(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Speedway hosted the NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final headlined by the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series with the SK Modifieds®, SK Lights, and Vintage All-Stars also in feature action. Todd Owen, who had already locked up the 2023 SK Modified® track championship, closed out his season with his third win of the year. Nickolas Hovey came up a first time career winner in the SK Light feature event and Ben Levangie was the winner of the Vintage All-Stars race.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Dylan Kopec led the field to the green flag but it was Troy Talman taking the lead on the opening lap. The caution flew for RJ Marcotte, who got into the turn 2 wall before the field could complete the first lap, which negated Talman’s move for the lead and put Kopec back at the front for the restart.
Kopec led the first lap this time on the restart with Talman taking second right behind him. Mikey Flynn was third in the early going with Cory DiMatteo fourth and Noah Korner just in front of David Arute for fifth place.
Talman made a move to the inside of Kopec on lap-4 to take over the race lead just before the caution came back out for Joey Ternullo, who came to a stop on the backstretch infield.
Talman took the lead back under green with Flynn taking second from Kopec. Michael Gervais, Jr. spun in turn 2 to bring the caution back out with 5 laps complete.
Talman again took the lead on the restart with Kopec taking second from Flynn. DiMatteo and Noah Korner were fighting wheel to wheel for fourth place behind Talman, Kopeck and Flynn. Korner won that battle and Arute followed Korner by DiMatteo to take over fifth and drop DiMatteo back to eighth. The caution came back out with 11 laps complete for Tyler Chapman, who hit the wall in the middle of turns 3+4.
Talman was the leader on the restart with Flynn moving into second. Arute moved up to third with Anthony Flannery taking fourth and Todd Owen fifth. Owen went by Flannery to move into fourth on lap-14 while Flynn was hounding Talman for the lead. Flynn made a move to the inside of Talman on lap-17 and he was able to take the lead at the line. Arute was now wheel to wheel with Talman for second with Owen and Flannery right behind them. Arute took second on lap-18 and he charged by Flynn to take over the race lead on lap-19. Flynn came right back to the inside of Arute on lap-20 to move back out front. The caution came back out with 20 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Kopec.
Flynn took the lead on the restart with Arute holding off Talman to maintain second place. Talman was third in line with Owen fourth and Michael Christopher, Jr. up to fifth. Owen took to the outside lane to move around Talman and take third on lap-23 and he took second from Arute on lap-24. Christopher went by Talman to move into fourth place on lap-25 while Owen was looking to take the lead from Flynn. Flynn and Owen touched with Flynn spinning and hitting the wall in turn 1 to bring the caution out with 27 laps complete.
Owen took the lead on the restart with Christopher taking second from Arute. Keith Rocco was now up to fourth with Talman in fifth before the caution came back out with 28 laps complete for debris on the track.
Owen took the lead on the restart with Christopher nearly taking the lead from him. Christopher fell back to second and he now had Rocco to his outside with Arute on his back bumper on lap-30. Christopher took second on lap-21 with Arute and Rocco now wheel to wheel for third and Flannery in fifth. Arute cleared Rocco on lap-33 and now Flannery was on the inside of Rocco in the fight for fourth place. Rocco held off the challenge from Flannery to keep fourth while Talman made a move to take fifth from Flannery on lap-35. The caution flew with 38 laps complete for a multi-car incident in turn 4 involving John Sandberg, Meghan Fuller, and several other cars to set up a green white checkered finish.
Owen took the lead in front of Christopher on the restart with Arute pulling to the inside of Christopher for second. Owen led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his third win of the 2023 season with Arute holding off Christopher for second. Talman finished fourth with Flannery rounding out the top-5.
Final 2023 SK Modified Points Standings
In the 20-lap SK Light feature event, Nickolas Hovey led the field to the green and he took the early race lead with Sami Anderson in second, David Webb third, Frank L’Etoile, Jr. fourth, and Tim Sullivan fifth. Dean Lambros went by Sullivan on lap-6 to move into fifth just before the caution came out for Paul Acari, who came to a stop in the middle of turns 3+4 after getting into the wall.
Back under green Hovey took the lead with Anderson in second. Webb was third in line with Lambros taking fourth. Austin Goff spun on the backstretch to bring the caution back out with 7 laps complete.
Hovey again took the lead on the restart with Lambros charging into second. Anderson was third followd by Bob Charland in fourth and Webb in fifth with Sullivan in sixth. Lambros got sideways on lap-11 while behind him Cassandra Cole and Brandon Michael spun to bring the caution out with 10 laps complete.
Hovey took the lead on the restart with Anderson glued to his back bumper in second. Charland took third with Sullivan in fourth and Webb in fifth. With 5 laps to go, Hovey was still in the lead with Anderson, Charland, Sullivan, and Webb lined up behind him. Sullivan made a move to the inside of Charland for third on the final lap but it was Hovey taking down his first career SK Light feature victory. Anderson finished second with Sullivan, Charland, and Webb making up the top-5.
In the 15-lap Vintage All-Stars feature event, George Bessette, Jr. took the lead on the first lap with Tony Ferrante, Jr. in second, Ben Levangie third, and Gary Byington fourth. Ferrante took the lead from Bessette on lap-4 before Levangie went to the lead on lap-5. This dropped Ferrante back to second with Bessette in third with Byington still fourth.
Levangie began to slowly stretch out his lead over Ferrante in the second half of the race and he cruised to the checkered flag to take down the victory. Ferrante finished second with Byington third, Sal Accardi fourth, and Mark Miller fifth.
For more information contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (860) 684-2783, or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
