Race Chatter on WNRI.COM, 99.9 fm, 1380 am, Tune in radio, Alexa, Apple, Echo,Etc.: Valenti Modified, Steve Masse dominates at Seekonk Speedway 06-07-2014

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Valenti Modified, Steve Masse dominates at Seekonk Speedway 06-07-2014

I interviewed Bellingham, Massachusetts native Steve Masse driver of the Black (Darth Vader) Valenti Modified #13 after his practice laps and he told me he thought he had a top 5 car tonight .The 25 year old Masse then went out and won his heat race in the ten car field. Thirty race cars showed up for the 24 starting spots from all over the eastern seaboard which makes the heats very competitive.
Well the parity continued with 5 different winners in 5 Races. #68 Keith Rocco,#25 Rowan Pennick, #99 Richard Savory,#9 Tommy Barrette and now #13 Steve Masse
The first casualty was the 5th place race car Jeff Rocco in the standings , loading back up on the trailer with oil pressure problems. A lot of points at stake in a 17 race schedule.
With the breakdowns and spin outs the final consolation modified race was turning out to be a barn burner. Still last years Division Champion # 25 Rowan Pennick and #99 Richard Savory were still not in the show. They started in the rear and had to move up quickly or go home. Pennick had body panels missing and still rose like fine cream to the top. Savory had to get a provisional to make the show. No field fillers in this touring group. The track elected to run the three regular weekly divisions go out first before the 100 lap feature modified race. Steve Masse took 1 lap to get and hold the lead during the cautions and showed a lot of maturity in the restarts. I thought the real race was for second and third. #21 Justine Bonsignore who had the great run at Thompson Speedway at the Icebreaker was on a mission and #53 Norm Wrenn used every trick up his sleeves to battle back. Justine Bonsignore also racked up a second place in the Whelan Tour race Friday night at Stafford Speedway for a very good weekend. Farther back in the star studded field # 25 Pennick and #92 Anthony Nocella were putting on a clinic slicing and dicing through the field. It looked like a sure top five for both of them. With 5 laps to go #95 someone checked up and when the dust and grass settled the two who worked so hard were still running but both lost valuable track positions.
This is Masse's 8th career victory in the Series which breaks a tie with Dwight Jarvis and Lou Mechalides for fifth on the Valenti Modified Racing Series all time list. I think he last win was on August 30,2013 at Stafford Springs, Conn.
Looking at the entire race, snapping photos and talking with other racing reporters, it was agreed that this is truly the best Modified Division in the Country at this time. The last two years it has won the best award from speed51.com in a fan vote on their web-site.
I thought one of the best performances of the event was by #85 Todd Szegedy who nailed down a hard fought 6th place finish. Even though Masse would appear dominated the race by the final box score it was clearly many different races going on all around the track by this talented group of pure racers. One of the things that stand out in my mind is the amount of adrenalin that flows through the veins of these racers. When they take the helmet off and take that big sigh of fresh air before the exit out the window opening for the victory celebration. Look into their eyes and I think of all the past just misses to accomplish the rare feat for some of a holding of the Checkered Flag. On this night every winners hands were still shaking after they turned off the motor. Wayne

1--#13 Steve Masse
2 #21 Justine Bonsignore
3 #53 Norm Wrenn
4 # 20ct Max Zachem
5 # 5 Dave Schenieder
6 # 85 Todd Szegedy
7 #5ct Chris Pasteryak
8 #11 Geoff Gerhard
9 # #38 Mike Willis
10 # 46 Jonny Kay