THOMPSON – A perfect qualifying Saturday for Ryan Preece carried over to the SK Modified feature Sunday at Thompson International Speedway.
Preece, of Berlin, held off Woody Pitkat over the closing laps to win the 30-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Sunday at Thompson.
Pitkat, of Stafford, was second and Todd Ceravolo of Gales Ferry third.
The victory followed Preece setting a track record in qualifying Saturday for today’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Icebreaker 150 at Thompson.
“It feels real good,” Preece said. “I’m very fortunate to be in the rides I’m in and I can only do my best to try and win races for them. I’m having a great day right now and I hope the [Whelen Modified Tour] race goes just as good.”
Preece briefly lost the lead to Pitkat on lap five but went around him to retake the lead on the next lap and never trailed again.
Ted Christopher of Plainville was fourth in the race but was disqualified after post race inspection for illegally altered mufflers, moving Kerry Malone of Needham Mass. to fourth place.
Derek Ramstrom of West Boylston, Mass. held off Mike O’Sullivan of Springfield, Mass. to win the 50-lap Super Late Model feature. Jim Banfield of Glastonbury was third.
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What a complete shock and surprise this news is.
There you go again Shawn, picking on TC again.
Hey shawn,
First of all, I’ve read your blogs for the past 5 years and this is the first one i’ve commented on. Great work covering the local tracks. I’ve attended thompson since 2002 weekly. I’ve seen the highest car counts and lowest car counts at the speedway. I’d say since 2002, I’ve missed a total of I’d say 6 shows (the michalski fiasco being one of them). While the WMT race was a fiasco in itself, i’d like to focus on the weekly races. The car counts have seemed to dwindled below Stafford’s and Waterford’s. What I don’t understand is why Thompson let’s this happen. I was listening to Speedway Line report Monday night and Gary Danko stated that in a few weeks he will do a show dedicated to car counts at the 3 ct short tracks and why the car counts are low at thompson. I’m hoping you can appear on that show or atleast call in and offer your opinion. It just concerns me that 4 years ago, thompson would get 30+ sks a night and now they are lucky to get double digits. Seeing Tc, Malone, and Churchill a straightaway behind during the sk feature last sunday is a sign I believe that the engine rule is completely unfair at thompson. Keep up the good work though. It’s nice to know that there is atleast one acurate blog out there to deliver the goings on at the 3 ct racetracks.
Car counts are down at Thompson for 3 reasons, in my opinion. The track is definitely for staightaway handlers, cars with high dollar motors. 2nd, it seems that the pit passes are a little more expensive than Stafford’s and probably Waterford’s. 3rd, Thompson has a history of letting more stuff happen on track. I have witnessed blatant accidents with no black flags, probation, or disqualification.
Makes sense…it’s thompson’s duty then to restrict the motors somehow…not just in the sk modifieds. Look at the late model race. That was classic stafford vs thompson motors with pitkat and o sullivan. Not bashing O’sullivan for doing his homework but it seems like an uneven playing field. I wish they would bring back the tri-track series. Oh and I agree the pit pass prices are rediculous at thompson. The dirty driving as cooled down a bit from what it was before Chapman took over (besides the limited sportsman division last year).
I agree that the rough riding has cooled down quite a bit in the last year to year and a half. I do not know when there was a change in the race director or whatever title that Mr. or Mrs. Chapman has.
I have been going to Thompson, Stafford, Waterford and Seekonk for the last 30 yrs. I am only 34yrs old, but I remember the good old pinto days. My brother raced go-karts with Bo Gunning, Mike and Ted Christopher, John Leger and Darrel Teizzi. I have vague memories of coupes trying to qualify for the Thompson 300. I remember the sand banks at Thompson.
This is the worst I have seen car counts. There was a time in the late 80′s that seemed pretty bleak, but what we all are experiencing now is the worst of the worst, for the last 5 or so years.
I am one person typing at a computer, but I hope all race promoters see this. Lower ticket and pit prices, lower food and drink prices, and higher purses = more people at the track. More people at the track = more buzz about the races and more people hooked on short track racing. I do not pretend to be a business expert, but more people at the track watching more and better quality cars on the track = more profits. Just an Average Joe chiming in on something I know little to nothing about, but it really isn’t rocket science.
I remember in 2002 at the world series they needed to run a b main for the sunoco modifieds. Now they get a feature car count the size of that b main. It’s strange that the ticket prices have gone up, yet the purses haven’t increased all that much.
And I always knew Bo Gunning and the Christopher boys were rivals but I never knew they raced go karts against eachother…man I wish bo still raced in the sks at thompson…he was one to watch in that 12 ts haulers car…him, malone, marvin, cerevolo, berndt, malave..those were the guys I remember watching…Pitkat was still in the late models and preece was probably sitting in the stands like me since he is my age
Gunning came to the go-cart track with his street rod. Christopher had the ugliest cart but won most of the time. I was a young-un, but I remember those days. Watching those carts go around the Woodstock Fair last year was a travesty. 3 cart features suck. Apparently the same problem is happening with go-karts that is happening with full sized race cars. Maybe Americans don’t have as much disposable income as they used to…