STAFFORD – After two years away from competition, Cliff Saunders returned full-time to the Late Model division at Stafford Speedway for the start of the 2024 season.
Friday the longtime Stafford Speedway veteran made his to victory lane.
Saunders, of Stafford, passed Tom Butler on lap 23 and rolled to victory in the first of two 30-lap Late Model features Friday at Stafford.
It was the first victory in the division since 2019 for Saunders. Saunders raced full-time in the Late Model division from 2018-2021 before a two-year break from racing.
“It feels really good. It’s been a really long time since I’ve won,” Saunders said. “The car has been so good this year. It was really good in practice. I just had a really good feeling about it. It was really fun racing with Tom. We’ve been friends for 20 years. He’s like an older brother to me. It was really a lot of fun racing him, racing him for the win. I felt kind of bad about passing him because we’ve been friends and worked together for so long, but the car was really good so I just went for it.”
It was the third Late Model victory for Saunders and his 19th overall win at the track. He also has eight Street Stock wins and eight Limited Late Model wins.
Butler, of Stafford, was second and Chris Meyer of North Franklin third.
Butler went past Chris Buffone for the lead on lap three.
“I don’t know what happened, the tires were awesome for the first part of that race,” Butler said. “I don’t know if the thing just got a little loose. It kind of did a little drift and slide at the same time. Cliff was coming. Congratulations to Cliff and his boys. I really didn’t think anybody was going to be able to get by me, but I saw him getting closer and closer.”
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