.381 5 45 Austin Beers 100 12.094 6 51N Shawn Nye 100 12.789 7 48 Jacob Christman 99 1 Lap 8 66 Austin Kochenash 99 1 Lap 9 95S Bryan Sherwood 99 1 Lap 10 20 Paulie Hartwig, III 99 1 Lap 11 8F Chris Finocchario 99 1 Lap 12 2 Kevin Miller 99 1 Lap 13 95K Jacob Kersetter 99 1 Lap 14 3 Daren Scherer 98 2 Laps 15 0 Randal Richard 98 2 Laps 16 51H Jayden Harman 98 2 Laps 17 24 Greg Krause 96 4 Laps 18 65 George Skora, III 47 53 Laps 19 99 Bill Mislin 35 65 Laps 20 33 Eddie Hawkins 30 70 Laps 21 86 Tim Nies 30 70 Laps 22 57X Vinnie Christiano, III 8 92 Laps
Ron Silk finally conquers Monadnock Speedway; Matt Hirschman captures Whelen Short Track Cup on July 20 By Brandon White NASCAR.com
WINCHESTER, New Hampshire – After a series record eight different to open the year, Sunday’s Cheshire County Clash 200 at Monadnock Speedway yielded the first repeat winner of the 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Ron Silk would be the one to snap the streak, earning his first Monadnock victory with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in the process. The triumph did not come without drama for Silk, who collided with race leader Patrick Emerling in Turn 3 with 30 laps remaining, sending the latter for a spin. Silk attributed the collision to two drivers going for the win. Although he was disappointed to see Emerling spin after the contact, Silk was more than satisfied to finally visit Victory Lane at Monadnock in his 15th appearance. “We were racing pretty hard,” Silk said. “I pulled out on the exit of Turn 2 and he didn’t give me a lot of room, but I don’t blame him. I feel like we both kind of got loose in and made some contact. I wish he could have held onto it, but that’s hard racing.” Prior to the doubleheader, Silk had enjoyed modest success at Monadnock but never managed to bring home a checkered flag. His Monadnock resume featured seven top five finishes, including two runner-up showings in 2020 and 2024. A disappointing 15th in Saturday’s Duel at the Dog 200 fueled Silk’s motivation to rebound. Silk posted the fifth-best time in qualifying but started on pole by virtue of the redraw. While Silk successfully maintained his track position at the front of the field, he faced constant pressure from Emerling, who was also eager to shake off a frustrating Saturday outcome that saw him lose a win to Tommy Catalano by .007 seconds. Emerling go to the lead during the closing stages, but Silk stayed within striking distance, waiting for the right moment to pounce. Silk saw his opportunity with less than 40 laps left. He dove to the inside of Emerling in search of an open lane in Turn 3. The move sent Emerling around while Silk continued unscathed.Being on the receiving end of contact to close out two consecutive races at Monadnock was irritating for Emerling. He was confused and frustrated by Silk’s dive bomb in Turn 3, especially after he believed the two had raced cordially earlier in the day.“It’s really unfortunate,” Emerling said. “[Silk and I raced] like gentlemen and I passed him without touching him. He had a fresh tire on, we were better on the long run and he knew that. He was just good enough to maybe get to our bumper. He knew he wasn’t going to stay there long and that we would drive away. “Then he decided to ship it into the corner like he wasn’t going to make it and just took us out.” With Emerling out of contention, Silk still had to deal with two familiar foes in his rearview mirror, Justin Bonsignore and Matt Hirschman. Neither posed a significant challenge to Silk in the final 20 laps as he drove away to earn his second win of 2025. Bonsignore held on to finish second while Hirschman secured third, which enabled him to claim his second Whelen Short Track Cup. Hirschman endured an odyssey just to reach the top five, as a mistake in qualifying relegated him to 20th on the starting grid.By utilizing strategy and persevering with a car not to his liking, Hirschman narrowly edged out his Mud Lane neighbor Austin Beers for the Whelen Short Track Cup and a $3,500 bonus courtesy of JDV Productions. “I did not think this was possible,” Hirschman said. “I do think we gave it away last night, but we ended up with a third place finish with a car that felt like it was on six or seven cylinders. My guys worked hard, nobody knows what the problem is, but it’s nobody’s fault. The Cup wouldn’t have even been a contest if we finished remotely close to where we should have last night. “I feel like I drove my rear end off today with what I had.” Anthony Nocella and Trevor Catalano made up the rest of the top five. Rounding out the top 10 at Monadnock were Joey Cipriano III, Luke Baldwin, Emerling, Beers and Tommy Catalano.
1 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 200 -- 2 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 200 0.655 3 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 200 1.477 4 17 Anthony Nocella Xtreme Autobody/Sontag Motorsports/Bells Septic 200 2.088 5 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Utility Services/Catalano Motorsports 200 2.749 6 15 Joey Cipriano III The Bass Planting Company 200 3.517 7 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotive 200 3.781 8 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc. 200 4.073 9 64 Austin Beers Hughes Motor 200 4.951 10 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara/USNE Utility Services 200 4.963 11 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 200 5.746 12 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 200 6.126 13 25 Brian Robie Bar Harbor Bank & Trust 200 6.38 14 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feed 200 10.264 15 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Inc 199 1 Lap 16 59 Tyler Barry* Pro Systems/BNP Machine/West Swanzey Meats 199 1 Lap 17 29 Mike Marshall* MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric 196 4 Laps 18 06 Sam Rameau New England Truck Design/Quality Fleet Services 126 74 Laps 19 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 120 80 Laps 20 20 Max Zachem USNE/Lu-Mac’s 106 94 Laps 21 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE Power/Northeast Drilling 96 104 Laps
Tommy Catalano wins a thriller at Monadnock Speedway and breaks a Modified Tour record on July 19 By Brandon White NASCAR.com
WINCHESTER, New Hampshire – For Tommy Catalano, watching his brother Trevor earn his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Monadnock Speedway last year was emotional for several reasons. Trevor’s triumph came in only his eighth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour appearance. Entering Saturday’s Duel at the Dog 200 at Monadnock Speedway, Tommy had 96 career starts on his resume, none of which had resulted in a win despite several close calls. Years of patience and hard work brought a second Catalano to Monandock’s Victory Lane in thrilling fashion.Tommy was tasked with fending off Patrick Emerling during an overtime restart while on older tires. Emerling briefly took the lead from Tommy, but a nudge to Emerling’s back bumper knocked him out of the groove just enough for Tommy to earn an emotional breakthrough victory by the slimmest of margins – .007 seconds. “I didn’t really want to get [Emerling] like that into [turn three],” Tommy said. “I was hoping to kind of move him up the hill a little bit. Everyone was kind of tight right there. Justin [Bonsignore] was right on my bumper. It’s unbelievable. “Hopefully this isn’t the last one.” After starting 12th, Tommy cycled to the second position after electing to stay on track during a caution with 42 laps remaining that, ironically, involved his brother Trevor.Tommy lined up second behind Luke Baldwin for the ensuing restart, with Tyler Rypkema providing the two a buffer between Emerling, who led the remaining lead lap cars off pit road. Knowing he needed to move quickly, Tommy dove underneath Baldwin in Turn 1 to take the lead, which also pinned Emerling on the top line.By the time Emerling worked his way back to second behind Tommy, another caution would trigger an overtime restart. The fastest car at Monadnock all evening would now be lined up to Tommy’s outside for the final two-lap sprint, but even with the odds against him, the seasoned veteran was not ready to surrender the win just yet.Emerling led at the white flag. Through determination and sheer will, Tommy led at the checkered flag, albeit just barely. The scene in Victory Lane was nearly identical to last year’s Duel at the Dog 250, with the only difference being the role reversal of the brothers.As the Catalanos celebrated, Emerling felt a mix of frustration and disappointment with his second-place effort. He was critical of the maneuver Tommy pulled on him to take the victory but does not plan to linger on Saturday’s defeat for long.“We had the best car today,” Emerling said. “We led basically the whole race and the whole team executed really good. We were doing exactly what we had to do and had the race won in the last corner but got smashed out of the way. That’s not the type of racing that I do, but I guess that’s how it goes.”If Emerling had edged Tommy at the line, he would have snapped a streak of different winners to open 2025, having previously won at New Smyrna Speedway. Austin Beers’ victory at Lancaster Motorplex last weekend tied the record for seven different winners in seven events that was set in 1999.Instead, Tommy’s valiant effort during the final laps set a new NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour record; eight winners in the first eight races.Building up Catalano Motorsports has been a prolonged, methodical effort not only by Tommy, but his mother Amy, his father Dave, his brothers and every member of his team. That elusive first victory finally arrived on Saturday, a day Tommy wasn’t sure would ever materialize.“It’s just nuts,” Tommy said. “You see all the people that have won so far this year and if you said any of them were going to win their second race [this year], that wouldn’t have surprised me at all. To come here and do what we did is phenomenal.“You start getting down thinking it’s not meant to be, but you keep plugging away and keep at it.”Kyle Bonsignore finished third in his 100th NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start, followed by his cousin Justin Bonsignore and Beers. The rest of the top 10 included Rypkema, Baldwin, Stephen Kopcik, Craig Lutz and Anthony Nocella.
1 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 204 -- 2 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc. 204 0.007 3 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 204 0.168 4 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 204 0.196 5 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Hughes Motor 204 0.398 6 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE Power/Northeast Drilling/J&R Pre-Cast 204 0.569 7 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotive 204 0.603 8 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 204 0.793 9 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 204 0.914 10 17 Anthony Nocella Keene Towing & Recovery/ 204 0.978 11 15 Joey Cipriano III Eastern Propane & Oil 204 1.174 12 06 Sam Remeau Quality Fleet Services/Powell’s Stone and Gravel 204 1.439 13 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power & Construction 204 1.548 14 25 Brian Robie Bar Harbor Bank & Trust 204 1.707 15 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 204 1.716 16 20 Max Zachem USNE/Lu-Mac’s 204 3.677 17 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 202 2 Laps 18 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Inc 201 3 Laps 19 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feed 201 3 Laps 20 59 Tyler Barry* Pro Systems/BNP Machine/West Swanzey Meats 200 4 Laps 21 81 Nathan Wenzel 1812 Paint & Body 199 5 Laps 22 29 Mike Marshall* MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric 188 16 Laps 23 18 Ken Heagy Hunter Mechanical 168 36 Laps 24 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply 108 96 Laps 25 8 John-Michael Shenette USNE Power/Eighty-Two Services 54 150 Laps
Jake Johnson Wins GAF Roofing Modified Masters at Stafford Speedway on July 16
By Scott Running
The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series came to Stafford Motor Speedway on Wednesday, July 16th for the 80-lap GAF Roofing Modified Masters feature event. Jake Johnson took control of the race just past the halfway point of the race and he led the final 40 laps of the race to the checkered flag to win the GAF Roofing Modified Masters. The race took the green flag with Ryan Preece setting the early pace ahead of Jake Johnson, Eric Goodale, Jon McKennedy, and Stephen Kopcik. McKennedy made a power move going into turn 3 on lap-5 to take third place from Goodale while Johnson was hounding Preece for the lead. Marcello Rufrano moved into fifth before the caution flag flew with 7 laps complete as Preece and Johnson made contact while racing for the lead while behind them, Steven Chapman and his brother Tyler Chapman spun on the frontstretch. Preece took the lead back under green with Johnson, Goodale, McKennedy, and Kopcik lined up behind him. Chase Dowling was up to sixth followed by Rufrano, Max Zachem, Matt Hirschman, and Woody Pitkat. With 20 laps complete, Preece was still out front with Johnson, Goodale, McKennedy, and Kopcik behind him. Dowling was still sixth in line with Zachem, Pitkat, Ronnie Williams, and Mikey Flynn making up the top-10.With 35 laps complete Preece was still leading Johnson, Goodale, and McKennedy. Williams was now up to fifth with Kopcik, Dowling, Zachem, Pitkat, and Jacob Perry making up the top-10. The caution flag flew with 39 laps complete for Teddy Hodgdon and Joey Cipriano, who both came to a stop in turn 4. The caution period brought the leaders to pit road for a tire and adjustments with Williams winning the race off pit road followed by Goodale, Johnson, McKennedy, Preece, Ron Silk, Kopcik, Hirschman, Rufrano, and Dowling. Michael Christopher, Jr. had pitted earlier in the race and he led the field back to green with Williams next to him on the front row. Williams took the lead back under green while Johnson pulled alongside Williams on lap-40 and then took the lead on lap-41. Goodale and Williams were now side by side behind Johnson fighting for second place with Silk up to fourth and Dowling fifth. Preece was sixth followed by McKennedy, Kopcik, Perry, and Hirschman. The caution flag came back out with 55 laps complete for David Arute and Noah Korner, who both ended up in the turn 1 wall.Johnson took the lead on the restart with Williams right behind him in second. The field didn’t complete a lap before the caution came back out for a multi-car incident coming out of turn 4 with Andy Jankowiak spinning and collecting the cars of Flynn, Dylan Izzo, Rufrano, and Tyler Chapman.Johnson powered into the lead with Goodale taking second behind him. Williams was third in line with Dowling fourth and Preece fifth. Williams charged his way past Goodale on lap-63 to move into second behind Johnson. Dowling took third on lap-64 to drop Goodale back to fourth, just in front of Preece. Preece took fourth from Goodale on lap-67 while Johnson was starting to stretch out his advantage over Williams in second. Williams couldn’t get close enough to Johnson to make a bid for the lead as Johnson took the checkered flag to win the GAF Roofing Modified Masters 80. Williams finished second with Dowling, Preece, and Hirschman rounding out the top-5.
MATT HIRSCHMAN WINS CAUTION FREE TOUR TYPE MODIFIED 50-LAPPER AT EVERGREEN RACEWAY on July 13
Matt Hirschman of Northampton completed what was a very fruitful weekend of racing as he scored a 50-lap win on Sunday at Evergreen Raceway. That followed a New York swing with a Race of Champions Modified Series victory on Friday in the 35th Annual Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak 110 at Spencer Speedway and a third-place tally Saturday in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Nu-Way Auto Parts 150 at Lancaster Motorplex. Hirschman started the race fourth and fell back one spot behind Austin Beers in the early going but by halfway he had begun making his charge. Within a 10-lap span he passed Beers, Brian DeFebo and Paulie Hartwig III, moving up to second place behind leader Roger Coss by lap 29. Coss had led from the outset and was setting a solid pace, first over DeFebo and then Hartwig. When Hirschman moved to second Coss had good lead going but the fast-moving Hirschman was making haste and lap-by-lap continued to cut into his deficit. With 10 laps to go Hirschman had finally caught Coss and once on his rear bumper, he was then able to propel underneath Coss after completing the 41st circuit and next time by he was in command and on his way to victory. “I felt that was a really good race and Roger (Coss) had a good lead and a pretty good car but we were able to close up on him until about 10 (laps) to go and from where we started we worked for each spot and gained them all from good clean passes,” said Hirschman, who collected his 53rd Tour Type Modified win and 56th overall at Evergreen. Hirschman’s run to the checkers came in an impressive caution-free race that was completed in a time of 12-minutes. “Overall, it was a good day for us and I want to thank Harry’s U-Pull-It of West Hazleton. It’s always nice to run locally and this was our first time here this year and I want to thank them for their support. It was a busy weekend, we had a win on Friday, last night a third and today another win,” stated Hirschman. “There’s no track I’ve ever been better at then right here and it’s always good to race close to home. This is where I started my career, and we always like to get back here a much as we can.” On a day that started out questionably with the weather, the races went on despite the threat of rain later in the day and some that had fallen prior to the start. But by race time, although overcast, all was fine and in one sense kept the track from slicking off, which is typical on warm sunny days, and something that Hirschman actually likes better. “It does get slick out there and these tires are only good for so many laps before they start getting a little slick and with this type of conditions, and even though the sun hasn’t been out, with the heat and the humidity it brings out the oil of the track but that’s the kind of track I like, challenging and slick and I feel that suits my style the best,” he said. Coss put in a solid day, and his runner-up was the third straight time of doing so here. “He’s (Hirschman) is the best here and there’s no question about that and pretty much everywhere. I like to say that this was one of the best times we’ve run here even though we finished second. He was better but obviously we were way better than the rest of the field and it was a solid day for us,” noted Coss. “We ran our pace and once Matt got to second, I tried to pick that up but after he got by I really didn’t have much left and like a lot of races he always has the one or two tenths better than you at the end.” Hartwig, Beers and DeFebo completed the top five.
