STAFFORD SPRINGS, Ct. — Ron Silk picked up where he left off in modified competition at Stafford Speedway by taking the checkered flag in the 51st annual NAPA Spring Sizzler on Saturday night.
Silk followed up his NAPA Fall Final victory at Stafford last September with a win in his NAPA Duel qualifying race en route to his Spring Sizzler title. With $11,500 in lap money, $3,500 from winning his Duel and $20,000 for the main event triumph, Silk goes home with a payday of $35,050.
The race took the green flag with Matt Hirschman leading the field to green. He initially took the lead with Silk, Woody Pitkat, Marcello Rufrano and Stephen Kopcik lining up behind him. Silk was applying heavy pressure to Hirschman’s back bumper and he dove to the inside of Hirschman on lap four to take over the lead.
The caution flew with nine laps complete for a spin in turn two by Ryan Doucette.
Silk took command on the restart with Pitkat and Hirschman wheel-to-wheel for second. Pitkat took second on lap 10 with Kopcik fourth and Rufrano fifth. Rufrano went by Kopcik on lap 12 to move into fourth, dropping Kopcik back a spot to fifth. Silk continued to lead Pitkat and Hirschman.
The caution came back out with 18 laps complete as Jake Johnson appeared to lose an engine.
Silk took the lead back under green with Pitkat, Hirschman, Rufrano and Matt Galko lined up behind him. Korner was sixth, followed by Doug Coby, Michael Christopher, Jr., Eric Goodale and Anthony Bello. The caution came out with 24 laps complete for a spin in turn three by Andrew Krause.
Silk took the lead on the restart with Pitkat, Hirschman, Galko and Coby behind him. Rufrano was sixth followed by Goodale, Bello, Kopcik and Blewett. The caution came back out with 30 laps complete for a spin in turn two by Krause.
Silk again took the lead on the restart with Hirschman looking to the inside of Pitkat for second before backing out and slotting into third. Galko was fourth with Coby right behind him in fifth. Goodale was up to sixth with Bello, Kopcik, Blewett and Christopher behind him. Rufrano spun coming out of turn two to bring the caution back out with 34 laps complete.
Silk again took the lead with Pitkat right behind him on the restart.
Hirschman and Coby were still third and fourth with Bello now up to fifth. Galko was back to sixth in line with Goodale, Kopcik, Christopher and Ronnie Williams rounding out the top 10. The caution came back out with 44 laps complete for Bobby Santos, III and Marcello Rufrano, who both got into the frontstretch wall.
Under the caution, Coby and Galko came to pit road for a tire change and adjustments.
Silk took the lead ahead of Pitkat and Hirschman on the restart with Bello in fourth and Goodale up to fifth.
Ronnie Williams moved up to sixth with Christopher, Teddy Hodgdon, Chase Dowling and Chris Pasteryak now making up the top 10. Hirschman lost several spots and fell back to sixth place on lap 47 as Bello went to third, Goodale fourth and Williams fifth.
With 40 laps to go, Silk was still in the lead with Pitkat in second.
Goodale was now in third with Bello and Williams making up the top five. Sixth through 10th were Hirschman, Christopher, Hodgdon, Dowling and Pasteryak. Narducci got into the turn two wall and came to a stop to bring the caution out with 65 laps complete. This caution period was when the majority of the leaders came to pit road for new tires and adjustments.
Silk won the race off of pit road with Goodale, Hodgdon, Pitkat, McKennedy, Williams, McLaughlin, Glen Reen, Hirschman, Christopher, Bello and Kopcik behind him. This put Coby and Galko on the front row for the restart, with Spencer Davis and Matt Swanson in the second row.
Coby took the lead on the restart with Galko giving chase in second.
Silk quickly sliced his way through traffic to move into third with Pitkat fourth and Davis fifth. Silk went by Galko to move into second on lap 69, with Goodale getting around Davis to move into fifth. Pitkat took third from Galko on lap 72, while Silk caught and passed Coby on lap 74 to retake the lead.
With 25 laps to go, the order was Silk, Coby, Pitkat, Goodale, McKennedy, Galko, Davis, Hirschman, Kopcik and Christopher. The caution came back out with 75 laps complete for McLaughlin, who had an issue with his car and came to pit road.
Silk was back out front on the restart with Pitkat taking second from Coby.
Goodale was fourth in line, McKennedy fifth and Hirschman sixth.
With 10 laps to go, it was still Silk in the lead with Pitkat, Coby, Goodale and Hirschman lined up behind him. Pitkat closed in on Silk’s bumper on the final lap but couldn’t make a pass coming to the checkered flag. Coby finished third with Hirschman and Goodale rounding out the top five.
SK Modified Feature Results (40 Laps)
In the SK Modified feature event, Jimmy Blewett led the field to the green and he began to set the early pace with Michael Christopher, Jr. going around Cory DiMatteo to take second behind Blewett. Chris Jones was fourth in line in the early going with Keith Rocco quickly moving from seventh at the start up to fifth.
Christopher made a move to the inside of Blewett on lap six, but wasn’t able to make the pass. Christopher then came under attack from DiMatteo on lap seven, but he was able to hold off that challenge.
With 10 laps complete, the order was Blewett in the lead followed by Christopher, DiMatteo, Stephen Kopcik and Rocco. Anthony Bello was sixth followed by Jon Puleo, Noah Korner, Mikey Flynn and Todd Owen. Bello was black flagged on lap 15 and he had to report to pit road for dumping fluid.
David Arute was shown the black flag on lap 20 for fluid, while Blewett and Christopher were still the tow lead cars with DiMatteo, Rocco and Kopcik giving chase. Marcello Rufrano was the car on the move in the first half of the race, taking 11th on lap 22 after starting shotgun on the field in 28th.
