When it came to closing out the 2021 Modified racing season in the Northeast it was Jimmy Blewett defending his home turf once again Saturday at Wall Stadium Speedway.
Blewett, of Howell, N.J., went by Ryan Truex for the lead on a lap 111 restart and then held on through two more restarts to win the 150-lap Tour Type Modified feature at the 48th Turkey Derby Saturday in Wall, N.J.
It was the eighth victory in the Tour Type Modified Turkey Derby feature for Blewett and his first since 2017.
Blewett scored a $10,000 payday for the victory.
Blake Barney of Jackson, N.J. was second and Angelo Belsito of Auburn, Mass. third.
Matt Hirschman looked to have the car to beat in the early going of the event before his day ended with mechanical issues after 67 laps.
Timmy Solomito of Islip, N.Y. was fourth and Danny Bohn of Freehold, N.J. fifth.
Who is this Angelo Belsito guy from Mass. that finished third ?
Belsito raced legends at the speedbowl some years ago. Pro stock driver at Seekonk lately. Re-freaking-diculous that the first feature started at sundown. Late start, intermission, awards ceremony. Yeah yeah a bunch of people watching at home in warmth. But some of us actually made it to the track. Dafella you go? Oh never mind the new variant is here.
Belsito mostly known for Seekonk Pro Stocks and Super Late Models.
Now apparently serious about tour mods and making steady progress. 10th and 16th at Seekonk Tri Track events.
Exactly Carl. Made a name for himself. Good racing fun weekend and carnage and red flags we’re held to a bare minimal. Sucked that Preece wasn’t there still a great field of competitive tour type Modifieds!
A late model regular at Seekonk.
Awesome win
Congratulations!!!
A great way to finish a season and spend the off-season enjoying a win.
Carl;
Belsito, full gendered guy, ran regularly at seekonk. A former Seekonk champion.
If memory serves me correctly, he first ran a modified in one of last years Tri track at seekonk. Was impressed, in a good field, and I believe he finished top 10. Turned quite a few heads locally if I’m remembering this correctly.
Bobf wrote, “Belsito, full gendered guy, ran regularly at seekonk.”
That is completely unnecessary.
Angelo Belsito is an amazing young talent currently driving the #21 Tour Modified for KHR (Kevin Harvie Racing) which fields a modified out of Cape Cod , MA. Belsito also drives his family owned #8 Pro Stock on the PASS, GSPSS, and Act tour of which he has had great success over the years. He is also a former Seekonk Speedway, MA Pro Stock Champion. In only 4 starts in the KHR modified in 2021 at Seekonk, Star Speedway, and now Wall Stadium, NJ he has finishes of p10, p10, p16 and now p3. Combined with the excellent crew assembled by KHR and Belsito’s talent things have come together nicely for the #21 team.
BobF, for a full fendered guy he is doing a good job adapting to open wheeled cars.
Ah Dareal, not being perfect, spell check decided that “full gendered guy” was the 2021 politically correct way of spelling “full fendered guy”.
As I noticed it after I sent it, I figured anyone that followed racing would get what I meant.
Sorry you did not, and sorry if I offended you. Never my intention to offend anyone, believe me.
I’ll try and be more careful.
It was just three quarters of an inch on the key board between G and F. As errors go that was a good one. I knew what you meant and got a chuckle at the same time.
The announcer said it and it’s true. The 60 dropping out for mechanical issues never happens. Maybe Hirschman would have had to come back after pitting but otherwise it had the makings of a predictable snoozer that turned into a great race when Big Money pulled off the track.
Props to Showtime who could as easily be called Relentless racing hard all 150 laps. He gave his shots including a bone rattler to Barney early but it evened out when Blewett was the victim including when Barney bobbled and drove him up the track losing positions. It all happens so fast a Wall.
So what’s the deal with that Primary Service Group, A-1 racing team? Based on what the announcers said they had plans to make their mark in 2022 including NWMT events. Reckon we’ll being seeing them in New Smyrna and loaded for bear.
A fan of the victory lane chat it doesn’t get better then Blewett’s. Tears, a smooch from a big burly team mate to Blewetts surprise and mentions to those passed in the last year. Even mentioned the 23 vs 18 degree internal debate they had using Pettit power settling on 18 degrees. Blewett left nothing on the track nor in victory lane. Gave it their all the entire day and ended it by laying their emotions bare for all to see. I’ll take that to one of Rocco’s canned, lets get this over with nothings from the podium any day.
It was an article in RaceDayCt but it didn’t hit home until this year. No web site and even the Facebook presence is a person not directly related to the track. Didn’t seem to hurt the attendance who were numerous but cold and perhaps pissed off offering only a tepid wave for the drivers as the green was about to fall. You don’t promote the snot out of events like that and for sure you’re not maximizing the pay per view audience so critical these days to pay the bills.
Good race call but gee wiz can’t you get the transponders checked out. Dirt Track Digest running order as well as Race Monitor was like viewing Swiss cheese.
My score card has Barney, Truex, Solomito, the Krause team cars as well as Blewett making the entire event entertaining. Belsito and Danny Bohn were not contributing to the drama at the front but are the two who arguably ran the smartest races.
There may have been dirt modifieds out on the track but the green 5 car looked for all the world like a 1960’s era, straight axle modified from the Danbury RaceArena. Left front in the air in practice, no adjustment for the feature, burning tires up every lap and ending up in the wall. All the dirt mods can throw out their rotors, hearings and perhaps spindles and calipers I never have seen brakes glowing so brightly before.
A great way to end the season and now it’s on to New Smyrna.
Who drove the Krause team car?
Dirt mods rotors looked like Martinsville which was a good thing IMO. In my time as a regular at Wall Stadium that was the most late Models that have ever seen. Thought it was going to be a Wild wreckfest. Thankfully it was pretty tame. Too cold out there to sit through long red flags!
Stellar Job by Angelo Belsito .
This was his first time at Wall Speedway and he did a great job of staying out of trouble.
For any driver to start 22nd after having to qualify in the Consi race and finish 3rd in a 150 lap race is quite an accomplishment , and speaks volumes of Angelo’s Driving Skills.
Also Kudos to Jason Shepperd the crew chief, and his guys for the set up on the car speaks volumes of their talents.
Kevin Harvie of KHR Race Cars has built a very competitive piece.
I look forward to following this Race Team for many years to come
Earl;
Could not agree more.
As so many races meld together in this old mind, and I’m trying to remember the race I was at in Seekonk, where I saw him for the first time in a modified (for me anyway). It was a sharp car, I remember that. As he wasn’t one of the “Tri Trac names” if you know what what I mean, I really did not pay much attention to him. Until about 1/2 way through the race. I’ve been going to races longer than I can remember with my childhood buddy.
Walking to the parking lot, there were a lot of things to talk about, but one of the things that did not fly under the radar with my buddy, was Belsito’s run.
For the sake of disclosure, I’m not a regular Saturday night attendee at seekonk. But to see a “full fendered guy” as it were, (I made sure that came out correctly so I don’t get killed by the spelling police) really stuck out with us. And that was because, if I remember this correctly, it was one of his first runs in a modified. We have always thought, that’s not an easy transition on first runs.
So Earl, that just kind of stuck and impressed me. I hope he really excels, and hopefully, his owner sticks with running. What could be negative about another very competitive team and driver! Love it!!
Doug, thanks for understanding. Actually, the “f” and “g” are much closer on my cell phone, which is usually what I post from. And, I hate to admit, I really do have “fat fingers”.
I know, too much information. Sorry.