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(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Motor Speedway welcomed the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series to the track for the NAPA Fall Final on Saturday, September 27th. Ron Silk survived a host of caution flags late in the event to win the NAPA Fall Final.
The NAPA Fall Final took the green flag with Eric Berndt taking the early lead with Jake Johnson right on his back bumper in second. Johnson quickly made his move to the inside of Berndt and he went to the lead on lap-2. Ron Silk was third behind Johnson and Berndt with Stephen Kopcik fourth and Jon McKennedy fifth. Joey Cipriano moved into sixth place on lap-4. The top-5 cars were glued together with very little space between them as they clicked off lap-8 The caution came out with 11 laps complete for a multi-car incident in turn 3 involving the cars of David Arute, Wesley Prucker, Michael Rutkoski, and Jacob Perry.
Rutkoski, Arute, and Prucker came together again on the restart and got into the turn 1 wall to bring the caution back out before a lap could be completed.
Johnson again took the lead on the restart with Silk moving into second. Kopcik took third with Berndt sliding back to fourth, just in front of Tyler Chapman in fifth. McKennedy was sixth followed by Teddy Hodgdon, Matt Hirschman, Chris Pasteryak, and Joey Cipriano. The caution came back out with 20 laps complete for debris on the track in the form of an air cleaner from the car of Joey Mucciacciaro.
Johnson was back in the lead on the restart with Silk, Kopcik, McKennedy, and Hodgdon giving chase. Tyler Chapman was sixth followed by Hirschman, Berndt, Woody Pitkat, and Ronnie Williams. The caution came back out with 29 laps complete for a spin in turn 2 by Prucker.
Johnson took the lead back under green with Silk still holding second place. McKennedy got around Kopcik to move into third with Teddy Hodgdon taking fifth from Hirschman. George Bessette, Jr. spun in turn 4 after contact with Joey Braun, which collected the cars of Rufrano, Mucciacciaro, Perry, Rutkoski, Zachem, and Eric Goodale to bring the caution flag out with 33 laps complete.
Johnson took the lead on the restart while McKennedy nearly took second from Silk, but settled back into line in third behind him. Hodgdon was up to fourth with Chapman in fifth. Pitkat was sixth with Doug Coby, Williams, Ryan Newman, and Brett Meservey making up the top-10. As the race hit the halfway point it was still Johnson in the lead with Silk, McKennedy, Hodgdon, and Chapman behind him. Zachem spun on the backstretch to bring the caution back out with 50 laps complete.
The caution period brought the majority of the lead cars to pit road for a new tire and adjustments. Silk won the race off pit road followed by Johnson, McKennedy, Williams, Pitkat, Hodgdon, Dana DiMatteo, Chapman, Goodale, Coby, and Matt Swanson. Of the cars that stayed out on the track, Meservey was now the race leader with Austin Beers in second, Dylan Izzo third, Perry fourth, Rufrano fifth, and Mucciacciaro sixth for the upcoming restart.
Meservey set off into the lead on the restart with Beers second. Perry was third with Hirschman fourth and Rufrano fifth. The red and yellow flags came out with 53 laps complete as the cars of Chris Pasteryak and Mucciacciaro touched with Pasteryak climbing up and over the right rear tire of Mucciacciaro as both cars slid backwards into the turn 1 wall.
Meservey took the lead back under green with Beers, Perry, Bessette, and McKennedy lined up behind him. Hirschman’s car dropped off the pace on the restart and he limped back to pit road where his crew went to work under the hood. McKennedy was on the charge as he moved into third on lap-57 and then second on lap-58. Silk was up to fourth behind Meservey, McKennedy, and Beers with Bessette going around Perry to take over fifth on lap-59.
McKennedy completed his charge to the front by taking the lead from Meservey on lap-60. Silk took second from Meservey on lap-63 and began the task of reeling in McKennedy, who had pulled out to a half straightaway lead. McKennedy was keeping the gap back to Silk in second at just over 1 second and Silk was beginning to run out of laps to catch back up to McKennedy. The caution came back out with 75 laps complete for Meservey, who got into the wall and came to a stop in turn 3. This erased McKennedy’s margin over Silk and set up a 5-lap sprint to the finish.
On the restart, the cars of McKennedy and Johnson touched with both cars going into the turn 3 wall and about 10 other cars were involved as the caution came right back out along with the red flag. This put Silk into the lead with Bessette second, Rufrano third, Perry fourth, Berndt fifth, and Cipriano sixth for the restart with 5 laps to go.
Silk powered into the lead but a 3-wide move by Rufrano saw him make contact with Perry, Bessette and Goodale, which sent Goodale and Perry into the turn 3 wall and collected several others and brought the caution flag back out again before a lap could be completed.
Silk took the lead on the restart with Berndt taking second. Cipriano took third from Bessette on lap-77 while DiMatteo was wheel to wheel with Newman for fifth place. Silk led the field to the checkered flag to win the NAPA Fall Final. Berndt came home in second with Cipriano, Bessette, and DiMatteo 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.
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NAPA FALL FINAL MONACO MODIFIED TRI-TRACK SERIES (80)
1) Ron Silk, Norwalk
2) Eric Berndt, Cromwell
3) Joey Cipriano, Plymouth
4) George Bessette, Jr., Danbury
5) Dana DiMatteo, Canton
6) Max Zachem, Preston
7) Ronnie Williams, Lebanon
8) Tyler Chapman, Ellington
9) Ryan Newman, South Bend, IN
10) David Arute, Stafford Springs
11) Noah Korner, Canton
12) Austin Beers, Northampton, PA
13) Marcello Rufrano, North Haven
14) Wesley Prucker, Stafford Springs
15) Chris Pasteryak, Moosup
16) Michael Rutkoski, Mattituck, NY
17) Dylan Izzo, Monroe
18) Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, MA
19) Jake Johnson, Rehoboth, MA
20) Jacob Perry, Kannapolis, NC
21) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, NY
22) Stephen Kopcik, Newtown
23) Woody Pitkat, Bellingham, MA
24) Matt Swanson, Harvard, MA
25) Doug Coby, Marion
26) Joey Braun, Manorville, NY
27) Brett Meservey, Brewster, MA
28) Teddy Hodgdon, Danbury
29) Matt Hirschman, Northampton, PA
30) Joey Mucciacciaro, Wolcott
31) Walt Sutcliffe, East Haven
