STAFFORD – It’s been a season of feast or famine in the SK Modified division at Stafford Motor Speedway for Ryan Preece.
Friday night the Berlin driver was back to feast mode, feasting on the competition put in front of him once again.
Two weeks after leaving the track with a wrecked car after a late race tangle for the lead, Preece proved dominant once again on the way to victory in the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford.
Woody Pitkat of Stafford was second and Eric Berndt of Cromwell third.
It was the seventh victory in 13 events this year at Stafford for Preece.
“At the beginning of the season I just said ‘It would be nice to get to five [wins] like I did in 2011.’” Preece said.
It seems Preece has had as much bad luck as good this year at Stafford, but the tide turned for him in a big way on lap 10 Friday when he missed getting caught up in a wreck that collected contenders Doug Coby, Keith Rocco and Ted Christopher.
“I was pretty close to almost being in that,” Preece said. “I saw them tangle. … I must have missed by inches.”
That wreck proved a game changer for the division’s standings. Preece came into the evening in second place in the standings, six points behind Coby, with Pitkat in third 18 points out of the lead.
Coby’s 21st place finish made for a massive swing, putting Preece in the lead by 12 over Pitkat in second. Coby fell from first to third and is now 34 points behind Preece with five events remaining this season.
“It’s too early,” Preece said of thinking about points. “We’re just going to keep trying to win races and put a show on.”
After taking the lead from Pitkat on lap 27 Preece went unchallenged at the front the rest of the way.
“I felt like I was in a go-kart,” Preece said of his car. “It just stuck everywhere.”
It was the eighth top-five finish this season for Pitkat, who is still looking for his victory in the division at Stafford in 2013.
“We’ve been working on it, trying stuff week in and week out,” Pitkat said. “We’re getting there, we’re just missing it a little bit. But for a first year team, putting it together, we’ve been really good, really consistent.”
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