Stephen Kopcik No Fluke, Takes NASCAR Icebreaker 150 at Thompson Speedway

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Photo Alan Ward

The NASCAR WMT on the backstretch at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park Alan Ward Photo

Thompson, CT — 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 twenty-nine 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.

Sunoco Modified winner Keith Rocco. Alan Ward Photo

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.

Thompson Speedway returns to Wednesday Night Racing with the Midweek Modified Madness on Wednesday, May 13 headlined by special, extra-purse events for both the Thompson Sunoco Modifieds and the SK Light Modifieds. The Late Models, Street Stocks and Thunderstock Crown Vics join in for an action-packed midweek opener with a 6:00pm start time on Wednesday, May 13!

The North East Short Track Network (NESTN) will stream Wednesday Night Racing at Thompson Speedway all season long, visit www.nestn.tv for more info including Pay-Per-View pricing and ways to subscribe!

For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com.  You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.

For technical information concerning all PASS divisions, and for media or marketing questions, please contact passracing@roadrunner.com or visit www.proallstarsseries.com. Don’t forget to “Like” the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow on Twitter @PASSSLM14 to keep up with breaking news as it happens.

For general Thompson Speedway inquiries, call (860) 923-2280, email oval@thompsonspeedway.com, or visit www.thompsonspeedway.com. You can follow Thompson Speedway on Facebook and Instagram at @ThompsonSpeedway or on Twitter at @ThompsonSpdwy.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Thompson Speedway – Thompson, CT

52nd Icebreaker – Day II

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – Icebreaker 150 (150 Laps)

(Finish Pos., Car #, Driver Name, Total Laps Completed)

1          21        Stephen Kopcik                       150

2          16        Ron Silk                                   150

3          31        Michael Christopher              150

4          79        Jonathan McKennedy             150

5          60        Matt Hirschman                     150

6          64        Austin Beers                           150

7          51        Justin Bonsignore                   150

8          46        Craig Lutz                                150

9          44        Chase Dowling                         150

10        3          Tyler Rypkema                        150

11        05        Teddy Hodgdon                      150

12        58        Eric Goodale                           150     

13        1          Patrick Emerling                     150

14        11        Eric Berndt                              150

15        89        Matt Swanson                         150

16        36        David Sapienza                       150

17        82        Andrew Molleur                     150

18        28        Doug Coby                              149

19        54        Tommy Catalano                    149

20        24        Andrew Krause                       149

21        15        Joey Cipriano                          149     

22        22        Kyle Bonsignore                     149     

23        8          John-Michael Shenette          149     

24        20        Max Zachem                           149

25        18        Ken Heagy                               146

26        95        Cory Plummer                         143

27        50        Ronnie Williams                     106

28        73        Paulie Hartwig                         98

29        56        Trevor Catalano                     45

Thompson Sunoco Modifieds – (30 Laps)

1.         09        Keith Rocco                 Berlin, CT

2.         81        Todd Owen                 Somers, CT

3.         7          Jon Puleo                    Branford, CT

4.         47        Zack Sangermano       Plainfield, CT

5.         24        #Mikey Flynn              Hampden, MA

6.         2          Danny Cates               Chaplin, CT

7.         24MA  Nathan Pytko              Oxford, MA

8.         86        Robert Georgiades     E. Hampton, CT

9.         12        Rob Schultz                 Neptune, NJ

10.       99        Mike Mayberry           Naples, ME

11.       77        Chase Cook                 Norwich, MA

12.       1          #Andrew Brousseau   Charlestown, NH

13.       4          Zach Leone                  Worcester, MA

14.       35        Derek Ramstrom        Worcester, MA

DNS     57        Justin Beecher             Billerica, MA  

Late Models – (25 Laps)

1.         17        Matt Lowinski-Loh      Thompson, CT

2.         91CT    Jake Johnson              Rehoboth, MA

3.         30RI     Jacob Burns                E. Greenwich, RI

4.         9MA    Brian Tagg                   Oxford, MA

5.         38RI     Connor Souza             Riverside, RI

6.         31CT    Travis Hydar                Woodbury, CT

7.         70        Rick Gentes                 Harrisville, RI

8.         42CT    Manny Dias                 Danielson, CT

9.         52        Jeff Belyea                  Swansea, MA

10.       73CT    Jared Materas             Somers, CT

11.       31NH   Eddie Gomarlo           Swanzey, NH

12.       57        Adam Pettey               Assonet, MA

13.       28        #Shaun Kekacs            Bristol, CT

14.       32        Jason Williams             Colchester, CT

15.       94CT    Charles Bailey             Lisbon, CT

16.       1CT      Jared Roy                    Moosup, CT

SK Light Modifieds – (20 Laps)

1.         10        Kevin Davis                 Somers, CT

2.         96        Daniel Gamache Jr.     Medway, MA

3.         99        Milania Shilosky         Colchester, CT

4.         07        Austin Goff                 Stafford Springs, CT

5.         15NY   Gerard Giordano        Freeport, NY

6.         23        Brady Parolo               Agawam, MA

7.         80        #Thomas Herrington  Grafton, MA

8.         15        John O’Sullivan           Norwich, CT

9.         34MA  Daltin McCarthy         Oxford, MA

10.       6          Todd Douillard           Palmer, MA

11.       26        RJ Marcott                  Millville, MA

12.       55        Dennis Smeade           Oxford, MA

13.       1          TJ Tomasi                    Blackstone, MA

14.       99x      Dylan Houghton         Springfield, MA

15.       27        Corey Caddick             Richmond, RI

16.       91        Riley Paul                    Ledyard, CT

Street Stocks – (20 Laps)

1.         22        Austin Erickson           Ashland, MA

2.         19        Ryan Lineham             Warwick, RI

3.         11        George Baldwin          Lowell, MA

4.         77        Andrew Gillis              Ashland, MA

5.         25        Al Stone III                   Durham, CT

6.         67        Aaron Plemons           Uncasville, CT

7.         75        Ryan Waterman         Danielson, CT

8.         42        Jarrod Soucy               Wales, MA

9.         30        #Charles Beal              Ledyard, CT

10.       85        Michael Viens             Seekonk, MA

11.       55        Nick Anderson             Oxford, MA

12.       19R      #Ryan Pomposelli       Smithfield, RI

13.       86        Jon Porter                   Baltic, CT

14.       66        Tyler Cinamella          Willimantic, CT

15.       73        Larry Barnett              Moosup, CT    

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