RPW Exclusive: The Champ Trail: Stafford Finally “Sizzles” For 2025 & Much More…

Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – The fickle New England weather which wreaked havoc on racing events at Thompson and Loudon forced its wrath on the Spring Sizzler at Stafford last weekend as heavy rain fell upon the speedway on Saturday forcing speedway officials to cancel Saturday’s program and compress everything into Sunday.

The only casualty from Saturday’s rain was a 30 lap SK Light event that was rescheduled to Friday, May 9.

Over 40 tour type modifieds had filed entries for the 53rd annual Spring Sizzler.

It was a typical Sizzler day, the sun was in and out most of the day but the grandstands and pits were near capacity. Stephen Kopcik overcame an early race penalty to work his way back to the front of the field and took control of the race in the second half to score his first career NAPA Spring Sizzler® victory.

The race took the green flag with Jake Johnson and Joey Cipriano leading the field and it was Johnson who jumped the start, setting the early pace. Johnson would only lead the first lap as Michael Christopher, Jr. took the lead on lap-2. Sam Rameau was third in the early going behind Christopher and Johnson with Cipriano fourth and Matt Hirschman fifth. Jon McKennedy was sixth followed by Ron Silk, Marcello Rufrano, Anthony Nocella, and Matt Swanson.

Rufrano went by McKennedy on lap-9 to move into seventh place while Christopher and Johnson continued to lead the field. Dana DiMatteo got into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution out with 11 laps complete.

Christopher and Johnson were wheel to wheel for the lead back under green with Rameau in third. Hirschman was fourth and Silk was fifth in line. Johnson went by Christopher on lap-11 to move back into the lead. Behind Johnson, Christopher, and Rameau, Silk got around Hirschman to move into fourth place before the caution came out with 15 laps complete for a spin in the middle of turns 1+2 by Cipriano. Under the caution period, Silk pulled to the high side of the track and let the field pass by before he brought his car to pit road.

Johnson took the lead back under green with Rameau taking second. Matt Swanson was now up to third with Hirschman fourth and McKennedy fifth. Stephen Kopcik was sixth in line followed by Christopher, Austin Beers, Jake Lutz, and Eric Goodale. Rameau spun in turn 4 to bring the caution flag out with 21 laps complete. Kopcik was shown the black flag for making contact with Rameau.

Johnson was back out front on the restart with Swanson up to second behind him. Hirschman was now third in line with McKennedy fourth and Austin Beers fifth. Christopher was followed by Lutz, Woody Pitkat, Goodale, and Keith Rocco. The caution came back out with 29 laps complete for Ronnie Williams, who spun into the wall in turn 2.

Johnson again took the lead on the restart with Hirschman taking second. Swanson slotted into third with Beers fourth and McKennedy in fifth. Lutz got loose on the backstretch and spun around to bring the caution flag back out with 31 laps complete.

Johnson again took the lead as the race resumed on lap-32 with Hirschman, Swanson, McKennedy, Beers, and Pitkat lined up behind him. Cipriano, who had an earlier spin, was now back up to seventh place with Goodale, Nocella, and Rameau making up the top-10.

At the halfway point of the race, it was Johnson, Hirschman, Swanson, McKennedy, Pitkat, Beers, Cipriano, Goodale, Rameau, and Tyler Rypkema. Johnson and Hirschman were beginning to put some distance between themselves and the trio of Swanson, McKennedy, and Pitkat.

Ten laps later on lap-50 Johnson was still in command with Hirschman giving chase. There was now a train of cars behind the lead duo with Pitkat in third place leading Cipriano, Rameau, Rypkema, and Chase Dowling. Johnson’s lead over Hirschman was erased with 59 laps complete for a spin on the backstretch by Max Zachem.

Under the caution period, the leaders all came to pit road for 2 tires and adjustments. Rameau, Rypkema, and Kopcik all stayed out with Johnson winning the race off of pit road to restart in fourth place. Hirschman had an issue on his pit stop and fell from second back to 18th.

Rameau led on the restart and just as Kopcik took the lead from Rameau on lap-61, the caution came out for a multicar incident in turn 3 involving McKennedy and Beers along with several other cars, which put Rameau back in front for the next restart.

