(Press release from Stafford Speedway)
This Friday night, October 9, will see Stafford Speedway crown its 2020 track champions with NAPA Auto Parts Championship Night. Although Keith Rocco and the #88 Wheelers Auto team have already clinched the SK Modified® title for 2020, there are still four track champions to be determined this Friday night.
Starting in the Late Model division, 2-time Late Model champion Adam Gray and the #97 Meadows Motor Cars team currently leads former Late Model champion Michael Bennett and the #31 Aubuchon Hardware team by 36 points and Al Saunders and the #40 American Sleeve Bearing team by 38 points. All Gray needs to do in order to wrap up his third career track championship is to finish somewhere in the top-19 this Friday night. The task is much taller for Bennett and Saunders to claim the title. Bennett will have to finish at least 19 positions in front of Gray as well as finishing anywhere in front of Saunders in order to win the championship. Saunders needs to finish at least 20 positions in front of Gray and at least 18 positions in front of Bennett to win.
In the SK Light division, Brian Sullivan and the #11 Vasseur Landscaping find themselves in the same position as Adam Gray in the Late Model standings. Sullivan, who has missed 2 races this season, goes into the final race of the season leading Alexander Pearl and the #7 Darling Auto Parts team by 40 points, or 20 positions on the track, Derek Debbis and the #56 Van Horst General Contractors team by 41 points, and George Bessette, Jr. and the #39 Lasco Roofing and Sheetmetal team by 46 points. For Sullivan to clinch the championship no matter where the other 3 contenders finish, all he needs to do is finish 20th or better. Both Pearl and Debbis need to finish at least 21 positions in front of Sullivan while Bessette needs to be at least 24 positions in front of Sullivan and 4 positions in front of both Pearl and Debbis.
Stafford’s Limited Late Model division offers the closest of the championship races with Andrew Durand and the #43 Universal Plastics team leading Alexandra Fearn and the #12 SAFCO Foam team by only 2 points, or one position on the track. 2-time defending Limited Late Model champion Jeremy Lavoie and the #6 L + S Equipment team are third in the standings, 6 points or 3 positions on the track behind Durand. If Durand records a top-2 finish, he will clinch the championship regardless of where Fearn and Lavoie finish. If Durand does not finish in the top-2, he will need to be no more than 1 position behind Fearn and no more than 5 positions behind Lavoie to win the championship. Fearn will need to finish at least 2 positons in front of Durand and no more than 4 positions behind Lavoie to win the championship. Lavoie will need to finish at least 6 positions in front of Durand and at least 5 positions in front of Fearn to claim his third consecutive championship.
Stafford’s Street Stock division has a similar championship chase to the Limited Late Model division. Defending Street Stock champion Zack Robinson and the #89 First Class Auto team have been leading the standings for the majority of the 2020 season, but Meghan Fuller and the #2 Propane Plus team have got hot at exactly the right time of the season, winning 3 consecutive races heading into the final race of the season to hold the championship lead by 6 points over Robinson. Chris Meyer and the #87 D & L Services team are currently third in the standings, 16 points behind Fuller. If Fuller records a top-3 finish this Friday night, then she will clinch the championship regardless of where Robinson and Meyer finish. If Fuller is outside the top-3 she needs to be no more than 2 positions behind Robinson if Robinson wins and no more than 3 spots behind if Robinson doesn’t win while being no more than 8 positions behind Meyer. If Robinson wins, he needs to be at least 3 positions in front of Fuller or 4 positions in front of Fuller if he doesn’t win while not being more than 5 positions behind Meyer to claim a 2nd consecutive title. For Meyer to win the championship, he will need to finish at least 9 positions in front of Fuller and at least 6 positions in front of Robinson.
Tickets for the final Friday Night event of the 2020 season, NAPA Auto Parts Championship Night, are on sale now through the Stafford Speedway website with adult general admission priced at $20.00, $5.00 for kids ages 6-14, kids 5 and under are admitted free. Paddock passes are priced at $40.00. The 2020 season concludes with the CBYD 81 Modified Classic on Saturday, October 24, which will pay the winner of the 81-lap Tri-Track Modified Series race $10,000.
Fans who cannot attend this Friday night’s races in person but would still like to watch can order a live stream of the event from www.staffordspeedway.tv for $20.
For more information, visit www.staffordspeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
The Street Stock and Limited late model fights are anyone’s to win. I’m pulling for Megan in the streets and Andrew in the limiteds.
The SK Lite title is Sullivan’s to lose. But how about George “Mad Pup” Bessette sitting third in points as a rookie, very impressive.
In the late models, again it’s Adams to lose, but I’m going out on a limb and saying he pulls it off.
Should be a great night of racing Friday night. Best of luck to everyone competing. Hopefully it’s a night of good “clean” racing, and the contenders use their cars performance and not their bumpers to settle it all.
Scott Running needs to lay out all the possibilities but realistically we can cut that down. Even the cut down version is plenty of reason to go to or tune into this event.
For me the only reason needed is to hopefully see Fuller get the championship overcoming the cheap shot Robinson gave her that put her at an unfair disadvantage in the points race.
I suppose you can put Lavoie in the LLM championship hunt but with 10 cars the reality is it’s Durand vs Fearn. Durand being the favorite but the Fearn cars can be fast so we’ll see if future attorney Fearn can pull it off.
Gray will win the LM’s but if you’re not watching the Saunders/Bennett battle for runner up you’re missing out.
12 points is a lot for Owen to grab second from Williams and probably a bridge to far. Nonetheless one can hope for the 50 to get a few untimely grass burns.
Pearl, Debbis and Bessette separated by 6 points and fighting for second in points in the loaded and chaotic SK Lights. Yummy!
I guess the potential big story that is a real possibility is women winning 2 of the 5 championships in the year of the pandemic. Yikes ever better yet if they both won their races as well. That would be very memorable.