Sunday night’s 25-lap feature in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway was a mixed bag for TC and the Bear Motorsports crew. They stayed in contention for the championship with a solid fifth place finish. But this is a ream that knows if you win all the races you will end up as the champion, so nothing short of victory is ever acceptable.
Teddy was fourth fastest in qualifying with a lap of 17.651 second, with Charlie Pasteryak the quickest at 17.459 seconds. In the redraw for feature starting spots he pulled the # 6. With passing at a premium, Teddy knew getting to the front would be a tall order. But he made up his mind he was going to do it.
At the green flag Ted settled into fourth place behind polesitter Donny Lia, Eric Beers and Buck Catalano. The caution was out after four laps for a minor spin. As the field doubled up for the restart he knew this was a golden opportunity to gain ground. He was on the outside when Catalano bumped him on the backstretch and almost sent him into the wall, dropping him back several spots. His tires were covered with debris and as he drove into turn one on the next lap, he lost all traction and spun. A tall order was getting even taller.
He went back to work and moved back up into the top five, but with single file restarts and passing at an absolute premium further progress was all but impossible. For the third straight night the polesitter went flag-to-flag as Lia won his first-ever New Smyrna feature, trailed by J.R. Bertuccio, Beers, Kent and TC.
“We just seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Teddy. “We were on the outside on a restart and Catalano just booted me out of the way. We ended up at the back and there’s no way to pass on the outside. Our car isn’t perfect but with the tires we’re running there’s just no passing on the outside. They work fine in the bottom groove but on the outside there’s just no traction. Just look at the three races so far; the polesitter has led every lap in all three. We’ll just have to keep working on our car and hopefully find something that works.”
Finish: 1. Donny Lia 2. J.R. Bertuccio 3. Eric Beers 4. George Kent 5. Ted Christopher 6. Charlie Pasteryak 7. John Bush 8. Jimmy Winters 9. Chris Young 10. Buck Catalano 11. Jeff Malave 12. Kevin Goodale 13. Billy Anderson (SK) 14. John Jensen 15. John White (SK) 16. Stash Butova (SK) 17. John Blewett 18. Justin Gaydosh 19. George Bock 20. Jim Storace 21. Steve Whitt 22. Mike Fitch 23. Andy Seuss 24. George Swansbrough 25. Bo Gunning 26. Steve Malbach 27. Adam Horwith
Current Points as of 2/9/04: 1. Eric Beers 330 2. Ted Christopher 326 3. Donny Lia 322 4. Charlie Pasteryak 310 5. George Kent 298 6. John Bush 288 7. Jeff Malave 284 8. J.R. Bertuccio 279 9. Buck Catalano 268 10. Kevin Goodale 262 11. Chris Young 260 12. John Blewett 252 13. Andy Seuss 250 14. Jim Storace 248 15. Billy Anderson (SK) 248 16. John White (SK) 248 17. Mike Fitch 226 18. Stash Butova (SK) 220 19. Justin Gaydosh 218 20. John Jensen 216 21. George Bock 214 22. Jimmy Winters 210 23. Adam Horwith 192 24. Steve Whitt 182 25. Bo Gunning 150
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