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Stafford Springs, CT — Following post race technical inspection from the August 27th NASCAR Whelen All-American Series feature events at Stafford Motor Speedway, the following change has been made to the official Late Model order of finish.

Unofficial Late Model second place finisher Scott Cook was penalized for a rules infraction. Cook’s car exceeded the maximum allowable left side weight percentage and he was penalized from his finishing position of 2nd place to the last place finishing position of 22nd. Cook’s car was found to measure out to 55.33% left side weight, or 9.9 pounds over the allowable limit.

There was also a change made to unofficial third place finisher Michael Bennett in the Late Model feature. Due to overaggressive driving and contact with Tom Fearn on the final lap of the race, Bennett was penalized back to the 8th place finishing position, one position behind Fearn in the finishing order.

Continue reading ‘Changes Made to Late Model Order of Finish from August 27th NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Program at Stafford Speedway’

Stafford Springs, CT — The Late Model division took center stage at Stafford Motor Speedway this past Friday night with the 3rd Annual Late Model 100, the second extra distance event of the 2010 season. Joining the Late Model 100 was Stafford’s SK Modifieds®, SK Light Modifieds, DARE Stocks, and twin 20-lap Limited Late Model feature events. J.J. Hill was the big winner of the evening, taking his first career victory in the 100-lap extra distance classic. Newly crowned NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Champion Keith Rocco took his 9th feature victory of the 2010 season in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Tommy Barrett, Jr. took his 7th win of the 2010 season in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Andrew Durand and Rob Dow were the winners of the 20-lap Limited Late Model features, and Kyle Casagrande became the first three-time winner of the 2010 season in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature. 

#41 – J.J. Hill 

In the 100-lap Late Model feature event, Tom Fearn took the lead at the green with Scott Cook, Jim Peterson, Adam Gray, and Michael Bennett making up the top-5. Woody Pitkat, who won the Lincoln Tech Late Model 100 back in May at Stafford, spun and backed into the turn 1 wall with 3 laps complete to bring the caution out. Pitkat was able to get back out on the track and continue in the race. 

Fearn took the lead back under gren with Gray moving into second. J.J. Hill moved into third with Peterson falling back to fourth and Cook falling back to fifth just in front of Bennett. Peterson’s car was leaking fluid on lap-13 and he was brought to pit road for a consulation. With Peterson’s misfortune bringing him to pit road, Cook was now in second place, a full straighaway behind Fearn, who was setting sail while in the lead. Behind Cook was a que of cars including Bennett, Ryan Posocco, Dillon Moltz, and Wayne Coury, Jr. 

Continue reading ‘J.J. Hill Wins 3rd Annual Late Model 100 at Stafford Speedway’

Stafford Springs, CT — Among Stafford Motor Speedway’s five NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions, the Limited Late Model division sports the tightest points race. Dan Flannery leads defending track champion Andrew Durand by a scant 6-point margin heading into this Friday night’s twin 20-lap Limited Late Model feature events.

After a disappointing 13th place showing in the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, Flannery took the points lead for the first time following the May 28th race and he has led the points standings every week since. Flannery was able to build up a nice lead in the standings with 10 consecutive top-5 finishes, but finishes of 12th, 10th, and 8th in three of his last four starts has allowed Durand to cut the difference down to the current 6-point margin heading into this Friday night’s doubleheader event, where twice the amount of points are up for grabs and the slightest bobble can shake up the points standings with only 5 weeks of racing remaining.

“I’ve never run 2 races in the same night before,” said Flannery. “We’re not really worried about running the two races, but you can lose twice the amount of points if you have a bad night versus one bad race. We don’t plan on changing anything, we’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year long and show up with the expectation of winning the race. I’d like to say that we’re going to be a little more cautious in the first race, but things never seem to work out for us when we try to be cautious. We’ve had some mechanical issues the past couple of weeks, we’ve lost two transmissions and the rear end. We had to borrow a car one night when we lost the tranny and the rear end, so we’re happy to still be leading the points.”

Continue reading ‘Dan Flannery Looks to Take Control of Points Race with Double Ltd. late Model Feature Event this Fri. at Stafford’

Stafford Springs, CT –Stafford Speedway played two with an SK Modified® feature doublehader on Friday, August 13th. Frank Ruocco and Keith Rocco were the winners of the twin 40-lap SK Modified® feature events, Corey Hutchings won the 30-lap Late Model feature, Matt Galko won the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Shawn Thibeault won the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Andrew Hayes was the winner of the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.

In the first 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Eric Berndt charged to the lead from the pole with Mark Bakaj, Sean Foster, Chris Jones, and Woody Pitkat making up the early top-5. The top-5 ran in line for the first 9 laps before Foster made a move by Bakaj for second and Ted Christopher was working the high groove to try to take fifth place away from Pitkat. Bakaj fell back from second to sixth as Foster, Jones, Pitkat and Christopher all moved past.

On lap-15, Pitkat made a move to the inside of Jones in turn 3 to move up to the third position while Berndt continued to hold the race lad. Jones spun in turn 1 with 16 laps complete to bring out the first caution of the race and it erased the sizeable lead that Berndt had built up over Foster and the rest of the field.

[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto

Continue reading ‘Frank Ruocco & Keith Rocco Score SK Modified® Double Header Feature Events at Stafford Speedway’

Stafford Springs, CT — -For Stafford Late Model driver Dillon Moltz, the 2010 season has not only been a good season, but a consistently good season. Moltz has 2 victories, 12 top-5, and 13 top-10 finishes in 13 starts this season. But he enters the 3rd Annual Late Model 100 at Stafford on Friday, August 13th sitting third in the championship standings behind Ryan Posocco and Woody Pitkat.

Moltz missed the July 30th event as he was in Pocono, qualifying 16th and finishing 20th while driving an ARCA car for Richard Petty Motorsports. Moltz won two of the first three races and he had led the points standings all season long until the July 30th event and he looks to begin the climb back to the top of the points standings with one of his favorite events on the schedule, the 3rd Annual Late Model 100.

“We’re definitely looking at this race as something to build on,” said Moltz. “We missed a race with the Pocono deal and we fell a little behind. It’s going to be tough to catch Ryan and Woody but it’s not impossible to do. We’ve been a top-5 car all year long, our worst finish of the season is 8th. Last week we finished 5th but we only gained one position on Ryan, so we’ll probably need him and Woody to have an off night, but we’ll see what happens and we’ll take what we can get for the rest of this season.”

Continue reading ‘Dillon Moltz Looks to Mount Charge in Point Standings Starting with 3rd Annual Late Model 100 at Stafford Speedway’