STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Stafford Speedway hosted another round of Stafford Weekly Racing on Friday, with Open Modified cars on hand for the Bud Light Open 80.
Woody Pitkat led the final 13 laps to come home the winner after Ronnie Williams and Ronnie Silk made contact while racing for the lead, forcing them to restart from the rear of the field.
Chase Dowling took the lead at the start of the race with polesitter Ronnie Williams slotting into second. Williams didn’t spend long in second as he dove to the inside of Dowling on lap 2 and went back to the front.
NASCAR driver Ryan Preece moved from 10th to sixth in the early laps of the event. A caution flew with 7 laps complete for a spin in turn 2 involving the cars of Dave Salzarulo, Eric Goodale, and Robert Bloxsom, III.
Silk took command of the race on the restart with Williams right behind him in second. Pitkat took second from Williams on lap 11 with Preece up to fourth. The caution came back out with 13 laps for a spin coming out of turn 4 by Matt Swanson.
Silk resumed his place at the front of the field back under green. Preece made a move to the inside of Williams on lap 21 to move into third place as Silk continued to hold the race lead with Pitkat in second.
On lap 36, Preece pulled out of line and brought his car down pit road before going behind the wall while the caution came out with 37 laps complete for a spin in turn 2 by Mark Bakaj. Under the caution the field minus the car of Silk came down pit road for tires and service.
Silk powered his way into the lead on the restart, but then the caution came back out with 38 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Frank L’Etoile, Jr.
Several cars came together at the rear of the field on the restart with L’Etoile taking a hit into the turn 1 wall. At the same time, Anthony Flannery’s car had damage and briefly caught fire before coming to a stop on the backstretch. The incident brought the yellow and red flags out before a lap could be completed.
The caution came back out with 61 laps complete for a spin in turn 1 by Anthony Bello.
The field completed one lap before the caution came back out again for Rufrano, who came to a stop in the frontstretch grass. On the ensuing restart, Williams took the lead with Galko, Pitkat, Silk, and Izzo behind him. Silk quickly took third on lap 64 and set his sights on the two leaders.
The caution came back out with 66 laps complete for a multi-car spin in turn 4 involving the cars of Noah Korner, Matt Swanson, Cory DiMatteo, and Buddy Charette.
The two leaders touched in turn 2 after a restart, which sent Williams into a 360 degree spin and brought the caution out with 67 laps complete. Silk was put to the rear of the field for the contact with Williams.
Under the caution, Galko’s car came to a stop at the entrance to turn 3 and had to be pushed back to pit road. This put Dylan Izzo and Pitkat on the front row for the restart.
Pitkat took the lead with a sideways drift in turn 3, and held on to score the victory.
Christopher wound up second, Izzo finished third with Dowling and Hodgdon rounding out the top-five.
In the SK Modified feature, Bryan Narducci scored his first win of the season, with Cory DiMatteo following in second.
For the second consecutive week, Adam Gray scored the Late Model feature win, ahead of Michael Wray.
In the 20-lap SK Light feature event, Alexander Pearl earned the victory, with Joey Ferrigno and Cassandra Cole behind him.
The Limited Late Model feature saw Devon Jencik take the lead on the final restart en route to the win over Alexandra Fearn.
In street stocks, it was all Bobby Stirk III, taking his second victory of the season with Travis Hydar coming home second.