RPW Exclusive: The Champ Trail; Stafford Finally Gets Sizzler In, Weekly Action & More…

Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – The Stafford Motor Speedway hosted the rescheduled 2024 NAPA Spring Sizzler®, “The Greatest Race in the History of Spring,” on Friday, May 10th with Open Modified cars.

Ron Silk came up the big winner for the second consecutive year, taking home a grand total of $34,750 for his efforts. Silk won his NAPA Qualifying Duel on Saturday, April 27 for $3,500 and combined with his $20,000 winner’s purse plus $11,250 in lap money from May 10th, his grand total comes to $34,750.

Silk’s last three Stafford feature victories, the 2022 NAPA Fall Final plus the 2023 and 2024 NAPA Spring Sizzlers®, has seen him and the #16 Haydt-Yannone team take home nearly $100,000 in prize money.

The race took the green flag with Teddy Hodgdon taking the early lead ahead of Matt Swanson, Jon McKennedy and Ronnie Silk as temps dropped to the high 40s.. Michael Christopher, Jr. moved from 8th up to 5th on the opening lap and he had Marcello Rufrano, Doug Coby, Max Zachem, Justin Bonsignore, and Ronnie Williams behind him. Swanson took the lead from Hodgdon on lap-4 and Silk took second from Hodgdon on lap-6. Hodgdon slotted into third with McKennedy fourth and Christopher fifth.

Silk powered his way by Swanson and into the lead on lap-8 while the rest of the top-5 remained Swanson, Hodgdon, McKennedy, and Christopher. Coby was now sixth followed by Bonsignore, Woody Pitkat, who was on the charge, Matt Hirschman, and Ronnie Williams. With 15 laps complete it was still Silk in command followed by Swanson, Hodgdon, McKennedy, and Christopher. Noah Korner spun coming out of turn 4 to bring the first yellow flag of the event out with 16 laps complete.

Silk took the lead with Swanson in second back under green but the caution came right back with 17 laps complete as Tommy Barrett, Buddy Charette, and Joey Mucciacciaro got into the turn 3 wall. On the restart, Nick Halkowicz came to a stop in turn 2 with a flat tire that brought the caution back out before a lap could be completed. The next restart saw Silk again take the lead with McKennedy moving into second. Coby pulled alongside Swanson for third but Swanson was able to hold Coby off. Bonsignore was now fifth behind Coby with Hirschman, Christopher, Pitkat, Hodgdon, and Todd Owen making up the top-10. Halkowicz spun in turn 3 to bring the caution out with 23 laps complete.

Silk powered back into the lead on the restart with McKennedy and Swanson still behind him. Coby was now in fourth with Hirschman in fifth. Bonsignore was sixth but he would lose that position to Pitkat on lap-27. Christopher followed Pitkat by Bonsignore on the following lap but before the lap could be completed the caution flew for a spin in turn 2 by George Bessette, Jr. Silk took the lead back under green with Swanson getting around McKennedy for second after several laps of wheel to wheel racing. Coby was fourth with Pitkat up to fifth. Hirschman was sixth in line followed by Bonsignore, Christopher, Williams, and Keith Rocco. Chris Pasteryak and Bessette both spun in the middle of turns 3+4 to bring the caution flag back out with 34 laps complete.

Korner spun in turn 1 to bring the caution back out one lap after the restart with Silk still in command and Swanson behind him in second. Silk completed two more laps before the caution came back out for Bessette, who spun in turn 3 and then Coby and Swanson came together in turn 2 with Coby going around. The restart saw McKennedy going around in turn 2, which collected several other cars including Hodgdon, before a lap could be completed. Silk took the lead on the next restart with Pitkat working his way around Swanson to move into second. Christopher was fourth with Bonsignore in fifth. Todd Owen was on the move as he took over fifth place on lap-42 and he had Rocco following in his tire tracks as Rocco moved into sixth on lap-44 to drop Bonsignore back to seventh place. Jacob Perry was up to eighth with Stephen Kopcik in ninth and Matt Galko in tenth. Bonsignore’s car dropped off the pace on lap-47 and he limped back to pit road. Galko and Cory DiMatteo took a hard hit into the turn 1 wall to bring the yellow and red flags out with 49 laps complete. Under the caution period, the leaders came to pit road for tires and adjustments with Silk winning the race off pit road followed by Pitkat, Rocco, Coby, Swanson, Williams, Hirschman, Korner, Goodale, Owen, Christopher, Pasteryak, and David Arute.

McKennedy and Perry were the new leaders and they occupied the top-2 spots on the restart while Tommy Barrett, Jr. began to slide backwards as Pitkat took third, Coby fourth, and Williams fifth. Korner was sixth but he would lose that spot to Silk on lap-53 with Owen, Rocco, and Pasteryak rounding out the top-10. McKennedy was back in command on the restart but Silk was slicing his way through traffic and he retook the lead on lap-60. Pitkat was third behind Silk and McKennedy with Williams and Coby making up the top-5. Swanson was sixth with Rocco, Goodale, Hirschman, and Perry making up the top-10.

With 30 laps to go, it was still Silk out front with McKennedy, Pitkat, Williams, and Swanson giving chase. Rocco was sixth followed by Hirschman, Goodale, Coby, and Pasteryak. Halkowicz brought the caution back out with 81 laps complete with a spin in turn 2. Silk resumed his place at the front of the pack on the restart with McKenendy holding second and Pitkat third. Swanson was fourth in line with Hirschman, Coby Williams, Rocco, Owen, Kopcik, and Pasteryak lined up behind him. Coby moved into sixth on lap-85 and began to hound Williams for fifth place. Coby’s car dropped off the pace on lap-90 and he slowly brought the car back to pit road.

