NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Ron Silk, who went winless during last year’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, won Saturday night’s season opener at New Smyrna Speedway.
Silk held off Justin Bonsignore in a late-race battle to claim the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200.
It was Silk’s first victory with the Haydt Yannone Racing team.
“It’s always good to win,” Silk said. “I had a great car last season and a lot of chances to win but couldn’t get over the hump. To get it over with in the first race feels good. That’s a lot of pressure off of us.”
Silk’s most recent victory came at Oswego Speedway in 2021.
Silk needed a late caution to fight his way into the top spot ahead of Bonsignore, Hirschman and the dominant car of the evening in six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby.
Bonsignore pressured Silk during the closing laps before making an aggressive dive into turn one that gave him his first lead of the night. Silk ultimately returned the favor a couple laps later with a similar move, which gave him enough of a cushion to hold off Bonsignore.
Bonsignore was satisfied with a strong performance after a mechanical failure sidelined him at New Smyrna last season.
“We wanted to win, but this was a good start to the year compared to what happened last year,” Bonsignore said. “We made a good adjustment on that last pit stop and freed the car up just a little bit. If we got the lead, I felt like we could have held [Silk] off, but I couldn’t get enough of a gap to prevent him from making that same banzai move on me.
“As soon as you lay the bumper to somebody else, it opens the door for them to do it back to you, and that’s just good, hard racing.”
Matt Hirschman, who was involved in an early collision with Tyler Rypkema, overcame the early adversity to salvage a third-place finish, with Anthony Sesely and Coby completing the top five.
The finish:
Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore, Matt Hirschman, Anthony Sesely, Doug Coby, Jake Johnson, Dave Sapienza, Austin Beers, Anthony Nocella, Tommy Catalano, Tyler Rypkema, Kyle Ebersole, Spencer Davis, Joey Coulter, Justin Brown, J.B. Fortin, Jeremy Gerstner, Craig Lutz, Kyle Bonsignore, James Pritchard, Ken Heagy, Gary McDonald, Ronnie Williams, Jon McKennedy, Andrew Krause, Brian Robie, Eric Goodale, Jimmy Blewett, Eddie McCarthy, J.R. Bertuccio, Anthony Bello, Matthew Kimball, Melissa Fifield, Patrick Emerling, Chris Hatton.