Tour Type Modified feature finish (50 laps): 1. Matt Hirschman, 2. Roger Coss, 3. Paulie Hartwig III, 4. Austin Beers, 5. Brian DeFebo, 6. Ricky Ross Jr., 7. Jayden Harman, 8. Antony Sesely, 9. Jacob Kerstetter, 10. Jack Christman, 11. Earl Paules, 12. Jarret DiGiantomasso, 13. Ricky Collins, 14. Steve Shultz, 15.Donny Hartzell, 16. Steve Wojick, 17. Nick Baer
Austin Beers earns his third consecutive victory at Lancaster Motorplex on July 12 and ties a Modified Tour record
By Brandon White NASCAR.com
LANCASTER, N.Y. – In the four full-time years Austin Beers has spent on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Lancaster Motorplex has quickly become one of his favorite tracks. The half-mile oval outside of Buffalo was where Beers earned his second Modified Tour victory in 2023 after initially breaking through at Richmond Raceway earlier in the year. Beers defended that Lancaster triumph last year by climbing from the fifth position to lead a race-high 74 laps. On Saturday, for the third year in row, Beers found his way to Victory Lane at Lancaster. It took strategy and a herculean effort on Beers’ behalf to fend off Patrick Emerling in the closing laps, but the second-generation Modified competitor was elated to prevail at Lancaster once again and finally earn a victory on the 2025 season. “I’m wore out,” Beers said. “I was on the edge every single lap trying not to give up anything. We had the best in the business behind us with Justin Bonsignore, Patrick Emerling; Matt [Hirschman] was there, too. I’m so thankful to get the three-peat. It’s pretty damn cool.” Consistency had followed Beers all year prior to Saturday’s Nu-Way Auto Parts 150. The only finish Beers recorded outside the top five all year came at Riverhead Raceway, where he placed eighth. There were moments Saturday when Beers was unsure whether he would place inside the top five, let alone earn a third consecutive Lancaster win. Beers barely cracked the top 10 during the final practice session and only improved upon his speed in qualifying slightly with the ninth-best speed of 20 cars. An early caution gave Beers’ crew an opportunity to adjust his No. 64 Modified. Beers methodically began picking off his fellow competitors during the ensuing green flag run before a spin by Craig Lutz with 76 laps remaining brought most of the field down pit road, cycling Beers to second place behind Kyle Bonsignore. When Bonsignore pitted during the final caution of the night, Beers inherited the lead but was tasked with fending off the pack behind him. Emerling proved to be Beers’ toughest competition; the former was eager to improve upon the runner-up finish he sustained to Beers at Lancaster last year. History repeated itself for both Beers and Emerling. Despite losing crucial track position during the last restart, Emerling made a valiant charge back to the rear bumper of Beers but once again had to settle for a second-place result. “This is one we really wanted to win,” Emerling said. “[It’s our] home track. I think we had the car to beat, but we got freight-trained and stuck up top there. By the time I was able to work back by [Matt Hirschman] and [Justin Bonsignore], we were a little too used up at that point.” By successfully fending off Emerling, Beers helped match a notable Modified Tour record by becoming the seventh different winner in seven races to open the season. The last time the series had seven different winners to open a season occurred back in 1999, with Tony Hirschman breaking that streak with back-to-back victories. Other drivers who have visited Victory Lane with the Modified Tour this season are Emerling, Ron Silk, Craig Lutz and Matt Hirschman, along with Justin and Kyle Bonsignore. The parity currently permeating the Modified Tour has Beers convinced a record-setting eighth different winner in eight races could occur during the next event at Monadnock Speedway. Beers would not mind snapping the streak, but he knows every triumph on the Modified Tour requires strenuous effort. That’s why Beers is cherishing three consecutive victories at Lancaster. “This shows how tough this tour is,” Beers said. “There’s six other guys that could still win, like [Stephen] Kopcik, the Catalanos and [Tyler] Rypkema. A lot of guys could still win here, but it means a lot to get another win at Lancaster. I love this place.” Hirschman finished third behind Beers and Emerling. Kyle Bonsignore and Jacob Lutz completed the top five. The rest of the top 10 comprised of Tyler Rypkema, Luke Baldwin, Justin Bonsignore, Craig Lutz and George Skora III.
1 64 Austin Beers 150 – 2 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc. 150 0.684 3 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports 150 2.128 4 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 150 3.342 5 14 Jacob Lutz* Advantage Trucks/Washtronic’s/Anastasi Trucking 150 4.007 6 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE Power/Northeast Drilling/J&R Pre-Cast 150 4.644 7 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotoivw 150 4.772 8 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 150 5.676 9 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 150 7.636 10 65 George Skora III* Zamkro Homes/Paint Right/East Eden Tavern 150 10.203 11 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 150 10.562 12 84 Tyler Catalano Catalano Motorsports 150 10.984 13 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power & Construction 150 11.521 14 77 Mike Christopher Jr* Curb Records/Mohawk Northeast 150 12.672 15 4 Ryan Newman USNE Power/First General 150 13.523 16 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 150 14.357 17 59 Tyler Barry* Pro Systems/BNP Machine/West Wind Tree Farm 149 1 Lap 18 18 Ken Heagy Hunter Mechanical 147 3 Laps 19 8 John-Michael Shenette USNE Power/Eighty-Two Services 142 8 Laps 20 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply 48 102 Laps
Matt Hirschman Goes Back-To-Back with RoC, Wins Tommy Druar/Tony Jankowiak 110 on Friday July 11.
One week after his first Race of Champions Modified Series victory of 2025, Matt Hirschman doubled up with a win in the Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak 110 at Spencer Speedway. Zach Evans
Hirschman claimed the victory in the 35th running of the event, finishing ahead of Patrick Emerling and Paulie Hartwig, III. Hirschman took the lead on lap 67, as his pit crew got him out of the pits in front of Mike Leaty during caution-flag pit stops. Leaty had previously taken the lead from Hirschman on lap 41. From there, Hirschman maintained the top spot and claimed the victory in the Friday's Tommy/Tony 110. The Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak traditionally takes place at Lancaster Motorplex, as it will later this year for the 36th edition of the race. However, the 35th running of the event ran at Spencer on Friday after multiple attempts to run the event during the 2024 season. This offered a platform for Hirschman and his competitors to prepare for another big race at Spencer on August 29, the Maynard Troyer Classic VI. Despite winning, Hirschman believes there's still some work to be done to compete for the big win on that night. "I think what was important tonight for me was we've got a big race coming up later this year, the Maynard Troyer Classic," said Hirschman. "Tonight was important to be here, I think, to size ourselves up and see what we had. If we were running the 60, whatever lap it is this year, I think Mike Leaty's your winner, so we might still have some work to do. "My guys had a great pit stop that got us back out in first, and we adjusted on it a little bit. I think we picked up some speed again then and ha da good, strong car to the finish, but Mike also had trouble. He's the guy to beat here. When he won in dominant fashion at Lancaster a few weeks ago, that put a little pressure on me for Evans Mills, because I'm like, I don't know if we're going to beat him at Spencer, so we better get a win at Evans Mills, which we did." No matter the location, it's always special to win the Tommy Druar/Tony Jankowiak 110."This is not a place I've ever had a string of much success at, but we've picked up some wins here now. First and foremost, though, Tommy/Tony night, 110, two fallen heroes from this area up here. I've won this race a bunch of times, mostly, I think, at Lancaster. Tommy Druar, Tony Jankowiak, it's great to see that their families are still involved, their kids are racing, and keep that going after such a tragic loss for both of them." Emerling finished second, rallying from the rear of the field after an alternator issue following his heat race. "It might have been a little bit of my fault earlier," said Emerling. "I didn't notice when we came in from that heat race, I didn't see anything funky on my volt meter. When I was driving up there, we weren't charging. So we wouldn't have lasted the race if the alternator wasn't working. We found a broken wire, and unfortunately we had to start scratch. "We had a great car. We just kind of bided our time. We battled back there and played the strategy accordingly. We had one of the fastest cars here. We were pretty darn close tonight. I think we were pretty close to speed on the 60. Given our starting position there, we didn't have a chance to race with him. We had a lot of fun out there. Happy to come run these RoC races here." Hartwig, III rounded out the podium, making his second start with the Race of Champions Modified Series in 2025. It was also a new look for Hartwig, as he piloted the No. 20 Jerry Gradl Motorsports entry. "This piece was really good tonight," said Hartwig, III. "It was a lot of saving, you know, 110 laps is really long. This is one of my favorite tracks. Third and a fourth and a third right now in the last year. We've got three more races coming up with Gradl Motorsports. I've got to really thank them for the call. "Congrats to Matt. He was fast all day long. We were trying to find some speed to come catch him, but just not enough." Jake Lutz finished fourth, with Leaty rounding out the top five. The Race of Champions Modifieds return to action on July 26 at Holland Speedway for the Crosby 100.
35th Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak 110 Unofficial Results Fin No Driver Laps 1 60 Matt Hirschman 109 2 11E Patrick Emerling 109 3 20 Paulie Hartwig, III 109 4 14 Jake Lutz 109 5 25 Mike Leaty 109 6 66 Austin Kochenash 109 7 73 Andy Jankowiak 109 8 10 Daryl Lewis, Jr. 109 9 8S John-Michael Shenette 109 10 51H Jayden Harman 109 11 3 Daren Scherer 109 12 2 Kevin Miller 109 13 51N Shawn Nye 109 14 8F Chris Finocchario 109 15 71 Austin Beers 109 16 0 Randall Richard 109 17 48 Jacob Christman 109 18 21 A.J. Emms 108 19 33 Eddie Hawkins 29 20 11K Ricky Knapp 29 21 1 Mark Tychonowicz 8 22 65 Andy Lewis, Jr. 8 23 2T Paul Townsend 3 24 57x Matt Heale 2 Matt Hirschman went to victory lane at Evans Mills Raceway Park on July 5, winning the Rocket 76er for the Race of Champions Modified Series.
The win continues a historic trend for one of the best Modified competitors of this generation, and the winningest driver in the annals of the RoC Modified Series. Hirschman now has 61 career victories with the series and has won at least one RoC Modified Series event in each of the past 21 seasons. In Saturday's win, Hirschman took the lead from Mike Leaty on lap 41, and crossed the finish line ahead of Austin Beers and Andy Jankowiak for the victory. While Hirschman won by more than two seconds, he knew the pressure was on from the drop of the green flag against a stout field of racers."The top three, we had a real tight race right from the start, pretty much," said Hirschman. "There was a couple of times early, I thought I missed my opportunity. Maybe I should have went before I did. I was able to get inside of Andy [Jankowiak] and was racing him, and all of a sudden, I think going into one, Mike [Leaty] checked up a little more than I expected."I think it was at the point that he was going to slow up a little bit. We got to banging a little bit there until I just drove right under him. I think he faded just a little bit. I'm not sure where he ended up at the finish. It seemed like right at that point, it was like we flipped a switch there and he faded some."Hirschman also won with the RoC Modifieds in 2024 at Evans Mills, which is growing into one of his favorite tracks."I hope this is an annual tradition. I hope, as long as I'm racing, I made one visit to Evans Mills Raceway Park every year. If you were to build a racetrack today, and I've raced all over the northeast, from Maine to Florida, if you were to build a racetrack today, this is the type of racetrack that has a future in the sport, considering what the costs are. You don't need a ton of engine, you don't need a ton of brakes. There's no walls in the corner, if you do tangle. This place is made for the future."Along with adding to his impressive resume with the Race of Champions, Saturday's win also gives Hirschman victories across four different Modified tours in 2025, plus a victory during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.This series has always been great for my career," said Hirschman. "I've always said that. For me, this completes the season as far as getting a win in all four major Modified series, the SMART Modified Tour, Whelen Modified Tour, Tri-Track and now here tonight."Even though it's only our third start, you would have thought maybe it would have come sooner being that they were at Mahoning Valley and Chumung Speedrome, places I've won a bunch at in the past. It's a great series, it's tough competition. There was some quality right up front tonight. The way the redraw was, with only eight cars, it was pretty much go right from the start because you're with the best from the drop of the green." Beers finished second, unofficially carrying a 54-point advantage in the RoC Modified standings after Saturday's race. He spent most of the 76-lap feature chasing Hirschman, a sight the young racer admits he is all too familiar with. "We fired way too free," said Beers. "Matt got by me on lap one or whatever because I tried to go to the top and the top lane checked up and he rolled by. I'm like, well, that's great. I was starting in a hole there."If I had a dime for every time I've finished second to Matt, though, I'd probably be able to run a Truck race by now. It was an awesome facility. Thanks to all the fans for coming out. Hopefully, we can get more dates here. The track's awesome, I just hope we can maybe have a better setup next time we come through, but all in all, a good day for us."Jankowiak rounded out the podium, never quite able to find the perfect balance on his No. 73 to contend for the victory."Just missed it a little bit," said Jankowiak. "Just trying to get some drive into the car, probably made it a little bit too tight tonight, but you know, it kind of hit the stagger where I thought."It was good at the end. We were coming back up there on Austin. I was probably a little too committed to my line, didn't want to give it up for free there. Probably should have tried the bottom a little bit sooner, but you know, it's only the second time out for this car, and we've been prety busy with the KLAS Motorsports ARCA stuff. We're inching a little bit closer, so we're going to be running this thing a lot this summer."Leaty finished fourth, with Austin Kochenash rounding out the top five.
Rocket 76er Unofficial Results Fin No Driver Laps Diff 1 60 Matt Hirschman 76 --- 2 71b Austin Beers 76 2.321 3 73 Andy Jankowiak 76 2.909 4 25 Mike Leaty 76 3.300 5 66 Austin Kochenash 76 4.281 6 48 Jacob Christman 76 6.505 7 95 Bryan Sherwood 76 8.883 8 17 Roger Coss 76 11.436 9 51 Jayden Harman 76 12.315 10 3p Joe Papin 75 1 Lap 11 33 Eddie Hawkins 75 1 Lap 12 8x Chris Finocchario 75 1 Lap 13 71 Kyle Strohl 75 1 Lap 14 3 Daren Scherer 75 1 Lap 15 11 Ricky Knapp 69 7 Laps 16 88 Lou Strohl 4 72 Laps
Kyle Bonsignore dominates at White Mountain for first Modified Tour win since 2023 on June 29 By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com
Entering Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at White Mountain Motorsports Park, it had been nearly two years since Kyle Bonsignore last visited Victory Lane. It wasn’t a stat he was particularly proud of, so he set out to do something about it. Bonsignore dominated the Thunder in the Mountains 200 at White Mountain on Sunday, taking the lead for the final time with fewer than 20 laps left and holding off a challenge from Stephen Kopcik to register the third Modified Tour victory of his career.The race was the first Modified Tour event held at White Mountain Motorsports Park since 2020 and only the third at the track in the history of the series.“Before Riverhead, Andy up in the booth told me it was 22 months since my last win,” Bonsignore said. “I guess we just stuck it in there because it’s still June. Hopefully it’s only 22 days or something before the next one.”Starting third, Bonsignore was quick to assert himself as a contender Sunday at White Mountain. He took the lead from polesitter Jake Johnson on Lap 31 and held the lead until the second caution flag of the night waved for a multi-car crash in Turn 2 on Lap 175.Like most of the field, Bonsignore opted to to hit pit road for a fresh left-rear tire during the caution period. The lone holdout was Trevor Catalano, who stayed on track and inherited the race lead.Lining up on the front row to Catalano’s outside, Bonsignore wasted little time regaining the lead. He slipped to Catalano’s inside on Lap 189 to grab the top spot, but he suddenly found a fast closing Kopcik in his mirror as the final laps clicked away.Kopcik got to Bonsignore’s bumper and hounded him for the final five laps, but he couldn’t find a way past. Bonsignore crossed under the checkered flag to capture the victory by 0.172 seconds ahead of Kopcik, who matched his career-best finish of second. “After that last caution we took a left rear (tire). It was a lot of, you know, how far back, what’s their lap time, what’s their line. My spotter did an awesome job letting me know,” said Bonsignore, who became the sixth different winner through the first six NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events this season. “It was close. We might not have made the right call on the tire. I don’t know, but it worked out good. I can’t complain.” The runner-up finish for Kopcik was his second of the season and came after a difficult race two weekends ago at Riverhead Raceway. He finds himself fourth in the series standings, 11 points behind championship leader Justin Bonsignore with 10 races left in the 2025 campaign. “Towards the end of that run I think we were both just doing the best we could with what we had as far as laps on our tires,” said Kopcik. “I couldn’t be happier. We had some ups and downs today. The guys worked hard and stuck with it. To come out second that close to a win, you can’t complain about that.” Polesitter Johnson finished third after leading the first 30 laps. Matt Hirschman continued a recent string of strong finishes in fourth, with Austin Beers overcoming a late incident to finish fifth. Craig Lutz, Luke Baldwin, Catalano, Jon McKennedy and Justin Bonsignore completed the top 10.
