QUALIFYING: Santos Captures Stafford Pole
Sixth Whelen Tour Stafford Pole, 11th Overall
STAFFORD, Conn. – You can almost just hand him the plaque.
Bobby Santos is 3-for-3 in Coors Light Pole qualifying in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour action this year at Stafford Motor Speedway after he nabbed the top spot once again for tonight’s CARQUEST 150.
Santos, from Franklin, Mass., turned a fast lap of 18.374 seconds (97.965 mph) for his 11th career Coors Light Pole Award. He’s earned the top starting position in four of the last six Whelen Modified Tour races at Stafford, and has a total of six poles at the historic half mile.
Ron Silk will join Santos on the front row for tonight’s CARQUEST 150 thanks to a fast qualifying lap of 18.563 (96.967). Defending race winner Doug Coby (18.584/96.858) and 20-time Stafford winner Mike Stefanik (18.596/96.795) will make up the second row.
Donny Lia, Bryon Chew, Rowan Pennink, Eric Goodale, Ryan Preece and Timmy Solomito brought home the top 10 in qualifying.
With the top qualifying effort, Santos is well-positioned to stay in contention for the CARQUEST Triple Crown bonus. If the same driver wins all three Whelen Modified Tour races that are sponsored by CARQUEST this season at Stafford, he’ll take home $25,000. Santos was the winner of the CARQUEST Spring Sizzler in April.
The Whelen Modified Tour begins the second half of the 2013 season when tonight’s CARQUEST 150 takes the green flag at approximately 9:15 p.m.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
NWMT Stafford 8/2/13 Qualifying
Pos No. Name Sponsor Time Speed In Lap Diff
1 44 Bobby Santos Tinio Racing/Brendan Kelley Music 18.374 97.965 2
2 6 Ron Silk TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm 18.563 96.967 2 0.189
3 52 Doug Coby Furnace & Duct Supply/Seekonk Grand Prix 18.584 96.858 2 0.210
4 22 Mike Stefanik Robert B Our Co/Canto & Sons Paving 18.596 96.795 2 0.222
5 4 Donny Lia Circle Track Magazine 18.598 96.785 2 0.224
6 88 Bryon Chew Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East 18.613 96.707 2 0.239
7 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner 18.628 96.629 2 0.254
8 58 Eric Goodale Riverhead Building Supply 18.657 96.479 2 0.283
9 16 Ryan Preece East West Marines/Diversified Metals 18.658 96.473 1 0.284
10 89 Timmy Solomito* EMPower/Eastport Feeds 18.661 96.458 2 0.287
11 3 Ted Christopher Silver Dollar Const/Cape Cod Copper 18.695 96.282 1 0.321
12 64 Ron Yuhas Jr. Fast Track Electric/Hughes Motors 18.701 96.252 1 0.327
13 51 Justin Bonsignore M3 Technology 18.722 96.144 2 0.348
14 2 Todd Szegedy Dunleavy Truck & Trailer/Montanari Fuel 18.739 96.056 2 0.365
15 79 Woody Pitkat Mr. Rooter/Coors Light 18.740 96.051 1 0.366
16 73 Cole Powell* Copps BuildAll/Tricar 18.744 96.031 2 0.370
17 07 Patrick Emerling Emerling Chevrolet Dealership 18.802 95.734 2 0.428
18 39 Richie Pallai Jr. MAHLE Performance/Lucas Oil 18.827 95.607 2 0.453
19 46 Eric Berndt North End Auto Parts/Cape Cod Agrgts 18.842 95.531 1 0.468
20 59 Renee Dupuis Space Fitters 18.845 95.516 2 0.471
21 28 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchards Auto Stores 18.935 95.062 2 0.561
22 99 Jamie Tomaino Supreme Manufacturing 19.049 94.493 2 0.675
23 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood/Mehner Racing 19.060 94.439 2 0.686
24 33 Wade Cole Perf Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s 19.183 93.833 2 0.809
25 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape Supply/TRC Elec 19.538 92.128 2 1.164
26 38 Brian Schofield Perf Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan’s 19.557 92.039 2 1.183
Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR