Hill Wins Xtra Mart Late Model Xtra D Feature at Stafford; Berndt, Kopec, Wood & Saunders Also Score Feature Wins
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Speedway was back on track with the Xtra Mart Late Model Xtra D program on Friday night, May 11th. J.J. Hill was the winner of the extra distance 40-lap Late Model feature, Eric Berndt got around Ted Christopher on a green white checkered restart to pick up his first win of the 2012 in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Dylan Kopec was the winner of the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature for the second consecutive week, Josh Wood also won for the second consecutive week in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Albert Saunders drove to victory in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature with a late race pass on Austin Bessette.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Frank Ruocco took the lead at the drop of the green to take the early race lead. Woody Pitkat was glued to Ruocco’s back bumper while Eric Berndt was running a close third. Behind Berndt was Ryan Preece, Keith Rocco, and Ted Christopher. The top-6 cars were lined up nose to tail as they clicked off lap 15 on the scoreboard.
Rocco was able to work his way around Preece, but that was the only position change in the top-5 as Ruocco continued to lead the race with Pitkat and Berndt lined up right behind him. At lap-20, the top-6 cars were still lined up in a nose to tail train, but that all changed on lap-21 as Pitkat was able to make a pass for the lead in turns 3+4. Berndt got out of shape and nearly spun, but he was able to recover and keep going, although he fell back to seventh place.
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With Pitkat now in the lead, Rocco was all over the back of Ruocco’s car looking to make a pass for second. Rocco made the move for second in turns 3+4 on lap-25 and Preece followed Rocco by Ruocco.
The complexion of the race changed on lap-28 as Rocco and Pitkat got hooked together while fighting for the race lead and they spun through the front stretch grass, which brought the caution out and put Preece into the race lead with Ruocco alongside, while Christopher and Todd Owen were in row 2 for the restart.
Preece took the back under green with Christopher moving into second. The caution came back out with 30-laps complete for Joe Gada, who came to a stop in turn 4 and Pitkat spun to the infield. On the restart, there was a mjulticar pileup in turns 3+4 that involved Michael Bennett, Matt Galko, Tom Bolles, Nick Boivin, Pitkat, John Montesanto, and Brian Sullivan that brought the caution back out.
On the restart, Preece and Christopher were locked side by side in a duel for the race lead with Ruocco all over Preece’s bumper in third place. Preece got clear of Christopher on lap-32 and Ruocco pulled alongside Christopher to fight for second. Right behind Christopher and Ruocco was Michael Gervais, Jr. in fourth, and then several car lengths behind was Owen and Berndt. The caution came back out with 35 laps complete as Curt Brainard spun in turn 1 and Michael Bennett and Danny Cates spun in turn 2.
On the restart, Preece didn’t come up to speed and Christopher took the lead with Gervais moving into second. Berndt was on the outside of Gervais and he got by Gervais one lap after the restart to move into second with Preece in fourth. Preece came back strong to the outside of Gervais to move back into third on lap-38 and he pulled alongside Bendt on lap-39, but the caution came out for a spin by Kyle Spencer in turns 3+4 to set up a green white checkered finish. The restart order was Christopher and Berndt on the front row, with Preece and Gervais making up the second row.
On the restart, Berndt got a monster run on the outside groove through turns 1+2 to pull ahead of Christohper and take the race lead. Christopher tried to make a last ditch effort coming to the checkered flag, but he couldn’t catch Berndt. Rounding out the top-5 behind Berndt and Christopher was Gervais, Preece, and Owen.
In the 40-lap Xtra Mart Xtra D Late Model feature event, Jim Mavlouganes took the lead at the drop of the green and began to pull away from J.J. Hill in second. Mike Quintiliano quickly moved into third behind Quintiliano, with Corey Hutchings and Tom Fearn making up the early top-5.
Mavlouganes continued to pull away from Hill, while Quintiliano, Hutchings, and Fearn were in a four car train with Hill for second through fifth. The cars ran in line until lap-26 when Hutchings and Fearn were both able to get past Quintiliano in turn 1 to drop Quintiliano from third back to fifth place. The action was slowed with 31 laps complete as Joe Rzeszutek spun in turn 1 and backed his car into the wall.
Back under green, Hill made a strong move in the outside groove to hang with Mavlouganes for the race lead. Adam Gray made a three-wide move in turns 3+4 and came out of turn 4 with the race lead. Contact from Mavlouganes sent Gray around and into the frontstretch wall to bring the caution back out with 33 laps complete. Mavlouganes was black flagged and parked for the remainder of the race for the contact with Gray. This put Hill and Hutchings on the front row for the restart with Quintiliano and Woody Pitkat lined up behind them in the second row.
