STAFFORD – The battle at the top of the Street Stock standings was on display at the front of the field for the division Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Chris Meyer and Frank L’Etoile Jr. have been the class of the field in the Street Stocks in 2021 and the pair came into Friday’s event holding down the top two spots in the standings, with L’Etoile leading Meyer by two points after four events.
The tight battle in the standings was replicated by the pair on track Friday with Meyer holding off the charges of L’Etoile on the final lap to win the 20-lap Street Stock feature Friday at Stafford.
It was the second victory of the season for Meyer, of North Franklin.
The victory lifted Meyer into a tie atop the Street Stock standings. with L’Etoile, who also has two wins. Both drivers have top-five finishes in all five events this year.
“Last year we were able to win two races in our first season here,” Meyer said. “This year we expect a lot more. We came here to run for a championship. We just have a really good team and that’s what it’s about. There’s tons of good drivers. There’s drivers sitting in the stands that are better than me. But when you’ve got a really good team and really people behind you you get to race.”
L’Etoile, of Wethersfield, was second and Nick Hovey of Chaplin third.
Meyer went from third to first on lap five with L’Etoile following in his tracks to second place. L’Etoile stalked the bumper of Meyer the rest of the way until the white flag was shown.
On the final lap L’Etoile got to the outside of Meyer going into turn three. Through turns three and four L’Etoile went to the bottom lane and came out of turn four with a fender under Meyer. The pair drag raced to the checkered with Meyer edging L’Etoile by a bumper.
“It was really tough,” Meyer said. “It rained out last week and me and my old man put a lot of hours in this car. At least ten times an hour we say Frank’s name because we know that’s who we’ve got to beat. It looks like we’ve got a little more work to do, he’s a little bit faster than us. But it’s like the same thing the last couple weeks, whoever gets in front early seems to be the one that’s going to be in front.”
Michael Bennett got his third win in five events in the 30-lap Late Model feature.
Darrell Keane of Enfield was second and Adam Gray of Belchertown, Mass. third.
Mike Hopkins of Springfield, Mass. scored his first career Limited Late Model victory in the division’s 20-lap feature. Jeremy Lavoie of Windsor Locks was second and Matt Scappini of Litchfield third.
Holds off? You mean brake checking and blocking lap after lap. Bad journalism here for someone who covers honest racing , bad race director who calls out others for much less, bad interviewer calling Chris a class act for today’s race. I do think Chris brings excitement to this division and he is a good competitor but today it went too far and others went along with it.
Imagine if Hammond won in the Limiteds after dumping Alexandra and the headline, officiating, and interviewer was as blind as this.
Kudos to Stafford for running the show and keeping it on schedule. Kudos to RacedayCT for allowing these type of comments.
With all due respect I don’t think that is possible given the Streets are momentum cars with that one drive wheel. Meyer certainly took up a lot of the track but as the leader that is his right. L’Etoile could have tried getting Meyer squirley for the pass but didn’t make a serious attempt at it. He didn’t because he’s smart, takes the second and in my view is winning and will ultimately win the war.
We’re lucky this year. Hydar, Meyer and L’Etoile may be in a starter division but they are grizzled veterans. They’ll be vying for the win every week as some other guys like Hovey get better and give them more and more problems.
It’s going to be a terrific year for the Streets.
Meyer drove a good race. I don’t buy the brake checking comments. He protected the bottom which is the way all the full fender cars must race Stafford’s bottom dominant track. He gave L’Etoile the top to pass him if he could. Otherwise a good close entertaining race Congrats to Meyer