STAFFORD – Social distancing was being enforced in the grandstand and the pit area at Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday as they opened for the 2020 season.
But any attempts at social distancing on the track during the Street Stock feature were for naught.
A rough and tumble theme for the event carried right through to a final corner tussle for the lead that ended up with the apparent race winner penalized and the second place finisher directed to victory lane.
Reigning Street Stock champion Zach Robinson took the checkered flag as the race winner but was penalized for turning Chris Meyer out of the lead in turn four coming to the checkered flag. Hydar, of Woodbury, was declared the winner of the 20-lap feature.
“I thought I had third place locked up, and then I saw [Robinson] and [Meyer] get together,” Hydar said. “I didn’t even know he got [penalized]. I thought I finished second. My radio was all sketchy and muffled, I couldn’t understand them. And then they were pointing me to victory lane.”
Meyer, of North Franklin, was able to get back straight after getting turned and cross the finish line third and was moved to second after the penalty. Chris Douton of Waterford was credited with a third place finish.
Robinson was dropped to 14th place.
“It was definitely really rough,” Hydar said. “Everyone wanted that first one of the season so bad. There’s a lot of fast guys out there.”
Wayne Coury Jr. closed out the 2019 season at Stafford Speedway with his first career victory in the Late Model division at the track.
Friday he carried the momentum from the season ender in 2019 to the season opener in 2020.
Coury, of Shelton, held off the charges of Michael Bennett over the closing laps to win the 30-lap Late Model feature.
“Things normally don’t work out in our favor, but they did tonight,” Coury said. “We had a fast car all weekend. Not always the fastest, but I knew it was comfortable and I knew it was going to put us in a good spot for the race.”
Bennett, of Willington, was second and Paul Arute of Tolland third.
Andrew Durand of Chicopee, Mass. won the 15-lap Limited Late Model feature.
Matt Clement of Wethersfield was second and Jeremy Lavoie of Windsor Locks third.
Congrats to Travis Hydar and the #11 team.
Terrific race in the Late Models and a popular win for Coury. The bad news is you’re going to need Tom Fearn to break down every week since he’s running between two and three tenths faster then anyone else. Ryan as well running sub 22 second laps. The rest of the field extremely competitive. Can the field catch up? History says no.
Look what I found mom. First place.
A clean race was it Travis? Maybe from your perspective going from third place to victory lane complements of Zach Robinson’s miscalculation.
Welcome to Stafford Chris Meyer.
Congrats to Andrew and Jerry Duand, and your crew . Great job
Did Waterman the destructor get help from the 19 or was it just business as usual?