Preece Wins Hoosier Tire 200 and 3rd Straight NWMT Event
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour came to Riverhead Raceway for the Hoosier Tire 200, the first of two NWMT events at Riverhead in 2013. A packed house saw an action-packed night with the Modifieds as well as 30 laps for the Blunderbusts and INEX Legends.
The night started off with time-trials for the Blunderbusts. Jimmy White Jr. put in the fastest time with a lap of 15.209 seconds. Paul Parisi had the second quickest time with a lap of 15.219 seconds. Afterwards the top eight redrew for their starting spots and it was Brian Brown who would start the race from the pole with Jack Handley Jr. to his outside.
The INEX Legends followed the Blunderbusts with time-trials of their own. Kevin Nowak had fast time with a lap of 13.976 seconds, and Paul Dodorico had the second fastest time with a lap of 13.992 seconds. The top eight did a redraw just like the Blunderbusts and it was Richie Davidowitz who drew the top spot. He started the race from the pole with Justin Strumpf alongside of him.
Finally the Modifieds took to the track to set the starting lineup for their 200-lap main event. Ron Silk was the last car to qualify, but he won the pole with a lap of 11.890 seconds. Ryan Preece qualified second with a lap of 11.919 seconds. The biggest moment in qualifying came when defending NWMT champion Doug Coby crashed hard in turn one. Coby had just completed his second lap when the throttle stuck on his no. 52 machine. He hit the turn one wall hard and knocked the right-front tire completely off the car. Coby was okay and he walked away from the incident. His second lap was good enough for fourth fastest at the time. Unfortunately for Coby he did not have a backup car and was not able to start the race.
The first feature of the night was the Blunderbust feature scheduled for 30-laps. Last week’s winner Jack Handley Jr. quickly went to the lead on just the second lap of the race. The only caution of the race came out on lap five when Paul Parisi smashed the turn two wall with the right-front of his no. 69 machine. Handley took off on the restart and cruised to his second straight victory, or so it appeared. After the race the win was taken away from Handley because he failed post-race technical inspection. The win was given to Jimmy White who said later that he hated winning that way.
“I hate it,” said White. “I didn’t win. It’s not a true win but I’ll take it though. I’ll take the points for it.”
The INEX Legends 30-lap feature followed the Blunderbusts and the winner got to take home $1,000. Richie Davidowitz started from the pole and led all 30 laps in what was a caution-free affair. Davidowitz had to hold off Paul Dodorico, Timmy Solomito, Kyle Ellwood and Justin Strumpf. The win was the first ever for Davidowitz.
“I can’t believe my first win is on tour night,” said Davidowitz,” and for $1,000. I’m just speechless. I think we have a few more wins in us this year, but it took over a year to get the first one so who knows when we get the next one.”
The Hoosier Tire 200 went green just after 8 p.m. and it was Ron Silk who led the field to the green flag with Ryan Preece alongside. Preece was looking to become the first driver since Donny Lia in 2007 to win three straight NWMT races after winning at Stafford (Conn.) Speedway and the Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl the last two weeks. The first caution came out 10 laps in when Cole Powell spun on the backstretch. One of the biggest hits of the night came on lap 30 when David Roys nailed the backstretch wall so hard that his right-front tire came off the car.
The race restarted after a short red flag on lap 37 with Silk leading Preece, Donny Lia, Eric Goodale and John Beatty Jr. Silk jumped back out to the lead but Preece stayed right with him. After trying unsuccessfully to cross underneath of Silk exiting turn four, Preece was finally able to make the move work. He took the lead from Silk on lap 44, and Lia took advantage as well to move to second.
Lia tried to make a move for the lead on lap 80 in turn two, but instead he ended up bringing out the caution. He dove underneath Preece and the two made contact. Lia’s no. 4 “Mystic Missle” hopped over the left-front tire of Preece’s no. 16 and then spun out. A lot of damage was done to the left-rear of Preece’s car, but he was able to maintain his position as the leader.
On the ensuing restart on lap 93 Preece’s right-front tire blew and he went straight up the track in turn one and into Silk who was in fourth. A total of nine cars were involved including Preece, Silk, Justin Bonsignore, Lia, Eric Berndt, Matt Hirschman, Bryon Chew, Ron Yuhas, and Rowan Pennink. Bonsignore took heavy damage and was unable to return.
The caution moved Beatty to the lead with Timmy and Shawn Solomito right behind him. Unfortunately for Timmy Solomito his time at the front of the field was very short-lived. His no. 15 car started to overheat during the red flag and leak water. He was sent to the pits and did not return.
The race restarted on lap 107 with Beatty leading Shawn Solomito, Mike Stefanik, Frank Vigliarolo, and Ed Flemke Jr. The restart wasn’t great for Solomito, which let Stefanik quickly move his way into second place.
The yellow flag flew again just six laps later when Gary McDonald and Lia crashed just before the pit-entry gate in turn three. McDonald had heavy damage to the right front of his no. 26 machine and was unable to return to the race.
