Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway Ronnie Williams will be defending his title in the track’s biggest event of the season for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified divison.
Williams is the reigning champion of the NAPA SK 5K that takes place Friday at Stafford.
If you’re the betting sort, and consider trends and momentum key to picking favorites, there’s no doubt who you’ll want to put your money on.
Williams, of Tolland, continues a week of huge victory Wednesday at Seekonk Speedway by winning the Tri-Track Open Modified Series $10,000 to win Open Wheel Wednesday event.
It was the second huge win in four days for Williams and his Gary Casella owned team. On Sunday Williams scored a $5,000 payday in the Valenti Modified Racing Series event at the New England Short Track Showdown at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
It was the first victory in the prestigious Open Wheel Wednesday event for Williams.
Tommmy Barrett Jr. of Millis, Mass. was second and Matt Swanson of Acton, Mass. third.
Matt Hirschman (Northampton, Pa.) and Todd Patnode (Swanzey, N.H) rounded out the top-five respectively.
Wiliams and Swanson were embroiled in a hard fought battle for the lead from lap 90 to lap 94. After passing Swanson for the lead on lap 94 Williams began to get some breathing room on lap 95 with Barrett moving to second. Caution flew on lap 96 to set up a final showdown, but Williams had too much for Barrett over the closing circuits.
I called that. New winner in OWW victory circle. Good seeing a fresh face win. Probably good for him to win in front of a hugh crowd too, unlike the 35 people that saw him win at Loudon on Sunday. It would be cool to see him close out the week with a Stafford win.
Amazing that MH pulls the pole pill for heats so often.
Off to Star next month. If you believe the rumors it might be a good opportunity for the WMT boys to build some notes for 2020. Hmmm….
Big Money who?
Might want to consider a change. Big Money Ronnie. He has to be one of the top 5 dollar winners in the last two years not counting point funds.
So happy to see Tommy Barrett coming in second. That team is low budget but scrappy. It’s amazing how often they show up in the front at various times in these open races. A true independent, old school barnstormer.
25 – Ronnie Williams $10,000 plus $240 lap money
9 – Tommy Barrett $3500
3 – Matthew Swanson $2500 plus $882 lap money
60 – Matt Hirschman $2000
24 – Todd Patnode $1500
6 – Woody Pitkat $1400 plus $300 lap money
66 – Austin Kochenash $1300
25 – Calvin Carroll $1200
50S – Ron Silk $1100 plus $935 lap money
48 – Jon Kievman $1000
82 – Rob Murphy $950
27 – Anthony Sesely $925
88 – Russ Hersey $900
57 – Keith Rocco $875 + $150 Waddell Communications credit
82 – Mike Holdridge $800
21 – Les Hinckley $800 + Hoosier $150 credit from Meadowbrook Farm
16 – Colbey Fournier $800
02 – Geoff Rollins $800
7 – Andrew Charron $800
573 – Andy Jankowiak $800
7 – Kurt Vigeant $800
22 – Chuck Hossfeld $800
25 – Brian Robie $800
92 – Anthony Nocella $800
76 – Kirk Alexander $800
176 – Dana Dimatteo $800 + Sunoco $150 credit from Meadowbrook Farm
50 – Carl Medeiros Jr. $800
DNQ-
3 – Matt Galko $500
39 – Donny Hartzl $500
99 – Richard Savary $500
Pitkat was leader of laps 1 – 15
Silk was leader of laps 16- 55
Swanson was leader of laps 56 – 92
Williams was leader of laps 93 – 100
Jim once again kudos for what you and your team do thank you!
What a great show!Racing was really good in all 3 divisions….place was packed…..too bad more modified teams choose not to support these guys.Its a shame as the TTOMS people really beat the drum to find $ for these guys and do come up with it.Great assortment of modifieds from all around.
Good show & crowd. That is HOW Mods. are to run, heats, consi., GREEN FLAG laps. Not like the Whelen tour, cautions count. Not a GOOD show. Greens ONLY> Thanks Tri Track Guys.
Good race all around. Man, Hinckley struggled all day. Great call by Tri-track when they came over to the 02, and said “you guys wanna run?” That was classy, and I can tell you this, I will never forget that. But, man did they scramble to get the car back together. Had to put in 4 tires, put the carb back on, set the toe. It was a mad scramble.
Hirschman didn’t win? Are they protesting?
