Story By: SCOTT RUNNING / STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – This Friday night, July 3, will see Stafford Speedway’s Street Stock division take center stage with an extra distance feature event, in the Midstate Site Development 30. Whereas Street Stock cars normally race for a winner’s share of $150 from a purse of $1,385, Street Stock drivers and teams will be racing to take home a winner’s share of $700 from a purse of over $5,000 this Friday night. Second place in the Midstate Site Development 30 will pay $500 and third place will pay $400. Tenth place will pay $175, which is $25 more than the normal winner’s share of $150.
One driver who will be looking to continue their good fortune in the Midstate Site Development 30 is Chris Meyer, who nearly won his Stafford debut last Friday. The driver of the #87 D and L Services Chevrolet ran up front for the majority of the race before last lap contact with Zack Robinson relegated him to a second place finish. Despite the last lap setback, Meyer is looking forward to his second race at Stafford and the chance at taking home a $700 winner’s check.
“We didn’t expect to run like we did, that’s for sure,” said Meyer. “We didn’t have a Ford 9-inch rear or headers so we thought we might be a little down on power,” said Meyer. “We were shooting for a top-10 finish and maybe a top-5 if things went well, but we definitely didn’t expect to be contending for the win. We feel pretty good about this Friday night. I’ll probably be starting a little further back in the field than I did last Friday night so I’ll have to conserve my brakes because they got a little hot last Friday and as long as we don’t have any issues, I have a lot of confidence in our ability to be a competitive car. I think you’ll see the guys who were running up front last week battling for the win again this Friday night. There’s no question that $700 to win gives us all extra motivation to go for the win. It’s early in the season so no one is thinking about points, we’re all racing for trophies. If we can win the Midstate Site Development 30, that $700 will pay for tires, fuel, and pit passes, so our weekend would be paid for.”
Meghan Fuller will be looking to rebound from a flat tire that left her with a disappointing 19th place finish in the season opener a week ago. With her stellar extra distance record, she is looking forward to once again racing 30 laps for the $700 winner’s check behind the wheel of her #2 Propane Plus Chevrolet.
“Last week was quite disappointing for me, but fortunately the flat tire we had didn’t do any damage to the car so it was just some bad luck for us getting a flat tire,” said Fuller. “I’m definitely looking forward to this Friday night because I really enjoy the extra distance races. The longer races really show the different capabilities of drivers and I hope we can have a good rebound from last week. I think the $700 gives everyone extra motivation to win the race but the key will be to take your time to get to the front and not make any moves that would jeopardize your ability to finish the race. It would be pretty amazing and awesome if we can win but if we don’t win we still have all year to get to victory lane.”
The Street Stock division ran 3 extra distance races in 2019 and of drivers who competed in all 3, Fuller led all drivers with a miniscule average finish of 1.7 thanks to a win and two second place finishes. Defending Street Stock champion Robinson was next with an average finish of 3.7 in the #89 First Class Automotive Chevrolet, followed by Jason Lafayette in the #21 Tommy’s Tattoo Supplies Chevrolet with an average of 5.0, Travis Hydar in the #11 Hydar Construction Chevrolet with an average of 6.3, and Adrien Paradis, III in the #19 CSB Communications Chevrolet with an average of 8.0.
Stafford’s SK Modifieds®, Late Models, SK Lights, and Limited Late Models will join the Street Stock cars in feature action this Friday night, July 3. General admission tickets are sold out for this event but there are still a limited number of paddock passes available. Paddock passes can be purchased here. Any fans who don’t have tickets that still want to watch the Midstate Site Development 30 festivities can take advantage of the new pay-per-view live streaming service at www.staffordspeedway.tv. For $20, fans can live stream all the qualifying and feature racing action with 25% of each sale going back to the drivers.
For more information, visit www.staffordspeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.