STAFFORD – Celebrating was the theme of the night Friday at Stafford Speedway for Late Model driver Kevin Gambacorta.
Gambacorta was celebrating his 11thanniversary with his wife Sarah. He also got the chance to celebrate a victory before his feature even hit the track when his seven-year old son Kolton topped the field in the Kid’s Night Big Wheel race.
And then the celebration was on for Gambacorta of Ellington when he scored his second win of the season in the 30-lap Late Model feature.
“This was like, I dreamed about it coming here but I didn’t think it was actually going to happen,” Gambacorta said.
Tom Fearn of East Longmeadow, Mass. was second and Tyler Leary of Hatfield, Mass. third.
Gambacorta was disqualified from a victory on opening day on May 4 when his car was found with an illegal shock.
Since there there’s been no slowing him. In the five events since he has two wins and three runner-up finishes.
“I just don’t know what the hell is going on,” Gambacorta said. “This is unbelievable. We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing here.”
Alexander Pearl of Salem drove away from Nick Anglace over the closing laps to win the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature.
It was the second win of the season for Pearl, who also won on May 11. Pearl got his first career victory in the 2018 NAPA Fall Final season finale at Stafford.
“The last couple weeks have been pretty rough,” Pearl said. “Last week we got a pretty good finish, but nothing is better than winning. … It feels really good. Last year I was a bomb until the last couple races. So it’s really nice.”
Anglace, of Ansonia, was second and Teddy Hodgdon IV of Danbury third.
Zack Robinson of Putnam drove by Travis Hydar of Woodbury for the lead on lap 10 and never trailed again on the way to his second victory of the season in the 20-lap Street Stock feature.
Robinson got his first win of the season on May 17.
Meghan Fuller of Auburn, Mass. was second and Hydar third.
-Ruh-ro. Car count not so good in Streets as Zack gains redemption.
-Gambacorta the 2019 Tom Fearn. No one predicted that. Impressive win.
-Congratulations to very smooth Alexander Pearl for the win.They should call him velvet. However that’s not the big story. The big story is rookie Steven Chapman’s major league bone head move. Being on the apron of the front stretch going three wide with a corner to deal with is never a good idea. His mistake that he’ll learn from but unfortunately others will be paying the bill. Leading in points, good finish almost guaranteed and the exact wrong move. Rookies, gotta love em.
Honorable mention to Anglace for a podium. Hodgdon coming from 14th to 3rd which is the kind of run that championships are made of. His run included backing out of a risky Anglace pass on the last lap that showed a great deal of maturity. Also Amanda West for a top 10 after enduring some rough finishes.
On the opposite end was Bryan Narducci. Always fast but the things that always seemed to go right last are not going so right this year so far anyway.