(Stafford Springs, CT)—As the 2025 racing season races toward an exciting finish at Stafford Motor Speedway, all eyes are on NAPA Champions Night scheduled for Friday, October 3rd. With just three events remaining, the competition for track championships is heating up. The SK Modified® division has three races left to decide a champion, while the Late Model, SK Light, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions each have two feature races remaining. Here’s a breakdown of where the title chases stand across all divisions:
SK Modified® Division
The 2025 SK Modified® championship has been a seesaw battle between three standout drivers. Jon Puleo and the #7 Mr. Rooter Plumbing team started strong by winning the season-opening NAPA Spring Sizzler® and holding the points lead for the first four races. He was later overtaken by Michael Christopher, Jr. and the #82 New England Turf / Eastport Feeds / P.T. Watts team, who surged to the top with a dominant three-race win streak beginning on June 13th.
Christopher extended his lead to as much as 30 points, but finishes of 23rd on August 1st and 20th on August 22nd allowed both Puleo and Mikey Flynn to close the gap. After tying with Puleo, Flynn and the #24 Ballyheigue Farm team have now edged ahead by just 2 points, holding the lead with three races remaining. Christopher sits third, 36 points back, followed by Keith Rocco and the #22 Avery Construction Corp. team, 46 points behind, and Troy Talman and the #3 Casella Waste Systems, 64 points behind.
Late Model Division
Five different drivers have held the points lead in a wild Late Model title race. Paul Varricchio, Jr. and the #39 Tavern On The Trax team kicked off the year with two wins and a second-place finish. But a mechanical issue on June 13th cost him the lead, handing it briefly to Andrew Durand and the #43 Universal Plastics team, then to two-time defending champion Kevin Gambacorta and the #23 Lavigne Law team.
The top spot continued to change hands: Darrell Keane and the #79 Jarmoc Farms / Big Kahuna Racing team took over in July before Adam Gray and the #97 Meadows Motor Cars team, former four-time Late Model champions, assumed the lead. Now, with two races to go, Varricchio is back on top, leading Gray by 22 points. Durand is 26 back, Gambacorta 34, Chris Meyer (winner of the last two races) 38, and Keane 40 points behind.
SK Light Modified Division
The 2025 SK Light season looked early on like it was going to be a season of domination by Nickolas Hovey and the #16 Busy Bees Learning Center team. Hovey and his team went on an absolute tear at the start of year with 4 wins to go along with a second and a fourth place finish in the first 6 races to stake themselves to a 44 point advantage. But just as quickly as Hovey built up his lead, it came crashing down as he posted 5 finishes of 11th or worse over the next 7 races following his hot start to the season.
Hovey’s misfortune on the track opened the door for Meghan Fuller and the #2 Propane Plus / P.T. Watts team to catch and then overtake him following the August 15th feature event. Hovey has since gotten back to his front running ways, scoring a win and a second place finish in the last 2 events to close to within 28 points of Fuller with two races remaining. Amanda West and the #15 McKinney Construction team sit third in the points, 30 behind Fuller with Peter Bennett and the #50 GRE6.com team fourth, 44 points behind, and Nick Anglace and the #10 UCONN team fifth, 96 points behind.
Limited Late Model Division
The Limited Late Model division race for the championship has been a see-saw affair between 3 drivers; Matt Clement, Travis Hydar, and Jason Lafayette. Clement, who is the defending Limited Late Model champion, got his title defense off to a great start with wins in the first 2 races of the season. Clement and the #59 USNE Power team would hold the point lead until the June 20th event, when Lafayette and the #55 Tri-State Equipment Repair team took over the top spot in the standings.
After the lead in the championship changed hands in each of the next four races, Hydar seized momentum with his first career win on August 1st, and has since added two more victories and a third-place finish, vaulting him to the top of the standings. With two races left, Hydar leads Rich Hammann and the #28 Striebel Trucking team by 42 points, Jeremy Lavoie and the #6 L + S Equipment team by 44, Lafayette by 46, and RJ Surdell and the #83 Rob Russell Chassis team by 56 points.
Street Stock Division
Stafford’s Street Stock division has been another season of back and forth between four different drivers in the chase for the championship. Bert Ouellette and the #84 American Sign / J & J Trucking team opened the season with a victory in the NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Tyler Trott and the #80 JET Motorsports team were lurking right behind Ouellette early on and the two drivers ended up tied after three races before Ouellette took back the solo point lead.
Brandon Plemons and the #67 Faith Construction team were starting to heat up around mid-season and he tied Ouellette for one week following the completion of the June 27th feature event. Ouellette then held the point led through the month of July before defending Street Stock champion Travis Downey and the #42 P.J. Lodola & Sons, Inc. Electrical Contractors, JRT Motorsports team took command of the championship table. Plemons and his team have been on a hot streak with 4 wins in the last 8 races and he now holds a 2 point advantage over Downey with 2 races to go. Trott sits third in the standings, 48 points behind with Brandon Warren and the #55 SK Property Maintenance / IMC Manufacturing team fourth, 62 points behind, and Jason Raymond and the #49 The Barn Package Store team sitting fifth, 68 points behind.
The 2025 championships will be decided over the final three events of the season with the SK Modifieds® in action on Friday, Sept. 26th for Maybury Back to SKool Kids Night, Saturday, Sept. 27th for the NAPA Fall Final, and NAPA Champions Night on Friday, October 3rd. Stafford’s other four divisions will be in feature action for the Maybury Night on Sept. 26th and NAPA Champions Night on Oct. 3rd. There will be an invitational non-points feature event for the SK Light division as well as a Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series feature on Sept. 27th but the Late Model, Limited Late Model, and Street Stock divisions have no feature that day. Tickets will be available for all 3 events online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and tickets will also be available for purchase at the admission gates. If you are unable to attend any of the final three events in person, tune into the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
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