What a contrast between the Tour show there in May a single file Conrail special to this double double tight racing for most of the event. Congrats the Gary and Ronnie. Being on a roll and having momentum is big in this sport. I’ll leave the drive by idiot comments made by those that weren’t there slide. The top to bottom competition on the TTOM is as good as any series out there. Even, dare I say it, the almighty Whelen tour.
Every post from you Crazy the last several years has a SHOT at the WMT, we get it, Not every WMT show is great, not every WMT rule is good, not every move by WMT drivers always work, not every call by WMT officials is perfect but my god give it a rest, who is more obsessed? you with WMT or dareal with Waterford? close call.
Thanks to Jim Schaefer for all his hard work.
And I agree MUDDBUS that I don’t get why MORE MODIFIED TEAMS FROM ALLL SERIES don’t show up!
I count two take downs by the Crazy one. The NWMT and all those that comment on races they have not attended.
Nice sentiment wmass but no I don’t see he or any of us ever giving any of our viewpoints a rest. We are after all overwhelmingly cranky old curmudgeons known more for repeating the same thing endlessly then resting any of our opinions.
That said I’ll counter the Crazyisms with a couple Dougisms.
1) The NWMT doesn’t need to be a loser for the TTOMS to be a winner. They are after all different series with different strong points and each race a different animal. The only common element they both have is strong followings.
2) Smart and dumb comments have no relationship to who did go and who didn’t go to the race.We prove that every day.
wmass01013, let Crazy be, he’s a grumpy curmudgeon. He’s from where and when mods were awesome. Back from the heart of NYS where Evans, Bodine, Spencer, Kent, Leaty and the greats roamed and ran. I lived there back then, it was great. The ROC is now just a shell of what it used to be, perhaps it can be characterized as a loosely organized open series. Not too many run the whole season. It’s become another MRS series. Even Crazy’s sweetheart, Matty Hirschman, doesn’t run the whole season. The championship pretty much goes to whoever runs the most races. If ROC and MRS cars run a NWMT event, they just can’t compete with the Tour cars.
Seems there are real racers and pick and choose racers or the racers who want to run the almighty tour.For example Andy J. who had great night going at Seekonk until the end and Chuck Hossfeld who also towed to Seekonk,left for home Wednesday night and showed up at Lancaster on Thursday to race with the ROC…and BTW Andy J.won…Those guys are old school racers.
One of the draws for me with the TriTrack series is the opportunity to see drivers from different series’ racing each other. Where else will you see drivers from WMT, MRS, ROC, and independents running at the same event? I would guess for the drivers it also adds the challenge of running someone hard that you don’t run against all the time, so moves and decisions by the competition can’t be as easily anticipated, and each driver has to be that much more “up on the wheel.”
Snowflakes in June are rare but not on this site. Whats’ a matter boys did I hit a nerve? I compete on both tours so I might be in a position to make an informed OPINION on the two. All I hear is how great and how much better the Tour is than everything else. Like the most expensive is always the best. You think I’m the only one who made that comparison between the two at Seekonk? LOL yeah OK. Dougie..cut the chain and try and escape the shadow of SMS once in awhile, The girlychick from Chicopee can maybe split the gas bill with you. Dareal….hopeless (as always). 24 cars on the lowly
ROC last night but hey…who’s counting? Turn off your computers and attend some varied races once in awhile. You might learn something.
I’m just going to throw this out there and I cannot understand why Keith Rocco is a great driver and I mean that but cannot run well everywhere else and again I’m in no way a Rocco hater
Bill d., he’s a pretty good off-off-off-Broadway driver. Does well with the SKs, etc., but hasn’t done well in a Tour type mod.
You compete on Both TOURS, that’s FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah the 2 or3 races PEE DEE chooses to RUN, the ONLY girly choosing to compare any tours is you!!!!!!!!!!!!! u keep cutting down the WMT to beat yur chest how great tri track is, I don’t compare ANY TOURS, I LIKE MODIFIED races, whether open or a tour, we all know how great yur knowledge is to bow to your wisdom on Modifieds, try going to any race that PEE DEE doesn’t and u might gain some more knowledge.
“drive by idiot comments”.. I see you’re a Rush Limbaugh fan Crazy in NY. Take out media and add idiot comments and there you go. Snowflake equally over used and abused by those mocking their political enemies. Good to see you’re keeping abreast of politics Crazy in NY even if it shows a lack of imagination bringing those spam like references into the racing sphere.
You compete on both tours do you? I’ll take you at your word although you don’t seem to say a whole lot to prove it other then mocking others. I do recall you saying Hirschman uses local help for his far flung racing appearances and you were on his Oswego crew. That was interesting. Otherwise where’s the beef? Or is it the citizens of this forum are not capable of understanding the knowledge of advanced racing study you posses so you dumb it down.
