October 16-17th, 2010 - Thompson Intl. Speedway - ISMA Sunoco
World Series of Racing 50
ISMA top three from the Thompson World Series are,
from left, Jeff Locke third place, winner for the fourth year in a
row and eighth in the last eleven years is Chris Perley, Rob Summers
the second place finisher. - Photo By Jim Feeney
CHRIS PERLEY TAKES EIGHTH WORLD SERIES
ISMA WIN IN ELEVEN YEARS
Thompson, CT – You might say Rowley,
Mass. driver Chris Perley owns real estate in Connecticut,
that being the oval plot of land called the Thompson
Speedway. Sunday afternoon Perley claimed his fourth
straight win of the World Series ISMA 50 at that historic
racetrack and eighth overall since October 2000. The only
other winners to break into Perley’s playground were Russ
Wood and Nokie Fornoro. Wood didn’t do so bad on Sunday
either, though, as his fourth place finish gave him a
seventh ISMA championship title. Wood’s challenger for the
title, point leader Mike Lichty went down two laps with a
mechanical problem that saw him finish 5th on the
track, but thirteenth in the finish. Lichty lost what would
have been his first-ever title by a mere 17 points when all
the tallies were in.
Perley, who claimed his fifth feature
win in a year that saw him run only eight events, had a
pretty successful season in the Vic Miller 11. He was
ecstatic, as always about his traditional season-ending
Thompson victory, “I’ve had such a blast here. Every time we
unload this thing it’s just a bullet. Thompson lets it
breath and boy you just can’t slow it down. I’d like to run
300 laps here. It’s just so much fun out there. Everybody
raced good today. Congratulations to Russ Wood for winning
the championship. We have an awesome car with an awesome
motor. Ed Shea is always with us and we couldn’t do anything
without him. Also thanks to Vic and the crew. I have great
sponsors and a great bunch of guys with me. I wouldn’t want
to race for anyone else. And, I have a great family that
supports me. It’s all great. Thanks to all the fans out
there that came to watch today.”
Finishing a very competitive second
place was Wood’s Holbrook Racing teammate for this season,
Robbie Summers. Summers started sixth in the field of 25 and
had to fight with Wood, Jeff Locke and Ted Christopher to
get close to leader Perley.
Said the Vernon, CT driver, “We started
off slow. We were a little tight in the beginning but then
we got better and better. With about five laps to go,
however, the right rear started going down. When I caught up
with Chris with two or three to go I couldn’t even turn the
thing. I was nervous racing with my teammate Russ Wood
there. I didn’t want to mess anything up and I didn’t know
where the 84 was. I know the point battle is a stress thing.
I’d like to thank the fans for coming out and Jeff Holbrook,
Brian Allegresso and the entire team for letting me drive
this car.”
Jeff Locke, after a damaging crash in
practice on Saturday, brought his 37 home third, battling by
newly crowned champ Wood in the waning stages of the 50-
lapper to do so. “I’m so proud of my crew. We really
struggled in practice hitting the wall, and tearing the
front and rear end out of the car. To put this thing back
together and come back here to a third place finish makes me
really proud of everybody. This R&R Engine is great. Guess
that’s why Perley runs them. To finish third racing with
Russ Wood and some of these other guys is unbelievable.”
A throng of family and well-wishers
surrounded Wood after a fourth place finish, which garnered
him his seventh ISMA, title to boot. “The car was pretty
good today. This race was awesome and it’s awesome to watch
Chris race ahead of you. We had a tough battle going and I
was waiting to see what would happen with the 84. But, it
was a tough one for him. It’s been a tough year. My guys are
great and nobody quit. Things just went our way and it’s
pretty awesome to win the championship for Jeff Holbrook and
the team.”
Wood’s first title came in 1991 with
car owner Ed Shea. He and Shea won again in 1994. Four more
titles came in the years between 1996 and 2002 with the late
Paul Dunigan.
Qualifying heats for Sunday’s ISMA
World Series 50 were completed on Saturday with Perley
showing the way in the first heat with Rob Summers and Wood
picking up the final two prelims. With all the marbles on
the line, lady luck turned her back on the young Canadian
Mike Lichty in the second heat when just after the halfway
mark, while running second, he slowed suddenly and pitted. A
blown motor was the cause. The team worked the remainder of
the day and into the night to swap motors from the wrecked
Lichty 74, driven by Ryan Coniam, which would be damaged in
the third heat.
The next heartbreak for Lichty came
quickly on Sunday. Three laps into the race, just after Jeff
Locke wrested the early lead from Dave Duggan, yellow flew
for the 84 of Lichty. A broken wing was the culprit. As the
flag fell for the restart, Lichty’s crew in the pits
frantically worked to fix the problem, but the team missed
the call.
Just into the fifth lap, yellow flew
again for the 2 of Eric Emhoff who spun low between one and
two but the damage came to the 17 of Ben Seitz and 41 of Bob
Magner who both slammed into the cement wall trying to avoid
the 2. All three cars were done for the day.
This slowdown, however, allowed Lichty
to get back into the fray, albeit down two circuits to the
leaders.
On the restart, Russ Wood got the jump
on Locke to take over the lead, chipping away at Lichty’s
point lead as he went. Locke stayed in second with Ted
Christopher in the Booth 61 soon tapping on his back door.
But, right behind Christopher, just as quickly, was Chris
Perley, trailed by Rob Summers and Dave Duggan.
A back and forth battle for third
developed between Perley and Christopher as Wood and Locke
moved slight away from the lead duo.
Yellow hit again on lap 13 for Dave
Gruel, who spun, just as Perley had gotten by Christopher, a
pass that was negated.
