Richmond Raceway hosted round two of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Friday night at the 0.75-mile paved oval. The entry list for the event included 27 drivers, such as NASCAR Cup Series veterans Bobby Labonte and Ryan Newman. It also included the three Catalano’s of Trevor, Tommy, and Tyler.
Andrew Krause paced the opening practice session followed by Justin Bonsignore, Tyler Rypkema, Craig Lutz, and Austin Beers inside the top five. Krause paced the session with a lap of 21.142 seconds / 127.708 mph.
Justin Bonsignore paced final practice with a lap of 21.118 seconds / 127.853 mph. The top five in the session included Ron Silk, Austin Beers, Doug Coby, and Jake Johnson.
On Friday afternoon, Ron Silk claimed his 13th career pole in the Whelen Modified Tour with a fast lap of 21.159 seconds / 127.605 mph. Silk came into the event looking to grab his 24th career victory.
Justin Bonsignore, Austin Beers, Bobby Santos, and Jake Johnson started in the top five.
Ron Silk led the way over the first 11 circuits of the event before Justin Bonsignore took the spot. Not long after, Jake Johnson and Austin Beers made contact to bring out the opening yellow flag in turn three. NASCAR briefly displayed the red flag to allow more time to clean up the scene of the melee.
The field returned to green flag action at lap 18.
Coby quickly took the front running spot over a pair of laps before Bonsignore took the lead back.
Bonsignore and Silk traded the lead more times throughout the race, with Andy Sesley and Eric Goodale also leading a lap or two. The rest of the way included Silk and Bonsignore trading spots for the lead.
Jake Johnson and Trevor Catalano collided following a restart with seven to go, resulting in the final yellow of the night. Silk led at the time of the restart and was awarded the lead again, as the series does not use scoring loops, unlike the national series.
The field went green with three laps to go.
Again, Bonsignore and Silk traded the lead after the restart.
Bonsignore nosed Silk to win by 0.081 seconds over Silk.
The driver from Holtsville, NY, scored his 41st career victory in the series and returned home with 120 top-five and 156 top-10 finishes.
Taking home top-five finishes were Trevor Catalano, Bobby Santos, and Jake Johnson.
Doug Coby, Craig Lutz, Kyle Bonsignore, Carson Loftin, and Tommy Catalano earned top 10s.
The series heads next to Thompson Speedway on April 7th, with it airing live on FloRacing.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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