It was a night of hip checks and checking off boxes for NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Ron Silk Saturday at Wall Stadium in Wall, N.J.
Silk survived a bruising bullring battle with over Justin Bonsignore over the final six laps to win the Whelen Modified Tour Jersey Shore 150 at Wall Stadium.
For the second consecutive event on the series schedule it was Silk scoring victory at a track where he had never visited victory lane before. And in the process the Norwalk driver was able to score his 20th career series victory.
“It’s awesome,” said Silk, who won the last series event at Riverhead Raceway on June 24. “It’s always good to be on a little bit of a win streak, and while you’re leading the points it’s good. But it really early to think about points, we just want to keep trying to get some wins. I think this was my 20th career victory, so that was cool. That was a number I wanted to get to and hopefully we can keep going.”
Silk was making his fourth career series start at Wall on Saturday. It was the third victory of the season for Silk, who also won the season opening event at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Feb. 11.
Bonsignore, of Holtsville, N.Y., was second and Eddie McCarthy Jr. of Brick N.J. was third. It marked a career best series finish for McCarthy, who was making his ninth Whelen Modified Tour start.
After Silk and Bonsignore traded the lead multiple times in the late stages, the race came down to a six lap shootout. With Bonsignore leading Silk. the eighth caution of the event flew on lap 139 for the spinning car of Tom Martino Jr. and the wrecked cars of JB Fortin and Max Zachem.
On the restart with six laps remaining Bonsignore got the advantage briefly but it was Silk overtaking him for the lead for the final time just after the restart.
“I think we were all sliding around there,” said Silk, who started 11th in the 23-car field. “It seemed like I had maybe a little bit better car than Justin, but he fought hard on the restart before that. Luckily I was able to get him back there at the end.”
Said Bonsignore: “We were throwing haymakers at each other. It’s been like that all year. We’ve been really putting on a lot of good battles and nobody crashes. It’s about as aggressive as you can probably get without crashing each other. I used him up down in [turn one] and I thought I got him maybe far enough back, but he just lined my bumper up getting into [turn] three and that was it. He just drove me up the hill and I couldn’t get back to him. He had maybe a little better car. We just snuck by there to get the lead twice or three times. All in all a good race. It sucks that we lost to [Silk], the points leader, but a good run here.”
McCarthy had the best view of the night of late race duel between Silk and Bonsignore.
“I just saw the two of them doing standard Wall Stadium stuff,” McCarthy said. “Kind of throwing haymakers at each other, making it entertaining. That’s what the fans want to see. Last year when we raced here it was a single lane and everybody was running around the top. People don’t want to see that. This was the kind of racing they want to see. Bar to bar type stuff. I thought it was awesome from my seat. I had the best on in the house.”
Silk extended his lead atop the standings to 14 points over Bonsignore after eight of 19 events. Doug Coby sits third in the standings, 39 points behind Silk. Austin Beers is fourth in the standings, 44 points off the lead.
Beers won the pole for the event. With Beers leading Matt Hirschman in second and Jimmy Blewett in third, the first caution flew on lap 26 for the spinning car of Martino. Under caution Blewett went to the pits with mechanical issues.
The second caution flew on lap 38 for a Melissa Fifield spin with Beers leading Hirschman and Bonsignore in third. On the ensuing restart Beers held the top spot with Bonsignore moving past Hirschman for second.
On lap 54 the third caution flew when Hirschman spun after contact from Coby in a battle for third place.
On the lap 63 restart Bonsignore was able to get by Beers to take over the top spot while Silk moved past Coby for third. On lap 74 Beers battled back under Bonsignore to retake the lead. A lap later Silk got by Bonsignore for second with Coby following Silk to third.
Caution came out for the fourth time on lap 82 for a wreck involving Tommy Wannick and Anthony Nocella. On the lap 90 restart it was Silk getting under Beers for the lead at the green with Coby following to second.
On lap 97 Coby tried to find a lane under Silk for the lead. The battle continued on lap 98. On lap 99 the pair made contact with Coby losing momentum and falling back about five car lengths on Silk.
With 44 laps left Silk and Coby began maneuvering through lapped traffic. With 42 laps remaining Coby got under Silk coming off of turn two with the lapped car of Nocella ahead of them in the high lane. As Coby got by Silk he attempted to go under Nocella in turn three and Nocella came down and sent Coby spinning.
Caution flew once again for contact between Kyle Bonsignore and Anthony Sesely on lap 124 with Silk leading, Justin Bonsignore in second and Beers in third.
