Donny Lia Wins NASCAR Whelan Modified Race; Kahne and Newman Wreck Out

The Whelan Modified Tour took the track at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on a sunny afternoon after the conclusion of the final Sprint Cup Happy Hour practice.  This was the 49th race for the Modified series.

Fourteen different drivers have served as race winners at this track. A total of 38 cars were in the field, led by pole sitter Dog Coby from Milford, Conn. in the No. 19 car.

Two Cup drivers, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne, decided to have some fun with the local track competitors and joined in the fray.  Newman ran in the No. 7 Aggressive Hydraulics Chevrolet and Kahne piloted the No. 96 Mowhawk Northeast/N.E. Race Fuels Chevy.

The Modified cars took the green flag and the race was on.  The No. 36 car of Ted Christopher entered the pits early, with heavy smoke coming off the right side of the engine.

When his crews raised the hood, it appeared there was an oil leak on the Christopher car.  After several trips to the pits and several containers of oil, Christopher soldiered on, although a few laps down.

In the early laps, there was a battle royal between the No. 2 car of Todd Szegedy and Cup regular Ryan Newman.  The two battled almost each and every lap, sometimes trading off the lead and other times content to run hooked up tightly to one another.

Kasey Kahne was also strong in the first half of the race.  He and several of the Modified regulars had a great battle going for the fourth through sixth positions.

The initial part of the race was relatively caution free.  In spite of battling for the lead, Newman became one of the most critical race cautions, spinning and clobbering the wall in Turn Two.

During this caution, Ted Christopher in the No. 36 car, stayed out.  He desperately needed to do so in order to get some of his laps back after his problems early in the race.

On lap 71, there was a major crash, with several cars involved, and wheels and axles strewn along the front stretch.

Unfortunately, the second Cup regular in the race, Kasey Kahne, was also involved in this one.  Tommy Baldwin and crew looked the car over and pronounced their race over as well.

On lap 79, the field finally took the green flag again.  Unfortunately, it was a repeat of the last restart, with another major crash and a pile up in the third and fourth turns.

Those who had been leading the race, Andy Seuss in the No. 70 car, as well as several others,  were involved with this crash.  The field had to be stopped on the back stretch in order for the clean up to proceed.

When the race next went green, there were fifteen cars left on the lead lap. The battle heated up between Szegedy, who had been leading much of the race, and Ron Silk in the No. 79 car.

Interestingly, Ted Christopher inserted himself into the mix, rim riding the bottom of the track to slingshot into the race lead.  Donny Lia in the No. 4 car also began making his moves, giving Christopher and others a run for their money.

At lap 93, another caution came out, this time for debris on the track.  This tightened the field up yet again and set the entire race up for an amazing finish.

Christopher, Lia, and Szegedy battled for the lead right to the white flag.  And then the race became very interesting as these three racers tangled for the lead.

Unfortunately, Christopher got into the turn really hot and took out Szegedy in the process.  Their crash enabled Donny Lia to take the checkered flag and win the NASCAR Whelan Modified New England 100.

In Victory Lane, Lia admitted that the last lap was "very interesting".  He continued, "these guys wanted to dive bomb and we can do that with the best of them."

"I made my move and the next thing I knew, we were three wide," said Lia.  As a result, two of them did not make it but Lia did, taking the race win.

The race finish did spark some controversy in the media center for the post-race interviews.  Second place finisher Eddie Flemke, Jr. had some strong comments to make about the race finish.

"What's wrong with racing today," said Flemke, "is that you are rewarded for doing the wrong thing."

He continued, "You knock the guy out of the way to win, good job, you get the trophy, you get the girl, and you get the money.  If you lift for the guy, you go to the back of the pack."

"We need to change the merit system in this sport," said Flemke.  "We've got to start getting a reward for doing the right thing".

Ronnie Silk, the third place finisher, also had some strong words for his competitor Ted Christopher.

"It's just that he is willing to drive right into the side of the person right next to him," said Silk of Christopher.

Both racers agreed that the "dive bombing" style of racing where competitors are knocking each other out of the way must end.  Both expressed concerns that if it does not end, someone will be hurt or worse.

When asked if that would diminish the excitement of the series, Flemke noted that it is "just as exciting to see Cup drivers Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon race side by side for forty laps and never touch."

He acknowledged that it was "exciting, a lot more fun, and a lot less expensive" to race in that manner rather than what happened in their race today.

When he finally made his way to the media center from Victory Lane, Lia also acknowledged that "it was an eventful day." 

He continued, "somebody went way to the bottom and I was trying to keep it in between the No. 2 and the No. 36."

"I was just trying to hang in there and keep my foot in it," said Lia.  "It was like a game of chicken and I just went for it."

"The only thing I was thinking about was the checkered flag," said Lia.

For Lia, this was the 12th career win in the Whelan Modified Series and his second win in New Hampshire.  He thanked his crew, his sponsors and the Modified series, recognizing that he would not have made it to Victory Lane without them.

The top ten finishers in the New England 100 for the NASCAR Whelan Modified Tour were as follows:

1.   Donny Lia

2.   Eddie Flemke, Jr.

3.   Ronnie Silk

4.   Rowan Pennink

5.   Ted Christopher

6.   Doug Coby

7.   Richard Savary

8.   Todd Szegedy

9.   Woody Pitkat

10.  Glen Tyler