Stafford Speedway hosted the CBYD Senator’s Cup and rescheduled Casella Waste Open 80 on Friday, June 21st. Michael Christopher, Jr. was the big winner of the night, not only winning the extra distance 50-lap SK Modified® feature, but the Casella Waste Open 80 as well. Other weekly feature winners on the night were Al Saunders in the Late Model division, Nickolas Hovey in the SK Light division, Adrien Paradis, III in the Limited Late Model division, and Travis Hydar in the Street Stock division.
In the extra distance 50-lap CBYD Senator’s Cup SK Modified® feature, Steven Chapman took the early lead with Austin Beers taking second behind him. Jon Puleo and Mikey Flynn were wheel to wheel for third with David Arute in fifth. A stack up of cars occurred in turn 2 involving Arute, George Bessette, Jr,, Keith Rocco, Curt Brainard, Andrew Molleur, and Puleo that brought the caution flag out with 3 laps complete.
Beers inched his nose in front of Chapman at the line to lead lap-5 after the restart. Chapman went back to the front on lap-6 with Beers now side by side with Flynn for second. Michael Christopher, Jr. was up to fourth with Todd Owen in fifth. Beers took second on lap-8 with Flynn now having to fend off challenges from Christopher for fourth place. The caution came back out with 12 laps complete for a 3 car spin in turn 3 involving Wesley Prucker, Bessette, and Jack Baldwin.
Beers took the lead back under green with Flynn and Chapman going side by side for second. Christopher was fourth in line with Owen in fifth. Michael Gervais, Jr., Joey Ternullo and John Sandberg to tangled together coming off turn 4 and they spun through the frontstretch grass to bring the caution out with 16 laps complete.
Beers took the lead on the restart with Christopher taking second. Flynn was third in line with Owen in fourth and Chapman fifth. Christopher made a move to the inside of Beers in turn 4 and had the lead by a nose at the line. Christopher cleared Beers into the lead on lap-19 with Flynn, Owen, and Gervais now lined up behind the two lead cars. The caution came back out with 21 laps complete for a spin in turn 1 involving Flannery and Chapman.
Christopher went back into the lead on the restart with Owen taking second. Beers was third in line with Gervais fourth and Flynn was dueling side by side with Troy Talman for fifth place. Talman won that duel, but he would lose fifth place to Cory DiMatteo on lap-27. Baldwin spun and got into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution flag back out with 36 laps complete.
Christopher again took the lead back under green with Beers, Gervais, Owen, DiMatteo, Talman, Molleur, Bessette, Hodgdon, and Flynn lined up behind him. Bessette spun in turn 2 to bring the caution flag back out with 40 laps complete.
Christopher resumed his place at the front of the field with Beers right behind him in second. Gervais was third in line with Owen in fourth and Molleur in fifth. Just behind Molleur was DiMatteo, Flynn, Hodgdon and Talman. RJ Marcotte spun in turn 2 to bring the yellow flag back out with 44 laps complete.
Christopher powered his way into the lead back under green with Beers moving into second. Gervais was third with Molleur fourth and Owen’s car got sideways and he lost several spots on lap-47 after running in fifth. Bessette and Arute both spun in turn 4 to bring the caution back out with 47 laps complete and set up a 3 lap sprint to the finish.
The restart saw Beers hang right with Christopher in the fight for the lead as they ran two laps wheel to wheel and were still side by side as they took the white flag. Christopher got clear of Beers on the final lap and he led Beers to the checkered flag to pick up his first SK Modified® win of the 2024 season and double up as he won the Casella 80 earlier in the evening. Gervais nipped Beers at the line for second with Molleur and DiMatteo rounding out the top-5.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature, Chris Buffone took the lead at the green flag with P.J. Zarrella taking second. Behind Zarrella, Tom Butler and Wayne Coury, Jr. were side by side for third with Tom Fearn and Alexandra Fearn behind them. Butler took third with Tom Fearn taking fourth and Alexandra Fearn fifth on lap-3 as Coury slipped back to sixth in line. Alexandra Fearn spun coming out of turn 2 as did Andrew Durand to bring the caution flag out with 5 laps complete.
Buffone took the lead back under green while Al Saunders moved up to second with Josh Wood taking third. Kevin Gambacorta moved into fourth with Cliff Saunders taking fifth. Saunders ran Buffone down and he made a pass for the lead on lap-12. Gambacorta was now third behind Al Saunders and Buffone with Cliff Saunders in fourth and Paul Varricchio, Jr. up to fifth.
