SIX-TIME NASCAR MODIFIED CHAMPION DOUG COBY EXCITED TO RETURN TO BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY NEXT MONTH

SIX-TIME NASCAR MODIFIED CHAMPION DOUG COBY EXCITED TO RETURN TO BEECH RIDGE MOTOR SPEEDWAY NEXT MONTH

By Souza Media/Kyle Souza

ATTLEBORO, Mass. — When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway for the Rumble at the Ridge 200 on Saturday, August 21, only a few drivers in the field will have laps at the Maine oval in their rear-view mirror.

One of them that does have some laps is six-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby — who has 31 career tour wins and has quickly become the top driver of his era in NASCAR’s oldest touring series. Coby has three career tour starts at the flat oval, with a best finish of 12th in 2003. 

As the series gets ready to head back to Beech Ridge for the first time since 2005, Coby is excited to add the track back to the 14-race schedule and see how he stacks up against the competition. In the first seven races of the tour season, Coby has six starts, with two wins. He missed the June 12 event at Oswego Speedway to compete in the SRX event at Stafford Motor Speedway — which he won — besting names like Tony Stewart, Bill Elliott and Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves. Chase Dowling drove his car to a top-10 finish in the Oswego race.

“Back at that time, when I ran Beech Ridge with the tour, I would have equated the driving style to how I was racing at Seekonk Speedway, but I’ve changed how I race at Seekonk since,” Coby said. “I’m hoping to do a little bit better of a job there this time around. We will have a lot of fans for this one. The facility lends to side-by-side racing, gaining every two inches that you can at any given time. I’ll be heading there and dialing myself into Seekonk mode and hopefully we have a good day.”

It’s important to Coby, an advocate for the series, that the Whelen Modified Tour returns to Maine for action. The race will mark the first trip to the Pine Tree State in over 15 years. 

“A lot of race fans from Maine go to New Hampshire Motor Speedway and they know the modifieds,” Coby said. “Any chance they can get us up to that area, it’s a little further than we are used to running, and it puts us in front of new eyes. It’s good to get us back to a place where we have fan interest. It’s a good thing for the Whelen Modified Tour. We have good race fans in Maine that want to see us and they shouldn’t have to travel too far. It should be good for us.”

Coby will enter the race outside the top two in the championship standings, and look to continue his climb to the top of the series before the end of the year. 

The Whelen Modified Tour has been to Beech Ridge five times, with races in 1995 and 2002-2005. There have been five different winners, with Steve Park, Dave Bergham, Todd Szegedy, Nevin George and Jerry Marquis all visiting Victory Lane. The 2021 edition of the race will be the 10th of the 14 events planned on the Whelen Modified Tour schedule, heating up the championship battle on a Saturday night.

Top entries for the race will include Justin Bonsignore, Patrick Emerling, Eric Goodale, Woody Pitkat, Jon McKennedy, Ron Silk, Timmy Solomito, Anthony Nocella, and more.

Schedule information for the race day will be released in the next few weeks. Advance tickets for the race are already available and can be purchased online at JDVProductions.com. Tickets are $40 per person and will also be available at the track on race day. The green flag for the race is slated to fly at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, visit BeechRidge.com. For more information on JDV Productions, visit JDVProductions.com and follow on Facebook.