122Kyle BonsignoreMTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto200-- 221Stephen KopcikNewtown Pools/Wanick Construction2000.172 307Jake JohnsonT/Lins Propane/Axis Wealth/Island Internati2000.819 460Matt HirschmanElite Towing/Bar Harbor Bank & Trust2000.996 564Austin BeersAndrew James Interiors/Hughes Motor2001.593 646Craig LutzRiverhead Building Supply2001.798 77Luke Baldwin*Baldwin Automotoivw2004.319 856Trevor CatalanoUSNE Power & Construction2004.985 979Jonathan McKennedyChristopers Towing2005.128 1051Justin BonsignorePhoenix Communications Inc2005.588 113Tyler RypkemaUSNE Power/Northeast Drilling/J&R Pre-Cast2005.757 1225Brian RobieBar Harbor Bank & Trust2005.84 1316Ron SilkBlue Mountain Machine and Future Homes2006.283 1418Ken HeagyHunter Mechanical1955 Laps 1559Tyler Barry*Pro Systems/BNP Machine/West Wind Tree Farm18812 Laps 161Patrick EmerlingFleetworks Inc.18317 Laps 1717Anthony NocellaXtreme Autobody/Sontag Motorsports/Bells Septic17525 Laps 1829Mike Marshall*MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric92108 Laps 1982Woody PitkatUSNE Power/Gunsmoke Stable Racing76124 Laps
Mike Leaty returned to Race of Champions victory lane on June 26, winning the Ol' Boy Cup IX at Lancaster Motorplex. Austin was wicked tight but salvaged a 8th place finish.
Zach Evans on Jun 27, 2025
Leaty took the lead from Patrick Emerling on lap 15 and led the remainder of the 60-lap distance to score the victory in the Ol' Boy Cup. It is Leaty's first RoC triumph since winning at Spencer Speedway on September 1, 2023. Going winless during the 2024 season was plenty of motivation for Leaty in the offseason. Leaty showed up at Lancaster on Thursday with a new car, and that car promptly found its way to the front."We're a motivated bunch, right? The 25's back," said Leaty in victory lane. "We struggled all last year. Frankly, we got our asses kicked. That'll humble you and make you go to work. That's what we did."It seemed like it took forever to get this thing on the racetrack. We just didn't have anywhere to race, but we were testing. It's a brand new race car, first time ever out. My older car went to Alyssa, she's been racing that one. This one's brand new. My dad and I and the two kids, we put this one together ourselves over the winter. Hard work pays off."With several members of the Leaty family competing in the Race of Champions Family of Series, there's plenty of time and resources spent on racing. However, moments like Thursday night in victory lane at Lancaster make it worthwhile."That's why we do it," said Leaty. "It's an expensive sport and a lot of money spent. If you can't have fun and enjoy family time and cherish the moments when we do it, then it's not worth it. This is what makes it worth it. These days are few and far between, so we'll celebrate it."The opening 15 laps saw a flurry of lead changes, with Leaty, Emerling, Jacob Christman and George Skora, III all spending time leading laps. Once Leaty was out front, however, he quickly distanced himself from the pack."The 60-lap race, you can pretty much go," explained Leaty. "You've got to be smart, you know, save when you can. Honestly, the start didn't go very good for us. We were back to 11th there on that second restart. I saw Pat had made pretty good headway, so I knew he was going to be tough. Once we got an open track, this thing was just a rocket. I was three-quarters throttle when I was in the lead. It was just crazy fast."Jake Lutz finished second after picking up a heat race win earlier in the program on Thursday. While the setup wasn't quite to his liking for the feature, he knew Leaty had the car to beat for the night. "We were really good all day," said Lutz. "Just missed it a hair in the feature. Mike was really good. I think he was just maintaining that gap. I don't really know if we had anything for him. I just wanted to get that track position early, it was a little hairy when we were two-by-two for the lead there. You know, running with Pat and Blake, you can trust those guys and where they're going to be."Emerling rounded out the podium, continuing a busy stretch of racing between Modified competition and a doubleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series last Friday and Saturday. He was excited to return to Lancaster, a track where he has won nine times with the RoC Modified Series."To come to Lancaster here and race, I just absolutely love doing it," said Emerling. "This car, we worked on it all week when I came back from Pocono. I put some of my old setup in it that I used to run and we had a solid car tonight. We were just lacking a little bit. I was trying a few things, and our tires didn't quite size up the way we wanted them to, but we worked with it and had a really good car."Andy Jankowiak, who won the TQ Midget feature at Lancaster on Thursday, finished fourth. Jack Ely rounded out the top five.The next race for the Race of Champions Modified Series is scheduled for Saturday, July 5. The Rocket 76er brings the RoC Modifieds to Evans Mills Raceway Park in New York.
Ol' Boy Cup IX Unofficial Results FinNoDriverLapsDiff 125Mike Leaty60--- 214Jake Lutz601.996 311Patrick Emerling604.757 473Andy Jankowiak607.808 581Jack Ely6011.704 666Austin Kochenash6012.299 751NShawn Nye6012.927 845Austin Beers6013.744 948Jacob Christman6014.238 1051Jayden Harman6014.578 117NYLuke Baldwin6015.864 122Kevin Miller6017.767 138Chris Finocchario591 Lap 140Randall Richard591 Lap 153Daren Scherer582 Laps 1686Tim Nies573 Laps 1765George Skora, III3921 Laps 1810Daryl Lewis, Jr.3129 Laps
Matt Hirschman wins the Monaco Modified Midweek Madness 125 at Seekonk Speedway on June 25 while Austin was put into the back stretch wall and wrecks his favorite 179 racecar!
1 3 60 Hirschman, Matt Northampton, PA 2 2 9 79 McKennedy, Jonathan Chelmsford, MA 7 3 2 39 Bessette, George Jr. Danbury, CT -1 4 20 51CT Cipriano, Joey Plymouth, CT 16 5 14 5CT Pasteryak, Chris Moosup, CT 9 6 17 21 Perry, Jacob Kannapolis, NC 11 7 4 50 Williams, Ronnie Lebanon, CT -3 8 15 44 Dowling, Chase Bethlehem, CT 7 9 10 75 Arute, David Stafford Springs, CT 1 10 12 99 Hines, Tyler North Haven, CT 2 11 18 06 Chapman, Tyler Ellington, CT 7 12 6 88 Pitkat, Woody Bellingham, MA -6 13 7 11CT Berndt, Eric Cromwell, CT -6 14 16 24 Flynn, Mikey Hampden, MA 2 15 1 89 Swanson, Matt Harvard, MA -14 16 25 1 Kopcik, Stephen Newtown, CT 9 17 22 76 Meservey, Brett Brewster, MA 5 18 27 55 Doucette, Ryan Framingham, MA 9 19 23 81 Wenzel, Nathan Granby, MA 4 20 26 08 Halkowicz, Nicholas Shelton, CT 6 21 5 46 Lutz, Craig Miller Place, NY -16 22 24 17 Folan, Kevin North Atteboro, MA 2 23 29 16F Fournier, Colbey Berkley, MA 6 24 21 40 Mitchell, Mike Cumberland, RI -3 25 13 31 Korner, Noah Canton, CT -12 26 8 179 Beers, Austin Northampton, PA -18 27 11 55CT Hodgdon, Teddy Danbury, CT -16 28 19 44X Jakubajtys, Jesse Brockton, MA -9 DNS DNS 78 Sutcliffe, Walter East Haven, CT -1 DNS DNS 34 Viveiros, Ned Seekonk, MA 0
Kimball Celebrates Victory in the First Annual Northeast Open Modified Summer Showdown on June 21 Under beautiful skies and large crowd, Matt Kimball (Bennington, NH) celebrated a hard-fought victory in the first annual Northeast Open Modified Summer Showdown. A full field of Tour Type Modifieds were on hand to battle it out for the $5000.00 pay day. After a redraw, Brett Meservey was declared the pole sitter to start the 100-lap special event. Matt Hirschman, starting third, wasted no time taking the lead on lap twelve restart as the battle brewed behind him between Sammy Rameau, Brian Robie and Matt Kimball. On lap ninety-two Rameau made the pass on Hirschman to take the top spot as Kimball followed. Hirschman started to be shuffled back as Robie, Meservy and Austin Beers made the pass to settle in the top five. Kimball on the back bumper of Rameau made several attempts to take the lead but was denied until the final lap and the final turn when Rameau got sideways allowing Kimball to pass for the checkered flag. Robie and Meservey followed for the second and third spot. Rameau finished fourth as Beers rounded out the top five.
1. 43 Matthew Kimball 2. 25NH Brian Robie 3. 76 Brett Meservey 4. 06 Samuel Rameau 5. 179 Austin Beers 6. 60 Matt Hirschman 7. 21 Jacob Perry 8. 5CT Chris Pasteryak 9. 81 Nathan Wenzel 10. 28 Joey Jarvis 11. 24 Todd Patnode 12. 23 Bradley Zahensky 13. 46 Jeremy Zullo 14. 51 Adam LaPoint 15. 66 Austin Kochenash 16. 18 Andrew Martell 17. 78 Walter Sutcliffe 18. 58 Kurt Vigeant DNS 47 Donnie Lashua
Justin Bonsignore scores record-breaking 12th Riverhead victory on Whelen Modified Tour on June 14 By Adam Fenwick
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Growing up a race fan on Long Island, Justin Bonsignore was drawn to fellow Long Islander Mike Ewanitsko. Ewanitsko was a dominant force at Riverhead Raceway, now the only race track on Long Island, winning 11 times with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at the quarter-mile bullring. For years, no one could claim to be on the same level as Ewanitsko in Modified Tour competition at Riverhead. Now Bonsignore can say he’s surpassed him. The driver from Holtsville, New York scored his 46th Modified Tour win Sunday in the Miller Lite Salutes Steve Park 200. The win doubled as his 12th series victory at his home track, breaking a tie with Ewanitsko at the top of the all-time win list at the Long Island oval. “I’ve been wanting to break this record for a long time,” Bonsignore said from Victory Lane. “Mike was a childhood hero of mine.” To secure his 12th victory at Riverhead, Bonsignore had to outlast a variety of challengers on Father’s Day afternoon. He qualified on the Hoosier Tire Pole, but the post-qualifying redraw saw Bonsignore draw the third starting position while Patrick Emerling secured the pole. It didn’t take Bonsignore long to get to the lead; he overtook Emerling within the first 25 laps. However, he quickly found himself being challenged by Ron Silk, who entered Sunday’s race as winner of three of the last four Modified Tour events at Riverhead. Silk quickly took the lead from Bonsignore and drove to more than a three second advantage, but the race was far from over. A serious of caution flags, the first coming with 90 laps left, led to a round of pit stops that saw Bonsignore beat Silk off pit road to regain the race lead. “Pit crew did a great job,” Bonsignore said. “We had two really great pit stops.” The final stage of the race featured multiple caution flags, forcing Bonsignore to go on the defensive as he tried to hold the lead through repeated restarts. As the laps clicked off, Silk faded to fourth, and Bonsignore found himself trying to hold off Seekonk Speedway winner Matt Hirschman.A multi-car crash within the final five laps gave Hirschman one final opportunity to dethrone Bonsignore, but the driver of the No. 51 Ken Massa Motorsports Modified held his ground and delivered his first Modified Tour victory of the 2025 campaign.“It was nice to beat Ron. We ran each other really hard but really clean,” Bonsignore said. “He’s been so good here the last couple years. We snuck a few in, but it was nice to outrun him today. “I got myself in trouble at Seekonk and caused a big wreck and tore up a lot of cars. It was mainly because I wanted to show Matt Hirschman the respect he deserves, and, you know what, I didn’t have a good run there. He definitely ran me really clean on the last lap there, so things run in a full circle, and I appreciate that.” Hirschman acknowledged he could have forced Bonsignore’s hand during the final restart but chose instead to race clean and settled for second. “If you want to steal a win that’s different than actually earning a win,” Hirschman said. “We earned a good second-place finish today. Obviously they had a great car. They were up front most of the race and early they were out of sight.” With his first win of the 2025 season now behind him, Bonsignore can shift his focus to pursing his fifth Modified Tour championship. But first he wanted to spend a bit of time soaking in his 12th Riverhead win with his family by his side on Father’s Day. “To have my family here, it’s the first race that all of them have been to this year,” Bonsignore said. “For it to be on Father’s Day at home and everything we did, it’s just really cool.” Emerling finished third after leading the opening laps Sunday afternoon. Silk was fourth, followed by Craig Lutz in fifth. The remainder of the top 10 included Kyle Bonsignore, Tommy Catalano, Austin Beers, Tyler Rypkema and Luke Baldwin. 1 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc 207 -- 2 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing 207 0.258 3 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc. 207 0.57 4 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine and Future Homes 207 0.802 5 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 207 1.122 6 22 Kyle Bonsignore MTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto 207 1.256 7 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara/USNE 207 1.437 8 64 Austin Beers Andrew James Interiors/Hughes Motor 207 1.568 9 3 Tyler Rypkema J&R Pre-Cast 207 1.59 10 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotive 207 2.107 11 63 Dylan Slepian Eastport Feeds 207 2.234 12 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power & Construction 207 2.478 13 88 Roger Turbush Rheem 207 2.76 14 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 207 3.083 15 21 Stephen Kopcik Newtown Pools/Wanick Construction 207 3.477 16 96 Matthew Brode Peter Clark Motorsports 206 1 Lap 17 18 Ken Heagy Hunter Mechanical 205 2 Laps 18 49 Chris Young Sendlewski Architects 203 4 Laps 19 59 Tyler Barry* Pro Systems/BNP Machine 200 7 Laps 20 8 John-Michael Shenette USNE Power/Eighty-Two Services 186 21 Laps 21 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply 67 140 Laps
BEERS & MURPHY EYE LANCASTER THREE-PEAT WITH MOMENTUM AND MEANING
Lancaster, NY: (June 11, 2025): Austin Beers of Northampton, PA, will have his car owner, Mike “Murph” Murphy, back at the track when the team looks to go for the three-peat in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Lancaster Motorplex on Saturday, July 12. Beers is the two-time and reigning champion of the Nu-Way Auto Parts 150 at Lancaster Motorplex. But this year’s return to the Western NY speed plant brings added meaning.Last season, Beers drove the KLM Motorsports #64 to victory lane, but Murphy—battling illness at the time—had to watch the celebration from home on FloRacing. This time, the whole team is aiming to relive that winning moment together. After sitting out the majority of the 2024 season, the popular car owner is feeling great and back at the track with his team. His return at North Wilkesboro Speedway was not only celebrated by his own but by all the teams. “It was great to have Murph back at the track,” said fellow competitor Craig Lutz. “You race against the same people for a long time and there are certain people that you just connect with. As soon as you meet Murph, he makes you feel not only like a friend but part of the family. He’s a rare person. Murph’s the man!” Mike Murphy has been racing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for 15 seasons with several talented drivers including Ron Yuhas, Jr., Anthony Nocella, Rob Summers, and Timmy Solomito. The team began to realize its full potential several years ago with second generation driver Austin Beers behind the wheel. Beers and Murphy celebrated their first Modified Tour victories together at Richmond International Raceway in 2023. Since, they have scored two additional wins – both coming at Lancaster. The team has finished in the top-five in the points standings each year since joining forces full time in 2022. Riding consistency, Murph’s driver currently sits atop the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings. Murphy credits part of their success to the strong chemistry between his family-focused operation and the close-knit Beers family. Wife Maggie and grown children Lyndsey and Kelly (the source of the team’s name) are very much involved in the race team, each playing a key role. “Having my dad back at the racetrack after being sidelined for a year due to his lung transplant is more than just a return to racing,” said daughter Lyndsey. “It feels like we got our crew chief, cheerleader, and class clown all back. His presence lifts the whole team's spirits and morale. The team runs better when he’s around, and the laughs are louder too”. Murphy had been suffering with decreased lung capacity for several years, with COVID acerbating his failing health. Murphy, who had been on the donor list, received a bilateral lung transplant on January 27, 2025 — a turning point that gave him a new lease on life. Much to the elation of family, friends, and the racing community. A native of Waterford, Ireland, Murph and wife Maggie moved to the United States in the nineties in pursuit of the American dream. That dream included racing. And, ironically, that dream brought him to Waterford, CT. Ultimately winning an SK Modified championship with Yuhas, before moving to the Tour in 2011. “After everything he’s been through, seeing him breathe easy and do what he loves again is truly amazing,” added Lyndsey.Murphy is feeling great and ready to enjoy the rest of the season with his KLM Race Team, with hopes that another Lancaster wins and many others are on the horizon. The Nu-Way Auto Parts 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is scheduled for Saturday, July 12. A full racing card will also include Sportsman, Late Models, and Street Stocks. On Friday, July 11, the track is hosting Nitro Night of Fire on the strip. For tickets and to learn more visit Lancaster Speedway.
