Editor’s Note: Keith Caruso was ultimately disqualified from the victory, giving the victory to John O’Sullivan of Salem. No official reason for Caruso’s disqualification has been released by the track
THOMPSON – A simmering season-long multiple track rivalry between SK Light Modified drivers Bryan Narducci and Steven Chapman boiled over into ugliness Sunday at Thompson Speedway.
And it was that ugliness that meant the end of Narducci’s perfect record in the SK Light Modified division at Thompson Speedway.
Coming into Sunday’s event at Thompson Speedway Narducci had eight SK Light Modified victories in eight starts in the division at Thompson dating back to the final event of the 2017 season.
It looked like Narducci was going to extend the streak to nine, but in the final corner Chapman went diving under Narducci and then purposely drove up into him, turning Narducci’s car into a sideways slide through turn four.
As Chapman drove off to take the checkered flag, Narducci wrangled his sliding car back straight and crossed the finish line in fifth place.
Following the race Chapman and Narducci made contact at pit road and track officials called for a disqualification of Chapman for the contact.
It gave the victory in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature to Keith Caruso of Millbury, Mass.
In the pits after the race tensions were high with both teams.
Chapman said he turned Narducci on the final lap for payback for putting him in the turn two wall following a lap 12 restart.
“I mean, he drove me like this every single race and he runs his mouth on Facebook and that’s what he deserves,” the 16-year old Chapman said. “… He put me in the wall so I turned him, that’s what he deserves.”
The 18-year old Narducci said he never touched Chapman on the lap 12 restart.
“If he thinks I put him in the wall he needs glasses,” Narducci said. “Stevie Wonder could have seen that I gave him room and he plugged it because he’s a non and wrecked it by himself. If he thinks that I did that he should go back to go-karts.”
Narducci and Chapman both run full-time in the SK Light Modified divisions at Thompson and Stafford Motor Speedway.
In addition to his four wins at Thompson in 2019, Narducci has five wins at Stafford. Chapman, who leads the SK Light Modified points standings at Stafford, does not have a win at either track.
The rivalry between the two began simmering on June 5 when Narducci used a last lap pass of Chapman to win the SK Light Modified feature at Thompson.
On June 14 at Stafford Chapman was leading the SK Light Modified feature on the final lap, but contact from Narducci in the turn three on the final lap sent him up the track and Narducci took the checkered flag for the event. Narducci was immediately disqualified from the victory for over aggressive driving.
The next night at Thompson, on June 15, the pair again dueled for victory in the SK Light Modified feature, with Narducci winning once again.
“I wouldn’t have cared if he beat me straight up and actually passed me,” Narducci said. “But he slammed me off of [turn] two so I protect the bottom like anybody would. I’m on the flat and he goes under me and I watched his wheels go hard right. I’m done with him and I know he’s done with me. If he had beat me straight up it would have been fine. I wouldn’t have cared, I would have congratulated him, but if he’s going to try to beat me like that it’s game on.”
Narducci said he knew Chapman was going to try to wreck on him the final lap Sunday.
“My spotter [Mike Christopher Jr.] said ‘He’s going to get you, he’s going to get you.’” Narducci said. “I thought I’d be safe if I went all the way down on the flat becaue I figured he’s not going to get under me there. Well he drove it all four down there and just cleaned me out. We race together five more times here and eight more at Stafford so that’s a lot of times he’s going to have to think about it.”
Asked if he wrecked Narducci intentionally on the final lap Chapman said: “I mean, he put me in the fence. You run me like that every single race. Here, Stafford, every single race. Who cares. He’s going to run his mouth on Facebook about this one, how much you want to bet?”
Thompson officials confirmed that Chapman was not disqualified for his actions in the final corner, but for the contact on pit road.
“I would hope he was [disqualified], he wrecked me on the track, so if they didn’t throw him out for that there’s something going on there,” Narducci said. “He slammed me on pit road and put my head back in the seat, so I slowed down and he kept pushing me.”
Chapman said Narducci locked up his brakes on pit road and he couldn’t avoid hitting him.
