THOMPSON, Conn. — Yet another picture-perfect day greeted the fans at Thompson Speedway to finish off the 52nd Icebreaker with the help of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Single car, time-trial qualifying saw Mike Christopher Jr. leading much of the session before Matt Hirschman and Jon McKennedy both tied with a 19.125-second lap. Hirschman would lead the 29-car field to green for the Icebreaker 150.
McKennedy took over the top spot with a strong inside exit off turn two, leading the pack as Christopher Jr. and Stephen Kopcik dug in and followed in second and third. McKennedy’s day almost came to a grinding halt with Trevor Catalano backwards by the turn two gate with the leader narrowly escaping calamity as the yellow lights flashed. A long green flag run would follow with McKennedy leading the way as Matt Swanson cut his way through to third on the grid before Ronnie Williams’ left rear decided to leave the building on lap 107.
The majority of the field jumped into the pits for fresh American Racer rubber with Stephen Kopcik winning the race off pit road and just 35 laps remaining. Kopcik tried to pull away on the outside groove but McKennedy held on. It wasn’t until a brewing battle with Ron Silk finally put the nail in the coffin for McKennedy, allowing Stephen Kopcik to run all the way to Icebreaker victory lane for his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win at Thompson Speedway making it two in a row on the NASCAR circuit. Ron Silk and Mike Christopher Jr. rounded out the top three followed by McKennedy and Hirshman rounding out the top-five.
A strong field of SK Light Modifieds made their start of the season with Daltin McCarthy quickly taking control over last year’s championship runner-up John O’Sullivan. A freight-train quickly began around the top side as O’Sullivan calculated his move behind McCarthy with each lap coming on the scoreboard. Following a quick-spin caution, Kevin Davis joined the front row picture, sharing a few divebomb moves with McCarthy before the original frontrunners made contact on the final lap sending McCarthy into the turn one wall and O’Sullivan penalized to last of the lead lap cars. Young Kevin Davis took down the Big-T win over Danny Gamache Jr. and newcomer Milania Shilosky.
Matt Lowinski-Loh took charge of the Late Model front row after getting the jump on defending champion Jake Johnson as ‘The Jet’ went to battle Jacob Burns for second. Just after the halfway point Johnson made his way underneath Jacob Burns to finally put the #91CT before time ran out at the end. Matt Lowinski-Loh dominated to the end with the 25-lap Icebreaker win over Johnson and Burns at the line.
Sophomore racer Zack Sangermano jetted off with the Thompson Sunoco Modified feature event as Saturday front-runners Todd Owen and Keith Rocco worked to build momentum at the tail end of the top-ten. Contact with Rocco and Derek Ramstrom in turn two sent Ramstrom pitside and Rocco to the rear for the assist with Sangermano and Chase Cook bringing the field back to green. Rocco would make it back into the top spot underneath Todd Owen with ten laps remaining, reigniting Saturday’s duel between the two masters.
With Rocco on the defense watching Owen in his mirror, Jon Puleo remained in the cat-bird seat in third, waiting to pounce just inches away if the two rivals made a poor choice. Unfortunately for Puleo, that chance never came with Keith Rocco making it two-for-two at the 52nd Icebreaker with Owen and Puleo rounding out the podium.
The Street Stocks finished off the evening with Austin Erickson and Jarrod Soucy bringing the field to green for their 20 lap closer. Erickson led the way but multi-time 2025 winner George Baldwin rapidly made his way into second. Saturday’s R&R Open Street Stock winner Ryan Lineham made his presence known at the halfway point, passing Baldwin for second and setting his sights on Erickson’s one second lead. It was too much to overcome as Austin Erickson took the checkered flag over Lineham and Baldwin at the line.
The finish:
Stephen Kopcik, Ron Silk, Michael Christopher, Jonathan McKennedy, Matt Hirschman, Austin Beers, Justin Bonsignore, Craig Lutz, Chase Dowling, Tyler Rypkema, Teddy Hodgdon, Eric Goodale, Patrick Emerling, Eric Berndt, Matt Swanson, David Spaienza, Andrew Mollerur, Doug Coby, Tommy Catalano, Andrew Krause, Joey Cipriano, Kyle Bonsignore, John-Michael Shenette, Max Zachem, Ken Heagy, Cory Plummer, Ronnie Williams, Paulie Hartwig, Travor Catalano.
