(Press Release from the Modified Racing Series)
Westbrook Maine’s Tony Ricci, who runs a limited schedule yearly, ended a 13-year drought when he won the Valenti Modified Racing Series 75-lap race Saturday, Aug 3 at historic Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, Maine.
The win was Ricci’s third career victory with the Valenti sponsored series. His first two were in 2006.
Ronnie Williams, of Ellington, CT, making his first ever start at Beech Ridge, took the early lead from his pole starting position to lead the opening ten-laps.
Jeffrey Gallup, of Feeding Hills, MA. quickly worked his way to the lead on lap eight. Gallup started the race eighth in the 16-car lineup.
Gallup held the top position until the 45thcircuit when Ricci moved by becoming the class of the field.
Anthony Nocella, of Woburn, MA, made a late race charge to finish second, Andy Shaw, of Center Conway, NH, third, Williams, held on for fourth, with Cameron Sontag rounding out the top five.
Gallup claimed the Halfway Leader bonus of $500 posted by Blue Water Mortgage and Jonathan Ferrante. Shaw claimed the W.A. Doucette Building Co. $ 250 Hard Charger Award.
Sixth through tenth place were, Gallup, CJ Bolton, Mike Willis Jr, Dylan Rock, and Derek Robbie.
Only two caution flags were needed for minor incidents.
The race was completed in 24-minutes
Race Summary:
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway
Scarborough, Maine
August 3, 2019
Entrants: 16
Distance 75-Laps
Lap Leaders: (1-10) Williams (11-44) Gallup (45-75) Ricci
Cautions Flags: Laps 26,32
Margin of Victory: 1.995
Best Lap Time: 15.589 Josh Cantara
Unofficial Order op Finish: (1) Ricci, (2) Nocella, (3) Shaw
(4) Williams, (5) Sontag, (6) Gallup, (7) Bolton, (8) Willis, (9) Rock,
((10) Robbie, (11) Jarvis, (12) Sherman, (13) Cantara, (14) Dore, (15)
Lashua, (16) Dixon.
Good night of racing by every division- Great to see Czarnecki 20 Win. Spelling might be off?
Man that’s a fast track.
16 cars on a short track like that isn’t bad is it? More importantly the top 10 in points showed up for the race underscoring the hope that points racing is still relevant in spite of the growing popularity of opens.
Monadnock on the 17th, then Stafford on the 30th.
Gotta keep these guys on the radar in August. Ricci stole the regulars thunder this race. Owen, Rocco, Galko, Dowling and a few others are guaranteed to make life miserable for the points chasers at Stafford in what promises to be a strong field.
Now if the VMRS would allow one tire change or at least one mandatory pit stop for adjustments or tire flipping the race would have the potential for a little more drama.
I always head up to Beech Ridge for modifieds. Kind of a slim field this year… And I was absolutely sure that either Williams or Nocella was going to win… Maybe Mike Willis with an outside chance. But a surprise winner in Ricci and a very surprising third for Andy Shaw.
I watched Shaw dominant the PASS mods and was curious what he could do in a traditional mod. It’s been an uphill struggle, frankly. And I get the impression his fellow drivers wish he was a faster learner, bc he comes in for a lot of scorn on the scanner. Maybe Saturday night will be a turning point for him.
Hat tip to Beech Ridge for their “Happy Half Hour,” where the top 5 from every division — including the tours –are on track to interact with the fans after the last feature. A lot of people do. And it’s great to see how excited kids are to the cars and drivers up close.
I finally got to Beech Ridge for the first time in a while. The Modifieds may have been a little short on quantity, but there was some good quality racing. The weekly racers put on a good show as well. I figured the battle would be Nocella, Gallup, Willis, and possibly Williams, he being a maybe as I don’t think he’d ever been there. WIllis looked like he had car issues .Not completely surprised at Ricci’s win; He ran second or third there a few years back in his own car. Also, Shaw finally starting to come around. I think he had a top 5 at the first Monadnock race as well.