“I think it’s BS,” Chapman said. “He brake checked me and it’s just stupid. Absolutely stupid.”
It was the first victory at Thompson for Caruso. Narducci was credited with a fourth place finish. Chapman was disqualified fully from the final running order.
Roll the tape. Was it a brake check or not. If it’s clear Chapman gave the 01 a shot from the rear it’s dangerous and a further penalty may be on the table.The whole thing is out of control with children basically with fast cars doing bonehead stuff. I don’t know what can be done to get them under control but it can’t continue.
The SK lights have been a nice surprise the last couple of years with good racing but the youngsters seem to be doing lots of last lap and now pit road wrecking, officials at BOTH tracks better get a handle on this before someone gets hurt or arrested.
A guy brake checks the winner and the winner hits him then gets DQ’d?
Something smells fishy.
It seems the author of this article is a little biased also.
I hope NASCAR steps in on the horrific screwing Chapman received
Hitting someone because they brake check you and you can’t stop is NOT aggressive driving in the pits.
Chapman should not have been DQ’ed, Thompson Speedway should be reinstated as the rightful winner, and if anyone is DQ’ed for aggressive driving in the pits, it should be Narducci for brake checking.
Payback is a fickle bitch. It’s about time he got his due, too bad Chapman got DQ’d.,
Narducci ran into Chapman on pit road, and Chapman gets DQ’d? Is this correct? Narducci pushed Chapman up on the restart and Chapman made a move to win the race? Sounds like the track needs to fix their results.
Clearly Thompson blew that call- the 14 admits he dumped the 01 on purpose – no call? Disqualify a driver for what they do after the race is ridiculous – calls should only be during race. If I had my promoter hat on I would not have DQed the 14 for dumping the 01, even though I saw it that way- need to sell tickets-JMO
TJ,
Explain how the author is biased? What in the story is biased toward either side? Everyone got their say and the actions on the track were spelled out.
The bias statement is probably due to the “wrecked’ statement in the title of the article. Obviously there are 2 different opinions of what happened in the incident so the tape should have been reviewed before a ruling was made. Especially when taking away a feature win.
RichO, The headline doesn’t say Bryan got wrecked, it refers to the streak being wrecked by the driver who said he intentionally turned him on the final lap.
Good spirit in this thread and clearly leaning Chapman. I don’t know what the truth is other then they both are out of control. If you have to explain the title that clearly isn’t referring to the action on the track then things should go down hill from here.
It’s BS that Chapman got DQ’D for running into a guy in the pits that brake checked him. It was an obvious brake check the way the dude suddenly slowed down.
Narducci is the one at fault for the indecent in the pits.
This DQ is absolutly ridiculous, why do you suppose this division went from 29 cars in the spring down to 14 cars for the last race and 11 for this week?
The track, and Shawn have been pumping this kid up all season and it really blows.
Not giving anyone else a chance of winning
A race honestly is just crap. These teams(what’s left of them) spend alot of time and money to show up and they have no chance of winning a race they try and run in and when someone does….they cheat him out of it…. Just bull.
01 pulled in front of Chapman and brake checked the kid, watch the tape.
When have you ever seen someone WIN a race and hit someone out of spite afterwords?
Thompson Speedway should be ashamed of what they have done to this division and what they did to this kid tonight, disgraceful!
Next race will it just be the golden child on the track by himself?
I wasn’t there but didn’t read any bias from Shawn C.
Tried to watch the pit road incident on fans choice replay but the view didn’t show the whole length of the pit road travel. Contact does come into view but its hard to tell when you can’t really see the travel speeds long enough prior to the contact. The decision to DQ came fast as by the time they crossed the pit exit gate they pointed both cars towards the pits and away from victory lane. Wouldn’t mind seeing another view. As far as on the track the contact was obvious. For me, that kind of racing would have been some sort of penalty anyways.