Jake Johnson dominates at White Mountain Motorsports on Sunday June 8
With the sun thankfully shining down on the Sunday special program at White Mountain Motorsports Park, it was time to kick off the King of the Mountain track championship chase for the 1764 Sports Bar & Grill Late Models as well as the second annual visit from the Monaco Modifieds!
Brett Meservey got the launch on the initial green to lead the Monaco Modified Tri-Track White Mountain 100 to green, rounding out Sunday’s program. Meservey would hold his own in the #76 machine until lap 44 as he suddenly came to a stop in turn two to end his day early, gifting the lead to defending race winner Jake Johnson! The Rehoboth, Massachusetts teamster was well underway to nabbing another $10,000 win at White Mountain Motorsports Park before the lap 66 caution for Luke Baldwin’s spin in turn one with Austin Beers and ‘Big Money’ Matt Hirschman staring down his rearview mirror. A pair of late race cautions re-racked the opposition again and again, now with Jon McKennedy and Ron Silk staring down the barrel at Johnson. Living by his nickname, Jake Johnson took off like a jet on the bottom again and again to prevail as the two-time White Mountain 100 champion in the Monaco Modifieds! Silk and McKennedy held on for second and third with Hirschman and Stephen Kopcik rounding out the top five.
Kancamagus 150
White Mountain Motorsports Park – N. Woodstock, NH Saturday, June 8, 2025 Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series – White Mountain 100
1. 15 Jake Johnson Rehoboth, MA 2. 16 Ron Silk Norwalk, CT 3. 79 Jon McKennedy Chelmsford, MA 4. 60 Matt Hirschman Northamption, PA 5. 1 Stephen Kopcik Newtown, CT 6. 5CT Chris Pasteryak Lisbon, CT 7. 50W Ronnie Williams Ellington, CT 8. 55CT Teddy Hodgdon Danbury, CT 9. 39 George Bessette, Jr. Danbury, CT 10. 40 Luke Baldwin Mooresville, NC 11. 55x Jacob Perry Kannapolis, NC 12. 179 Austin Beers Northampton, PA 13. 04CT Dylan Izzo Monroe, CT 14. 25 Matt Swanson Harvard, MA 15. 31 Noah Korner Avon, CT 16. 88 Woody Pitkat Bellingham, MA 17. 43 Matt Kimball Bennington, NH 18. 19 Jeffrey Battle Barnstable, MA 19. 76 Brett Meservey Brewster, MA 20. 92 Anthony Nocella Woburn, MA
Matt Hirschman once again reigns supreme at the Cement Palace of Seekonk Speedway on June 1
Including spectators, competitors and officials, thousands packed into the third-mile bullring that is Seekonk Speedway on Sunday to witness the fourth race of the 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Not a single person doubted the prospect of Matt Hirschman delivering yet another dominant performance at the Massachusetts short track, this time in the J&R Precast 150. Sure enough, after sweeping the afternoon’s pair of practice sessions and qualifying on the Hoosier Tire Pole, the 42-year-old scored his third consecutive Modified Tour victory at Seekonk. Hirschman, who now has 10 victories on the Tour, won the series’ visits in 2023 and 2024, as well. He had not won a Tour race since last year’s Seekonk event; this despite the fact that he entered Sunday with the most laps led on Tour this season. He now has at least one series victory in five consecutive seasons. “This car was torn up after North Wilkesboro,” Hirschman said of his increasingly iconic No. 60 Pee Dee Motorsports Modified. “We worked countless hours on this. … Just want to thank all the people who help us here.“This has always been a tough race track, but it’s a race track I really like. I enjoy coming here and look forward to coming here. It’s not an easy place to duplicate things or do it three times. You have to race the track as much as you do the competitors here. I’ve lost some tough ones over the years here, too. So to put a whole day together today … just can’t ask for a better day. And we really needed it after what our last day was at North Wilkesboro.” Thanks in part to a redraw that moved the pole winner to the third starting position, the big move for “Big Money” on Sunday occurred during the second restart of the race. Hirschman restarted outside of redraw pole-sitter Justin Bonsignore and held his ground in the upper groove for several laps. With 121 of 150 circuits still to run, Hirschman powered by Bonsignore for the lead. Hirschman experienced little resistance from that point. He managed his tires knowing he likely would not pit from the lead, a strategy that paid off when a caution with 54 to go sent more than a dozen contenders to the pits for a tire change. Hirschman and Bonsignore stayed out, but the latter was no match for the former as Hirschman drove away from the field. Not even a late caution for debris could spoil Hirschman’s day at Seekonk. The race’s final restart arrived with just two laps to go, and Hirschman utilized a smooth entry into Turns 1-2 to reclaim the lead for good. On the final lap, Bonsignore, still fighting to get back to Hirschman, got loose coming off Turn 2. He spun and collected multiple cars on the backstretch, resulting in the event’s only pile-up. The yellow flag marked the end of the race.“Obviously we didn’t want to see a caution at all,” Hirschman said. “We survived it. It’s going to take laps to get back hooked up. Of course you want to protect the bottom from first, but that also hurts your center corner speed. (Bonsignore) was able to cross over and get a run. … I gave him the space he earned. … I think he got loose; I don’t know what happened from there.” After the last-lap chaos, Stephen Kopcik was credited with a second-place finish. Austin Beers, who came agonizingly close to winning last year’s Seekonk race before Hirschman stole the show, finished third. Jake Johnson finished fourth in his second race of the season for JMA Motorsports, which considered Seekonk a home event. Trevor Catalano ran fifth. Kyle Bonsignore, rookie Tyler Barry, Chase Dowling, Kyle Ebersole and Eric Goodale finished sixth through 10th, respectively. Justin Bonsignore, the defending Modified Tour champion, was relegated to an 11th-place finish as a result of his last-lap crash. He led his first laps of the young season early in Sunday’s race. The good news for Bonsignore: His home track of Riverhead Raceway is next on the Modified Tour schedule. The teams get a couple weeks off before returning to action on Long Island for the Miller Lite Salutes Steve Park 200 on Saturday, June 14.
1 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports 151 -- 2 21 Stephen Kopcik Wanick Construction/ 151 0.663 3 64 Austin Beers Lumiere Electrical 151 1.688 4 07 Jake Johnson Lin’s Propane/P 151 3.487 5 56 Trevor Catalano USNE Power 151 4.087 6 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/ 151 3.972 7 59 Tyler Barry* Pro Systems/BNP Machine 151 6.712 8 44 Chase Dowling Harshaw Paving/ 151 7.384 9 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating, Inc. 151 6.385 10 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 151 9.41 11 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications, Inc. 151 12.125 12 7 Luke Baldwin* Baldwin Automotive 151 18.487 13 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 151 16.025 14 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc 150 1 Lap 15 79 Jon McKennedy Stewarts Automotive 150 1 Lap 16 20 Max Zachem USNE/Lu-Mac’s 150 1 Lap 17 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Racing/Eastport Feed 150 1 Lap 18 25 Brian Robie Bar Harbor Bank and Trust 150 1 Lap 19 15 Joey Cipriano J&R Pre-Cast Inc 150 1 Lap 20 18 Ken Heagy Hunter Mechanical 149 2 Laps 21 3 Tyler Rypkema USNE/Northeast Drilling 144 7 Laps 22 8 John-Michael Shenette USNE Power/ 113 38 Laps 23 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara/USNE Power 4 147 Laps
Craig Lutz survives a wild race at North Wilkesboro Speedway for his first Modified Tour victory since 2022 on May 18
As chaos enveloped Sunday’s FaithFest Evangelistic Ministries 150 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, all Craig Lutz had to do was be patient. Each on-track accident eliminated one potential contender after another, all while Lutz inched closer to the front of the field. By the time the race reached its closing laps, the only obstacle standing in the way of a victory for Lutz was the iconic 7NY piloted by Luke Baldwin.Lutz and Baldwin battled intensely during the final laps for an opportunity to take the famed elevator ride up to North Wilkesboro’s Victory Lane. Lutz prevailed over the young Baldwin, earning a long-overdue NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory he considers one of the most prestigious of his career.“I don’t know what to feel,” Lutz said. “This series is so tough, and you don’t know when the next one is. There’s so many good cars, [so] you need a lot of good luck to go your way. It damn sure did today.”Prior to North Wilkesboro, Lutz’s most recent Modified Tour triumph came Aug. 17, 2022, when he parked Danny Watts Jr.’s No. 82 in Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park’s Victory Lane. To break a winless drought approaching three years in duration, Lutz on Sunday had to come from the 17th starting position in the No. 46 owned by Russell Goodale, a car that guided him to his first three Modified Tour checkered flags from 2019-20.With how competitive the field was at North Wilkesboro, Lutz knew it would take a combination of strategy and good fortune to obtain solid track position. The onslaught of yellow flags played into Lutz’s gameplan, as he had successfully worked his way inside the top 10 at the halfway point.Luck then favored Lutz during the second half. He narrowly avoided the spinning car of Trevor Catalano in Turn 1 before catching another big break during the massive restart crash with 58 laps remaining that collected Justin Bonsignore, Matt Hirschman and Corey LaJoie, among others. The only damage Lutz sustained in the incident came when he hit Tyler Rypekma’s rear bumper in the ensuing stack-up. With his car still relatively intact, Lutz went on the offensive by easily dispatching Stephen Kopcik and Austin Beers to take his first lead of the afternoon at Lap 103.Lutz’s only moments of reprieve came during the caution flags as he figured out how to hold off Baldwin on the restarts. The final sprint to the finish saw the two exchange contact on several occasions, but Lutz gained the upper hand over Baldwin with seven laps remaining by slightly nudging the No. 7NY in Turn 3, allowing him to pull away.“That was wild,” Lutz said. “You never feel like you get a big enough jump on a restart. Luke did a hell of a job getting to me on the inside. He’s got a very bright future as we’ve seen the last couple of races. We were a little bit better and didn’t want to give that one up.”Lutz’s charge was the deepest starting position for a Modified Tour winner since Patrick Emerling won at Stafford Speedway in 2021 after starting 23rd. Just like at Stafford that evening, Lutz needed to capitalize on the copious yellow flags to give himself an ideal opportunity to pursue a victory.The increased notoriety Sunday’s FaithFest Evangelistic Ministries 150 received because of the NASCAR All-Star Race was not lost on Lutz. Having so many prominent individuals at North Wilkesboro only fueled his motivation to put together a stalwart performance and finally enjoy being a Modified Tour winner again.Lutz had to endure a chaotic afternoon, but his patience was rewarded with a checkered flag at one of the southeast’s most cherished tracks.“This race is probably the biggest one for us this season with NASCAR here [for the All-Star Race],” Lutz said. “To win this one is so amazing. It still doesn’t feel like it just happened, but it really did.“I was supposed to work tomorrow, but I don’t think I am.”Bonsignore rebounded from the restart crash to salvage a strong points day with a third-place finish. Jacob Lutz and Beers rounded out the top five.The rest of the top 10 comprised of Kopcik, Tommy Catalano, Joey Braun, Jeremy Gerstner and Luke Fleming.Seekonk Speedway is the next venue on the schedule for the Modified Tour on May 31. The J&R Precast 150 commences at 8 p.m. ET, with FloRacing set to provide coverage of all the on-track action.
146Craig LutzRiverhead Building Supply150-- 27Luke Baldwin*Baldwin Automotive1500.387 351Justin BonsignorePhoenix Communications Inc1501.128 414Jacob Lutz*Advantage Trucks/Washtronic’s/Anastasi Trucking1501.233 564Austin BeersG&G Electric1501.492 621Stephen KopcikNewtown Pools/Wanick Construction1501.6 754Tommy CatalanoFX Caprara/USNE1501.821 879Joey Braun*EME Industrial/Stutts Marina/Highmark1502.258 955Jeremy GerstnerGarage Doors of the Triad/Jerry Hunt Supercenter/Cherokee Underground1503.908 1040Luke FlemingSmith Trucking/Taylor Auto Parts/Perkins & Associates/Hodges Realty/Simmons Powersports1505.654 1118Ken HeagyHunter Mechanical1507.643 1205Teddy Hodgdon*Montanari Fuel/Business Time Motorsports1491 Lap 134Ryan NewmanIGA/First Sanitation/The Ragg Co./Fairvalue/Findley Properties/Mathis Equipment1482 Laps 1477Corey LaJoieCurb Records/Mohawk Northeast1473 Laps 1556Trevor CatalanoUSNE Power & Construction1428 Laps 168John-Michael ShenetteUSNE Power/Eighty-Two Services12921 Laps 1729Mike Marshall*MLM Diagnostics/Jusczak Electric11733 Laps 1859Tyler Barry*Pro Systems/BNP Machine10743 Laps 193Tyler RypkemaUSNE Power/Northeast Drilling10545 Laps 2002Joey CoulterSRI Performance/Bilstein Shocks/PFC Brakes/Molecule/Simpson9456 Laps 2137Jake CrumPlatinum Utility Group/Mount Airy Toyota9456 Laps 2260Matt HirschmanPee Dee Motorsports9258 Laps 2315Joey Cipriano IIIDependable Energy/The Bass Planting Company9258 Laps 2422Kyle BonsignoreMTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto8367 Laps 255Kyle EbersoleEbersole Excavating Inc8070 Laps 2612Brian Sones*DW Machine & Fabricating Co./Bergen Industries7476 Laps 2723Carson LoftinL&R Transmission/LeBleu Water/QMF Solutions6684 Laps 281Patrick EmerlingFleetworks Inc.31119 Laps 2938Bobby LabonteCook-Out18132 Laps 3036Dave SapienzaSapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feed17133 Laps 3158Eric GoodaleGAF Roofing2148 Laps
Why so many yellows in the Modified’s N. Wilkesboro race? by Scotte Sprinkle May 18, 2025
Scotte Sprinkle The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at North Wilkesboro saw many cautions, and drivers shared their disappointment and theories as to why. The race was held on Sunday afternoon, just before the NASCAR Cup Series hosted their All-Star Race, leading to a big crowd on hand, and the drivers knew the importance of the race. Two of the cautions were due to engine failures. Conner Jones also had an engine failure in practice, preventing him from racing. The longest green flag during the race was only 17 laps, and the average race speed was only 55.056 miles per hour.Craig Lutz won the race after starting 16th. He noted the speed of the track as well as the multiple parts failures that contributed to all the cautions.“Last year we had one caution in 150 laps [and] this year we had probably five before lap 20,” Lutz said after the race.“Ultimately I don’t know what exact thing caused it, but there were a lot of parts failures. This palace you’re going so fast. If your stuff is not proper, you’re going to find that out here. I think that was a majority of the wrecks. And restarts. I think between those two things, that’s what really jammed the race up.” Luke Baldwin finished runner-up after sustaining damage in a crash during a restart on lap xx. Baldwin said the toe was knocked out an inch after the crash on top of the cosmetic damage. Baldwin isn’t exactly sure what led to all the chaos, but is upset that the race ended up that way.“I think [it’s] a little bit bigger stage than we’re all used to, I guess,” Baldwin said when asked what he thinks caused the melee.“I don’t think there’s much of an excuse for all of that. Not saying that I’m perfect, but that was definitely a little embarrassing today. [I] wish we got some more green flag racing. I hate that it was in front of such a big crowd. I’m not sure what really contributed to a wreck every five laps. It really hurt us at the end. We could have been pretty good if we got some green flag laps.”Tommy Baldwin Jr., veteran crew chief and car owner for Luke, noted the engine failures and racing etiquette when asked about what he thinks caused it.“We had engine issues and a couple dumb moves by some people,” Baldwin Jr. said“I hate it for our division because we really race good most of the time and to be center stage [on a] Cup weekend in front of a lot of fans is a let down to be honest. Everybody’s just got to do a better job. We had some damage on that frontstretch wreck that probably cost us a win.”Justin Bonsignore won both the Whelen and SMART Modified races at the track last October. He seemed to be on track to have a chance to repeat, but he got damaged in the frontstretch crash that Bladwin noted, and had to drive up through the field.“Not a good job by most of the drivers today,” Bonsignore said.“Obviously there was a handful of guys that had no damage. I got into the [No.] 77 there and caused a big one. Just not a good look for our series on a national stage like this. I wish we could have done better as a series but all-in-all a good comeback for us.”Matt Hirschman was caught up in the frontstretch crash and it ended his day. Hirschman won the first race at the speedway for the series in 2023, but did not get a chance to try to win it again.“I can’t explain that one,” Hirschman said.“Our race started out good and our car started out good. I think the track changed and the car went in a direction I didn’t want it to go. I ended up getting turned around, and I think we could have recovered. We were in eighth for that restart, with tires on, and it all broke loose at the front. [I] got piled in from the side and then behind and that was it.]Ryan Newman was in the race, racing in the historic Mystic Missile for Tim Connely. Newman was looking forward to the race and the opportunity to drive such a historic car. He feels like the amount of speedy dry put down after wrecks was a key in contributing to even more.“They say ‘cautions breed cautions,’” Newman said.“I will say, the speedy dry was kind of ridiculous. That contributed to what I thought was getting ready to happen with [Patrick] Emerling. I got loose into one there, and I think he got loose beneath everybody else. It’s our [fault] the tracks got stuff on it, but we don’t need to make it worse than it already was. I think we would have been better off running in the oil than we were on the speedy dry the way they had it.”It is safe to say several things contributed to the chaos we saw. With the nerves of all the drivers and it being so early in the season, as well as the mechanical failures and cleanup process throughout the race, it was hard to avoid. Regardless of why, all the drivers were upset that it devolved to such chaos, and hope they avoid a repeat of this.
