The stout list of Valenti Modified Racing Series championship chasers will do battle with a group of well known outsiders when the series hits the track for the first time this season at Thompson Speedway on May 29.
The tentative entry list for the 75-lap event includes 34 teams. The event marks the first of two visits to Thompson this season for the series.
With three events completed this year, Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield goes into the Thompson race with a slim 2-point lead in the standings over two-time series champion Chris Pasteryak of Lisbon and reigning series champion Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., who are tied for second in the standings.
Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville, N.Y., who like Pennink is running full-time on both the Valenti Modified Racing Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2014, is fifth in the standings, 14 points behind Szegedy.
The list of non-regulars for the event at Thompson is a who’s who of Modified racing.
Keith Rocco of Wallingford, who won the division’s season opening event at the Waterford Speedbowl on April 13, is expected in the field. Tommy Barrett Jr. of Millis, Mass., last year’s Valenti Modified Racing Series season runner-up who now runs full-time on the Whelen Modified Tour, is also expected to be in the field.
Other Whelen Modified Tour regulars also expected in the field include the division’s reigning series champion, Ryan Preece of Berlin, and also Ted Christopher of Plainville, Woody Pitkat of Stafford and Rob Fuller of Auburn, Mass.
This would be a great opportunity to stick it to the 3rd generation Thompson owners and managers by not showing up to this or any other race this year at the Thompson Speedway….Showing and giving the same respect to them that they have given to their NASCAR fans and racers over the past year or so…I realize that a lot people may disagree with me on this, but I can’t think of any better way then to send a message to them other then hurting them in their wallets….If the eventual plan is to wittle NASCAR events down to 2 0r 3 races per season, lets beat them to the punch and boycott them now.
There are many other tracks that are local that we as racers and fans can show our $$$ support to, that will still bring in the Tour, Vanenti, etc… events
Just my thoughts…
Here is a news flash for those who can’t comprehend math or business….if your business is doing poorly, you either close or, if you want it to succeed, you re-invest to make it more desirable.
The above post is the epitome of moronic.
In 2012 drivers and teams from Thompson were leaving in droves (read some RacedayCT archives from 2012) because there was zero direction happening at Thompson. With those teams leaving, the fans followed and going to the Thompson Speedway in 2012 felt like a weekly funeral service. Lets be real here, in 2012, most people were saying its just a matter of time until this place is a golf course (read archived comments from a fore mentioned stories)
The Hoenings had to make a decision, let the place continue to lose money and eventually close or re-invest so that they can keep the place a racing facility for DECADES to come. They didnt just make a small investment that they HOPED would work, no instead, they made a multi-million dollar investment that they KNOW will continue to keep the facility up and running.
Name me one other track IN THE WORLD that has made a multi-million dollar investment to ensure that motorsports continue……yeah you wont find many if at all.
The place has 7 races in 2014 and if those 7 are profitable, then any idiot would realize that there will be more events in future years because it makes simple math and business sense.
But…..do you know one way to GUARANTEE that more races arent added to this business?!? By not attending and or promoting a childish boycott!
Its simple, businesses need to make money in order to exist. They do not exist solely to provide people a facility to bitch about on the internet.
Its sad that the minimal minority of people that dont like what Thompson is doing are the ones that do all the internet bitching, while the vast majority, those that DO LIKE Thompson Speedway are too busy being successful to have time to complain on facebook.
Just a thought…..maybe a road coarse race for the Craftsman Trucks……….It would be nice to get them back to NE.
Get rid of the sk lights and have more tricycle races. After tech what 6 maybe 7 bikes in the race? Are tickets food and beverages more because of the tricycle race. Thats thompsons problem as stated above. There trying to make all there profits on the 7 oval track races they host.
Trucks will be back in New England in September, at NHMS.
To “concerned about internet trolls”….No need to throw out adjectives if you disagree with someone’s opinion, but while you are at it let me say to you a–wipe that you sound like an individual that doesn’t no how to distinguish between running a business $$$$ and respecting your participants, customers, and fans…….If someone doesn’t like a situation and the other individual is not willing to change or compromise then you don’t contribute to their business and you try to convince others to do like wise…That’s all that was said…
well let me tell you also that so far races #1 and 2 were not successful, so with that being said and considering the way that the Tracks 3rd generation lucky semen management do things, then why not pull the plug on the rest of the season now. They seem to change things as they go along anyway, so pull the plug now…
I’ll spend Thursday nights getting my car ready for Stafford from now on along with and I believe the sentiment of a lot of other racers and fans.
Hope your not lonely in the stands all by yourself at Thompson…
Yet again everyone is quick to throw the Speedway under the bus for trying to remain a profitable venture for the owners. Go ahead and boycott a track that’s making an effort to remain open and provide, even if limited, short track racing in a time where SO many other race tracks are closing or struggling to remain open. That makes a lot of sense.
The SK Lights at the Ice Breaker were such a weak car count that they were relegated to running Saturday night instead of on Sunday. They let the Vintage Outlaws take the spot on features Sunday over because there wasn’t any support then either. Nobody can say the Speedway didn’t try to entice SK Light teams to come run at the race track during the off season, they held meetings and did their best effort but if it wasn’t going to be supported by more than six teams what’s the point of running that division short of being a time filler?
Factor in the cluster that was last Thursday nights race with rough racing at the front, wrecked race cars and pit fights and again I can see why they wouldn’t want to bother with keeping the division there the remainder of the season. I think instead of complaining the SK Light teams should be banding together trying to work on their divisional issues at the Speedway and trying to collectively increase the car count. At this point they all sound like whiney kids that haven’t gotten their way by turning to the social media pages to voice their views and boycott agendas.
Who can fault the Speedway for trying to get fans to come out on a Thursday night by staging a trike race? That might get a few families interested in heading out that were on the fence. Would I call it a new age promotional tool? No. But it is something that shouldn’t be sneezed at.
I think this will gauge whether or not Thompson does continue with anything other than the Ice Breaker / World Series if the crowds not great for the VMRS show. 34 cars is spectacular in this day and age, plus its almost 20 bucks cheaper to get in to see better racing than the WMT. I know I’ll be there!
A trike race? Really? So this is what it’s come to at Thompson. I’m glad I didn’t try to rush out of work to get up there. I don’t think the fans of the weekly oval series give a crap about the road course. But if less races and a road course is the only thing that will keep Thompson alive then I guess we as fans have no choice but to suffer. Now with Waterford up for sale, motorsports in CT may be ending as we know it. It’s a shame.
Lets boycott Waterford Speedbowl why you’re at it because unlike Thompson that ownership has put zero dollars into improvements there. That’s not caring about the fans. What about Stafford? Lets boycott them too. The video monitor in turn two hasn’t worked in years. I’m never going there again. What about Lime rock? Oh wait that’s a road course. We hate road courses. Lets never go there either.
Simple math dictates we can eliminate all 4 race facilities in CT if we don’t attend them.
Is that sound like a good idea concerned racer?
There has been debate about whether Thompson would be best served as a special event track rather than a weekly facility going all the way back to the 1980’s when it used to run on Sundays. That they have gone this way to survive seems like a sound business decision to me.
Dear Dennis………………….How long is the ride from Thompson to Stafford..??? Just wondering because just in case I buy a condo unit that will probably be developed at the Thompson site in about 3 years ater the road course folds up and the 3rd gen family decides to make another “good” business deal that just makes sense for the racers nd fans….
I suggest that everyone save their $$$ next Thursday and spend it on the reschedled Whelon Tour race at Stafford on Friday, where managenent knows how to treat the racers and the fans that support them…..
Ladies and Gentlemen…..start your tricycles……