Victory lane is nothing new for longtime Modified racing veteran Ron Silk.
But giving first-time tours of victory lane is something the Norwalk driver is making a habit of.
On May 14, 2016 Silk got his 10th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory when he was victorious at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. That night proved the first victory for his then team owner Danny Watts.
Saturday at South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Va. Silk got to drag another team owner for a first-time visit.
Silk used a late pass of Burt Myers to go to the lead and held on to win the Whelen Modified Tour South Boston 150 at South Boston Speedway. It was the first series victory for team owner Kevin Stuart. The Lowell, Mass. team owner has been a longtime fixture on the Modified racing scene.
It was the first visit to South Boston Speedway since 2011 for the Whelen Modified Tour.
“I loved it,” Silk said. “This is a first class facility. You can tell the amount of work and effort that goes into this place. I can’t thank South Boston Speedway enough for having us and I hope this can become an annual deal.”
Chase Dowling of Roxbury was second and Jimmy Blewett of Howell, N.J. third.
Silk used a lap-132 restart to go around Myers for the lead for good.
“Me and Burt were both running the top so I figured he was going to take the top on the restart,” Silk said. “I got a pretty good launch and tried to hook the bottom through [turns] one and two the best I could to carry some speed. We got together a little bit coming off [turn] two, I don’t know how bad that messed him up. I was way too loose the first run and started to fade towards the end of it. I kind of knew once we pitted and changed tires that we’d be in pretty good shape. So we didn’t change much. Just stickered up and the thing was pretty good.”
Myers, who tried to go the distance without pitting, ended up fifth.
Silk and his Stuart owned team go looking to make it two victories in row next weekend at the Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway.
“Winning is always good,” Silk said. “We’ve got some work to do to get ready for next week. We’ll try again then.”
Congratulations to Ron Silk and the entire Stuart’s Automotive Chevrolet Nº 85 team! One of my favorite drivers to watch. See you at Thompson.
None of the keyboard warriors picked Silk. I guess that LFR test session wasn’t the end all be all.
Heard a lot of good things about the facility today. That’s always a good thing.
The announcer could parse a sentence, that was a HUGE improvement. Only about 3 or 4 mispronunciations.
Tire management is crucial, and will be crucial with these tire limited events. Must make sure you have lots of tire at Go-Time. The 1 was dumb for trying to go the whole race on one set of tires. Spend the first couple yellows adjusting the car with the tires you started on, and save the new tires for a L-A-T-E yellow.
The cars ran as hard as their tires let them at the end and that is what set the order.
What do we want? Traditional front runners like Coby or Bonsignor dominating races, leading the points and predicting it all along. Or do we want great action, unpredictability and to be able to say no one predicted that?
Unless you’re a long time jaded NWMT fan you’d have to admit what unfolded yesterday was something special. A great crowd down south at the best track other then New Hampshire and a great race. A fast outside groove but not so dominant that inside passing wasn’t successful. Lightning fast lap times on a shorter track and 18 cars finish on the lead lap. A smooth track where a no tire strategy could actually be attempted. A really smart strategy by Myers knowing the track so well that may have worked if not for a late caution and ironically a sharp elbow by a guy named Silk on the restart.
Raise your hand if you’re not surprised that Tommy Catalano won the pole. Raise your hand if expected Silk to win and are disappointed. Raise you hand if you not surprised Dowling brought the Jet’s machine home in second place or LFR getting shut out from the top tier not just in the race but qualifying.
Only two races in but the top five is Coby, Blewett, Myers, Emerling and Pasteryak. The top dog no surprise but the rest………pleasantly unexpected. And Coby not in first place based on dominance but coming from the rear and duking it out for a top 10. By a point over a guy that is race to race and making it impossible not to go to the next race on the schedule.
The announcing……..superb. One guy, lightning quick describing the action and also providing insights in the process with an eye on lap speeds. No doubt we’ll be hearing Buckler in the near future comparing intervals to dinosaur tails and Ben making magic every lap and it will be great. The South Boston announcer may end up being the best old school pure call we hear all year.
Now it’s on to Thompson and teams with thick books and predictions that may be more successful involving familiar names.
Hopefully not.
The 1 car had the field covered. Why would he not take tires?? Good to see Silk take a win. He was due. Looks like Chase D learned a few things at LFR that apply to the Troyer cars. Going to be a interesting season! Thompson will separate the strong from the week. The first 2 southern races are a crap shoot. Real racing begins next week.
