THOMPSON – On June 5 at Thompson Speedway Bryan Narducci used a last corner pass of Steven Chapman to win his seventh SK Light Modified feature in seven career starts at the track.
Friday night at Stafford the drama between Narducci and Chapman carried over in the SK Light Modified feature with the pair trading aggressive shots multiple times. On the final lap at Stafford Narducci hit Chapman going into turn three and was able to take lead from him. Narducci took the checkered in the lead but was immediately penalized for aggressive driving and stripped of the victory.
Saturday at Thompson Speedway Narducci arrived not only trying to continue a perfect streak at Thompson, but also with a fire still burning from Stafford. And guess who it was battling once again with Narducci for victory?
Could it have been any other way?
Narducci, of Colchester, outdueled Chapman in a hard but clean battle up front to win the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature Saturday at Thompson.
“Last night we crossed the line first but they took the win away for a little bit of an aggressive move with [Chapman], so tonight I figured I’d do it clean,” Narducci said. “We barely touched. And I carved him up without getting into him at all.”
It was Narducci’s eighth victory in eight SK Light Modified division starts at Thompson dating back to the 2017 Sunoco World Series.
“After last night I got to the shop and worked on my car to get it switched over for here,” Narducci said. “I didn’t get home until almost 3 a.m, and I was pissed all the way home. I mean, [the Twisted Tea Modified Open 80] was great, I finished fourth. Can’t thank everyone enough for that. But I was very mad about not winning that race even though we crossed the line first. So getting a little redemption tonight and getting eight in a row makes it cool.
“I never could have imagined when I was little even winning a race here. I didn’t know if I’d ever be racing here. To be undefeated and win eight in a row is pretty amazing.”
Chapman, of Ellington, was second and Brett Gonyaw of Vernon third.
Narducci started seventh in the field and quickly made his way to fifth over the first two laps. By lap six he was up to fourth with Chapman at his bumper following him through.
Following a restart Narducci moved to third. A lap seven skirmish among between Brett Gonywa and Bert Ouelette at the front allowed Chapman to move to the lead off of turn four with Narducci following to second.
On lap 12 Narducci used a low shot into turn three to overtake Chapman, but Chapman crossed him over off of turn four and was able to regain the lead into turn one on lap 13. On the next lap Narducci got under Chapman once again to take the lead back, but Chapman got right back by Narducci coming off of turn four.
The pair went side-by-side for much of lap 15 with Narducci edging Chapman at the line to complete the lap.
On the final lap Chapman used a diving move into turn one, but couldn’t find the lane to get by Narducci out front.
“I think getting into [turn] one he got me one time and I was like ‘Alright, whatever.’” Narducci said. “At the end he tried the bottom shot like I did to him last time but he couldn’t make it work. The last corner I made sure I was protecting so he didn’t have a shot.”
Narducci said the heat of the simmering feud carried into the post-race tech area at Thompson after the feature.
“I pulled into tech and they were all staring me down,” Narducci said of Chapman’s crew members. “It doesn’t bother me, it just makes me want to go out there and do better.”
Leave a Reply