A Limbaugh fan that is also recommending saving resources by car pooling. Don’t see that every day. As much as I appreciate the suggestion Crazy in NY I’m not interested in venturing anywhere beyond Stafford. While I can appreciate you thinking it’s your place to judge others racing choices my policy is to never tell people what to watch nor do I listen to those telling me.
So Crazy in NY since you favor those talk media mocking words and phrases I’ll see your “drive by” and raise you a “fake”. Not fake news but the notion that entire NWMT vs TTOMS is a completely fake rhubarb designed merely to create a pecking order where none exist.
I don’t know what Rocco not being able to run well anywhere else means. He’s done well at all the Connecticut tracks and other places as well I suspect. He won the first tour type modified open race at Stafford. Is he a Hirschman or Coby or Silk or Pitkat……. certainly not but he is no less important to racing.
Rocco is a completely separate entity in racing. Not merely a driver he’s KRR. He is assembling, setting up, leasing cars and mentoring so many teams it’s hard to keep track. He’s doing so much I’d argue it’s taking away from his personal racing efforts. He’s doing it with TA! and TA3 Troyer chassis and doing it in SK’s and tour type modifieds. SK Lights as well.
It isn’t hyperbole to say if Coby, Hirschman, Silk or any other driver retired completely from racing tomorrow it would not have any where near the impact were Keith Rocco to do the same thing and KRR to shut it’s doors.
Like him or not he’s simply an amazing entrepreneur that brought his business and technical skills to racing as well as a driver.
Bill D, Keith Rocco has been one of the dominant drivers at all three Connecticut race tracks for a number of years. He is the only driver to win all three track championships in the same year, and had “two out of three” a couple times as well. He hasn’t done well in the WMT, but didn’t really have a decent chance. He was making progress with Bob Our’s #22 team for a few races, but broke his wrist. He also hasn’t run many tracks outside of Connecticut that I’m aware of. The only time I remember seeing him was an SK race at Seekonk maybe 7-8 years ago. However, if he’s running an SK, VMRS, or Stafford Open Modified in Connecticut, I would not be betting against him!
Wow..what keyboard fire you bring Dougless. By your own admission you don’t venture from SMS yet you comment on everything Modified racing. Let others judge the value of that. Very Dareal like you bringing
my politics ( you think you know me ..you don’t have a clue) but the drive by comment is just that. Like your Big Money who?…but that is OK. And fyi..I did not tear down the WMT to boost TTOM I merely made an observation (one that many others have made) about the contrast between the two races at that track.
wmass…Please inform yourself on facts. I didn’t say who I competed with you extrapolated that based on your pre-conceived notions. NEWS FLASH !! you’re wrong on your assumptions..again
Now if we can get back to the subject..Yes Big Money Ronnie is on a roll. I know what that is like having been part of one myself. Keep typing clowns…I am enjoying myself. .
I fail to see how being a loyal fan of a track and getting enjoyment out of following all the divisions there is admitting anything.
No extrapolation required.
Crazy in NY, February 16, 2019 at 11:55.
The set up is it was your final thought on the races at New Smyra. It was one of you best in my view but in it you did say this about Matt Hirschman.
“Good isn’t good enough however so they keep working and refining. Tues….wrecks happen. Went from “thought we were done” to lets fix it and see how it goes. Experience again and some good fortune resulted in 3 in a row. That speaks for itself.
as for 2019…… it hasn’t been finalized exactly when and where he’ll race. Consider this: I’m one of a dozen or so guys who help MH during the long year. He has help from at least 5 different states and guys go or not depending on when, where and what is going on in our lives”
I only know what you say Crazy in NY. I want to believe it but it’s getting harder.
At the least it shows I pay attention.
You have me there Doug. You have the time to apparently to archive every typed word on Raceday and can regurgitate it on notice. Impressive. I’ll have to settle for working, wrenching and crewing on 3 Mods and one Sportsman. I need more hours in my day to keep up with you.
Actually I thought your post was meaningful and informative and that’s why I remembered it. I also remember the one you wrote about comparing social media with yelling through the pit fence that was one of the best ever in my view. Isn’t that the point. To write things that are worth remembering.Or is it to say any self serving thing in the moment that’s serves the purpose.
Deflecting from the fact you have been proven to be less then credible by saying you’re busy……….not your finest hour..
