News & Notes: Town Fair Tire 150 Next Up As Whelen Modified Tour Begins Stretch Run

The third of four races for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway is slated for Friday, Aug. 6 with the Town Fair Tire 150.

With the 2010 schedule on the second half of the slate, each remaining race on the 14-date slate gains importance in the championship picture. With some distance starting to be created atop the standings, many drivers will count on a top finish in the Town Fair Tire 150 to stay within reasonable striking distance.

The top two title contenders after eight races – Bobby Santos and Ted Christopher – have been dominant in the season’s first two races at Stafford. Santos, who leads Christopher by 67 points, won the TSI Harley-Davidson 150 on May 28, finished second to Christopher in the Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on May 1, and captured the pole for both races. Christopher finished 12th in Santos’ win.

Santos’ success at Stafford came in the middle of the hottest stretch for any driver this year. Although he has cooled compared to the high standard that was set at the beginning of the year, Santos still figures to be a favorite.

On the other hand, Christopher should be listed among the favorites in any race that he enters at Stafford. The winningest driver in the track’s history, he has earned 10 Whelen Modified Tour victories at the historic half-mile, including one in each of the last four years.

Third in points after eight races, Mike Stefanik has a decorated history at Stafford as well. His record 20 Whelen Modified Tour wins at the track are double the tally of Christopher, who is second on the list. Stefanik has finishes of third and seventh this year at Stafford.

Sitting fourth in points is the defending winner of the Town Fair Tire 150, Ryan Preece. In last year’s race he took the lead from Christopher on Lap 104 and held on for his first Stafford win. Preece struggled in the first race of the year at Stafford, but has finished in the top 10 in six of the last eight races there.

The Town Fair Tire 150 will mean two entirely different things for the fifth and sixth-ranked drivers in the standings. For fifth-place Todd Szegedy, it will be an opportunity to stop his recent slide. Second in points two races ago, Szegedy has finished 25th and 22nd the last two times out. Sixth place Ron Silk has four-straight top fives, however, and will look to continue his mid-season climb in the standings. Szegedy and Silk have also had polar opposite results in the first two races this year at Stafford as Szegedy has an average finish of fourth while Silk’s average finish is 22.

The strong track records at Stafford of the leading championship contenders has resulted in parity at the track in recent seasons. Since Tony Hirschman won five of seven races there from 2004-05, Donny Lia (2007) is the only driver to earn back-to-back wins or more than one win in the same season at Stafford.

The Town Fair Tire 150 will mark the 97th all-time race for the Whelen Modified Tour at Stafford, a total second only to Thompson International Speedway.

Qualifying is scheduled for 6 p.m., and the 150-lap race is slated for approximately 9:15 p.m. The race will premiere on VERSUS on Aug. 11 at 7 p.m.

ENTRY LIST

Raceday Notes
The Race … The Town Fair Tire 150 will be the ninth of 14 races on the 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule, and the third of four stops for the Tour at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway.

The Procedure … Starting positions 1-26 will be set from time trials. The remaining five will be filled through the provisional process. The race is 150 laps (75 miles).

The Track … A half-mile, slightly-banked oval, Stafford Motor Speedway originated as a horse-racing track in the 1870s. After seven decades as a horse track, the  dirt oval started holding auto races following WW II. Stafford became a NASCAR track in 1959 and was paved for the first time in 1967.

Race Winners … There have been 30 different race winners at Stafford, led by Mike Stefanik’s 20 victories. Ted Christopher had the longest win streak in the history of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Stafford with four-straight victories from Sept. 30, 2001 to Aug. 23, 2002. Ryan Preece is the defending winner of this race. Christopher and Bobby Santos have won the first two 2010 Stafford races.

Pole Winners … There have been 36 different pole winners at Stafford, led by Stefanik’s 15. Eric Berndt earned his first career pole in this race a year ago. Santos was the pole winner for the first two Stafford races this year.

Bullrings Rejuvenate Brunnhoelzl
Following the fifth race of the year, the New England 100, George Brunnhoelzl III had one top  10 and was 22nd in the standings.

To make matters worse, his injuries suffered in a wreck at New Hampshire forced him to sit out the road course race at Lime Rock Park.

For Brunnhoelzl, who came to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2010 after earning the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour championship a year ago, things weren’t going as planned.

The ship may have been righted by a favorable schedule, however.

In his return at .25-mile Monadnock Speedway, Brunnhoelzl finished sixth. Last time out, at the quarter-mile Riverhead Raceway, he recorded the first pole and top-five finish of his brief Whelen Modified Tour career.

Up next will be Stafford Motor Speedway, site of  Brunnhoelzl’s best previous finish prior to the bullring races.

Schedule Heats Up With The Weather
The Riverhead 200 on July 31 began the busiest stretch of the season for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and the toughest in recent years.

Starting with Riverhead, the Tour will travel to four different tracks and three states in a span of 19 days. This Friday’s Town Fair Tire 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway will be followed by the Budweiser King of Beers 150 at Thompson International Speedway next Thursday. The compact four-race stretch will then conclude with the UNOH Perfect Storm 150 on Wednesday, Aug. 18 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The schedule was to fall the same way in 2009, but the original Thompson date was rained out and made up in early September, which provided an un-planned off-week in the middle of August.

