Showman: Mike Christopher Jr. Scores Third Consecutive SK Modified Victory At Stafford 

As the SK Modified division paced around the track before their feature Friday at Stafford Speedway, Mike Christopher Jr. looked up in the grandstand and saw a big crowd on hand for the night. 

Ever the showman, it just added a little more fuel to Christopher’s fire to keep a heated streak rolling at the track. 

When it was all said and done, it was Christopher completing a sweep of June for the SK Modified division at Stafford. 

Christopher drove away from the field over the closing laps to win the 30-lap SK Modified division feature Friday at Stafford, completing a sweep of all three features for the division in the month of June at Stafford. 

“Just a dominant race car,” Christopher said. “I said before we went green, I looked up in the stands and I said ‘Man, there’s a lot of people up here.’ I appreciate everyone coming out. Hopefully I put on a good show for you.” 

Christopher, of Wolcott, won the Casella Waste 80 in June 13 and the CBYD Senator’s Cup 50 on June 20. 

“I haven’t done that since 2018,” Christopher said of winning three consecutive events. “We ended the year with three in a row. It feels good to do it again. It’s been a great couple of weeks here. All thanks goes to my dad and my crew for preparing a great race car. We’ve still been struggling with it. Not struggling, I shouldn’t say that. We’re tinkering at it because we know there’s more speed in the car. My point is, even though we’re winning we’re still working on the car and we know there’s still potential.” 

It was the 20th SK Modified victory overall for Christopher, in a division which the record book is dominated by his family. His late uncle Ted Christopher is the all-time winningest SK Modified driver at Stafford with 109 victories in the division. Mike Christopher Sr. sits fifth on the division’s win list with 28 victories. 

Marcello Rufrano of North Haven was second 

“Just chipping away at it, trying to get this thing better and better every week,” Rufrano said. “It seems like we’re going in the right direction. We just need to find that little bit more. Mike’s been pretty good, the car to beat. We’ve got to figure it out.” 

Tyler Chapman of Ellington was third. 

With Steven Chapman leading and Tyler Chapman in second, the first caution flew on lap three for the stopped car of David Flammia Jr. 

Steven Chapman continued to control out front following the lap three restart with Tyler Chapman falling in line in second. Tyler Chapman had moved into the lead past Steven Chapman before caution came back out on lap 12 for the spinning car of Wesley Prucker. 

Tyler Chapman held his line out front on the lap 12 restart with Steven Chapman in tow in second. On lap 16 Mike Christopher Jr. rocketed under Dylan Izzo to move into third. 

On lap 20 Mike Christopher Jr. made a diving move into turn one to get under Steven Chapman for second place. 

Mike Christopher Jr.’s march to the front continued on lap 22 when he got under Tyler Chapman through turns three and four and completed the pass for the last lead on lap 23. 

Rufrano moved past Tyler Chapman for second place on lap 29, but by the Christopher had already opened more than a one second lead on the field.