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Photo- Tom Morris Racing Photography
By Michael Jaworecki
The winter is over, well if you are in Florida. Teams from all over the East Coast have been arriving for days and tonight the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour kicks off their 2025 season. The Super Bowl is on Sunday but for racing fans the World Series of Stock Car racing is the main attraction this week.
The bonus some years and this is one of them is the beautiful weather in central Florida. Temps greeting fans and teams this year in the 80’s vs snow and freezing weather in the Northeast make this race even more special.
As has been the case over the last few seasons, the Justin Bonsignore and Ron Silk championship battle will pick up where it left off. Last year Justin won his 4th championship in but Ron Silk, always a tough competitor will stand in the way for Justin’ 5th championship. Ron started last season with a win at New Smyrna, his second win out of the 3 WMT races run there.
With that said the list of competitors looking to knock off Justin and Ron is long. Patrick Emerling, who finished 3rd in points with 3 wins, would like nothing better than to win on opening night. Austin Beers while having another solid season in 2024 dropped a spot in the standings over 2023 finishing 4th. Matt Hirschman is always strong at New Smyrna but has not won a NASCAR WMT race there since the inaugural in 2022. Craig Lutz had a strong 2024 season finishing every race except Louden. A mid-season mini-slump cost him a shot at title, Craig set fast time in 2024.
The Tinio #44, strong at every track it races is entered with Chase Dowling at the wheel will be another threat.
Former NASCAR driver Ryan Newman who was named one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers in 2023 will be in John-Michael Shenette’s #8.
Eric Goodale who has 5 wins and 3 poles in his career will start his 18th season on the NASCAR WMT. Eric has always run well on the bigger faster race tracks and New Smyrna fits that bill.
The Catalano family will be well represented, Tommy, Trevor and Tyler. As a rookie in 2024 Trevor was the only brother to win a race last year at the August Duel at the Dog 250 at Monadnock Speedway.
Long Islander Timmy Solomito, while he has run the World Series Tour Modified races at New Smyrna has never entered the Whelen Tour race. The family owned and prepared car is always fast whenever it hits the track.
Max Zachem is another family owned team entered with plans to run the entire 2025 schedule.
Luke Baldwin will run for rookie of the year in the Tommy Baldwin Racing #7NY team. Luke had a big year in 2024 winning the SMART Modified championship.
Another Long Island racer Mark Stewart will make his first New Smyrna start in the Turbush #81. Mark’s highest WMT finish was a second at Riverhead Raceway in 2023.
Its great to see Jeremy Gerstner back after last February’s bad crash that landed him in the hospital
65 year old Frank Fleming will be back at New Smyrna after a more than decade hiatus.
The season gets underway tonight, get there early as this will be the hottest ticket of the week. If you can’t be there catch all the action on FloRacing https://www.floracing.com
New Smyrna Beach Area Vistors Bureau 200 at New Smyrna Speedway
- Entry list 2/8/2025
| Car No. | Driver | Organization | Crew Chief | Chassis Mfg | Sponsor |
| 1 | Patrick Emerling | KPL Racing LLC | Dale Hedquist | LFR | Fleetworks, Inc. |
| 3 | Tyler Rypkema | Boehler’s Racing Equipment | Greg Fournier | Boehler Racing | USNE; Northeast Drilling |
| 7 | Luke Baldwin | Tommy Baldwin Racing LLC | Tommy Baldwin | PSR Products | Baldwin Automotive |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | Eighty-Two Autosport | TBA | LFR | Bass Pro Shops; Cabelas; USNE; Eighty-Two Services; Anglers Choice Marine; Tracker Boats & ATVs |
