(Press Release from Stafford Motor Speedway)
The race for the 2015 SK Modified® Rookie of the Year award at Stafford Motor Speedway will be worth a record $1,100 bonus thanks to Preston, CT SPAFCO Race Chassis and Parts. As number registrations have been rolling into Stafford Speedway, the SK Modified® rookie class looks to be a promising crop of drivers.
Leading the way for the incoming rookie class are four drivers making the move from SK Lights to the premier SK Modified® division. Branden Dion, Rich Hammann, Mike Christopher, Jr., and Tyler Hines will all make the move up the modified ladder. Dion was a feature winner this past season as an SK Light rookie while Hines has two career wins in the SK Light ranks at Stafford. Christopher, Jr. won 2 Legend Cars features on the Stafford mini-mile this past season before he made a 5-race foray into the SK Light ranks at the end of the season with a best finish of 6th.
The 2014 season saw two SK Light graduates, Chase Dowling and Ronnie Williams, drive their way into NAPA Victory Lane. Hammann, along with Christopher, Jr., Dion, and Hines, will all be looking to repeat that feat during the 2015 season and add their names to the list of SK Modified® feature winners at the renowned Connecticut half-mile facility. Christopher, Jr. will hope to join his father Mike, Sr. and Uncle Ted Christopher as SK Modified® feature winners at Stafford.
Joining the SK Light graduates in the 2015 SK Modified® rookie class are John Morgan, Richie Cooper, and Cam McDermott. Morgan has a wide variety of racing experience in his young background having raced Quarter Midgets, Legend Cars, and then ACT Late Models.
McDermott has been a feature winner in the modified ranks at Thompson Speedway and he nearly won two SK Light features at Stafford during the 2013 season, finishing second twice in only four starts. McDermott made his SK Modified® debut at Stafford at the NAPA Spring Sizzler and he returned for the NAPA Fall Final in September, but he could only muster a 26th and 25th place finish. Cooper made his Stafford SK Modified® debut in the NAPA Fall Final where he ended up with a 17th place finish. Both Cooper and McDermott will be looking to improve on their results from 2014 when the green flag drops on 2015.
Dowling’s fifth place finish in the points this past season matches Woody Pitkat in 2004 for the best rookie finish in the SK Modified® points over the past 15 seasons of SK Modified® competition. With a promising crop of rookies awaiting the first green flag of the 2015 season, it’s possible that mark can be matched or even bettered this season.
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