Over the last two seasons on the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series it was Jake Johnson victorious in the division’s usual late July event.
Johnson got his first series victory at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. on July 23, 2022 and his second win with the series came at Star on July 22, 2023.
Saturday night the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series was competing about 100 miles away from Star Speedway, but it didn’t mean an end to Johnson’s late July domination of the division.
Jake Johnson of Rehoboth, Mass. used a pitting free strategy to go to the front and drove away from Woody Pitkat over the closing laps to win the 100-lap Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series feature Saturday at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H.
It was the first event at White Mountain in series history.
“We had a lot of fun today,” Johnson said. “I’ve got to thank everything that Monaco does and [the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series]. It’s a great series. I’ve got to thank all the fans for coming. White Mountain is a beautiful facility and it’s a ton of fun in a Modified. I hope we put on a good show tonight.”
It was the third career Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series victory for Johnson.
Pitkat, of Stafford, was second and Stephen Kopcik of Newtown third.
Anthony Nocella of Woburn, Mass. and Matt Kimball of Bennington, N.H. rounded out the top-five respectively.
Pole-sitter Kopcik got the jump at the green. Second place starter Teddy Hodgdon IV quickly fell to third behind Pitkat at the start. Hodgdon was down to fifth within the first five laps.
On lap 18 Pitkat found the lane under Kopcik to go to the front of the field. From there Pitkat took full control and began working on lapping cars.
By lap 40 Pitkat was closing in on lapping then 16th place running Matt Hirschman, who started 20th in the 21-car field.
On lap 55 Hirschman was up to 14th place and still trying to get away from Pitkat’s pursuit to lap him. By lap 67 it was Pitkat with more than a one second lead over Kopcik with Ronnie Williams in third. On lap 70 Pitkat once again closed in on lapping Hirschman, who was up to 12th place.
The first caution flew on lap 74 for the stopped car of Chris Pasteryak.
Under caution Pitkat went to pit road. The group of pitting cars also included third place Wiliams, sixth place Matt Kimball and 12th place Hirschman. The pit stops put Kopcik back to the front with Jake Johnson in second and Hodgdon in third.
“I knew that’s what we were doing,” Johnson said of the decision to not pit under caution. “I didn’t know if that was going to work, but we were sticking to our guns and we weren’t pitting and we were going to give it our all the last 20 laps and make sure those tires hung on.”
The race restarted with Pitkat in seventh and Hirschman in eighth. Coming to green for the restart, Hodgdon got into the wall in the outside lane of the front row. Behind him fourth place Anthony Nocella checked up and cut down the track, making heavy contact with fifth place Brett Meservey. The chain reaction through the field sent Les Hinckley III spinning to bring the caution back out.
On the lap 74 restart it was third place Johnson getting by Meservey for second at the green and then moving under Kopcik into turn three to take over the lead.
On lap 83 Hirschman tried to get under Pitkat in a battle for fifth place. In turn four, with Hirschman in the low lane, there was contact and Hirschman spun to the infield.
On the restart it was Johnson quickly checking out from the field. Behind him Pitkat went by Nocella and Kopcik to move to third behind Meservey.
The final caution flew on lap 90 for the spinning car of Hinckley. On the lap 90 restart it was Johnson easily getting the jump Pitkat to pull away over the closing laps.
Damn, only 21 cars. Can’t be the economy. That’s bangin right now. Must be that race car drivers don’t like driving long distances to a race track.
21 cars on a quarter mile track is fine by me
The guys were fling around that track , fun to watch . Good hard racing late in race .
“Can’t be the economy. That’s bangin right now. Must be that race car drivers don’t like driving long distances to a race track.”
No silly. It’s clearly NASCAR, and those darn spec motors. Forcing all those guys to head south a few times a year clearly makes everyone stop showing up to events in CT and NH during the summer.
This kid Jake Johnson has a ton of talent that he has been able to transfer from full body Late Models to Modifieds…not an easy transition for a Driver … Open Wheels is a whole different ball game… Ryan Stone also has a hand in His success as he is the Crew Chief on the 16 Family Modified, when not on the Nascar Tour with the 51 ….Not pitting and still able to pull away from cars that pitted for fresh rubber and adjustments is just flat amazing on these cars , So Ryan Stone gets a ton of Credit for putting in that set on the 16 …!!! Impressive … I see a theme here, Great Driver – Great Crew Chiefs are winning the majority of these shows no matter what Tour they run on….