The restart saw Johnson get loose and back into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution flag right back out before a lap could be completed. Pitkat was sent to the rear of the field for making contact with Johnson while Johnson was parked for hitting Pitkat’s car under caution.

Kopcik resumed his place out front on the restart with Rameau holding off a hard charge from Dowling to maintain second. Timmy Solomito was up to fourth behind Dowling with Goodale up to fifth. Dowling got around Rameau to move into second while Hirschman was on the charge back up through the field, taking seventh.

With 30 laps to go the order was Kopcik, Dowling, Rameau, Goodale, Solomito, Nocella, Hirschman, Rufrano, Swanson, and Brian Robie. Goodale was coming to life as he took fourth on lap-71 and then third on lap-72. The caution came back out with 75 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Swanson.

Kopcik took the lead on the restart with Goodale taking second. Nocella took third on lap-82 with Dowling settling into fourth, just in front of Solomito, Pitkat, and Hirschman. Nocella was all over the back bumper of Goodale looking for a way to take over second place while Kopcik was slowly lap by lap increasing the gap between himself and Goodale and Nocella. Robie spun coming out of turn 2 to bring the caution out with 92 laps complete and set up an 8 lap sprint to the finish.

The restart saw both Goodale and Dowling go around in turn 3 to bring the caution right back out before a lap could be completed. Kopcik and Nocella went a lap side by side before Kopcik cleared into the lead on lap-93. Nocella worked his way to the inside of Kopcik on lap-94 and he took the lead on lap-95. Pitkat was third behind the two leaders with Solomito fourth and Matt Galko up to fifth. Kopcik got to the inside of Nocella in turn 3 and took over the lead on lap-96. The caution flew with 99 laps complete as Solomito spun into the turn 1 wall to set up a green white checkered finish to determine the winner.

Kopcik took the lead with Pitkat and Nocella going side by side behind him for second. Pitkat got by Nocella on the final lap but couldn’t get close enough to Kopcik as Kopcik took the checkered flag to win the 53rd Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Pitkat finished second with Nocella, Galko, and Cipriano rounding out the top-5. Sixth thru tenth included Brian Robie, Tyler Rypkema, Dana DiMatteo, Timmy Solomito and David Arute, At the finish the thermometer read 47 degrees.

Stafford hosted their five weekly divisions on Sunday, April 27th. Feature winners on the day were Jon Puleo in the SK Modified® feature, Paul Varricchio, Jr. in the Late Model feature, Nickolas Hovey and Brian Sullivan were the winners of the two 20-lap SK Light duels that will set the starting field for the SK Light 30-lap feature on the Friday, May 9 Weekly Racing card, Matt Clement in the Limited Late Model feature, and Bert Ouellette in the Street Stock feature.

The Stafford Speedway will be quiet this Friday as final preparations are being made for the season opener on Friday, May9.

Whelen Modified Tour action will move to the Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, NH which will host the first of two events on May 3.

In a post race inspection by NASCAR Ryan Preece and Joey Logano were disqualified from Sunday’s cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. Preece for having three shims instead of two on his spoiler. Logano for missing a spoiler bolt. Preece had finished second, Logano fifth. Austin Cindric was the event winner.

Coastal 181, Reading For Racers has released their 2024-2025 Catalog of great books. Among the newer titles is “Lazzaro, the man and his machine”. Lou Lazzaro became one of the Northeast’ most revered drivers of all time. He was equally as good on dirt as he was on asphalt. For many years he raced and won, sometimes three to five times a week at his home tracks, the Albany Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY, Fonda Speedway in Fonda, NY and at the Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York. Lazzaro was a regular track representative for the All Star League that raced on dirt and asphalt tracks during the late 60’s. The most remarkable thing was that he did it all with the same car. One of his biggest fans believe it or not was Richie Evans. Other great reading in the Coastal 181 catalog include “Ray Everham-Trophies and Scars”, “Bugsy”, “Richie”, “Eddie Flemke” and “The Soul of a Modified” Lenny Boehlers Ole Blue. Call Coastal181 at 877-907-8181.

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).