Game On: Last Lap Pass Gives Ted Christopher Valenti Mod Series Win At Speedbowl

Ted Christopher (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Ted Christopher (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

WATERFORD – When Chris Pasteryak rolled the outside lane off of turn four to the lead on lap 93, it looked like a dominating effort by Ted Christopher had gone by the wayside.

But the 57-year old Christopher had one last gasp of drama thanks to a late caution.

Christopher took advantage of a green-white-checkered restart to end the event and used a final corner pass of Pasteryak to win the Valenti Modified Racing Series Wings & Wheels 100 Saturday at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.

“I had a good run on the [final] restart and he got into me on the outside and I was like ‘Ok, now it’s game on.’” Christopher said.

It was the first Valenti Modified Racing Series victory for Christopher, of Plainville, since winning the same event last year.

“It’s good because Scott [Anderson] who works on this car comes from North Carolina,” Christopher said. “It’s hard for him to always work on the thing and set it up. Last week he came all the way from North Carolina on Friday night, up Massachusetts, worked on it, then drove back home Sunday all by himself. All the work and effort is from him. He does a great job on this car and I always love driving it.”

Pasteryak, of Lisbon, held on for second and Anthony Nocella of Woburn, Mass. was third.

Christopher went by Rowan Pennink for the lead on lap two and looked to have the field covered for most of the event. On lap 76 Pasteryak went by Dave Schneider for second on lap 76 and then made his way to Christopher’s bumper.

On lap 91 Pasteryak was stalking all over Christopher and on lap 93 he was able to use the outside lane move off of turn four to grab the lead and pull away.

“Chris and them guys, they’re always good for the long run,” Christopher said. “We just haven’t had enough time with this car because it has a totally different setup in it than we’ve ever run in the past years. It’s not even the same from when we won last year. It’s good, but we still have to do some work on it.”

But just after the white flag flew a pile up in turn four brought out the caution to set up the decisive green-white-checkered.

On the final lap Christopher got a run on Pasteryak down low into turn one and made the move to the lead stick through turn four coming to the checkered flag.

“On that one, he got into the side of me pretty good so then I freaking pulled the plug after that,” Christopher said. “But I knew he was so tight. I knew he’d probably try to drive into the side of me again. But I was like, ‘I’ll do the crossover.’ I still can drive.”

Pasteryak said he wasn’t surprised by the late attack from Christopher.

“I tried to move him up a foot or two anyway,” Pasteryak said. “He was able to keep it on the bottom and my car was a little too tight. He got underneath me and once I figured he was there, I wouldn’t have backed out. That’s it. Had we had a 10-lap run at the end I might have been able to sneak back around him, but it was a green-white-checkered at Waterford. I run 100-lappers all the time and that’s what I miss. I don’t do that every week. He does it twice a week and it showed.

“I got to pass Ted Christopher on the outside at Waterford and I got beat by Ted Christopher at Waterford.”

Comments

  1. Great job by TC, another popular win at the bowl! You can always count on Teddy to put on a good show. 57 and still winning races.

  2. al breunig says

    Losing to T.C. @ Waterford is not to be looked at in a bad way .T.C. will compete as hard as his car will allow . If Teddy doesn’t win ,it’s not his fault ,outside elements disrupt his plan sometimes those elements are mechanical sometimes they are human. In the end you can always look for him to get all he can out of the car ,and often the car is not perfect .For 30 plus years Teddy has put on clinics , always entertaining ,exciting often fun. The man has HEART !

  3. It’s good to see TC get this win but even better for Scott . There are few guys out there that put in the effort Scott does . Tip of the hat for TC to acknowledge Scott for all he does .

  4. Yes – great win for TC & Scott. Is that a Chassis Dynamics car? Perhaps Scott should take a look at TC’s Stafford SK.

  5. Wonder if TC will b DQ in a few days?

  6. Well that was a short lived victory.

  7. in the know says

    A tour driver does not stand a chance against the VMRS underhanded Tom foolery that changes the outcome of almost every race after everyone goes home. Just pathetic.
    Anyone who actually pays to go see a VMRS race is a sucker. Vote with your feet people and stay away from the circus and go to a different race.

  8. My $50 is still in my pocket . I knew I made the right call last night . What a joke ! They should change the name to the jack- me – off bateman racing series.

  9. Patrick Tetreault jr says

    I have to agree the Series has no credibility way to much penalizing and very questionable calls. These owners have a fortune invested and they never know what is next!

  10. Ben Dodge said at the drivers meeting that everyone should not look at the series as the glass is half empty… Really,Ben? Word of mouth is spreading fast, Facebook is lit up over this.

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