NASCAR Whelen Tour Modifed Results Thompson Speedway Ct.

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber   

Thompson, CT — Miller Place, NY’s Craig Lutz ended the 2020 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season on the highest of highs with his second win of the year at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Sunday, October 11. Lutz swiped the lead from Jon McKennedy with seven laps remaining and hung on to win the 150-lap event at the 58^th Annual Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing as Holtsville, NY’s Justin Bonsignore secured his second series championship.

 

The 26-year-old Lutz earned his fourth career Whelen Modified Tour win and first at the historic Thompson Speedway. For the 32-year-old Bonsignore, the title was the capstone on a 2020 season where he finished no worse than fifth at any event.

 

Six-time champion Doug Coby, who was the only driver who could catch Bonsignore entering the Sunoco World Series, started on the pole and led the first 30 laps. Chelmsford, MA’s McKennedy then surged ahead of him entering turn three and paced the field unto the fourth caution flag at lap 73 for Dave Sapienza’s spin.

 

Nearly all the lead lap cars chose to pit for right side tires at that point with Andover, NJ’s Calvin Carroll assuming the lead by staying out. Following another yellow on the restart for a Ronnie Wiliams spin, Norwalk, CT’s Ron Silk sliced to the lead for a circuit before Bonsignore then blasted to the lead on lap 88.

 

The championship was then decided on a lap-97 restart. Silk eagerly leapt to the lead while Lutz tried to move around Bonsignore for second entering turn three. The duo wiggled, Kyle Bonsignore checked up, and the accordion effect ended with Coby in the turn-four wall, which put an end to his day. Since the lap wasn’t completed, Bonsignore went back to the lead by rule, and Silk was assessed a pass-through penalty for jumping the start.

 

Lutz successfully overtook Bonsignore on the next green flag and paced the field until caution number nine. It was McKennedy who got the jump on the lap-138 restart for his second stint at the front. Sapienza pounded the turn-one wall a lap later for the 10^th and final yellow. Lutz took advantage of his second chance, putting a crossover move on McKennedy out of turn two and wrestling the lead back with six laps to go.

 

McKennedy had time to take another shot, and with three laps to go, he backed off entering turn three to set up a potential slingshot off turn four. But Silk, who had steadily driven back to third after serving his penalty, got into the back of McKennedy. The contact threw McKennedy off just enough for Lutz to get away for the victory.

 

Justin Bonsignore finished fourth to officially clinch his second Whelen Modified Tour title in the last three years. His cousin Kyle was right behind him in fifth. Sam Remeau took sixth while Woody Pitkat came back from a mid-race flat tire to finish seventh. Carroll, Patrick Emerling, and Tyler Rypkema completed the top-10.Source: Kyle Souza Media and Track Photo and Nascar Hometracks

1	5	46	Craig Lutz	Riverhead Building Supply   (Russell Goodale)	Chevrolet	150	running	42	47
2	8	7	Jon McKennedy	Ultra Wheel   (Tommy Baldwin)	Chevrolet	150	running	51	44
3	9	85	Ron Silk	Stuart's Automotive   (Kevin Stuart)	Chevrolet	150	running	3	42
4	3	51	Justin Bonsignore	Phoenix Communications Inc.   (Ken Massa)	Chevrolet	150	running	14	41
5	14	22	Kyle Bonsignore	Chalew Performance / Munn's Auto   (Kyle Bonsignore)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	39
6	21	06	Sam Rameau	Central Mass Tree   (Randy Rameau)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	38
7	7	1	Woody Pitkat	Dunleavy's Truck & Trailer / Gunsmoke Stables   (Eddie Harvey)	Ford	150	running	0	37
8	22	25	Calvin Carroll	Power with Prestige / Cruising with Betty   (Joe Carroll)	Chevrolet	150	running	10	37
9	2	07	Patrick Emerling	Emerling Motorsports   (Jennifer Emerling)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	35
10	19	32	Tyler Rypkema *	Nelcorp   (Dean Rypkema)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	34
11	12	3	Matt Swanson	USNE / Propane Plus / Cervalo's Auto   (Jan Boehler)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	33
12	15	82	Anthony Nocella	Nocella Paving, Reclamation & Grading   (Danny Watts Jr.)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	32
13	6	75	Chris Pasteryak	Dawley's Collision & Custom   (Charles Pasteryak)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	31
14	25	64	Rob Summers	Lumiere / Dell Electric / Rocky's Plumbing   (Mike Murphy)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	30
15	24	78	Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.	Last Minute Racing   (Steven Sutcliffe)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	29
16	20	18	Ken Heagy	Buoy One Seafood   (Robert Pollifrone)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	28
17	4	50	Ronnie Williams	Empower Financial Advisory / RB Enterprises   (Paul Les)	Ford	150	running	0	27
18	26	30	Gary Byington *	Hudson Speedway / Sunoco   (Gary Byington)	Chevrolet	150	running	0	26
19	11	36	Dave Sapienza	Sapienza Racing   (Judy Thilburg)	Chevrolet	139	crash	0	25
20	27	01	Melissa Fifield	Pine Knoll Auto Sales   (Kenneth Fifield)	Chevrolet	117	handling	0	24
21	23	14	Cory Osland *	Keith Grimes Excavating   (Brian Midgett)	Chevrolet	114	crash	0	23
22	1	10	Doug Coby	Mayhew Tools   (Philip Moran)	Chevrolet	97	crash	30	23
23	18	54	Tommy Catalano	FX Caprara   (Zach Reissner)	Chevrolet	93	suspension	0	21
24	17	59	Andy Jankowiak	BNP Machine   (Steve Mendoza)	Chevrolet	75	handling	0	20
25	16	2	Chuck Hossfeld	Gershow Recycling   (Joe Bertuccio, Sr.)	Chevrolet	42	crash	0	19
26	13	66	Timmy Solomito	Flamingo Motorsports / East West Marine   (Jerry Solomito)	Chevrolet	42	crash	0	18
27	10	58	Eric Goodale	GAF Roofing   (Edgar Goodale)	Chevrolet	22	cras