@zig13 pretty sure that was sarcasm but I was curious anyway. I don’t think any of these teams except Matt Kimball’s and Ronnie Williams’ have made a start in the Whelen tour this year.
I think tour modified races are just hugely impacted by the purse money and travel distance. $20,000 to win at Seekonk drew a lot of interest, but $10,000 at White Mountain will only draw the most dedicated. I know the winning amount isn’t that important to the mid-tier teams but it’s what’s most advertised so that’s what I remember.
The real race on Saturday night was at Fairbury. I hope you all watched it on Flo. Ask yourself why 78 cars showed up for 29 starting spots at a track not unlike White Mountain. Was it the $3k to start?
Sorry I need to make a quick correction. Ricky Thornton Jr’s masterpiece drive through the field in 50 laps to lead only the last lap on Wednesday night was on Flo. Many of us tour mod fans can easily watch that on Flo.
His near second drive through the field from 21st on Saturday that was only only to be topped by Bobby Pierce’s drive from 24th to 4th then after spinning, from 16th to win on the last lap is on Dirt Vision. Since DV has no pavement racing that will be less available to a majority of the mod crowd. There are highlights of that on YouTube if you like to watch some great racing.
Time for one of the smaller tracks in New England to put down some dirt for a weekend show and draw a crowd like Cleetus McFarland! Waterford or Seekonk?
Nice Job Jake and Andy! Made the ride home easier by winning for sure. Must feel good. Who are these nameless people on this website anyways? Must be bots with CB handles?
Uncle Tim
Nice job Jake
Uncle Tim
@Smooth Operator 32 There are dirt tracks in New England, so it’s probably not worth the expense to throw dirt over an asphalt track. I know Star Speedway has done monster truck shows the last two years that were banged out and Monadnock had a bull riding show, so at least some other tracks are expanding their offerings without putting down dirt. I think Cleetus McFarland and Seekonk would be a good fit given that Seekonk already has ramps on the infield.
Marshall, good call on Cleetus McFarland and Seekonk being a good fit. The Crown Vics on the wide 1/4 mile would be non stop tire squealing! I wonder what the seating capacity of Seekonk vs Stafford is. Seekonk is deceptive because the seats are virtually all around the track.
Smooth
I watched the PDC online. It was some great racing. That track is awesome. I believe the Saturday show was a WoO race and on Dirtvision. The Wednesday show was a Castrol show and on Flo. They were both good races but Saturday was exceptional.
As far as temporary dirt tracks over pavement. They can go very wrong. The superdirt week reincarnated at Oswego has had some decent shows and some really bad shows. The weather really has to cooperate for the surface to be good. I have seen Berlin MI and Rockford IL put down dirt for a few races. Berlin did it and the races weren’t bad from what I remember but they haven’t done it in several years. Rockford was so bad with ruts and whoops they never did it again. FYI the track closed last season. I would say Bristol has tried it with some success. The cost to convert the track is prohibitive. My guess as soon as the NY State money dries up for Oswego conversion they stop doing it. That being said, If a local track did it I would be first in line to see the show. I hate having to go 2 plus hours to see a dirt race.
I always thought Lee would make a good dirt track. They have kind of struggled for car counts and the pavement surface is beat. Why not just cover it with dirt and try something different. There isnt much competition in the area for dirt racing and you could differentiate themselves from Star 10 minutes down the road. It may be tough at first attracting cars but Devils Bowl went dirt and have found success after years of struggling to attract pavement racers. There are a bunch of crate sportsman cars out there. You could get the SCONE and DMA midgets out there for a few shows. Whip City had a hell of a micro sprint show kind of in the middle of nowhere for dirt track racing. I think it would work.
csg – Great comments. I especially agree with you that Lee’s configuration and situation would lend itself to making it a great dirt track.
The PDC was awesome and seemingly gets better every year. Matt Curl is a great promoter that took a track and event that was dying and made it into a crown jewel event. The 4 heat races on Friday night paid $5k each to win and had 20 cars each. The second B-main was was like having the 16, 51, 64, and 60 on the WMT race 15 laps for two spots in the A-main. How do these guys do it when our east coast pavement tracks can’t?