Donny's News

Racecar drivers always dream of the perfect day and Donny Lia has finally lived it. Lia started from the pole, led every single lap and went to victory lane on Saturday at Waterford Speedbowl (CT) in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event with his #18 Lia Motorsports car. It doesn’t get much better than that.

“We hit it right tonight,” said Lia after the race. “We hit it at the North vs. South Shootout and we hit it right a few nights at New Smyrna. You don’t hit it like that often, so this is just awesome.”

Actually, there was only one small thing that Lia didn’t do on Saturday night. He qualified third and did not win the pole position. However, he pulled the number one during the redraw to set the field. Lia

won the Bud Pole Award for 2004 and has two poles so far this season. Usually, he qualifies on the pole and starts further back in the top 10 after the redraw. This time, luck was riding with him before the race.pole

“We always pick seventh or eighth, so to pick the pole was awesome. I would have been happy with third. To pick the pole, that puts more pressure on the driver. You know that you have a good racecar and it’s right in your hands. You just have to close the deal. We got lucky drawing the pole, but we had such an awesome racecar that I don’t think it would have mattered. That car was just so dead-on perfect. It turned and went through the center great. It was just awesome.”

Lia led every lap, but he never got much of a chance to take it easy during the race.

“You never think that you have anything in the bag, especially me with my luck. Down in Florida, we had two races in the bag when bad luck bit us. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

It took more than a fast racecar to win at Waterford.

“My crew did awesome. They all outdid themselves tonight. The team makes these

cars awesome and reliable at the shop, my Dad and the sponsors all step up and make it work and the guys just outdo themselves every time we go to the track. It’s a total team effort.”

Next up for Lia is this Sunday’s make-up race at Stafford Motor Speedway (CT). Lia won the pole position for that event last month before rain washed out the feature. Of course, given his typical luck, he’s not starting there after the redraw.

“With two good races, it’s a little more momentum than you would think. It’s what both teams and myself needed. I’m happy for both the #18 team and the SK guys because they have been working their butts off. I think that both teams are capable of winning as long as things go our way. If we have a little bit of luck and we get our set-ups right, we can win. Whether it happens or not, depends on if it’s our turn this weekend or not.”

Next weekend is going to be a busy one with two chances at victory lane for Lia.

“We’re starting seventh because that’s where we redrew,” said Lia. “We weren’t as lucky there.”

Lia is really hungry to win at Stafford.

“I like that racetrack, and one of my major goals is to win a Tour race at Stafford or Thompson. I think that will happen this year; we’re on to some good things here. We’ve been creeping up on it.”

This season, Lia has been running the #47 Wisk/Snuggle SK Modified weekly at Stafford. He finished seventh there last Friday night. There is not much of a direct connection between the SK and Tour Modifieds, but Lia still believes driving the SK helps him to improve as a driver.

“Those two cars are so different, but I think that it will help,” said Lia. “The more laps that you run anywhere in anything will help you as a driver. I’m learning a lot in the SK, but not a whole lot can be applied to the Tour Modified. Whatever I can apply, I will apply to it.”