Doug Coby Secures Sixth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Title at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Class Act !

Coby celebrates at the Bud 150

Posted by Wayne G. Barber & Photos by Wayne G. Barber

The main event brought the drivers of the Whelen Modified Tour front and center for one final time in 2019 for their season-ending Sunoco World Series 150.

Two champions sought to claim the title in the main feature at a track where both had seen great success in the past. Five-time champion Doug Coby carried a 19-point lead over defending champion Justin Bonsignore and needed a fourteenth-place finish to guarantee himself another title regardless of what Bonsignore did. Bonsignore, on the other hand, knew that the only way he could control his own destiny was to win and hope that something went wrong for Coby.

Bonsignore almost got his wish, as Coby suffered tire issues in the opening laps causing him to pit and be mired back in traffic. Coby worked his way methodically through the field, eventually entering the top ten by lap 115, while Bonsignore led most of the race and survived a late-race challenge from Ron Silk to claim is seventh Thompson win in the last eight races. With his top-ten finish, Coby wrapped up his sixth title, putting him second all-time behind the late Mike Stefanik.

“This is really tough to do. It’s hard to win one championship and then it’s hard to win two and then to keep doing what these guys do with preparation, the shop and the dedication, the days away from the family, the work days to fly to places and drive to places. This isn’t easy to do. It’s a special feeling to win a race on this tour and to win a championship, let alone six,” Coby said. He later said he cherishes each win and each title as if it were his last victory. 

“Nothing is given in this sport. (This title) is well earned by my team, I’ll tell you that much.”

Justin Bonsignore celebrated a victory, his series leading sixth of the season, but lamented on what could have been had they started the season with a better result right out of the gate. “We spotted them way too many points in the beginning of the year and they’re way to good of a team to give that big of a lead. I’m really proud of our effort,” Bonsignore said. “We didn’t get the championship, but we backed up eight wins last year with six wins this year, so I’m really proud of my whole team.” 

Ron Silk, Matt Swanson, Bobby Santos, III, and Woody Pitkat rounded out the top five. Coby finished seventh.

Source: Kyle Souza Thompson Speedway Media Press Release.

1	Doug Coby	16	4	10	15	8	2616	780	0	2.8	4.6	16	1434.16	15	661
2	Justin Bonsignore	16	6	10	13	2	2555	603	0	3.4	5.4	14	1409.82	13	653	-8
3	Ron Silk	16	3	10	12	0	2579	121	0	7.7	7.6	15	1399.43	12	599	-62
4	Craig Lutz	16	1	9	12	1	2500	195	0	11.6	8.1	15	1394.39	13	585	-76
5	Matt Swanson	16	0	4	9	0	2451	14	0	10.2	11.6	14	1352.45	11	522	-139
6	Eric Goodale	16	0	2	9	0	2471	26	0	14.1	11.8	13	1359.19	10	518	-143
7	Timmy Solomito	16	0	4	8	0	2478	85	0	12.1	12.1	14	1380.46	11	513	-148
8	Patrick Emerling	16	0	3	10	0	2303	10	0	9.2	13.9	11	1233.75	10	484	-177
9	Chris Pasteryak	16	0	1	5	1	2422	19	0	10.2	13.9	14	1333.92	11	483	-178
10	Blake Barney	16	0	1	2	0	2573	0	0	19.5	15.1	15	1411.44	7	463	-198
11	Tommy Catalano	16	0	0	4	1	2413	70	0	12.1	15.7	14	1245.17	10	457	-204
12	Woody Pitkat	14	1	2	6	0	2173	3	0	18.1	12.1	13	1198.29	10	451	-210
13	Rob Summers	16	0	1	4	1	2011	89	0	11.8	17.6	12	1187.47	7	425	-236
14	Sam Rameau	16	0	0	3	0	2058	0	0	18.1	17.8	12	1222.60	7	419	-242
15	J.B. Fortin	15	0	0	1	0	2285	0	0	25.3	19.3	12	1230.00	3	371	-290
16	Wade Cole	16	0	0	0	0	2486	0	0	27.3	21.2	15	1364.92	1	363	-298
17	Timmy Catalano	16	0	1	1	0	2014	9	0	24.2	21.6	10	1098.26	3	360	-301
18	Jimmy Blewett	11	0	2	5	0	1609	0	0	15.2	12.5	10	792.37	5	346	-315
19	Calvin Carroll	16	0	0	0	0	1878	0	0	21.4	23.8	9	1081.84	0	323	-338
20	Jon McKennedy	8	0	5	5	1	1243	183	0	6.6	8.0	8	864.77	6	295	-366
21	Chase Dowling	9	0	2	5	0	1380	80	0	8.1	12.2	7	857.23	5	289	-372
22	Ken Heagy	13	0	0	1	0	1563	0	0	24.0	22.7	9	876.88	1	278	-383
23	Melissa Fifield	15	0	0	0	0	1108	0	0	29.1	27.6	2	626.65	0	261	-400
24	Bobby Santos III	7	1	3	5	0	1097	19	0	5.0	10.3	5	796.93	4	241	-420
25	Kyle Bonsignore	8	0	1	1	0	1187	0	0	13.1	16.5	7	640.87	4	220	-441
26	Anthony Nocella	10	0	0	2	0	1206	0	0	11.8	22.5	5	736.14	3	215	-446
27	Kyle Ellwood	9	0	0	0	0	1064	0	0	26.9	22.6	6	553.19	1	208	-453
28	Burt Myers	5	0	2	4	0	808	73	0	10.0	8.2	4	557.35	4	181	-480
29	Andrew Krause	7	0	0	2	1	807	39	0	10.6	18.6	4	466.60	3	180	-481
30	Chuck Hossfeld	5	0	2	3	0	905	0	0	14.4	9.4	5	577.87	4	173	-488