Miller, Blain, Christopher hot as racing gets off to blustery start at Thompson
Thompson, CT — Beautiful sunshine and cold temperatures greeted the New England racing community with the first day of IceBreaker 2002 action. L.W. Miller ripped off a great lap to earn his first career Bud Pole in the Featherlite Modified Series, NASCAR Touring.
Doubleheader feature race action found, none other than, Ted Christopher in Modified victory lane and David Blain in for a Late Model win.
David Blain took the top honors in a full-contact Late Model main that featured 37 cars.
Woody Pitkat led most of the distance in the event before a hard-charging John Falconi, who had to work his way passed Marc Palmisano, took the lead at lap 10. Falconi appeared to be on his way to victory; however, his night ended in the turn two wall. Blain cruised on to the checkers to take the victory in the first Late Model win of the season and of the weekend.
The reigning Weekly Racing Series National Champion Ted Christopher proved his worth with the opening Sunoco Modified feature win. There was a whole lot of activity behind race leader Christopher as Chuck Docherty and Scott Foster waged a heated battle for the runner-up position.
At the checkers it was Christopher leading Foster, Docherty, Eric Berndt, and Bert Marvin.
The Northeastern Midget Association joined the qualifying action on Saturday afternoon.
Crossing the stripe first in the first heat was reining champion Russ Stoehr. The second went to Mike Roselli, Jr.
The Limited Sportsman division saw heat race action with Nick Bazzano of Windsor, CT, Ernie LaRose of Moosup, CT, and defending champion Scott Cook of Uncasville, CT taking down the qualifying wins. Dick Houlihan of Berkley, MA, George Bessette of Danbury, CT, and Norm Wrenn of Nashua, NH won Pro Stock heat races.
Racing continues on Sunday with the presentation of the 150-lap IceBreaker event for the Featherlite Modified Series, NASCAR Touring. Racing begins at Noon with features for the Mini Stocks, Southern New England Modifieds, Limited Sportsman, and Late Models.
The Northeastern Midget Association feature event is immediately following. The Featherlite Modified Series is scheduled to get underway at approximately 3:00 PM. The NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Sunoco Modifieds will have their second feature of the weekend followed by a 30-lap Pro Stock event.
Adult general admission is $15.00 with a Juniors ticket of $5.00. The Main grandstand opens at 9:00 AM. The pit gate opens at 8:00 AM with a $45.00 entry fee. For more information visit www.thompsonspeedway.com or call the Speedway office at (860) 923-2280.
RESULTS
Late Model Feature #1: (top 10) Dave Blain, Woody Pitkat, Marc Palmisano, Jeff Zuidema, Jeff Hesselton, Rich LaFlesh, Mike Lindquist, Todd Dean, Scott Fanning, Terry Brick, Jr.
Sunoco Modified Feature #1: Ted Christopher, Scott Foster, Chuck Docherty, Eric Berndt, Bert Marvin, Jeff Malave, Ronnie Silk, Tom Tagg, Ron Yuhas, Jr., Robert Valenta.
Sources: Thompson Speedway PR