September Series Closes Out Friday Night NASCAR Racing at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — As the summer season begins to give way to the autumn season, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season at Stafford Motor Speedway heads into its final month of Friday night NASCAR racing before the season ending CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend. The CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend is scheduled for Oct. 1st through Oct. 3rd and the “September Series”, Stafford’s three Friday night events in September, give competitors one final chance to position themselves either into championship contention, or to move up a spot or two in the points standings before the 2010 season comes to an end.
The tightest points race of the season at Stafford is in the Limited Late Model division. Last year’s top-2 finishers, Andrew Durand and Dan Flannery, are once again dueling for the track championship. Flannery has enjoyed a career season with five wins and he has led the points standings for much of the 2010 season after a poor Spring Sizzler left him playing catch up for the first few races of the year. But Durand, the defending Ltd. Late Model track champion, has been the most consistent driver in the division. Durand has yet to finish lower than ninth this season and he has also scored two wins, one of which came in last week’s double feature event and he moved ahead of Flannery in the standings for the first time since early in the season. Also in contention is Dave Yardley, III, who captured his first career victory this season and former track champion Kevin Gambacorta, who has two wins to his credit this season.
Stafford’s premier division, the SK Modifieds®, has been the Keith Rocco show this year. Rocco won the season opening Spring Sizzler and he has won 8 more times for a grand total of 9 victories this season. Rocco has been atop the SK Modified® standings all season long and he appears headed to his second career track championship at Stafford. The hottest driver in the division over the past 6 races has been Frank Ruocco. Ruocco ended Rocco’s 4-race winning streak on July 9th and he has scored 5 podium finishes out of his last six events to catapault himself from outside to the top-10 in points into fourth position behind Woody Pitkat and Ted Christopher. Speaking of Christopher, he has yet to win an SK Modified® feature this season. Should Christopher remain winless, it would be the first time since the 1985 season that Christopher hasn’t won at least one SK Modified® feature event at Stafford.
Stafford’s Late Model division sees 4-time Stafford track champion Ryan Posocco ready to notch a fifth track championship. Dillon Moltz won two of the first three races of the 2010 season and he led the standings for much of the season. But misfortune has found Moltz in the last two events with Moltz finishing 14th and 18th to drop him back into third place in the standings behind Posocco and Woody Pitkat. Pitkat has been the big winner of the 2010 season with 5 victories and if he can return to his winning ways in the final month of the season, he may just erase the 48 point margin he faces and become a two-time Stafford Late Model champion.
Stafford’s SK Light Modifieds has been the year of the youth movement as three 15-year olds have found their way to CARQUEST Victory Lane and a 16-year old leads the points standings on the strength of 3 wins this season. The youth movement began when 15-year old Joey Cipriano won his first race of the season on May 14th to become the youngest feature winner in Stafford’s history. Cipriano held that record for three weeks until Tommy Barrett, Jr. won his first race on June 4th. Since that first win, Barrett has reeled off a total of 7 wins this season, including 5 of the last 6 races heading into the Aug. 27th event. Barrett missed the Spring Sizzler because he hadn’t turned 15 yet and he has moved all the way up the ladder to second in the points standings, behind Matt Galko, who is leading the points with 3 wins at the ripe old age of 16. Stafford’s other 15 year old victor this season was Dylan Liseo, a second generation driver who scored his first win in a thrilling side by side duel with Barrett that was settled at the checkered flag by the nose of his car.
In Stafford’s DARE Stock division, Tony Membrino, Jr. has been at the top of the points standings since he won the season opening CARQUEST Spring Sizzler feature. Membrino hasn’t been able to shake Kyle Casagrande from his heels as Casagrande became the first three-time winner in the DARE Stock division last week and he sits only 30 points behind Membrino in the chase for the championship. Sitting third in the points is DARE Stock veteran Jeff Jolly, who has 2 wins to his credit and is 52 points behind Membrino.
Stafford kicks off the month of September on September 3rd with a multimedia fireworks display adding to the on-track action. The Modified Racing Series makes its Stafford debut on September 10th with the Inaugural Shark Cycle 100, and September wraps up with the Final Friday Night Shoot-Out on September 17th with a 2-week break before the curtain comes down on the 2010 season at the CARQUEST Fall Final.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.