| 09 | Christopher Hatton | Chris Hatton | TBA | Troyer | Generac |
| 11 | Norman Newman | Percy Newman | TBA | TBA | Family Funland Amusement Park |
| 14 | Jacob Lutz | Advantage Motorsports, LLC | Bill Putney | LFR | Advantage Trucks; Washtronic’s; Anastasi Trucking |
| 16 | Ron Silk | Haydt Yannone Racing | Phil Moran | FURY Race Cars | Blue Mountain Machine; Future Homes |
| 18 | Ken Heagy | Robert Pollifrone | Greg Gorman | FURY Race Cars | Buoy One Seafood Market & Restaurant |
| 21 | Stephen Kopcik | Wanick Motorsports LLC | Nick Kopcik | Troyer | Newtown Pools and Wanick Construction |
| 22 | Kyle Bonsignore | Kyle Bonsignore | Cam McDermott | FURY Race Cars | MTT; ChaLew Performance; Munns Auto |
| 24 | Andrew Krause | Supreme Racing | TBA | LFR | Supreme Mfg. Co. |
| 25 | Brian Robie | Robie Motorsports LLC | Cody Rose | Troyer | Bar Harbor Bank and Trust |
| 26 | Gary McDonald | Lakeland Avenue Landscape Supply | Chad McDonald | Chevrolet | Lakeland Avenue Landscaping Supply |
| 36 | Dave Sapienza | Judith Thilberg | Greg Kleila | FURY Race Cars | Sapienza Enterprises; Eastport Feeds |
| 44 | Chase Dowling | Lawney Tinio | Danny Gamache | LFR | SS Paving; Harshaw Paving |
| 46 | Craig Lutz | Goodie Racing | Doug Ogiejko | FURY Race Cars | Riverhead Building Supply |
| 51 | Justin Bonsignore | Kenneth Massa Motorsports, LLC | Ryan Stone | FURY Race Cars | Phoenix Communications, Inc. |
| 54 | Tommy Catalano | Catalano Motorsports | Rick Kluth | Troyer | FX Caprara; USNE; Catalano Motorsports |
| 55 | Jeremy Gerstner | GMR Enterprises | Dawn Gerstner | Troyer | TBE5; Crippling Hot Sauce; Racecar Engineering |
| 56 | Trevor Catalano | Catalano Motorsports | David Catalano | Troyer | USNE; Catalano Motorsports |
| 58 | Eric Goodale | Goodie Motorsports | Rob Hyer | FURY Race Cars | GAF Roofing |
| 59 | Tyler Barry | Jody Lauzon | Billy Michael | Chevrolet | Pro Systems; BNP Machine |
| 60 | Matt Hirschman | Pee Dee Motorsports LLC | Mike Stein | Troyer | Pee Dee Motorsports |
| 64 | Austin Beers | KLM Motorsports | Ron Yuhas | Troyer | G&G Electrical Supply; Dell Electric; Lumiere Electrical; AP Marquadt & Sons; Andrew James Interiors; Hughes Motors |
| 81 | Mark Stewart | Christopher Turbush | Chris Turbush | FURY Race Cars | Cromers Market; Keith Grimes Excavating; Hydroaction |
| 84 | Tyler Catalano | Catalano Motorsports | TBA | Troyer | USNE; Power & Construction |
| 112 | Brian Sones | Dennis Wenner | Dennis Valverde | Troyer | Dennis Wenner |
| 120 | Max Zachem | Kenneth Zachem | Max Zachem | LFR | USNE; Lu-Mac’s; Byrnes Agency |
| 129 | Mike Marshall | Taylor Charbonnier | Taylor Charbonnier | Troyer | MLM Diagnostics; Jusczak Electric; Tisdell Transmissions |
| 140 | Frank Fleming | Chris Fleming | Chris Fleming | PSR Products | William E. Smith Trucking; Taylor Auto Parts |
RACE FACTS
| Race | New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 |
| Date | Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 |
| Track | New Smyrna Speedway |
| Layout | Half-mile asphalt oval |
| Location | New Smyrna Beach, Florida |
| Start time | 7:30 p.m. ET |
| Laps | 200 |
| Posted Awards | $149,447 |
| Tickets | Trackside |
| How To Watch | FloRacing |
SCHEDULE: Saturday, Feb. 8… Practice from 2 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. ET … Final practice from 3:05 to 3:35 p.m. … Qualifying at 5:30 p.m. ET … New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 at 7:30 p.m. ET (FloRacing).
QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau 200 is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions.
TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is ten (10) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying, and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain impounded until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is two (2) tires, per stop.