With 10 laps to go, Silk was starting to stretch out his lead over McKennedy with Pitkat, Swanson, and Williams still making up the top-5. With one lap to go, Williams dropped off the pace and brought his car to pit road. Silk cruised to the checkered flag to win the NAPA Spring Sizzler® and the $20,000 purse that goes along with it for the second consecutive season. McKenendy finished second with Pitkat, Swanson, and Hirschman rounding out the top-5.

Sixth thru tenth included Chris Pasteryak, Keith Rocco, Stephen Kopcik, Todd Owen and Eric Goodale,

In other Friday night action, the Stafford Speedway hosted its five weekly divisions. Cory DiMatteo notched his first SK Modified® feature win of the 2024 season after a thrilling duel with Michael Christopher, Jr., defending Late Model champion Kevin Gambacorta notched his first Late Model win of the season, Tyler Chapman was victorious in the SK Light feature, Devon Jencik scored a dominating win in the Limited Late Model feature, and Travis Downey was the beneficiary of Ryan Waterman and Travis Hydar tangling in the final corner to pick up his first Street Stock win of the 2024 season.

The Stafford competitors and fans were a hearty bunch as they withstood temperatures that dipped into the mid 40s once the sun went down.

In Saturday night action at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island, after having missed the 2024 Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Riverhead Raceway opening Tour Type Modified event a week earlier, Timmy Solomito of Islip made up for lost time as he led wire to wire to secure his 25th career victory during a non-stop 50-lap feature event. With week two in the books, the NASCAR Tour Type Modifieds have started the season off with 100-laps of green flag racing at the demanding bullring without a single caution flag.

It was Military Night at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Too bad that nobody knew about it because the present track owner doesn’t believe in advertising his events. Timmy Jordon was the winner of the 35 lap SK Modified feature Andrew Molleur finished second with Anthony Flannery, third. Todd Owen and Adam Gada rounded out the top five. The New London Submarine Base is located less than ten miles from the Speedbowl, Close to 10,000 Naval personnel are stationed there. Had the race been promoted properly the track should have been packed.

Burt Myers added another victory to his credit at the Bowman-Gray Stadium where he won a 100 lap Modified event.

The car count at Monadnock was somewhat disappointing with only 24 on hand and a less than full grandstand witnessed the event. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to action this coming Saturday, May 18 when the series heads to Riverhead Raceway on Long Island for the Miller Lite Salutes Wayne Anderson 200. Quite a few of the local runners are expected to enter the event. FloRacing will have live coverage of all the on-track action starting at 8 p.m. ET.

After four events Ron Silk continues to lead the point standings with a six point edge over Justin Bonsignore. Sitting in third spot, only 13 points back is Jake Johnson. Craig Lutz and Patrick Emerling round out the top five.

NASCAR announced this past week that the Whelen Modified Tour would be putting several rules and procedural changes to “improve efficiencies” for teams for the remainder of the 2024 season. The new rules and procedures will go into effect for the May 18 Miller Lite Salutes Wayne Anderson 200 at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway on May 18.

A release from NASCAR announcing the changes read: Over the course of the remaining 12 races on the 2024 Modified Tour schedule, the overall tire allotment will be reduced, providing financial savings for teams through the rest of the season. In alignment with the tire reduction, at tracks that require a tire change (with the exception of New Hampshire Motor Speedway), teams will now only be permitted to change a maximum of two tires per caution period (previously, they may change all four tires during a caution period).

In addition, practice time will be reduced by approximately 15 – 30 minutes per event, excluding the Martinsville Speedway championship weekend. This will allow race-day schedules to be condensed and permit teams to arrive at tracks later in the day.

The all new book, The Modified Years At Stafford, by the Grace of God and 600 hp, is gaining interest and has become a must have in race fans and competitors library. Race by Race, Year by Year, it’s all there. Read all about it! Books are now available on Amazon.com and Coastal 181 (877-907-8181 toll free) and are available thru Stafford’s web site in their store. Order yours now. Makes a great gift!

With the cooperation of the Arute family another book has been published with pictures and biographies of the 50 Greatest Drivers at Stafford.

The Stafford Motor Speedway had become the epicenter of NASCAR Modified racing in the northeast by the late 1980’s. From its dirt beginnings to its lightning-fast asphalt, Stafford had become the toughest and most gratifying track to score a victory. The Arute family which has owned and guided the destiny of the facility commissioned their thousands of loyal fans to name their favorite drivers. In alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone:

Tom Baldwin, Gene Bergin, Brett Bodine, Geoff Bodine, Ken Bouchard, Ron Bouchard, Mario “Fats” Caruso, Rene Charland, Ted Christopher, Leo Cleary, Tim Connolly, Jerry Cook, Corky Cookman, Pete Corey, Fred DeSarro, Richie Evans, Mike Ewanitsko, Ed Flemke, Sr., Jeff Fuller, Rick Fuller, Ernie Gahan, Bill Greco, Bo Gunning, Ray Hendrick, George “Moose” Hewitt, Tony Hirschman, George Janoski, Charlie Jarzombek, George Kent, Buddy Krebs, Randy LaJoie, Jan Leaty, Jerry Marquis, Mike McLaughlin, Ray Miller, Steve Park, Bob Polverari, Bob Potter, Brian Ross, John “Reggie” Ruggiero, Greg Sacks, Ollie Silva, “Wild” Bill Slater, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Stefanik, Carl “Bugsy” Stevens, George Summers, Jamie “The Jet” Tomaino, Maynard Troyer and Satch Worley.

Books are priced at $17.95 each and be purchased at the track at the Novelty Booth or at the Stafford Motor Speedway on line store. Books are also available at Amazon.com and at Coastal181 (877-907-8181).