The caution flew with 24 laps complete for a spin by Rich Gautreau that collected Rufrano, who pulled off the track and behind the wall, ending his great run.
Blewett took the lead back under green with Christohper in second. Kopcik and DiMatteo were wheel to wheel for third place with Rocco and Korner right behind them. Kopcik took third on lap 26 with Rocco taking fourth and Korner fifth as DiMatteo slid back to sixth. Christopher’s car dropped off the pace on lap 29 and he pulled on to pit road just as the caution flew for spins in turn four by Dylan Kopec and Tom Bolles.
Blewett took the lead back under green with Rocco moving up to second, but before a lap could be completed, the caution came out for Rich Gautreau who hit the wall in turn four. Blewett took the lead back under green with Rocco in second.
DiMatteo and Kopcik ran wheel-to-wheel for a lap before DiMatteo got clear into third place. Korner took fourth, with Kopcik sliding back to fifth while up front, Rocco was applying heavy pressure to Blewett for the lead.
Korner’s car dropped off the pace on lap 37 and he limped back to pit road after running in fourth place. This promoted Kopcik to fourth and Mikey Flynn to fifth as Blewett was still in command over Rocco and DiMatteo. Blewett slowly stretched out his advantage over Rocco in the closing laps and he picked up his second career SK Modified win at Stafford, his first since the 2005 NAPA Fall Final.
Rocco came home second with DiMatteo, Kopcik and Flynn rounding out the top five.
Late Model Feature Results (30 Laps)
Michael Wray led the field to green and he took the early lead before giving way to Tom Fearn.
With five laps complete, it was Fearn leading Wray, Kevin Gambacorta, Andrew Durand and Zack Robinson. Gambacorta got by Wray on lap six to move into second place. With 10 laps complete, the order was still Fearn, Gambacorta, Wray, Durand and Robinson.
Adam Gray was sixth with Darrell Keane, Wayne Coury, Jr., Ryan Fearn and Paul Varricchio, Jr. rounding out the top 10. The caution came out with 13 laps complete for a spin by Alexandra Fearn in turn four.
Fearn took the lead back under green while Wray moved into second. Durand and Gambacorta were door to door for third, with Durand taking the spot on lap 14. Robinson was fifth. The car of John Blake spun in turn two, which brought the caution back out with 15 laps complete.
Fearn and Wray took the top two spots on the restart with Durand moving up to third. Gambacorta was fourth in line with Robinson in fifth. Durand got very loose coming out of turn two on lap 18, which saw him slide from third back to 10th place. With 10 laps to go, Fearn was now leading Wray, Gambacorta, Robinson and Gray.
Coury was sixth followed by Ryan Fearn, Keane, Butler and Durand.
Alexandra Fearn spun in turn two to bring the caution out with 23 laps complete.
On the restart, Dave Wray got loose and got into Andrew Durand with Wray collecting the car of Alexandra Fearn to bring the caution right back out. Tom Fearn took the lead back under green with Gambacorta moving up to second. Adam Gray pulled alongside Gambacorta on lap 24 and he took over second.
Gray’s move opened the door for Wray to also get by Gambacorta to take third. Fearn led Gray to the checkered flag to win the first race of the season. Wray finished third, with Gambacorta and Keane rounding out the top five.
SK Light Feature Results (20 Laps)
Casey Vogt spun in turn on the start with Daltin McCarthy driving through the grass to bring the caution out before a lap could be completed. Tyler Chapman took the lead at the green with Brian Sullivan and George Bessette, Jr. side by side for second place.
The caution came back out with one lap complete for a spin in turn one by Amanda West, Brandon Michael, Vogt, Evan Bourgeois, Sami Anderson and several others.
Chapman took the lead on the restart with Bessette and Sullivan again going wheel to wheel for second. Jason Chapman was fourth in line with Joey Ferrigno and Bob Charland side-by-side for fifth. Sullivan took second on lap three while Ferrigno took fifth. The caution came back out with four laps complete for a spin in turn three by Andy Marchese.
The field didn’t complete a lap before the caution came back out for a spin in turn four by Vogt that collected the car of Paul Arcari.
The next restart saw Brandon Hunt back into the turn two wall to bring the caution right back out. Tyler Chapman took the lead again on the restart with Bessette and Sullivan resuming their duel for second. Chris Matthews was up to fourth before the caution came back out with eight laps complete for a multi-car accident in turn three involving Ed Chicoski, Todd Clark, Matt Brewer, Brandon Hunt, Andy Marchese and Stephen Kalogiannis.
Tyler Chapman was back in the lead on the restart with Sullivan in second, Bessette third, Matthews fourth and Alexander Pearl fifth. Nick Anglace was sixth with Jason Chapman, Jack Baldwin, Tyler Barry and Nickolas Hovey making up the top 10.
Sullivan rode behind Chapman until lap 14 when he made his move to take over the lead. Bessette followed him to take over second and drop Chapman back to third. Pearl was up to fourth with Anglace in fifth when the caution came back out with 16 laps complete for a spin in turn four by Joey Ferrigno.
Sullivan took the lead on the restart with Tyler Chapman taking second.
Anglace worked his way to the inside of Bessette to move into third with Baldwin up to fifth. Anglace went wide in turn four on lap 19, which allowed Bessette to get back by him and move into third. Sullivan pulled to the outside of Chapman on the final lap and they drag raced out of turn four to the checkered flag with Sullivan taking the win by inches over Chapman in a photo finish.
Bessette finished third with Anglace and Baldwin rounding out the top five.