The last time the Whelen Modified Tour had races in four-consecutive weeks was August 2007, which started on the 4th and ended on the 23rd for a span of 20 days. The last time there were four races contested in less than 19 days occurred in 2005. In that instance, four races were held from June 24-July 9, a span of 16 days.

Tour Tidbits: Pennink Breaks Through
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour began the second half of its 2010 season with the Riverhead 200 on July 31 at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway.

Pennink Breaks Through, Launches Forward in the Standings … Perhaps the most improved driver in 2009 when he finished fourth in the standings, Rowan Pennink had expectations of championship contention in 2010, but through the first half of the season he had been a non-factor. Pennink was able to break through for his first career Whelen Modified Tour win at Riverhead, however, and perhaps breath life into a disappointing season. Pennink entered the Riverhead 200 16th in points, but with the win he jumped all the way to 10th, and is now only 40 points back of seventh.

Preece’s Repeat Bid Falls Just Short … The defending Riverhead pole and race winner, Ryan Preece came up just short in his effort to repeat both in 2010. Preece held the provisional pole but settled for the third starting position. In the race, he rallied from an early spin to contend for the checkers, but was held off by Pennink. After he finished 22nd in the previous race at Monadnock Speedway, Preece’s runner-up at Riverhead was good enough to earn the Featherlite Most Improved Driver Award.

First Tour Pole for Brunnhoelzl … A seven-time pole winner in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, where he earned the 2009 championship, George Brunnhoelzl III captured his first Coors Light Pole Award in the northern Tour at Riverhead. Originally from Long Island, Brunnhoelzl competed at Riverhead early in his racing career.

Silk Continues Podium Streak … After consecutive finishes of 30th, 13th and 15th early in the season, Ron Silk has been one of the hottest drivers in the last month. Starting with New Hampshire, Silk has four top-fives in a row, the last three of which are third-place finishes. Dating back to last year when he first began racing for car owner Ed Partridge, Silk has finished in the top 10 in seven of 10 starts.

Handful of Drivers Have Top Finishes … The Riverhead 200 saw Brunnhoelzl record his Whelen Modified Tour career-best finish for the second race in a row, this time a fifth-place effort. Eric  Goodale was seventh, which tied his previous best mark. Eric Beers (sixth) and Jamie Tomaino (eighth) also recorded their best finishes of the season. Pennink, who earned his first win, also recorded a new career-best finish by default.

NASCAR Whelen All-American Series At Stafford
One of three NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks in the state of Connecticut, Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway promotes five divisions in its Friday night programs.

Keith Rocco is the defending track and state champion out of the SK Modified division, and he is well on his way to another track title this year with a 130-point lead on NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regular Woody Pitkat. Tour driver Ted Christopher is third.

In Stafford’s other Whelen All-American Series divisions Ryan Posocco tops the Late Model standings, Matthew Galko leads the SK Light Modifieds, Daniel Flannery has a slim advantage in the Limited Late Models and Tony Membrino Jr. leads the DARE Stocks.

All five divisions will share the race card with the Whelen Modified Tour on Aug. 6.

Up Next: Thompson
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will return to Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway for the first time since the season-opener on April 11.

The second of three races for the Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson this year will be the Budweiser King of Beers 150 on Thursday, Aug. 12.

In the season-opener at Thompson, year-long points leader Bobby Santos got his championship bid off on the right foot as he won both the pole and the race.

Donny Lia won last year’s Bud 150, but will not defend the title as he now competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Mike Stefanik is the all-time Whelen Modified Tour wins leader at Thompson with 14 triumphs, but he hasn’t won there since the 2006 Icebreaker. Ted Christopher has won three of the last five races there, and finished in the top five in the other two.

Qualifying is slated for 5:30 p.m., and the 150-lap race is slated for approximately 8:45 p.m. The race will premiere on VERSUS on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m.

Contingency Awards Standings
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD
Bobby Santos, 3
George Brunnhoelzl III, 1
Ryan Newman, 1
Erick Rudolph, 1
Mike Stefanik, 1
Todd Szegedy, 1

COCA-COLA MOVE OF THE RACE AWARD
Woody Pitkat, 3
Danny Knoll Jr., 1
Erick Rudolph, 1
Ron Silk, 1
Mike Stefanik, 1
Jamie Tomaino, 1

FEATHERLITE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER AWARD
Eric Beers, 1
James Civali, 1
Chuck Hossfeld, 1
Ryan Preece, 1
Bobby Santos, 1
Mike Stefanik, 1
Rob Summers, 1
Glenn Tyler, 1

WHELEN WINNER OF THE RACE
Bobby Santos, 3
Ted Christopher, 2
Ryan Newman, 1
Rowan Pennink, 1
Dale Quarterley, 1

SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD
Justin Bonsignore, 7
Richie Pallai Jr., 1

SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS
Justin Bonsignore, 79
Richie Pallai Jr., 73

Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR

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