THOMPSON – The history of Thompson Speedway showcases victories from nearly every one of the top drivers in the history of Northeast Asphalt Modified racing.
But in 2025, when it comes to considering the theme of Thompson Speedway and Open Modified racing at the facility, the fabric of the track this year goes without saying. It’s Silk.
Ron Silk continued a remarkable streak of dominance at the .625-mile oval Wednesday in using a late charge to win the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series RaceChoice.com 75 at Thompson.
It was Silk’s third victory in three starts at the track in 2025.
Silk, of Norwalk, won the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series season opening Propane Plus Heating & Cooling 75 on March 29 at Thompson. He was then victorious in the NASCAR Modified Tour Icebreaker 150 at Thompson on April 16.
“I like coming here lately that’s for sure,” Silk said. “I’ve had a good car pretty much every time we’ve been here. It wasn’t great today, but it was good enough at the end.”
Jake Johnson of Rehoboth, Mass. was second and Stephen Kopcik of Newtown third.
After hunting down Johnson for 30 laps, Silk made the race winning pass on lap 71.
“I knew I was sliding around quite a bit and I could see [Johnson] was starting to slide around worse than me,” Silk said. “Not much, he had a really good car.”
Johnson tried to crossover Silk out of turn four after getting overtaken for the lead on lap 71, but he almost lost his car making the move.
“I was hanging on,” Johnson said. “I tried to make a big [crossover] and these cars, they get to a point where it’s like driving on ice. It’s tough to see from the grandstands. Those long runs and these tires get real hot and the hotter they get the icier they get. I tried to make a move because I knew [Silk] was going to drive it in deep to make the pass like anyone would, nothing wrong with that. I tried to setup for the crossover and it got a little out of control on me. At the end of the day, that’s part of it.”
Pole-winner Ronnie Williams controlled out front at the start with fourth place starting Patrick Emerling quickly moving by Johnson for third and Kopcik for second.
The first caution flew on lap two with the car of Brett Meservey in the turn two wall.
Williams controlled the ensuing restart with Emerling in tow in second.
On lap eight, with Williams leading, Emerling in second and Johnson in third, Silk grabbed fourth place from Kopcik.
On lap 18 Emerling found a lane under Williams into turn one and the completed the pass for the lead through turns three and four.
Caution flew on lap 19 for the car of Joey Mucciacciaro in the turn three wall. It set up a restart with Emerling out front, Williams in second, Johnson in third and Silk in fourth.
Emerling took the outside for the ensuing restart with Johnson moving to the inside of the front row and Silk restarting third.
On the lap 19 restart it was Johnson getting the jump on Emerling to take over the lead.
Caution was back out on lap 22 for the spinning car of Nick Halkowicz.
On the lap 22 restart Johnson was once again able to use the bottom lane to control on the restart.
The action was short lived with caution coming back out on lap 23 for the spinning car of Blake Barney.
Johnson was once again able to rocket from Emerling on the lap 23 restart.
By lap 35 Johnson had opened about a half second lead over second place Emerling with Silk stalking in third place. Not long after Silk found the way around Emerling for second, but it was Johnson containing to extend his lead. By lap 42 Johnson was in front of Silk by just over a second.
By lap 50 Silk had bitten into Johnson’s lead by about a half a second.
On lap 51 Kopcik took Emerling up to the wall in turn four to take over third, about 2.5 seconds behind the leader.
On lap 55 eighth place running Ryan Preece slowed on the track and went to the pits under green.
Johnson held just just over a half second lead over Silk on lap 60 with Silk taking small bites of the lead lap after lap.
On lap 65 Johnson came upon the cars of Teddy Hodgdon and Jacob Perry battling for 13th and 14th. With Johnson meandering through lapped traffic, Silk was to take a big chunk out of the lead. On lap 70 Silk was within a car length of Johnson.
“By the time I got to his back bumper he could barely go straight,” Silk said. “I’m sure that didn’t help him getting held up by those guys. I don’t know how much they held him up, but if they did I wouldn’t be happy if I was him. I didn’t have much left at the end, I just had a little bit more than him.”
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