One For The Ages: Ronnie Williams Scores Dramatic NAPA Spring Sizzler Victory At Stafford

STAFFORD – How’s the saying go, good things come to those who wait? 

The fans in the grandstand certainly had their fair share of waiting during the NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford, but the waiting paid off with one of the  greatest finishes in the 54-year history of the event. 

In a three-car battle to the finish that raged through the final corner, Ronnie Williams held off Tyler Chapman and Austin Beers to win the 100-lap NAPA Spring Sizzler Sunday at Stafford Speedway. 

“I haven’t had that much joy crossing the start-finish line knowing that we’ve won a race in a very long time,” Williams said. “So to have that feeling, to just know that we did it, after even the race we had starting 17th, not being the best in the beginning, and then just making those adjustments. Chapman ran a great race, Beers ran a great race, they ran me clean, I knew they would, but hopefully the fans enjoyed it and hopefully this is just more to come.” 

Williams, a two-time SK Modified champion at Stafford, reveled in the pageantry of Sizzler victory lane, where it’s tradition to have the winner wreathed in flowers and drink a pitcher of milk. 

“For some reason this entire week I was just feeling like we had the best shot to win,” Williams said in victory lane. And I can’t wait to drink that milk because I’ve seen so many guys do it. So to have this here, to have me looking like a race horse right now, to have this milk, it’s beautiful.” 

The race was plagued by an hour delay at lap 55 due to major cleanup for the blown motor from Dylan Izzo. 

Williams, of Lebanon, scored a $12,000 winner’s purse for the victory. 

Chapman, of Ellington., finished second and Beers, of Northampton, Pa., was third. 

“It just gave me a first glimpse at what the top three brings every week,” Chapman said. “You know, bumping and banging is what was part of the sport and I just can’t thank the Hinckley family enough for giving me the opportunity to be here. We can roll on the trail with a nice top three and call it a day.” 

Said Beers: “You know, the history of the Sizzler is amazing with all the drivers that have participated and won this race, and obviously you want to put your name in that hat, but tonight wasn’t our night. You know, we got spun early and made our way back to the front there and had a chance for the win, so can’t be too upset about that.” 

With Chapman in front on lap 87, Williams got by Ron Silk for second with Teddy Hodgdon following to third and Beers to fourth 

Williams got to Chapman’s bumper by lap 90 with Beers moving by Hodgdon for third. A four car incident in turn three brought the caution back out on lap 90 negating Beers’ pass for third. 

Williams used the outside lane off of turn two to overtake Chapman for the lead on the lap 90 restart. On lap 91 Beers got under Chapman and overtook him for second through turns one and two on lap 91. 

On lap 95 Beers got under Williams in turn three but Williams used the cross-over off of turn four to hang on to the top spot. On lap 96 Chapman joined back into the battle at the front, with Beers to the outside of Williams and Chapman on Williams’ bumper. 

Williams and Beers came to the start/finish line side-by-side to complete lap 98, with Beers glued to Williams’ bumper. It stayed the same way for lap 99. On lap 100 Chapman got by Beers for second into turn three, but Beers fought back low and got under Williams in turn four coming to the frontstretch. Contact between Beers and Chapman got Beers wiggling coming off of turn four, allowing Chapman to get back to second. Williams won the drag race to the checkered. 

“I haven’t seen it yet, I only lived it,” Williams said of the final lap. “So I’ll probably be watching it for the next couple of months here.” 

Said Chapman: “You know, what played out was probably the best case scenario, no wrecked race cars, you know, I just can’t wait to watch it back.” 

Said Beers: “I kind of knew Ronnie wasn’t going to let me beat him on the top. There was no way that was happening, so with [Chapman] back there, I couldn’t really cross him over, so I figured just kind of let [Chapman] and [Williams] kind of duke it out in [turn] three, and maybe. So I let the [Chapman] go, and when they pushed each other up, I diamonded a crossover in the [turn] three, but I think on the way by, I clipped the [Chapman] with the right rear and got myself free or else I probably could have drove up and maybe given Ronnie a little bit of a door. But I’m sure that was a great race for the fans. I’m sure they were on their feet.” 

Chapman led the opening lap, with Silk stuck to his outside. On lap two Chapman cleared Silk off of turn two. On lap four Silk made the move to get by Chapman for the lead. 

