It’s been a rough week for Patrick Emerling at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway.
He blew a motor in his primary car. He got taken out while running in the top-five late in the first feature of the week. He even had issues in the pits with the lift gate on his trailer going bad.
Tuesday night the Orchard Park, N.Y. driver got lifted up finally in New Smyrna, and in the process got to exact a bit of revenge.
Emerling held off Eric Goodale on a pair of late restarts to win the caution-marred 35-lap Tour Type Modified division feature Tuesday at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.
“So far there’s just been a lot of things go wrong,” Emerling said. “It’s good to have one thing go right for once.”
Goodale, of Riverhead, N.Y., was second and Matt Hirschman of Northampton, Pa. third.
Ryan Preece of Berlin and Craig Lutz of Miller Place, N.Y. rounded out the top-five respectively.
It was the second of five consecutive nights of Tour Type Modified features at the World Series. Lutz won the 50-lap opening feature on Monday.
Emerling got by Goodale for the lead on a lap 23 restart then never trailed again. It was fitting payback. Goodale spun Emerling out of fourth place with two laps remaining in Monday’s feature.
“Last night was pretty unfortunate to us,” Emerling said. “We were decent. We were good enough to stay in the top-five and lead some laps last night. But we got taken out, so this definitely makes up for it.”
Emerling was able to easily pace away from Goodale over the two late restarts Tuesday.
“I was just trying too hard,” Goodale said of the final restart. “I spun the tires a little bit there. I still had a chance at him in [turns] one and two but [Emerling] was just a little bit better late in the race. He just had a little bit better drive on exits. This one slipped away. Me and Patrick got into yesterday so I’m glad for him to come back and get the win. It just sucks.”
The “Big One” for the 36-car field came on lap 23 with some battling going on at the back end of the top-10 going bad.
In turn three Doug Coby – running eighth – got hit from behind by Jimmy Blewett and forced into seventh place running Ryan Preece. Coby ended up spinning and snapped hard around into the outside wall. Marcello Rufrano on the outside got pushed into the wreck and piled into Coby.
“Just a bunch of animals trying to win everything we can in a short feature and some guys just kind of started to go away with the handling there about halfway through the race,” Coby said. “[Blewett] was real loose. Couldn’t go on the outside that’s for sure. [Preece] looked real tight on the bottom so he was trying to arc his entry point a bit and stay on the bottom. I think he thought he could maybe get [Ron Silk] and [Ronnie Williams] and he did a real wide arc into [turns] three and four to try to make a move. And I gave him the room in front of me, but then I got hit from the back [by Blewett] and got shoved into him, got crossed up, tried to save it, got hit again because nobody lifts for anybody. That’s asphalt Modified racing here when there’s no rules and no consequences other than wrecked race cars and people getting hurt. … It’s rough down here.”
Said Rufrano: “I guess the guys don’t know that the pedal in the middle is the brakes. You’ve got a guy checked up sideways pointed toward the fence coming out of [turn] and the best decision for you is to push him through it? You’ve got hundreds of thousands of dollars in race cars out there and it’s uncalled for really. … It’s aggravating. It’s not cheap to come out here and run these.”
Unofficial Results 35-lap Tour Type Modified Feature Feb. 9, 2021
The 10 car is going to need a wrench or two. Just saying.
-I suppose in retrospect the thing to do for Coby would have been to drive through Preece. A wreck would have happened but it wouldn’t have been him.
-Speaking of Preece that was a solid performance. The save after getting tapped by Coby but taking advantage of restarts and coming in a solid 4th without the best handling car.
-Hirschman pointing the finger squarely at tech saying they aren’t doing their job and he’s at a power disadvantage getting pulled coming out of the corners. The lap times this year and last surely don’t prove that to be true. Nonetheless watch the video and he more then held his own in the corners and watched the cars in front of him say adios on the straights. He said the video would show it and I think it does.
-was the big one a bone head move by Blewett? Announcers didn’t seem to think so. The guys looking at a late night with wrecked cars sure did. A lot of congestion in a sprint and stuff happens. Rufrano very vocal in his criticism but it looked to me like he was in full go mode thinking he was going to be the recipient of the benefits of the dust up until Coby suddenly flashed into his path going high.
