Doug Coby Captures Stafford 150 Win
Doug Coby of Milford, CT took no prisoners in streaking to his fourth Whelen Modified win of the year; his third at Stafford Springs, CT in the Wayne Darling owned Reynolds’ Auto Wrecking sponsored #52. The two fastest qualifiers in time trials, Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT and Eric Goodale of Riverhead, NY brought the twenty seven car field to green. Doug Coby wasted little time moving forward from his sixth starting position.
The first of six cautions came on lap 17 when Richie Pallai of Yorktown Heights, NY spun his #39 in turn four. This bunched the field up for the restart which had Preece still leading. At this time Eric Beers of Northampton, PA was in second, Bobby Santos of Franklin, MA third and Doug Coby was in the fourth spot.
On lap 26 Beers overtook Preece and became the new race leader. The second yellow flag flew on lap 29 when the #6 of Ron Silk from Norwalk, CT coasted to a stop on the back stretch with a broken fuel pump.
[Photo Gallery] by Crystal Snape
The red flag came on lap 45 for the Boehler #3 driven by Steve Masse of Bellingham, MA and Richie Pallai #39, when they crashed against the third and fourth turn wall. Impact was hard enough to require repairs to the wall.
When racing resumed, Coby took over the top spot and was receiving a ton of pressure from the #00 Joe Brady owned ride of Ted Christopher. Ed Flemke, Jr of Southington CT, in the Don King owned #28, Ryan Preece #16, and Bryon Chew #88 of Mattituck, NY waited in the wings for their chance at the top spot.
A lap 56 caution slowed the field briefly for the #18 of Ken Heagy from Calverton, NY. The leader board changed slightly on lap 67 when Patrick Emerling #07 spun in turn one while Ted Christopher spun out of second pace over in turn four.
On the following restart Coby led a charging Ryan Preece, Justin Bonsignore #51, Bryan Chew #88 and Jimmy Blewett #76.
Bryan Chews’ impressive run came to an end when he struck the back straightaway wall and became airborne on lap 82. The tire marks were high up on the wall.
The last restart of the race saw Coby take a small but comfortable lead which he held until the end. Jimmy Blewett finished in second place, Todd Szegedy took third, while Eric Beers #45 nabbed fourth. Ted Christopher charged his way back up to fifth after his earlier spin.
Next on the Whelen Modified Tour schedule is the Budweiser 150 at The Thompson International Speedway on August 9th.
Rain washed out the Granite State Pro Stock Series event at Monadnock Speedway. The rain date for the GSPSS at Monadnock will be Saturday Sept. 8th.
Sources: Jim Snape