(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Speedway hosted the Senator’s Cup 50-lap SK Modified® event with Stafford’s Late Model, SK Light, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions also in feature action on Friday, July 15. David Arute was the big winner of the night, picking up his third win of the 2022 season in the extra distance Senator’s Cup feature event. Also scoring feature wins on the night were Kevin Gambacorta in the Late Model feature, Joey Ferrigno was a winner for the first time in 4 years in the SK Light feature, Gary Patnode won the Limited Late Model feature, and Travis Hydar took down the Street Stock feature.
In the 50-lap Senator’s Cup SK Modified® feature, Troy Talman took the lead from Dan Wesson on the first lap with Wesson slotting into second. Michael Christopher, Jr. was wheel to wheel with Andrew Molleur for third place with Bryan Narducci and Michael Gervais, Jr. wheel to wheel behind them for fifth place. Wesson went back by Talman on lap-5 to move back into the race lead. Christopher followed him by Talman to move into second and Narducci was third. The caution and red flags came out with 6 laps complete for Keith Rocco, who took a hard hit into the turn 1 wall along with Gervais and Dylan Kopec, who spun to avoid hitting Rocco and Gervais.
Wesson took the lead back under green but Narducci moved to the lead on lap-7. Ronnie Williams was now wheel to wheel with Wesson and he took second on lap-8. Christopher was now alongside Wesson for third and he took the spot on lap-11. Marcello Rufrano tried to follow Christopher by Wesson, but Wesson shut the door on that move and maintained fourth place. The caution came back out with 14 laps complete for Stephen Kopcik, who got into the wall and came to a stop in the middle of turns 1+2.
Christopher nearly went 3-wide with Narducci and Williams for the lead on the restart but backed out of the move as Narducci took the lead with Christopher taking second to drop Williams back to third. Rufrano came up to fourth with David Arute taking fifth to drop Wesson back to sixth place where Cory DiMatteo was looking to take that spot.
Williams was starting to apply heavy pressure to Narducci for the lead on lap-20 while Arute was all over the back bumper of Rufrano looking to move into fourth place. Arute made the move to get by Rufrano on lap-22 while Williams was still trying to make a pass on Narducci. Williams was able to finally complete a pass to move into the lead on lap-23 but Narducci came right back on lap-24 to retake the lead. The shuffling didn’t end there as Williams made a move back to the inside of Narducci on lap-25 and he took the lead by a nose at the line on lap-26. The caution came back out with 26 laps complete for Wesson, who spun in turn 4.
Williams took the lead back under green with Christopher, Narducci, Arute, and Rufrano lined up behind him. The caution came back out with 29 laps complete for spins in turn 1 by Nick Halkowicz and Brian Sullivan.
Christopher took the lead on the restart with Arute moving up to second. Williams fell back to third with Narducci in fourth and Todd Owen now in fifth. Arute was working Christopher over looking to take over the lead and he was able to get to the inside of Christopher on lap-34 and he took the lead on lap-35. Williams was still in third with Narducci fourth and Owen in fifth. With 10 laps to go, Arute was still in command followed by Christopher, Williams, Narducci, and Owen. Anthony Flannery was sixth followed by Rufrano, Tyler Hines, Molleur, and Anthony Bello.
Arute led Williams to the checkered flag to pick up his third win of the season. Christopher finished third with Narducci and Owen rounding out the top-5.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature, Paul Varricchio, Jr. took the lead at the green flag with Wayne Coury, Jr. right behind him in second. Kevin Gambacorta came up to third followed by Paul Arute and Darrell Keane. Coury went by Varricchio to take over the race lead on lap-3 with Gambacorta moving into second. Arute took third with Andrew Molleur taking fourth and Adam Gray fifth as Varricchio was sliding back to sixth in the outside lane.
Gambacorta went by Coury to take over the lead on lap-5 with Molleur and Gray both getting by Arute to move into third and fourth and drop Arute back to fifth place. With 10 laps complete, the order was still Gambacorta, Coury, Molleur and Gray with Darrell Keane now in fifth place as Arute fell back to seventh place behind Tom Fearn. Ryan Fearn dropped off the pace with a flat right front tire and Michael Wray was given a pit road drive through penalty by Stafford officials.
Gambacorta still held the lead at the halfway point with Coury holding off a hard charging Molleur for second. Gray was still fourth and Keane was fifth in line. Molleur was finally able to make a move get by Coury after several laps of applying heavy pressure on lap-17 to move into second. That move opened the door for Gray to move into third, Keane fourth, and Fearn fifth as Coury slid back to sixth, just in front of Arute.
Gray was starting to apply heavy pressure to Molleur for second with 10 laps ot go and he was able to make a pass on lap-23 to move into second while Gambacorta had pulled away and opened up a large lead. Keane took third on lap-24 to drop Molleur back to fourth with Fearn now looking to take that spot. Fearn made his move to the inside of Molleur on lap-25 and he took over third place.
