Doug Coby can be forgiven if he lost track of how many different ways wins at Riverhead Raceway slipped away.
Finally, Saturday night, the six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion would be denied no longer.
“This is like a foreign country to me,” Coby said in victory lane. “Easily the sweetest win of my career. This is a tough place, especially for outsiders to come to.”
Coby wrestled the lead away from Justin Bonsignore with 25 laps to go and drove to the win in the Miller Lite 200. It was Coby’s 30th career win and the first in 20 starts at the quarter-mile billring on the eastern tip of Long Island.
“Every time we come here I know we have to be perfect to beat Justin and Timmy [Solomito] and Ryan [Preece] when he’s here,” Coby said. “I didn’t want to say it, but [my car] was perfect from the beginning. Justin faded a little bit.
“To come here, his track, and pass him for the win. You know that’s going to be on Twitter in a very very short time, as soon as I get my phone. To get a win at his track before he got a win at Stafford [Speedway] – my track – is so sweet.”
Coby’s No. 10 Mayhew Tools Ford crossed the finish line 3.119 seconds in front of Patrick Emerling. Bongisnore, who was fastest in practice, won the Mayhew Tools Pole Award and led the first 175 laps in pursuit of his fifth straight win at his home track, finished third.
“I don’t know if we ran too fast for the pace in the beginning,” said Bonsignore, the reigning Whelen Modified Tour champion. “I just faded a little bit.”
Coby is the first driver outside of Long Island to win a tour race at Riverhead since Ryan Preece in 2013.
Kyle Bonsignore finished fourth and Woody Pitkat was fifth.
Chuck Hossfeld, Ron Silk, Eric Goodale, Dylan Slepian and Dave Sapienza rounded out the top 10.
Emerling and Goodale are tied for the championship lead after three races with 125 points apiece. Coby is seven points back, while Justin Bonsignore is nine. Kyle Bonsignore is fifth, three points behind his cousin.
“Solid run … here,” Emerling said. “Solid second place car. Good work for the whole … team here. … A good points day and we had some fun out there.”
NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, the last Connecticut driver to win a tour race at Riverhead, had a top-10 run end on lap 133 with a cut left front tire while battling with Hossfeld. Preece finished 23rd.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads west to Pennsylvania for the Jennerstown Salutes 150 presented by DGV at Jennerstown Speedway.
The Miller Lite 200 streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Gold, and will re-air on NBCSN on Friday, May 21, at 5 p.m. ET.
- Doug Coby
- Patrick Emerling
- Justin Bonsignore
- Kyle Bonsignore
- Woody Pitkat
- Chuck Hossfeld
- Ron Silk
- Eric Goodale
- Dylan Slepian *
- Dave Sapienza
- Tommy Catalano
- Timmy Solomito
- Craig Lutz
- Anthony Nocella
- Tyler Rypkema
- Jon McKennedy
- John Baker *
- Kyle Ellwood
- Walter Sutcliffe, Jr.
- J.B. Fortin
- Roger Turbush
- Kyle Soper
- Ryan Preece
- Tom Rogers, Jr.
- Gary McDonald
- Melissa Fifield
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