Coby Recovers From Penalty For Third Consecutive Thompson Win
Coby Recovers From Penalty For Third Consecutive Thompson WinIt was round three for the NASCAR Whelen Modifed Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Wednesday, August 12th as the tour made its penultimate appearance of 2015 at the historic venue for the Bud “King of Beers” 150, the tenth race in the fifteen-race season for the tour.
Defending series champion Doug Coby was riding a wave of momentum into the race with wins in the first two events at the track this season. Points leader Ryan Preece, who claimed his first win at Thompson in the series during last year’s World Series weekend, looked to continue his own momentum riding a slim four point lead over Woody Pitkat in the series points standings into the night.
Coby would pace the field in the early portion of the race, taking the lead fifteen laps into the event and not relinquishing it until pitting after the caution came out on lap 85. Chase Dowling would inherit the front spot to lead his first ever laps in the series after avoiding pit road, but would lose the lead on the restart after Coby and Ted Christopher, who came off pit road first and second respectively, made quick work of Dowling on the restart. Coby, however, was black flagged for jumping the restart, sending him down pit road for a penalty and giving Christopher the lead when the caution flag waved again on lap 95.
That would not be the end of the drama for the night. While Christopher would go on to lead a handful of laps he would find himself turned in turn four after contact with second place Woody Pitkat, bringing out the caution and giving Pitkat the lead.
Some questioned why Pitkat was not black flagged for wrecking the leader as it was officially deemed a racing incident, and after the race he commented on the incident and said it was pure hard racing. “Obviously NASCAR and the tour is not here every week to see his line. He has that weird line where it’s actually on the bottom and then he lets it roll off into the center in the middle and drive off and make the straightaway as long as he can,” he said. “It works for him, that’s his line, but when his entry is on the bottom and you enter on the top and try to get that run and turn the center and try to get that run underneath him you get that run off the corner and drag race off the straightaway now your entry is on the bottom. He takes that away from you. So what are you going to do? When you get a run and he tries to chop you, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Pitkat would hold the lead while Coby aggressively worked his way to the top five, which put him in perfect position for a dramatic finish after another caution set up a restart with less than ten laps to go. Cody took advantage of a great restart, pushing Pitkat to the front but getting him loose and taking the lead all within a lap. Coby would run away with the lead pulling off a sweep of the first three races of the season at Thompson, a feat last accomplished in 1998, and claiming an unlikely victory in the face of adversity.
Pitkat held on for a second place finish and took over the series points lead. After the race he said he was frustrated with the contact between himself and Coby that resulted in Coby taking the lead and the win. “If it stayed green there I didn’t think he had something for us. Then we got going and he gave me a good push down the front straightaway,” said Pitkat. “I cleared Todd (Szegedy), but I don’t know where (Coby) came from. I don’t know how he got that run off of two to be able to go underneath me. If he was that fast he should have been able to pass me clean is what I think. He just sailed down into turn three and used me as the wall to turn his car. I don’t think he even turned his car. He used me and drove off – We’ll just put that in the memory bank and move on and remember that when we’re racing him.”
Coby said he did not regret his move to win the race and called it hard racing for a win he felt he deserved despite the penalty. “You know what I got knocked around by everybody at Stafford and we had to battle back and finished second. Woody was the only car that I touched tonight and I wasn’t going to lose. That’s how it works. We had the fastest car. They knew we had the fastest car so they can be as upset as they want but we’re fired up and ready to go,” Said Coby.
He also commented on the black flag situation and felt it was questionable at best. “I couldn’t have given the lead back because (Dowling) was eighth in one lap so I don’t understand. Usually when we’re all racing the second place guy gets a jump and the first place guy is within striking distance so you just roll out of the gas. It kind of seemed like it took them three or four laps to decide what they wanted to do and I was cleared by five at that point. I don’t know what I could have done. I don’t really care at this point because we still won, but it’s just so questionable,” he said.
The evening began with the Late Model series, which resulted in a hard fought win for Jeff Rocco as William Wall and Rocco’s brother Keith Rocco spent much of the race neck and neck for the number two spot. Jeff Rocco won the race handily after relinquishing the lead nine laps into the event with Keith Rocco finishing second and Wall, seeking his first win in the series, settled for a third place finish. Despite a bad start to the race points leader Brian Tagg recovered for a fourth place finish,
After the win Jeff Rocco talked about his victory and said that he will be donating all of the earning from his victory to the family of young Chase Bennett through the Race for Chase campaign to help support the 3-year-old in his fight against leukemia. “This team never quits. Just because we won the last one doesn’t mean we go home and do nothing. We did our homework and I’ll tell you this car was awesome on the long run,” said Rocco who said it was a team decision to give his winnings to a good cause. “I talked it over with my car owner. He’s a class act. It just goes to show how close this racing community is. A friend of ours has a son who was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this week and we want to take the whole check and give it right to them. Maybe some of our competitors will do the same.”
The Monster Mini Stocks were next with points leader Dave Trudeau showcasing an impressive performance with a hard fought win, extending his points lead and dominating much of the race.
Trudeau moved his way through the field methodically for the first few laps, eventually taking the lead from Eric Bourgeois on lap seven after posting his fastest lap of the night. Bourgeois kept his cool and gave Trudeau a run for his money for the remainder of the race, but in the end Trudeau was able to maintain his position and take the checkered flag.
“We worked at it all day. The car was fast when we unloaded. We made a couple of minor adjustments. We were worried about the (Whelen Modified) Tour being here with the rubber on the track but it all worked out. It was awesome. We had a lot of fun,” said Trudeau.
