Preece Makes Late Push At Waterford For Whelen Mod Win

Ryan Preece celebrates after winning the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory Saturday night at Waterford Speedbowl. Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images for NASCAR

Same track, same race, same scenario, but this time Ryan Preece got the result he wanted as he powered to victory in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s Mr. Rooter 161 Saturday night at Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, CT.

A year ago in this event, it was Doug Coby who held off Preece on a green-white-checkered finish for the win. This time around, Preece was able to reverse the roles and celebrate in Waterford victory lane.

It was the second win in a span of eight days for the Whelen Modified Tour points leader, who won on June 14 at Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway. The Mr. Rooter 161 triumph was the seventh of his tour career and first at Waterford’s .375-mile oval.

Reigning tour champion Coby settled for second with Donny Lia in third followed by Justin Bonsignore and Bobby Santos. Todd Szegedy, Eric Goodale, Rowan Pennink, Ron Silk and Bryon Chew rounded out the top 10.

After getting by the pole sitter Szegedy on lap 102, Coby looked untouchable, and destined to repeat as the Mr. Rooter 161 winner. Navigating deftly through lap traffic, Coby had nearly a straightaway lead as the race wound down, but two late cautions set the stage for yet another green-white-checker scenario.

Meanwhile Preece, from Berlin, CT, ran near the front of the pack all evening, but was never quite able to find his way around race leaders Szegedy or Coby. That changed late, however, as a spin out by polesitter Szegedy on the 159th of 161 scheduled laps brought out a caution and set up the green-white-checkered finish.

On the restart Coby – who chose the outside lane on all of his restarts as the leader – slid just a bit and Preece got his best start, even beating Coby to the line by inches. The pair drag raced for the two ensuing laps that included some contact, but Preece was first to the finish line on the 166th and final circuit.

“All the restarts before Doug (Coby) was just killing me, I couldn’t get the drive up off,” said Preece, driver of the No. 16 East West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford. “But this one we just timed it right. It was unreal.

“I felt like I did everything I had to do to try and at least stay with him, because if I didn’t at least stay with him, he obviously would have probably won that race. If I had just sat there and finished second my team would have been disappointed in me and I would have been disappointed in myself, so just did everything I could.”

Coby was frustrated with the race finish, but took solace in the runner-up result being his best of the season.

“I should have beat him,” Coby said. “The 52 team had a stout car here tonight, the thing was on rails. I’m really happy for my guys, it’s our first top-five finish of the season, hopefully keep on a roll here and get some wins later on.”

It marked the second time in his Whelen Modified Tour career that Preece has won back-to-back races. He first accomplished the feat in 2009, winning at Riverhead (NY) Raceway and Stafford. The victory was also the 10th consecutive top-10 finish for the 21-year-old driver who is part of the NASCAR Next program.

With the victory Preece extended his season points lead to 17 over Pennink. The second-place finish for Coby moved him from sixth to third in points, 21 behind.

The Waterford stop was the fourth event on the 14-race tour schedule. Up next is the Hoosier Tire 200 at Riverhead on June 29.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Waterford Speedbowl – Waterford, CT
Mr. Rooter 161 – June 22, 2013

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	3	16	Ryan Preece	East West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford	166	47	4	Running
2	2	52	Doug Coby	Reynolds Auto Wrkg/Furnace & Duct Chevrolet	166	43	1	Running
3	15	4	Donny Lia	Circle Track Magazine Dodge	166	41		Running
4	5	51	Justin Bonsignore	M3 Technology Chevrolet	166	40		Running
5	4	44	Bobby Santos	Tinio Racing/Brendan Kelley Music Chevrolet	166	39		Running
6	1	2	Todd Szegedy	Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano Const Ford	166	40	2	Running
7	9	58	Eric Goodale	Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet	166	37		Running
8	11	93	Rowan Pennink	Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet	166	36		Running
9	10	6	Ron Silk	T S Haulers/ Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet	166	35		Running
10	8	88	Bryon Chew	Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East Chevrolet	166	34		Running
11	20	22	Mike Stefanik	Robert B Our Co/Canto & Sons Paving Chevrolet	166	33		Running
12	21	76	Jimmy Blewett	John Blewett Inc./Ling Trucking Chevrolet	166	32		Running
13	6	73	Cole Powell *	Copps BuildAll/Tricar Chevrolet	166	31		Running
14	18	46	Eric Berndt	North End Auto Parts/Cape Cod Aggts Chevrolet	166	30		Running
15	14	64	Ron Yuhas, Jr.	Fast Track Electric/Scorpion Const Chevrolet	166	29		Running
16	7	89	Shawn Solomito	Cystic Fibrosis Foundation/Acme Sanitary Chevrolet	166	28		Running
17	16	07	Patrick Emerling	Emerling Chevrolet Dealership Chevrolet	166	27		Running
18	25	18	Ken Heagy	Buoy One Seafood/ Mehner Racing Chevrolet	166	26		Running
19	26	26	Gary McDonald	Lakeland Landscape /TRC Electric Pontiac	165	25		Running
20	22	33	Wade Cole	Perf Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s Oil Chevrolet	163	24		Running
21	24	28	Ed Flemke, Jr.	Ron Bouchard’s Auto Stores Chevrolet	159	23		Suspension
22	13	79	Woody Pitkat	Mr. Rooter/Coors Light Pontiac	153	22		Transmission
23	17	3	Ted Christopher	Silver Dollar Const/Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet	145	21		Running
24	27	38	Brian Schofield	Perf Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s Oil Chevrolet	131	20		Transmission
25	23	99	Jamie Tomaino	Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet	60	19		Rear End
26	12	39	Richie Pallai,, Jr.	MAHLE Performance/Lucas Oil Chevrolet	50	18		Accident
27	19	5	Rob Summers	Hitchcock Pool Water/Hoosier Tire East Chevrolet	50	17		Accident

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