The race restarted on lap 130 with Silk and Justin Bonsignore battling side-by-side for the lead, with Bonsignore edging Silk to complete the lap. On the next lap Justin Bonsignore was able to clear Silk to take control at the front. A lap later contact from Andrew Krause got third place Beers sideways, stacking up the field on the backstretch. In the melee sixth place running Eric Goodale got pushed up into Sesely and then got clobbered by Jake Johnson.
On the lap 138 restart it was Justin Bonsignore and Silk once again battling side-by-side for the lead, but it was a short-lived run. The eighth caution of the event flew on lap 139 with Martino spinning along with JB Fortin and Max Zachem wrecking.
🥱 What have I been saying? 🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱
Dug Colby 🤡 caused two accidents… TWO ACCIDENTS. 🤡
Dug Colby took out Hirschman, then took out himself trying to get by Silk and Nocella. Anybody surprised??? 🤡
And then 🤡 was involved in another incident or two. 😆
Great racing by Silk and JBon.
Missy was running at the end, and ONLY two laps down. Most fortunate timing of cautions.
Where were the Catalanos? They are usually good for 3-4 cars.
And NASCAR again screwed up the live timing running order by posting the best lap times instead. Amazing they can keep their jobs. Amazing. Are they even trying?
Surprised Dug Colby wasn’t penalized or black flagged 🏴 for the extracurricular activity.
Hey Shawn, here’s a poll suggestion: Will NASCAR be able to operate a functional live timing system that indicates the race running order?
Here’s another poll suggestion: When will the NWMT standings be revised to include the Wall race results?
The Tour De France has stage and overall results posted in darn near real-time, just seconds. Been doing it like this for years and years.
Every professional sport I follow has event and overall standings posted in seconds or minutes.
Next race is Loudon, what a difference this is going to be going from what has become a mostly itty-bitty bullring series, to a super speedway.
Hey DaReal we agree on something, My question was Coby’s placement in the filed after he spun.. shouldn’t he have gone to the back like Hirschman and Beers?? .Then he uses his race car as a weapon ..ya gotta be more patient or smarter with lapped cars at WALL. by the way where were the spotters???
Since when can one be the cause of a caution then drive around the track at a speed significantly greater than caution pace, then intentionally make contact with another car under caution, and then restart 7th *without* incurring a penalty?
Are teams with former championship drivers and owners exempt from some rules? Moreover, if Nocella punched a certain someone in the nose in the pit area after the race would he be given a pass on poor behavior too? The lack of a call to penalize Colby was appalling. His shenanigans were definitely “actions detrimental to stock car racing”.
Glad to see Silk win the the race in rough and rowdy battle with the 51, but this race was an absolute STINKER. It seemed as if they had to run 8 laps of caution every time there was a simple spin.
I have to give a special shout out to Joe Coss for putting lipstick on the pig of a race this was with all excessive cation laps and production issues.
DUG Dug, his hole, he has to be the center of the spot light or he cries I’m sure he has an explanation for being out of control and driving like an IDIOT most of the race, it’s plain and simple. He’s a baby put a pacifier in his mouth. No one wants to hear him, and your right NASCAR should have penalized him, not once but three times,REALLY! for driving like a mad boy, that’s their poster child though🙄
I’ve always been a big Doug Coby fan, back to his days running Wayne Darlings 52 car. Very disappointing to see a 6 time champion hunting down the 46 under caution! Definitely an awful job by Nocella and his spotter to get out of the way, but what is Coby thinking? What’s next, pull an Al Stone at Waterford? He should have been parked, not allowed to restart in 7th.
WOW again with the Points Update, Whats the BIG DEAL????? There is No Playoffs, just a Champion after the last race so why do points have to be updated seconds after every race? You do Understand, I think that the Big 3 series have multi million $$ contracts with TV Networks who show updated standings and results and also you do Understand, I think that Internet access at tracks like Mad Dog, Lee, Seekonk, Wall and other LOCAL tracks are not the same as Daytona, Charlotte, Indy, My God just be happy you can watch live 19 WMT races as they happen, Is the Productions the Best? No but better than waiting to see results and not being to see anything of any race.
“Haymakers”. Way to go Bonsignor the word a perfect description.
I’d be curious about the comments on the Coby, Nocella dust up. Specifically could Nocella be faulted in the first place for being so high as Silk and Coby were coming up on him. Was that a spotter miscue who may have misjudged exactly how fast the leaders were not giving Nocella ample warning? Or is it a track thing. So fast it happened bing, bang, boom. Nocella trapped with Silk high, Coby low, the only way to get out of it would be to disappear.
