Ron Silk has been on a string of checking off “First Time” boxes in 2023 behind the wheel of his Haydt-Yannone Racing Modified.
On Feb. 11 he won at New Smyrna Speedway for his for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at the historic Florida venue. On May 13 he added his name to the winner’s list for one of the most historic events in Modified racing with his first victory in the NAPA Spring Sizzler victory at Stafford Speedway. This past Saturday in the Miller Lite Salutes Mike Ewanitsko 200 at Riverhead (N.Y.), Silk scored his first Whelen Modified Tour victory at the legendary Long Island bullring in his 24th series start at the track.
Wednesday Silk heads to Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series not looking for a career first, but rather eyeing the chance to join an exclusive list at the annual Open Wheel Wednesday event at the track known as “The Cement Palace”.
Over 17 years the event has been run since 2005, only two drivers have multiple wins at Open Wheel Wednesday. Matt Hirschman has won the race five times (2008, ’12, ’17, ’21, ’22) and Doug Coby has won it three times (2011, ’13, ’16).
Silk, of Norwalk, won the Open Wheel Wednesday event in 2018 at Seekonk driving for team owner Bob Horn.
“A lot of those years they’ve had it I didn’t run it,” said Silk who will be running Wednesday at Seekonk for team owner Stephen Kopcik. “But … Seekonk is a tricky place and it’s even trickier now since they repaved the corners. Matt and Doug have obviously been really good there. But it’s definitely a long period of time at a track to have only two guys with repeat wins at an event like that.”
New pavement laid down in the corners at Seekonk before the start of this season has thrown a curveball for many teams and the notebooks they previously had for the .333-mile oval. Silk is one of a handful of drivers on the 30-car entry list for Wednesday’s event who were part of the field for the Whelen Modified Tour event at Seekonk on June 10.
“It definitely races a little bit different,” Silk said. “I think it’s certainly an advantage to have been there once already on the new pavement. But I don’t think it will take the Open guys who are coming there with the new pavement that long to figure it out. But they’ll definitely be a step behind to start off.”
Hirschman dominated the Whelen Modified Tour event at Seekonk earlier this month. Over a 107 lap green flag period from lap seven to lap 114, Hirschman was able to put 17 of the other 19 cars in the field down at least one lap. The only drivers who never went down a lap to Hirschman in the event were Silk and Coby. Thanks to two drivers getting lucky dog free passes late in the event, the race ended with five cars on the lead lap with Coby in second to Hirschman and Silk finishing third.
“By no means was my car perfect that night,” Silk said. “I think we certainly have discussed about what we need to do to make it better. But sometimes when there’s no pit stop and 150 laps and there’s hardly any cautions, it doesn’t take someone who is a little bit faster to have that kind of a lead after 120 or laps or so. I think Matt was certainly the dominant car that night and I don’t think anyone had anything for him that night, but I think with the distance that we went with no cautions, it just amplifies that little bit faster than he was to the rest of us for sure.”
Silk is looking for a rebound from the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series season opener on May 28 at Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, VT. where he finish ninth. Silk plans to run all six Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series events in 2023 for Kopcik.
“We didn’t get off to the greatest start at Thunder Road, but we didn’t bury ourselves either,” said Silk, who is looking for his first Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series championship. “To me the, the [Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series] is more about going out and trying to win races and not worry about points. That’s what’s appealing to it about me, that you don’t feel that pressure of the year long grind. But obviously if you run good enough in all of them you’ll have a chance to do it. We’re going to try to win some of these races and see where we end up.”
Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Open Wheel Wednesday Entry List
any tv?
Looks like a heck of a field of cars. At this stage it looks like unless you go you won’t be seeing the race.
We know that Racing America pulled out of televising the Thompson event last week two days prior. I’d guess the only reason they entertained doing that event is because they have a relationship with ACT and PASS to do late model races. Racing America appears to have one MRS event scheduled that’s pretty much it for tour mods.
Looks like the trend has reversed, they’re thinning the herd and now the only events we can count on are those provided by FloRacing. Meaning the only other MMTTS race that will be televised would be the Stafford Fall Final unless something changes.