It looked like a night that would shape up as total domination for Austin Beers Saturday at Langley Speedway.
Beers led practice, won the pole and dominated for much of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour CheckeredFlag.com 150 at Langley.
And then Kyle Bonsignore spoiled Beers’ perfection in dramatic style late.
Bonsignore, of Mooresville, N.C., passed Beers with less than five laps remaining and went on to win the CheckeredFlag.com 150.
It was the second career series victory for Bonsignore, who was making his 70th Whelen Modified Tour start Langley. Bonsignore’s only other victory came in the NAPA Fall Final 150 on Sept. 30, 2018 at Stafford Speedway.
“This is huge,” Bonsignore said. “We’ve had some really great cars this year and we’ve just had some crazy circumstances that have kept us from getting the finishes that we deserve. It’s a huge shot in the arm.”
Beers, of Northampton, Pa., held on for second. Justin Bonsignore was third. Series points leader Ron Silk of Norwalk was fourth.
The 15-car field at Langley Speedway broke a 38-year old series record for the smallest field ever for a Whelen Modified Tour event. The previous low was 16 cars at Catamount Speedway in Milton, Vt on Aug. 11 1985. Tonight marked the 718th series series event since 1985 and only the third time in series history that a race started with less than 19 cars.
The first caution of the race flew on lap 85 when Melissa Fifield spun with Beers leading, Kyle Bonsignore in second, Jake Johnson in third and Justin Bonsignore in fourth. Under caution all the teams went to pit road for a cold pit stop.
Beers was able to check out quickly on the restart, leaving Kyle Bonsignore and Johnson fighting hard for second place.
On lap 111 Justin Bonsignore moved past Johnson into third.
As the field worked through lapped traffic, Kyle Bonsignore closed in on Beers. By lap 134 Kyle Bonsignore had eaten up Beers’ lead and clawed back to his bumper.
On lap 146 Kyle Bonsignore got under Beers in turn two and made the move for the lead through turns three and four.
“I noticed that I was a lot better than [Beers] in lapped traffic, especially when we were on the outside,” Kyle Bonsignore said. “Really good off of turn two and when I could get it set up off of turn four I could just real him in a little bit. I knew the lapped traffic was going to get worse. We were running just almost identical laps times and then every time we hit lapped traffic I could just gain a little bit. … I just waited until I got close enough and I realized I could get under him and I’d get a little bit better off the corner. My crew chief Cam McDermott did an awesome job. … As soon as I saw a window there I had to take it. He came down on me a little bit in [turn] one, but he’s trying to defend his spot. I got in there in [turn] three and did whatever I had to do to take it.”
Beers had led every lap of the event until Kyle Bonsignore passed him on lap 146.
“We just struggled with a little front turn there, the whole race pretty much,” Beers said. “Hats off to [Kyle Bonsignore]. He ran me clean. That was a hell of a show for the fans that came out. … It shows that you don’t need many cars to have a great show. It was a hell of a finish.”
Silk came into the event holding a 2-point lead over Justin Bonsignore at the top of the series standings. Justin Bonsignore closed that lead to one point with six events remaining. Both Justin Bonsignore and Silk have three wins this season.
“We’ll take a point on Silk there,” Justin Bonsignore said. “… Just a little too free on the first run and started the second run just a little too tight. Tire wear here is just brutal. We missed it a little bit, but all in all a good night. We’ll go on to Oswego one back now.”
Beers sits third in the standings, 37 points behind Silk.
Whelen Modified Tour CheckeredFlag.com 150 Results (click to enlarge)
Good race don’t need a ton of cars for a good show!
Fan of the Modified Tour since day one here and that was hard to watch. Good show for the last 10 laps, but the other 140 laps was boring. And taking away pit stops made it worse. Only 15 cars in the race and the last 5 couldn’t finish in the top 25 in an SK Light race at Stafford. Beginning to think the tour probably only has 1 or 2 years left.
