STAFFORD – Two weeks away from the track proved the perfect elixir for Teddy Hodgon IV to shake off frustrations at Stafford Speedway.
Hodgdon and his team used a Sept. 6 rainout at Stafford Speedway to double up the focus on his SK Light Modified and that effort proved perfect in every way for the Danbury driver.
Hodgdon drove away from the field in winning the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature Friday at Stafford Speedway.
“I just have this mentality right now, refuse to lose,” Hodgdon said. “I’ve been screwed a bunch over the last month of really good runs. So now it’s all chips in baby. This is it.”
The fourth victory of the season for Hodgdon vaulted him from second place in the standings to the lead in the division going to the final event of the season at the NAPA Fall Final on Sept. 29.
Hodgdon came into the event trailing Steven Chapman by four points in the standings. Hodgdon’s victory coupled with Chapman’s eighth place finish means Hodgdon will take a 10-point lead over Chapman to the final event. Alexander Pearl, who was fifth, sits third in the standings, 24 points behind Hodgdon.
“It’s the most unbelievable feeling ever,” Hodgdon said. “We know we’ve got one more job to do and that’s finish it in two weeks. But this is absolutely a dream come true. We worked on it so hard the last two weeks, especially because of the rainout. All of our hard work was put into this great effort and we showed it tonight. We were the class of the field and the car was on rails. I have no words. I’m speechless.”
Hodgdon went by Mark Bakaj for second place on lap three and two laps later got by Jon Puleo for the lead. He never trailed again.
“The car was phenomenal,” Hodgdon said. “We went through everything on that race car to make sure it was perfect. The rain out helped. We took that extra time and just kept working on it and it paid off. We’re going to have a really strong piece for the Fall Final and we showed it tonight. We’re going to carry the momentum, we’re going to win this thing.”
Pearl is too far out now so it’s Chapman vs Hodgdon. Having a consequential Fall Final race is always a pleasant experience and on Sunday since last year even better. Hodgdon clearly the heavy favorite in view of his speed lately but they race the races for a reason and we all know with last year still fresh in our memories things can happen.
Sure everyone is eyeing the leaders but there is a bunch of other competition for position afoot.
Like Narducci, Puleo and Prucker for 4th place. Korner and Ferrigno for a top 10. No small deal in the SK Lights.Boxom and Mathews for 13th. I give that to Mathews because of his recent help from Chassis Pro and the strong subsequent finishes. Amanda West in my view has made major strides this year with some impressive finishes but Sami Anderson is still in shouting distance so their race may be worth keeping an eye on.
All these races are just as important as the guys at the top of the heap to those racing them.
28 cars at the end of the season in the feature. Are you kidding me?