Even if Coby feels he was wronged which may or not be the case how does a guy with all that experience take a chance on messing up the front end in a race he’s still in and front geometry so critical?
Pretty sure Hirschman will see on the replay Coby had position on his back left and he failed to give him room. The replay shows Hirschman a full lane lower then Bonsignor. That had to be a track thing because there’s no way for a spotter to warn him it happens so fast.
Silk and Bonsignore are proof that outstanding racing is indeed possible without wrecking. That means not wrecking anybody, each other, and not leaving a debris field. These two have been going at it like this all season, it has been fantastic, and some of the best racing.
A car that I think has very high potential is the 24. This car is always fast. If they can make it through a race unscathed, this car can be another top competititor.
So we have Silk and Bonsignore putting on a clinic to show that outstanding racing can happen without damage or debris.
And then we have Dug Colby being Dug 🤡 Colby. 😝 😆 😂
Dug 🤡 Colby was driving the allegedly legendary 7NY. TBR must so proud.
Hey Shawn, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! I saw the news about you (RacedayCT) being selected to cover the SRX races. Great news!!!! BRAVO!!!!! 🎉 👏 🙌 🎊 🤩
wmass01013, several years ago, NWMT race results and updated standings used to be posted by the the time I got home from the tracks, anywhere from 1-3 hours. I used to check stats on the way home during my pit stops.
The NWMT has regressed to the point where smoke signals would be far superior. Unacceptable. The NWMT treats the fans, industry, teams and owners just horribly. The up-to-date standings are some of the most important pieces of exposure and visibility for the sponsors.
wmass01013,
I think the problem people have is that the information following events that is publicly distributed from the series has actually gone away over the last 2-3 years. I would say for at least 10 years before 2020 the series standings were updated online and available to fans within hours of an event’s conclusion. It was typically never anymore than 12 hours before an update. In the last few years that has stopped. Now it’s typically 2-3 days before points are updated online, and sometimes as many as 5-6 days. And while it might not be something you find annoying, I talk to plenty of people who do find it frustrating and don’t understand why it was something NASCAR was able to provide for over decade and then just stopped doing. And I know in talking to numerous drivers and team owners, they do feel slighted that their series doesn’t get the same online promotional attention by the sanctioning body that it did just a few years ago. And things like the live online timing and scoring for the series being set to qualifying mode for the feature for the last two events is just ridiculous and I absolutely understand why something like that makes people angry.
Doug- most of your posts seem thoughtful and respectful. Is there any reason you always drop the ‘e’ in Bonsignore?
Nascar hás brought up a few times about using the car as a weapon. Intentional contact during yellow or after the race there will be course action “ penalty “ yea ok …. 👍 no consistency , favorites , the whole .. deal. Coby spins him self out .. drives right into the LR 46 and smashes into side of him under yellow. Then he gets restart 7th ! What ?! Ridiculous……… Tour a joke .
Thank you for the correction. I’d like to blame it on age but it’s more sloppy writing then anything. Spelling names incorrectly is disrespectful. I will get it right in the future.
That was fun last night. Great to see plenty of folks from out of state join us at the high-speed bullring. Just watched the highlights on Floracing. Coby didn’t spin himself the 46 came across him and caused that. Yeah I’d be pissed too if I was Coby. Just a racing deal as I see it. Wild and wonderful Wall Stadium at it’s best!!!
Dareal;
Missed that news on shawn covering srx so thank you dareal, and Shawn, if so, congratulations!
Is it just Stafford or the whole srx series?
Darealgoodfella and BobF,
Yes, I will be part of the Camping World SRX Series on-site public relations staff for the upcoming events at Stafford and Thunder Road. Thank you to both of you for the congrats.
The 46 had Silk breathing down his neck, so he tried to get out of Silk’s way, tried to go down out of Silk’s way, but 🤡 Colby was overdriving himself in and under.
The sharp angle from the infield to the banking makes the car twitchy, and it happened to the 🤡 Colby car a couple times. Sent the 🤡 car up the hill.
Yes i agree the productions have slipped on WMT streams and online updates, i was wayyyy more upset with No Victory Lane interviews after A. Beers won his 1st race at Richmond, Podium interviews seem to be an issue everywhere, WMT, SMART, THOMPSON, heck u heard Joe Coss asking why the Track PA guy got to interview Silk before TV at Wall, Only Stafford seems to have always great coverage, again Bravo to them, the WMT is still a regional Touring series that maybe get passed over in priorities, we may not all like it but again as an aging man who cant get to 30-40 races a yr anymore i love any coverage i get whether from here or Flo Racing.
