Championship Battles to be Decided Thursday at Thompson
Thompson, CT — With one more race event left in the 2011 racing season at Thompson that will offer both NASCAR and track points, the battle for four Thompson track championship titles will go right down to the wire this Thursday night at Thompson International Speedway.
The Sunoco Modified division has boiled down to a two way race for the title. Keith Rocco holds a 26 points advantage over Ryan Preece going into the season’s final points race. Rocco, who scored his 100th career win on September 11th, has six Sunoco Modified wins at Thompson for the 2011 season. Preece, who has also had an outstanding year, has three wins to his credit at Thompson. Both drivers and their race teams will arrive ready to put their best efforts into securing a coveted Thompson championship. A win is worth 50 points. Each finisher behind the race winner receives two points less per position.
The Super Late Model division has a total of four contenders for the crown and, like the Sunoco Modifieds, there is a 26 points separation from Leader Larry Gelinas (548 points) back to 4th place Jim Banfield (522). Between Gelinas and Banfield are Mike O’Sullivan with 544 points and Derek Ramstrom who has 534 markers in his column. It is expected that this 30-lap main event will be one for the record books as each of these race teams is more than capable of coming out on top.
Tommy O’Sullivan needs only to start the event on Thursday night to claim the title over Rick Gentes. O’Sullivan has an even 50 points lead over Gentes and a simple start of the event will put his points total out of reach of Gentes.
Thompson Modifieds offer up a close points race between “Cam” McDermott and Glenn Boss. A mere six points separate the two going into the final event. McDermott has collected a total of 650 points while Boss has tucked away a total of 644.
In Thompson’s Xtra/Mart Limited Sportsman division, Chris “Moose” Douton has clinched the title by virtue of his 5th place finish on September 11th. That effort gave Douton a 70 points advantage over second place Scott Sundeen.
Danny Field has won the championship in the Monster Mini Stock division. Field, who has had an amazing season, visited victory lane for the eleventh time this year when he won the Monster Mini Stock feature event on UNOH SHOWDOWN weekend at Thompson.
Winning a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship at Thompson is an incredible feat when considering the kind of competition that exists in each of the track’s “super 6” racing divisions. But, many competitors will go into the final points race seeking a top five or top ten finish in the final standings. As a result, the competition is expected to be fierce when the green flags fall on each race.
Almost immediately after the final race this Thursday, race teams will begin to prepare for the annual Sunoco World Series of Speedway racing presented by Xtra/Mart and Town Fair Tire on the weekend of October 14th -16th. A total of fifteen divisions of race cars will converge on the Thompson Speedway for one of most amazing weekends of racing to be found anywhere.
For the very latest information from Thompson, fans are urged to visit the track’s web page. www.thompsonspeedway.com.
Sources:Russ Dowd/Thompson International Speedway PR