The race restarted. Wood and Locke were
out front. Perley passed Christopher again but yellow flew
again and back behind Teddy went Chris. This yellow involved
the 88 of Joey Scanlon and the 9 of Eddie Witkum Jr. with
Pat Lavery coming to a stop just missing the two.
On this restart of lap 15, Perley
walked by Christopher on the backstretch, making the pass
stick this time. He got by Locke soon thereafter.
Unfortunately, Christopher was beginning a backward slide
due to a tire going down and he would pit for good on lap
22. He would also go on to win the 150-lap Whelen Modified
Tour event a little later, which more than made up for his
early supermodified exit.
On lap 17, Perley danced by Wood in the
same spot he got by TC and took over a lead he was not be
challenged for until late in the going. On lap 22, Mark
Sammut’s top ten run came to a halt when his driveshaft
broke. It was at this juncture that Christopher also parked
the Booth 61.
At the midway mark, Perley held a
healthy lead over Wood, Summers, Locke and ironically, Mike
Lichty, who had moved into a fifth place spot from the rear,
but not on the scoring charts. Trailing Lichty were Duggan,
Craig Rayvals, Otto Sitterly, Bob Bond and Joey Scanlon.
A slowdown came on lap 34 when Duggan’s
strong run came to and end when he slowed and had to head
pitside.
At the green, Perley pulled away and
had an easy time of it for the next 10 or 15 laps until
Summers began to close up the gap. Perley came upon a lap
car with two to go, but Summers lost ground here due to the
aforementioned deflating tire.
Perley crossed the line a couple car
lengths ahead of Summers, while Jeff Locke, who had been
battling with Russ Wood for third, took the spot on the last
lap. Wood and Oswego track champion Otto Sitterly rounded
out the top five. Oswego Classic champ Bob Bond, Dan Lane,
Pat Lavery, Jerry Curran (Morton 70) and Eddie Witkum Jr.
completed the top ten.
SUMMARY ISMA Event #15
Thompson Sunoco World Series of
Speedway Racing
Heat 1: Chris Perley, Dave Duggan, Bob
Magner, Mark Sammut, Jamie Timmons, Brandon Bellinger, Bobby
Haynes Jr., Pat Lavery, Eddie Witkum Jr.
Heat 2: Rob Summers. Ben Seitz, Joey
Scanlon, Rick Wentworth, Dave Gruel, Danny Lane, Eric Emhoff,
Mike Lichty
Heat 3: Russ Wood, Jeff Locke, Ted
Christopher, Craig Rayvals, Bob Bond, Otto Sitterly, Rich
Reid, Ryan Coniam
Jerry Curran (Morton 70) arrived Sunday
morning and was added to end of field.
Feature 50: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2.
Rob Summers (35), 3. Jeff Locke (37), 4. Russ Wood (29), 5.
Otto Sitterly (7), 6. Bob Bond (25), 7. Danny Lane (97), 8.
Pat Lavery (22), 9. Jerry Curran (70), 10. Eddie Witkum Jr.
(9), 11. Joe Scanlon (88), 12. Brandon Bellinger (02), 13.
Mike Lichty (84), 14. Craig Rayvals (04), 15. Dave Duggan
(51), 16. Mark Sammut (78), 17. Ted Christopher (61), 18.
Jamie Timmons (27), 19. David Gruel (50), 20. Rick Wentworth
(10), 21. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 22. Ben Seitz (17), 23. Bob
Magner (41), 24. Eric Emhoff (2), 25. Rich Reid (92).
Scroll down for ISMA
Thompson World Series Action Photos 10/17/10 by Jim Feeney:
Jeff
Locke 37 closes in on Dave Duggan 51 and shortly took the
early lead from Duggan. After a bad day for Locke, Saturday,
he came back with a fine third place finish in the feature.
Duggan had a great run going as well, until something broke
on the car and he had to exit the feature. - Photo By Jim
Feeney
Russ Wood
29 races Jeff Locke 37 early in the feature. Here he goes
low coming out of the fourth turn to take the led away from
Locke. - Photo By Jim Feeney
Chris
Perley 11 battles Rob Summers 35 coming into the fourth turn
early in the feature. Both would end up in a close race for
first and second at the end. - Photo By Jim Feeney
Ted
Christopher 61 said he was looking forward to racing Chris
Perley 11. He got that opportunity for a few laps of the
feature. Perley would get by and go on to the win.
Christopher had a tire issue and dropped out of the ISMA
feature, but came right back out in the next feature and won
the Mod Tour race. - Photo By Jim Feeney
Mike
Lichty 84 races Dave Duggan 51. Both fell to misfortune in
the feature. Lichty to a broken wing that put him two laps
down and Duggan after running in the top five most of the
race had a mechanical problem and dropped out. - Photo By
Jim Feeney
Rob
Summers 35 passes Jeff Locke 37 down the front straight to
move into the top three. - Photo By Jim Feeney
In the
waning laps of the feature Russ Wood 29 battles with
teammate Rob Summers 35, for second place. Summers got by
and then tried to catch Perley. - Photo By Jim Feeney
After
Russ Wood 29 passed Jeff Locke 37 for the lead, earlier in
the feature, Locke comes back and passes Wood on the last
lap to take the podium finish away. Wood may have lost the
podium but was able to win the ISMA championship. - Photo By
Jim Feeney
Chris
Perley poses in a spot that he pretty much owns, The
Thompson World Series Victory Lane. - Photo By Jim
Feeney
Scroll down for candid
photos from Thompson by Jim Feeney:
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More 2010 Race Results and
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