Preece Scores Comeback Whelen Mod Win At Riverhead

Ryan Preece scored the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway. Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for NASCAR

Ryan Preece is officially on a roll. The young driver scored his third consecutive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win of the season Saturday night in the Hoosier Tire 200 at Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, NY.

The 21-year-old from Berlin, CN, began the race on the front row and was able to overtake pole winner Ron Silk on lap 44. Things took a turn for the worse for Preece, Silk and other race leaders, however, when Preece had a tire go down on lap 95 that collected the frontrunners. But for the second time in three weeks, Preece was able to charge through the field to victory.

In the later stages of the event, Ted Christopher looked to have a trip to victory lane well in hand, but a caution brought Preece alongside for a restart on lap 195. On that restart, Christopher was turned coming out of turn 4 into the infield and Preece was found himself back at the front once again, where he was able to hold on through a green-white-checkered finish for his eighth career triumph.

Eric Goodale crossed the finish line second with John Beatty Jr. third. Shawn Solomito and Mike Stefanik rounded out the top five finishers in the first of two events on the 2013 schedule at the Long Island bullring.

Woody Pitkat, Ken Heagy, Frank Vigliarolo Jr., Bryon Chew and Ed Flemke Jr. completed the top 10.

With the win, Preece became the first Whelen Modified Tour driver to win three races in a row since Christopher did it spanning the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He’s the first driver to pull the feat off in the same season since Donny Lia did it in 2007.

“This is a career high for me and it definitely seems like I’ve been having a heck of a month, but I know it can change as quick as it can come, so I’m just riding the wave and having a lot of fun,” Preece said. “Hopefully we can keep winning races.”

Saturday also marked the second consecutive Whelen Modified Tour victory for Preece at Riverhead. He also won in the tour’s lone trip to the track last season. It’s Preece’s third career victory overall at Riverhead.

Despite having significant sheet metal damage following the lap 95 accident, Preece credited an adjustment his crew chief Stan Szaban made when they came to pit to change the flat tire as a key to his comeback.

“He loosened me up a little bit and we could really make the outside work,” Preece said. “I had a ton of fun here at Riverhead. I really like quarter miles – I don’t really like coming from the back – but it seems to be a habit lately.”

Preece wound up with a race-high 64 laps led. He’s won all three Whelen Modified Tour races since he was named to the NASCAR Next driver roster in early June.

The Riverhead native Goodale’s runner-up effort was the best result of his 64 career Whelen Modified Tour starts. Weekly Riverhead competitors Beatty and Solomito had their best tour finishes as well in third and fourth, respectively. In fact, it was the first tour start for Beatty, who led 42 laps.

“He (Preece) was pretty good,” Goodale said. “I just couldn’t get any help down there on the bottom, I needed to be running by myself down there to have anything for him.”

Earlier in the evening Silk captured his eighth career Coors Light Pole Award and went on to lead the first 43 laps in the event.
Reigning Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby had less luck in pole qualifying, however, as the throttle stuck on his No. 52 and he hit the wall at speed in Turn 1 following his second lap. Coby was not able to start the race and was scored in last place.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will race next in the Town Fair Tire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 13.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Riverhead Raceway – Riverhead, NY
Hoosier Tire 200 – June 29, 2013

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	2	16	Ryan Preece	East West Marine/Sophie’s Rest Ford	207	48	5	Running
2	4	58	Eric Goodale	Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet	207	42		Running
3	5	14	John Beatty, Jr.	Freeport Collision/N. Shore Rcyclg. Chevrolet	207	42	1	Running
4	8	89	Shawn Solomito *	Cystic Fibrosis Foundation/Acme Sanitary Chevrolet	207	40		Running
5	21	22	Mike Stefanik	Robert B Our Co/Canto & Sons Paving Ford	207	39		Running
6	19	79	Woody Pitkat	Hill Enterprises/Coors Light Pontiac	207	38		Running
7	26	18	Ken Heagy	Buoy One Seafood/ Mehner Racing Chevrolet	207	37		Running
8	16	5	Frank Vigliarolo, Jr.	Frankie’s Towing Chevrolet	207	36		Running
9	18	88	Bryon Chew	Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East Chevrolet	207	35		Running
10	22	28	Ed Flemke, Jr.	Ron Bouchard’s Auto Stores Chevrolet	207	34		Running
11	13	93	Rowan Pennink	Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet	207	33		Running
12	6	44	Matt Hirschman	Tinio Racing/Brendan Kelley Music Chevrolet	206	32		Running
13	24	99	Jamie Tomaino	Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet	206	31		Running
14	25	73	Cole Powell *	Copps BuildAll/Dr. Jackie Smiles Chevrolet	206	30		Running
15	3	4	Donny Lia	Circle Track Magazine Dodge	205	29		Running
16	15	46	Eric Berndt	Cape Cod Aggts/North End Auto Parts Chevrolet	205	28		Running
17	27	33	Wade Cole	Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil,/Ryan’s Chevrolet	205	27		Running
18	11	3	Ted Christopher	Silver Dollar Const/Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet	200	27	1	Running
19	14	2	Todd Szegedy	Delicacies Gourmet/Dunleavy Repair Ford	181	25		Running
20	1	6	Ron Silk	TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet	179	25	1	Running
21	23	64	Ron Yuhas, Jr.	Fast Track Electric/Hughes Motors Chevrolet	117	23		Running
22	28	26	Gary McDonald	Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric Pontiac	112	22		Running
23	9	15	Timmy Solomito	Eastport Feeds/LLL Industries Chevrolet	97	21		Overheating
24	10	51	Justin Bonsignore	M3 Technology Chevrolet	93	20		Suspension
25	17	98	David Brigati	JDL Environmental/Oval Speed Chevrolet	52	19		Throttle
26	20	07	Patrick Emerling	Emerling Chevrolet Dealership Chevrolet	49	18		Mechanical
27	12	13	David Roys *	Angela’s House Chevrolet	29	17		Accident
28	7	52	Doug Coby	Red Roof Inn/Seekonk Grand Prix Chevrolet	0	16		DNS

Of the 7 cialis sale uk broad categories resulting in nerve dysfunction only one – direct physical pressure – is properly referred to as a pinched nerve. buy levitra canada This component can now be found in Kamagra too. All of them are made by the various levitra without prescription downtownsault.org companies and thus named likewise. Few people are doubtful about the effects wholesale sildenafil of these medicines.