On June 25 Nickolas Hovey scored his first career victory in the Street Stock division at Stafford Speedway.
Friday the Chaplin teenager made his second victory of the season one to remember also.
Hovey used a last corner pass of Chris Meyer to win the 20-lap Street Stock feature at Stafford.
Meyer went to the lead past Hovey with two laps remaining. But on the final lap Hovey got under Meyer going into turn three and came out of turn four with the lead. Frank L’Etoile was able to follow Hovey into second place coming to the checkered flag.
“I had a run off of [turn] two and I got under Chris,” Hovey said. “He tried taking the bottom [lane] away and I drove it in and I wasn’t going to let him drive it in deeper than me.”
Said Meyer: “Nick just beat me. He just made a good move and was able to get underneath me coming out of [turn] two on the last lap. The car is real good, the team works hard, I feel like we had the best car tonight. It’s just once again that I just didn’t make the right move when the white flag came out.”
Derek Debbis of Oakdale scored his fifth victory in 12 starts this year in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature.
Brian Sullivan of South Windsor was second and Steven Chapman of Ellington third.
Two-time division champion Jeremy Lavoie used a late pass of division points leader Alexandra Fearn to win the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature.
It was the first victory of the season for the Windsor Locks driver.
“I’ve got to thank my family for sticking behind me,” said Lavoie, the 2018 and 2019 Limited Late Model division champion. “First time this year winning so that’s huge for us. A step in the right direction.”
Devin Jencik of Canton was second and Fearn, of East Longmeadow, Mass. third.
It was the third consecutive podium for Jencik. He scored his first career podium finish with a third place finish on July 23 and got his first career victory on July 30.
Congrats to Jeremy , always a great guy to race with. Not easy to win these races that’s for sure
Man the kid Hovey has a bright future in racing. You can almost see the improvement week to week and a good decision maker to boot.
15 years long enough for you Chris Meyer? Regressing you say. I strongly disagree. This year L”Etoile is at the top of his game and Hovey is a bright young talent with a rocket ship. You’re right there. Look at the tough time a usually fast Travis Hydar was having. Most folks don’t know how hard it is to get those Streets to turn in the laps they do and just a few do it exceptionally week in and week out. The 87 is right in the mix with an outstanding driver.