Preece Rockets To Thompson NASCAR Modified Victory

Ryan Preece celebrates in victory lane following his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win Wednesday evening at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Photo: Matthew Thomas/NASCAR

Ryan Preece’s pit stop strategy pushed him back in the field. But the Berlin, Connecticut, driver wasted no time in driving to the front en route to Wednesday night’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory in the Thompson 125 at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

The win was the second of the season for Preece and 17th of his career.

Preece pitted with many of his lead challengers on lap 70. The No. 6 TS Haulers Chevrolet was forced to restart outside the top 10 behind a number of cars including Rowan Pennink and Bobby Santos, who pitted earlier. A late charge through the field by Preece culminated with a move to the inside of Pennink for the lead with just 18 laps to go.

From there, Preece pulled away from the field and clicked off some of the fastest laps he ran all night while out in front of the pack. He finished 2.106 seconds ahead of second-place Pennink.

“All of my guys work really hard,” Preece said. “Our guys live in Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, so it can be hard for them. As long as the car is good and I can drive forward, it’s my job to get myself back there. I shouldn’t have to depend on them.”

Preece, who won the NAPA Spring Sizzler at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway on April 30, missed the last tour race on May 13 to get married.

Back on the race track, he had an early hiccup when he missed the final minutes of the only practice session of the day because of a broken driveshaft. Once they got to the race, though, there was no issue.

Pennink followed up his Thompson win in April’s Icebreaker 150 with another strong run on the .625-mile oval. He pitted under caution at lap 50 and inherited the lead 20 laps later when the lead pack came down pit road.

Santos, who pitted for tires on lap 33 and stayed out for the remainder of the race, held on for third. Santos was the defending race winner.

“Our strategy definitely worked in his favor,” Santos said. “We weren’t spectacular to start the race but we made a good adjustment and put tires on and we had a good car overall tonight.”

Four-time tour champion Doug Coby qualified second and finished in fourth spot, with Eric Goodale in fifth.

Jon McKennedy, Ted Christopher, Timmy Solomito, Andrew Krause and Max Zachem rounded out the top ten.

Donny Lia won the Coors Light Pole Award earlier in the day but got caught up in an early wreck and finished 23rd.

Pennink cut Solomito’s lead to two points after five of 16 championship events, while Goodale is 17 points back of Pennink in third. Despite missing a race, Preece is 10th in points – seven behind ninth-place Coby and 47 out of first.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to the track at Riverhead Raceway on Long Island on Saturday, June 24.

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park – Thompson, CT
Thompson 125 – June 14, 2017

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Points	B/Points	Status
1	5	6	Ryan Preece	TS Haulers Inc/Hoosier Tire of Calverton Chevrolet	125	48	5	Running
2	3	3	Rowan Pennink	Cape Cod Copper Chevrolet	125	43	1	Running
3	12	44	Bobby Santos	Sully Tinio/Brendan Kelley Music Chevrolet	125	41		Running
4	2	2	Doug Coby	Mayhew Tools Chevrolet	125	40		Running
5	8	58	Eric Goodale	GAF Roofing Chevrolet	125	39		Running
6	11	0	Jon McKennedy	Brad Brady Racing Chevrolet	125	38		Running
7	20	82	Ted Christopher	Horton Avenue Materials Chevrolet	125	37		Running
8	4	16	Timmy Solomito	Starrett Tools Ford	125	36		Running
9	22	24	Andrew Krause	Supreme Manufacturing Chevrolet	125	35		Running
10	9	20	Max Zachem	Anytime Rental/Lu-Macs Chevrolet	125	34		Running
11	17	46	Woody Pitkat	Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet	125	33		Running
12	18	89	Matt Swanson	Starrett Tools Ford	125	32		Running
13	23	77	Gary Putnam	Curb Records Chevrolet	125	31		Running
14	13	51	Justin Bonsignore	Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet	125	30		Running
15	21	64	Rob Summers	Hoosier Tire East/Fast Track Elect/Hughes Motors	124	29		Running
16	24	97	Bryan Dauzat	O.B. Builders Chevrolet	124	28		Running
17	26	33	Wade Cole	Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil Ford	122	27		Running
18	25	39	Calvin Carroll *	Power with Prestige/Cruising w/Betty Chevrolet	120	26		Running
19	27	1	Melissa Fifield	Eastern Propane & Oil Chevrolet	120	25		Running
20	16	36	Dave Sapienza	Sapienza Enterprise Chevrolet	104	24		Running
21	7	15	Chase Dowling	15-40 Connection Chevrolet	91	24	1	Accident
22	19	56	Craig Lutz	Lutz Motorsports Chevrolet	91	22		Accident
23	1	7	Donny Lia	Bardahl Chevrolet	91	22	1	Accident
24	28	78	Walter Sutcliffe Jr. *	Last Minute Racing Chevrolet	73	20		Running
25	6	48	Shawn Solomito	Eastport Feeds Chevrolet	60	19		Power Steering
26	10	29	Brendon Bock	Meadow Brook Collison/Mosquito Free Organic	45	18		Power Steering
27	14	85	Todd Szegedy	Stuarts Automotiive/J&R Pre-Cast Chevrolet	33	17		Suspension
28	15	11	Andy Seuss	LFR Chassis Chevrolet	1			Accident

Also, be aware of when you buy cialis overnight eat and try to make it stop. The drug is known by the name prices in uk viagra of impotence. There cialis canada cheap view for more is an odd relation of passivity and being controlling. VIMAX It is probably the most obvious supplement on the list and a guy lowest price tadalafil who hasn’t heard of these pills was probably living under the rocks.
RACE STATISTICS

Fastest Qualifier: Donny Lia, Time: 18.643 Seconds, Speed: 120.689 mph

Margin of Victory: 2.106 Seconds

Caution Flags: Laps 16-19 (Car 11 hit turn 2 wall contact); 30-34 (39 spun backstretch no contact); 47-52 (97 and 39 spun turn 4 no contact); 77-83 (46 spun front stretch no contact); 91-96 (7, 56, 51, 15, 36 contact backstretch also trew red flag). 5 for 28 laps.

Lap Leaders: Donny Lia 1-23, Ryan Preece 24-60, Chase Dowling 61-81, Rowan Pennink 82-107, Ryan Preece 108-125.

Total Laps Led: Ryan Preece 55, Rowan Pennink 26, Donny Lia 23, Chase Dowling 21. 4 changes involving 4 drivers.

Top 10 Driver Points: Timmy Solomito 206, Rowan Pennink 204, Eric Goodale 187, Max Zachem 177, Justin Bonsignore 177, Matt Swanson 166, Woody Pitkat 165, Rob Summers 160, Doug Coby 159, Ryan Preece 152

* Denotes Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender