Doug Coby dominated from start to finish Monday night as he won the opener for the Tour Modifieds at the 2019 World Series of Asphalt.
It was only the second World Series start for Coby, but it sure didn’t look like it.
Coby started on the outside pole alongside Patrick Emerling. By the time the field came around to complete the first lap, Coby had already taken the lead, one he wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the night.
“It’s great to start off with a win,” said Coby. “We worked really hard on Thursday to come up with some changes, and we left them in the car to see how they would race, and they raced pretty darn good.”
Despite winning the opener, the team’s mindset for the week has not changed, according to Coby.
“We’re gonna try some more stuff,” he said. “That’s why we’re here. We’re here to test. Want to win races, but we’re here to test for the [Whelen Modified] Tour season.”
For Emerling, a runner-up finish was nothing to be upset over.
“[Coby] was just a little bit better than me,” he said. “To come out here, rip the pole against these guys, and finish second to a five-time NASCAR mod champion, that’s not a horrible day for us… Pretty stoked that we were that fast out of the gate.”
Matt Hirschman, the defending World Series Tour Modified champion rounded out the podium in third. Hirschman thought he might have had something for Coby, but he was unable to get past Emerling in the final laps of the race.
“I don’t know why I suck at timing passes this year,” Hirschman said. “I’m faster than the guy in front of me and I can’t get by him…I would’ve liked to have seen if I got by [Emerling] what the car felt like.”
For Doug Coby, however, it was a night that set the team in the right direction for the week going forward.
In post-race inspection, Patrick Emerling was disqualified for a left-side weight rules infraction.
“Unfortunately we were disqualified for left side weight,” Emerling said in a Facebook post after hearing the news. “We rolled over the scales before the race [sic] we were 56.0 and after the race we were 56.2. Total bummer. But we will come back and get ’em tomorrow.”
Emerling will receive no points or earnings for the race. Everybody who finished behind him will move up one position.
The full results can be found below:
- Doug Coby
- Matt Hirschman
- Jimmy Blewett
- Anthony Nocella
- Chuck Hossfeld
- Timmy Solomito
- Mike Willis
- Jeremy Gerstner
- Jeff Goodale
- Calvin Carroll
- Amy Catalano
- Dylan Steuer
- Ryan Preece
- Jeff Gallup
- Nikki Carroll
- Jimmy Zacharias
- Andy Jankowiak
- Tommy Catalano
- Tyler Ripkema
- Dean Ripkema
- Al Amarino
- Chris Ridsdale
- Tom Tonn
DQ: Patrick Emerling
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