Preece & Seuss WMT Pole Winners for Thompson’s North/South Showdown; Gentes & Fields Take Down Wins in Weekly Division Feature Action
Thompson, CT — The cars of the both Whelen Northern and Southern Modified Tours took to the track on Saturday for the first day of Thompson International Speedway’s UNOH North–South Showdown for a full-day of practice and qualifying. The ‘21 Means 21’ Pole Award presented by Coors Light in the Northern Whelen Modified Tour went to Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT. Andy Seuss of Hampstead, NH, was tops on the speed charts for the Southern contingent. Two of the Whelen All-American Series divisions competed in feature event activity with Rick Gentes of Woonsocket, RI, taking down the victory in the Late Models and Danny Fields of Deep River, CT, in the Mini Stocks.
Ryan Preece turned a lap of 18.769 ET with an average speed of 119.879MPH to earn his fifth pole award of his career. Andy Seuss’s pole qualifying time was 18.821 seconds at a speed of 119.231MPH. It was his sixth career pole. Doug Coby, Erick Rudolph, and Eric Goodale made up the remainder of the top-five in Northern qualifying. In Southern qualifying, Steve Masse, Burt Myers, Donny Lia, and L.W. Miller completed the top-five.
Danny Fields of Deep River, CT, returned to his winning ways in Mini Stock action on Saturday afternoon. Joe Baxter led the field to green. He held the top spot while Tyler Poulin, Danny Field, and Chad Baxter duked it out for second. Field was able to steal the spot away on lap four. He immediately went to work on J. Baxter. A spin by Eric Bourgeois brought out the caution on lap five. On the ensuing restart, Fields was the new leader while C. Baxter captured the second spot.
[Photo Gallery] by Paul Fohlin
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
C. Baxter got alongside Fields briefly on lap six then settled back in line in second followed by J. Baxter. Poulin had his hands full with a hard-charging Louie Bellisle III. While the duo battled, Brent Gleason started to catch the top-five. After a handful of laps of side-by-side racing, Bellisle was able to take over the fifth spot. For the duration of the event, C. Baxter stayed within striking distance of Fields but could not muster up a challenge on the leader. Fields went on to win his eleventh win of the season. The Baxters-Chad and Joe earned podium finishes. Bellisle and Poulin completed the top-five.
Rick Gentes of Woonsocket, RI, motored to victory in Late Model action. Damon Tinio and Phil Rondeau waged a great battle for the top spot in the opening two laps before Tinio established himself as the leader. Rondeau immediately fell victim to Gentes, who took over the second position. Gentes quickly went to work on Tinio. The veteran driver got the edge on lap seven; taking Tommy O’Sullivan along for the ride.
O’ Sullivan settled in a groove behind Gentes. The duo ran nose-to-tail until lap 14, when O’Sullivan began to get racy looking for the lead. O’Sullivan looked inside of Gentes exiting turn four lap-after-lap but could maintain the momentum to make the pass. On lap 21, O’Sullivan made a bid in turn two before settling back in line. He made the same move in turn four. On the subsequent lap, a lapped car took away the bottom groove; closing the door on O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan continued his pursuit right to the checkered flag. Gentes held back all challenges to run under the checkers for his fourth win of the season. O’Sullivan settled for second over early leader Tinio. Mike Scorzelli and Rondeau rounded out the top-five.
Racing action continues on Sunday, September 11 with the much-anticipated UNOH North/South Showdown. The grandstands open at 9:30AM in preparation for the Charles Kepley Memorial Fan Appreciation Party scheduled for 10AM. The racing action gets underway at 12:45 with a 20-lap event for the TIS Modifieds. The Whelen Northern Modified Tour will then take to the track for their 125-lap feature event followed by a companion 125 for the Southern Modified Tour. Feature events for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Sunoco Modifieds, Ltd. Sportsman, and Super Late Models will set the stage for the 50-lap Showdown featuring the top finishers in the twin 125s. Complete details are available online at thompsonspeedway.com.
Late Model Feature (Top-Ten) Finish: 1. Rick Gentes, Woonsocket, RI; 2. Tommy O’Sullivan, Springfield, MA; 3. Damon Tinio, Mendon, MA; 4. Mike Scorzelli, Malta, NY; 5. Phil Rondeau, Baltic, CT; 6. Marc Palmisano, Hadley, MA; 7. Mark Oliveira, Blackstone, MA; 8. John Falconi, Oakham, MA; 9. Robert O’Connell, Wrentham, MA; 10. Wayne Coury, Sr., Milford, CT.
Mini Stock Feature (Top-Ten) Finish: 1. Danny Fields, Deep River, CT; 2. Chad Baxter, Pascoag, RI; 3. Joe Baxter, Pascoag, RI; 4. Louie Bellisle, III, Versailles, CT; 5. Tyler Poulin, Pascoag, RI; 6. Brent Gleason, Norwich, CT; 7. Leo Defevers, Brooklyn, CT; 8. Travis Jurcik, Chaplin, CT; 9. Alicia Thatcher, Pascoag, RI; 10. Eric Bourgeois, Moodus, CT.
Sources: Dale Wolbrink/Thompson International Speedway PR