Tom Fearn celebrates the 2016 Late Model championship Sunday at the NAPA Fall Final at Stafford Speedway (Photo: Stafford Speedway)
STAFFORD – From 1993 to 1998 Tom Fearn won three Pro Stock track championships at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Sunday, eighteen years removed from celebrating his last title, Fearn grabbed track championship No. 4 at the track.
“I always tell everybody I refuse to grow up,” the 52-year old Fearn said. “It’s been a long time. My first six championships [in short track racing] came in 12 years. That was pretty awesome. I’ve been waiting 18 years for another one. We’ve stuck with it all through. But every year we come here and we’re competitive which is great. I have great sponsors and a great team and we just keep at it and this year just happened to be our year.”
Fearn, of East Longmeadow, Mass., finished second in the 30-lap Late Model feature Sunday at the Stafford Motor Speedway NAPA Fall Final to clinch his first championship in the division.
Fearn finished the season with seven wins, 15 top-five’s and 17 top-10’s in 17 starts.
“Earlier in the year I was told if I finished every lap I should be in contention for the championship,” Fearn said. “We finished every lap this year. It just goes to a great crew that got behind me. I can’t thank them enough.”
Fearn came into the event holding a 24-point lead over Michael Wray in the standings. Wray, of Northford, won the feature. Josh Wood of Palmer, Mass. was third. Fearn ended the year with a 22-point advantage over Wray, who had two wins, 14 top-five’s and 17 top’s on the season.
Fearn won Pro Stock division championships at Stafford in 1993, 1995 and 1998. He also won Late Model championships in 1988 and 1989 at the former Riverside Park Speedway along with a Pro Stock title at Riverside in 1992.
“It feels great,” Fearn said. “I’m glad all these fans stayed for the race. Man it’s been a long year. I guess it’s been a long time since I won a championship. This one makes it even better. There’s a lot of great competition here. [Wray] was with us all year long. We couldn’t make a bad mistake because he would have taken over the points lead. I’ve got to thank the guys on my crew.”
Wray went to the lead past Rich Hermann on lap four and never trailed again. Fearn went second past Tom Butler on lap 11. Josh Wood moved past Fearn for second on lap 21 restart, but Fearn was able to regain the spot on a lap 24 restart.
Congratulations Tom and your team. Nice Job. Say hello to Diane for me.