Wheeler & Saunders Score Coors Light SK Modified® 100 Feature Wins at Stafford; Rain Postpones Remainder of Program to June 29th
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Speedway returned to racing on Friday, June 8TH with the 39th Annual Coors Light SK Modified® 100. Taking wins were Harry Wheeler in the SK Light feature and Cliff Saunders in the DARE Stock feature event. Rain postponed the remainder of tonight’s program to Friday, June 29th and rain checks from tonight’s program will be honored on June 29th.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Harry Wheeler took the lead from Payton Henry at the start of the race and he began to set the pace in the early laps. Henry was second, with Joey Ferrigno, Jay Goff, and Bob Charland lined up behind him. Ferrigno moved by Henry to take over second on lap-3. Rick Dyer spun coming out of turn 2 to bring the caution out with 4 laps complete.
Back under green, Wheeler took the lead, but Ferrigno was hanging tough to the outside of Wheeler in a fight for the lead. Goff was running in third, while Henry was fourth and Dylan Kopec was up to fifth. Frank Cardile and Shawn Brule spun in the middle of turns 1+2 to bring the caution back out with 8 laps complete.
On the restart, there was a melee that involved Frank Cardile, Tony Santangelo, Dylan Kopec, Rick Williams, Dylan Campbell and Jay Goff to bring the caution right back out. Ferrigno took the lead back under green while Charland moved up to second. Wheeler settled into third place, just ahead of Henry and Scott Bouley. The field was only able to complete two more laps before the caution came back out for Tony Membrino, Jr., who came to a stop in the turn 3 and 4 infield.
Ferrigno again took the lead on the restart with Charland slotting into second behind him. Wheeler was third, with Henry in fourth and a side by side battle between Bouley and Tyler Hines for the fifth position. Hines got around Bouley to move into fifth while Ferrigno continued to lead. On lap-13, Wheeler pulled alongside Charland for second, but was unable to complete the pass. Charland then made a strong run to the inside of Ferrigno on lap-15 in turn 4, but the cars touched and Ferrigno spun. Then as the cars came down the frontstretch, the cars of Bouley and Hines touched wheels with Bouley’s car getting turned upside down and he slid down the frontstretch before coming to a stop on its roof in turn 1, which brought out the red flag.
With the race red flagged to clean up the wreck in turn 1, it began to rain and the race was red/checkered with Wheeler declared the winner. Henry was second, with Hines, Santangelo, and Cardile rounding out the top-5.
In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, Kris Fluckiger and Austin Bessette spun in turns 1+2 to bring the caution out before the field could complete the first lap. On the restart, Monte Gibbs nearly went three wide with James Carroll and Stephanie Berardi, but it was Carroll leading the first lap. On the second lap, Gibbs did go three wide to take the race lead. Albert and Cliff Saunders followed Gibbs by Carroll to move into second and third. Carroll was fourth and Fluckiger was already back up to fifth place after his early race spin. Kaitlyn Brice spun in turn 2, but she was able to get her car moving again and the race stayed under green flag conditions.
Gibbs continued to hold the race lead over the Saunders twins, with Carroll in fourth and Fluckiger in fifth. The caution came out with 10 laps complete as Brice spun on the frontstretch.
As the race went back to green, Cliff Saunders got a good run to the outside of Gibbs, but Gibbs came back strong on the inside to stay out front. Kyle Casagrande and Carroll got hooked together and came to a stop on the frontstretch to bring the caution back out one lap after the restart.
Gibbs again took the lead back under green with Cliff Saunders moving by his brother Albert to take over second. Bessette got loose in turn 4, but he was able to recover and he settled into line in fifth behind Fluckiger. Gibbs and the Saunders twins had pulled away from Fluckiger in fourth to settle the race between themselves.
Gibbs held the lead until the final lap, when Cliff Saunders made a move to Gibbs’ inside in turns 1+2 to move into the lead. Albert Saunders was able to get ahead of Gibbs at the checkered flag to take second place. Rounding out the top-5 behind the Saunders twins and Gibbs was Bessette in fourth and Fluckiger in 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.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR