Nine Poles in 2016 for Doug Coby.
Story By: JASON CHRISTLEY / NASCAR MEDIA
Photos By:RACERSGUIDE.COM PHOTO STAFF
STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. —October 9, 2016- It couldn’t be scripted any better.
Sunday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour NAPA Fall Final 150 will be the penultimate race in the 2016 championship chase. And the two drivers that are battling it out for the title trophy will bring the field to green on the front row for the main event throwdown in Stafford.
Doug Coby captured his ninth pole award of the 2016 season and his fifth consecutive at Stafford Motor Speedway behind the wheel of his Dunleavy Truck and Trailer Repair No. 2 on Saturday. Coby posted a fast lap of 18.607 seconds early on in the session and was never touched from there on out.
But his championship contender Justin Bonsignore came close.
With a time of 18.651 seconds, Bonsignore locked down the outside pole position with his Phoenix Communications, M3 Technology No. 51.
“They (Bonsignore’s team) picked up their game, certainly qualifying second is really good for them here, they are probably really happy with that,” Coby said. “It just shows how good they have been the last eight or nine races, they really have gotten their act together. Fortunately for us we still have our act together. I know they are on the up and winning races, but we certainly are not on the down.”
Coby will be searching his third Stafford win of the 2016 season on Sunday. (Kyle Souza photo)
Bonsignore knows that it’s not going to be easy to close the 13 point advantage Coby has in the championship chase with just two races remaining, but he is confident that the team has brought a solid piece to the track.
“We know we are in a position where we have to win both races left this year,” Bonsignore said. “We came back with the same thing we ran with at Loudon which was a huge improvement for our team. We discussed last week before the rain-out that we had to do something different. If we are going to go down, we’re going to go down fighting.”
Ron Silk, who has one feature win in 2016 at New London-Waterford Speedbowl in May, qualified third with his Danny Watts owned No. 82. Donny Lia and Jimmy Blewett rounded out the top five.
Behind them, Woody Pitkat, Rowan Pennink, Bobby Santos, Chase Dowling and Shawn Solomito completed the top 10 qualifying positions for Sunday’s 150 lap feature race.
On Sunday, the NAPA Fall Final 150 is slated to go green at approximately 3 p.m.
