STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — It was a night of first-time winners at Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night with Marcello Rufrano taking the SK Modified feature, Paul Varricchio Jr. the late model feature, Nickolas Hovey in the SK Light feature, Kyle Theriault with the limited late models and Tyler Trott the street stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified feature event, Steven Chapman took the lead at the drop of the green flag with Mikey Flynn taking second. Michael Gervais Jr. was third in line followed by Noah Korner and the side-by-side duo of Rufrano and Anthony Flannery.
Flynn took the lead from Chapman on lap two with Gervais and Flannery now wheel-to-wheel for second with Flannery in fourth. Gervais took second and then he nearly took the lead from Flynn on lap five.
Gervais got clear into the lead on lap six, but Flannery made a move to his inside on lap seven to go wheel-to-wheel for the lead. Flannery had the lead at the line to complete lap seven and he got clear into the lead on lap eight.
Flynn made a move to the inside of Gervais for second on lap 11 and he got clear into second on lap 14. Todd Owen and Gervais were now wheel-to-wheel for third with Rufrano and Chapman right behind them.
Positions continued to shuffle as Gervais moved back into third on lap 16 with Rufrano in fourth and Owen slid back to fifth. The caution flag came out with 17 laps complete for a spin in turn four by Curt Brainard.
The restart saw a multi-car accident in turn one with Bryan Narducci’s car taking the worst of the damage to bring the caution right back out.
Flannery took the lead on the restart with Gervais in second. Flynn was third with Owen fourth and Dylan Kopec up to fifth. Owen moved into third on lap 19 behind Flannery and Gervais while Flynn and Kopec were now racing side-by-side for fourth.
The caution came out with 34 laps complete for a spin by David Flammia Jr. in turn four to set up a six-lap sprint to the finish.
Flannery took the lead back under green with Andrew Molleur taking second from Owen. Rufrano pulled alongside Owen for third before the caution came back out with 36 laps complete for a second spin in turn four by David Flammia Jr.
Rufrano went three-wide with Flannery in the middle and Molleur to the outside on the restart to move into the lead. The caution came back out with 37 laps complete as contact mid-pack collected the cars of Flynn, Korner, John Sandberg, R.J. Marcotte and Brainard.
It was a high-speed pace lap on the restart with the top three rows all racing wheel-to-wheel. Rufrano and Flannery ran the final three laps side-by- side with Rufrano holding off Flannery and Molleur in a near three-wide finish at the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the season.
Flannery took second by a nose over Molleur in third with Gervais nipping Owen at the line for fourth.