Ted Christopher spun early in the race and went a lap down but was able to battle back. He took the lead from Beatty on the outside on lap 138 and started to drive away. Todd Szegedy also made his way past Beatty and looked to chase down Christopher. They started to catch the tail-end of the field on lap 158 and battled hard for the lead while snaking their way through the lapped traffic.
Meanwhile, Preece was battling his way back to the front and made his way into third on lap 160. He was making moves around other drivers anywhere he could. He passed multiple cars on the outside before taking over third from Beatty on the inside.
With 19 laps to go, Szegedy made his move to the outside of Christopher in turn four but his right-front tire blew and he hit the wall hard.
“I went to the outside of him,” said Szegedy, “and we think it’s possible we blew a right front. Someone said I was sparking in one and two a bit. And then I went in to three and looked to go to the outside of Teddy. I don’t think we hit, but all of the sudden it was in the fence. It happened so quick I don’t even know what happened.”
The next restart came with six laps to go with Christopher leading and Preece now in second to his outside. Goodale, Beatty, and Stefanik rounded out the top five. Instantly the caution was back out when Christopher spun from the lead. It appeared that he spun the tires and then was spun by Goodale. Christopher spun into the infield and smashed the pace car’s right side doors. The impact did heavy damage to the Chevy Camaro pace car, and actually caused the air bags to deploy. The race was red-flagged for the third time so the track could find a backup pace car.
That led to a green-white-checkered finish with Preece leading Beatty, Goodale, Solomito and Stefanik. Preece got a great restart and took the victory. Goodale, Beatty, Solomito and Stefanik rounded out the top five.
The win is Preece’s third straight NWMT victory, and his second straight at Riverhead as he won last year’s event in September from the pole.
“We are definitely on a roll right now,” said Preece. “I don’t know what it is, but whenever I end up going to the back and have to drive to the front it just gives me that little bit of determination to get there. We were on a mission. We were hauling and going forward and I had a lot of fun.”
Eric Goodale had to make his way back to the front after he was scored lower than 20th place early in the race. He was able to make his way back to finish second place in front of his hometown crowd.
“I don’t agree with the call that put me way back there,” said Goodale. “But we didn’t get frustrated and just kind of hung out until that restart when everyone piled up in the fence. I was then able to restart like eighth and just keep wheeling in there. It was frustrating to be back there, but just kept a level head and kept passing cars as we were going. I’ll take the second and we will head on to New Hampshire.”
Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2146
NWMT Hoosier Tire 200 Results:
1. (2) Ryan Preece
2. (4) Eric Goodale
3. (5) John Beatty Jr.
4. (8) Shawn Solomito
5. (21) Mike Stefanik
6. (19) Woody Pitkat
7. (26) Ken Heagy
8. (16) Frank Vigliarolo Jr.
9. (18) Bryon Chew
10. (22) Ed Flemke Jr.
11. (13) Rowan Pennink
12. (6) Matt Hirschman
13. (24) Jamie Tomaino
14. (25) Cole Powell
15. (3) Donny Lia
16. (15) Eric Berndt
17. (27) Wade Cole
18. (11) Ted Christopher
19. (14) Todd Szegedy
20. (1) Ron Silk
21. (23) Ron Yuhas Jr.
22. (28) Gary McDonald
23. (9) Timmy Solomito
24. (10) Justin Bonsignore
25. (17) Dave Brigati
26. (20) Patrick Emerling
27. (12) David Roys
28. (DNS) Doug Coby
Blunderbusts Results:
1. (3) Jimmy White Jr.
2. (5) Tommy Walkowiak
3. (7) Tom Pickerell
4. (8) Scott Maliszewski
5. (1) Brian Brown
6. (6) William A. Wegmann
7. (15) Tom Puccia
8. (10) Justin Wahl
9. (12) Tim Mulqueen
10. (14) Bob Muller
11. (9) Tom Sullivan
12. Ron Langdon
13. (4) Paul Parisi
Legends Results:
1. (1) Richie Davidowitz
2. (5) Paul Dodorico
3. (7) Timmy Solomito
4. (3) Kyle Ellwood
5. (2) Justin Strumpf
6. (6) Kevin Nowak
7. (4) Vinny Delaney
8. (8) Greg Harris
9. (9) Kyle Soper
10. (11) Brendon Bock
11. (15) Brad Van Houten
12. (14) Johnnie Gloor
13. (10) Richie Coy
14. (12) Frank Scimeca Jr.
15. (16) Tom Sherman
16. (17) Dylan Slepian
17. (13) Christian Conklin
18. (19) Artie Pedersen III
19. (23) Anthony Marsh
20. (21) Bryan Kelly
21. (26) Eric Hersey
22. (20) Alex Urbina
23. (25) Joe Sedotto
24. (24) Mike Van Houten
25. (28) George Baker Jr.
26. (22) Rob McCormick
27. (27) Vincent Colletti
Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam