STAFFORD – There’s no denying the most dominant Late Model driver at Stafford over the last two seasons has been Tom Fearn.
But sometimes even for the fastest of drivers, a little luck is needed every now again.
Fearn likely didn’t have a winning car Friday at Stafford Speedway, but when the dust settled on the Late Model feature it was Fearn celebrating once again.
Following a tussle for the top spot between Tyler Leary and Michael Bennett, Fearn grabbed the top spot and never let go on the way to victory in the 30-lap Late Model feature at Stafford.
It was the seventh victory in 14 starts this year for Fearn, of East Longmeadow, Mass.
Wayne Coury Jr. of Shelton was second and Cliff Saunders of Stafford third.
Fearn was a far away second place to Leary when caution flew on lap 26.
“A little patience there,” Fearn said. “[Leary] was gone. I could push push push, I don’t think I was going to catch him. I just rode it out and got the magic caution.”
On the ensuing restart Bennett made it three-wide low and and it was Fearn who backed out of the battle at the front. Bennett stayed under Leary and on lap 27 the pair made contact through turn one and came off turn two hooked together setting off a spin and bringing out the caution that handed the lead to Fearn.
“Even on second on the restart I didn’t know how that was going to work out,” Fearn said. “They told me I was three-wide on the outside … I was like ‘Hmmm, this ain’t gonna work.” So I lifted and backed out of it. Those guys were into it heavy and ended up spinning to the infield. The seas parted and I just kept going. A little patience there. Ten years ago I might have kept my foot in it and been right in there with them. It took me 30 years to learn a little patience”
Teddy Hodgdon IV got to the lead early then held on through a lap 12 restart to win the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature.
It was the third victory of the season for Hodgdon of Danbury.
“We had a really bad run the last couple weeks but my crew worked extremely hard after a wreck last week trying to put this thing back together and it was a rocket ship all day,” Hodgdon said. “… We just held them off. I didn’t really want to see that caution there but we held [Jon Puleo] off at the end.”
After a few rough weeks for the division, track officials had a private meeting with the drivers Friday.
“It’s the middle of the summer, everyone is really hot and we’ve gone a long stretch of time without any rain outs, so of course everything is going to be tempered up,” Hodgdon said. “I think after [the meeting] today things calmed down. At least from my end I didn’t see anything bad happen. I mean there was one caution today and that’s been the least we’ve had in a while. I thought it was a really good race overall. I think it got everyone’s head that we need to calm down a little bit.”
Matt Clement of Wethersfield got his sixth victory of the season in the 15-lap Limited Late Model feature.
“Unbelievable,” Clement said. “Not in my wildest dreams. Everybody, we’re on cloud nine. We finished fourth a couple weeks back and I was upset with a fourth place finish when two years ago I would have pinching myself for a fourth place. It just speaks volumes for everybody that I have behind me. … They’re so supportive and now I finally have something to show for all their hard work.”
Jeremy Lavoie of Windsor Locks was second and Gary Patnode of Barkhamstead third.
Zack Robinson of Putnam got his fifth victory of the season in the 20-lap Street Stock feature.
George Bessette Jr. of Danbury was second and Travis Hydar of Woodbury third.
Here we go again,win #7 Congrats to Tom and the #92 team. Maybe you should take a week off and let someone else win. Anyway great job.
Congrats to Matt and Jeremy for your wins.
Obviously class of the field, but man did that caution cost Tyler big time.