In fairness I had switched over to some dirt racing on Floracing and the Cars Tour. Then caught the finish. Stands appeared to be full.
To “just say no to Langley”
I was at the race, so I can’t say how it was on TV, maybe the tv crew just zoomed in on the 64 the entire race.
From the stands, that race was very entertaining. There was battles throughout the top 10 for the whole race.
It doesn’t have to be a constant battle for 1st to make it a good race.
I think this would be a better even to have in March or April. But it was a good show. They had a good crowd as well.
And no, it’s not my home track, first time I’ve been to Langley for the NWMT. I’m from the Midwest. Planning on being at Oswego and Monadnock as well.
I would not say the stands were full at all but it seemed to be a good crowd.
Watched the SMART tour race at Ace. Full stands but I’ll take that NWMT race any day. My Lord that SMART race was painfully slow. An hour and a half for 100 laps the took forever to go back to green after one of the many cautions. Casual pitting, relentless promotions by the announcers during the down time. I guess it worked since PaceOMatic and CitriSave is now burned into my brain. Myer’s got a break when some of his competition for the championship had problems but still came back to earn his third win so good for him. Seeing the 7ny was good as PSR takes over it’s management so Heady can complete the season. Have to ask. What is the deal with southern tracks putting all the haulers in the infield. Some stackers with their own observation platforms at the top. Blocking the view from the stands and when they’re on the front stretch you also get to see people getting fries and dogs at he infield food service.
As for the Langley race quality is in the eye of the beholder. The camera and announcers did a great job in showing races for position through the field. Controlled pit stops can be interesting as well. The difference being you have to wait to see what affect the changes to the cars produces as opposed to seeing the race in the pits. Thought they were creating a race that didn’t exist between K. Bonsignor and Beers but turns out they were spot on.
Not a fan of going to Langley in the summer but can see the attraction with the facility. It’s beautiful and the infield not cluttered with haulers.
Langley has a good fan base, so they will generally put a bunch in the stands. But with only 15 cars, I wonder what is the future for the tour, and more to the point, what is the future of a tour race at Langley. You will see a completely different number at Wilkesboro.
That’s the problem with FLO they have so much great racing it is hard not to jump around..LOL
So….. I watched Ace on Flo and drove the 4.5 hours to Langley.
SMART race…. they do tend to be slow but the track having one wrecker surely didn’t help things along. That is the main reason I tend not to attend SMART races even though most are an easy drive for me. The racing can be good but my God the show just drags on….
Langley….. I’m not going to hide the fact I like Langley Speedway. From a fan’s perspective it’s a great facility. People are friendly, everything is clean and well maintained. Management seems to put money back into the place just as Stafford does and it shows. Cost of last night’s show? $18 bucks a head…..seniors $16. Food is good and reasonably priced (for a race track). The show….it didn’t start out great but the last half was good. I enjoyed watching Silk TRY to claw his way back to the front. I certainly wouldn’t have picked the 22 to win.
Should the tour run there? I say yes…. I know it’s a haul for the teams but I view a visit here as fan base building. A good show might put the idea in people’s head that a trip to Martinsville or North Wilkesboro is worth it. What can be done to make it more attractive to teams? I’d bet a bigger purse would help draw more cars. Honestly, I’d rather pay 20 bucks and that extra go to the teams who make the trip. Plus, SMART’s rescheduling of the ACE race made a couple of teams (if not more) choose between the two. No brainer to choose the series where you are regular competitor. I’m still wondering if that rescheduled date was “accidently on purpose” as they say.
Finally, it seems like common sense; you go to tracks want you. Langley clearly wants that tour date. We can all state our opinions on where the tour should run but if those tracks don’t schedule a race, no one can force them to do so.
Clearly the NWMT has some issues that need to be addressed and fast. I’m too far removed from it now to know what those issues truly are and what could be done to address those issues. I do know that I’d hate to see it fade into the history books.
I see the MRS tried to outdo the tour with 13 cars.