Silk Maintains Tour-type Modified Mastery at Thompson Speedway in RaceChoice.com 75 Monoco Series May 14
Ronnie Williams and Stephen Kopcik brought the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series to green for the RaceChoice.com 75 Wednesday night with Williams taking the early lead ahead of Patrick Emerling. After peeking to the inside, Emerling finally made the turn-three power-move to lead lap 18 before Joey Mucciacciaro’s hard lick with the third turn wall. With the choose-cone in play, Jake Johnson nabbed the lead on the ensuing restart underneath Emerling as Ron Silk entered the top three picture. Hard contact between Silk and Emerling in turn four on lap 40 saw both right their open-wheeled machines but it was Silk gaining the on-track advantage to begin knocking down Johnson’s seven-car-length lead. Ryan Preece’s return home went up with a puff of smoke on lap 55 as Silk continued his chase of Johnson at the head of the pack with laps winding down. With five laps remaining, Silk began to breath down Johnson’s back at the start/finish line less than a car-length away. Taking the jump below, Silk would lead lap 71 as the right rear was clearly played out on the Johnson machine. Ron Silk continued his early season dominance of Thompson Speedway to claim his third-in-a-row with the RaceChoice.com 75 checkers. Jake Johnson held on for second over Stephen Kopcik, Jon McKennedy and Patrick Emerling to round out the top-five.
OFFICIAL RESULTS Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series – RaceChoice.com 75 1. 16 Ron Silk Norwalk, CT 2. 15 Jake Johnson Rehoboth, MA 3. 1 Stephen Kopcik Newtown, CT 4. 79 Jon McKennedy Chelmsford, MA 5. 1NY Patrick Emerling Orchard Park, NY 6. 88 Woody Pitkat Bellingham, MA 7. 00 Mike Christopher, Jr. Wolcott, CT 8. 5CT Chris Pasteryak Lisbon, CT 9. 179 Austin Beers Northampton, PA 10. 48 Marcello Rufrano N. Haven, CT 11. 25 Matt Swanson Harvard, MA 12. 55CT Teddy Hodgdon Danbury, CT 13. 50W Ronnie Williams Ellington, CT 14. 55x Jacob Perry Kannapolis, NC 15. 13 Max Zachem Oakdale, CT 16. 31 Noah Korner Avon, CT 17. 10 Nick Anglace Seymour, CT 18. 08 Nick Halkowicz Shelton, CT 19. 40 Ryan Preece Berlin, CT 20. 10A Keith Rocco Berlin, CT 21. 27 Blake Barney Jackson, NJ 22. 47 Joey Mucciacciaro Wolcott, CT 23. 31NJ Kyle Scisco Toms River, NJ 24. 76 Brett Meservey Brewster, MA 25. 39 George Bessette, Jr. Danbury, CT
Jack Ely Outduels Matt Hirschman for May Flowers 75 Win at Chemung on May 10 - oh but by the way Austin got 2nd
Jack Ely earned some redemption on Saturday night, winning the May Flowers 75 for the Race of Champions Modified Series at Chemung Speedrome.
In the series opener at Mahoning Valley Speedway, Ely's race ended with 15 laps to go against the outside wall in turn two. The efforts to repair his car from that incident paid off on Saturday, as Ely passed Matt Hirschman on lap 55 and led the rest of the way for the victory. "We haven't had a car this good here before, so it was nice redemption to come back after the mishap in the first race of the year to be able to park it in victory lane," said Ely in victory lane. "It was a lot of long nights in the shop to get it back together. "It was a really long day today. If people knew what all we went through today. We had the rack out, we changed brake calipers. We did more work on this car today than I'd like to do all week, but it turned out for the best." Ely took the lead just after halfway, but lost the top spot to Hirschman on a restart on lap 43. However, Ely patiently waited and chased Hirschman back down, passing him with 20 laps to go. "I knew the inside was going to be a little tricky off of four on the restarts," said Ely. "When he got by me, I knew I just had to get back in a rhythm and hopefully wait for his car to start to fall off a little bit. "Probably about four laps before I passed him, I saw him wiggle a little bit. I figured if I was gonna go, I had to go. We didn't fall off at all, so it was great." Austin Beers passed Hirschman with seven laps remaining in the 75-lap race to finish second. That gives Beers a win and a runner-up effort in the first two RoC events after winning the Bunny Hop 75 at Mahoning Valley. "We were in the shop until about midnight, working on that thing," said Beers. "He did a hell of a job. Obviously, when you pass Matt for a win, that's something special. You know, we worked really hard on both of these cars since Mahoning. To come out here with a second, I didn't know how this was going to be tonight. You know, third time here with this car. "I would have liked to see a yellow. Maybe we could have scrapped made my mom take some heart pills after having to watch us. It was definitely a fun race." Hirschman settled for a third-place finish. "Big Money" is an eight-time RoC winner at Chemung, but has only been able to race once at the track since the start of the 2023 season. "It was a good, hard race," said Hirschman. "I was able to get ahead of him on that restart. I just didn't have enough to hold him off. He ran a real good race, he had a real good car. He could really roll the center and then get a good, straight launch up off where I had to use a little more racetrack. Better car won tonight. "I don't want to sound like an excuse, but I really haven't raced here much in recent years. Last year, we got wrecked out on lap three and the year before, I broke my arm and missed the August race. I wasn't here in August last year either because of a conflict. I'm a little behind on these guys, I used to really do well at this place. We won a lot of races here at one time, but not so much recently. We've got some work to do." Jayden Harman finished fourth, with Bryce Bailey rounding out the top five. The Race of Champions Modified Series' next stop is Spencer Speedway on Friday, May 23. The Memorial Day weekend event is a special one on the RoC calendar, the Tribute to Tommy Druar and Tony Jankowiak 110.
Fin No Driver Laps Diff 1 81 Jack Ely 75 --- 2 71 Austin Beers 75 3.555 3 60 Matt Hirschman 75 4.819 4 51 Jayden Harman 75 5.091 5 12 Bryce Bailey 75 6.246 6 10 Daryl Lewis, 75 6.961 7 48 Jacob Christman 75 8.197 8 2 Jimmy Seger 75 10.074 9 72 T.J. Potrzebows 75 14.281 10 53 Brian Defebo 75 14.281 11 88S Lou Strohl 74 1 Lap 12 3 Daren Scherer 74 1 Lap 13 8 Chris Finocchario74 1 Lap 14 32 Tyler Rypkema 59 16 Laps 15 88v Sean Verwys 38 37 Laps
Stafford Motor Speedway hosted the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®, “The Greatest Race in the History of Spring,” on Sunday, April 27th with Open Modified cars.
Stephen Kopcik overcame an early race penalty to work his way back to the front of the field and took control of the race in the second half to score his first career NAPA Spring Sizzler® victory. The race took the green flag with Jake Johnson and Joey Cipriano leading the field and it was Johnson setting the early pace. Johnson would only lead the first lap as Michael Christopher, Jr. took the lead on lap-2. Sam Rameau was third in the early going behind Christopher and Johnson with Cipriano fourth and Matt Hirschman fifth. Jon McKennedy was sixth followed by Ron Silk, Marcello Rufrano, Anthony Nocella, and Matt Swanson.Rufrano went by McKennedy on lap-9 to move into seventh place while Christopher and Johnson continued to lead the field. Dana DiMatteo got into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution out with 11 laps complete.Christopher and Johnson were wheel to wheel for the lead back under green with Rameau in third. Hirschman was fourth and Silk was fifth in line. Johnson went by Christopher on lap-11 to move back into the lead. Behind Johnson, Christopher, and Rameau, Silk got around Hirschman to move into fourth place before the caution came out with 15 laps complete for a spin in the middle of turns 1+2 by Cipriano. Under the caution period, Silk pulled to the high side of the track and let the field pass by before he brought his car to pit road.Johnson took the lead back under green with Rameau taking second. Matt Swanson was now up to third with Hirschman fourth and McKennedy fifth. Stephen Kopcik was sixth in line followed by Christopher, Austin Beers, Jake Lutz, and Eric Goodale. Rameau spun in turn 4 to bring the caution flag out with 21 laps complete. Kopcik was shown the black flag for making contact with Rameau.Johnson was back out front on the restart with Swanson up to second behind him. Hirschman was now third in line with McKennedy fourth and Austin Beers fifth. Christopher was followed by Lutz, Woody Pitkat, Goodale, and Keith Rocco. The caution came back out with 29 laps complete for Ronnie Williams, who spun into the wall in turn 2.Johnson again took the lead on the restart with Hirschman taking second. Swanson slotted into third with Beers fourth and McKennedy in fifth. Lutz got loose on the backstretch and spun around to bring the caution flag back out with 31 laps complete.Johnson again took the lead as the race resumed on lap-32 with Hirschman, Swanson, McKennedy, Beers, and Pitkat lined up behind him. Cipriano, who had an earlier spin, was now back up to seventh place with Goodale, Nocella, and Rameau making up the top-10.At the halfway point of the race, it was Johnson, Hirschman, Swanson, McKennedy, Pitkat, Beers, Cipriano, Goodale, Rameau, and Tyler Rypkema. Johnson and Hirschman were beginning to put some distance between themselves and the trio of Swanson, McKennedy, and Pitkat.10 laps later on lap-50 Johnson was still in command with Hirschman giving chase. There was now a train of cars behind the lead duo with Pitkat in third place leading Cipriano, Rameau, Rypkema, and Chase Dowling. Johnson’s lead over Hirschman was erased with 59 laps complete for a spin on the backstretch by Max Zachem.Under the caution period, the leaders all came to pit road for 2 tires and adjustments. Rameau, Rypkema, and Kopcik all stayed out with Johnson winning the race off of pit road to restart in fourth place. Hirschman had an issue on his pit stop and fell from second back to 18th. Rameau led on the restart and just as Kopcik took the lead from Rameau on lap-61, the caution came out for a multicar incident in turn 3 involving McKennedy and Beers along with several other cars, which put Rameau back in front for the next restart.The restart saw Johnson get loose and back into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution flag right back out before a lap could be completed. Pitkat was sent to the rear of the field for making contact with Johnson while Johnson was parked for hitting Pitkat’s car under caution.Kopcik resumed his place out front on the restart with Rameau holding off a hard charge from Dowling to maintain second. Timmy Solomito was up to fourth behind Dowling with Goodale up to fifth. Dowling got around Rameau to move into second while Hirschman was on the charge back up through the field, taking seventh.With 30 laps to go the order was Kopcik, Dowling, Rameau, Goodale, Solomito, Nocella, Hirschman, Rufrano, Swanson, and Brian Robie. Goodale was coming to life as he took fourth on lap-71 and then third on lap-72. The caution came back out with 75 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Swanson.Kopcik took the lead on the restart with Goodale taking second. Nocella took third on lap-82 with Dowling settling into fourth, just in front of Solomito, Pitkat, and Hirschman. Nocella was all over the back bumper of Goodale looking for a way to take over second place while Kopcik was slowly lap by lap increasing the gap between himself and Goodale and Nocella. Robie spun coming out of turn 2 to bring the caution out with 92 laps complete and set up an 8 lap sprint to the finish.The restart saw both Goodale and Dowling go around in turn 3 to bring the caution right back out before a lap could be completed. Kopcik and Nocella went a lap side by side before Kopcik cleared into the lead on lap-93. Nocella worked his way to the inside of Kopcik on lap-94 and he took the lead on lap-95. Pitkat was third behind the two leaders with Solomito fourth and Matt Galko up to fifth. Kopcik got to the inside of Nocella in turn 3 and took over the lead on lap-96. The caution flew with 99 laps complete as Solomito spun into the turn 1 wall to set up a green white checkered finish to determine the winner.Kopcik took the lead with Pitkat and Nocella going side by side behind him for second. Pitkat got by Nocella on the final lap but couldn’t get close enough to Kopcik as Kopcik took the checkered flag to win the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Pitkat finished second with Nocella, Galko, and Cipriano rounding out the top-5.
