STAFFORD – Last Friday at Stafford Speedway Mike Christopher Jr. left the track with a wrecked race car and a 20th place finish in the SK Modified feature.
Friday the Wolcott driver completed the bounce back from the bad week in perfect fashion.
Christopher checked out from the field over the closing laps to win the 40-lap SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford Speedway.
“Just a hell of a bounce back for us,” Christopher said. “Last week we were stuffed in the fence over there. Fixed it up Sunday night. Monday afternoon we had it on the scales and to be honest we didn’t really touch it much. The thing was pretty spot on. It goes to show, we didn’t change much. We got wrecked, we came back and it’s a winning race car, a fast race car. A shout out to my dad, not only for the car, but awesome horsepower.”
It was the third victory of the season for Christopher.
“We worked our balls off last weekend,” Christopher said. “We didn’t have a lot of fun, but this is where it pays off.”
Keith Rocco of Wallingford second.
“It’s time to start getting some consistency here, being on the podium ever week,” Rocco said. “This team is definitely capable of it.”
Division points leader Andrew Molleur of Shelton also bounced back from a wreck last week to finish third.
“Pretty wild race for sure,” Molleur said. “I got out to the lead pretty early there. Had to fend off a couple guys. [Christopher] got by us, [Rocco] got by us there on the restart. Those guys had some good cars. And then [Jon Puleo] and I were just kind of battling for third there. He definitely could have got underneath and completely washed me out of the groove and he didn’t. A lot of respect for him for that. Just happy to be back on the podium. I know [Christopher] said it too, just a rough week for both us last week. So to get on the podium this week for us after our wreck last week is pretty awesome.”
Dylan Kopec set the pace out front in the opening laps. On lap two Molleur got by Tyler Hines to move to second. A lap later Marcello Rufrano got by Hines to move into third.
On lap 5 Molleur got under Kopec out front. The pair came to the start/finish line side-by-side with Kopec leading by a bumper. Molleur finished off the pass for the lead going into turn one on lap six. A lap later Rufrano got by Kopec to take over second.
Caution flew on lap eight for the spinning car of Wesley Prucker. On the ensuing restart Molleur was able to fend off Rufrano. Third place Hines spun in turn three, setting off a wreck that eventually collected seven cars in the turn three wall. Second place Rufrano was penalized for the incident that sent Hines spinning.
On the ensuing restart, Molleur controlled at the start of the lap, but Christopher found a lane under him into turn three. The pair came to the start/finish line side-by-side with Molleur leading on the outside. They went side-by-side for another lap with Christopher leading at the line to complete lap nine. On lap 10 Christopher was able to clear Molleur off of turn two to move into the lead.
With Christopher leading, Molleur in second and Keith Rocco in third, caution was back out on lap 21 for the stoped car of David Arute in turn four.
Christopher held off Molleur on the lap 21 restart. On lap 23 Rocco got under Molleur to move into second. From there Christopher checked out at the front, opening nearly a second lead over Rocco by lap 35.
“Getting underneath [Molleur], we battled hard there for maybe eight laps or so. He was pretty good,” Christopher said. “Then we started inching away, inching away. I think that’s where we shine. … I feel like that’s where the races coming to me, the longer run races. Hitting the line and what not, I feel like I’m decent at that.”
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
Barely Defending: Nickolas Hovey Holds Off Alexander Pearl SK Light Modified Win At Stafford
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