Rypkema Grabs First NASCAR Mod Win In Last-Lap Thriller

Tyler Rypkema in victory lane with his damaged No. 3 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday. (Sophia Siotos/NHMS photo)

LOUDON, N.H. – After chasing a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory for eight years, and knowing the Boehler family had never won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Tyler Rypkema wouldn’t let himself be denied on the final lap of Saturday’s Mohegan Sun 100.

With a shot to four-time Tour champion Justin Bonsignore’s rear bumper and then a decisive cut to the inside of turn three, Rypkema overhauled Bonsignore to take the checkered flag in the latest dramatic finish at the ‘Magic Mile’.

Rypkema cleared Bonsignore in turn four, only for Bonsignore to start getting a run down the frontstretch coming toward the finish line.

As Rypkema moved up to cover, the pair made contact and locked together, ripping the right-front tire off the No. 3 when it hit the wall and was pushed to start-finish.

Not letting off the throttle and with the added shove from behind by Bonsignore, Rypkema crossed the line with a battered race car, but a winning one for the first time in his 83rd Tour start.

“Every race at New Hampshire seems to be a race to turn three and who could get to the bottom,” Rypkema said. “Justin protected really early and really low, so I hooked back to the top and got a better arc down into [turn] three. We made a little contact there, but nothing I haven’t seen [Bonsignore] do many times here.

“I knew we were really good, we just had to get up and be there going into [Turn] 3 [by getting] a run off of [turn] two.”

Six cautions in the first 72 laps and a pair of pit stops for most of the frontrunners set the stage for the closing sprint, which saw Bonsignore leading Rypkema when the green flag waved with 20 to go after a brief red-flag stoppage.

The two-time defending Loudon modified winner played near-perfect defense through the closing stint, until a yellow flag with eight laps left for a crash in the top five between Chase Dowling and Jon McKennedy bunched the field up and set the stage for Rypkema’s overtime heroics.

Following the race, Bonsignore said that if he’d executed better at the start of the last lap, Rypkema might never have had the chance to build a run in the first place.

“[Rypkema] had too good of a run and I didn’t have a good [turns] one and two,” said Bonsignore, the runner-up by .072 seconds. “There was not much I could do. I tried crossing him over and didn’t get a good exit. He had me clear off of [turn] four and I don’t know why he decided to go to victory lane junked. But congrats to him, he executed well.”

Craig Lutz, who was gunning for his third straight Tour win during a NASCAR Cup Series companion weekend, finished third ahead of Andy Seuss and Matt Hirschman.

Woody Pitkat, Anthony Nocella, Eric Goodale, Austin Beers, and McKennedy closed out the top 10, with McKennedy rallying back from the late incident with Dowling.

Beers leaves Loudon with a slimmer, seven-point edge on Bonsignore, after Bonsignore earned a bonus point for the pole position, led the most laps, and finished seven positions ahead of his title rival.

But the story of the day was Rypkema and Ole Blue. With the triumph, Boehler Racing Enterprises returned to victory lane for the first time since May 2024 with Jake Johnson, and the first time in team history at the ‘Magic Mile’.

“[Bonsignore] went a little early to make the block,” Rypkema said. “I was able to get back up top and get a good arc down in. If he had done it a little later, I would have had to roll him on the top and that probably wouldn’t have happened. It just happened to work out, but it sucks the car is torn up.

“I wasn’t lifting until I was crossing that start-finish line, though, so we got it.”

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams return to action Saturday night, Oct. 6 at Riverhead Raceway in Long Island, N.Y., with the running of the Eddie Partridge 256.

Ron Silk won last year’s running of the event which honors late Tour car owner Ed Partridge, who passed away in 2021. Partridge also owned the Riverhead quarter mile prior to his death.

The finish:

1. 3-Tyler Rypkema, 2. 51-Justin Bonsignore, 3. 46-Craig Lutz, 4. 70-Andy Seuss, 5. 60-Matt Hirschman, 6. 82-Woody Pitkat, 7. 17-Anthony Nocella, 8. 58-Eric Goodale, 9. 64-Austin Beers, 10. 79-Jon McKennedy, 11. 43-Matt Kimbell, 12. 44-Chase Dowling, 13. 18-Ken Heagy, 14. 8-John Michael Shenette, 15. 29-Mike Marshall, 16. 13-Michael Christopher Jr., 17. 1-Patrick Emerling, 18. 06-Sam Rameau, 19. 21-Stephen Kopcik, 20. 22-Kyle Bonsignore, 21. 56-Trevor Catalano, 22. 54-Tommy Catalano, 23. 77-Gary Putnam, 24. 16-Ron Silk, 25. 15-Joey Cipriano III, 26. 14-Jake Lutz, 27. 7NY-Doug Coby.