Keith Rocco 18th Career Division 1 Championship

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber &  Photo at Bud 15 Thompson Speedway

In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Matt Vassar took the early at the green flag with Tyler Leary right behind him in second.  Ronnie Williams was on the charge, going from fifth to second on lap-3.  Michael Gervais, Jr. followed Williams by Leary to take third on lap-3 with Keith Rocco taking fourth on lap-4 to drop Lear back to fifth in line.  Williams took to the outside lane and he powered his way by Vassar to take over the race lead on lap-5.  Vassar now had Gervais on his outside looking to take second with Rocco right behind Gervais and Chase Dowling and Leary side by side for fifth place. 

Rocco went around Gervais on lap-9 to take over second and he pulled to the inside of Williams on lap-10 as they raced into turn 1.  Rocco took the lead in turns 3+4 before the caution came out for a multi-car incident in turn 4 with 10 laps complete.

On the restart Rocco took the lead with Gervais and Williams side by side for second and Dowling and Michael Christopher, Jr. side by side for fourth behind them.  Williams emerged in second with Christopher third, Gervais fourth, and Dowling fifth as Rocco continued to hold the race lead.  Todd Owen was now side by side with Dowling for fifth place on lap-15 while Christopher, Jr. took a look to the outside of Williams on lap-17.  Christopher completed his pass for second on lap-18 while Owen took fifth from Dowling and was now side by side with Gervais for fourth place.  Rocco was still in the lead with Christopher and Williams behind him. 

The order continued to shuffle on lap-23 as Owen took over third place behind Rocco and Christopher with Gervais in fourth, Dowling fifth, and Williams sixth.  With 10 laps to go, Rocco was still in the lead with Christopher giving chase from second.  Owen was third with Gervais, Dowling, and Williams behind him.

With 6 laps to go, Christopher was looking high and low for a way around Rocco and just as it looked like Christopher was ready to set up a move for the lead, the caution came out with 35 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Vassar.  Tony Membrino, Jr. was sent to the rear of the field for making contact with Vassar. 

Rocco took the lead on the restart while Christopher appeared to lock up his right front tire as he drifted up the track in turn 1 and he fell back to third in line as Owen took over second.  Gervais spun in turn 2 to bring the caution back out with 36 laps complete and Dowling was sent to the rear of the field for making contact with Gervais.

Leary spun on the restart to bring the caution right back out and Teddy Hodgdon was sent to the rear for making contact with Leary.  The next restart saw Owen go 3-wide with Rocco and Christopher to take over the lead but Vassar spun in the middle of turns 3+4 to bring the caution back out before a lap could be completed and put Rocco back in the lead for the next restart.

Owen took the lead from Rocco but Rocco came right back to Owen’s inside and went back to the front on lap-38.  With 2 laps to go Rocco and Owen were side by side but Rocco got clear of Owen as they dame to the white flag.  Christopher was third in line with Williams and Narducci side by side for fourth.  Christopher shot from third to the lead as the leaders raced through turn 2 on the final lap and he held off the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the 2020 season in spectacular fashion.  Williams came through to take second behind Christopher with Rocco, Narducci, and Owen rounding out the top-5.  Rocco’s third place finish was good enough to make him the 2020 SK Modified® track champion.  Rocco’s title was his fourth SK Modified® crown at Stafford and it is his 18^th career NASCAR Weekly Series Division 1 track championship, setting a NASCAR record by breaking a tie he held with Joe Kosiski.

SK MODIFIED® (40)

1) Michael Christopher, Jr., Wolcott

2) Ronnie Williams, Tolland

3) Keith Rocco, Berlin

4) Bryan Narducci, Colchester

5) Todd Owen, Somers

6) David Arute, Stafford Springs

7) Troy Talman, Oxford, MA

8) Andrew Molleur, Shelton

9) Cory DiMatteo, Farmington

10) Marcello Rufrano, North Haven

11) Michael Gervais, Jr., Wolcott

12) Chase Dowling, Roxbury

13) Tom Bolles, Ellington

14) Tyler Leary, Hatfield, MA

15) Chris Viens, Putnam

16) Tony Membrino, Jr., Wolcott

17) Matt Vassar, Plantsville

18) Tyler Hines, North Haven

19) Jeff Malave, Manchester

20) Matt Galko, Meriden

21) Teddy Hodgdon, Danbury

22) P.J. Peters, Oxford

23) D.J. Burnham, East Hartford

24) Noah Korner, Canton