Coming into Friday’s racing card at Stafford Speedway there had been nine Street Stock events in 2023.
Ryan Waterman had won five of them and Travis Hydar three of them.
And Friday the two dominant forces of the division put on a show in a feisty battle for victory.
After a wild final three laps it was Waterman, of Danielson, celebrating his sixth victory of the season following the 20-lap Street Stock feature Friday at Stafford.
Waterman came into the season having never won in the Street Stock division at Stafford.
“We just wanted one win,” Waterman said. “Now we’ve got six. Hopefully we can get some more.”
Hydar, of Woodbury, was second and Travis Downey of Barkhamstead was third.
Following a lap 18 restart, Hydar got behind Waterman coming out of turn four. Into turn one on lap 19 Hydar found the lane under Waterman and came off of turn two side-by-side with the race leader. Hydar got the advantage through turn three, but through turn four Waterman found room under Hydar.
Waterman made contact with Hydar’s left rear off the corner,. Hydar’s rear end started to turn sideways, but he was able to save the car from spinning coming onto the frontstretch. The pair went side-by-side to the white flag. Waterman got the advantage powering off of turn two. Hydar got back to Waterman’s bumper in turn three, but couldn’t find a way to challenge again for the lead.
“That kid does not make it easy,” Waterman said. “He does not give up and you’ve got be on you A-game to beat Travis Hydar. … I was kind of sleeping getting into the throttle out of [turn] two. But I really wanted to win this race and gave it all I had.”
Said Hydar: “The car was fast today. The race went really well. We were able to get through traffic pretty good there following [Downey]. The car was super fast today so I’m really happy with that. We’ll build on it and come back next week faster.”
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