RGeeProductions
07-27-2016, 11:44 PM
Racing action resumed at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on Wednesday, July 27th as the speedway celebrated “For the Drivers Night” with all drivers receiving free admission to the race as local racing series and the annual Sunoco Modified 20/20 Sprint took center stage.
The 3rd annual Sunoco Modified 20/20 Sprint saw drivers competing to win not only two points paying events, but also an overall victory with a third race helping decide the final outcome. Drivers looked to obtain the least amount of points in a secondary points system based off of finishing spots in the segments to win it all. The feature would see some of the biggest names in the series run up front throughout the evening and a popular name return to the top in victory lane.
The 20/20 event consisted of three segments, two 20 lap races and a third ten-lap feature, with the first event ordered by qualifying, the second inverting the field for the starting lineup based off the finishing positions in the first event and the third and final segment utilizing timing in the first race to set the field. With the first two segments being points paying races, Keith Rocco was looking to defend his undefeated status this season but faced some tough competition as he relinquished his hold of victory lane in the first race to one of the series’ most popular talents, Ryan Preece, who made the trip to Thompson from North Carolina that morning to take part in the main event.
Preece celebrated in victory lane, giving credit to his crew for helping him gain early momentum in the 20/20 feature. “It was pretty tough there,” Preece said. “We’ve just been struggling with the brakes with this car and it’s been making it so free in – To fly up here and win, it’s a lot of fun for me,” Preece said after the first segment.
Preece wouldn’t be able to make it a perfect night in the Sunoco Modifieds however as Keith Rocco made a strong comeback and claimed a win in segment two. In the end Preece held on to not only win segment three but also produced good enough finishes to win the overall 20/20 feature title for the second time in his career, and hopefully put an end to a rough season in the series so far in 2016.
“It’s pretty special,” Preece said. “It’s been a rough year – No matter how bad I wanted to do good it was like something was stopping me. Tonight was the night where we got the monkey off our back hopefully.” Rowan Pennink finished second overall in the 20/20 feature followed by Rocco, Ronnie Williams and Woody Pitkat.
The Late Models started off the night strong with good, close racing throughout the field for their 25-lap feature. The complexion of the race changed several times, including after the race itself was finished, with the early domination by Jared Materas starting off a strange trend for the event when Matera’s dominance was cut short after he lost control of his car six laps into the race. The spin creating a multi-car incident that retired Materas from the race while series regular Brian Tagg took over the lead after an extensive cleanup process.
Tagg would soon find himself under attack by several cars, eventually being involved in a close, hard battle with Marc Curtis before the two made contact, causing Curtis to spin and Tagg to be sent to the back of the field, ruining his chance at a win as well. Meanwhile the stage was set for a dramatic finish as points leader William Wall made a hard charge to the front to compete with his closest rival in the points, Rick Gentes, for third in the final ten laps. Up at the front Lloyd Anderson and Matt Lowinski-Loh added to the action as the two sought their first ever respective wins in the series. In the end it was Lloyd Anderson who came out of top over Lowinski-Loh, or so it appeared. Anderson celebrated in victory lane after crossing the line in a backup car but the win was stripped away as after the event Anderson’s team was informed they were disqualified from the Late Model race due to a right front lower control arm of the car that did not meet specified measurements. This turn of events put an end to an interesting Late Model feature and gave the win to Lowinski-Loh, his first in the series. Gentes finished second in the adjusted results after spinning across the finish line and Wall finished an eventual third.
(continued)
The 3rd annual Sunoco Modified 20/20 Sprint saw drivers competing to win not only two points paying events, but also an overall victory with a third race helping decide the final outcome. Drivers looked to obtain the least amount of points in a secondary points system based off of finishing spots in the segments to win it all. The feature would see some of the biggest names in the series run up front throughout the evening and a popular name return to the top in victory lane.
The 20/20 event consisted of three segments, two 20 lap races and a third ten-lap feature, with the first event ordered by qualifying, the second inverting the field for the starting lineup based off the finishing positions in the first event and the third and final segment utilizing timing in the first race to set the field. With the first two segments being points paying races, Keith Rocco was looking to defend his undefeated status this season but faced some tough competition as he relinquished his hold of victory lane in the first race to one of the series’ most popular talents, Ryan Preece, who made the trip to Thompson from North Carolina that morning to take part in the main event.
Preece celebrated in victory lane, giving credit to his crew for helping him gain early momentum in the 20/20 feature. “It was pretty tough there,” Preece said. “We’ve just been struggling with the brakes with this car and it’s been making it so free in – To fly up here and win, it’s a lot of fun for me,” Preece said after the first segment.
Preece wouldn’t be able to make it a perfect night in the Sunoco Modifieds however as Keith Rocco made a strong comeback and claimed a win in segment two. In the end Preece held on to not only win segment three but also produced good enough finishes to win the overall 20/20 feature title for the second time in his career, and hopefully put an end to a rough season in the series so far in 2016.
“It’s pretty special,” Preece said. “It’s been a rough year – No matter how bad I wanted to do good it was like something was stopping me. Tonight was the night where we got the monkey off our back hopefully.” Rowan Pennink finished second overall in the 20/20 feature followed by Rocco, Ronnie Williams and Woody Pitkat.
The Late Models started off the night strong with good, close racing throughout the field for their 25-lap feature. The complexion of the race changed several times, including after the race itself was finished, with the early domination by Jared Materas starting off a strange trend for the event when Matera’s dominance was cut short after he lost control of his car six laps into the race. The spin creating a multi-car incident that retired Materas from the race while series regular Brian Tagg took over the lead after an extensive cleanup process.
Tagg would soon find himself under attack by several cars, eventually being involved in a close, hard battle with Marc Curtis before the two made contact, causing Curtis to spin and Tagg to be sent to the back of the field, ruining his chance at a win as well. Meanwhile the stage was set for a dramatic finish as points leader William Wall made a hard charge to the front to compete with his closest rival in the points, Rick Gentes, for third in the final ten laps. Up at the front Lloyd Anderson and Matt Lowinski-Loh added to the action as the two sought their first ever respective wins in the series. In the end it was Lloyd Anderson who came out of top over Lowinski-Loh, or so it appeared. Anderson celebrated in victory lane after crossing the line in a backup car but the win was stripped away as after the event Anderson’s team was informed they were disqualified from the Late Model race due to a right front lower control arm of the car that did not meet specified measurements. This turn of events put an end to an interesting Late Model feature and gave the win to Lowinski-Loh, his first in the series. Gentes finished second in the adjusted results after spinning across the finish line and Wall finished an eventual third.
(continued)