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STAFFORD – It was a celebration and feat that Travis Hydar seemingly had locked in place on May 10 at Stafford Speedway.
Hydar passed Ryan Waterman for the lead on the final lap of the Street Stock feature last Friday at Stafford, but in turn four it was Waterman spinning Hydar out of the lead.
Fast forward to Friday, and the scenario looked much the same. Hydar once again needing to fend off Waterman.
Friday there was no spinning, just celebrating for Hydar, of Woodbury.
Hydar came out on top of a late race battle with Waterman to win the 20-lap Street Stock feature Friday at Stafford.
It was the 21st career victory for Hydar, putting him on top of the division’s all-time win list. Hydar came into the night tied with Kyle Casagrande on top of the Street Stock division all-time win list.
“It’s something I’ve been looking at since a couple years ago and I wanted to set that goal and get to it before I moved up to another division,” Hydar said. “We’re super stoked to do it today. Kyle Casagrande had this record for so so long because he was one of the best to do it and I’m super stoked to get on top of that list.”
Bert Ouellette of Ellington was second and Jeff Asselin of Granby, Mass. third.
Hydar and Waterman lined up side-by-side with Hydar leading for a lap 18 restart. The pair went side-by-side for lap 18, with Hydar leading at the start/finish line to complete the lap. It went the same way for lap 19. On lap 20 Waterman edged ahead of Hydar through turn three, but then washed up the track through turn four and got into the outside wall coming to the checkered. Waterman ended up fifth.
“It kind of seemed like he just drove it in hot and blew the corner,” Hydar said. “I never got into him. It wasn’t my doing.”
Congrats to Travis on the great accomplishment. You can learn a lot about a person’s character by how they react to disappointment and losing. Last year there at Stafford Travis was most everyone’s odds on favorite for the Championship and the car to beat weekly; but that was before Waterman won a couple of races and decided to run em all. Although Travis won some races, Waterman parlayed his skill, experience and guile to capture the spotlight for many weeks and in the end the Championship.
Every interview I saw, (mostly podiums where he finished a spot or two behind Waterman) with Travis Hydar he was professional and respectful and gracious in defeat. I know he could have put on a whole nother personality off camera but he seemed genuine enough to me. Now this year he has stepped it up a notch and as of 5-17 Ryan Waterman and the rest of the field are going to have to step up their game. Actually with the exception of Waterman, the whole rest of the cast of characters in the Street Stock division need to step up a bunch if they want to win by outrunning the two aforementioned rather than waiting for both of them to have problems. Twenty laps is more than enough for Hydar and Waterman to start at the back and come to the front if they don’t get taken out.