Szegedy Pads Point Lead with VMRS Town Fair Tire 80 Victory
STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT — After coming within one lap of victory at the Thompson Speedway three weeks ago, Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT showed why he is the current points leader in the Valenti Modified Racing Series, taking down his first feature win in the Kevin Stuart prepared, Stuart Automotive sponsored number 85. In victory lane Szegedy said, “We had an unbelievable car at Thompson. We should have won that race and we had an unbelievable car here. I just want to thank my sponsors, my family and friends for being here.”
After winning his qualifying race, and then starting third on the grid, at the drop of the green Szegedy quickly assumed second place behind pole sitter Ted Christopher of Plainville, CT. Christopher’s #00 and Szegedy’s #85 ran bumper to bumper until lap eight, when hard charging Eric Goodale of Wading River, NY came from the fourth row and used a smooth move to take second place from Szegedy. Goodale then applied pressure on Christopher pushing him down the straightaways until lap 10, when Goodale used another inside move to take over the lead. Goodale was holding nothing back as he quickly built a five car length lead on the pack behind him.
Some of the other heavy hitters further back were making their way forward. Keith Rocco of Berlin, CT started deep in the pack, but by lap 18 he shot by Anthony Nocella of Woburn, MA into fifth place and a lap later he worked over Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, PA, and used the outside groove to move into fourth. Rocco wasn’t done yet, as two laps later, he caught and passed Szegedy for third. By lap 25, Rocco settled into third keeping an eye on Goodale and Christopher.
By lap 34 the leaders started running into lapped traffic and Christopher used the slower cars, applying pressure on the number 58 of Goodale. At the halfway mark of the race, Tommy Barrett Jr. of Millis MA, making his second start in the VMRS this season, had been running mid-pack, and was now making moves to the front. Barrett found himself in eighth by lap 43, when the first caution flag flew for a minor spin. When the field was realigned, Goodale and Christopher brought the pack to green and the two ran side-by-side for a lap until Christopher took over the lead on lap 45. Goodale apparently used up his mount early because on the next lap Szegedy passed him for second and Rocco followed putting Goodale fourth.
With 30 laps to go, things started to heat up again and yellow was shown for a spinning Dylan Kopec of Palmer, MA. The restart was quickly followed by another yellow flag, the third and last one of this event. The final restart was clean and Christopher shot away with Szegedy in hot pursuit. When Pennink moved past Rocco into third, Szegedy knew he had saved the car long enough, and powered by Christopher to become the final leader of this race. By lap 60 Rocco re-passed Pennink, but no one had enough for the number 85 as Szegedy stretched his lead out by 10 car lengths at lap 70. The final 10 laps saw Rocco pressure Christopher, trying on each lap to put the move on, but TC was just strong enough to hold on to second-place. At the checkered Szegedy beat Christopher by 1.648 seconds.
Town Fair Tire 80
Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs, CT
June 21, 2014
1. #85 Todd Szegedy
2. #00 Ted Christopher
3. #68 Keith Rocco
4. #25 Rowan Pennink
5. #58 Eric Goodale
6. #9 Tommy Barrett Jr
7. #21 Justin Bonsignore
8. #13 Steve Masse
9. #5CT Chris Pasteryak
10. #99 Richard Savary
11. #92 Anthony Nocella
12. #11CT Timmy Solomito
13. #31 Ryan Preece
14. #20CT Max Zachem
15. #34Dave Etheridge
16. #32 Tom Abele Jr
17. #45 Dan Meservey Jr
18. #2 Jeff Malave
19. #53 Norm Wrenn
20. #77 Matthew Mead
21. #19 David Schneider
22. #66 Dylan Kopec
23. #14 Dana Smith
24. #17 Todd Owen
25. #42 Tom Carey Jr
26. #38 Mike Willis
Lap leaders 1-10: #00, 11-43:#58, 44-58:#00 59-80: #85
Cautions: lap 43, 50, 50
Margin of Victory: 1.648
Best Lap Time 18.703 by Ryan Preece
Sources: Jim Snape
Photos: Crystal Snape