By Scott Running,
Stafford Motor Speedway Staff

Stafford Springs, CT - Stafford Motor Speedway was back in action with fireworks on the track and in the sky with a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series event on Friday, August 29th. The on-track action saw several familiar faces in victory lane as Ted Christopher took down the win in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event for his 102nd career victory at the Connecticut half-mile, and Dillon Moltz won his second consecutive and fifth overall Late Model feature of the 2008 season. Matt Chiarizio took the 15-lap DARE Stock feature and there were two first-time winners as Raymond Grassetti took the 20-lap SK Light feature and Darrin Havenec won the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature.

In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Ted Christopher outlasted Keith Rocco to take home the victory. Corey Hutchings sprinted to the early lead from the outside pole, but gave way to Curt Brainard on lap-3. Rocco moved by Brainard one lap later to take the lead and had Zach Sylvester hot on his bumper. Sylvester moved by Rocco for the lead on lap-10, but Rocco took the lead back on a lap-11 restart. Rocco held the lead to the half-way point of the race, which is when Christopher moved to the front of the field for the first time. Rocco gave chase to Christopher the entire second half of the
race, but was unable to get by as Christopher took down his fourth victory of the 2008 season. Rocco finished second, with Jeff Malave, Sylvester, and Richie Pallai, Jr. rounding out the top-5.

In the 30-lap Late Model feature event, it was Dillon Moltz taking his second consecutive feature win. Scott Cook took the early lead and led the first two laps before spinning in turn 2, which handed the race lead over to Michael Bennett. Bennett held the lead until lap-6 when Moltz charged into the lead. Moltz held the lead until lap-14 when Bennett went back to the front, but Moltz went back by Bennett on the next lap to retake the race
lead. The race went green to the checkered flag with Moltz pulling away from Bennett to take his second consecutive feature win and fifth overall win of the 2008 season. Bennett finished second, with Ryan Posocco, Woody Pitkat, and Mike Mordino rounding out the top-5.

In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Raymond Grassetti took his first career feature win in what proved to be a wild finish. Heather DesRochers took the early race lead and led the first three laps of the race before Grassetti took the lead on lap-4. Grassetti held the lead until lap-11 when Bakaj moved to the front. Bakaj held the race lead until the caution came out with 12 laps complete. Grassetti moved back to the front
on the lap-13 restart but Bakaj stayed glued to the back bumper of Grassetti until the final lap. Coming off turn 4 to the checkered flag, Bakaj had a run to the inside of Grassetti but got loose coming off the corner and he spun into traffic, which collected the car of Joe Allegro, Jr. Grassetti took the checkered flag with John Walmsley taking second. Allegro slammed into the frontstretch wall and took third place with Tony Santangelo fourth and Bakaj taking fifth place as he slid through the infield grass.

In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, it was Darrin Havenec taking down a hard earned first career victory. David Capriati took the lead from the pole and led the first 7 laps before Shawn Thibeault moved to the head of the pack on lap-8. Thibeault held the lead until a caution came out with 12 laps complete. On the restart, the cars of Thibeault and Capriati made contact and spun, which handed the lead of the race over Havanec. Havanec led the rest of the way to take his first career win ahead of a hard
charging Sean Foster. Rounding out the top-5 behind Havanec and Foster was Andrew Durand, Bill Davis, and Rob Dow.

In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, Matt Chiarizio took the checkered flag for his first win of the 2008 season. Melissa Blowers took the early race lead and led the first 4 laps. Norm Sears powered into the lead on a lap-5 restart and he held the lead until a lap-8 restart when Chiarizio took the lead from Sears. The race was yellow/checkered with 9 laps complete for exceeding the 20-minute feature time limit, making Chiarizio the winner for the first time of the 2008 season. Sears finished second, with Dan Flannery, Don Wood, and Scott Roy 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.

RESULTS

SK MODIFIED® (40 Laps): 1) Ted Christopher, 2) Keith Rocco, 3) Jeff Malave, 4) Zach Sylvester, 5) Richie Pallai, Jr., 6) Brad Hietala, 7) Curt Brainard, 8) Todd Owen, 9) Glenn Griswold, 10) Frank Ruocco, 11) Steven Reed, 12) Kenny Horton, 13) Jimmy Blewett, 14) Emil Downey, II, 15) Kirk Zervas, 16) Dave Salzarulo, 17) Corey Hutchings, 18) Wade Mattesen, 19) Doug Coby, 20) Chris Jones, 21) Rob Summers, Jr., 22) Kurt Lenahan, 23) Ronald D'Alessandro, 24) Woody Pitkat

LATE MODEL (30 Laps): 1) Dillon Moltz, 2) Michael Bennett, 3) Ryan Posocco, 4) Woody Pitkat, 5) Mike Mordino, 6) Tom Fearn, 7) Brian Chapin, 8) Rick Charette, 9) Scott Cook, 10) Dave Wray, 11) Mark St. Hilaire, 12) Joe Rzeszutek, 13) Billy Snow, Jr., 14) Doug Blowers, Jr., 15) Duane Noll, 16) Steve McQuillan, 17) Tracy Brouillette, 18) Kyle Nosal, 19) Wayne Coury, Jr., 20) Michael Connelly, 21) J.J. Hill,
22) Corey Hutchings, 23) John Warren, 24) Walt Wosko, Jr., 25) David St. Amant, 26) Victor Pomerleau

SK LIGHT (20 Laps): 1) Raymond Grassetti, 2) John Walmsley, 3) Joe Allegro, Jr., 4) Tony Santangelo, 5) Chris Bakaj, 6) Tommy Membrino, Jr., 7) Adam Skowyra, 8) Heather DesRochers, 9) Kyle Spencer, 10) Harry Wheeler, 11) Rick Burwood, 12) Mike Lane, 13) Mark Bakaj, 14) Steve Zukowski, 15) Ted Cain, 16) Fred Nees, Jr., 17) Neil Provost Jr., 18) Todd Clark, 19) Chris Matthews, 20) Jay Goff, 21) Alan Provost, 22) Frank Cardile, 23) Shawn Brule, 24) Earl Pelletier

LIMITED LATE MODEL (20 Laps): 1) Darrin Havanec, 2) Sean Foster,
3) Andrew Durand, 4) Bill Davis, 5) Rob Dow, 6) Joey Ferrigno, 7) Ed Charette, Jr., 8) Shawn Thibeault, 9) Stacey Botticello, 10) Carla Botticello, 11) Brian Clement, 12) Michael Chaves, 13) Kevin Gambacorta, 14) Michael Nadeau, 15) David Capriati, 16) Dave Yardley, III, 17) Norm Ashline, 18) Jeff Hubbell

DARE STOCK (15 Laps): 1) Matt Chiarizio, 2) Norm Sears, 3) Dan Flannery, 4) Don Wood, 5) Scott Roy, 6) Robert Thompson, 7) Vince Gambacorta, 8) Jesse Hinze, 9) Kelsey Rottino, 10) Paul Jensen, 11) Victoria Bergenty, 12) Fred Colgan, 13) Tony Membrino, Jr., 14) John Kasper, 15) Seth Wallace, 16) Peter Bourque, 17) Kyle Casagrande, 18) Melissa Blowers, 19) Barry Fluckiger, 20) Donald Walsh, 21) Cliff Saunders, 22) Jeff Jolly, 23) Todd LaPorta, 24) Albert Saunders, 25) Jim Brice



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