Timmy Solomito muscled his way past Doug Coby with seven laps to go to score the victory in Saturday night’s City of Hampton 150 at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway – his second victory of the season in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Coby had dominated much of the event, leading all but six laps, but Solomito closed in on him in the closing stages of the 150 lap race at the .396-mile oval in Hampton, Virginia. When Solomito finally got to Coby’s rear bumper, he began to press the issue, looking to the inside and the outside and repeatedly giving shots to Coby. With seven laps to go, and the third and fourth place cars of Max Zachem and Eric Goodale joining the battle for the win, Solomito executed the bump-and-run, which resulted in Coby spinning.
Solomito then survived a restart with two laps to go and survived overtime to clinch the win.
“I hate to race that way,” Solomito said. “We had a really fast car tonight. I pressed him and tried to get him to slip up. He slipped up a few times. I showed my nose a couple times. I have a lot of respect for Doug but he’s trying to win a race and I’m trying to win a race. Unfortunately, tight quarters, you’re racing on a small track, I hate to win races that way but it happens, contact happens.
“Unfortunately, it’s racing. It is a contact sport here and there and sometimes things happen. We didn’t want that to happen but it’s hard racing. Two guys going for the same piece of real estate for the win. If I could go back, would I have done anything different? Probably not. Everybody’s here to win.”
The win at Langley marks Solomito’s second of the season. Earlier this year, he won the Whelen Modified season opener at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway and backed it up with a second-place finish at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Despite an 11th place finish at Stafford, the strong start to the season has Solomito thinking big picture.
“We just have to keep it rolling and keep running strong and having good finishes,” Solomito remarked. “At the end of the day, every position counts. You have to play your cards right and be there at the end. You just have to finish every race. It’s not always about winning as many races as you can, it’s about finishing up front and running well.”
Doug Coby, who led 134 laps, ended up being relegated to a 15th place finish after the contact with Solomito.
“Timmy made his car faster, and we were just a tick tighter,” Coby said. “We still had a fast race car, a controllable race car. It was a good race, that’s what the fans deserve to see. They don’t want to see somebody walk away by a straightaway.”
As Solomito closed in, Coby said he expected the race to come down to paint trading.
“I was expecting the bumper shots, the crossovers and stuff,” Coby explained. “No matter what he was trying to do, if I don’t give up the bottom, he can’t get by me. That’s short track racing. You’ve got the outside to go around, you’ve got the way bottom to go around. If I’ve got a fast car and I’m on the bottom, find another way around.”
Eric Goodale finished in second, his best result of the season. Kyle Bonsignore finished third while Max Zachem and Justin Bonsignore rounded out the top-five.
Rob Summers, Rowan Pennink, Danny Bohn, Kyle Ebersole and Matt Swanson completed the top 10.
Solomito took over the points lead with his victory, leading by nine points over Rowan Pennink following the race at Langley Speedway. Eric Goodale sits third in points while Justin Bonsignore and Max Zachem sit fourth and fifth.
The next race for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be held at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on June 14th.
Results
- Timmy Solomito
- Eric Goodale
- Kyle Bonsignore
- Max Zachem
- Justin Bonsignore
- Rob Summers
- Rowan Pennick
- Danny Bohn
- Kyle Ebersole
- Matt Swanson
- Brendon Box
- Craig Lutz
- Calvin Carroll
- Dave Sapienza
- Doug Coby
- Woody Pitkat
- Gary Putnam
- George Brunnhoelzl, III
- Wade Cole
- Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.
- Melissa Fifield
- Andy Seuss
- Spencer David
- Todd Szegedy
- Lauren Edgerton
