Posocco & Barrett Score July 16th NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Victories at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Speedway was back in action with a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program on Friday night, July 16th. Ryan Posocco scored his third victory of the 2010 season in the 30-lap Late Model feature and Tommy Barrett, Jr. won his second consecutive and fourth overall race of the 2010 season in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature. Rain halted the remainder of the program and as more than half of the event was completed, there will be no rain checks. The DARE Stock feature will be added to next Friday night’s 7th Annual CARQUEST SK 150 program, the Limited Late Model feature will be added to the Friday, July 30th event, and the SK Modified® feature will be added to the Friday, August 13th event at no extra charge for those events.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature event, J.J. Hill took the early lead while Michael Bennett went three wide to take over second place. With 2 laps complete, Corey Hutchings and Keith Rocco came together on the backstretch with Rocco’s car briefly climbing the wall before coming back down on all four tires, which brought the caution out.
Hill took the lead again back under green but before the field could get back to the stripe Ryan Posocco had taken over the lead from Hill. Dillon Moltz moved into second with Hill falling back to third. Adam Gray was fourth and Scott Cook was fifth.
[Photo Gallery] by Adam Fohlin
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
On lap-6 both Gray and Cook moved by Hill, which opened the door for several more cars to get by Hill. On lap-8, Cook got by Gray to take over third place while Posocco continued to set the pace with Moltz behind him in second place. John Kasper was up to fourth behind Cook with Tom Butler in fifth place.
On lap-13, Woody Pitkat and Tom Butler got together coming out of turn 2 with both cars sliding up the track and losing a host of positions. Both cars were able to continue, but the caution came back out for debris in turn 2.
Posocco charged into the lead on the restart with Moltz, Cook, Bennett, and Jim Peterson making up the top-5. Bennett wasted little time in moving by Cook to take over third place one lap after the restart and Peterson made the move under Cook for fourth place on lap-17. After falling back through the field, Hill was back on the charge towards the top-5 and he took fifth from Cook on lap-18.
The caution came back out with 20 laps complete for a spin in turns 3+4 by Gray after contact with Pitakt. Posocco again took the lead with Bennett and Peterson moving by Moltz while Hill settled into the fifth position on the restart. Posocco had been able to stretch out his lead earlier in the race, but Bennett was staying in touch with Posocco, never more than a car length behind. Bennett made a final charge on the final corner, but Posocco took his third victory of the 2010 season ahead of Bennett. Moltz finished third, with Peterson and Cook rounded out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Heather DesRochers took the early lead and was setting the early pace ahead of Jay Goff, Erica Santos, Joey Cipriano, and Victoria Bergenty. Santos quickly took second from Goff on lap-2 and Cipriano followed her by Goff on lap-3. As the field completed three laps, John Hanafin spun on the backstretch and collected the car of Frank Cardile, who spun into the turn 3 wall to bring the caution out.
DesRochers took the lead back under green with Cipriano moving to the inside of Santos to take over second place. SK Light points leader Matt Galko and Tony Santangelo took a trip through the infield in turn 1 and came away with flat tires that ended both of their races prematurely and brought the caution out.
DesRochers again took the lead with Cipriano again moving to the inside of Santos. Tommy Barrett, Jr. was glued to the back bumper of Cipriano as he and Santos continued to race side by side. Cipriano cleared his way past Santos on lap-7 and Barrett followed Cipriano to the inside of Santos. Barrett took the position from Santos on lap-8 and Cipriano took the lead from DesRochers on lap-9 with Barrett following Cipriano by DesRochers. The next lap saw Santos move by DesRochers for third, dropping DesRochers from the lead back to fourth place in a matter of 2 laps.
Barrett rode behind Cipriano until lap-13 when he began to apply pressure for the race lead. Barrett was able to get to the inside of Cipriano, but was not able to complete the pass and fell back into line. Barrett tried the move again to the inside of Cipriano and was able to come away with the lead on lap-16. Once Barrett was into the lead, he slowly pulled away from Cipriano over the final four laps and scored his second consecutive and fourth overall victory of the 2010 season. Cipriano finished second, with Santos, DesRochers, and Zach Aszklar 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.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR
LATE MODEL (30)
1) Ryan Posocco, Stafford Springs
2) Michael Bennett, Stafford Springs
3) Dillon Moltz, Waterford
4) Jim Peterson, Monson, Ma
5) Scott Cook, Uncasville
6) Woody Pitkat, Stafford Springs
7) John Kasper, Wilbraham, Ma
8) J.J. Hill, Stafford Springs
9) Tom Fearn, East Longmeadow, Ma
10) Walt Wosko, Jr., West Suffield
11) Mark St. Hilaire, Berlin
12) Adam Gray, Belchertown, Ma
13) Dave Wray, Meriden
14) Tim Fogg, Stafford Springs
15) Tom Butler, Stafford Springs
16) Patrick Townsend, Springifeld, Ma
17) Keith Rocco, Meriden
18) Corey Hutchings, Salem
19) Greg Butler, Jr., East Hampton
SK LIGHT MODIFIED (20)
1) Tommy Barrett, Jr., Millis, Ma
2) Joey Cipriano, III, Waterbury
3) Erica Santos, Franklin, Ma
4) Heather DesRochers, Granby, Ma
5) Zach Aszklar, Wallingford
6) Dylan Liseo, East Hartford
7) Jay Goff, Stafford Springs
8) Earl Pelletier, Wolcott
9) Kyle Spencer, Montgomery, Ma
10) Stephen Greer, Harwinton
11) Harry Wheeler, Stafford Springs
12) Shayne Prucker, Stafford Springs
13) Victoria Bergenty, Plainville
14) Tony Santangelo, Middlefield
15) Matt Galko, Meriden
16) David Webb, New Milford
17) John Hanafin, Quincy, Ma
18) Frank Cardile, Bolton