Column By: BRITTANY NUTILE / RPW – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – It was a family affair for the Rocco family last time out at the Stafford speedway.
It started with Keith Rocco’s son KJ Rocco winning the big wheel race, then Keith winning the Sk race tonight. He talked in an interview after the race how it felt racing against Mike Christopher Jr. and how it felt like old times racing against his uncle. “We had a really good call overall; we were good on top and good on the bottom. That restart bunched everything up and he got a good jump off the back stretch straight away and got under us but, we were able to battle back on the top and regain the lead.” Rocco talks about his race and how he won the race.
Mike Christopher Jr. finished 2nd tonight, he had a great race and awesome battles with Rocco and Owen. He kept up with Keith even when he was trying to run away put distance on Christopher Jr. but, Mike stayed with him and made Rocco work a little extra for the win.
Todd Owen came home tonight in 3rd and pick up some points tonight after running ahead of Ronnie Williams all race. Owen started the race 6th and stayed in the top 6 all night and had good battles with Keith and Mike Christopher Jr. It was a good night overall for Todd.
Ronnie Williams had an up and down race last night. He still has the point lead after tonight but only by 4 points from Todd Owen. He started the race 15th and had to fight his way through the field but, it was a little bit of a struggle. He didn’t get up to the top 10 till lap 13 and stayed in the top 10 through the rest of the race. He had a hard time passing other drivers and staying in one position for a few laps at a time. He finished the race 6th.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Keith Rocco
2. Mike Christopher Jr.
3. Todd Owen
4. Michael Gervais Jr.
5. Stephen Kopcik
Top 5 in points:
1. Ronnie Williams 702points+4
2. Todd Owen 698points-4
3. Keith Rocco 686points-16
4. Michael Gervais Jr. 670points-32
5. Glen Reen 608points-94
SK Lights
Bryan Narducci won the Sk light feature at Stafford Speedway.
Narducci started the race 9th, he worked his way through traffic and had some good battles getting up to the front. He got to the top5 by lap 2 and then stayed in 3rd for 4 laps then by lap 14 got the lead and led 7 laps to the finish.
Steven Chapman finished 2nd, he started the race 6th and had a good race. He got into the top 3 by lap 8 and then moved up to 2nd for 5 laps then moved back to 3rd for 2 laps and then back to 2nd from lap 16 to 20. Narducci and Chapman had a good battle working up the field and then had a good battle when running 1st and 2nd.
Teddy Hodgdon finished 3rd tonight, he started the race 10th. He stayed in the bottom top 10 for the first 10 laps then settled into the race and had some momentum and got to the top 5 by lap 12. From lap 14 to lap 19 he was 4th and then by the last lap had gotten up to the 3rd position. Hodgdon is still the points leader but, only by 6points from Steven Chapman who finished 2nd tonight.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Bryan Narducci
2. Steven Chapman-R
3. Teddy Hodgdon
4. Alexander Pearl
5. Wesley Prucker
Top 5 in points:
1. Teddy Hodgdon 682points+6
2. Steven Chapman-R 676points-6
3. Alexander Pearl 648points-34
4. Bryan Narducci 606points-76
5. Wesley Prucker 580points-102
Late Models
Tom Fearn won the late model race.
Fearn started the race 8th and got into the top 5 by lap 4 and then got to 2nd place by lap 10 and stayed there for 14 laps. He then got the lead from Michael Wray on lap 24 and led 7 laps to win the race. Tom Fearn has a 114-point lead over Michael Wray with only 4 races left of the season.
Michael Wray finished 2nd, Wray started the race 4th and stayed in the top 5 for the whole race. He had the lead for from lap 4 to lap 24 and had a decent lead on 2nd place until Tom Fearn got into second and tried holding Fearn off but, Fearn had a faster car and stayed in 2nd for the last 6 laps.
Tyler Leary finished 3rd, he had a good race. Tyler started on the pole and took the lead for 3 laps and settled back into 2nd. Then got pushed back to 4th for 3 laps, from lap 10 to lap 30 he stayed in 3rd till the end. Tyler is showing more consistency and a lot of power in his car and has showed improvement throughout the year and is close to getting his 1st win of the season.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Tom Fearn
2. Michael Wray
3. Tyler Leary
4. Al Saunders
5. Michael Bennett
Top 5 in points:
1. Tom Fearn 800points+114
2. Michael Wray 686points-114
3. Kevin Gambacorta 662points-138
4. Al Saunders 660points-140
5. Michael Bennett 644points-156
Limited Late Models
Alexandra Fearn nailed down the win in the Limited Late Models.
She has won back to back races in two weeks at Stafford speedway, she has been on fire the past couple od weeks. Fearn has been on a role having a dominate car, she started on the pole again this week and keeping everyone else behind her. She had a battle in the beginning with Gary Patnode and the Patnode fell back a few positions allowing Provost to get 2nd and Lavoie to grab 3rd. Fearn also battled with Provost at the end but her car was too strong and won the race.
Duane Provost finished 2nd again this week. The top 3 stayed the same from last week to this week. Provost has been very consistent and is getting closer to winning another race this season. He started 3rd in tonight’s race and stayed in the top 3 for the whole race.
Jeremy Lavoie had a good race and a good points day, staying in the top 3 and being consistent and running up front and away from trouble.
The race ended short for Matt Clement, he had a flat tire and ended up being sidelined for the rest of the race only running a few laps. It’s a huge disappointment for the team and looses the points lead tonight.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Alexandra Fearn
2. Duane Provost
3. Jeremy Lavoie
4. Gary Patnode
5. Dave Gargaro Jr.-R
Top 5 in points:
1. Jeremy Lavoie 790points+2
2. Matt Clement 788points-2
3. Gary Patnode 762points-28
4. Alexandra Fearn 750points-40
5. Duane Provost 644points-146
Street Stocks
George Bessette Jr. won Street Stocks in an eventful race and crazy ending.
Bessette Jr. started the race in 3rd place and was in the top 5 for the whole race. He battled a lot with Zack Robinson for 2nd and 3rd position the majority of the race until Robinson spun in turn 4 on lap 18 with 2 laps to go.
It was a crazy finish to the race with a green, white, checkered finish. Travis Hydar was the point car, Meghan Fuller started 2nd and George Bessette Jr. started 3rd for the restart. Travis had gotten the lead when the green flag waved but, Bessette Jr. got a bigger jump and ended up taking the lead. Hydar and Fuller battling for 2nd and 3rd place with one to go then the 11 got loose and pushed Fuller up the track and got into the front stretch wall hard.
David Secore Jr. finished 2nd after the crazy finish and he was in the right place at the right time, just buying time and seeing if someone in the front would make a mistake and that’s exactly what happened.
Adrien Paradis III finished 3rd in tonight’s race. He was also one of those drivers who was at the right place too. Adrien started the race 2nd and has been consistent all this year and start most of the races in the front and stays close to the top spots throughout all races.
Top 5 finishers:
1. George Bessette Jr.
2. Dave Secore Jr.
3. Adrien Paradis III-R
4. Nicole Chambrello
5. Tyler Trott
Top 5 in points:
1. Zack Robinson 754points+32
2. Meghan Fuller 722points-32
3. George Bessette Jr. 706points-48
4. Travis Hydar 698 points-56
5. Adrien Paradis III-R 648points-106