The Sunoco Modified Series saw a trio of familiar names run up front as Ryan Preece, Woody Pitkat and Keith Rocco finished first through third respectively with strong showings all around. Preece took the lead early while Pitkat and Rocco worked their way up from outside the top five and took advantage of their well handling cars and a few cautions to move their way through the field.
Preece said he used the opportunity to race in the Sunoco Modified prior to the Whelen Modified Race by trying different grooves on the racetrack and was happy to come away with the win. “I didn’t know which lane to go on the restart and as racers we try to play games. I just knew what was on the top and then on the bottom it was just a little bit of contact going into three there, and then I don’t know if it knocked the toe in but it just really snugged my car quite a bit there. I was happy we didn’t have any cautions because I know those guys were pretty good behind me – We’re just happy it went green to the end and we were able to pull that win off.”
The NEMA Midgets put on quite a show of their own in the Angelillo Memorial race, ending with John Zych, Jr. claiming his third victory of the season. Randy Cabrel dominated much of the early part of the race after an early caution gave him the lead, but it would be after a second caution that he would lose the lead to a hard charging Zych.
Zych would survive yet another caution with five laps to go and hold off Cabrel, who made several hard fought pass attempts in the matter of three laps, to claim the win.
The Xtramart Limited Sportsman Series finished off the 2015 triple crown series of races at Thompson with the penultimate race of the night and a huge comeback victory for Corey Hutchings, who recovered from an early spin after starting in the back of the field to win the race.
Hutchings took advantage of a series of cautions, including a massive incident on the front stretch on a restart with sixteen laps remaining, to work his way back to the front and claim the win. Hutchins took the lead after the third caution and survived one more caution before taking home the trophy.
After his win Hutchings talked about his up and down night. “I’d rather be lucky than good and in racing you’ve got to be lucky. That was my race. That big pileup on the front stretch I did a bonsai through the grass, made it through, got some track position and the rest was history from there.”
Next up for Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park is the Sunoco Modified Double Feature & Mini Triple Crown Race on August 26th celebrating the Pepsi Back to School Night. The Whelen Modified Tour will next hit the track at Bristol for the Bush’s Beans 150 on August 19th.
LATE MODELS (TOP-10): 1. Jeff Rocco (Wallingford, CT); 2. Keith Rocco (Berlin, CT); 3. William Wall (Shrewsbury, MA); 4. Brian Tagg (Oxford, MA); 5. Ernest LaRose (Moosup, CT); 6. Rick Gentes (Burrillville, RI); 7. Jeff Smith (Old Lyme, CT);8. Glen Boss (Danielson, CT); 9. Joe Curioso (Mystic, CT); 10. Buddy Charette
MONSTER MINI STOCK (TOP-10): 1. Dave Trudeau (Mansfield, CT); 2. Eric Bourgeois (East Haddam, CT); 3. Nick Matera (Warwick, RI); 4. Joe Baxter (Pascoag, RI); 5. Ed Field (Deep River, CT); 6. Scott Michalski (S. Killingly, CT); 7. Christopher Viens (Putnam, CT); 8. Steve Michalski (Brooklyn, CT); 9. Mike D. Veins (Putnam, CT); 10. Robert Ducharme (Glendale, RI)
SUNOCO MODIFIED (TOP-10): 1. Ryan Preece (Berlin, CT); 2. Woody Pitkat (Sturbridge, MA); 3. Keith Rocco (Berlin, CT); 4. Kerry Malone (Needham, MA); 5. Bert Marvin (Colchester, CT); 6. Ryan Morgan (Mystic, CT); 7. John Studley (Framingham, MA); 8. Cam McDermott (Scituate, RI); 9. John Catania (Agawam, MA); 10. Andrew Charron (E. Greenwich, RI)
NEMA MIDGETS (TOP-10): 1. John Zych, Jr (Mendon, MA); 2. Randy Cabral (Kingston, MA); 3. Jim Chambers (Atkinson, NH); 4. Avery Stoehr (Lakeville, MA); 5. Todd Bertrand (Danielson, CT); 6. Seth Carlson (Brimfield, CT); 7. Alan Chambers (Atkinson, NH); 8. Bethany Stoehr (Bridgewater, MA); 9. Russ Stoehr (Lakeville, MA); 10. Bobby Santos, III (Franklin, MA)
XTRAMART LIMITED SPORTSMAN (TOP-10): 1. Corey Hutchings (Salem, CT); 2. Larry Barnett (Moosup, CT); 3. Jesse Gleason (Lisbon, CT); 4. Ed Puleo (West Haven, CT); 5. Scott Sundeen (Sutton, MA); 6. Chris Meyer (Norwich, CT); 7. Joshua Wood (Palmer, MA); 8. Tommy Shea Sr. (New London, CT); 9. Brent Gleason (Lisbon, CT); 10. Todd Dean (Danielson, CT)
NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR BUD “KING OF BEERS” 150 (TOP-10): 1. Doug Coby (Milford, CT); 2. Woody Pitkat (Stafford, CT); 3. Todd Szegedy (Ridgefield, CT); 4. Eric Goodale (Riverhead, NY); 5. Donny Lia (Jericho, NY); 6. Ryan Preece (Berlin, CT); 7. Patrick Emerling (Orchard Park, NY); 8. Justin Bonsignore (Holtsville, NY); 9. Ted Christopher (Plainville, CT); 10. Timmy Solomito (Islip, NY)
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