THOMPSON – Teddy Hodgdon IV was beginning to wonder if winning an SK Light Modified feature at Thompson Speedway was just something the racing gods weren’t going to let him do.
“All the great drivers that raced here … I just thought maybe I’ll be second every race that I come here because there’s so much stiff competition,” Hodgdon said.
Wednesday night at Thompson the Danbury driver didn’t have to wonder anymore.
Hodgdon held off the charges of Wayne Burroughs Jr. over the closing laps to win the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature Wednesday at Thompson Speedway.
“There’s always been fast competitors and we’ve just been on the wrong side of the stick every time we’ve come here,” Hodgdon said. “To finally get one is huge and it gives me a huge confidence booster coming back here.”
Burroughs, of Oakdale, was second and Nathan Pytko of Oxford, Mass. third.
Hodgdon went by Burroughs for the lead following a lap seven restart.
“I knew he had a really good long run car,” Hodgdon said. “I could beat him on restarts for two or three laps. But as soon as the advantage went away he was so much better. Especially on those last three laps my car was struggling a little bit. To put it all together is sweet.”
Shawn Monahan of Waterford captured his third victory of the season in the 20-lap Limited Sportsman feature.
The victory moved Monahan, the two-time defending Limited Sportsman division champion, into the division points lead with three races remaining.
“It’s not over until the fat lady sings,” Monahan said. “I still plan on winning the rest of the races.”
Jason Chicolas of Sutton, Mass. was second and Chris Douton of Niantic third.
Monahan came into event second in the standings, one point behind then standings leader Kyle Gero. He ended the night with an eight-point lead over Gero. Monahan said he wasn’t worried about issues of aggressiveness that have targeted him in recent events.
“The only friends I have here are the one’s I brought to the track with me and I’m going to keep it that way,” Monahan said. “I continue to treat the other competitors with respect and I expect that back and if I don’t get it back I still expect to end up on the right end of the deal. I’ll continue to believe that way and with that faith I think that could put me toward my third championship and that’s what we’re here for.”
Brian Tagg of Oxford, Mass. won the 25-lap Late Model feature. Ryan Morgan of Mystic was second and Rick Gentes of Woonsocket, R.I. third.
Doug Curry of Norwich got his second win of the season in the 15-lap Mini Stock feature. Jared Roy of Sterling was second and Glenn Thomas of West Bridgewater, Mass. third.
Avery Stoehr of Lakeville, Mass. won the 25-lap NEMA Midget feature. Randy Cabral of Plymouth, Mass. was second and Paul Scally of Randolph, Mass. third.
My sympathy goes to Albert Ouellette.in the 151. The 151 that may be an homage to the great Chick Stockwell’s exploits at the Danbury RaceArena perhaps.He had a great run going and the guy is just so enthusiastic in interviews you just want him to do well.
Couldn’t make out what happened. Thought Narducci retired because of damage but they have him last so could it have been a black flag?
Excepting the ending at Stafford, last year was pretty much a dream season for Narducci. This year exactly the opposite. Thompson was a bright spot and it’s turned sour as well at least for now.
Tire treating or not the 01 is just a very fast car. My question is this. If it has produced such spectacular results consistently why aren’t SK Light teams beating down the door to Chassis Pro to replicate the success for them?
Good to see the Thompson officials park Narducci for the bone head move he made on the 151 in 3&4. I really don’t understand how he can have such a dominant car and not pass people clean. The kid needs to learn what patience is instead of being a bull in a china shop.
There was absolutely no reason for Narducci to deliberately trash Ouellette like that. He could have passed him easily several times if he had chosen to. Perhaps he was trying to pad his points lead?
me thinks that move worked in the past ..without the treated tires the car was still fast but loose he got into the 151 for sure and junked him…a veteran could have compensated for the difference in performance like owen did in his SK .. come feature time it was clear he was having trouble ..car not maintaining momentum coming out of the corners (never saw an SKL come off a corner like the 01 prior to the penalty) ……got frustrated and overdrove .. typical for him ..lets see how Stafford goes..
Dive bomb, slide job, 8 tires are better than 4, what ever you wish to call it, that’s BS. The kid is going to hurt someone or worse get hurt himself when someone decides enough is enough and plants him in the wall or feeds him a knuckle sandwich after the race. We don’t need either!
The 01 was robbed the 151 was BLOCKING for many laps he had plenty of room and panicked, thompson did not want to see him win SIMPLE AS THAT !
