STAFFORD – First-time winners in the SK Modified division at Stafford don’t happen very often. Consecutive SK Modified events at Stafford with first-time winners? Very much a rarity. A driver getting their first SK Modified win in the NAPA SK 5K? Another uncommon occurrence.
On Friday Modified veteran Max Zachem made all those things reality at Stafford Speedway.
In an absolutely dominating showing, Zachem left the field far behind on the way to victory in the 12th annual NAPA SK 5K at Stafford Speedway.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Zachem said. “… All these guys right here worked their butts off for me, made this happen and man, what a race car. That was just an absolute blast. I’m at a loss for words.
Zachem earned $5,000 for the victory plus another $1,200 from the Gambler’s Challenge pool of $6,000, which was split between the top-five finishers.
“… This thing was just bad fast. It’s all of these guys. I can’t thank them enough. They gave me the piece to go do this. That was fun.”
It was the first career SK Modified victory at Stafford for Zachem, of Preston, who led by about three seconds when he took the checkered in the 112-lap feature.
It marked the second consecutive SK Modified event at Stafford with a first-time winner. Alexander Pearl got his first win in the division on July 25.
Zachem became only the second driver to get his first SK Modified win at Stafford in the NAPA SK 5K. Marcello Rufrano accomplished the feat on Aug. 5, 2022. Zachem became the 100th different winner in the SK Modified division since it’s inception.
“To win at Stafford and be No. 100, this is awesome,” Zachem said. “…Between Thompson [Speedway], Stafford, [New London-Waterford Speedbowl], I grew up coming to the races. Helped a lot of race teams. Raced here thousands of times. Man, we’ve had great race cars and just never got to be able to be close.”
Zachem was making his fourth start of the season in the SK Modified at Stafford. He finished second to Mike Christopher Jr. in the SK Modified Senator’s Cup feature on June 20.
“Last time we were out with this thing, finishing second to [Christopher], we knew we had a great race car,” Zachem said. “We literally put it in my parents’ garage and locked it up for a month and a half and said ‘We’re not touching it.’ We changed the oil in it and came here and, wow.”
Mikey Flynn of Hampden was second and Andrew Molleur of Shelton third. Flynn’s second place finish clinched the TickMike.com Triple Crown championship for Flynn.
Zachem controlled at the front in the opening laps and continued to pace the field on lap six with Molleur in second and Flynn in third.
On lap eight Molleur wedged under Zachem into turn three and came off of turn four with the lead. Molleur continued to set the pace out front on lap 20, but Zachem would not let him get far away.
Behind the leaders Flynn was third, Anthony Flannery fourth and David Arute fifth.
On lap 29 Zachem moved past Molleur to move back to the lead.
With Zachem leading, Molleur in second and Flynn in third, the first caution of the event flew on lap 47 for the car of Arute in the turn three wall. Arute was battling with Todd Owen for sixth place. Owen was black flagged for overaggressive driving.
On the restart Molleur challenged Zachem for a lap, but the caution was back out on lap 48 for a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch
On the lap 48 restart Zachem and Molleur went side-by-side for a lap with Molleur leading by a bumper to complete lap 48. The pair went side-by-side for another lap with Zachem leading at the line to complete lap 49. On lap 50 Zachem cleared Molleur for the lead.
Caution was out on lap 51 for a hard wreck for seventh place running Christopher in turn three.
The lap 51 restart saw Molleur fighting hard on the outside lane to challenge Zachem. The pair went side-by-side with Molleur leading at the line to complete lap 51. Zachem was able to come back and clear Molleur for the lead on lap 52.
A four-car wreck in turn one brought the caution back out on lap 55. Zachem once again came out on top of the lap 55 restart battle with Molleur.
By lap 70 Zachem and second place Molleur had checked out by over a second from third place Flynn. By lap 73 Zachem started to find some breathing room at the front, opening up a half second lead over Molleur.
Zachem was on cruise control by lap 94, having opened a 2.3 second lead over the second place Molleur.
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