I guess Myers never heard of “Run em up Ronnie”, wrong guy to take the top when restarting with him.
What a terrible start for the 51 after 2 races, 18th in points. He swept all 4 races at Thompson last year, so it will be interesting to see if he dominates again.
Billy, well said.
The 1 car was good, clearly had an advantage from all the prior experience at SoBo. Why did they think they could prevail over cars with fresher tires? The 1 was good, but not that much better. Were they stupid or arrogant? With this tire rationing mode, they are racing tires. They need to make chassis adjustments through the first ½ to ⅔ of the race on the starting tires, then take tires later in the race.
Dowling looked good, real good. Why wouldn’t he? He’s a good driver, chassis don’t matter.
So these two races were openers at tracks that were unfamiliar to most, and anything could happen and did happen. JBon, Coby, Solomito, McKennedy were nowhere to be found, and Silk, Dowling and Blewett owned the top 3. Either the track was a great equalizer here and really randomized things, or this could be a very eventful season. The cars we expect to be good were indeed good when they had tires. But as the tires went away, so did the cars. The survivors were the tires on the cars that finished ahead of the other cars. Folks, we are racing tires. The teams are too anxious to take tires, then run the remaining ¾ to ⅔ of the race and expect to have a contending car on old tires at go-time. The closing laps of these two races were uneventful because the tires were spent and exhausted. The cars had nothing left.
Let’s see what happens at the regular tracks. JBon has to dig himself out. He’s gonna have to drive hard, every bonus point will matter. He’s also going to depend on other cars having bad luck.
How about that Pasteryak kid, 5th at MB, 6th at SB, bigly huge improvement from last year. Changes from Troyer to LFR and his performance improves. I know it’s early and he has not won but they have to be excited about the early season success.
JB, another solid run, 2nd at MB, 3rd at SB, appears from the math to be the new point leader. Things going to be interesting in 2019.
Great job Ronnie Silk. Seems like the field was about even, and there was some great racing. My first race won’t be till Stafford, am I’m looking forward to seeing some good racing.
Say what you want about Fifield. At least she doesn’t wreck every five laps like that Sutcliffe clown.
Glad to see a new winner! I know, Silk has won before, but not with this team, so that makes the complete team a new winner in my book. Can’t wait to see how Thompson plays out!
Troyer Facebook
“Congratulations to Ronnie Silk and the entire Stuart team on the NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR win today at the South Boston Speedway in there TA1 Troyer!
Finishing behind Silk were Chase Dowling driving the JT Motorsport TA3 Troyer, Jimmy Showtime Blewett Driving the Joe Bertuccio TA1 Troyer and Kyle Bonsingore in his updated TA1 Troyer!
Great effort by all of the Troyer Teams Today!”
Sutcliff 3 laps down, Fifield 50 laps down at the finish, and your point?
At least Sutcliff is trying to race and Fifield is just her usual rolling road block, hugging the bottom, taking the passing flag self.
The Fifield situation is perplexing. I never was a fan of beating up on the chick if she passed tech and followed the rules. What I’ll never get is this.
As a back marker I get how a driver and team have goals to get the best finish possible. Most all people that race operate in that window that doesn’t involve winning and it’s what keeps teams coming back. Do the best you can in your window. Melissa’s only goal seems to be to get the highest finish based on who drops out. For the most part there is no beating anyone ever without a mishap or part failure.
I just think it’s a monumental waste of money and time. But mostly sad. As a person that loves seeing women in racing think it’s just bad optics that the only woman in the NWMT can only claim participation.
Amy Catalano would change all that if she decided to join her boys in a NWMT race. She doesn’t just participate. She competes!
Melissa had a top 25 finish.
Please don’t be a misogynist.
Hey Liz, Melissa had a top 24 finish!!! She finished ahead of Justin Bonsignore, Eric Goodale and Rob Summers!!!! Please Liz, don’t be a misandrist. Liz, when does the 01 team plan on competing?
Misogynist? That’s a harsh label without explanation. Must be referring to humphry.
Congrats to Silk and team!
Doug, great posts…
So, my friend 1,000 words or more to make a point Doug throws me under the bus. Thanks Doug. I just made mine in 25.
Geeze humphry it was tongue in cheek and three days ago.
14 words. OK?
Where can I watch the replay of this race?
Johnt,
Monday April 8 at 7 p.m. on NBCSN