Michael Wray (Photo: Stafford Motor Speedway/Driscoll MotorSports Photography)
The first career victory for any short track driver is supposed to be a time for a racer and team to celebrate raucously in victory lane in front of the crowd.
The celebration for Stafford Motor Speedway Late Model driver Michael Wray was a little more subdued than the typical though on Friday.
It was long after the conclusion of the 30-lap Late Model feature when Wray, of Northford, got the news that he actually was being credited with his first career victory in the division.
Wray was deemed the winner after Tom Fearn was disqualified by track officials for use of an unapproved tire during the feature. Fearn had won four consecutive events going into Friday night’s event and had 10 wins overall this season.
Wray, a rookie in the Late Model, finished second place to Fearn on the track.
“We’ll take it,” Wray said. “We’ll take it anyway we can get it. We’ve been struggling all year with the car and it seems like the last few weeks we finally hit on some stuff. The car was fast last night. There were a few laps I felt like I was going to real him in, but every time I seemed to get close he’d pull back away. It seems like, at least this year, even just being close to Tom Fearn was a pretty good accomplishment.”
The disqualification moved Michael Bennett to second place in the feature. Bennett, of Willington, clinched the 2015 Late Model championship even before the disqualification. Josh Wood of Palmer, Mass. was moved to third in the final running order.
An illegal tire??? Need a better definition than that
Unapproved tire Steve. This means it was not on his inventory of tires for the race because all the tire are checked in by every team before racing begins for the night. The tire on Ferns car was not on his list and deemed unapproved and DQ’d him from the race.