Track Talk

By Lou Modestino  (for Sat. 9/29/18) (Please add this into the column:  Check out Lou Modestino’s TrackTalk column at http://www.enterprisenews.com/section/blogs01?taxid=1838 )

Nice going by Ryan Kuhn of East Bridgewater for winning the 2018 Seekonk Speedway Late Model Championship.  Following that effort, he’s planning on taking in tomorrow’s, Sunday, Sept. 30, Milk Bowl race at the Thunder Road Speedway in Barre, VT.  Ryan is currently on a roll and plans some additional challenges before the 2018 New England racing season is completed at the end of October.

A conversation with Canton’s Richard Savary reveals that he’s taking in a number of upcoming Modified Tour Type races with the Valenti Modified Racing Series at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, October 7, another VMRS event at the Thompson Speedway on Saturday, October 13, and the Haunted 100 Tri Track Open Modified Series at Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, October 27, for sure.  The local Modified pilot has been running a selected number of races during the current season and has done well.  He’s got a great pit crew supporting him including crew chief Joey Kourafas of Randolph who was the first winner of the Oxford 250 in Maine.  His resume reflects over 170 Late Model wins up-and-down the east coast before he hung up his helmet.

For Justin Bonsignore and the #51 Phoenix Communications Inc. Team, the 2018 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season has been a year for the ages. Bonsignore has won half of the 14 NWMT races this season and has recorded top-8 finishes in all 14 races. This dominant performance sees Bonsignore leading the NWMT championship chase by 74 points over Chase Dowling, and he can clinch the championship this weekend, September 29 and 30, at Stafford Speedway with a finish of 21st or better.

 

 

Stafford Motor Speedway is still the one track on the schedule that Bonsignore and the #51 team are looking to master this weekend’s Fall Final.  Bonsignore’s two worst finishes of 7th and 8th this season have come at Stafford, and while Stafford hasn’t exactly been a struggle for his 21 top-10 finishes in 33 career starts, he has yet to record a victory. Bonsignore is looking to change that with a new chassis setup and the fact that his large point lead will allow the #51 team to take some chances with their pit strategy that they normally might not make.

While he has yet to win a race at Stafford, Bonsignore knows that in order to reach NAPA Victory Lane on Sunday, he can make that job easier with a practice and qualifying time that is towards the top of the time sheets on Saturday.

Pit strategy will be another key to winning the NAPA Fall Final 150, and although he acknowledges that picking the correct pit strategy can be anyone’s guess, Bonsignore is confident that he has the best pit crew on pit road even if picking a pit strategy is a bit of a shot in the dark.

 

Bonsignore’s quest for the Whelen Modified Tour Championship may be decided this weekend, September 29 and 30, at 46th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final. Discount tickets are available at your local participating NAPA Auto Parts Store. The NAPA tickets include general admission for both days along with a luncheon buffet on Sunday, all for only $38 per person.

Information for this column came from press releases and personal notes.