Gambacorta took the checkered flag to pick up his third win of the 2022 season. Gray finished second with Keane, Fearn, and Molleur rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light feature, the caution came out at the start as Chris Bagnall came to a stop in turn 1 with smoke pouring heavily from his car.
Joey Ferrigno took the lead at the green with Cassandra Cole quickly taking second. Jason Chapman got around Cole to take over second just before the caution came back out with 4 laps complete for a spin in turn 3 that collected the cars of Derek Debbis, Brandon Michael, Casey Vogt, Andy Marchese, and Hailey Desaulniers.
Ferrigno took the lead on the restart with Jason Chapman, Cole, Bob Charland, and Amanda West lined up behind him but the field only completed one lap befor the caution came back out with 5 laps complete for a spin in turn 2 by Debbis, who had a flat tire after contacting the wall coming out of turn 4.
Ferrigno again took the lead back under green followed by Jason Chapman, Charland, Cole, and West. Tyler Chapman made a move to the inside of West on lap-7 to move into fifth place. Desaulniers spun to bring the caution back out with 11 laps complete.
Ferrigno took the lead on the restart with Jason Chapman in second. Charland and Tyler Chapman were third and fourth with Cole and West side by side for fifth place. West took fifth and now Alexander Pearl was on her outside challenging for fifth place on lap-14 as Ferrigno continued to lead.
Jason Chapman was all over the back of Ferrigno with 3 laps to go but Charland took to the outside of Chapman on lap-18 and they ran side by side for second before Charland took the spot as the field came to the white flag. Charland made one last bid for the lead but Ferrigno was able to hold him off to pick up his first win of the season and his first win since July 6, 2018. Pearl finished third followed by Jason Chapman and George Bessette, Jr.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, Jay Clement led the field to the green and he took the early race lead with Ari Jencik behind him in second. Kevin Cormier was third in line with Devon Jencik fourth and Matt Scappini and Gary Patnode side by side for fifth. Devon Jencik took third place from Cormier on lap-2 with Patnode taking fourth from Cormier on lap-3. Cormier slid back to 10th place as Scappini moved into fifth while Jay Clement and Ari Jencik continued to hold the top 2 positions.
Devon Jencik went by Ari Jencik on lap-6 to move into second and Patnode followed him by to take third on lap-7 and drop Ari Jencik back to fourth place. Devon Jencik nearly took the lead from Jay Clement on lap-8 but Clement was able to fend off his challenge. Patnode went by Devon Jencik on lap-10 to move into second place and Ari Jencik was now side by side with Devon Jencik for third place with Scappini in fifth.
Patnode took the lead from Clement on lap-12 with a pass in turn 4 while Jeremy Lavoie was starting to charge to the front by moving into fourth place on lap-16 behind Patnode, Jay Clement, and Devon Jencik. Ari Jencik was fifth behind Lavoie with 3 laps to go.
Patnode held Devon Jencik off to collect his second win of the 2022 season. Jay Clement finished third with Rich Hammann and Ari Jencik rounding out the top-5 as Lavoie spun on the last lap while trying to take third from Clement.
Limited Late Model Feature Results
Limited Late Model Points Standings
In the 20-lap Street Stock feature, Bill Cote took the lead at the green but his time at the front came to an end on lap-2 when he spun on the backstretch, which collected the cars of Travis Downey and Kyle Johnson to bring the caution out with 1 lap complete. Cote’s misfortune put Johnny Walker and Jason Finkbein on the front row for the lap-2 restart.
Walker took the lead on the restart with Bert Ouellette and Nickolas Hovey lined up behind him. Walker held the lead until lap-4 when Ouellette took over the top spot. Hovey settled into second behind Ouellette with Finkbein third, Travis Hydar fourth, and Adrien Paradis, III and Walker side by side for fifth. Tyler Trott spun in turn 2 to bring the caution back out with 6 laps complete.
Ouellette took the lead back under green with Finkbein in second, Hovey in third, Walker in fourth, and Hydar in fifth. Hydar moved up to second behind Ouellette with Finkbein, Hovey, and Paradis behind him when the caution came back out with 13 laps complete for a spin in the middle of turns 3+4 by Rob Sears.
Ouellette took the lead on the restart with Hydar, Finkbein, Hovey, and Paradis lined up behind him. Jason Lafayette was up to sixth followed by Marvin Minkler, Walker, Brandon Warren, and Bill Cote. Paradis got around Hovey to move into fourth and that move brought Lafayette into fifth as Hovey slid back to sixth. Hydar took the lead from Ouellette on lap-17 and he pulled away from Ouellette over the final 3 laps to pick up his fourth win of the 2022 season. Finkbein finished third with Paradis and Lafayette 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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