Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Me. is renowned as one of the most historic short track venues in New England.
Before Saturday though, former Whelen Modified Tour champion Ron Silk had never turned a competitive lap on the one-third mile bullring.
One of the little things Silk didn’t realize about the track was getting up the coast on a sunny Saturday in August can be miserable.
But while the Norwalk driver struggled with traffic on the way to the track, he had no issues negotiating it on the track.
Silk passed Matt Hirschman for the lead with eight laps remaining and then checked out to win the Whelen Modified tour Rumble at the Ridge 200 at Beech Ridge.
The last time the Whelen Modified Tour competed at Beech Ridge was 2005.
Silk, who made his first series start in 2003, did not run any Whelen Modified Tour events in 2005.
“First time I’ve been here,” Silk said. “I like it a lot more now than earlier in the day when I had to drive here.”
It was the first victory of the 2021 season for Silk and his Kevin Stuart Motorsports team. It was the 16th career win overall for the 2011 series champion.
“[I feel] Pretty damn good,” Silk said. “We had a great car the whole race. I knew right from the beginning that we were going to have a car that had a shot to win. Just pumped for all my guys to get them back to victory lane.”
Silk started seventh in the field. Hirschman started on the pole and dominated out front for much of the event.
“It was exciting there at the end and it feels good to beat [Hirschman],” Silk said. “You beat the best. We’ve got four more [races] to go and we’re going to try to get some more.”
Hirschman, of Northampton, Pa., held on to finish second.
“Actually got a little tight,” Hirschman said. “That’s the way the handling went. I just couldn’t turn it anymore. I had a little bit better car in the beginning than I did at the end unfortunately. It was still a good race. That’s what makes a good race when you have cars moving forward and some with handling going the other way. We’re happy with the race. It was a good performance, our first time here. … Ron had a little bit more at the end, a little better handling, maybe a little more tire. I’m no sure what their strategy was. I’m only going to be totally pleased when we win, but I’m satisfied with the performance.”
Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y. was third. Matt Swanson of Acton, Mass. was fourth and Doug Coby of Milford rallied after going a lap down to finish fifth.
What a comeback for Emerling. Was nowhere for the longest time.
Great job and congrats to Ron Silk and his team on their win! And he passed Hirschman for the victory to boot!
Beech Ridge NWMT
85,60,07,3,10
Doug ….10, 51,60,7ny, 07…..0+3+0
Earl …….51,85,7ny,60,10….0+3+0
Eddie ….85,7ny,3,82,1……..3+2+0 WINNER!!!!
CSG …..60,10,85,7ny,51 … 0+3+0
Bobf……10,60,51,85,7ny….0+3+0
Congratulation Fast Eddie.
I just hope all the team members coming back to Ct or returning to Long Island make the right decisions on timing the storm out. Especially Long Island.
! was going to comment where the picks were made, but can’t find it. I saw earlier I got 3 of 5 and they were in the correct finishing position. OK, now I feel qualified to pick with this gang! ” 🙂
Very good race.
Good runs by Pitkat and Swanson.
Hard hit by Catalano, glad he was okay.
Anybody know why/how Kobe spun? He was desperate for a caution, and looks like he made one happen.
Silk looked strong and they figured out how to be there on a new track, good for them.
Amazing… the 01 did 88 laps and jumped two spots in the standings. Guess that team is upset other cars didn’t wreck out earlier.
Good race, the change in venue was indeed an exciting factor.
The fog rolling in was perfect Maine, ayuh.
Even with only 19 cars its the Premier Asphalt Modified division in the country. Sorry Mudbus.
Looks like unofficially Emerling is now only 8 points behind Bonsignore. This is going to be a shoot out for the WMT championship.
The 10 got into a jingle with the 78 off of two. His right front tire came off the ground. Doug overcorrected and spun.
The track announcers kept calling it the inaugural 200. That sounds promising.
Suitcase Jake’s Pick’em Results-Beech Ridge NWMT
85,60,07,3,10
Doug ….10, 51,60,7ny, 07…..0+3+0
Earl …….51,85,7ny,60,10….0+3+0
Eddie ….85,7ny,3,82,1……..3+2+0 WINNER!!!!
CSG …..60,10,85,7ny,51 … 0+3+0
Bobf……10,60,51,85,7ny….0+3+0
Congratulations Fast Eddie.
Jdv productions is now responsible for the 2 lowest car counts in the whelan mod tour in the last 10 years and there bullring bash failure should scare everyone if they are the future of the tour.
In my opinion, if this race is always going to be this late in the season, many teams who feel they asre “Out-of-it”, simply will decide NOT to show. It’s an expensive proposition travel wise.
ken that’s NOT correct .. da real stated if you cant compete you should stay home .. perhaps the top five can just do a shoot out for the remaining races??
Congrats on the win Fast Ed!
Nice job Fast Eddie!
So, what do you think about Wednesday night?
Saw that preece won’t be there, as reported here on Raceday Ct
Other than that, hope all qualifiers show.
I haven’t looked at the seekonk website yet, but are they still going to run the 350 mods that were part of the June show?
Complete stats were posted late last night… well, very early this morning. 🎉 🎊 👏 🙌
Ken L, that is correct, and what has been happening for decades. Teams that are out of contention simply pass on these events. Perhaps last year, or the year before, the Silk team passed on a long distance race because they had some previous bad luck, putting them out of it, so they passed.
Wicked Cool, Don’t forget to blame the Fog and Covid on Jdv productions while you’re at it.
Always a great race track for good racing. The weekly competitors always run clean and side by side. They always run their show so smoothly with such a laidback a atmosphere. Tour show was good, 150 laps would be better, single car time trials are boring and waste of time.
Thanks Bobf and Earl, along with the commissioner and scorekeeper! ! And according to the flyer on the Seekonk site, all 3 features will be run. I think Wednesday will be a Hirschman/Silk/Nocella battle.
Excuse me while I giggle……
Isnt That what lil girls do???????
You are so funny WMASS….