STAFFORD – Nickolas Hovey scored the honey pot Friday at Stafford.
Hovey, of Chaplin, fought off the challenges of Alexander Pearl over the closing laps to win the first of two SK Light Modified features Friday at Stafford Speedway.
“The thing tightened up really bad under that last caution,” Hovey said. “I’ve just got to thank [Keith Rocco] and all of his guys. They bring this thing back better than ever every time I wreck it.”
After fighting off Pearl on two late restarts, Hovey used a last lap block to keep hold of the lead. Pearl, of Salem, finished second. “Dark Pearl” showed up on the public address system.
“We just had the great car, but when you line up on the side of Winnie the Pooh, that’s just what’s going to happen,” Pearl said of the late race battle with Hovey. “We’ll take it. We had the fastest car. We’ll come back in the second one, win it. I just can’t thank all my crew for all their hard work.”
Meghan Fuller of Auburn, Mass. was third.
It was the third victory of the season for Hovey.
After a wreck at the rear of the field on the initial start, the race restarted with Sami Anderson controlling the pace out front. Ron Midford was able to get run Anderson on lap two and came off turn four in the lead.
On lap three Anderson fought back on the outside with the pair coming to the start/finish line side-by-side with Milford slightly ahead. On lap four the pair went side-by-side again, coming to the line with Anderson ahead by a bumper.
On lap five Anderson got a run off of turn two to clear Midford, with Hovey following to second place. By lap 11 Hovey was finding a lane under Anderson. On lap 13 Hovey found got a run low into turn one and came off turn two with the lead. Anderson fought back on the outside, but Hovey was able to clear Anderson on lap 14. On lap 15 Pearl got by Anderson for second and quickly found Hovey’s bumper.
Pearl was stalking on Hovey’s bumper when caution flew on lap 18. On the lap 18 restart Pearl got the jump on Hovey at the front, but the caution was immediately back out for a wreck at the rear of the field. On the next attempt at a lap 18 restart, Hovey and Pearl went side-by-side for the most of the lap with Hovey edging ahead of Pearl through turns three and four. Caution flew on lap 19 to set up another duel for Hovey and Pearl.
On the lap 19 restart Hovey and Pearl went side-by-side down the backstretch before Pearl pulled in behind Hovey through turns three and four. As the pair took the white flag Pearl looked to make a move low on Hovey into turn one, but Hovey put a block on to defend the spot, leaving Pearl chasing him for the remainder of the lap.
Other stories from Stafford Friday
Redemption: Mike Christopher Comes Back From Wreck To Win SK Modified Feature At Stafford
Adam Gray Gets Third Late Model Win Of 2024 At Stafford; Fiery Wreck Punctuates Event
“When you line up on the side of Winnie the Pooh, that’s what’s going to happen”
What is that supposed to mean? I haven’t seen it on Flo yet, but from where I was sitting at the start / finish line it didn’t look like the 16 ran him up
He ran him down- that would be an acceptable black flag u didn’t stay in ur lane infraction. The call on the 25 in heat race and the 88 in the feature were really stupid
Is there a Winnie the Pooh – dark pearl – stay in your lane reference I’m missing?
Pearls father was always a winer
I remember a night when Terry owned the speedbowl, a young Keith Rocco made it 3 wide on a green/white/checker restart and stole the win, when they interviewed Jeff Pearl, he called Keith a weapon
Ricky,
I covered Jeff Pearl for much of his short track racing career and I’ve covered Alexander Pearl for all of his short track racing career. I’ve never thought of either of them as being anything close to whiners and I don’t know of anyone that has ever described either of them that way before reading what you posted. I think if you start to label anyone who has been critical of another driver during a post race interview as a whiner, you’re pretty much going to have to label every successful driver who has ever been on a microphone as being a whiner.
My memory isn’t what it was, it wasn’t a gwc
https://sidsview.com/aiovg_videos/sids-view-2011-lethal-weapon/
Ricky,
I would kindly refer you back to the previous comment. Not exactly difficult to find audio/video/published record of one driver being critical of another driver during a podiun interview.
in the 2011 video I thought Pearl was being complimentary as if saying Keith was unstoppable. Certainly was at the Bowl that’s undeniable.
The whinnie the pooh is just an insult. Hovey has a stout piece out of the same Keith Rocco’s shop so that’s kind of ironic but Hovey is a wheelman. Always a threat to drive through the field and win.
Good racing in the SKL