Patrick Emerling wins Blewett Memorial 76

Patrick Emerling won the John Blewett III Memorial 76, scoring one of the marquee wins in the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway.

“We we had a little tough day Monday.” said Emerling in Victory Lane. “We were able to get the notes together from yesterday and kind of make ourselves a little bit better. The track conditions were a little bit different, a lot of grip out there tonight. Glad we were able to do it. I just have to thank everyone involved, awesome night.

“I wasn’t racing when John (Blewett) was racing. I’ve heard nothing but good, he was a heck of a competitor. I have the pleasure to race with Jimmy, great guy. We talk on the phone sometimes and, uh, chitchat about everything. A great family and just an honor to be here in the victory lane”

Emerling posted the fastest time in qualifying earlier in the afternoon but due to an inversion, he started the event in fifth position, while Jeffrey Goodale started the race from the pole.

Goodale commanded the early laps of the race before Ronnie Williams rushed his way past for the top spot. At the same time, Emerling cut through the field, dispatching competitor after competitor, on his way to second.

On lap 17, Jimmy Blewett’s race would come to an premature end. Electrical issues caused his car to lose power and came to a crawl at pit entry, triggering the first caution of the event.

On the ensuing restart, Emerling made quick work of Williams, as the native New Yorker dashed to the lead but his progress would shortly be halted as the caution lights illuminated once more.

On Lap 19, Timmy Solomito and Tyler Rypkema accordioned together off turn two, causing both drivers to make significant contact with one another, Rypkema hitting the wall in the process. Solomito, the nine-time NASCAR Whelen Mod Tour winner would get his No.66 repaired and finished the race in ninth position, while Rypkema finished the evening behind the wall in 21st.

Once the incident was cleared and the race resumed, it became the Emerling and Williams show up front. The pair of Northeast natives pulled away from the field, fighting both one another and the handling of their cars. Each racing with tight handling machines however, the duo pulled away from the rest of the field in the process, not allowing the other to breathe for more than a lap.

Caution would fly once more on Lap 49 as Tommy Catalano’s No.64 came to a stop in turn two for a flat left front tire. Shortly after, the caution would come out once again for Tommy, as his right front also went flat and we went for a spin off turn four. For all the adversity Tommy, who took his mother place in the car on Wednesday evening, finished the race in sixth position.

On lap 56, the yellow flag would be displayed once again as the other two Catalano’s in the field, Tyler and Trevor crashed on the front straight. Conner Jones ran out of fuel under the caution period and had to be pushed back to pit road. All three would continue on.

Paulie Hartwig III’s race came to an early end. Hartwig entered the mid week evening’s race two points behind Tuesday night’s winner Ryan Preece for the points lead. With Preece having to miss the Tour Mod event to Daytona 500 qualifying, it gave Hartwig the chance to capitalize before an oil line come loose on his No.73, bringing out the caution on Lap 60 and sending driver and team behind the pit wall to retire for the evening.

The race restarted with 16 laps to go and Emerling did not look back, powering away from Williams and the field.

As the checkered flag flew, Ronnie Williams could only watch as Emerling celebrated, the driver from Orchard Park would need to wait another night to claim victory at the half mile Florida track.

“I knew I was gonna have to capitalize at some point on one of those other restarts and just never did”, recalled Williams. ” I mean, we were matching lap time, it is what it is. I mean, they’re a good group of guys. They got a lot of talent on their side, it’s also better than blowing a motor like we did last night. So pros and cons but hopefully tomorrow night we can end up one spot better.”

“(Matt) Herschman kind of taught me something last year when I was following him. I definitely do not do the ‘Herschman line’ as good as he does, but trying something up there and maybe saving a little throughout the race, but again, wasn’t meant to be our night and hopefully tomorrow night is.”

In the closing laps Austin Beers and Burt Myers fought valiantly for the final step of the podium, with the “Race for the Seat” participant of Beers just beating Myers for position by race end.

For the defending Whelen Modified Tour champion in Beers, he was left contemplating what could have been.

“I let them get away and I was saving a long time, I thought we were gonna be really good on the restart and then we just had no side bite in the center.” Beers lamented. “Hats off to Emerling and Ronnie. I mean, for them to have that big of a pace and then to have that grip at the end, it was a really impressive. Third’s not great, but it’s still good. We’re not, you know, in the back or, or getting wrecked. So, uh, we’ll take, we’ll take consistency.”

1. Patrick Emerling
2. Ronnie Williams
3. Austin Beers
4. Burt Myers
5. Cam McDermott
6. Tommy Catalano
7. Andrew Krause
8. Jeffrey Goodale
9. Timmy Solomito
10. James Blewett
11. Jon Puleo
12. Trevor Catalano
13. Jeffrey Battle
14. Tyler Catalano
15. Steven Reed
16. Conner Jones
17. Paulie Hartwig III
18. Norman Newman
19. Mark Stewart
20. Rich Parker
21. Tyler Rypkema
22. Jimmy Blewett
23. Steve Whitt
24. Jack Handley Jr