PRACTICE: Solomito Sets Myrtle Beach Pace
Fastest in Only Whelen Modified Tour Session for Opener
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Shawn Solomito opened the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season at the top of the speed charts in the only practice session at the half-mile Myrtle Beach Speedway on Saturday.
Solomito was the only driver to break the 19-second bracket in the hour and 15-minute session for the season-opening Performance Plus 150 presented by Safety-Kleen. He posted a fast time of 19.956 seconds (97.054 mph) behind the wheel of his No. 75 Eastport Feeds on the 25th of his 51 laps. The defending Riverhead Raceway modified division champion will search his first career tour victory in the Performance Plus 150 later this evening.
Matt Hirschman followed in second spot with a time of 20.014 seconds (96.772 mph), while Shawn’s brother Timmy Solomito was third with a lap of 20.057 seconds (96.565 mph).
[Photo Gallery] by Debbie Horn
Ryan Preece was fourth, while David Sapienza rounded out the top five. Completing the top 10 in practice was four-time champion Doug Coby, Rob Summers, Todd Szegedy, Andy Seuss and Kyle Bonsignore.
Qualifying for the Performance Plus 150 will begin at approximately 3:45 p.m. Heading into qualifying, George Brunnhoelzl III holds the one-lap qualifying record of 95.918 mph set in the tour’s only previous trip to the track in 2009.
RESULTS
NWMT Myrtle Beach 3/18/17 Practice
Whelen Modified Tour
Series: Whelen Modified Tour
PRINTABLE FORMAT (PDF)
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed Laps In Lap Diff
1 75 Shawn Solomito Eastport Feeds 19.956 97.054 51 25
2 60 Matt Hirschman Pee Dee Motorsports 20.014 96.772 50 3 0.058
3 16 Timmy Solomito Starret Racing 20.057 96.565 61 9 0.101
4 6 Ryan Preece T.S. Haulers, Inc 20.070 96.502 45 3 0.114
5 36 David Sapienza Sapienza Enterprise 20.072 96.493 53 24 0.116
6 2 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 20.078 96.464 82 16 0.122
7 64 Rob Summers Fastrock Electric 20.082 96.445 60 32 0.126
8 85 Todd Szegedy Montanari Fuel/Stuarts Automotive 20.122 96.253 70 48 0.166
9 11 Andy Seuss LFR Chassis 20.162 96.062 54 3 0.206
10 22 Kyle Bonsignore Snap-on Tools 20.194 95.910 51 2 0.238
11 82 Ron Silk Horton Avenue Materials 20.240 95.692 40 3 0.284
12 20 Max Zachem MPZ Motorsports/Lu-Macs 20.253 95.630 47 22 0.297
13 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications, Inc. 20.279 95.508 49 2 0.323
14 58 Eric Goodale GAF/Heritage Millworth 20.316 95.334 76 4 0.360
15 40 Danny Bohn Dunleavy Truck & Trailer Repair/WillIAm South Trucking 20.342 95.212 56 18 0.386
16 89 Matt Swanson Starret Tools 20.346 95.193 56 24 0.390
17 1 Burt Myers Citrusafe Cleaners 20.352 95.165 63 20 0.396
18 17 Kyle Ellwood TBD 20.371 95.076 60 23 0.415
19 56 Craig Lutz TBD 20.373 95.067 54 3 0.417
20 7 Donny Lia Bardahl 20.378 95.044 56 56 0.422
21 00 Les Hinckley III* Chad Freeman, Attorney at Law 20.462 94.654 57 50 0.506
22 3 Rowan Pennink Cape Cod Copper 20.471 94.612 41 18 0.515
23 46 Woody Pitkat Riverhead Building Supply 20.476 94.589 46 22 0.520
24 15 Jeremy Gerstner The Carriage House Restaurant/GMR 20.567 94.170 41 2 0.611
25 39 Calvin Carroll* Power with Prestige 20.649 93.796 31 4 0.693
26 77 Gary Putnam Curb Records 20.672 93.692 48 48 0.716
27 99 Jamie Tomaino Dunleavy’s Repair 21.040 92.053 33 13 1.084
28 01 Melissa Fifield Eastern Propane & Oil 21.279 91.019 66 40 1.323
29 33 Wade Cole Performance Engines/Kendall Oil 21.497 90.096 22 4 1.541
* Denotes Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate
Sources: Kyle Souza, NASCARHomeTracks.com