THOMPSON – Ryan Morgan came into Friday night’s final Late Model feature of the season at Thompson Speedway at the top of the division standings on a mission to win his first championship.
That mission was made even more difficult on lap one when he ended up involved in a cluttered wreck that left the front of end his ride a mangled mess.
Somehow Morgan’s crew got his car to a point of a drivability and the North Franklin driver clawed his way back through the field to clinch the 2021 Late Model championship at Thompson.
“[My crew], they never give up,” Morgan said. “I was done. I was pretty frustrated. They said, get back in there, anything can happen. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be standing here right now. It’s pretty emotional, my first ever championship. I’ve been racing for 22 years. This proves when you don’t give up you can do whatever you want.”
Morgan ended up 12th in the 19-car field to win the championship by two points over Woody Pitkat, who finished 11th.
“I knew if we could get some cautions and get some toe back in it I figured it would be able to make it through. My crew did that, bouncing on it, jumping on it, whatever they did it worked.”
Pitkat also dealt with his own issues, racing for much of the event with a folded up hood over his windshield.
“I knew I had to be right behind Woody or around Woody,” Morgan said. “That was my main thing was to get to [Pitkat] and follow him and do the best I could.”
Tom Carey III of Orange, Mass. won the 30-lap feature.
“Tomorrow is the big day, but we’ll take these whatever way we can get it,” Carey said. “Winning the Icebreaker earlier this year and wrapping up the weekly type deal here, victory lane at the World Series, doesn’t get much better than that. Love this track. It’s hard to beat it anywhere you go in New England.”
Brian Tagg of Oxford, Mass. was second and Ryan Kuhn of East Bridgewater, Mass. third.
Paul Newcomb of Plymouth, Mass. edged Corey Fanning of Mapleville, R.I. in a side-by-side, door leaning battle to the checkered flag in the 25-lap Open Street Stock feature.
Fanning was disqualified for refusing to go through post race tech inspection. Shane Gendron of Tyngsboro, Mass. was credited with second place and Devon McConologue of West Newfield, Maine third.
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