Christopher Captures Monadnock Checkers
Earns 36th Career Whelen Modified Tour Victory
Winchester, NH — Ted Christopher celebrated the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s return to the high banks of Monadnock Speedway with his 36th career victory Saturday.
The win moved Christopher, the 2008 Tour champion, into sole possession of third place on the career win list. It’s Christopher’s second win of the season, which moved him past Tony Hirschman. The Plainville, Conn., driver now trails only Mike Stefanik (70 wins) and Reggie Ruggiero (44).
The win at Monadnock for Christopher also marked the 12th-different track in which he has reached Victory Lane. His previous win this year came at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway on May 1.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
RESULTS
LAP-BY-LAP RECAP
AUDIO WITH SECOND-PLACE ERICK RUDOLPH
AUDIO WITH THIRD-PLACE RON SILK
“It’s always a good night when you win,” Christopher said. “I wouldn’t say it was one of prettiest of my wins, but it suited the purpose.”
Erick Rudolph, who won his first career 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light earlier in the day, led the first 95 laps before Christopher moved to the front. The two battled each other for the lead until Christopher moved out front for the final time on Lap 152. He held off Rudolph on a green-white-checkered finish.
There were eight cautions for 59 laps in the event, and each time saw Christopher and Rudolph face off on the restarts.
“The last 20 laps, it was helter-skelter out there,” Rudolph said. “Every restart it was ‘who’s going to be the quickest through [Turns] 1 and 2, and who would be the guy into 3.’ On the last restart he got me, so he ended up winning the race.”
The scheduled 175-lap race was extended to 179 laps by a late caution. Christopher led twice for 41 laps, while Rudolph led twice for 138 laps.
Ron Silk followed Rudolph for his second podium finish in a row. To get there he made the outside groove work from his 16th starting position.
“By the time I got to third, I used so much of my car to get to third, I had nothing left,” Silk said. “It would have been nice to at least race a little with Erick [Rudolph] and Teddy [Christopher], but I didn’t have anything for them by the end.”
Eric Berndt crossed the line fourth for a career-best finish and points leader Bobby Santos recorded his sixth top-five finish in seven 2010 races.
George Brunnhoelzl III, James Civali, Glen Reen, Justin Bonsignore and Eric Beers completed the top 10. For Brunnhoelzl, the 2009 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour champion, it was his first top-five finish in the northern-based Tour in eight career starts.
Woody Pitkat won the 25-lap qualifying race earlier in the evening and finished 13th in the feature.
Santos maintained his points lead, while Christopher moved past Todd Szegedy into second. Santos is 54 points in front of Christopher – the slimmest margin since following the second race of the season – and 141 over Szegedy, who suffered his first DNF of the season and finished 24th Saturday.
Saturday was the Whelen Modified Tour’s first race at the Monadnock quarter-mile oval since 1990, and just the sixth event there in the Tour’s 26-year history.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will next race Saturday, July 31 with the Riverhead 200 at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway.
Sources: Jason Christley & Jason Cunningham/NASCAR PR
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Monadnock 200 Results
Saturday
At Monadnock Speedway
Winchester, N.H.
Lap length: 0.25 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (4) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 179 laps, 42.937 mph, $3,300.
2. (1) Erick Rudolph, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 179, $2,700.
3. (16) Ron Silk, Norwalk, Conn., Chevrolet, 179, $2,550.
4. (3) Eric Berndt, Cromwell, Conn., Chevrolet, 179, $1,400.
5. (2) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Dodge, 179, $1,500.
6. (7) George Brunnhoelzl, III, W. Babylon, N.Y., Chevrolet, 179, $1,400.
7. (14) James Civali, Meriden, Conn., Pontiac, 179, $1,250.
8. (15) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 179, $1,000.
9. (10) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 179, $1,475.
10. (18) Eric Beers, Northampton, Pa., Chevrolet, 179, $1,750.
11. (6) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Pontiac, 179, $1,125.
12. (22) Richie Pallai, Jr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Chevrolet, 136, $1,000.
13. (9) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 179, $900.
14. (17) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 179, $850.
15. (8) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 179, $1,000.
16. (23) Danny Knoll, Jr., Buffalo, N.Y., Chevrolet, 179, $775.
17. (26) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Chevrolet, 179, $525.
18. (11) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 178, $700.
19. (20) Renee Dupuis, Glastonbury, Conn., Chevrolet, 174, $675.
20. (19) Wade Cole, Riverton, Conn., Chevrolet, 173, $625.
21. (24) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 155, $600.
22. (13) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington, Conn., Chevrolet, 155, $550.
23. (5) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Chevrolet, 136, $527.
24. (21) Johnny Bush, Huntington Station, N.Y., Chevrolet, 105, water leak, $300.
25. (12) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn., Ford, 84, suspension, $500.
26. (25) Jake Marosz, Middletown, Conn., Chevrolet, 4, accident, $300.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 2 minutes 32 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.144 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: E.Rudolph (72.446 mph, 12.423 seconds)
Caution Flags: 8 for 65 laps.
Lead Changes: 3 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: E. Rudolph 1-94; T. Christopher 95-108; E. Rudolph 109-152; T. Christopher 153-179.
Standings: 1. B. Santos, 1167; 2. T. Christopher, 1111; 3. T. Szegedy, 1026; 4. M. Stefanik, 1008; 5. R. Preece, 973; 6. R. Silk, 957; 7. J. Bonsignore, 881; 8. W. Pitkat, 848; 9. E. Rudolph, 847; 10. R. Pallai,Jr., 822.