Doug they are racers and racing comes with big emotions. I don’t think you were even there to see what happened and yet your sure it’s dangerous driving and something needs to be done. You your self have questioned why Bryan’s car is so fast and his questionable driving style so now someone gives it back and there out of control. NOT it’s called hard racing and it keeps the fans in the seats. If you’re racing hard contact is going to happen and that’s what makes it exciting. I for one love it when they mix it up instead of a follow the leader snooze fest.
Correct, I wasn’t there. It’s also true that this sort of rivalry and drama is interesting to watch and can attract fans. I guess my line would be the division and the ages of the combatants.
When I say Christopher and Pennink going at it in 2017 before TC’s tragic death my view was it was good for racing. Fist fight and all. But they were men and these are very young men. Boys really. It’s also going on at two tracks and over a good part of the season with no hatchets being buried.
As far as fans in the seats goes at Stafford it’s not a problem keeping people interested in the SK Lights. They provide hair raising finishes that at times leave the crowd standing without personal grudges.
HA HA Sore loser Bryan will start the streak all over sunday
Congrats to Keith and his crew!!! keith is a gentlemen and his crew are a class act!!! Wish our night was better but we will take the heat win, put the car back together and bring it back to fight again!!! Thank you SPM!!!!
Congrats again to Keith and the entire 11 crew!!! What a shame this entire thread dosent even barely mention there win!!!
Ha Ha,Bryan will start the streak back up next Sunday
now a DQ? just when you thought it could not be more ridiculous…
Did somebody finally manage to “successfully” tug on Superman’s cape?
The spoiled little TC wannabe tried to block Chapman down the back stretch on the last lap. And then gets spun, chases down the 14 into the infield pits. Gets in front of him and brake check him. He’s throwing tantrums like 4 year old. Grow up Bryan!!
How is it the 01 put the 14 into the wall as he said he did, & the 14 never lost momentum & kept on racing??? Caution never came out for the 14. Wouldn’t you most likely, when you hit the wall not be able to finish???
Out and about on social media this morning and it’s abuzz with chatter on this article and these events.
First of all to the author be careful using cleaver double entendre in a title. Way too many literal people that will cherry pick words, label them out of context and make accusations and hurtful as well.. Including Ed Flemke of all people.. I love that guy. Makes really hard edged comments that can be pretty insulting then does a 180 so fast apologizing and giving rhetorical hugs preaching brotherhood and good will.
It’s clear that why some fans here like this confrontation many of the drivers in the division are not happy at all about it. They feel it puts them at risk and rightfully so. Prucker and Bloxum were quite vocal about it and many followers agreed it’s reckless. For the most part they both are being called out but Narducci has also garnered a lot of attention on his own for his driving style at both Stafford and Thompson.
Thompson is a big track and the field is smaller with room to spread out. Stafford has a large field and they spend a lot of time in packs.
Danger Will Robinson!
Maybe it’s time for Mark Arute to have a sit down with the drivers and their adult supervision and see if they can come to a meeting of the minds on how to dial back the youthful enthusiasm.
Man can this kid come up with anything that’s not TC? Chapman is a non huh? Wonder where you got that from? You are not TC so stop trying to be like TC in everything you do. Why don’t you go out there and be your own man? TC was an original, you my boy are nothing but a hack.
Bryan isn’t the cleanest of racers. That wreck last year with the 88 SKL (during the battle for the track championship) was started by the contact he made with the 88 leaving turn 2. Doesn’t shock me Bryan would put him in the wall and then get all upset when he gets spun, especially since he spun the 14 at Stafford. But worst of all was his actions on pit road, he ran the kid down just to stop in front of him. Unreal.
Rumor has it the 01 will be in thr lights again next year looking to win every race.
I couldn’t believe it when he used the word ‘non’ like he thought he was Ted Christopher. When a young rookie runs up front enough to give you he’ll it is inaccurate to call him that. It is pretty bad to use someone else’s material, and even worse to misuse it.
If I had any advice for Chapman, it would be to not muddy up his good name fighting with the pigs.
