Santos Saves Best for Last at New Hampshire
Claims Thrilling NASCAR Whelen Modified Win With Final Lap Pass
LOUDON, N.H. (July 12, 2014) — Bobby Santos entered the Sunoco 100 looking for a little extra magic to change his fortunes at the “Magic Mile.” He waited until the final lap, but he got it.
In a race that featured multiple lead changes on nearly every lap – a record 35 official lead changes – the Franklin, Mass., driver made just one pass for the lead and led just one lap Saturday. Santos drove his No. 44 Tinio Racing/ImperialCars.com Chevrolet by Ted Christopher in Turn 4 of the last lap en route to winning the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
VIDEO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH BOBBY SANTOS
It was Santos’ 13th career win but first in 16 career starts at the 1.058-mile oval.
“Definitely my biggest Modified win of my career, for sure,” said Santos. “This is our Super Bowl, and these guys work hard to get this win. Whatever happens the rest of the season — we won at Loudon.”
Doug Coby also got by Christopher in the final turn and finished second by just .065 seconds.
“It’s a blur right now,” Coby said. “The way the restarts shook out, I wound up getting a couple good runs.”
Said Santos: “The last lap, I knew if I was in second going down the backstretch, I’d have a shot at it.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman was fourth and NASCAR Next driver Ryan Preece came home fifth. The top five cars finished within three-tenths of a second of the leader.
Justin Bonsignore finished sixth, followed by Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Tommy Barrett Jr., NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour points leader Andy Seuss, Ron Silk and Chuck Hossfeld.
Silk, who won the Coors Light Pole Award in qualifying Saturday morning, led a race-high 36 laps. Preece led 30 laps and Christopher 28.
The 36 lead changes broke the Whelen Modified Tour all-time race record of 30, also at Loudon on July 7, 2000.
The race went into overtime – to a total of 110 laps – with two green-white-checkered finishes following late-race cautions. The race had seven caution periods for 30 total laps.
“Our race didn’t start out spectacular,” said Santos, who started seventh and was as far back as 14th at halfway. “The guys gave me what I needed for the second half of the race. They made a couple of adjustments. It couldn’t have been better.
“We drove ourselves to the front. We put ourselves in position.”
During the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, Christopher and Newman swapped the front spot three times within the lap on the restart but a wreck by Donny Lia brought out the caution flag before the white flag was show. On the ensuing restart, Christopher initially got away before Santos and Co. chased him down on the final lap.
It was a tough end for Christopher, who led 66 laps last week at Riverhead (New York) Raceway before giving up the lead late to Eric Goodale and settling for second.
“Unfortunately on a green-white-checkered, you can think of all the scenarios you want to do, but obviously I picked the wrong one on that one,” said Christopher, who has five Whelen Modified wins at Loudon. “It was a good run. That’s one of the cars we put together out of our stable … and first time we ever ran with a SPEC motor. I was pretty happy with it. It’s definitely something to build on.”
“I didn’t know what the hell was going on the last lap,” said Coby, who overcame early issues with a shock. “I saw Ted down on the grass and Bobby was taking the outside. I figured Ted was going to door-slam Bobby and I tried to push Bobby out there as far as I could so that he couldn’t do what he did. And ended up doing that cross-over.
“It was close coming off of Turn 4. We were about an inch apart. … I’m happy with second, I’m happy the cars in one piece, and happy the fans got a good show.”
Santos closed within two points of Coby for the championship lead with his third win in six races. Christopher is eight points behind Santos and Bonsignore is two points further back. Silk completes the top five, one point of defending tour champion Preece.
The Sunoco 100 will air on FOX Sports 1 on Friday, July 18 at noon.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s next race, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 200, is scheduled for Saturday, July 19 at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire.
Sources: Tom Bryant/NASCAR PR
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour-Sunoco 100 Results
Saturday
At New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, N.H.
