STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Chase Dowling came out on top of a three-wide duel that lasted several laps to win Friday’s SK Modified feature at Stafford Motor Speedway that headlined a busy night of racing.
Tom Bolles and Dan Wesson spun on the backstretch to bring the caution out before a lap could be completed during the SK Modified feature. Bryan Narducci took the lead on the restart with Matt Vassar coming up to second. Chase Dowling and Doug Meservey Jr. were side by side for third place with Teddy Hodgdon taking fifth from Ronnie Williams on lap four. Dowling made a move to the inside of Vassar to move into second on lap five while Hodgdon was side by side with Meservey for fourth place. Bolles and Wesson spun in turn 1 to bring the caution out with five laps complete.
Dowling took the lead from Narducci by a nose at the line on the restart and he got clear to the lead on lap six but the caution came back out for a multicar incident in turn three involving Todd Owen, Mikey Flynn, Noah Korner, and Andrew Molleur.
Dowling and Narducci ran side by side for a lap and a half for the lead before Dowling got clear on lap eight. Vassar was third in line with Michael Gervais, Jr. up to fourth and Marcello Rufrano and Meservey side by side for fifth. Another multi-car incident in turn three involving Molleur, Keith Rocco, Jon Puleo, Tyler Leary, and Flynn brought the caution back out with nine laps complete.
Dowling took the lead again on the restart with Narducci in second. Gervais settled into third with Vassar fourth and Rufrano in fifth. Hodgdon made a move under Rufrano to take fifth on lap 13 with Tyler Hines taking sixth as Rufrano fell back to seventh. Rufrano got loose in turn four on lap 15 and lost several more spots as Todd Owen took seventh and Stephen Kopcik eighth with Rufrano dropping back to ninth place.
At the halfway point of the race, Dowling held a lead of several car lengths over a 5-car train of Narducci, Gervais, Vassar, Hines, and Hodgdon. Gervais made a move to the inside of Narducci on lap 21 to move into second. Hodgdon spun coming down the frontstretch that brought the caution out with 22 laps complete.
On the restart, Narducci spun which collected the cars of Hines, Meservey, Wesson, and Korner to bring the caution right back out. Vassar was sent to the rear by Stafford officials for making contact with Narducci. The restart saw a flurry of action at the front of the field as Gervias took the lead on the outside of Dowling but Dowling came right back to make it three-wide with Gervais and Rufrano with Dowling coming away with the lead before Rufrano went to the front on lap 26. Owen was on a charge, moving into third behind Rufrano and Dowling on lap 27. Dowling went back to the front on lap 28 with a pass in turns three and four. With 10 laps to go, Dowling held the lead with Rufrano, Owen, Michael Christopher Jr., and Gervais right behind him.
Christopher got by Owen to move into third and he took second from Rufrano on lap 38 to move into second place with 2 laps to go. Christopher couldn’t catch Dowling as Dowling notched his first win of the season. Rufrano finished third with Owen and Gervais rounding out the top five.
In other action, Kevin Gambacorta borrowed a ride from Andy Marchese and drove to his first late model win in nearly two years. Nick Anglace scored his first SK Light win in a thrilling duel with Alexander Pearl that came down to the last lap, with Anglace taking the win by the nose of his car. Alexandra Fearn won for the second time this season in the Limited Late Model feature and Frank L’Etoile Jr. earned his second consecutive Street Stock feature victory.