Let me clarify what I was saying he’s a great driver I just don’t understand why he never did more in open and tour shows ie setups more horsepower etc or with all his accomplishments he hasn’t gotten a good tour ride which he’s proven he’s earned
Hey Doug, I’m sure the Mensa meetings are also taking up a lot of time and preventing him from telling the truth
Just throwing this in. The NWMT shows are boring. Run a few laps, yellow, run 7-10 laps under yellow for pit stops, repeat. Most races are single file follow the leader bores. When I go to a race, I want to see racing, not freight train. From what I’ve read, both the VMRS and TTMS have side by side down and dirty racing. Just saying….
NWMT should go to a 3 spin rule, spin 3 times and your out. That might speed up the show. They should also allow the teams to change more than 1 tire at a time since they limit the amount of tires per event. They’ve got to do something to shorten the yellows, and liven up the show. Maybe a points bonus for the halfway leader. The current format is boring, and discouraging compared to other series.
………………you have been proven to be less then credible………..
LOL and you’re the arbiter of what’s credible.. OK let’s go with that.
Careful Rob p you’re in dangerous water ripping the Tour. The faithful will not stand for that.
Regarding Rob P.’s comment, I do like the WMT, but they really need to do something about the caution process. I understand they are trying to be safe on pit road and allow smaller teams a competitive opportunity, but the cautions seem to be too long because of it. I’ve seem teams pit three times during the same caution and the track was clear after their first pit stop. How about this: Allow teams to only pit once under caution. The exception would be to deal with damage. Too many times I see teams come in multiple times and NASCAR seems to continue the caution to allow them to do so. I think this would allow make for more strategy as well, with teams only able to take one tire or fuel. Another option would be to limit the laps pit road is open, which would accomplish the same thing. Maybe pit once or twice (fuel and one tire), then you run what you have until the next one. Maybe that way more cautions would be 3-4 laps instead of 7-8 laps.
OK all the series have their own identity, that the point girly!! why does anyone have to rip ONE SERIES to say they like another, its allllllllllllllllllllllllll modified racing, SOME SAME DRIVERS, some same cars, some different rules, its called variety and choice, we allll don’t work on 3 mod teams and a sportsman team, BIG DEAL, IF U don’t like a certain series, STAY HOME! that’s the choice we all have!!
Doug wrote, “Deflecting from the fact you have been proven to be less then credible by saying you’re busy……….not your finest hour..”
Doug, aka: Sybil, Cybil, InSipid Sybil, WeldingWonders, RickinMass, etc., etc., etc. is judging someone to be less than credible.
Who wants to tell him?
Fair point DGF. I’ve often said the Sybil label was one of the best ever hung on a person and at the time well deserved. It’s nice to see you supporting a former adversary. I look forward to your supportive comments of one Mr.Hirschman in the future.
I am just HAPPY that Mod Racing is doing well in 2019, the WAY OVER HYPED WMT has good car counts and from what I have seen in person and on Video pretty BIG crowds at most races, Tri track doing good as people said SEEKONK was packed, VMRS I must admit is unknown to me as have not been to any so far, ROC seems to be doing well with all the TRACK TROUBLES in NY, Bullring Bash may be the toughest test but we shall see what happens and STAFFORD AND Riverhead mod races seem to be in great shape. SK AND SK LIGHT have more good races than bad and can only ADD to the future, I wish I had the time and $$$ to attend 30, 40 or 50 races a yr, right LIMM, but time and life happens. so lets ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE races!!!
TriTrack good.
NWMT pit process… a damaged car should not have to ride around the track until the pits are opened. Why it takes so long to open the pits and allow cars in is frustrating. And as buzz killing cautions are, they bunch the field up and create some racing until the freight train reforms.
Although SK racing can be exciting and competitive, they can rarely string together a bunch of laps. The “problem” of all the cautions is in just about all series.
The process of getting through a caution period quickly has to be addressed.
Wmass, the VMRS races are doing fairly well. Crowd-wise, I went to the Lee (fair) and Monadnock (good) VMRS events. The car counts are down over the previous couple of years, which may be due to the Stafford Open and TriTrack events. There are a few teams at those events that I haven’t seen at VMRS races, but have in the past.
Big money race coming up at Jukasa on the 13th. 10K CND (7600 US) which for an ROC race is outstanding. Then the best show on Earth as the Whelen Tour invades NHMS which (yes yes) I’m looking forward to. SBM125 a little closer to home for some of you is a consideration and a Stafford open 80 is also close. July promises to be a great month if you like Modifieds as we on here agree we all do. (wink) Right boys? !!!