QUALIFYING: Berndt Earns World Series Pole
Points Leader Coby Qualifies Ninth For Season Finale
THOMPSON, Conn. – Eric Berndt earned the second Coors Light Pole Award of his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour career on Saturday in advance of the season finale Sunoco-Town Fair Tire World Series on Sunday at Thompson International Speedway.
Berndt, from Cromwell, Conn., toured the .625-mile, high-banked oval in 18.607 seconds (120.922 mph) for his first pole since 2009 at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Season points leader Doug Coby qualified ninth with a fast lap of 18.771 (119.866). Seventeen points back, Ryan Preece qualified fourth at 18.648 (120.656) while defending champ Ron Silk – who is 18 behind Coby – will start alongside Preece in the second row after qualifying third at 18.632 (120.760).
Berndt will be joined on the front row for Sunday’s finale by Bobby Santos, who won last time out at Stafford. The 2010 Whelen Modified Tour champion, in a part-time role this year, posted the second-fastest qualifying lap of the 32-car field at 18.624 (120.812).
Following Preece and Silk among the top-10 qualifiers were Justin Bonsignore, Mike Stefanik, Eric Beers, Jimmy Blewett, Coby and Andy Seuss.
The green flag for the Sunoco-Town Fair Tire World Series is slated for approximately 3:15 p.m. ET on Sunday. NASCAR Whelen All-American Series features will begin at 12 p.m.
NWMT Thompson 10/14/12 Qualifying
Pos No. Name Team Speed Time In Lap Laps Diff
1 46 Eric Berndt Cape Cod Agts/North End Auto Parts 120.922 18.607 2 2
2 44 Bobby Santos ImperialCars.com/Tinio Corp 120.812 18.624 2 2 0.017
3 6 Ron Silk T.S. Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm 120.760 18.632 2 2 0.025
4 16 Ryan Preece East West Marine/Diversified Metals 120.656 18.648 2 2 0.041
5 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology 120.540 18.666 2 2 0.059
6 66 Mike Stefanik Town Line Farm/Cady's Tavern 120.186 18.721 2 2 0.114
7 45 Eric Beers Horwith Freightliner/John Blewett Inc. 120.019 18.747 2 2 0.140
8 76 Jimmy Blewett John Blewett Inc/Atlantic Sprinkler 119.923 18.762 2 2 0.155
9 52 Doug Coby Reynolds Auto Wrkg/Furnace & Duct 119.866 18.771 1 2 0.164
10 11 Andy Seuss Rahmoc Racing Eng/Phoenix Pre-Owned 119.827 18.777 2 2 0.170
11 79 Woody Pitkat Hill Enterprises/Coors Light 119.598 18.813 2 2 0.206
12 4 Donny Lia Mystic Missile Racing 119.490 18.830 2 2 0.223
13 88 Bryon Chew Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East 119.376 18.848 2 2 0.241
14 2 Todd Szegedy Dunleavy Repair/A&J Romano Const. 119.155 18.883 2 2 0.276
15 10 Tommy Barrett Jr.* Friends of Teto Racing/Make-A-Wish 119.054 18.899 2 2 0.292
16 71 Rob Fuller Draco Springs 118.708 18.954 2 2 0.347
17 50 Kevin Goodale Heritage Wide Plank Flooring 118.671 18.960 2 2 0.353
18 07 Patrick Emerling Emerling Chevrolet Dealership 118.627 18.967 2 2 0.360
19 3 Keith Rocco* Cape Cod Copper/Silver Dollar Const. 118.596 18.972 2 2 0.365
20 64 Ron Yuhas Jr. Hughes Motors/Complete Construction 118.483 18.990 2 2 0.383
21 9 Tom Rogers, Jr. Planet Earth Recycling & Recovery 118.458 18.994 2 2 0.387
22 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing 118.247 19.028 2 2 0.421
23 82 Ted Christopher M&T Enterprises 118.203 19.035 2 2 0.428
24 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner 118.092 19.053 2 2 0.446
25 28 Ed Flemke Jr. Ron Bouchard's Auto/Raceworks TV 117.776 19.104 2 2 0.497
26 73 Cole Powell* Tricar/Copps BuildAll 117.746 19.109 2 2 0.502
27 58 Eric Goodale Riverhead Building Supply 117.524 19.145 2 2 0.538
28 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood/MacLad Drywall 117.297 19.182 2 2 0.575
29 33 Wade Cole Perf Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's 115.284 19.517 2 2 0.910
30 57 Shawn Solomito Acme Sanitay Service/Empower Capital/SS Motorsports 113.322 19.855 2 2 1.248
31 38 Steve Dickey* Perf Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's 112.793 19.948 2 2 1.341
32 68 Johnny Bush Two Brothers Scrap Metal 111.359 20.205 1 2 1.598
*Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender
Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR