On a day when past champions of both the Northern and Southern branch of the Whelen modified tours succumbed to mechanical issues and wrecks, the season-opening NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour race at Caraway Speedway came down to two battle-hardened competitors hoping to pave the way to their first championships with a victory.
For Eric Goodale, it wasn’t even about the points. The Whelen Modified Tour competitor joined two other Northern drivers moonlighting down south to gain track time in preparation for their own championship runs.
Goodale did more than gain track time. The Riverhead, NY driver methodically worked into the top five from his eighth-place starting spot, avoiding the problems that befell other contenders and taking his first ever Whelen Southern Modified Tour victory.
Early on, there was no sign that Goodale’s #58 would eventually be a factor. The early stages were dominated by 11-time Caraway winner George Brunnhoelzl III, and all the attention was on past champions encountering trouble.
Burt Myers fell first, spending several laps on pit road with a mechanical issue. Defending NWSMT champion Andy Seuss fell next and fell the hardest. Contact coming out of turn four on lap 13 sent him nose-first into the outside wall, ending his day. Ryan Preece and defending NWMT Doug Coby both spent time on pit road in the middle stages after spewing heavy smoke from their respective engines.
Jason Myers emerged as the dominant machine after taking the lead on lap 87, his new LFR chassis making easy work of then-leader Brunnhoelzl.
Losing the lead was only the first setback for four-time NWSMT champion Brunnhoelzl, who on lap 110 painted half the track in gear oil from his rear end.
After patiently watching his more high-profile competitors fall the wayside and saving his equipment, Goodale found his moment to strike.
Taking the outside lane on a restart with 26 to go, Goodale got good bite at the green and coaxed his Troyer TA2 chassis through turns one and two, slipping ahead of Myers.
Goodale inched away over the next 15 laps, but with about 10 to go a combination of traffic and Myers’ good long-run speed brought the #4 back to Goodale’s bumper.
With two laps to go, Myers used a bottleneck created by lap traffic to jump to Goodale’s outside going into turn one. Miscalculating the amount grip in the outside lane, Myers slipped up into the marbles in turn two, leaving Goodale to drive off to his first Southern Tour win and second win across both tours.
The Goodale victory was also a surprising turn in another storyline: the duel between rival chassis manufacturers Troyer and LFR. Troyer’s TA2 chassis grabbed headlines in February for carrying Preece to dominant victories at New Smyrna.
Meanwhile LFR chassis had picked up momentum after Burt Myers strung together four wins to the second half of 2014 and garnering a high-profile convert in the way of NWMT champion Doug Coby and representation in the way of both Myers Brothers and recent convert Coby,
In addition to penciling his name among the top modified drivers on the east coast, Goodale also ensured another successful outing for the much-hyped Troyer chassis.
