Restart catapults Santos to Webb win

LOUDON, N.H. — Bobby Santos of Franklin was the best of the bunch coming out of a late restart to win the Modified Tour F.W. Webb 100 yesterday. Both of his wins this year have come at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

He used the same path to victory as he did in July, going low in the corners.

“At that last restart, I knew I had to hit the line that I knew was working,” Santos said. “If I could, we were going to drive away.”

His average speed was 82.602 mph.

Rowan Pennink finished second and Patrick Emerling was third.

Driver remembered

Cars and trucks this weekend have a decal to remember longtime Modified Tour racer Ted Christopher, who died Sept. 16, along with pilot Charles Dundas in a plane crash in Connecticut en route to a race on Long Island.

Christopher, as well as his twin brother Mike, were scheduled to race in yesterday’s FW Webb 100. His brother did not run yesterday.

Competitors in the F.W. Webb 100 started the race by running four-wide in a memorial tribute.

The 59-year old Christopher raced at every level, making six appearances in the Cup Series with a pair of top 10s on NASCAR’s second series. He made his name though with the modifieds, winning 42 races and the championship in 2008. His most recent victory was at Stafford Springs in 2011, but he finished third as recently as last month at Thompson.

Christopher had 10 career wins at Loudon, split evenly between the modifieds and Pro Series. Santos said he first started following Christopher when he was 5 years old at Thompson and quickly became a favorite.

“He was New England modifieds,” Santos said. “He’s nationally known. Look at the recognition he’s gotten this last week is amazing and he deserves every bit of it.”

Woody Pitkat, racing in the No. 82 car that Christopher was scheduled to drive, finished eighth.

Bell tolls in victory

The UNOH 175 was the playoff opener for the Truck Series. Christopher Bell entered the postseason with the points lead and expanded on it with a clean sweep of the first two stages as well as the overall victory, his fifth of the season.

Bell increased his lead over Johnny Sauter, who finished ninth, from 15 to 40 points.

Kaz Grala of Westboro finished 10th, holding off Chase Briscoe through the final turn. By finishing ahead of Briscoe, Grala moved from eighth to sixth in the point standings.