Ronnie Williams
Coming into the 2015 season at Stafford Motor Speedway, many considered Ronnie Williams as one of the drivers in the second tier of contenders in a talent stacked field.
Though the Tolland teenager, in his second season in the division, has proven to be anything but second best this year at Stafford.
Williams held off Ryan Preece to win the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.
It was the fifth victory in 17 starts this season for Williams, who had one win as a rookie in 2014.
Williams’ five wins in the division this year is second only to Rowan Pennink’s six this season.
Preece, of Berlin, held on for second and Pennink, the division points leader from Huntingdon Valley, Pa., was third.
Since a one-event suspension early this season, Tom Fearn’s focus at the track turned solely to chasing wins, and that focus has paid dividends for the East Longmeadow, Mass. driver.
Fearn scored his seventh victory in 16 starts this year in the 30-lap Late Model feature.
Wayne Coury Jr. of Milford was second and Tom Butler of Stafford third.
Duane Provost of Springfield snapped the torrid streak of Andrew Hayes in winning the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature.
Hayes, of Charlton, Mass., came into the event riding a three-race winning streak. He was second.
Paul Arute of Tolland was third.
Payton Henry of Willington got his second victory of the season in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature. Nick Salva of Prospect was second and Stephen Kopcik of Newtown third.
Fourteen year old rookie Marcello Rufrano of North Haven got his second career victory in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
Reigning division champion and current points leader Frank L’Etoile of Jr. of Wethersfield was second. Tyler Trott of East Hartford, chasing L’Etoile in second place in the standings, was third.
Teddy Hodgon of Danbury won the 20-lap Legends feature. Devin O’Connell of Madison was second and Noah Korner of Canton third.
Another good finish by TC for the national points good thing he skipped that tour race to concentrate on that. Lmfao.
Lm u are a moron
Maybe TC will be skipping races at Stafford soon. Has he ever had such a tough season there (best finish has been 5th?)?
What a season this kid is having, and he probably had the best car at the big money 5K race before getting spun when leading. I would love to see a tour car owner give him a shot at Stafford’s final event, and then next year running for rookie points.
One another note, I never dreamed Stafford would have such disappointing car counts. Last night, only the SK Lights (Div III) had a full field of cars.
The 4 divisions with fenders averaged a whopping 11.5 cars each.
I would say 20 cars is far from a full field, try another 10
Very nice job again by a talented young driver. He’s a very nice kid too it seems. Even apologized for getting into Preece. If he keeps this kind of nice guy attitude he’s going to be a huge fan favorite.
While Stafford is a great facility I think the Management there needs to take a good look at that operation; the best thing going is they run on a Friday night!! Why on earth they have 2 Late Model divisions is beyond me; why no drop the Limited Late models and adopt ACT rules for the regular late models. The Dare Stocks have never made sense to me, why not a street/limited sportsman like Thompson or Waterford?
Well nascar says 18 cars is a full field for national points. At this point Rocco and TC are only getting the maximum amount of points at the speedbowl. And because of that, I don’t see Rocco getting the national championship this year. Besides the sk’s at Stafford, the lower divisions are quite pathetic there. At least for the most part at the speedbowl, if the sk race sucks, the rest of the divisions will make up for them.
Statement win for Williams in the 59 mod. That’s 3 wins in the last 4 races. Ben Dodge calls him Superman and that team has been on fire since the 7/3 race. Behind him? All Tour drivers Friday night: Preece, Pennick, Pitkat, Rocco…and way back Christopher. Speaking for the section I sit in, Please guys, find this kid a Tour Ride. He is a young exciting driver and I would watch him anywhere.
Great race Friday night and can’t wait for next week!!
Shawn, are there any Tour teams looking at this kid?
This is what Stafford deserves . Just keep D.Q. cars and that is what you get in the sk division.
ModFan Home Tracks,
Not that I know of right now.
Brian,
I didn’t here of any SK ModifiedsDQ this season please do inform us with your knowledge.
It would have been a real interesting finish if Preece’s left rear wasn’t going down,in tear down it was softer than it went out.
Brian its been more attrition than dq’s. The only dq/suspension that I remember was chris Jones and he earned that one. One other factor is not a single rain out all year. 17 races straight will put a dent in even the strongest of wallets.
I agree with chris. Combining late models divisions might work, and/or open the rules to incorporate act rules and perhaps increase the car count. Maybe increasing purses will help also. They are only racing for 7 or 800 bucks a night.
I never cared for the dare stocks, and I know it’s there entry level division but you could honestly bring in mini stocks and have a good car count and still have an entry division.
I think if they brought in the limited sportsman and raised the dare stocks up that’s one division. Ministocks would be 2, sk and sk light is 3 & 4, late models with limited late models and /or act would be 5. And that’s it. Legend cars are just not taking off anymore and should be removed for next year.
Beyond that for me is just mixing up your shows. Like a 50 sk race just because its a new twist, or a 50 lap sk light race. Every once in a while change your program to include some added bonus or excitement of something different. Waterford does it all the time. Month of June half priced tickets. Something to bring people in the grandstands cause it’s a ghost town in turn 4 some nights. Nobody wants to pay 17.50 to see 75 cars in 6 divisions go around in a circle caution free with no action every week, when no more than 2years ago you’d see 110 cars a night in 5 divisions do the same. Something has to change.