THOMPSON – On April 15 at Thompson International Speedway, Rowan Pennink had what looked to be shaping up as a great start to his season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Pennink took the checkered flag leading the Icebreaker 150 at Thompson on April 15, but NASCAR officials deemed he jumped the final restart and gave the victory to Ron Silk.
Sunday at Thompson, Pennink scored a measure of personal redemption.
Pennink, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa. held off Richard Savary over the closing laps to win the 75-lap Valenti Modified Racing Series feature at Thompson.
Savary, of Canton, Mass., held on for second and Geoff Gernhard of Salem was third. It was the fifth career Valenti Modified Racing Series victory for Pennink and his first of the 2012 season in the division.
“I love this place and I love racing here,” said Pennink, who competes full-time on both the Valenti Modified Racing Series and the Whelen Modified Tour. “We always run good here. To lose that one at the Icebreaker was a heartbreaker, but it feels good to come back the next time after that race and win here again and show everyone who really should have been in victory lane at the Icebreaker.”
Pennink had to fight off Savary on three restarts over the 23 laps. Savary made his boldest move to get under Pennink on lap 65, but couldn’t make a bottom shot off of turn four stick.
“It always seems like when we’re out front here at Thompson the cautions just keep coming,” Pennink said. “But, we were able to fight through it. The car got a little tight there at the end and Richard was able to make a couple good runs at me, but we were able to hang on.”
—————————————————————
—- Follow The Backstretch at Facebook
—- Follow The Backstretch on Twitter
—————————————————————
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
7 Responses to Rowan Pennink Scores Valenti Modified Racing Series Victory Sunday At Thompson
Leave a Reply
- -- ADVERTISEMENT --
- -- ADVERTISEMENT --
Yesterday at Thompson might have been the worst day of racing I have attended in 40 years. Economy is killing the car counts. Cannot afford to have heat races. I will not attend a weekly racing series this summer at Thompson.
Was really looking forward to the race yesterday but ended up leaving early, show just went way too long and was just very frustrating to watch. I killed me to have to watch them line up the cars for the feature to announce all the drivers. The show was running long already at that point and that was a big waste of time in my opinion. People come to watch the RACE, get the show going. That and every caution for a spin or whatever they would ride around under caution lap after lap after lap. Why so many laps under caution for a single car spin. After 20 laps of the feature I had enough and left. Glad I didn’t stick around for another hour to see the finish. Frustrating day overall. Too bad it had to be like that with such a good car count and talented field for the Modified Racing Series.
The program was a complete disater. From start to finish. I to will not be attending the July MRS race or any of the regular programs run at Thompson. Heat races for 7 car fields. Something is very wrong with the management at the Big T.
Due to a technical issue with the transponder loop that lies inside the pavement of the race track, the electronic scoring system was unable to be used. This forced MRS timing n scoring official Jenn Ready, Thompson handicapper Julie Windsor, Thompson officials Linda & Brenda, and Kevin Askwith from Monadnock who was helping MRS this weekend to hand score the feature event. Hats off to them for doing what they needed to be done. That’s what caused the extended cautions
Emailed Thompson today and was given the notion that they feel as though the MRS is at fault.Said the divisions with less than 10 cars requested heats.No more Big T for me…….
They had heat races for the sk lites, late models and tis mods?
I did not attend the races at Thompson Sunday. I got home at 7:30 after work and to my surprise I heard the end of the race from my house(4 miles from the speedway). Sorry to hear all the bad reviews from the race. I love the speedway, but I know there are some issues at the Big T. It’s a sad situation, and I would assume “they” did not hear me the last time I posted a rant… So here it goes again with some added extra’s. Pit passes are too expensive. Main entrances passes should be $15.oo plus taxes every week. No one goes to a 50 lap Limited Sportsman race that wouldn’t be there normally. The Port-a-John’s smell worse than a Halibut that washed ashore a week ago. I can smell them from the stands on a warm summer day. If Thompson “international” Speedway wants to be a viable option for consumer dollars, I suggest they heed these words. If they want to have people show up to a race, they should have top notch equipment racing. That means top notch facilities, top notch Pricing, and top notch people in control. You need the cars first, the people will follow. If they wanted to make a profit at the speedway it is there. If they want to make a minimal profit with there overall attractions(golf and speedway), just keep doing what you are doing. Thompson used to be where the best of the best of Modified Racing finished thier week with a bang. Now it is where most drivers select to race because of location. Kudos Thompson “international” Speedway. Kudos…..