.-can’t find the points but Lutz and Hirschman so far are the two front runners. Preece with two solid nights holding his own. The surprise has to be good old steady Ron Silk in the 16, a newer team. Nothing flashy for Silk but when the checkers fly the guy delivers good finishes for whatever owner he’s driving for. No accident because he picks teams that will give him what he needs to be competitive.
-now we get to the first tire conservation race where the 60 excels. We’ll see how that whole notion of a power disadvantage factors into this race.
What a night!!!!! The track NEEDS to get a few more tow trucks. These cautions are B-R-U-T-A-L.
Both Blewett and Goodale finished on the lead lap!!!!!!!
Notice how MH keeps a good distance from other cars, he does not get close when not necessary.
Emerling had the edge last night, and didn’t blow it.
Geez, I used to think TV coverage tamed the animals, but not last night.
What happened to all the Catalanos????? They made up a huge part of the field the other night, only two cars last night. A solid 14th and 33rd. They must be having so much fun. 🤩 Is there a BJs, COSTCO, or Sam’s club equivalent for race cars? Order another dozen, quickly.
Bummer for Coby… he was pushing Preece, then Coby gets banged by Blewett who was getting banged by Zeiner (?), it was a stack up and Coby got boinked. A bunch of animals. Or, maybe Coby can’t drive in traffic?
Stephen Kopcik pulls out a P9, stays out of trouble. 👍
Must stay out of trouble, a bent car does not run as well.
Anybody know what happened to Sap and McKennedy?
Let’s hope last night was the worst of it.
Is Hirschman complaining about more powerful “built” or SPEC engines leaving him in the dust on the straightaways? What type of engine is Matt running? I believe New Smyrna uses gear ratios to “equalize” the different engine types(?).
Rafter fan, usually gear, weight, and left side % are used to even things out.
http://www.newsmyrnaspeedway.org/downloads/get.aspx?i=613179
WEIGHT: MINIMUM WEIGHT OF 2600 FOR 358CI BUILT ENGINES (OVER 358CI MUST ADD 7 POUNDS PER Cl)
MINIMUM WEIGHT OF 2650 FOR NASCAR SPEC AND PROGRESSIVE/ HAMNER SEALED ENGINES
MAXIMUM LEFT SIDE PERCENTAGE IS 56.0% AT ALL TIMES. NO EXCEPTIONS
ALL ENGINES WILL BE CHECKED FOR CUBIC INCH AND COMPRESSION AND MUST BE AT AIR TEMPERATURE.
• ANY STEEL PORTEDCYLINDERHEAD MUST RUN A GAUGELEGAL 650 CARBURETOR WITH 1″ MAXIMUM SPACER.
• ANY STEEL NON-PORTED CYLINDERHEAD MUST RUN A GAUGELEGAL 750CARBURETOR WITH 1″ MAXIMUM SPACER.
• 23 DEGREE ALUMINUM HEAD CAN RUN A GAUGE LEGAL 390 OPEN BOOSTER CARBURETOR WITH 1″
MAXIMUM SPACER.
• 18 DEGREE Option 1 ALUMINUM HEAD MUST RUN A STOCK LEGAL 390 WITH 2″ SOLID SPACER OR OPTION 2 RUN A 390
CARBURETOR WITH .500 BOOSTERS WITH THE BOOSTER BAR LEFT IN CARBURETOR AND A 1″ SPACER.
• PROGRESSIVE/HAMNER SEALED ENGINE MUST RUN A GAUGE LEGAL 750 CARBURETOR WITH 1″ MAXIMUM SPACER.
• NASCAR SPEC ENGINE MUST RUN SPEC 830 CARBURETOR & SPACER PER WHELEN TOUR RULES.
GEAR RULE: (4.86 BUILT AND 476 FOR SPEC/SEALED MAXIMUM) QUICK CHANGE REARENDS WITH SPOOLS ONLY. GEAR RATIO WILL BE VERIFIED
(OUT OF CAR), SEALED AND CHECKED IN THE TECH LINE.
I think MH chose the wrong package. How many years has MH raced down there? How many different packages has MH used? How many different cars has MH driven? And now MH is crying to the officials for change to benefit him? Don’t hear anyone else complaining. It’s all about preparation. Cry me a river MH, you should have been better prepared.