Tom Fearn
STAFFORD – For most drivers, starting a season with finishes of fifth, sixth and fourth respectively in the first three races would be a point of pleasure for consistent finishes in the top-six.
Not for Tom Fearn.
For Fearn, those three finishes to start the season represented being galaxies away from expected results.
Friday, the reigning Late Model champion, got rediscovered a victory lane he is quite familiar with at Stafford.
Fearn, of East Longmeadow, Mass., held off Glen Reen to win the 30-lap Late Model feature Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.
“I can’t do it without the best crew here at Stafford,” Fearn said. “My guys work hard day in and day out on this thing. We’ve been struggling the last couple weeks. Our finishes have been decent but we just missed that little bit extra. We made a couple adjustments tonight and it really came to fruition here.”
Reen, of Wilbraham, Mass., was second and Wayne Coury Jr. of Milford third.
Fearn went under Paul Arute for the lead in turn one on lap four and never trailed again.
“The beginning of the season we really struggled I thought,” Fearn said. “Our finishes were decent, we can’t complain about that. We were just missing that little bit. We got here tonight and we still weren’t that great. We made one adjustment and it was like ‘Man oh man.’ Magic adjustment I guess. We picked up seven-tenths [of a second a lap]. We said ‘Well we’ve got something for the feature.’”
Duane Provost inherited the lead on lap 18 and then held off Cliff Saunders on a late restart to win the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature.
It was the first victory of the season for Provost, of Palmer, Mass.
“It feels good to be back here in NAPA victory lane,” Provost said. “I can’t say enough for my brother helping me out every week, giving me a shot to get out here. That was a crazy race. I got hit a couple times, I was in the dirt and I was able to keep it straight and focus and make it to victory lane.”
Saunders, of Stafford, was second and Robert Bloxsom III of Stratford third.
Ryan Fearn had checked out from the field before caution flew on lap 18. On the restart Bryan Narducci got the jump to take over the lead. But in turn three Fearn made contact with Narducci to send him spinning and bring out the caution. Fearn was penalized for overaggressive driving, putting Provost in the lead.
Fourteen year old Travis Hydar of Woodbury scored victory in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
It was the fourth career start in the division for Hydar.
“I never thought [a win would come] this soon,” Hydar said. “I knew it was possible, but not this soon. … It was amazing. Just an adrenaline rush. I didn’t think that I was going to get out front and run like I did and keep it up there.”
Johnny Walker of Ludlow, Mass. was second and Zack Robinson of Putnam third.
Congratulations Tom. A great competitor and a great racing family.