Lap length: 1.058 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (7) Bobby Santos, Franklin, Mass., Chevrolet, 110 laps, 76.384 mph.
2. (14) Doug Coby, Milford, Conn., Chevrolet, 110.
3. (13) Ted Christopher, Plainville, Conn., Chevrolet, 110.
4. (6) Ryan Newman, South Bend, IN, Chevrolet, 110.
5. (2) Ryan Preece, Berlin, Conn., Ford, 110.
6. (8) Justin Bonsignore, Holtsville, NY, Chevrolet, 110.
7. (4) Tommy Barrett, Jr., Millis, Mass., Chevrolet, 110.
8. (18) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, NH, Chevrolet, 110.
9. (1) Ron Silk, Norwalk, CT, Chevrolet, 110.
10. (10) Chuck Hossfeld, Ransomville, N.Y., Chevrolet, 110.
11. (5) Timmy Solomito, Islip, N.Y., Chevrolet, 110.
12. (25) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, PA, Chevrolet, 110.
13. (24) Jimmy Zacharias, Candor, N.Y., Chevrolet, 110.
14. (23) Jamie Tomaino, Howell, N.J., Chevrolet, 110.
15. (26) Wade Cole, Hartland, Conn., Chevrolet, 110.
16. (28) Dave Salzarulo, Monson, Mass., Chevrolet, 107.
17. (22) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Chevrolet, 102, accident.
18. (19) Donny Lia, Jericho, NY, Dodge, 101, accident.
19. (12) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, N.Y., Chevrolet, 97, accident.
20. (16) Patrick Emerling, Orchard Park, NY, Chevrolet, 94, accident.
21. (29) Gary McDonald, Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Pontiac, 93.
22. (3) Todd Szegedy, Ridgefield, Conn, Chevrolet, 89, engine.
23. (20) Glen Reen, Wilbraham, Mass., Chevrolet, 88, accident.
24. (17) JR Bertuccio, Centereach, N.Y., Chevrolet, 81, accident.
25. (15) Woody Pitkat, Stafford, Conn., Chevrolet, 69, engine.
26. (27) Ken Heagy, Calverton, N.Y., Ford, 67, engine.
27. (21) Ron Yuhas, Jr., Groton, Conn., Chevrolet, 56, transmission.
28. (11) Spencer Davis, Dawsonville, Ga., Pontiac, 53.
29. (30) Melissa Fifield, Wakefield, N.H., Chevrolet, 24, handling.
30. (9) Mike Stefanik, Coventry, R.I., Chevrolet, 22, mechanical.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 1 hour 31 minutes 25 seconds
Margin of Victory: .065 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: R.Silk (128.941 mph, 29.539 seconds)
Caution Flags: 7 for 30 laps.
Lead Changes: 35 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Preece 1; R. Silk 2-11; R. Preece 12; T. Szegedy 13; R. Preece 14; T. Szegedy 15; R. Preece 16-17; T. Szegedy 18; R. Preece 19-21; R. Silk 22-38; T. Szegedy 39; R. Silk 40-46; T. Christopher 47; R. Silk 48; T. Christopher 49; R. Silk 50; R. Preece 51-52; T. Szegedy 53; R. Preece 54; T. Szegedy 55-61; T. Christopher 62-63; T. Szegedy 64-65; T. Christopher 66-67; T. Szegedy 68; T. Christopher 69-70; R. Preece 71; T. Christopher 72-73; R. Preece 74; T. Christopher 75; R. Preece 76; T. Christopher 77; R. Preece 78; T. Christopher 79; R. Preece 80-94; T. Christopher 95-109; B. Santos 110.
Standings: 1. D. Coby, 246; 2. B. Santos, 244; 3. T. Christopher, 236; 4. J. Bonsignore, 234; 5. R. Silk, 209; 6. R. Preece, 208; 7. W. Pitkat, 203; 8. T. Solomito, 202; 9. E. Goodale, 193; 10. M. Hirschman, 191.