STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Stafford Motor Speedway welcomed the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour back to Stafford Speedway for the first time since the 2021 NAPA Fall Final for the GAF 150 on August 28th.
Teddy Hodgdon scored his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win by outlasting Matt Hirschman in the closing laps after a late race caution
The race got started with a pileup in turn 2 as Justin Bonsignore and Austin Beers spun and collected the cars of Doug Coby, Jon McKennedy, and Paulie Hartwig to bring the caution out. This put Andrew Molleur into the race lead with Stephen Kopcik in second, Patrick Emerling in third, and Cory DiMatteo fourth for the restart.
The race restarted on lap-8 with Kopcik taking the lead. Molleur was second with Emerling third DiMatteo fourth and Micheal Christopher, Jr. fifth. Molleur touched tires with Kopcik on lap 9 and he slipped back to third as Emerling charged into second behind Kopcik. Christopher was looking to the inside of Molleur for third but was unable to make a pass. Ronnie Williams was now fifth with 15 laps complete with Kopcik leading Emerling, Molleur, and Christopher.
Chase Dowling took fifth place from Molleur on lap 25 with Williams now in fourth place behind Kopcik, Emerling, and Christopher. Christopher rode behind Emerling until lap 43 when he made a move to Emerling’s inside and he took second place. Kopcik was still in the lead with Williams and Dowling still in fourth and fifth place. Molleur was sixth followed by Matt Hirschman, Teddy Hodgdon, DiMatteo, and Eric Goodale.
Christopher nearly took the lead from Kopcik on lap 50 but he couldn’t complete the pass and fell back into second behind Kopcik. Christopher was now all over the back bumper Kopcik looking for a way to get around, but Kopik was able to hold him off for now. Max Zachem spun in turn 2 to bring the caution flag out on lap-56. Under the caution period, the majority of lead lap cars came to pit road for tires and adjustments.
Bonsignore took the lead on the restart with Dowling in second. Kopcik was third with Emerling fourth and Hirschman fifth. Kopcik went around Dowling on the high side to move into second on lap-65 and set his sights on Bonsignore in the lead. Emerling fell from fourth to sixth as Hirschman took fourth and Hodgdon fifth on lap 71.
Kopcik took the lead from Bonsignore on lap 74 and Bonsignore began to slowly slide backwards as Hodgdon took second, Dowling third, and Hirschman fourth as Bonsignore fell from second back to fifth. Christopher would get by Bonsignore to take fifth place on lap 81 while up front, Hodgdon was hounding Kopcik for the lead. Hodgdon would take a look to Kopcik’s inside, but Kopcik was able to deny Hodgdon’s moves.
Hodgdon was finally able to make a pass on lap 91 to move into the lead and drop Kopcik back to second place after almost 20 laps of trying to make the move. Dowling was still third with Hirschman fourth and Christopher fifth.
Hirschman was able to get alongside Dowling in a fight for third place as the race hit the lap-100 mark but he wasn’t able to complete the pass until lap-104. Hirschman and Kopcik touched in turn 4 fighting for second with Kopcik going around to bring the caution flag out on lap-130.
The race restarted on lap-136 with Hirschman streaking into the lead as Hodgdon got sideways and fell back to second. Christopher was third in line with Goodale fourth and Emerling fifth. Hodgdon got back to the inside of Hirschman on lap-138 and he took the lead on lap 139. Dowling and Christopher drifted up the track in turn 1 on lap 146, allowing Emerling to pass them both but that was short lived as Dowling recovered back into third and Bonsignore fourth to drop Emerling back to fifth. Hodgdon led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first career Whelen Modified Tour victory at his former home track. Hirschman came home in second with Dowling, Bonsignore, and Emerling rounding out the top five.
Alexander Pearl topped the SK modified feature, while Josh Wood won the late model race and Nick Anglace claimed the SK Light main event.
The finish:
Teddy Hodgdon, Matt Hirschman, Chase Dowling, Justin Bonsignore, Patrick Emerling, Jon McKennedy, Stephen Kopcik, Michael Christopher Jr., Eric Goodale, Paulie Hartwig III, Andrew Molleur, Tyler Rypkema, Doug Coby, Joey Cipriano, Austin Beers, Max Zachem, Matt Swanson, Tommy Catalano, Ronnie Williams, Cory DiMatteo, Matt Kimball, Ken Heagy, John-Michael Shenette, Trevor Catalano, Dave Sapienza.