With 15 laps complete, the order was still Al Saunders in the lead with Buffone, Gambacorta, Cliff Saunders, and Varricchio making up the top-5. Coury was sixth followed by Darrell Keane, Butler, Alexandra Fearn, and Bobby Stirk, III. With 10 laps to go, Al Saunders was still comfortably in the lead with Buffone fading back to fifth as Gambacorta, Cliff Saunders, and Varricchio took over second, third, and fourth.
Gambacorta couldn’t get close enough to Al Saunders to make a move for the lead as Saunders picked up his first win of the 2024 season. Gambacorta finished second with Cliff Saunders, Varricchio, and Buffone rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Bob Charland took the early lead at the drop of the green flag with Chris Viens taking second. Meghan fuller was third with “Frank L’Etoile, Jr. and Matt Brewer wheel to wheel for fourth. Brewer took fourth on lap-4 with Ron Midford, Jr. taking fifth and leaving L’Etoile to duel wheel to wheel with Casey Vogt for sixth place. Viens was applying heavy pressure to Charland for the lead and they nearly came together coming off turn 4 on lap-3.
Viens made a move to the inside of Charland in turn 4 on lap-10 to move into the lead. Fuller was still third with Brewer fourth and Vogt trying to fend off Nickolas Hovey for fifth. The caution came out with 11 laps complete for a spin by Aiden D’Agata in turn 4.
Viens took the lead on the restart with Charland in second. Fuller and Brewer were side by side for third with Hovey in fifth. Charland worked his way to the inside of Viens to take the lead on lap-14 but before the lap could be completed, the caution came out for Norm Sears, who spun at the exit of turn 2.
The field completed one lap before a multi-car incident broke out in turn 2 with the cars of Viens, Brewer, Fuller, Wade Gagner, and Sami Anderson all involved to bring the caution flag back out.
Hovey took over the race lead on the restart with Charland slotting into second. Alexander Pearl was up to third with Tyler Chapman in fourth and Nick Anglace in fifth. Hovey led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his second consecutive victory of the 2024 season. Charland finished second with Pearl, Tyler Chapman, and Anglace rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, Matt Winter took the lead at the green flag and began to set the early pace. Gary Patnode was second but he would lost that position to Devon Jencik on lap-2 and his car then came to a stop in turn 1 to bring the caution flag out with 3 laps complete.
Winter and Jencik went door to door on the restart with Winter emerging in the lead at the line. Matt Clement took second from Jencik on lap-5 with Jencik slotting into third. Jeremy Lavoie spun coming out of turn 2 to bring the caution flag back out with 6 laps complete.
Winter took the lead back under green with Jencik in second. Paradis moved into third with Clement in fourth and Rich Hammann in fifth. Jencik was applying heavy pressure to Winter for the lead, but Winter was able to hold him off for the time being. Just as soon as Jencik nearly took the lead from Winter, Paradis took second from Jencik on lap-12 and began to set his sights on Winter in the lead.
Paradis made his move going into turn 1 on lap-15 to take the lead from Winter. Hammann was now up to third behind Paradis but the caution flew with 17 laps complete for an incident in turn 4 involving the cars of Matt Clement, Lavoie, and Kevin Cormier.
Paradis took the lead on the restart with Hammann moving into second. Jencik was third in line with Kyle Theriault up to fourth and Winter in fifth. Hammann and Paradis touched coming through turn 4 with Hammann beating Paradis to the line by a nose before the two cars touched again with Hammann spinning backwards on the frontstretch. Hammann was black flagged by Stafford officials for making contact with Paradis coming to the checkered flag, making Paradis a first-time Limited Late Model feature winner. Hammann’s penalty boosted Devon Jencik to second place with Theriault, Cormier, and Ari Jencik rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Street Stock feature event, Jeff Asselin took the early lead and immediately pulled away from the field. Travis Downey was second behind Asselin with Tyler Trott third, Travis Hydar fourth, and Jason Raymond fifth. Hydar took third from Trott on lap-4 and Ryan Waterman moved into fifth place on lap-7 as several cars nearly spun and fell back several spots.
At the halfway point of the race, Downey had taken over the lead with Hydar following him by Asselin to move into second and drop Asselin back to third. Trott was still in fourth with Waterman in fifth and Jason Lafayette in sixth. Hydar took the lead from Downey on lap-13 and began to slowly pull away from Downey.
Hydar led Downey to the checkered flag to pick up his fourth win of the 2024 season. Asselin finished third with Waterman and Trott rounding out the top-5.
For more information contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (860) 684-2783, or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
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