Teddy this, Teddy that. Get over it, no one will be anything like Ted. NO ONE so stop saying your driving or doing things like he does because I’ve never seen Ted block that hard or wall a guy that many times in one race. What happened on the track was not smart, not calculated and certainly nothing like Ted. Ted made moves, not playing that game of chicken that was going on the entire race. Grow up and be your own driver because everyone puts rheir pants on the same way every day. This wasn’t a win for the 15, it was a gift so enjoy it until next Sunday.
Didn’t you hear? He thinks he’s TC, Richie Evans, and the next coming of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. all rolled into one.
All this talk about the 01 & the 14 skl First of all the 14 claims the 01 is cheating because he’s so fast, that’s funny as they both have the same motor. Second of all if the 01 put the 14 in the wall how is it he never stopped & kept going. Usually if your in the wall, your done. Third, how smart is it to say openly that your going to put someone out so that you can win. REALLY ????
Barbara and Joey G, that happened earlier in the race. Coming outta 2, Bryan was low, n drove up to the wall. Steven was there…IMO, I don’t think he did it purposely, but it did end up with Steven bouncing off the wall, but he lost only two spots, back to 4th. Somehow, no damage. He had a couple restarts after, which helped him get back to 2nd.
Shawn….really? You have been bias on every mention of the golden child this year.
You made a fool of yourself with that statement.
Watch the tape from ANY SKL Tompson race and you will see him roughing up many, many cars. Get real dude, you are like his press agent with all your fake news.
Johnny Whitehead,
Thank you for the stale analysis, I’ve heard it for 25 years I’ve been covering the sport. I was biased for Ted Christopher when he was winning every week. I was biased for Keith Rocco when he was winning every week. And now I’m biased for Bryan Narducci. Nope, no dog in this fight. Guys who win get a lot of stories, funny how that happens. And guys guy don’t win say I favor the guys that win all the time. Again, funny how that happens.
Not exactly, nurf bars are stoved in and white from the wall from the lap 11 restart.
If these folks would just watch the video, it is free on Fanschoice.tv.
Johnny Whitehead,
The lap 12 restart looks like a million other restarts in Thompson history. No contact. Guy on the bottom moved up a bit in the middle of the corner. Still no contact. Guy on the top got in the marbles and got sucked into the wall off the corner. You can look at it 100 times, nobody got driven into or pounded into or pushed into the wall.
Shawn,
Lots of good articles to read this week. Must be the height of the season with all the racing and the heated emotions. Just wanted to take a moment and thank you for your time and all you put into this site. Try not to get to too caught up in the grind of fans and teams showing some frustrations. (hard when it gets personal) As for catching up with modified racing this site is great!
Can’t wait for next week and the rest of the summer.
If that is true then why were the officals , on the next restart yelling at the 01 car”01, give the 14 a lane on this start! 01, give the 14 a lane this restart”!?
It came through my headset load and clear. You really need to stop making excuses for the golden child!
Watch the tape,it is around 2;46;03 if I remember right.
Johnny Whitehead,
I did watch the tape, multiple times. Anybody taking an objective view of the replay can see that it was a restart like thousands of other restarts before at Thompson. Stay on the outside and you better beat the inside car quick, if not you better back out.
Alright, alright, I yield , it is your page.
You see it one way from your ivory tower plastered with Narducci posters and I see it from a reality perspective.
I enjoy this website and all that it does for short track racing. As owner and author Shawn is absolutely entitled to bias and slants and we have to accept it as readers. I would argue there is a personal slant, TC gets tons of praise, Narduci gets tons of accolades, and Owen, and Mike Christopher Jr. The list goes on. Andrew Mouller wins a sk race as a rookie and there isn’t even the normal Saturday mention of the so race. Personal history probably a factor but…kind of makes it seem like page is more of an editorial based site rather then objective journalism. Nothing wrong with it just makes it feel like we’re reading one guys personal version maybe not strictly facts. Understandable that personal feelings can get in the way, like when tri track didn’t offer a free ticket to Shawn it wasn’t enough to just not give them press, they got railed against lol. All is what makes page entertaining and sparks debate but hardly unbiased or slanted. If you are around any sport for 25 years you are going to form opinions and have favorites, you treat others as they treat you and it is only natural it will reflect in how you cover the sport.
