Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – Bryan Narducci won the SK Light feature race on opening day at Stafford Speedway.
Mikey Flynn had a good start by getting the pole for the race. Things got crazy from the start of the race with a multi-car incident on the start.
By lap eight Narducci ended up getting the lead and dominating the rest of the race. Bryan Narducci and Mark Bakaj had great battles between the two for several laps, Bakaj being right with him.
Bakaj had a lot of young talent creeping up on him and both Teddy Hodgdon and Noah Korner ended up getting by him to push Bakaj back to fourth. Then Alexander Pearl also battling with Bakaj and taking fourth from him, which then pushed Bakaj back to fifth.
Bryan was asked after the race how he reacts to the hate from people and having a target on his back. “I really enjoy having a target on my back. I love when people start saying something about me and the best thing to do is just go out there and win and try to prove them wrong. I personally love all the people hating on me and putting a target on me, I think it’s great”.
The top five drivers to finish the race were Bryan Narducci (01), Teddy Hodgdon (55), Noah Korner (31), Alexander Pearl (7), and Mark Bakaj (76).
Kevin Gambacorta won the late model race on opening day but, during post-race inspection, Gambacorta was disqualified to an illegal left front shock. Michael Wray ended up winning the race after the disqualification.
Tom Fearn dominated the race from the start, starting on the pole for the feature then, getting the lead right off the bat. He led the first 20 laps but then fearn and the 42 of Wray got tangled together and made a hole for Gambacorta to get the lead. Fearn ended up finishing third.
Michael Wray ended up having a very good race after starting 8th, he quickly made his way up the pack and was battling in the top 5 for most of the race. He got tangled with Fearn but saved his car and was battling with Gabacorta for the lead the last 10 laps of the race.
Wray ended up winning after Gambacorta’s DQ. Michael Bennett started off opening day strong and ended up 2nd after not competing at Stafford last year, which was a great way to come back.
The top five finishers of the race were: Michael Wray (42), Michael Bennett (31), Tom Fearn (92), Tyler Leary (11), and Al Saunders (40).
Jeremy Lavoie won the Limited Late Model race on Opening day at Stafford Speedway.
It was a good battle between Lavoie and Gary Patnode, he was right on Lavoie’s bumper for most of the race and got to his bumper going into the last turn and had almost got the lead from Jeremy but, Jeremy held on to win the race.
Matt Clement won the pole for the feature and was strong in the beginning of the race getting the lead to start the race but after four laps Clement spun and brought out the caution. Jeremy got the lead on the restart and led the rest of the race.
After the race Jeremy talked about the race and why he thinks there aren’t a lot of cars in this division. He said “It’s a great graduating division from the street stocks, for somebody that doesn’t have the money to jump into a SK light. I know its been the fad lately in the past couple of years, those car counts are awesome with 30+ cars in the division. That’s good for them but this is an affordable division and we need a good car count too”.
The top five finishers of the race were: Jeremy Lavoie (6), Gary Patnode (22), Matt Clement (59), Duane Provost (88), and Alexandra Fearn (12).
In the first of three races of the RSMPCO.com street stock triple crown events, Mike Hopkins won on opening day.
Hopkins started sixth and was up in the top five all day battling and getting up into the lead to win the race.
Nicole Chambrello started the race in the pole position and started off the race in the best position getting the lead early and just trying to keep the lead away from Johnny Walker. Nicole got into an incident on lap 17 but could drive away and get back on the track. Chambrello ended up finishing 9th.
Meghan Fuller had a good opening day. She started 9th and rode around the top 10, being conservative and waiting for the right time to drive to the front. By lap 15 she was up to the top 5. She made some great moves at the end to move her self up and ended up finishing second in the race.
After the race Mike talked about his race and how he got the win of the first triple crown race. He said, “I was getting frustrated after a while with having caution after caution, something about these big races we just have to stay calm because we have a long way to go. The track was rubbering up really bad, I noticed that early on and I was buying my time. We got up there on the restart, and everyone upfront ran clean, we were all off the bumper racing the track at that point”.
The top five finishes in the triple crown race were: Mike Hopkins (78), Meghan Fuller (2), Travis Hydar (11), Zack Robinson (89), and Steve Kenneway (55).
The next race at Stafford Speedway will be May 10th.
