WATERFORD, CT :: When racing on a bullring you have to be aggressive if you want to win. Bobby Santos is typically as clean as they come, but even he was aggressive this weekend at the Waterford Speedbowl.

Santos made perhaps the most aggressive pass seen all season long when he slammed Donny Lia out of the lead late in the Mr. Rooter 161. He drove it in real deep to the inside of turn three, and slid up into Lia to take the top spot.

Santos knew it was an aggressive move but said, “I made a pass that I don’t think any other person in that pits wouldn’t have done. I’m here for the 44 team and no one else. We are here to win.”

Lia, known for being an aggressive driver himself, clearly wasn’t too happy with the move. He went over and spoke to Santos in victory lane before Santos exited his race car.

With the win last night Santos now has 12 victories on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, most have which have come at either Stafford Motor Speedway or Thompson Speedway. But even with those victories, it seems that Santos feels he still doesn’t have the full respect of the pit area.

“Sometimes you’ve just gotta stand up for yourself,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been pushed around in this division for years. I just have to learn how to stand up for myself and tonight I did I guess.”

Coby’s Streak Ends

Doug Coby was came to the Waterford Speedbowl extremely confident. He’d finished no lower than second in the last two trips to the Speedbowl, he was coming off a win at Stafford, and he’d finished no lower than third to start off the 2014 season.

But it was a rough night for the 2012 NWMT champion. Though he ran up front for most of the race, but he made lots of contact while running the outside in a battle for fourth with 60 laps remaining and almost ended up in the Armco barrier in turn four. The contact dropped him all the way back to 14th. A few laps later he and Ron Yuhas tangled while trying to avoid the spinning Gary McDonald machine in turn one. Coby got spun and ended up with some damage.

He rebounded to at least get a top 10 finish on the night, but his streak came to an end and he lost the point lead. He now trails Justin Bonsignore by just two points.

Notes

There was a scary incident on pit road on lap 65. The 15-year-old Spencer Davis was trying to get through pit road and made contact with another car who was exiting his pit box. Davis’ right front tire popped over the left front of the other car and sent Davis into a barrier that people were standing behind. The barrier slammed into the leg of a crew member. The crew member was checked in the ambulance and released…It was a rough night to be a rookie driver. The issue on pit road broke Davis’ suspension and relegated him to a 26th place finish. Craig Lutz was making his NWMT debut, but steering issues ended his day early and placed him dead last. Timmy Solomito and Tommy Barrett Jr. were involved in separate incidents leaving them with 22nd and 24th place finishes respectively… The NWMT now heads to the 1/4-mile Riverhead Raceway on Long Island for the Hoosier Tire 200 where Ryan Preece has won the last three races dating back to September 2012. If he wins on Saturday night he will become the only driver to have won four straight races at Riverhead.

Top 10 in Points

1. Justin Bonsignore 168

2. Doug Coby 166

3. Bobby Santos 163

4. Woody Pitkat 160

5. Ted Christopher 151

6. Patrick Emerling 135

7. Donny Lia 134

8. Rowan Pennink 133

9. Ron Silk 133

10. Ron Yuhas Jr. 133