Bryan Narducci Goes From Third To Win In Final Corner Of SK Light Mod Feature At Stafford

Bryan Narducci

STAFFORD – Running third with the laps winding down, Bryan Narducci was thinking about big picture racing and chasing his first championship in the SK Light Modified division at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Then a big hole made those big picture thoughts disappear in a flash for the rookie.

Narducci went into turn three of the final lap in third and finished the race rolling to victory lane in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.

It was the fourth victory of the season for the Colchester teenager, who rallied from the rear of the field after an early race spin.

“I screwed up in the beginning of the race,” Narducci said. “… We came back from last and that just shows how fast our car is and how good our team is.”

Marcello Rufrano, Narducci’s closest competitor in the battle for the championship, was second. Teddy Hodgon of Danbury, who got his first career victory last week, was third.

On a lap 17 restart, Hodgdon, with a push from behind from Narducci, moved to the lead past Chris Matthews. Rufrano settled into second after the restart.

On the final lap Rufrano used a run off of turn two to get under Hodgon into turn three. But through the corner Rufrano drifted up the track, taking Hodgdon with him and opening the low lane for Narducci, who pounced.

Narducci came off of turn four with the lead and won the drag race to the checkered.

“Marcello was definitely faster than me and I saw he had the run pushing [Hodgdon],” Rufrano said. “I was thinking big picture there. I was like ‘I’ll let him do whatever he’s going to do.’ When I saw him take him up the hill I was like ‘I’m throttling up and getting in there. I was not loosing that one coming out of turn four.’”

Rufrano, who has six victories this season, took the blame for the late dramatics.

“The race was up and down for me,” Rufrano said. “At one point we were back in 10th and then we came storming back to the front. It shows how good this car was tonight. I had a really bad wheel hop to start the race and when I went in the corner it just never turned. I feel really bad because Teddy had a really good car. I felt like if he had the chance to run the outside like he was supposed to we probably could have raced to the line. Congrats to Bryan, that was a pretty cool move. I got my eyes carved out on that one. It’s a championship battle and he’s going to do everything he can to get the win.”

Said Hodgdon: “I knew on that restart I had to get something good. Bryan gave me a really good push down the backstretch and then I held him on the inside just trying to pinch him a little bit. It worked for a little bit then Marcello got a run on me on the backstretch. So, what are you going to do? There’s really hard racing out there but it’s a lot of fun racing with these guys.”

Comments

  1. Great race and great article!! Thanks, Shawn!!!

  2. The SK Lights did it again. They stole the show. Crowd on it’s feet when the checker fell. Lap after lap of double wide racing. Narducci and Rufrano passing so many cars so quickly. Not supposed to happen in that division.
    From a pure racing standpoint I just do not know how 20 laps could have been better or more exciting.

  3. Doug, U are soooooo right, Stafford again with nice weather and a great nite of racing, yes 9 and 11 cars features for the LLM AND LM really have to have u asking why STAFFORD, and wow was the 58 fast after he pitted in THE VMRS feature. the street stocks were a lil feisty but again a great nite AT JACK ARUTE’S STAFFORD MOTOER SPEEDWAY!!!

  4. I’d be interesting to know wmass what you thought of the no new rubber deal in the VMRS race. Good, bad? More interesting strategy wise or did it take an element away?

  5. Can’t wait to see these two graduate to sk they are going to tc and Rowan’s replacements

  6. Best race of the night. Promote the SK lights already. 20 laps is not enough and allow infield pitting so if a guy gets a flat his night is not over. You have a good field and great racing in this division.

  7. Well Doug the No tires rule sure didn’t slow Goody from passing lots of cars, overall I though the VMRS race was decent, I like 80 laps as a distance for them, I know would never happen but would 2 75 lap WMT races with no tires on same night be a fun thing to try???

  8. “20 laps is not enough and allow infield pitting so if a guy gets a flat his night is not over”

    Isn’t that why there’s another modified division? The current format makes it possible for some drivers to run a mod.

    There are SK Light drivers who do pretty much everything themselves, including funding themselves. They have no steady crew, only a volunteer helper or two at various times. If they wreck, they may even need other teams to help them load up. Other cars are part of SK teams who are busy prepping the SK(s) of the team, the workload would increase for them, too.

  9. Agreed. As the race was wearing down it seemed like it would be nice to have a caution and tire strategy in play. But then on the way home all I could think was for no tires and one caution there was a awful lot of movement going on and what I witnessed was a pretty darn good race.
    Not to take anything away from the NWMT it just seems like the VMRS with their built engines and many different winners is in the best spirit of Northeast modified racing. Savory, who would have predicted that. Full program, enthusiastic crowd, home by 11. Great night.

  10. There is not much in a 20 lap race tire strategy would do especially when you are limited to the number of new tires you can purchase in a week. Then you have the cost of pit equipment to add to the mix. Why does everyone keep wanting to add to the cost of an entry level division? Does not make sense at all……..

  11. I like the 20 lap distance for the skl’s. They should let cars pit for flat tires and repair in the pits like before… infield pitting sucks for the teams because you really can’t watch the race from the infield. And yes why add the expense of pit equipment and radio’s

  12. Hey Mark 30 laps sk light feature and pitting give one extra tire every 2 weeks and then the people NOT YOU get what they want!

  13. Wreckaducci is at it again. So the kid absolutely dumps the 81 on purpose which is plainly obvious in the video available on YouTube almost putting 4 wheels in the dirt to make it happen and everyone hails him as some sort of genius and gets no penalty while the 76 gives him nerf and gets black flagged. Not sure if anyone pays attention to what happens on the race track other than who ends up in victory lane any more. Some major backwards officiating.

  14. hey lightsout – when you dump someone on purpose – you don’t take yourself out. Bryan was involved in an accident (he admitted it was his fault) and he went to the rear. what should the penalty have been in your opinion? I agree with you on the 76 call, might have been contact but nothing intentional

  15. Hey lightsout, maybe the call on the 76 was do to the fact that a few weeks ago he dumped the 88. That’s the 2nd time he’s messed with the 88

  16. Hey lightsout, maybe the call on the 76 was do to the fact that a few weeks ago he dumped the 88. That’s twice that he’s messed with the 88

  17. #01 SK Light, driver Bryan Narducci
    Infraction- Contact with the #81 car in turn 4 on lap=-5 of the feature.
    Penalty- Placed to the rear of the running order under caution flag conditions
    (turn 4 Stafford or turn 1)
    Anyway It was a bone head move. There wasn’t any space. Drivers are allowed two make mistakes and admitting it is nice but the bigger factor is how many times it happens. The answer is for the 01 this season very rarely. So we move on.

  18. Regarding allowing Lights to enter the pits to change a tire I believe that’s a safety issue as well as not being practical with the long way back onto the track. In the old days adrenaline fueled drivers racing to their trailers to change tires was a law suit waiting to happen.

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