Over the last few years Jacob Perry has made it clear to many around the New England racing scene that if it has four wheels he’s willing to give it a spin.
And he’s also regularly made it known that if there’s an event taking place at Monadnock Speedway, he wants to be there.
The quarter-mile Winchester, N.H. bullring has become a favorite track for the Pawcatuck driver and on Saturday Perry showed why.
Perry scored his first career Modified Racing Series victory in the Milton CAT 100 Saturday at the Monadnock Raceway.
It was the first career Tour Type Modified victory for the 19-year old.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Perry told RaceDayCT. “It means that much more to do it at Monadnock because it’s really a track that I love. And me and [former track operator] Norm Wrenn III were pretty damn close so I know he was looking down on me. I don’t even have words right now. I can’t even sit still for the ride home.”
Tommy Barrett Jr. of Millis, Mass. was second and Ronnie Williams of Tolland third.
It was the first event of the 2021 season for the Modified Racing Series.
Congrats to him. A win in any division at any track is an accomplishment. With that being said I dont understand having multiple Mod series when the winner in the other series would not be able to crack the top 20 in the NWMT. 1 series maybe run a B and C main?… and if you cant compete in that well then you are out of your league and need to run a lower division.
The Atomic Punk,
I guess my first reaction to that statement is that I would highly disagree in your assessment that Jacob Perry couldn’t crack the top-20 in the Whelen Modified Tour. I’d argue with you that in competitive equipment, Jacob Perry would regularly be a top-10 competitor in the Whelen Modified Tour. It’s a funny argument you make when one considers there are people on the Whelen Modified Tour who run every event with that series because they couldn’t qualify in years past for Modified Racing Series events and they couldn’t qualify in years past or today for Tri-Track Open Modified Series events.
Atomic Punk maybe the dumbest post ever on this forum and that is saying something. Perry has had a podium finish in a Tri track race and won in a truck at Monadnock. The drivers behind him on the podium have a Tri track championship and a whelen win for Barrett and Tri track wins for both. The 25 has been a force across many series and tracks with multiple drivers behind the wheel. Last week’s Whelen race only had 20 cars and few if any were competitive. Are the top couple card I’m Whelen the best of the best probably but to say no other series is ridiculous if anything the last few years have shown just how many good cars and drivers aren’t on Whelen tour. Look no further then the 79 at Star hard to argue that car wouldn’t compete in any series.
Well said Shawn. 3/4 of the field in the WMT are just field fillers who have no shot to make a main in a series where you race into the the main. Only about 3 or 4 in the WMT have a legit shot at winning. IMO winning the WMT championship really doesn’t mean that much anymore.
My question to you atomic is do you feel it is fair that there are teams that continue to start every WMT race while others faster are sent home? And the reason is those teams are rewarded for loyalty rather than performance? And I will admit that lately the WMT car counts have been a little off so if 20 cars show for a race that has a starting field of 24 your in no matter what.
I will agree with Shawn. Jacob in the right equipment could very well be a factor on the WMT along with many more who compete on the TTOMS & other open modified series that don’t have the financial means to compete on the WMT.
IMHO
Knuckles Mahoney,
I would strongly disagree with you on calling three quarters of the Whelen Modified Tour field fillers or that only three or four regulars have a shot at winning. There have been four races this year with four different winners.
Good race, and congrats to Jacob Perry! Great job on the restarts to stay up front towards the end. For a while it looked like it was going to be an Alexander vs. Hersey battle, but they started falling off. Barrett and Williams powering to the front late. Williams spun with about 20 to go, not sure who helped with that, but still got back to 3rd. Perry looked like Hirschman on the last restart, out about 4 car lengths.
And to the folks at Monadnock, the new grandstands in turns 3 & 4 are a great view! I take back my previous complaints about the straightaway stands!
Atomic, there really is more to Modified racing than the WMT. You should be brave and explore a little, you might discover some of the great Modified racing you’ve been missing. There are a lot of talented drivers out there that don’t have the funding and/or desire to chase the WMT championship. That by no means makes them any less talented to put on a good race regardless of the series. Case in point; the WMT teams choosing to NOT chase the championship this year. Does that now disqualify their talent and expertise?
Congrats Jacob on your win at Mad Dog on the MRS last evening. You deserve a shot at the big time, just be patient young man, good things come to those who wait.
Guess I’ve been watching to many kids Drive Daddy’s car while my eyes lie to me… You say 6 I say a half dozen and I am wrong….Got it.
Well done MRS. A good field of cars and with a distinct Northern New England modified flavor. Most all the heavy hitters that show up for Tri Track races not there and it turned out to be a good thing.
First half of the race Russ Hersey is fast on the outside in his former Doug Coby car and doing a pretty good impression of Matt Hirschman passing a bunch of cars on the outside. Might not have been the best strategy as he had no rubber for the second half of the race.
The flip side of that was the 25 also doing an impression of Hirschman cruising mid pack for the first half. Then turned on the after burners for the finish that should have landed Williams his second win in two nights were it not for an ill advised move by Robie. It is what it is said Ronnie and satisfied with the finish so no whining this day when it appeared he had good cause to.
Perry and Barrett one and two. Good to see meat and potato teams on the podium for change and dominating the top 10. Looked like a respectable turn out as well.
Not a fan of the no mid race tire change but it definitely did not hurt the great action for this short track race.
MRS…….not dead yet and filling a niche as far as I can see. A series where lower funded teams can race and get a strong top 10 finish.
Congrats to Jacob Perry. Definitely the fastest car on the track over the last 20 laps. Doug, with about 30 to go I would say Robie was the quickest on the track. I don’t know who Speed 51 was focused on at the time but I was watching Robie from the stands. He ran down and passed Barrett for 3rd and then ran down Williams from about 4 or 5 car lengths behind. He tried a couple of times to go under Williams into one and the door was slammed. The last time he hugged the inside line going into one and when they were coming out of two Williams came down and they made contact. Twenty to go Williams and Robie were racing hard. (Its too bad, took Robie out) I don’t know if Robie would have got by Perry but I believe he would have caught him. Just before the Williams/Robie accident it looked to me that Perry had Williams covered barring a yellow. Doug, just a different opinion.
Cool beans, a challenge from a well informed fan who was actually there. Let’s go to the video and see if he’s right.
Speed51 has a race capsule, it shows the Williams/Robie dust up pretty clearly and it’s a tough call but my observation that Robie’s move was ill advised was wrong. Robie was faster handling super well low and seemed to be in the process of making the pass. I can’t believe Williams would try to block him coming out of two. Nonetheless Williams has enough experience to know what Robie was trying to do and that he had the car to do it even if there wasn’t time for the spotter to say anything. He failed to give the 25NH a lane to exit the corner.
Did Perry have the field covered at that point? Hard to say. The 25 and 25NH were only 3 or so car lengths back at the time they spun. Robie was fast and Williams ended up rallying back for a third so he was fast at the end as well. Williams fast lap was in the second half of the race when everyone else’s was in the first quarter of the race. Suffice it to say it could have been an interesting ending.
Good call NH Modfan and thanks.
GREAT Job, Jacob!
Punk there’s more to modified racing than the WMT, and I’d argue that these other series have more talent then the WMT, and most of the races are allot closer to home.