The field settled in with Silk leading Chapman, Mike Christopher Jr. in third and Hodgdon in fourth by lap 13. 

With Silk checked out on second place Chapman, caution flew on lap 23 for the stopped car of David Arute on the backstretch. On the restart Silk was able to get away quickly while behind him Hodgdon got by Christopher for third. 

By lap 36 Silk had opened up a 1.5 second lead over Chapman in second place. Hodgdon was third and Jake Johnson fourth. 

Caution flew on lap 49 for the stopped car of Matt Swanson on the frontstrech. Under caution the entire field headed to pit road. Silk won the race off of pit road, followed by Hodgdon and Beers. Stephen Kopcik jumped from ninth to fourth on pit road. 

Silk controlled at the front on the restart initially, but Beers moved to second by Hodgdon and then got a run low on Silk off of turn four. Beers completed the move to get by Silk for the lead going into turn one on lap 50. 

On lap 52 Silk got by Beers to regain the lead off of two but Beers took the lead back off of turn four. 

On lap 54 Silk used a diving move into turn three to get under Beers for the lead. Beers attempted to set up a cross over on Silk through turn four, but contact from Kopcik sent Beers sliding to the infield off of turn four to bring the caution back out. 

It set up a restart with Silk leading, Kopcik in second, Hodgdon in third and Jon McKennedy in fourth. 

Silk got the advantage on the ensuing restart, leaving Kopcik to fight Hodgdon for second. Hodgdon was able to grab second from Kopcik before caution was back out on the field on lap 56 for the stopped car of Brett Meservey in turn two. 

Under caution the blown motor in Dylan Izzo’s car ended up soaking most of the track leading to the extensive red flag for cleanup. 

On the restart, Silk controlled into turn one, but Hodgdon challenged for the lead off of turn two. Silk fought off the challenge from Hodgdon. Behind the lead battle, Chapman got bye Kopcik to move to third. 

Hodgdon made a bid to get under Silk in turn four on lap 64. The move backfired though as Hodgdon got sideways and fell back to third, moving Chapman to second. 

On lap 69 Chapman began challenging Silk at the front, clawing all over his bumper. On lap 71 Silk drifted up the track in turn two, giving Chapman the open lane low to move to the lead off of turn two. 

With Chapman checking out from Silk, caution flew on lap 78 for the spinning car of Andrew Molleur on the backstretch. It set up a restart with Chapman leading, Silk in second, Williams in third and Kopcik running fourth. 

The initial attempt at a lap 78 restart was waved off. On the second attempt Silk hung to the outside of Chapman down the backstretch. Chapman cleared Silk off of turn four, allowing Williams to get by Silk for second. A caution for a wreck involving Noah Korner and Cam McDermott in turn one brought out the caution, negating Williams’ move to second. 

Silk fought from the outside lane off turn two on the restart and grabbed the lead back from Chapman off of turn four. But, Chapman fought back again through turn one and came off turn two back in front. In the mayhem, Williams got by Silk to take second. 

Silk used a diving move into turn three on lap 82 to grab second back from Williams. Caution flew on lap 86 for the spinning car of George Bessette Jr. in turn two. On lap 87 Williams got by Silk for second with Hodgdon following to third and Beers to fourth.

NAPA Spring Sizzler (100)

• 1) Ronnie Williams, Lebanon
• 2) Tyler Chapman, Ellington
• 3) Austin Beers, Northampton, PA
• 4) Stephen Kopcik, Newtown
• 5) Ryan Newman, South Bend, IN
• 6) Jake Johnson, Rehoboth, MA
• 7) Matt Swanson, Harvard, MA
• 8) Andrew Molleur, Shelton
• 9) Teddy Hodgdon, Danbury
• 10) Brett Meservey, Brewster, MA
• 11) Michael Christopher, Jr., Wolcott
• 12) Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon
• 13) David Arute, Stafford Springs
• 14) Cam McDermott, Canterbury
• 15) Ron Silk, Norwalk
• 16) Keith Rocco, Berlin
• 17) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, NY
• 18) George Bessette, Jr., Danbury
• 19) Noah Korner, Canton
• 20) Woody Pitkat, Bellingham, MA
• 21) Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, MA
• 22) Dylan Izzo, Monroe
• 23) Nickolas Hovey, Chaplin
• 24) Chris Finocchario, Fairport, NY
• 25) Trevor Catalano, Ontario, NY

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