STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Stafford Speedway was back in action on Friday, May 29th with the Great Rate Rentals Kids Night program as Tyler Chapman earned his first career victory in the SK Modified division.
Wesley Prucker led the field to the green and he led the first lap before giving way to Glen Reen on lap-2. Alex Pearl was third in line behind Reen and Prucker with Troy Talman fourth and Matt Vassar fifth. Talman took third from Pearl on lap-4 while Prucker nearly took the lead from Reen before falling back into line in second place.
Prucker went back into the lead on lap-8 with Reen trying to hold off Talman for second. Pearl was fourth with Dylan Izzo glued to his back bumper in fifth place. Pearl got around both Talman and Reen to move into second with Talman taking third. Reen faded back to tenth place as Izzo took third from Talman. Mikey Flynn took fourth from Talman on lap-13 before the caution flew for spins in turn 2 by Curt Brainard, Josh Morrison, Chase Cook, and David Flammia, Jr.
Prucker took the lead back under green but Pearl took the lead from Prucker one lap after the restart on lap-15. Izzo was up to third with Talman fourth and Jon Puleo up to fifth. Flynn was sixth with Athony Flannery, Tyler Chapan, Keith Rocco, and Cook making up the top-10. The caution came back out with 20 laps complete as Tyler Hines spun coming out of turn 4.
Pearl took the lead on the restart but Izzo worked his way to the inside of Pearl in turns 3+4 and they came to the stripe wheel to wheel. Talman was third behind the lead duo with Prucker fourth and the wheel to wheel duo of Puleo and Flynn fighting for fifth place. Izzo got clear into the lead on lap-24 while Puleo took fifth behind Prucker . Pearl came back to the inside of Izzo on lap-26 but couldn’t complete the pass as Izzo maintained the lead. Prucker spun coming out of turn 2 which collected the majority of the field behind him and brought the caution back out with 26 laps complete.
Izzo took the lead back under green but they could only complete one lap before the caution came back out for the cars of Morrison, Ethan Durocher, Curt Brainard, and Josh Zentek who all spun coming out of turn 4.
Izzo took the lead on the next restart with Talman and Pearl going wheel to wheel for second. Chapman was fourth in line with Puleo fifth. Talman took second on lap-30 with Chapman and Pearl now wheel to wheel for third with Puleo still fifth. Talman came back to the inside of Izzo on lap-31 and he made the pass for the lead on lap-32. Talman and Izzo touched in turn 4, which allowed Chapman to streak into the race lead. Pearl was now second with Talman in third but the caution came back out with 33 laps complete as Puleo and Izzo touched with both cars going into the turn 1 wall.
Pearl took the lead on the restart with Chapman and Rocco side by side for second. There was another pileup of cars midpack to bring the caution back out with 35 laps complete.
Chapman took the lead on the next restart with Talman, the side by side duo of Pearl and Marcello Rufrano, and Rocco lined up behind him. Pearl took third on lap-36 with Rocco now alongside Rufrano in the fight for fourth place with 3 laps to go.
Chapman held off Talman to the checkered flag to pick up his first career SK Modified® feature win at Stafford. Pearl finished third with Rocco and Rufrano rounding out the top five.
Stephen Kalogiannis was also a first-time winner in the SK Light feature. Other feature winners were Darrell Keane in the Late Model feature, Jason Lafayette in the Limited Late Model feature, and Ryan Waterman in the Street Stock feature.
