Masse Leads Green to Checkered at Thompson
THOMPSON, CT — During the VMRS portion of the World Series at the Thompson Motor Speedway, Steve Masse of Bellingham, MA led the entire 75 lap distance.
Masse used his pole position start to full advantage by blasting to the lead and never looking back. Masse had to set a blistering pace just to stay in front of a charging pack of MRS heavy hitters like Ryan Preece, Woody Pitkat, Justin Bonsignore, Keith Rocco and Tommy Barrett, Jr.
Barrett started 13th and quickly moved into the top 10 by lap five, then by lap 25 Barrett sat in the fifth spot.
A lap 32 yellow flag for a crash involving Dave Schneider (Northport, NY), Norm Wrenn (Nashua, NH) and Carl Medeiros Jr.(Westport, MA.) closed up the field for the restart. Wrenn and Medeiros were not able to return to action.
Pitkat put pressure on Masse at the drop of the green, with the two racing side-by-side for a lap before Masse gained the advantage, but couldn’t shake Pitkat or Rocco. The three ran under a blanket until a lap 49 spin by Barrett off turn four. The restart was followed by another quick caution for Donnie Lashua’s (Canaan, NH) hard-hit against the front stretch wall.
This gave Pitkat the chance to mount another challenge against Masse’s number 13, but Pitkat spun his tires holding up the outside row, allowing Richard Savary (Canton, MA) to take over the runner-up spot behind Masse.
While positions continually changed behind the #13, Masse pulled out to a 15 car length lead until lap 65 when contact between Justin Bonsignore (Islip, NY) and Dan Meservey Jr.(Brewster, MA) in turns 3-4 collected Brian Schofield (Monson, MA) in the crash. This accident was red flagged so Schofield could be extracted from his race car and airlifted to a local hospital. Racing resumed after a 50 minute delay. Masse and Savary came to the green this time, and Savary spun his tires giving Rocco the chance to slip into second-place .
The last of six caution periods came for a single car spin. That set up the dash to the checkered. Masse used the outside lane for the restart and Pitkat used the outside to race by Rocco to finish second. Rocco held on to third, Savary was forth and Rowan Pennink worked his way forward all race long to finish fifth .
Heat winners were Rowan Pennink, Dave Etheridge , Woody Pitkat.
Justin Bonsignore came back from the lap 65 incident to finish 14th and take down the 2014 VMRS championship. This is Art Barry’s second MRS championship, his first was 2012 with Jon McKennedy driving. Congratulations to the Spear point team!
Congratulations also go out to the 2014 rookie of the year, Mike Willis Jr. Mike had an outstanding year with nine top 10 finishes, landing him sixth in points.
Race – VMRS Thompson World Series 75.
Track – Thompson Speedway 0.625 miles.
Total time – 57 : 47.466.
Margin of victory – 0.356.
Best lap time – 19.098.
Best speed – 117.813.
Best lap by – 13 – Steve Masse.
Lap leaders – #13 – 1-75.
Cautions – 0, 32, 49, 49, 65, 72.
Race Results.
1 – 13 – Steve Masse
2 – 42 – Woody Pitkat
3 – 68 – Keith Rocco
4 – 99 – Richard Savary
5 – 25 – Rowan Pennink
6 – 00 – Ted Christopher
7 – 19 – David Schneider
8 – 58 – Eric Goodale
9 – 38 – Mike Willis Jr.
10 – 66 – Dylan Kopec
11 – 34 – David Etheridge
12 – 09 – Brad Vanhouten
13 – 31 – Ryan Preece
14 – 21 – Justin Bonsignore
15 – 05 – Todd Patnode
16 – 77 – Matthew Mead
17 – 33 – Rob Richardi JR
18 – 76 – Dennis Perry
19 – 22 – Roy Seidell Jr.
20 – 5CT – Chris Pasteryak
21 – 6 – Colbey Fournier
22 – 45 – Dan Meservey Jr.
23 – 07 – Brian Schofield
24 – 52 – Chris Bakaj
25 – 9– Tommy Barrett Jr.
26 – 46 – Jonny Kay
27 – 17 – Donnie Lashua
28 – 53 – Norm Wrenn
29 – 50 – Carl Medeiros Jr.
30 – 93 – George Sherman
31 – 97 – John Fortin
32 – 11 – Geoff Gernhard
Sources: Jim Snape/YankeeRacer.com