Austin Beers pulled a rabbit of his own out of the hat in the Bunny Hop 75 at Mahoning Valley Speedway on Saturday, April 19
Beers started last in the 27-car field of Race of Champions Modified Series competitors, but raced his way through the field to win the season-opening event. Beers took the lead from Lou Strohl with three laps to go in the event, completing his charge through the pack for the victory.The Pennsylvania driver was a scratch during both time trials and heat races to set the evening's lineup, as he and his team diagnosed a mechanical issue on his car. That made for a long day at the track as well as an uphill battle in the feature, but it paid off with a trip to victory lane. "I've got to thank those guys so much," said Beers. "All of our guys, all the Blewett guys. We were kind of stumped on what the problem was. It ended up being the fuel pump, we think. What a hell of a race. "I'm out of breath. That was pretty intense. I've got to thank Louie. He ran me really clean. That was really fun. Definitely fun coming through the pack there. I just had to bide my time. My dad did an amazing job being a spotter. He's not great at it, but he's getting there. He's doing really good now, but it feels really good to get a win here." Beers' pass for the lead came on lap 73, as he muscled to the inside of Strohl entering turn one. With Strohl protecting the inside line around the tight quarter-mile at Mahoning Valley, Beers knew it would take one more surprise to take the win. "I just didn't really have enough drive," explained Beers. "I was tight, which built free towards the end of the run. I couldn't get the run around the top and he was doing a good job of protecting the bottom out of two. I knew my opportunity would be out of four when he wouldn't expect it. He got a little high, and this thing just gripped up enough to where I could motor on next to him and break his momentum." Strohl had to pass quite a few cars in his own right to get to the front, slipping back in the field in the opening laps after starting 10th. However, patience paid off as he took the lead on a lap 55 restart, following an incident with Matt Hirschman and Jack Ely as they battled for the top spot. "I was like 14th or 15th there after that first caution," said Strohl. "You know what, I kept my strategy. I knew the car was really good. I just kept to my strategy and passed them where I could. Didn't use the tires up. The clutch was slipping so hard. I couldn't throttle up off of two or off of four. He could, and that's how he got me. You can only do so much. If that clutch hadn't been slipping, the roles would have been reverse, but that's okay. That's racing, and we were fast."Blake Barney rounded out the podium, running in the top three for most of the evening. It was a bittersweet outcome, as Barney was pleased to have front-running pace but disappointed to see a chance at a win slip away. "I mean, it's always good to come out here and have a good top-three finish, but I'm just a little disappointed," said Barney. "I felt like there was a lot of opportunities for me to win and it kind of falls on me a little bit. "I got that restart in the lead and I felt like he jumped it. I'm not mad at him, you know? He's just trying to win the race, but seems like it was a little egregious and had a full car on me at the line, but it's whatever. It's my fault, I should have maybe went earlier, too. "From there, I was just trying to see what they were doing up front. They had a pretty good battle and it made for an exciting finish. I didn't really want to mess that up and kind of just jump when they were weak, but that really didn't happen for me. Kind of disappointed, but at the same time, any time you can come here with a stout field like this and finish top three, you can't really be too mad about it." Ron Silk finished fourth, with Daren Scherer finishing fifth. Hirschman rebounded from his incident to finish sixth, followed by Brian Defebo, Paulie Hartwig, III, Jaden Brown and Don Wagner.
Bunny Hop 75 Unofficial Results Fin No Driver Laps Diff 1 71 Austin Beers 75 --- 2 88 Lou Strohl 75 0.568 3 14 Blake Barney 75 0.605 4 16 Ron Silk 75 0.868 5 3 Daren Scherer 75 1.265 6 60 Matt Hirschman 75 1.549 7 53 Brian Defebo 75 1.555 8 11 Paulie Hartwig 75 2.157 9 03 Jaden Brown 75 2.467 10 22 Don Wagner 75 2.798 11 19B James Blewett 75 3.035 12 8P Earl Paules 75 3.655 13 51 Jayden Harman 75 4.207 14 8F Chris Finocchario 75 4.653 15 66 Austin Kochenash 75 5.157 16 95 Jacob Kersetter 75 5.538 17 87 Thomas Flanagan 75 5.880 18 7x Mark Miller 75 6.225 19 29 Cody Kohler 62 13 Laps 20 81 Jack Ely 60 15 Laps 21 17 Roger Coss 36 39 Laps 22 19W Tyler Wagner 36 39 Laps 23 76 Rod Snyder, Jr. 35 40 Laps 24 44 Kyle Strohl 31 44 Laps 25 72 John Bennett 31 44 Laps 26 41 Nick Baer 27 48 Laps 27 0 Randall Richard 3 72 Laps
Ron Silk survives pit road mishap for eighth career Thompson Modified Tour victory on April 16
A dominant performance from Ron Silk in Wednesday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park was nearly derailed during the final pit sequence of the evening. While attempting to exit pit road, Silk made contact with his long-time Modified Tour rival Justin Bonsignore and spun. The contact resulted in damage to the front of Bonsignore’s Modified while Silk continued without losing any track position. Silk was unfazed by the pit road incident as he quickly worked his way around Patrick Emerling during the closing laps to reclaim the lead. With Emerling playing defense against the rest of the pack, Silk cruised to his 27th career Modified Tour win and his eighth overall at Thompson. “I was pretty confident if I got a good restart and got to the lead, I would be able to hold them off,” Silk said. “My car drove great. The first 40 laps or so we were a little bit free, but we fixed that on the pit stop. The car was just spot-on after that.” Thompson has always been a significant track in Silk’s career on the Modified Tour, as his first three triumphs in the series came at the facility. Joining Haydt Yannone Racing in 2022 proved to be a catalyst in Silk recapturing the efficiency he enjoyed at Thompson. Aside from his first campaign with Haydt Yannone, Silk has now won at least one race at Thompson each year piloting the silver No. 16. Finding his way to Victory Lane on Saturday evening required Silk and crew chief Phil Moran to be sharp with pit strategy. An early caution provided Silk and Moran the opportunity they needed to shift momentum in their favor, as Silk utilized fresh tires and adjustments to charge toward the front of the field. Silk was untouched at the front of the pack until a spin by Craig Lutz with 27 laps remaining brought most of the field back into the pits. Once Silk shook off the contact from Bonsignore, he had to quickly dispatch both Emerling and Jake Johnson to regain the lead. He comfortably did just that. Emerling, who was piloting a Geoff Bodine tribute scheme, endured an eventful evening of his own. After losing control of his Modified on Lap 64, problems in the pit lane for Emerling resulted in his falling a lap behind the leaders, which he quickly regained on an ensuing yellow flag. Going off-sequence from the leaders enabled Emerling to salvage a runner-up finish. Emerling was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, one that could prove to be beneficial in his quest for a Modified Tour title. “That was an absolutely insane run by the team,” Emerling said. “We got stuck a lap down, but luckily there was quick caution there. We got our lap back and we passed a ton of cars. Our car was feeling good on those old tires, but that was an insane run.”Following Silk and Emerling home in the third was Trevor Catalano, with Austin Beers and Bonsignore completing the top five. The rest of the top 10 consisted of Chase Dowling, Stephen Kopcik, polesitter Jon McKennedy, Tommy Catalano and Matt Swanson.
116Ron SilkBlue Mountian Machine/ Future Homes150-- 21Patrick EmerlingFleetworks Inc1500.665 356Trevor CatalanoUSNE Power & Construction1500.788 464Austin BeersG&G Electrical Supply/ AP Marquadt & Sons1500.873 551Justin BonsignorePhoenix Communication Inc1500.913 644Chase DowlingS&S Paving/ Harshaw Paving1501.045 721Stephen KopcikNewtown Pools/Wanick Contruction1501.09 879Jon McKennedyChristophers Towing1501.236 954Tommy CatalanoFX Caprara/USNE1501.264 1025Matt SwansonCeravolo’s Auto/1501.411 1160Matt HirschmanElite Towing1501.877 1222Kyle BonsignoreMTT/ChaLew Performance/Munns Auto1501.904 1346Craig LutzRiverhead Building Supply1501.968 147Luke Baldwin*Baldwin Automotive1502.068 153Tyler RypkemaUSNE/Northeast Drilling1502.198 1659Tyler Barry*Pro Systems/BNP Machine1502.803 1781Mark Stewart*Cromers Market/ Keith Grimes Excavating1503.257 1824Andrew KrauseSupreme Manufacturing1503.436 1982Woody PitkatGunsmoke Stables Racing/Danny’s Cesspool Service1503.872 2088Roger TurbushRheem1504.51 2111Eric BerndtAlliant Insurance Services1491 Lap 2220Max ZachemUSNE/Lu-Mac’s1491 Lap 2318Ken HeagyAvon Prime Meats1491 Lap 2412Brian Sones*Dennis Wenner1473 Laps 2558Eric GoodaleGAF Roofing1446 Laps 2607Jake JohnsonLin’s Propane/1419 Laps 2755Teddy Hodgdon IV*Montanari Fuel/Business Time Motorsports1419 Laps 2829Mike Marshall*MLM Diagnostics/Business Time Motorsports13911 Laps 2963Dylan SlepianEastport Feeds6882 Laps
Thompson Speedway - March 29 A great start to the @MonacoModsseason at @ThompsonSpdwy, bringing home the Jensen 179 in 5th place. Have to send a big thanks to USNE Power for supporting our efforts along with many others in short-track racing. http://USNEPower.com
Ron Silk earned the victory in the Propane Plus Heating & Cooling 75 for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series on Saturday at Thompson Speedway, besting a field of 27 cars for the win.
Zach Evans on Mar 29, 2025
Silk earned the victory in the Propane Plus Heating & Cooling 75 for the Modified competitors on Saturday, besting a field of 27 cars for the win. The Connecticut driver started ninth and took the lead from Stephen Kopcik on lap 32 en route to the win.A seven-time race winner with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson, Silk can now add a Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series trophy from Thompson to his collection. It is his fifth career victory with the series. "We had a great car all day today," said Silk after the win. "It was really fast, had a lot of speed, drove really well. I can't thank my entire team enough. Tyler Haydt and Joe Yannone, my two owners, Phil Moran, Bob Tulipani, Henry, all the guys that come and do this." Silk dedicated the victory to Bob Horn, who passed away in February. A fixture in the Modified racing world, Silk once raced for the car owner and wore the Bob Horn Racing firesuit while competing in Saturday's race. "We're in Bob Horn Racing's firesuit today. We lost him last last month. Really good friend of mine and a previous car owner that I drove for. I wanted to dedicate this one to him." Silk set fast time in qualifying for the event, but started from the ninth position following the redraw. Despite starting deeper in the field, Silk knew 75 laps would be plenty of time to pick his way through the field on the 5/8-mile oval. He patiently waited until the field filtered out before starting his drive through the pack. "I was just kind of waiting for it to get single file. It got singled out pretty quickly there and I was really confident in the car all day. I thought once it got singled out, I could make a run to the front and it worked out that way." Anthony Nocella finished second, followed by Jake Johnson, Jon McKennedy and Austin Beers.The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series returns to Thompson for its next race, the RaceChoice.com 75 on Wednesday, May 14.
Propane Plus Heating & Cooling 75 Unofficial Results FinNoDriverLapsDiff 1CT16Ron Silk75--- 292Anthony Nocella751.031 315Jake Johnson755.918 479Jon McKennedy756.992 5179Austin Beers758.665 6CT5Chris Pasteryak7510.510 7NY1Patrick Emerling7510.712 839George Bessette7510.738 9W50Ronnie Williams7511.665 10CT55Teddy Hodgdon7512.158 1125Matt Swanson7512.967 1258Eric Goodale7512.853 1313Max Zachem7514.754 1488Woody Pitkat7514.881 1512Anthony Bello7515.159 163Tyler Rypkema7516.488 1724Mikey Flynn7517.298 1876Brett Meservey7518.456 1975David Arute7519.022 2019Jeffrey Battle741 Lap 21NY81Mark Stewart714 Laps 2240Luke Baldwin6411 Laps 2348Marcello Rufrano5817 Laps 241Stephen Kopcik3342 Laps 25CT51Joey Cipriano3342 Laps 26NY8Tyler Barry3342 Laps 2736Dave Sapienza3342 Laps
New Smyrna - Feb 14 Matt Hirschman continued his winning streak in the Richie Evans Memorial, while Patrick Emerling finished second to wrap up a dominant week and claim the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing's Tour-type Modified championship. Zach Evans on Feb 15, 2025\ Matt Hirschman continued his winning streak in the Richie Evans Memorial on Friday night at New Smyrna Speedway, while Patrick Emerling finished second to wrap up a dominant week and claim the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing's Tour-type Modified championship. Hirschman took the lead from Ronnie Williams on lap 56 of the 100-lap event and never looked back. While Emerling passed Williams and briefly closed the gap on Hirschman, Hirschman stretched out his advantage to more than 1.5 seconds by the checkered flag.For Hirschman, this particular World Series has been a struggle. Hirschman won multiple World Series feature races each of the last four years, but that streak ended in 2025.However, when the week reached its traditional conclusion with the Richie Evans Memorial, Hirschman was singing a different tune. "It's like that Toby Keith song," quipped Hirschman. "I wasn't as good this week as I once was, but I was as good once as I ever was. Finally put it together. I don't know if taking last night off was the right thing, but we just had to reset. Just didn't start off the week good. Last year, we did the same thing, but Wednesday we turned it around. This year, Wednesday, we didn't turn it around with a win." Still, Hirschman keeps some important streaks alive. He goes home with at least one win during the World Series, a trend dating back to 2017. Hirschman also hasn't lost the Richie Evans Memorial since Ryan Preece won the event in 2018. "I'm glad we're leaving here with a win," said Hirschman. "It's always special to win the Richie Evans Memorial. It's still the biggest part of the World Series for the Tour Modifieds, and we've done it many times in a row, so we continue that streak. "We've never come here with Pee Dee Motorsports and not left herewith a win. That would have made for a long trip home, but this makes it a little bit shorter." Hirschman's win stopped a different streak - Emerling's run of dominance during this year's World Series. Emerling entered Friday night with three wins in a row in the Tour-type Modified division, and four Modified wins in total going back to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season opener last Saturday. Emerling settled for a second-place finish in the caution-free Richie Evans 100, but there were still plenty of reasons to celebrate a week that ended with an average finish of 1.6 in World Series competition and the week-long championship. "We've had long green flag runs here before in this Richie Evans 100," said Emerling. "I don't think we've ever went cautionless, so that's interesting. "Congrats to Matt. He had a little bit of a tough week, and he got it turned around a little bit. I've just got to give it up to the entire Fleet Works No. 1 team. Everyone did an excellent job all week. A great week. This race, the tire stagger just came in a little bit off from what it shoudl have been. Otherwise, we would have been probably knocking at the door there. "We were really close to winning a championship down here several times. To be able to get it is awesome. We had an awesome week. We won the big one last Saturday. Pretty much everything else was a bonus. It was an awesome week for us." Tyler Rypkema finished third, followed by Jake Lutz and Monday night Tour-type Modified winner Austin Beers.
Richie Evans Memorial 100 Unofficial Results FinNoDriverLapsDiff 160Matt Hirschman100--- 21EPatrick Emerling1001.543 332Tyler Rypkema1006.411 414LJake Lutz1006.650 5179Austin Beers10011.531 692Anthony Nocella10015.243 764ATommy Catalano10015.459 88MCam McDermott10018.892 925Brian Robie991 Lap 1050Ronnie Williams991 Lap 1156Trevor Catalano991 Lap 1224Andrew Krause991 Lap 135Jeff Goodale991 Lap 1417Danny Knoll991 Lap 1566Timothy Solomito991 Lap 1619Jeffrey Battle991 Lap 1711Norman Newman991 Lap 1858Eric Goodale982 Laps 1909Christopher Hatton973 Laps 2046Craig Lutz7822 Laps 217PRich Parker3169 Laps 227NYJack Baldwin595 Laps
February 13 - New Smyrna - Patrick Emerling scored his third consecutive World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing Tour-type Modified win on Thursday evening, his fourth victory of the week at New Smyrna Speedway.
Zach Evans
It's three in a row for Patrick Emerling, who took his third consecutive World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing Tour-type Modified victory on Thursday night at New Smyrna Speedway. Starting on the pole after qualifying was rained out, Emerling took the lead on a lap 34 restart as Jake Lutz fell off the pace from the lead. From there, Emerling led the rest of the way and claimed his fourth victory in Modified competition during this year's World Series. “I’ve just got to give it up," said Emerling in victory lane. "This is an awesome team. We’ve been working together a little bit longer and we’re just getting a little bit stronger. We were a little bit tight to start that race. The 14 [of Lutz] was rolling really, really good. There was a little bit more grip than I thought there was going to be out there. “Just a little snug to start. I was a little worried, I got my brake bias stuck about 10 rounds in the rear. That got me a little bit in the last half of the race. One of those racing things. The car was coming alive towards the end. We had the track position today and we were able to stay up front.” Lutz's misfortune proved to be Emerling's greatest benefit. Not only did it allow Emerling to take the top spot, but it stacked up the field behind Lutz and gave Emerling a chance to break free from the pack. Anthony Nocella finished second, happy to bounce back after fighting his car throughout the World Series. Nocella believed he had a car that could compete with Emerling for the win, but suffered some wheel damage during the stack-up behind Lutz on the restart. “We were coming, you know. We’ve been struggling all week, blew a motor, a few other problems. It was a good day to finally have a good run. The car, I thought, could win the race, pretty sure. Just that last restart, when the 14 didn’t get going there, we got the toe knocked in some. A little bit too tight there at the end, but still good enough. We were slowly gaining, but nowhere near enough to get to him.” Similarly, Trevor Catalano's third-place finish was a rebound effort for that driver. A former race winner in the 602 Modified division during the World Series, the podium finish was Catalano's first in the Tour-type Modified division across two years of competition.“This was a really good run," said Catalano. "We struggled all week with this thing. We were 15th or something the first night, 13th the second night, ninth last night. Tonight, we decided, you know what, we’re going to take the morning off, not practice, put the thing on scales, go through it deep. We changed almost everything on the car, and it was way better.”Eric Goodale crossed the line fourth, followed by Timmy Solomito.
