STAFFORD – Nickolas Hovey made his first points paying victory in the SK Light Modified division at Stafford one that won’t soon be forgotten.
Hovey, of Chaplin, came out on top of 10-lap bumping and dicing shootout with Tyler Chapman to win the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature Friday at Stafford Speedway.
“We certainly got into each other enough to where we weren’t going to wreck each other,” said Hovey, who won an exhibition SK Light Modified event at Stafford last year. “That was great racing. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
Chapman, of Ellington, was second.
“That’s what racing is all about,” Chapman said. “That was really fun. You can’t ask for anything more. He hits me, I hit him back. Rubbing’s racing, we both love it, so that was awesome.”
Sami Anderson of Wolcott was third.
“It’s a good night to be [on the podium],” Anderson said. “Of course I want a little bit more. I want those other two spots.”
At the start it was Bob Charland getting by Paul Arute to move to the front. On lap two Hovey got by Arute to move into second.
On lap three Hovey used the low lane off of turn four to get by Charland for the lead.
By lap five Chapman, who started 10th, was up to third with Nick Anglace behind him in fourth.
Caution was out on lap seven with Hovey leading, Charland in second, Chapman in third and Anglace in fourth.
On the restart it was Chapman making the jump from third to second. On lap eight Hovey and Chapman came off of turn four side-by-side with Chapman edging Hovey at the line for the lead. Caution flew on lap nine.
Chapman held the top spot on the lap nine restart, but caution was back out once again on lap 10.
On the lap 10 restart, contact between third place Anglace and fourth place Charland sent Anglace spinning in turn two, collecting seven more cars in the melee.
“You know what, can pay Todd Owen to set [the car] up, you can pay Keith Rocco to set ‘em up, you can pay SPAFCO to set ‘em up, it doesn’t matter, you can’t pay them to drive the car and I think that’s what they need honestly,” Anglace said.
On the lap 10 restart it was Hovey getting Chapman off of turn four, with the pair coming to the start/finish line side-by-side. On lap 11 Hovey took over the top spot in turn one, but Chapman fought back on the outside to regain the top spot.
Only 13 Hovey got under Chapman into turn one and came off turn two with the lead. On lap 14 Chapman battled back to get under Hovey into turn three. The pair came to the flagstone side-by-side with Hovey leading at the line.
On lap 15 it was Chapman passing for the lead off of turn four and quickly getting away from Hovey. But by lap 18 Hovey was back on Chapman’s bumper.
On lap 19 Hovey kicked up the dirt in turn one getting under Chapman into the corner. The pair came off turn four side-by-side with Chapman leading by inches at the line. Hovey was able to get the run off of turn two to clear Chapman and Chapman couldn’t find a lane by Hovey over the final half lap.
Looks like the “Nick Anglace dumb comment of the week” will be the theme of the year in the sk lites. Race monitor says only 14 cars finished the race?