STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Stafford Speedway returned to racing action on Friday with the Sixth Annual Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night with the SK Lights taking center stage with a 40-lap extra distance event that paid a guaranteed $1,750-to-win.
Brian Sullivan was the big winner of the night, taking his fourth win of the season in the extra distance, extra money Dunleavy’s Modifiedz Night feature event.
Zach Aszklar led the field to the green flag and he led the first lap, but Meghan Fuller took over the lead on lap two. Alexander Pearl took second from Aszklar and then he moved by Fuller to take the lead on lap three.
Amanda West went to the outside of Aszklar to move into third on lap four just before the caution flew for Frank L’Etoile, Jr. and Ed Chicoski who both spun coming out of turn four.
Pearl took the lead on the restart with West taking second. Fuller settled into third with Aszklar fourth and Chris Matthews fifth. Aszklar made a move to the inside of Fuller on lap eight to move into third and that move opened the door for Matthews to take fourth, Sullivan fifth, and William Lambros sixth as Fuller slid back to seventh.
Fuller and West were starting to stretch out their advantage over the chasing cars as the race approached lap 15 while third through 11th place were all running nose to tail in a pack of cars. The caution came back out with 19 laps complete as Fuller came to a stop at the exit of turn two.
The caution came right back out before the field completed a full lap as the cars of Jason Chapman, Matt Brewer, Paul Arcari, Bob Charland, Daltin McCarthy, Norm Sears, and Sami Anderson all got into the turn four wall while David Webb slid through the infield grass.
West took the lead on the restart with Sullivan moving into second. Pearl fell back to third in line with Tyler Chapman and Tyler Barry wheel-to-wheel for fourth place. The caution came back out with 22 laps complete for Stephen Kalogiannis, who spun in turn two.
Sullivan took the lead on the outside of West as the race went back to green. Chapman also went by West to take second. Aszklar spun in turn four to bring the caution back out with 23 laps complete.
Sullivan and Chapman went wheel-to-wheel on the restart for the lead with Sullivan holding the lead by a nose at the line. Pearl was third in line with Barry and West fighting for fourth place. Chapman took the lead from Sullivan by a nose at the line just before the caution came back out for Nick Anglace, who came to a stop on the backstretch access road.
Chapman and Sullivan resumed their wheel-to-wheel duel for the race lead on the restart with Sullivan getting clear into the lead on lap 28. Barry was now third in line behind Sullivan and Chapman with Pearl fourth, Matthews fifth, and George Bessette, Jr. sixth.
Pearl took third from Barry on lap 30 while Bessette took fifth from Matthews on lap 31 as Sullivan continued to lead with Chapman, Pearl, and Barry making up a four-car train in the fight for the lead.
Pearl took second from Chapman on lap 33 and after two laps of side-by-side racing, finally got clear into second on lap 35. Bessette had closed in on the top-four cars to now make a five-car train for the lead with five laps to go. The caution came back out with 37 laps complete for Casey Vogt, who spun in turn four.
Sullivan wasted no time in immediately taking the lead on the restart while Pearl and Chapman were wheel-to-wheel for second. Pearl took the spot on lap 39 while Bessette and Barry were wheel to wheel for fourth. Pearl closed in on the bumper of Sullivan but couldn’t quite make a pass for the lead as Sullivan took down his fourth win of the season. Pearl finished second with Chapman, Bessette, and Barry rounding out the top-five.
Other feature winners were Marcello Rufrano taking win No. 2 of the season in the SK Modified feature and Tom Fearn made it back-to-back wins and three wins overall in the Late Model feature.
Matt Clement took down his third win of the season in the Limited Late Model feature while Travis Hydar scored his third win of the season in the Street Stock feature.