Tour-type Modified 50 Unofficial Results FinNoDriverLapsDiff 11EPatrick Emerling50--- 292Anthony Nocella500.527 356Trevor Catalano502.237 458Eric Goodale504.150 566Timothy Solomito504.374 6179Austin Beers504.848 75Jeff Goodale506.825 850Ronnie Williams507.078 964AAmy Catalano507.275 1019Jeffrey Battle507.593 112J.R. Bertuccio491 Lap 1209Christopher Hatton491 Lap 1311Norman Newman3911 Laps 1414LJake Lutz3317 Laps 1571James Pritchard3218 Laps 1617Danny Knoll3218 Laps 177BLuke Baldwin 187PRich Parker 1946Craig Lutz 2060Matt Hirschman 2184Tyler Catalano
February 12 - Mew Smyrna - Patrick Emerling's hot streak in Modified competition at this year's World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing continued on Wednesday night at New Smyrna Speedway, as Emerling won the John Blewett III Memorial.
Zach Evans
Patrick Emerling's hot streak in Modified competition at this year's World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing continued on Wednesday night at New Smyrna Speedway, as Emerling won the John Blewett III Memorial. With an impressive two-for-one maneuver on lap 69 of the 76-lap event, Emerling surpassed both Tommy Catalano and Matt Hirschman. From there, the Orchard Park, New York driver pulled away while Catalano fell out of the race just four laps later and Hirschman fell to third behind Stephen Kopcik.Emerling opened the World Series by winning the kickoff for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Saturday night. After a third-place finish on Monday night, Emerling has now won back-to-back race with the Tour-type Modified division to take the points lead for the division's World Series of Asphalt title.That string of success, along with winning one of the marquee memorial events during the World Series, made for a special victory lane for Emerling."It's pretty big," said Emerling. "We were just playing around with the car, trying to get a little note. We went with a completely different setup for tonight. It worked out pretty good. Absolutely incredible."I thought we missed a little bit at the beginning of the race. The 1 car here just stayed strong on the long run and we outlasted a lot of them guys."Catalano jumped out to the lead at the start of the race after starting alongside Hirschman on the front row. However, Hirschman pressured Catalano in the closing laps as they both searched for grip on the long run.While the two front-runners wrestled for control, Emerling closed the gap and capitalized, muscling to the inside of both Hirschman and Catalano for the top spot."You know how hard it is to pass that 60 car [of Hirschman] here," said Emerling. "That car is always so fast. It was a really, really good one. It was hard-fought. I thought we made a pretty good move, passing first and second on the bottom. I've got to give it up to the whole team. Did an excellent job again on the Fleetworks No. 1 car. Glad to get another win." "We were just trying to bide our time and put ourselves in a good position for the end all race long. I saw the opportunity, I saw the 60 wiggling. He was a little bit off tonight, so I saw him wiggling. I was like, man, I'm going to capitalize on that. They were both kind of fading. We were just staying a little bit stronger right at the end." Kopcik claimed the runner-up spot, giving him three straight podium finishes without a win to show for it this week. Like Emerling, Kopcik bided his time in the early stages and then charged late "The whole race was pretty exciting," said Kopcik. "The guys at the front were going hard the whole time. I figured I was better off just waiting out for a caution. We were definitely a little too free tonight, but you can't be too upset about it. Just had to take care of it longer." Meanwhile, Hirschman settled for a third-place finish, surprisingly the best showing of the week for the five-time World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing champion. It has been a frustrating week for Hirschman, and that was compounded by him not feeling 100 percent on Wednesday. "I've actually been under the weather today," said Hirschman. "I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. I've not been feeling that good. On top of being not a good week for the car, today wasn't very good for me. Just came up short, lost my drive at the same time as the 64 [of Catalano]. Emerling was there to bounce, basically a two-for-one. It didn't happen, but it's not from a lack of effort. "It's not a bad week. We had some uncharacteristic mechanical things, and that certainly doesn't help because we really didn't get the race notes in to build off of. I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses. It's just been a bad week, and the team's still working hard. There are still two races ahead of us, we'll see if we can leave with a win yet." Tyler Rypkema finished fourth, with Jake Lutz rounding out the top five. Two races remain for the Tour-type Modifieds at the World Series of Asphalt. They will contest a 50-lap feature on Thursday evening before the signature World Series finale, the Richie Evans Memorial 100, on Friday night.
John Blewett, III Memorial Unofficial Results FinNoDriverLapsDiff 11EPatrick Emerling76--- 21KStephen Kopcik760.935 360Matt Hirschman762.070 432Tyler Rypkema763.462 514LJake Lutz763.704 650Ronnie Williams766.847 7179Austin Beers767.373 858Eric Goodale768.417 956Trevor Catalano768.834 1066Timothy Solomito769.959 1136David Sapienza7610.289 1292Anthony Nocella7610.678 138MCam McDermott7610.929 1446Craig Lutz7613.672 155Jeff Goodale751 Lap 1684Tyler Catalano751 Lap 1711Norman Newman751 Lap 182J.R. Bertuccio751 Lap 1924Andrew Krause751 Lap 2025Brian Robie751 Lap 2171James Pritchard742 Laps 2217Danny Knoll742 Laps 2364TTommy Catalano733 Laps 240Glenn Styres733 Laps 257NYJack Baldwin6511 Laps 2619Jeffrey Battle5620 Laps 277PRich Parker5125 Laps 2809Christopher Hatton2650 Laps DNS8FChris Finocchario
February 11 - New Smyrna - Patrick Emerling's stellar World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway continued on Tuesday night, as the Orchard Park, New York driver returned to victory lane.
Zach Evans
Emerling won Tuesday's 50-lap Tour-type Modified feature, leading from flag to flag after starting second in a dominant showing. The victory comes on the heels of a third-place finish on Monday night, as well as a victory in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season opener on Saturday night. “This is awesome. I’ve got to give it up to the entire Fleetworks No.1 team," said Emerling. "We came out, won the Tour race, got a really solid third last night. We knew we had a little bit to gain, so that’s what we did. We were really, really good." While Emerling led all 50 laps, the No. 14 of Jake Lutz gave him plenty to think about in the closing laps, drawing within a second of the lead. “That 14 car, I used to drive that car, it’s really, really stout as well. We had our track position from the beginning. We were just able to go out there and maintain.” Unofficially, Emerling comes out of Tuesday night with a two-point lead in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing's Tour-type Modified division over Stephen Kopcik. With three races to go, there is plenty of time for the outlook to change, but undoubtedly Emerling's performance thus far is reason for confidence. “By the looks of it right now, it’s definitely there," said Emerling. "You know, it’s a long week, we’ll see what happens.” Lutz's runner-up finish was a marked improvement after a disappointing start to the World Series, finishing 11th on Monday night. “We’re happy with that," said Lutz. "The first two days were terrible for us. I made a bunch of mistakes and we just didn’t roll out of the trailer well. We got it turned around and qualified better today. We’ll take it and keep moving. Kopcik finished third, following a runner-up placement on Monday to keep him in the title picture with Emerling. He stated a desire to improve on his qualifying efforts to find more success during feature racing.“I’m happy with that, but still two spots short. We’ve got to qualify better, that’s all it is. It’s hard to start back around 10th or 12th. When we don’t get yellows, it makes it tough.” Luke Baldwin finished fourth, with Tyler Rypkema rounding out the top five.
Tour-type Modified 50 Unofficial Results FinNoDriverLapsDiff 11EPatrick Emerling50--- 214LJake Lutz500.616 31KStephen Kopcik503.883 47BLuke Baldwin505.615 532Tyler Rypkema506.277 640Ryan Preece506.497 758Eric Goodale508.690 850Ronnie Williams509.872 946Craig Lutz509.872 1066Timothy Solomito5010.652 1156Trevor Catalano5013.522 1236David Sapienza5013.821 137NYJack Baldwin5014.037 142RJ.R. Bertuccio5018.375 155Jeff Goodale5018.398 1619Jeffery Battle491 Lap 1784Tyler Catalano491 Lap 1864Amy Catalano491 Lap 198FChris Finocchario491 Lap 2011Norman Newman491 Lap 2171James Pritchard491 Lap 2217Danny Knoll491 Lap 237PRich Parker3317 Laps 2424Andrew Krause3218 Laps 2509Christopher Hatton2624 Laps 26179Austin Beers644 Laps 2760Matt Hirschman446 Laps 2882Anthony Nocella446 Laps
February 10 - New Smyrna - Austin Beers scored the first victory in the battle for the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing's Tour-type Modified championship, taking the checkered flag in Monday's 59-lap feature.
While the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour raced on Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway, the battle for the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing's Tour-type Modified championship began on Monday night. Austin Beers scored the first victory in that fight, taking the checkered flag in Monday's 59-lap feature. Beers took the lead from Ryan Preece on the 11th lap and distanced himself from the field on a long green-flag run to end the event. Beers finished more than two and a half seconds ahead of Stephen Kopcik for an impressive victory.“This team did an awesome job all day, just getting this car the way it needed to be for the long runs," said Beers. "How we perform with these long runs on Monday that usually happen, and we were prepared for that. We just ran our own pace, tried to keep Timmy [Solomito] at a safe spot. When Kopcik got there, I had enough room with all the lapped cars to maintain my gap and hold on.” Monday's victory was Beers' first at New Smyrna Speedway, but he boasts plenty of strong runs at the Florida half-mile. On Saturday, Beers led 46 laps and scored a top-five finish with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Beers lamented not taking the win on Saturday night, but was fortunate there were no late cautions to take away his advantage on Monday. “I feel like I gave the race away personally on Saturday. I was waiting for a yellow just like Saturday to give me a chance to give it up again, I guess.”Kopcik settled into second place in the final running order, pleased with a strong showing on a night that usually comes with twists and turns to start the battle for a World Series championship. “I feel really good about it," said Kopcik. "The first night’s always a little bit of a crapshoot. It usually sets the tone for the week. If we can build off of what we just did here, we should have a good week.” Saturday's winner, Patrick Emerling, finished third to continue a strong start to his World Series. While the car was a little too loose for his liking, Emerling was content with a third-place effort.“We’re not really used to these tires, but we had a really good car," said Emerling. "We started out just a little bit free and tried to manage it, just trying to keep the car pointed in the right direction. “We have that tough restart on the bottom there. It was all bottled up, it was just a bad restart on the bottom. We lost a little bit of track position there. We passed some cars and got a lot of it back. A caution towards the end would have been nice, but the car had a ton of speed. I think we have a little ways to go to get it quite a bit faster.”Timmy Solomito finished fourth, with Craig Lutz rounding out the top five. Preece finished sixth after leading the first 10 laps, followed by Cam McDermott, Eric Goodale, Anthony Nocella and Amy Catalano. The Tour-type Modifieds will be in action each of the next four nights in their battle for a World Series title. Tuesday's race will be a 50-lap feature following the ASA STARS National Tour Clyde Hart Memorial 200.
Tour-type Modified 59 Unofficial Results FinNoDriverLapsDiff 1179Austin Beers59--- 21KStephen Kopcik592.619 31EPatrick Emerling592.734 466Timmy Solomito594.215 546Craig Lutz597.541 640Ryan Preece598.488 78MCam McDermott598.729 858Eric Goodale599.256 992Anthony Nocella599.607 1064Amy Catalano5910.218 1114LJake Lutz5912.119 1236David Sapienza5913.306 1360Matt Hirschman5913.472 1424Andrew Krause5914.413 1556Trevor Catalano5916.780 1614BJ.R. Bertuccio5917.010 1719Jeffrey Battle581 Lap 188FChris Finocchario581 Lap 1925Brian Robie581 Lap 207NYJack Baldwin581 Lap 215Jeff Goodale581 Lap 2217Danny Knoll581 Lap 2371James Pritchard572 Laps 240Glenn Styres563 Laps 2509Christopher Hatton563 Laps 2684Tyler Catalano3722 Laps 277PRich Parker1841 Laps 2850Ronnie Williams1544 Laps 2911Norman Newman653 Laps
February 8 - New Smyrna NASCAR Tour - Patrick Emerling is starting 2025 on a high note after winning the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 at New Smyrna Speedway.
Patrick Emerling finished 2024 as one of the hottest drivers on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Emerling is starting 2025 on a similarly high note after winning the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 at New Smyrna Speedway. Emerling took the lead from Craig Lutz shortly after a lap 182 restart, maintaining the top spot through a green-white-checkered overtime restart for his eighth career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.“I just have to thank everyone involved for this opportunity," said Emerling in victory lane. "This wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for Rich Gautreau, my family, and this whole awesome crew right here.“We have the best crew in the garage, best team, best everything. Thank you for everyone involved. This is incredible. This is what we expected to do."Emerling went to the rear of the field at the start of the race after post-qualifying adjustments due to an engine issue. However, he remained confident he could drive the No. 1 entry back through the field with a different strategy and plenty of speed."We made it a little harder on ourselves. We had a little motor issue. We started dead last today, but we knew. I’ve won races like that before in this series. It just puts you on a different schedule and a different pit cycle, really, to get you there.”For Emerling, the 2025 season starts much like the 2024 season ended. While 2024 champion Justin Bonsignore won the final three races of the year, Emerling won three of the four races before that streak, giving him four NWMT victories in the last eight events.“I was just tearing up for a second," said Emerling. "Just absolutely incredible, I was so happy. To do it in the first race of the season. I think we were the best team for the majority of the year last year. We’re just trying to pick up where we left off.“We were just so dialed. The fastest car on the race track, these are the fastest cars I’ve driven in my life. We can just go out there, do our thing. Everyone just has to execute, and we’ll finish like this."Lutz settled for a second-place finish after battling with Emerling late for the lead. Lutz was hungry for a victory to open the new season, coming away with a strong finish. “This race is so tough," said Lutz. "With 200 laps, the different tire strategies, a fuel stop, it’s a whole team effort. The first two cautions, we got behind on track position, so I didn’t know what was going to pan out here.“All my guys dug deep all day. We made good adjustments. My crew chief, Doug Ogiejko, did a great job. All my guys did a great job on their stops. We wanted this one bad for our fellow team member of ours that we lost at Martinsville. This was our first race without him. We were trying like hell, but Pat had a great car. The best car won, but we gave it a fight.” Meanwhile, Bonsignore's title defense started with a roller-coaster evening and a third-place finish. Officials assessed Bonsignore a one-lap penalty for stopping to bring out a caution when he suffered a flat tire in the first half of the race.The four-time series champion recovered, eventually getting his lap back, suffering a separate incident with the outside wall exiting turn two, and still persevering to a podium finish.“Just a wild night," said Bonsignore. "A tire went down like a half-a-lap into a restart. There’s really nothing you can do, you’ve just got to take that penalty. You’d be four to five laps down if you came down pit road. “It was just a hard-fought night after that. We didn’t get the lucky dog as early as we would have liked. Off of two, I ran out of talent and knocked the fence down. That probably hurt us the most of anything. Probably knocked the rear out of alignment pretty bad. “We still fought back. We were struggling there at the end. Just loose on every set of tires after the flat. That green-white-checkered probably saved us.”Luke Baldwin and Austin Beers finished fourth and fifth after sharing the front row to start the race. Stephen Kopcik, Eric Goodale, Ryan Newman, Ron Silk and Andrew Krause rounded out the top 10.
