Tony Ricci Wins in Front of Hometown Crowd at Beech Ridge
Scarborough, Maine — Westbrook Maine’s Tony Ricci, who runs a limited schedule yearly, ended a 13-year drought when he won the Valenti Modified Racing Series 75-lap race Saturday, Aug 3 at historic Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine.
The win was Ricci’s third career victory with the Valenti sponsored series. His first two were in 2006.
Ronnie Williams, of Ellington, CT, making his first-ever start at Beech Ridge, took the early lead from his pole starting position to lead the opening ten-laps.
Jeffrey Gallup, of Feeding Hills, MA. quickly worked his way to the lead on lap eight. Gallup started the race eighth in the 16-car lineup.
Gallup held the top position until the 45th circuit when Ricci moved by becoming the class of the field. The driver of the Rick Czarnecki owed
# 20 was never headed.
Anthony Nocella, of Woburn, MA, made a late-race charge to finish second, Andy Shaw, of Center Conway, NH, third, Williams, held on for fourth, with Cameron Sontag rounding out the top five.
Gallup claimed the Halfway Leader bonus of $500 posted by Blue Water Mortgage and Jonathan Ferrante. Shaw claimed the W.A. Doucette Building Co. $ 250 Hard Charger Award.
Sixth through tenth place were, Gallup, CJ Bolton, Mike Willis Jr, Dylan Rock, and Derek Robbie.
Only two caution flags were needed for minor incidents.
The race was completed in 24-minutes
Race Summary:
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway
Scarborough, Maine
August 3, 2019
Entrants: 16
Distance 75-Laps
Lap Leaders: (1-10) Williams (11-44) Gallup (45-75) Ricci
Cautions Flags: Laps 26,32
Margin of Victory: 1.995
Best Lap Time: 15.589 Josh Cantara
Unofficial Order op Finish: (1) Ricci, (2) Nocella, (3) Shaw (4) Williams, (5) Sontag, (6) Gallup, (7) Bolton, (8) Willis, (9) Rock,
((10) Robbie, (11) Jarvis, (12) Sherman, (13) Cantara, (14) Dore, (15) Lashua, (16) Dixon.