Southern New England race fans turned out in droves to witness the first of two events for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway on Wednesday. Setting up for a wild end to the 2023 season, both the top NASCAR Modified stars and the heroes of Thompson Speedway’s local divisions are prepared to battle to the end and claim their respective championships.
Steve Michalski and Dave Trudeau brought down the Mini Stock field to take the first feature event green flag of the evening. After setting the early pace, defending champion Kevin Moore took command ahead of Trudeau on lap four as 2023 winners Jarred Roy and Kyle Wing began to move up through the field. Moore kept his foot in the firewall but Roy caught up to his rear bumper late in the going before contact between the two took all the air out of Roy’s right front tire. Kevin Moore would take down his first win of the 2023 season followed by Dave Trudeau and Eric Bourgeois.
After Austin Beers put down a miraculous 19.158-second pole-setting time over Doug Coby in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour time trials, Scott Sundeen would set the early Limited Sportsman pace ahead of Aaron Plemons to start their 20-lap feature event. July winner Ryan Waterman nabbed second away from Plemons on lap 6 to begin his chase of Sundeen. Waterman closed up to a car length on Sundeen under the halfway crossed-flags and led lap 11 at the line. Throwing his sail to the wind, Ryan Waterman kept the lead right to the checkered flag for his second consecutive Thompson Speedway Limited Sportsman win with Scott Sundeen and Corey Fanning rounding out the podium.
Todd Douillard and Danny Gamache lead the SK Light Modified field to green on Thompson 150 Wednesday. Gamache would run with the early lead with his outside groove starting position as Nick Hovey, John O’Sullivan and Isaiah Newcomb broke into the picture. Working his way up, O’Sullivan would lead lap 8 over Gamache with Tyler Chapman all over his rear-bumper. Chapman jumped inside O’Sullivan to begin a side-by-side battle for the lead while hard-charging Alexander Pearl and Megan Fuller made their way into the top-five. After taking the lead, Chapman went from a mirror-full of O’Sullivan to a stalking Alexander Pearl looking for his third-consecutive SK Light victory.
Pearl jumped low under Chapman with ten-to-go as the young-gun duo duked it out over and over again with O’Sullivan getting a front-row view in third. After settling back and cooling down his Hoosier Racing Tires, Pearl could only watch as Tyler Chapman returned to O’Reilly victory lane with John O’Sullivan hanging on for third.
The ACT-type Late Models would be the last track championship division to take the field with Devin Deshaies and Matt Lowinski-Loh leading the field to green. Lowinski-Loh took down the early lead while leading American-Canadian Tour rookie Andrew Molleur following in second as Deshaies played defense against Jake Johnson, Conner Souza and Nick Johnson twelve-car-lengths back in third. The spirited battle for fourth continued through the halfway point before Nick Johnson bested the group to begin his chase of Deshaies. The lone caution flag would fall on lap 22 as contact from Jake Johnson sent Souza into the spin cycle in turn four to restack the field.
Molleur would start outside Lowinski-Loh under the restart green flag with three laps to go but it was Matt Lowinski-Loh who got the jump and took down his first win of the season and a celebratory donut or two in the infield grass. Andrew Molleur and point-leader Nick Johnson rounded out victory lane.
After earning the Mayhew Tools Pole Award, Austin Beers lined-up beside the Mayhew Tools machine of Doug Coby to bring the twenty-three-car field to green. The leaders got physical early while Matt Swanson would call the first caution at just lap two for his mid-field spin in turn two. Coby would get the jump on Beers at the restart as the pack quickly organized into a single-file column to ride the high lane around the Thompson 5/8-mile. Although the field was slowed once again on lap 68, the only real wreckage would occur on the backstretch on lap 91 as Kyle Bonsignore wheel-hopped over the left front of Andrew Krause to set off a chain reaction as Jake Johnson, Matt Hirshman and Woody Pitkat spun into the mix as well.
In the melee, Hirshman broke his left forearm and continues to await further evaluation to determine the extent of his injury and expected recovery time.
On the restart between Justin Bonsignore and Eric Goodale, Bonsignore got the rocket-launch on the outside groove with the push from Ron Silk on his rear bumper. Two more quick-spin cautions set up duels between Bonsignore and Silk as the two vied for position on each other and maintain their standings on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship season. Try as he might, Silk didn’t have enough left in the can and Justin Bonsignore took down the Thompson 150 presented by FloSports.com win to tie the late, great Teddy Christopher with 13 career NWMT wins on the Thompson highbanks with Silk and Goodale rounding out the podium.
Austin Beers took down a career-best fourth-place finish at Thompson with 2022 August winner Craig Lutz taking fifth. Bobby Santos III took sixth and Patrick Emerling rebounded from an early backward stretch to claim seventh. Early race leader Doug Coby came home eighth followed by Anthony Sesely and Tyler Rypkema to round out the top-ten. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Series is back in action in Langley, Virginia on Saturday, August 26t and returns to Thompson Speedway as part of the 61st Sunoco World Series on Sunday, October 8th.
The Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park oval is back in action for the final Wednesday night showdown of the season on September 13th. Wednesday, September 13th will feature the final $5,000-to-win, 50-lap Dash for Cash as the Thompson Outlaw Open Modifieds get one last crack at the highbanks before the 61st Sunoco World Series tour-modified trifecta on October 6th, 7th and 8th. The SK Light Modifieds, ACT-type Late Models, Limited Sportsman, and Mini Stocks will also join in along with the Open Street Stock Special!
For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
For technical information concerning all PASS divisions, and for media or marketing questions, please contact passracing@roadrunner.com or visit www.proallstarsseries.com. Don't forget to "Like" the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow on Twitter @PASSSLM14 to keep up with breaking news as it happens.
For general Thompson Speedway inquiries, call (860) 923-2280, email oval@thompsonspeedway.com, or visit www.thompsonspeedway.com. You can follow Thompson Speedway on Facebook and Instagram at @ThompsonSpeedway or on Twitter at @ThompsonSpdwy.
-Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Release
-Photo credit: Tom Morris Racing Photography
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park – Thompson, CT
The Thompson 150 presented by FloSports
Wednesday, August 16, 2023
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – Thompson 150 presented by FloSports
(Finish Pos., Car #, Driver, Sponsor/Team, Laps)
1. 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications Inc. 150
2. 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine & Future Homes 150
3. 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing 150
4. 64 Austin Beers Dell Electric/Lumiere Electrical/Andrew James Interiors 150
5. 82 Craig Lutz Danny’s Cesspool Service 150
6. 44 Bobby Santos III Harshaw Paving/Olivas Market 150
7. 07 Patrick Emerling Bonesteel Aerospace 150
8. 7 Doug Coby Mayhew Tools 150
9. 19 Anthony Sesely Wanick Construction Inc. 150
10. 32 Tyler Rypkema Northeast Driling/MUSCO Lighting 150
11. 6 Woody Pitkat Koopman Lumbar 150
12. 3 Jake Johnson Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 150
13. 26 Max Zachem Lakeland Ave Landscape Supply/L.I. Wood Heat 150
14. 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant 150
15. 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 144
16. 36 Dave Sapienza Sapienza Enterprises/Eastport Feeds 130
17. 46 Anthony Nocella Riverhead Building Supply 112
18. 24 Andrew Krause Supreme Manufacturing Co. 90
19. 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 90
20. 60 Matt Hirschman Elite Towing/Baker Racing 90
21. 1 Eric Berndt Ferguson Motorsports 90
22. 21 Anthony Bello Bello Motorsports/SKM/JB Mgmt 48
23. 89 Matt Swanson Cervado Auto 3
SK Light Modifieds – (30 Laps)
1. 41 Tyler Chapman Ellington, CT
2. 7 Alexander Pearl Salem, CT
3. 15 John O'Sullivan Norwich, CT
4. 2 Meghan Fuller Auburn, MA
5. 22 Isaiah Newcomb Plymouth, MA
6. 88 Danny Gamache Jr. N. Smithfield, RI
7. 16MA Todd Douillard Palmer, MA
8. 32 Tom Abele Jr. Norwich, CT
9. 16 Nickolas Hovey Chaplin, CT
10. 26 Rob Janovic Jr. Waterford, CT
11. 24H Frank Hirt Danbury, CT
12. 28CT George Perreault Woodstock, CT
Late Models – (25 Laps)
1. 17MA Matt Lowinski-Loh Milford, MA
2. 31CT Andrew Molleur Shelton, CT
3. 6MA Nick Johnson Rehoboth, MA
4. 37 Jordan Hadley Waterford, CT
5. 64RI Devin Deshaies Burrillville, RI
6. 38RI Connor Souza Riverside, RI
7. 91CT Jake Johnson Rehoboth, MA
8. 21MA Pete Yetman E. Greenbush, NY
9. 50RI Mike Benevides Westerly, RI
10. 13 Tony Macrino Waterford, CT
11. 42CT Manny Dias Danielson, CT
Limited Sportsman – (20 Laps)
1. 75 Ryan Waterman Danielson, CT
2. 36 Scott Sundeen Sutton, MA
3. 11 Corey Fanning Mapleville, RI
4. 7x Jason Chicolas Sutton, MA
5. 67 Aaron Plemons Uncasville, CT
6. 73 Larry Barnett Moosup, CT
7. 01 Brent Gleason Griswold, CT
8. 22T Tim Poulin N. Grosvenordale, CT
9. 66 Tyler Cinamella Willimantic, CT
10. 10 Hank Stott Medway, MA
Mini Stocks – (15 Laps)
1. 82 Kevin Moore Moosup, CT
2. 97 Dave Trudeau Marshfield, CT
3. 87 Eric Bourgeois Oakdale, CT
4. 44 Steve Michalski Brooklyn, CT
5. 19 Ryan Pomposelli Smithfield, RI
6. 54 Mitch Bombard Willimantic, CT
7. 10 Keith Ballou Pascoag, RI
8. 1CT Jarred Roy Moosup, CT
9. 7 Kyle Wing Marshfield, CT