Santos Drives To The Whelen Modified Win At Waterford

Bobby Santos scored his 12th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory Saturday night at Waterford Speedbowl. Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images for NASCAR

WATERFORD, CT – Bobby Santos followed Donny Lia for much of the first half of Saturday night’s race. But Santos wasn’t content to finish second.

So Santos, from Franklin, MA, wrestled the lead away and went on to claim the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory in the Mr. Rooter 161 at Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, CT.

It was Santos’ second win of the season and 12th of his career. It was his first tour win at Waterford, the fourth different track he’s registered a victory at during his Whelen Modified Tour tenure.

A green-white-checkered finish pushed the race to 165 laps. Lia, who earlier in the night won the Coors Light Pole Award, finished second.

Ted Christopher rallied back to finish third. Justin Bonsignore and Patrick Emerling were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Defending race winner and tour champion Ryan Preece finished sixth, followed by Woody Pitkat, Keith Rocco, Ron Yuhas, Jr. and Doug Coby.

What proved to be the eventual winning move for Santos in his No. 44 Tinio Racing/ImperialCars.com Chevrolet came on lap 133. Santos dove under Lia through turn 3, and with some contact, came out of turn 4 will the lead thanks to his “bottom shot.”

“We had a great car,” Santos said. “I followed Donny (Lia) the whole first half of the race and I tried multiple times to pass him as clean as could be. He roughed me up a little bit I felt like, and I just saved it until the end of the race when it counted.”

The runner-up effort for Lia was his best finish through four races this year. He seemed to take some exception to Santos’ winning move, however.

“We just got a little free and Bobby’s (Santos) car was just better than ours there at the end,” Lia said. “There were a couple things there – I’m not quite sure what was going on the way he raced us a little bit – but we’ll see what happens going forward.”

The podium for Christopher was his first in nine starts. He’s finished in the top 10 each race this year with his new No. 13 team.

“We had to pit and come from last, so I’m pretty happy with it,” Christopher said of his third place finish. “The car ran good. It’s still a work in progress, but each week we get better and better.”

Bonsignore took over the points lead from Coby by two tallies. Santos is third, three more points back of the leader. Coby, who had finished on the podium in each of the first three races in 2014, was slowed by two different incidents Saturday night.

Dawsonville, GA’s Spencer Davis saw his night end 70 laps in with steering issues.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will race at Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, New York on Saturday, June 28.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Waterford Speedbowl – Waterford, CT
Mr. Rooter 161 – June 21, 2014

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	2	44	Bobby Santos	Tinio Racing/ImperialCars.com Chevrolet	165	47	4	Running
2	1	4	Donny Lia	Mystic Missile Racing Dodge	165	44	2	Running
3	12	13	Ted Christopher	J&R Pre-Cast/Cape Cod Aggregates Chevrolet	165	41		Running
4	5	51	Justin Bonsignore	chem3.com Chevrolet	165	40		Running
5	16	07	Patrick Emerling	Emerling Chevrolet Inc. Chevrolet	165	39		Running
6	13	16	Ryan Preece	East West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford	165	38		Running
7	10	88	Woody Pitkat	Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East Restaurant	165	37		Running
8	15	48	Keith Rocco	Wheelers Auto/Mr. Rooter Chevrolet	165	36		Running
9	9	64	Ron Yuhas, Jr.	Fast Track Electric/Hughes Motors Chevrolet	165	35		Running
10	8	2	Doug Coby	Dunleavy’s Repair/HEX Performance Chevrolet	165	34		Running
11	24	99	Jamie Tomaino	Dunleavy’s Repair/N.A. Contractors Chevrolet	165	33		Running
12	25	8	Glen Reen	Reflex Energy/Baja Construction Chevrolet	165	32		Running
13	11	52	Matt Hirschman	Furnace & Duct Supply/Seekonk GP Chevrolet	154	31		Running
14	26	38	Dave Salzarulo *	Performance Engines/Kendall Oil Chevrolet	165	30		Running
15	20	18	Ken Heagy	Buoy One Seafood Ford	165	29		Running
16	21	33	Wade Cole	Performance Engines/Kendall Oil Chevrolet	165	28		Running
17	22	93	Rowan Pennink	Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet	164	27		Running
18	19	3	Jimmy Zacharias *	Cape Cod Copper/Central States Chevrolet	163	26		Running
19	28	26	Gary McDonald	Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Pontiac	163	25		Running
20	4	6	Ron Silk	TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet	162	24		Running
21	6	35	Derek Ramstrom *	Matthew’s Truck Svc./Seekonk GP Chevrolet	161	23		Running
22	23	75	Timmy Solomito *	Eastport Feeds/Alex Anderson Inc. Chevrolet	156	22		Steering
23	18	89	Shawn Solomito *	Cystic Fibrosis Fdn./Acme Sanitary Chevrolet	155	21		Accident
24	14	22	Tommy Barrett, Jr. *	Canto Paving/Ferguson Waterworks Chevrolet	154	20		Accident
25	3	58	Eric Goodale	GAF Roofing/RBSCorp.com Chevrolet	72	19		Bell Housing
26	17	79	Spencer Davis *	Hillbilly Racing/Coors 21 Means 21 Pontiac	70	18		Steering
27	27	01	Melissa Fifield *	Allstate Insurance Chevrolet	66	17		Brakes
28	7	71	Craig Lutz *	Team Critical/L.I. Performance Fuel Chevrolet	33	16		Steering

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RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Donny Lia, Time: 13.869 Seconds, Speed: 97.339 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 8 mins, 4 secs Average Speed: 54.542 mph Margin of Victory: 0.389 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 29-33 (Car #01 spinout (Turn 4) [26]); 65-80 (Car #3 spinout (Turn 4) (Red Flag 15 mins.) [none]); 89-92 (Car #52 stalled (Backstretch) [26]); 111-115 (Cars # 26, 2, 64 accident (Turn 1) [none]); 146-152 (Cars #6, 75 accident (Turn 3) (Red Flag 3 mins.) [18]); 155-162 (Car #22 accident (Turn 1) [8]). 6 for 45 laps.
Lap Leaders: Donny Lia 1-115, Bobby Santos 116, Donny Lia 117-132, Bobby Santos 133-165.
Total Laps Led: Donny Lia 131, Bobby Santos 34. 3 changes involving 2 drivers.