The staff did the correct thing on the 01, he is going to hurt someone or himself. Just RACE car counts are DOWN, wrecking teams is NOT a good thing to do. HELLO wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
frank j …I have owned,worked on and watched modifieds for over 40 yrs .. Narducci had plenty of room to get by the 151… plenty of room .. couldn’t do it.. the performance wasn’t there .. Narducci car no longer coming of the corner like it was shot out of a cannon .. seen him gain two or three car lengths on strong SKLS before and he was unable to do it last night .. he overdrove out of frustration , inability to adjust to his cars lack of performance and walled the 151.. good call by Thompson. Narducci has proven he can drive a car when he has good equipment under him but is usually over aggressive. When the car isn’t there ..my reason or opinion is clear on the tire issue .. he is unable to handle it, adjust and wrecks others.. THAT is a bad quality to have for a race driver. he lacks maturity ..of course he is young .. but the call was correct .
What a shame for the 151, 54 and 14. A lot of wrecked stuff do to a bone head move!!!He should be parked for the rest of the year between the tire issue and that move last night!! Thompson better do something or there is just going to be the 01 out there by himself!! What a shame because the track is the Cats Meow!!
If you people couldn’t see the difference in the way the 01 was running then you’re blind as a bat. He was clearly unable to pass at will like before. He tried numerous times to pass the 151 and couldn’t do it. And wasn’t the 151 at least second in points? I don’t think it’s out of the question to throw the punk out for the season at this point. Gets caught cheating and the track basically gives him a gift and allows him back and what does he do? Junks a few cars as a thank you. I’m kinda surprised no one has gone after him in the pits yet. Or maybe they have?
Blocking??????? When??????? The 151 panicked? I guess I would as well when I just got moved and was headed for the concrete. Come on, give me a freaking break! Time to sit this kid down and have a long serious chat with him. He needlessly wrecked a lot of equipment last night. This is not the way to make friends and influence people. I had hope for this kid and he has talent but, right now the jury is out.
Look everyone has there own perspective on guys that are hands down consistently faster then the competitive and I’m sure Narducci gets pinned with double the amount of criticism then is deserves. He has been parked and Stafford has put him on probation so clearly there are issues with his driving style.
It’s all so perplexing. The first week on probation at Stafford he ran a top notch race. No three wide nonsense, respected his lane and got what he could which was a third. My view if he raced every week like that he’d be in the championship hunt.
It’s not like he doesn’t have great mentors. My goodness his Grandfather is Jerry Pearly and Uncle Jeff Pearl . Two solid, solid drivers that won their share and were well respected.
Perhaps they should have a family intervention. Bryan is missing all kinds of opportunities at Stafford especially thrilling us one minute, causing problems at other times and being very erratic.
He’s young, he’ll learn. Hopefully sooner as opposed to later.
FrankJ what race were you watching? You must be one of Bryans little posse members that follows him around with that comment. Everyone should just let him get out front because the bull in a china shop is the correct phrase for his driving. Wants to be Teddy with none of his talent. Dude is going to seriously hurt someone or himself with his driving style. Thompson is an unforgiving racetrack the way that it is built and those walls with earth behind them do not move. Park him
Green flag a clown,expect a circus
It sounds like Narducci drives the same reckless and selfish way at Thompson as he does at Stafford. You can bet that on Friday night he will be pushing and shoving his way into everyone near him as he tries to prove he is the fastest thing out there. Look out! “Green flag a clown, expect a circus” Never heard that but it’s great, and very apropos here.
Conspiracy theory — sk lights are a spotter division at Thompson, who is the 01’s spotter? Is it out of the realm of possibility that his spotter said “NOW!” when he had the likelihood of achieving maximum destruction by also taking out the 14 & the 54 in hopes that they wouldn’t have time to fix their cars for Stafford?
i wonder if they will check arutes car tonight?im told its out of the same shop
Maybe his Daddy should take him behind the wood shed! Spoiled Brat! What does he care if he wrecks everyone every week Toddie will fix it and make it all better. What a joke at STAFFORD! Give Thompson some credit they are at least doing something.i used to like the kid but he has turned me off! Enough with the Teddy stuff also! If the kid didn’t notice people were standing and cheering his black flag!
The 01 was still the fastest car in the heat races ,and if he actually had treated tires last week where would he get untreated tires since u r only allowed one new tire??? He had the same tires except the one the took
Slippin much? all new ‘slick free slick control’ keeps your tires right where you want them guaranteed! NEW high banked formula even better call now while supplies last…. never slip up again,
Just a clarification regarding the tire rule. Drivers start off with a certain number of tires that they can register in their “bank” (the number depends on the division). Then they earn 1 tire credit for each race that they run. Many drivers save up their tire credits until they have 3 or 4 accumulated (which may take a couple of weeks) so that they can purchase a new set of tires all together and run them at the same time. They do not have to purchase 1 tire every week. They also may continue to bank older tires in reserve for “just in case” until they get to the maximum number allowed.
This applies specifically to Stafford, but I believe that Thompson operates under similar rules. Please see Stafford rule book for more detailed information.