Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – Ronnie Williams won the SK Modified race Friday night at Stafford Speedway.
Ed Spiers had the pole for the race. Andrew Molleur got the lead right off the start of the feature. Ronnie started 7th and had a fast car making good moves around cars to get himself into the top 5 in the first few laps. He had gotten to the lead but, right after that the caution had come out.
On the restart, he had gotten the lead back and had competition from Joey Cirpriano for the lead but, Williams stayed in the lead.
“We had a strong car today, got up to the front pretty early. I felt like we were struggling a bit in the first month, but to get this win and the win at Thompson and do it in kind of dominating fashion it’s a good feeling moving forward.” Williams says about the race and his finish after the race.
Joey Cipriano had a good race tonight, he started 5th and went up the field right with Williams and stayed with Ronnie but, didn’t have enough juice to get around him to take the lead. Cipriano finished 2nd in the feature. Nick Salva started the race 8th and has been having a good car for the last few weeks, Salva finished 3rd tonight.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Ronnie Williams
2. Joey Cipriano
3. Nick Salva
4. Eric Berndt
5. Michael Gervais Jr.
Top 5 in point standings:
1. Michael Gervais Jr. 178 pts
2. Todd Owen 170 pts -8
3. Nick Salva 162 pts -16
4. Michael Christopher Jr. 160 pts -18
5. Ronnie Williams 146 pts -32
Open Mod 80
Keith Rocco was victorious in Friday night’s Open Modified 80 at Stafford Speedway.
Rocco started the race 4th and had a lot of battles with Todd Owen and then finally got around him and to the lead and then finally wining the race.
“To build a car like we did this winter and never built a tour car before, I’m just ecstatic,” Rocco said.
“Keith’s a tough customer and he had a good car, all in all great day we were Definitely in the hunt.” Owen said after his second place finish.
There are a lot of drivers pulling double duty in this race form the Sk mod and Sk light divisions. The first three finishers Keith Rocco, Todd Owen, and Matt Galko drove the Sk mod race and then raced in the open mod 80 and had a better finish in the Open Mod race because they had a little extra time on the track.
“Been sick the last couple of days, really don’t feel like doing anything never mind trying to finish a new car but, I have a great team behind me. We had a great car last year, just fell short. These races are a lot of fun and just something a little bit different cross between tour and the Sk mod cars.” Rocco Talks about his win tonight.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Keith Rocco
2. Todd Owen
3. Matt Galko
4. Eric Goodale
5. Chase Dowling
The drivers driving double duty, where they finished in their division and in the Open Mod 80:
Keith Rocco- 6th place (Open Mod 1st)
Todd Owen- 8th place (Open Mod 2nd)
Matt Galko- 27th place (Open Mod 3rd)
Joey Cipriano- 2nd place (Open Mod 8th)
Andrew Molleur (Rookie)- 15th place (Open Mod 10th)
Mark Bakaj (Sk light)- 10th place (Open Mod 11th)
Ronnie Williams- 1st place (Open Mod 12th)
Michael Gervais Jr.- 5th place (Open Mod 15th)
Marcello Rufrano (Rookie)- 12th place (Open Mod 19th)