New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 Unofficial Results FINNO.DRIVERLAPSDIFF 11Patrick Emerling206--- 246Craig Lutz2060.380 351Justin Bonsignore2060.659 47Luke Baldwin*2060.740 564Austin Beers2060.918 621Stephen Kopcik2061.017 758Eric Goodale2061.284 88Ryan Newman2061.577 916Ron Silk2061.718 1024Andrew Krause2061.789 113Tyler Rypkema2062.004 1225Brian Robie2062.072 1356Trevor Catalano2062.248 1454Tommy Catalano2062.654 1560Matt Hirschman2062.818 1620Max Zachem2062.965 1781Mark Stewart2051 Lap 1884Tyler Catalano2051 Lap 1918Ken Heagy2051 Lap 2036Dave Sapienza2042 Laps 2129Mike Marshall2033 Laps 2259Tyler Barry2024 Laps 2311Norman Newman1988 Laps 2426Gary McDonald18125 Laps 259Chris Hatton16046 Laps 2655Jeremy Gerstner12482 Laps 2722Kyle Bonsignore86120 Laps 2840Frank Fleming70136 Laps 2944Chase Dowling70136 Laps 3012Brian Sones57149 Laps 3114Jacob Lutz29177 Laps
40th Anniversary Modified Tour season begins Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway NASCAR.com
The 40th anniversary season for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour begins Saturday night at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway with the running of the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 (7:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing). Saturday’s race at New Smyrna marks the fourth consecutive year the Modified Tour season has launched at the Florida half-mile as part of the track’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. Matt Hirschman claimed the first Tour event at New Smyrna in 2022, and Ron Silk won the last two events in 2023-24. More than 30 competitors are entered to compete at New Smyrna this weekend, led by four-time and defending Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore. He’ll look to deny Hirschman, Silk and the rest of the field as he pursues his fifth title. Tickets to the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 are available trackside. Below is everything you need to know about the opening race of the 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Making history is something with which Justin Bonsignore has become familiar. He captured his fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship one season ago, making him just the fourth driver in series history with four or more titles. Bonsignore also won his 45th Modified Tour race last fall at Martinsville Speedway, which moved him past Reggie Ruggiero for second on the all-time win list. If he can win Saturday’s New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200, he’ll add his name to yet another exclusive list. In the history of the Modified Tour, a driver has won three consecutive races 17 times. Of those 17 times, it’s been accomplished by 11 drivers. Of those 11 drivers, only two – Richie Evans and Mike Stefanik – have won four or more. Bonsignore enters Saturday’s opening race of the 40th anniversary season riding a three-race winning streak dating back to the end of 2023. A win Saturday would put him alongside Evans and Stefanik as just the third driver to win at least four consecutive races. A stacked field of competitors will look to deny Bonsignore another historic moment Saturday night. Among them are Ron Silk and Matt Hirschman, the only two drivers to win Modified Tour events at New Smryna. Silk has won the last two Modified Tour events at the track; Hirschman claimed the inaugural event at the venue in 2022. Craig Lutz, who is back in the Goodie Motorsports No. 46 this year, should be considered a contender after winning the pole and leading 80 laps last year. Patrick Emerling returns for Year 2 in the No. 1 for team owner Rich Gautreau after winning three races together last year. Jeremy Gerstner will be making his return to the Modified Tour on Saturday at New Smyrna. Gerstner was seriously injured in a crash during practice last year at New Smyrna, and his injuries forced him to sit out nearly the entire 2024 racing season. Trevor Catalano and Austin Beers, both of whom scored Modified Tour victories last year, are among the 31 entries for Saturday’s opener. Other notables include Eric Goodale, Luke Baldwin, Tommy Catalano, Chase Dowling, Kyle Bonsignore and Tyler Rypkema, among others. The complete entry list for Saturday’s New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 is available here.
RaceNew Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 DaStafford Motor Speedway hosted the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®, “The Greatest Race in the History of Spring,” on Sunday, April 27th with Open Modified cars.
Stephen Kopcik overcame an early race penalty to work his way back to the front of the field and took control of the race in the second half to score his first career NAPA Spring Sizzler® victory. The race took the green flag with Jake Johnson and Joey Cipriano leading the field and it was Johnson setting the early pace. Johnson would only lead the first lap as Michael Christopher, Jr. took the lead on lap-2. Sam Rameau was third in the early going behind Christopher and Johnson with Cipriano fourth and Matt Hirschman fifth. Jon McKennedy was sixth followed by Ron Silk, Marcello Rufrano, Anthony Nocella, and Matt Swanson.Rufrano went by McKennedy on lap-9 to move into seventh place while Christopher and Johnson continued to lead the field. Dana DiMatteo got into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution out with 11 laps complete.Christopher and Johnson were wheel to wheel for the lead back under green with Rameau in third. Hirschman was fourth and Silk was fifth in line. Johnson went by Christopher on lap-11 to move back into the lead. Behind Johnson, Christopher, and Rameau, Silk got around Hirschman to move into fourth place before the caution came out with 15 laps complete for a spin in the middle of turns 1+2 by Cipriano. Under the caution period, Silk pulled to the high side of the track and let the field pass by before he brought his car to pit road.Johnson took the lead back under green with Rameau taking second. Matt Swanson was now up to third with Hirschman fourth and McKennedy fifth. Stephen Kopcik was sixth in line followed by Christopher, Austin Beers, Jake Lutz, and Eric Goodale. Rameau spun in turn 4 to bring the caution flag out with 21 laps complete. Kopcik was shown the black flag for making contact with Rameau.Johnson was back out front on the restart with Swanson up to second behind him. Hirschman was now third in line with McKennedy fourth and Austin Beers fifth. Christopher was followed by Lutz, Woody Pitkat, Goodale, and Keith Rocco. The caution came back out with 29 laps complete for Ronnie Williams, who spun into the wall in turn 2.Johnson again took the lead on the restart with Hirschman taking second. Swanson slotted into third with Beers fourth and McKennedy in fifth. Lutz got loose on the backstretch and spun around to bring the caution flag back out with 31 laps complete.Johnson again took the lead as the race resumed on lap-32 with Hirschman, Swanson, McKennedy, Beers, and Pitkat lined up behind him. Cipriano, who had an earlier spin, was now back up to seventh place with Goodale, Nocella, and Rameau making up the top-10.At the halfway point of the race, it was Johnson, Hirschman, Swanson, McKennedy, Pitkat, Beers, Cipriano, Goodale, Rameau, and Tyler Rypkema. Johnson and Hirschman were beginning to put some distance between themselves and the trio of Swanson, McKennedy, and Pitkat.10 laps later on lap-50 Johnson was still in command with Hirschman giving chase. There was now a train of cars behind the lead duo with Pitkat in third place leading Cipriano, Rameau, Rypkema, and Chase Dowling. Johnson’s lead over Hirschman was erased with 59 laps complete for a spin on the backstretch by Max Zachem.Under the caution period, the leaders all came to pit road for 2 tires and adjustments. Rameau, Rypkema, and Kopcik all stayed out with Johnson winning the race off of pit road to restart in fourth place. Hirschman had an issue on his pit stop and fell from second back to 18th. Rameau led on the restart and just as Kopcik took the lead from Rameau on lap-61, the caution came out for a multicar incident in turn 3 involving McKennedy and Beers along with several other cars, which put Rameau back in front for the next restart.The restart saw Johnson get loose and back into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution flag right back out before a lap could be completed. Pitkat was sent to the rear of the field for making contact with Johnson while Johnson was parked for hitting Pitkat’s car under caution.Kopcik resumed his place out front on the restart with Rameau holding off a hard charge from Dowling to maintain second. Timmy Solomito was up to fourth behind Dowling with Goodale up to fifth. Dowling got around Rameau to move into second while Hirschman was on the charge back up through the field, taking seventh.With 30 laps to go the order was Kopcik, Dowling, Rameau, Goodale, Solomito, Nocella, Hirschman, Rufrano, Swanson, and Brian Robie. Goodale was coming to life as he took fourth on lap-71 and then third on lap-72. The caution came back out with 75 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Swanson.Kopcik took the lead on the restart with Goodale taking second. Nocella took third on lap-82 with Dowling settling into fourth, just in front of Solomito, Pitkat, and Hirschman. Nocella was all over the back bumper of Goodale looking for a way to take over second place while Kopcik was slowly lap by lap increasing the gap between himself and Goodale and Nocella. Robie spun coming out of turn 2 to bring the caution out with 92 laps complete and set up an 8 lap sprint to the finish.The restart saw both Goodale and Dowling go around in turn 3 to bring the caution right back out before a lap could be completed. Kopcik and Nocella went a lap side by side before Kopcik cleared into the lead on lap-93. Nocella worked his way to the inside of Kopcik on lap-94 and he took the lead on lap-95. Pitkat was third behind the two leaders with Solomito fourth and Matt Galko up to fifth. Kopcik got to the inside of Nocella in turn 3 and took over the lead on lap-96. The caution flew with 99 laps complete as Solomito spun into the turn 1 wall to set up a green white checkered finish to determine the winner.Kopcik took the lead with Pitkat and Nocella going side by side behind him for second. Pitkat got by Nocella on the final lap but couldn’t get close enough to Kopcik as Kopcik took the checkered flag to win the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Pitkat finished second with Nocella, Galko, and Cipriano rounding out the top-5.
FinishNameCar NumberStart 1Stephen Kopcik112 2Woody Pitkat815 3Anthony Nocella929 4Matt Galko314 5Joey Cipriano51ct2 6Brian Robie25nh29 7Tyler Rypkema3226 8Dana DiMatteo2010 9Timmy Solomito6620 10David Arute7525 11Marcello Rufrano484 12Matt Hirschman607 13Sam Rameau06ma5 14William Lambros77ny31 15Eric Goodale5818 16Chase Dowling44ma13 17Max Zachem1317 18Keith Rocco10a16 19Matt Swanson2511 20Ronnie Williams5021 21Jacob Perry424 22Jake Johnson151 23Jon McKennedy796 24Austin Beers17919 25Michael Chris003 26Jake Lutz1422 27Mikey Flynn2428 28Ronnie Silk168 29Chris Pasteryak5ct27 30Trevor Catalano55x23 31Joey Mucciaccia4730 DNQDanny Knoll, Jr.17- DNQJeffrey Battle19w- DNQTyler Barry8ny- DNQNoah Korner31- DNQBrett Meservey76- DNQBuddy Charette28- DNQNick Anglace10- DNQCory DiMatteo11-eSaturday, Feb. 8, 2025 TrackNew Smyrna Speedway LayoutHalf-mile asphalt oval LocationNew Smyrna Beach, Florida Start time7:30 p.m. ET Laps 200 Posted Awards $149,447 TicketsTrackside How To WatchFloRacing SCHEDULE: Saturday, Feb. 8… Practice from 2 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. ET … Final practice from 3:05 to 3:35 p.m. … Qualifying at 5:30 p.m. ET … New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 at 7:30 p.m. ET (FloRacing).
QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions. TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is ten (10) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is two (2) tires, per stop.
Austin Beers wins the 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com Published: October 23, 2025
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — We all have dreams. Some dreams can be simple, like hoping Santa Claus brings you a new PlayStation for Christmas. Other dreams, like the one shared by Austin Beers and Mike Murphy, are a bit more complicated. Beers, a 22-year-old, second-generation racer from Northampton, Pennsylvania, and Murphy, a 68-year-old Irish immigrant, dreamed of someday winning the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship together. On Thursday night, Beers and Murphy got to live out their dream. Driving Murphy’s No. 64 KLM Motorsports Modified, Beers finished second in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 to clinch his first championship in NASCAR’s oldest division. “The biggest thing for me coming in was don’t think about it; don’t think about it, or you’re going to jinx it,” Beers told himself. “I didn’t really think about what I’d say or how I’d feel.” He didn’t have to say much. In 2025, Beers let his driving do the talking.In 16 Modified Tour races this season, Beers never finished worse than ninth. He scored two wins – at Lancaster Motorplex and Riverhead Raceway – to go along with 12 top fives and 16 top 10s. He was the only driver to complete every possible lap this season, and he led all drivers with a 4.6 average finish. Despite all those incredible stats, he still had to survive Thursday’s race to win his first championship. He avoided a multi-car melee during a restart and survived an overtime sprint to finish second, more than enough to clinch the championship. Anxiety and stress levels were at all-time highs, but Beers showed maturity and composure beyond his years during a race that could have easily derailed his entire season. “I knew I just had to do what I’ve been doing my whole life – that was the biggest thing,” Beers said when discussing the final restart. “I brought it home to the line and heard (on the radio) 2025 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion. That was a great feeling.” As if that wasn’t good enough, Beers wrote a new chapter in the Modified Tour history books with his first championship. At 22 years, seven months and five days old, Beers is now the youngest champion in the history of the Modified Tour. He broke the record set by current NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, who was 22 years, 11 months and 25 days old when he won his Mods championship in 2013.Beers has come a long way from playing video games with Preece between practice sessions at Modified Tour races a decade ago. “Ryan was young running the Tour and just getting started, and my dad (Eric) was running the Tour. He’d hang out in the camper with me, and we’d play video games,” Beers remembered. “All the other drivers and crew members would go to the bar after the races. I’ve looked up to Ryan my whole racing career and pretty much since I was 6 years old.” Murphy, who most of his friends and family affectionately call “Murph,” has watched Beers take his small team from a mid-pack organization to champion in the span of just four years. For the native of Waterford, Ireland, just being in position to win a Modified Tour championship was something he never fathomed when he bought his first race car in the mid-1990s. This beats all of our expectations,” Murphy said. “We never even dreamed we’d be in a position like this when we started 25 or 30 years ago. Dreams come true, right? “I’d never even seen what the (championship trophy) looked like, because we’d usually be pitted way over (in Turn 4) and the (trophy) would be over (in Turn 1). In all the years we’d been doing it, I never saw it for that reason.” The KLM Motorsports team is truly a family operation. The team, which is named after Murphy’s wife Maggie and children Lyndsey and Kelly, is led by former driver Ron Yuhas and Sly Szaban. The group has flourished since tabbing Beers to drive the No. 64 for his rookie campaign in 2022. Beers delivered the team’s first Modified Tour win in 2023 at Richmond Raceway, and since then, he has added four more checkered flags to Murphy’s growing collection. It’s all still a bit surreal for Murphy, who was forced to sit on the sidelines for much of the 2024 season and the start of the 2025 season due to a host of health issues. In January, Murphy got a new lease on life when he received a bilateral lung transplant. By May, he was back at the race track watching his driver and team chase a championship. This could have been the worst year of Murphy’s life. Instead, he’s the living embodiment of the American dream. “This is the best year of my life. I got a second chance at life,” Murphy said. “Hard work, I would say, is all it takes. This is a great country. A country of opportunity. The only thing that is going to stop you is yourself.” While the championship meant the world to Beers and his family, Beers felt it was more important to deliver the title to Murphy. After all, Murphy is the one who took a chance on an unproven, 18-year-old kid.Murphy gave Beers all the tools he needed to become the Modified Tour champion. And Beers delivered.“Murph gave me the ultimate break to run this car and get my name out there,” Beers said. “Obviously the last year was really tough not having him at the race track. With him getting that lung transplant, you don’t know what’s going to happen. It was a pretty emotional time for our whole team. “He’s been running the Tour since my dad (Eric) was running (the Tour), so 2010 or 2011. After all these years of ups and downs, to finally deliver that championship to him, it means more to me to give that championship to him than for me to win that championship, honestly.“I owe everything to Murph and Maggie for giving me this opportunity to begin with, because I wouldn’t have it without them.” With a Modified Tour championship secured, Murphy hopes to have Beers back next season to chase another championship. However, what Murphy really wants is for Beers to get an opportunity to move on to bigger and better things. That’s his new dream. It’s a dream Murphy believes that, like Thursday’s championship, Beers can make a reality. “I hope this is a stepping stone,” Murphy said. “He’s still young. He’s only 22. Hopefully there is somebody out there watching and will see how good he is, and maybe they’ll offer him a ride somewhere along the way. “I’d love to see him walking in Preece’s footsteps. Can you imagine? You turn the television on Sunday and see him at the race and you say, ‘We knew him when he was only a kid.’ “That would be another unbelievable dream as good as this. Maybe better.”