Seems as though the Tour is getting like Bowman Gray Racing, where there are no rough riding calls… At Bowman Gray they dump people left and right smashing their way to the front and the Win… Saw a race where Burt Myer’s used up the leader with his front bumper until the bumper was completely bent back and wrecked beyond recognition from the pounding up through the Field.. Just like professional wrestling , The referee is blind and useless.. This race was much like that. Coby should have started at the tail or parked after being an accident car , Also hitting another car under caution should have drawn the Black Flag . There was a time on the Tour where calls were made . Those days are long gone.. Bugsy predicted this day would come..Drivers doing like Dale did on Sundays would trickle down the ranks and banging and dumping other cars out of your way is acceptable in today’s world.. It’s to bad… Passing another car used to be an artform not a demo derby… At Bowman Gray it’s a Madhouse of drama much like a soap opera that brings the fans back week after week to see all the scores and paybacks taking place , If the race director doesn’t make the calls , it becomes professional wrestling , everything goes… ” I didn’t wanna wreck him , I just wanted to rattle his cage ” Dale Sr spoke after wrecking Labonte to steal a Win ….
Regarding Dug 🤡 Colby restarting in 7th after he went psychotic.
TC used to ride around and just move up in the line under a yellow. I used to listen to his radio. It was like a joke to see how how far up he would be allowed before, or if, he was stopped. He would be in accidents, end up clearly way behind the field, but just drive up to the front under yellow, his radio telling him to just keep going.
I can’t believe the 7NY was not put back or held in the infield for a couple laps under yellow.
Is everybody okay since Hirschman did not win?
Plain and simple, the 7NY should have been parked. Jimmy Wilson set a dangerous precedent by being complicit with such egregious behavior by Frank Douglas Coby III.
Maybe Hirshman and/or Nocella will pay him back on the Tri-Track series where Frank Douglas Coby III pays the repair bills.
That’s some pretty good commentary on the lack of penalties last night. Was shuffling from Riverhead to Wall to Bowman Gray and totally missed the significance. My goodness for the home gamers these are the glory days of watching modifieds are they not?
2019 the NWMT race a Wall was a demo derby, Pitkat’s win more a matter of survival. Last year a relief it wasn’t like 2019 but not much drama. Last night there was a lot of movement in the field highlighted by Silk’s outstanding performance. Coming through the field for one thing but going toe to toe with Bonsignore. The crowd, the action on the track just a terrific race.
It’s our job to pick things apart but Suitcase Jake say it ain’t so? A north star for all that’s good about racing and you basically dropped a deuce on that event? Wall vs Bowman Gray are you kidding me? Cars have to hit each other at Bowman Gray the track is flat and short. Crowd loves it, 14,000 the announcer said last night during the show but that’s Bowman Gray. For my money Hirschman got spun because he should have, leaving the whole Coby thing with Nocella in play as the race bulls eye of criticism. But what Bonsignore and Silk have done the last two races is something special. Building drama for next week that will really be something.
In case none of you pick six players noticed I won the Wall race. Wmass was smart not to play he never has a chance. Sesely simply a brilliant pick the key to the win. And since I’m on a win streak of one I’ll spot you all a point just for playing I’m so confident I can nail the big show up at the NHMS next week. Second thought I’ll spot wmass 3 points he’d probably need it.
Swanson won at Wiscasset if anyone cares. A pretty good field of cars actually for the MRS. Three tour mod events in two days with about mid 50’s the total car count. If you say that sort of scheduling doesn’t water down each show and weaken the division as a whole I wouldn’t agree.
Enjoy the SRX series my fellow short track brethren. No ESPN so your commentary will be much appreciated while I watch reruns of The Walton’s.
I can go online during a Monaco Tri Track race or an ACT race or a PASS race or a CARS Tour race or a SMART Tour race and get living timing and scoring for all events. I can go online during a race at Stafford or Thompson or Waterford or Riverhead or Thunder Road or tons of other tracks and get live timing and scoring for all events. But in 2023 I can’t go online and get live timing and scoring for a Whelen Modified Tour race. How is that even possible?
Was funny hearing Joe Coss flipping out about the Wall announcer on a hot microphone during the Flo broadcast.
Someone Wake Up Jimmy Wilson
You can! Right on race montior too. its incredibly easy.
Just ask someone on a team or an official the next race you go to.
Smooth Operator 32- Don’t you wish RacedayCt covered dirt, that was a great race he won Sat nite… And the Catalano’s were at Holland Sat nite.
zig13, that Race Monitor option you are talking about is supposed to have limited access, for teams and officials only, not for the general public. Most tracks do not have the wi-fi capacity to serve much more than the teams and officials. There have been times when the track wi-fi was overwhelmed and this option was unresponsive. If this option were for general public use, it would be advertised.
