MODIFIED
On Wednesday night, the Tri Track Open Modified Series will invade our grounds here at Seekonk Speedway for a 100 lap feature race.
A few weeks ago, we saw the Valenti Modified Racing Series in town with their 100 lap feature and the racing throughout the entire day was thrilling. We expect to see much of the same and even better on Wednesday night because this time, there is $10,000 up for grabs.
It’s the annual race that is now in its 12th season. Early on in the history, Donny Lia captured the first checkered flag back in 2005 and he held off New England modified veteran Ted Christopher, who is still racing today. In fact, Christopher will be here on Wednesday night to chase victory behind the wheel of the Brady No. 00. Other than that race in 2005, the success for Christopher at Seekonk has not been to his liking. He hopes to turn that around this week.
In 2006, Kirk Alexander scored the win in the 100 lap race and check, he will be here once again hoping for his second ever crown. The year of 2007 started a father/son combination of victories when veteran Vinny Annarummo took the checkered flag. Vinny has since stepped away from racing to help his son Todd, who completed the father/son deal by winning in 2010. Todd will be in action Wednesday behind the wheel of his No. 12.
In 2008, Matt Hirschman captured his first of two Open Wheel Wednesday victories, the other coming in 2012. Hirschman has a nack for winning big paying modified races all around the country and this one should be no different. He always is at the front of the field when it matters most and when the big dollars are on the line. We will see if he can get his third career OWW win this week, an accomplishment no one has ever completed.
Chris Pasteryak scored the win in 2009 behind the wheel of Wayne Darling’s No. 52 mount and since then, Doug Coby has won two of these races. Coby, who is the defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, will be here on Wednesday night hoping for his third career OWW crown much like Hirschman is. Coby has won races already this season on the Whelen Modified Tour and will certainly be a threat in the final laps on Wednesday.
Other winners of this prestigious event include Tommy Barrett in 2014, who will honor a veteran this week. The late Mario Fiore, who mentored Barrett for many of the past few seasons, passed away last week and Barrett will honor him with his car number. He will switch to car No. 44 for the event. The defending winner of the race is Richard Savary, who drives the Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists No. 99. We know he has a great setup since he already finished third when the VMRS was in town in June, so he will be right there all day long.
We will see others, like Justin Bonsignore, Woody Pitkat, Ken Bouchard and even the VMRS winner from June, Anthony Nocella. Each of them will be chasing the victory in what some say is the biggest modified show in town all season long. Promoters of the Tri Track Series James Schaefer and Dick Williams have worked hard to help the track assemble this event and the car count is expected to be over 40 for the day.
Heat races will be thrilling to watch. Battling it out for the final qualifying spot will be something special with drivers knowing just getting into the race gives them a chance at winning.
All the action gets underway at 7 p.m. See you then!