Tour Type Modified New Smyrna World Series Notes And Quotes

• RaceDayCT’s Denise DuPont caught up with some drivers from the Tour Type Modified division points at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway.

Eric Goodale

On February 10, Eric Goodale finished night one of the Tour Type Modified racing in 8th. In the end, the No. 58 Goodale Modified finished in the same position that they started.

“We need to find some speed.” Goodale said Tuesday. “We have been consistent but the speed is not there. We need a tenth or two.

“So, we tried some things in practice and I think that we are heading in the right direction every time we go out. We are just looking for the one that is going to set us up for success for the rest of the week.”

Goodale reached out to son Mason for some advice for this week’s World Series Tour Type Modified Racing. His answer – “Be aggressive Dad, but not too aggressive.”

Dave Sapienza

Dave Sapienza came into Wednesday’s Tour Type Modified event sitting eighth in the division standings after two events.

“Look at that running 8th in points. The only bad part is that I am leaving after tonight,” Sapienza said Wednesday. “I have a lot of work to do at home. I am having fun but it is hard to keep up some of these guys with built motors. Our car handles pretty well but it is a little bit under powered. But look we are going into night four and there is not even a scratch on my car.”

“A lot of the guys have a good handle on their vehicles and they are not driving over their head. It is good to see a lot of good racing and no damage. You do have some drivers that on the first or second day have a destroyed car. So the field starts with 30 cars and ends up with 20 cars. They are over driving and then having to stay up overnight to fix their cars.

“But it has been good racing, the weather has been beautiful and it was a good break for winter. I love it here. It is a nice little get away. The only thing is this week is grueling on the body with a lot of hours. But it is well worth it. We pretty much start planning for the next year before we even leave here. This year you cannot beat the weather.

Timmy Solomito

Going into the John Blewett III Memorial 76, Timmy Solomito was fifth in points. This week the team has had some ups and down on the track but mid-week a fifth place position is not bad. 

“It is my first time down here with my family so it is pretty cool,” Solomito said. “I came here years ago with Flamingo [Motorsports] and had some fun. So, we are basically starting from scratch, we have no notebook.

“So, I am just trying to have some fun with my family and put some good runs together. The first night we had a good car, but we faded a little bit at end. We just kind of missed it. Then [Tuesday] we tried a whole bunch of things that did not work. Today we were good in practice – second and fourth. We had made some adjustments before qualifying and they were moves in the right direction. We will see. Just going to try to make all 76 laps. We will run and and see where our cards fall.” 

Tyler Catalano

Tyler Catalano has had a 17th and 26th place finish so far this week running in the Tour Type Modified division races with his mother and brothers Tommy and Trevor.

“We have had a decent week but we struggled early all-day Sunday and Monday,” Tyler Catalano said. “Yesterday was step in the right direction. We made some changes and we will see if they are a move in the right direction.”

Trevor Catalano

Trevor Catalano has completed the first two Tour Type Modified races in 11th and 15th place. 

“It has been fun,” Trevor Catalano said. “We kind of figured it out just trying to get a little bit better race car with our race adjustments. It runs good but we just have missed lines throughout the week.”

Tyler Rypkema

Tyler Rypkema had a good run on Saturday in the NASCAR Modified Tour event with the Boehler Racing Enterprises No. 3. This week Rypkema is competing in the No. 32  family owned Tour Type Modified.

“We skipped practice this Monday and Tuesday and we qualified fourth both days,” Rypkema said. “We have had a good car since we have come down here. It is good knowing you have a car capable of winning. We just need to make sure that we have the setup right and tighten up the car for the race. We have a car that has quick response.”

In Saturday night’s Modified Tour race, Rypkema started the race 12th and finished with a solid 11th place.

“We had a decent night in Ole Blue,” Rypkema said. “I am excited about running the season with them.”

Anthony Nocella

Anthony Nocella has definitely not had the race week he planned on. He has a 9th and 28th place finish.

“We have been having a rough race week so far,” Nocella said. “We had decent speed race wise on Monday night but had a problem with the car and missed qualifying, so we started last. We were able to get up to ninth and we were going really well so all and all not a bad night. We qualified half decent [Tuesday].  We had a pretty good race car we thought, but after 4 or 5 laps had to pull in. We end up with a last place finish. Hopefully tonight we can change it around a little.”