STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — The rescheduled 52nd NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway saw Ron Silk come up as the big winner for the second consecutive year, taking home a grand total of $34,750 for his efforts on Friday night.
Silk won his NAPA Qualifying Duel on April 27 for $3,500 and combined with his $20,000 winner’s purse plus $11,250 in lap money from Friday, tallying his grand total to$34,750.
Silk’s last three Stafford feature victories, the 2022 NAPA Fall Final plus the 2023-’24 NAPA Spring Sizzlers, has seen him and the No. 16 Haydt-Yannone team take home nearly $100,000 in prize money.
Stafford’s five weekly divisions were also in action. Cory DiMatteo notch his first SK Modified feature win of the season after a thrilling duel with Michael Christopher, Jr. Defending late model champion Kevin Gambacorta notched his first late model win of the season.
Tyler Chapman was victorious in the SK Light feature, Devon Jencik scored a dominating win in the limited late model feature and Travis Downey was the beneficiary of Ryan Waterman and Travis Hydar tangling in the final corner to pick up his first Street Stock win of the season.
As It Happened
The race took the green flag with Teddy Hodgdon taking the early lead ahead of Matt Swanson, Jon McKennedy and Ronnie Silk. Michael Christopher, Jr. moved from eighth to fifth on the opening lap and he had Marcello Rufrano, Doug Coby, Max Zachem, Justin Bonsignore and Ronnie Williams behind him.
Swanson took the lead from Hodgdon on lap four and Silk took second from Hodgdon on lap six. Hodgdon slotted into third with McKennedy fourth and Christopher fifth.
Silk powered his way by Swanson and into the lead on lap eight. Noah Korner spun coming out of turn four to bring the first yellow flag of the event out with 16 laps complete.
Silk took the lead with Swanson in second back under green but the caution came right back with 17 laps complete as Tommy Barrett, Buddy Charette and Joey Mucciacciaro got into the turn three wall.
On the restart, Nick Halkowicz came to a stop in turn two with a flat tire that brought the caution back out before a lap could be completed. The next restart saw Silk again take the lead with McKennedy moving into second.
Halkowicz spun in turn three to bring the caution out with 23 laps complete.
Silk powered back into the lead on the restart with McKennedy and Swanson still behind him. Christopher followed Pitkat by Bonsignore on the following lap but before the lap could be completed the caution flew for a spin in turn two by George Bessette Jr.
Silk took the lead back under green with Swanson getting around McKennedy for second after several laps of wheel to wheel racing. Chris Pasteryak and Bessette both spun in the middle of turns three and four to bring the caution flag back out with 34 laps complete.
Korner spun in turn one to bring the caution back out one lap after the restart with Silk still in command and Swanson behind him in second.
Silk completed two more laps before the caution came back out for Bessette, who spun in turn three and then Coby and Swanson came together in turn two with Coby going around.
The restart saw McKennedy going around in turn two, which collected several other cars including Hodgdon, before a lap could be completed. Silk took the lead on the next restart with Pitkat working his way around Swanson to move into second. Christopher was fourth with Bonsignore in fifth.
Bonsignore’s car dropped off the pace on lap 47 and he limped back to pit road. Galko and Cory DiMatteo took a hard hit into the turn one wall to bring the yellow and red flags out with 49 laps complete.
Under the caution period, the leaders came to pit road for tires and adjustments with Silk winning the race off pit road followed by Pitkat, Rocco, Coby, Swanson, Williams, Hirschman, Korner, Goodale, Owen, Christopher, Pasterya and David Arute.
McKennedy and Perry were the new leaders and they occupied the top two spots on the restart while Tommy Barrett Jr. began to slide backwards as Pitkat took third, Coby fourth and Williams fifth.
McKennedy was back in command on the restart but Silk was slicing his way through traffic and he retook the lead on lap 60.
With 30 laps to go, it was still Silk out front. Halkowicz brought the caution back out with 81 laps complete with a spin in turn two.
Silk resumed his place at the front of the pack on the restart with McKenendy holding second and Pitkat third. Coby moved into sixth on lap 85 and began to hound Williams for fifth place. Coby’s car, however, dropped off the pace on lap 90 and he slowly brought the car back to pit road.
sWith one lap to go, Williams dropped off the pace and brought his car to pit road. Silk cruised to the checkered flag to win the race and the $20,000 purse that goes along with it for the second consecutive season. McKenendy finished second with Pitkat, Swanson and Hirschman rounding out the top five.