The final Thursday Night Thompson Thunder race event of the 2010 season will be held this Thursday, September 16th. However, it is not the final race for the weekly series. The final weekly event will be held on Sunday, September 26th. The Sunday race is a makeup race dating back to August 5th when Mother Nature forced a postponement of one of the four Tour-Type Modified special race programs.
This Thursday night is an extremely important outing for any and all teams seeking valuable Thompson and NASCAR points. The financial rewards are impressive from the Thompson points fund which is administered by NASCAR and a championship at the historic speedway is an impressive entry on a driver’s resume.
While Ted Christopher has a significant points lead in the Sunoco Modified division, he can see that advantage disappear quickly with another poor finish like he had on September 9th. Christopher was caught up in an early race accident and was sidelined for the evening. Woody Pitkat is well within striking distance for the title and Ronnie Silk and Rowan Pennink are not out of the points race either. The championship could well go into the final event on September 26th.
The Super Late Model division is, by far, the most competitive in the drive for the division’s championship. Going into this week’s race, the top three drivers are separated by a mere two points. Derek Ramstrom is seeking his second consecutive title but holds only a two point advantage over both Larry Gelinas and Mike O’Sullivan who enter Thursday’s competition tied in points.
Rich Gentes holds a somewhat comfortable margin over Wayne Coury, Sr and Tommy O’Sullivan, in the Late Models. However, he must perform well in the next two races if he is to capture another track title. Much the same applies to Mini Stock competitor, Chuck Rogers who leads Jeff Moffat and Mike Viens with a somewhat comfortable margin.
The Thompson Modified and Limited Sportsman divisions are far from settled. R.J. Marcotte holds a slim advantage of only eight points over “Cam” McDermott. The pressure on Marcotte does not end there. Both Shane Michalski and John Studley go into Thursday’s event with only a 12 point deficit. Limited Sportsman driver, Larry Barnett, wants another championship but his long-time rival, Scott Sundeen, is only eighteen markers behind. One of the toughest competitors in the Limited Sportsman division, Shawn Monahan, is within striking distance as is Jason Chicolas.
In short, the next two race events at Thompson are extremely important to each and every race team whether they are seeking a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track title or a season-ending finish in the top ten. It all starts with qualifying races at 6 PM this Thursday at Thompson.
For information on points, event schedules and much more including the October 15th -17th Sunoco World Series of Speedway racing presented by XTRAMART, fans are urged to visit the Thompson web page. www.thompsonspeedway.com.
Russ Dowd
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