Johnny Whitehead,
Reality perspective? Really. Come on, should we go back over all the other comments you’ve left under different names here. Buford T Justice, James, Buford, Johnny, Johnny Whitehead? The list goes on and on. And the common link in ALL those names and all those comments you leave? Every one of them left here bashing Bryan Narducci for months. Reality perspective is that you hate Narducci, you have hated him for quite a while, you use different names here so you can leave more comments all basically saying the same thing, and you’re too much of a coward to actually back up your words with an identity. I mean really, you’re that much of a coward that you’re so afraid of an 18-year old kid that you terrified to use a real name on your comments? Reality perspective is that you’re about as spineless as they come. I mean, seriously you want to talk about reality perspective, here you are using fake names one after the other to insult an 18-year race car driver on a weekly basis? You can call me biased or whatever you want, I put my name on everything you read here. I’m not afraid, I don’t hide.
Johny Dangerously is actually Johny Kelly? The DA, Tommy Kelly’s brother?? Wow!!
Attacking anyone that tries to report events seems to be a thing now. My view it’s cheap and any ignorant, biased person can do it. Let’s see, what prominent person do we know that does that all the time…….hmmm……..let me think.
You all know what you think you know and I don’t know if you are correct or not. What I know is you don’t appreciate is what you don’t know.. Racing is a micro market and Courchesne has to maintain relationships with everyone in that market. He’s on thin ice all the time for what he says because he’s so important to the market. This thread and social media where one word taken out of context was cherry picked and misinterpreted by a couple people including Flemke no less prove how thin the ice is and easy it is to claim foul.
What I don’t know nor do any of you is all the endless tidbits of inside information Shawn has accumulated that is off the record or too controversial and divisive to report. The discipline it takes to read all the ignorant nonsense we write every day and not correct it must take an iron will.
Very cleaver Unbiased how you call into question objective reporting with a poison pill complete with examples then sugar coat it with sprinkles. Not reporting Moeller’s win normally you say? Not reporting by it’s absence is opinion I guess in your view. That’s a new one. Here’s my take. Whether it’s the Speedbowl, Moeller’s win or anything else for that matter not reporting it is the editors choice. Writing an editorial trashing them would be opinion and by nature biased. Not reporting is not bias. It’s demonstrating an iron will not to use your megaphone to say precisely what you think.
The really interesting part Unbiased is how you took the editorial that was written about the Moeller’s long ago and use that as a dagger later when the mere absence of something doesn’t meet your approval.
Objective journalism! My God what do you think this is the NY Times.
Bottom line is most of us don’t appreciate the value of information and the effort it takes to provide it to you and free no less. Correction not free. Just no cost to us. And the guy gives you the space to insult a lifetime of work.
Here’s an idea. When someone invites you to their house, gives you drinks, a meal and entertains you is it too much to ask to not tell them what was wrong with what they gave you at no cost. If complaining about journalistic standards is a high priority with you PAY for a Courant or JI subscription and write letters to the editor all day if you like.
This is the part I know to be true. What Courchesne does there is no one in the forum capable of doing. Working, traveling and engaging the race community then hammering out great stores in ultra high volume no less. At the races, chaos and distractions all around and the guy is on a laptop trying to give us almost instantaneous information on just completed results. Correction; no one here could do what he does nor most anyone else in Connecticut to not only give all of us lunkheads the free information but to create a business model to fund it to be able to continue to do it.
Unbiased that’s a hoot. You trash the very core of a person and career then call yourself unbiased. Tosser is more like it.
I pay for a subscription to the JI and I still get ALL of my racing news from RacedayCT. Thanks Shawn for all that you do, and thanks Doug for reminding us.
I am in full agreement with Doug & Sharpie. This by far is the best site for racing info in the northeast, particularly as it applies to Modifieds. Thank-you for all your hard work Shawn!