As it is, when a crowd gathers at a track, the local cell phone towers are overwhelmed, resulting in very slow response times.
Zig13,
Darealgoodfella is exactly right. The Race Monitor option that exists for the Whelen Modified Tour is not supposed to be for public use, that’s why it’s not advertised publicly on the regular Race Monitor options when events happen. And the assumption that every fan of the Whelen Modified Tour who is interested in live timing and scoring during events is somehow connected to a series official or a crew member is a bit unrealistic. And it’s my understanding that crew members and series officials are not supposed to share the Race Monitor access information.
Point being, the sanctioning body advertises to the public the availability of live timing and scoring for all races through the series web site, but unfortunately very often it doesn’t work. I would estimate it was inoperable for about half the series events last year. This year had started out better, but I can understand why people have been frustrated by the last two events in that the live timing and scoring was seemingly operating, it was just apparently not set to qualifying display mode rather than race display mode after the events began.
OOOHHH NO , I did enjoy the Wall race,, It was the lack of Race Director making the easy calls for rough riding, No call on Coby hitting the 46 under caution … that was the topic… Cool hand Silk & the 51 put on a hell of a show … I was also dismayed that the 64 had a super fast car but got shuffled out of the lead only to be spun late in the event … This kid Beers is in my top six most often than not this year… Shoulda took the bottom lane on that restart .. Silk on your inside wasn’t a good choice… Stay on the bottom and get the little advantage of being first to Fire Off would have served Beers much better…
Shawn, can you work with the NWMT to set up a user friendly website? The NWMT website is one of the most difficult to use, appears to change readability and format weekly, and I have to go hunting to find what I am looking for every event. Real simple, things that need a constant, rock steady presence and web page location are things like event schedule, entry list, practice times, qualifying times, race results, and revised standings. This should all be collected in one page that is the same event after event after event, and on and on and on. And this page must be user friendly and easy to access. The NASCAR/NWMT Race Center page just doesn’t work.
Over the years, RacedayCT has evolved into the most efficient and useful place to go for racing info and news. The NWMT needs your help. Perhaps an option would be for RacedayCT to distill the info I mentioned above and republish it in the efficient and user-friendly way you do things like that. That may be futile since the stuff you’d need to link to on the NASCAR/NWMT site would most likely break links.
Hey Shawn, here’s another poll topic for you to consider: With the NHMS race coming up, what lap do you think Dug 🤡 Colby will wreck out? Lap 0-10, 11-20, 21-30, etc.?
Or this poll topic: With the biggest race on the NWMT, when do you think the entry list will be posted? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Neverday?
darealgoodfella, I’m not sure what track Wi-Fi has to do with anything. You dont need to be on any sort of track wifi anymore.
If the cell service is that bad, you aren’t going to get scoring no matter how good a system is.
And im sure if you ask in one of the fan pages someone will give it to you.
on a side note. Now that Floracing owns race monitor, i wonder if there will ever be pressure to make it public, so they can embed it on the website like they do for other races.
zig13 wrote, “darealgoodfella, I’m not sure what track Wi-Fi has to do with anything. ”
That is obvious.
Then zig13 wrote, “You dont need to be on any sort of track wifi anymore.”
zig13, the Race Monitor option you mentioned earlier, where you posted this, “Just ask someone on a team or an official the next race you go to.” requires wi-fi. That’s how that option works, on wi-fi. You get the wi-fi credentials, enter them and that puts you on the track wi-fi. If you are going to use the Race Monitor option with the race team/officials credentials, then you are using wi-fi.
You say wi-fi is not needed anymore at the tracks, please explain how a user will connect to whatever to receive live timing at the track.
zig13, you seem to be confused. We were talking about the NWMT doing a lousy job at providing live race timing over the internet so anyone with internet access can follow the race anywhere. That is very different than the wi-fi timing data intended to be available only to teams and officials AT THE TRACK that you brought up.
darealgoodfella
They must have very strong wifi then. Because it’s worked at my house flawlessly for several years now.
Like I said, you don’t need to be on any sort of track Wi-Fi anymore. You haven’t needed to be on that Wi-Fi channel for several years now at this point.
The way they do it now works on any internet connection. home wifi. cellular. anything. itll work half way around the word.
so no, i am very much not the confused one here.
It’s a good thing these short tracks are getting their local guys to run the tour race. The fields would be quite small without them.