STAFFORD – On May 31, in his 154th career start in a Late Model at Stafford Speedway, Paul Varricchio Jr. found his way victory lane in the division for the first time.
It only took him eight more races to get a second one.
Varricchio, of Berlin, used a last lap pass of Bobby Stirk to win the second 30-lap Late Model feature Friday at Stafford Speedway.
“I’ve got to give it to my crew,” Varricchio said. “Double feature races. We were tight in the first one and we great in the second one. This is awesome.”
Stirk, of Naugatuck, was second and Kevin Gambacorta of Ellington was third.
Stirk went by Tom Fearn for the lead on lap 17. Varricchio was stalking all over Stirk’s bumper by lap 26. Varricchio got a nose under Stirk in turn four on lap 27, but Stirk held on. On lap 29 Varricchio made challenges low in turn two and turn four, but somehow Stirk defended the top spot. On the final lap Varricchio made a diving move under Stirk into turn one to take over the lead.
In victory lane, Varricchio applauded the effort by Stirk saying, “Bobby, you drive a hell of a race car kid. Good job.”
“Last lap pass. I was just gaining, gaining, just trying to not throw it in there too hard to spin him out or wreck myself out.” Varricchio said.
Said Stirk: “So close. I didn’t have anything for Paul toward the last five laps or so. I knew he was coming and the only thing I could do was block every chance that I could. He’s a great driver, he drove me very clean and I can’t complain. It’s great. We’ve struggled for the better half of the year on this car.”
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