Justin Bonsignore Saturday at Thompson Speedway (Photo: Jim DuPont)
THOMPSON – Thompson Speedway has long been a place of comfort for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Justin Bonsignore.
Of Bonsignore’s 12 career Whelen Modified Tour victories, five have come at Thompson Speedway. Over 29 career starts at the track the Holtsville, N.Y. driver has 10 top-five finishes and 16 top-10 runs.
So it came as no surprise that when the series got back on the .625-mile oval for the 2018 season Saturday it was Bonsignore setting the pace.
Bonsignore led the way in the first of two Whelen Modified Tour practices Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway.
Bonsignore recorded a fast lap of 18.747 seconds (120.019 mph). Qualifying for the Icebreaker 150 will take place Sunday.
Ronnie Williams of Tolland was second fastest during the practice with a fast lap of 18.760 seconds (119.936 mph).
Doug Coby of Milford, looking for his fifth consecutive Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2018 and sixth title overall, was third fastest at 18.804 seconds (119.655 mph).
Eric Goodale of Riverhead, N.Y. and fourth during the practice and Rowan Pennink, the defending Icebreaker 150 champion, was fifth fastest. Pennink, recovering from offseason back surgery, is making his first start of the season, having missed the season opening series event at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway on March 17.
Chase Dowling, Patrick Emerling, Woody Pitkat, Dave Sapienza and Timmy Solomito rounded out the top-10 in practice respectively.
Full Whelen Modified Tour Practice One Results From Thompson Speedway
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Ooh, ooh, ooh. My pick. Easy there hoss. Coby practiced fast at Myrtle Beach and finished so so. LFR giving him an edge? Love the teal. Best paint scheme and easy to find on the track. It’s your year Justin.
Goodale, Spafco or Troyer.
Technically tonight is Penninks first start but who’s counting. Good distance to see how the new back is doing. Better be good cause he has a lot of laps tomorrow.
Didn’t the VMRS leader practice at 18.70. VMRS faster? NWMT over rated? Say it ain’t so Joe.
Second practice he was not quite as good. Remember, the steel head engines with the big carbs in the MRS make more power than the spec engines do. If I am correct, WMT practice in the 18.5 range so how were they faster?
Thought the specs had the gas guzzling carbs. Look pretty close to me. Maybe Stafford knows what they are doing with their Open rules although I wish they had included ROC and NWMT spec engines.
The steel head 23 degree MRS can run a bigger carb than the WMT spec. Read the rules.
Here’s the fundamental difference in approaches. I view the comments as a place to share information and where knowledgeable people can educate those with less experience on a topic. More people then the person you are responding to can benefit. You humphry with your snotty how could you be so dumb approach see only one person when you respond and could care less about sharing what you know. Or maybe you don’t even know what you think you know.
I did check the VMRS rules. I view them as over my head with regard to the carbs. It would have been nice if you understood it to put it in simple terms for not just me but all the folks that may read what you say. I don’t see any carb that exceeds 399 cfm not that I know that much about it. These are the only two carbs allowed.
“The Holley 4150HP Series, list number 80507, and Holley 4150 Series, list number 6895, four (4) barrel carburetors with a maximum venturi size of 1-1/16 inches and a maximum throttle bore size of 1-7/16 inches are approved for use on all engines”
Neither of these carbs as far as I can see exceeds 399 cfm.
So if you could take a moment of your valuable time to explain this bigger carb allowance for the 23 degree head engines it would benefit not just me but anyone reading it.