Hill took the lead back under green with Pitkat moving from fourth to second on the restart. Hutchings was third, with Fearn and Quintiliano side by side for fourth place. Tom Butler spun in turn 2 to bring the yellow back out with 34 laps complete.
Hill took the lead with Pitkat getting by Hutchings for second. Hutchings spun in the middle of turns 3+4, but he was able to get going again and the race stayed under green flag conditions. Don Acker, Jr. spun in turn 1 to bring the caution back out with 36 laps complete.
On the restart, Tom Fearn spun and collected the car of Tom Butler to bring the caution back out. Hill again took the lead on the restart with Quintiliano moving into second. Gray made a strong move to move into third after spinning earlier in the race. Mark St. Hilaire spun into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution back out with 37 laps complete.
Hill again took the lead on the restart with Gray and Quintiliano side by side for second. Quintiliano cleared Gray into second with Pitkat and Jim Peterson behind Gray. Hill led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the 2012 season. Quintiliano finished second, with Gray, Pitkat, and Peterson rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Jay Goff and Harry Wheeler dueled side by side for the lead on the opening lap before Wheeler got clear. Bob Charland settled into third, with Dylan Liseo fourth and Rick Williams in fifth. The caution came out with 2 laps complete for Tyler Hines, who came to a stop in turn 4 after Tony Santangelo shot up the track and into Hines in turn 3.
Back under green, Wheeler took the lead ahead of Goff, but the field only completed one lap before the caution came back out for Joey Ferrigno and Tony Membrino, Jr., who came together and got into the frontstretch wall with a shower of sparks.
Wheeler and Goff were side by side for the lead with Charland and Liseo side by side behind them. Goff got clear to the lead one lap after the restart and Liseo was able to follow Goff by Wheeler in the outside groove. Dylan Kopec also took to the high side to move by Wheeler and Charland followed in Kopec’s tracks, dropping Wheeler from the lead back fifth in three laps. Kopec continued his charge, moving by Liseo and then taking the lead from Goff on lap-9 with a pass in turns 1+2.
Charland made a bid for third place on lap-10 and he was able to complete the pass on Liseo. But just as Charland made his move, Zach Aszklar moved by Charland to move into third behind Kopec and Goff.
The order remained the same until lap-17 when Aszklar made a move by Goff to move into second place. Kopec had a lead of about 2 seconds over Aszklar and Aszklar couldn’t close the distance to Kopec in the final three laps as Kopec scored his second consecutive feature victory this season. Aszklar finished second, with Goff, Charland, and Liseo rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, Dennis Botticello took the lead at the drop of the green flag. Josh Wood was second, with Duane Provost, Cory Casagrande, and Jesse Hinze rounding out the top-5. Botticello was pulling away from the field when he was black flagged on lap-6 for leaking fluid on the track, which handed the race lead over to Wood.
As the cars took the cross flags at halfway, Wood had a several car length lead over Provost, with Casagrande several car lengths behind Provost. Hinze was slowly falling further and further behind Casagrande in fourth, and he lost the fourth place to D.J. Burnham on lap-14.
The caution came out with 16 laps complete as Andrew Hayes spun on the backstretch. Wood took the lead back under green with Provost and Casagrande settling into line behind him. David Arute moved into fifth coming to the white flag, but it was Wood in control as he took down his second consecutive feature victory of the 2012 season. Provost finished second, with Casagrande, Burnham, and Arute rounding out the top-5.
In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, Austin Bessette took to the outside groove to motor his way past Stephanie Berardi to take the lead in the opening lap. Andy Marchese was glued to Berardi’s bumper in third, with Monte Gibbs in fourth and James Carroll rounding out the early top-5.
Bessette began to stretch out his advantage over Berardi in second, while Marchese and Gibbs closed the gap to Berardi to make it a three-car train for the second position. Carroll now had Cliff Saunders right on his bumper in the fight for fifth place.
At the halfway point of the race, Bessette had built up a lead of nearly a full straightaway over Berardi, who continued to run second, just ahead of Marchese and Cliff Saunders, who had gotten by both Carroll and Gibbs to move into fourth place.
Bessette’s large lead was erased with 11 laps complete as the caution came out for a spin by Trevor Berry in turn 2. On the restart, Bessette powered back into the lead and immediately began to pull away. Berardi was second, with Albert and Cliff Saunders side by side for third place. The caution came back out with 12 laps complete as Berry’s car let out a plume of smoke.
Bessette again took the lead back under green with Albert Saunders moving into second and keeping pace with Bessette. Gibbs and Kris Fluckiger were side by side for third with Cliff Saunders right behind them. Coming to the white flag, Albert Saunders was able to make a move to the inside of Bessette to take over the race lead. Saunders led Bessette around the track to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the 2012 season. Bessette finished second after dominating the race, with Gibbs, Albert Saunders, and Fluckiger 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