From Penalty To Party: Stephen Kopcik Wins 53rd NAPA Spring Sizzler 100 At Stafford

STAFFORD – Stephen Kopcik rallied from an early race penalty and held on through a green-white-checkered finish to win the 53rd NAPA Spring Sizzler 100 Sunday at Stafford Speedway. 

Kopcik took the white flag to start lap 100, but caution flew for a wreck in turn one. It set up a restart where Kopcik had to hold off the challenges of Anthony Nocella and Woody Pitkat to secure victory. 

“It was definitely never wracking,” Kopcik said. “I thought the race would have been over with the [lap 100] caution. I can’t believe we went back green. That’s just when you gotta pull it together and really dig hard and do the best you can and don’t give up.” 

It was the first career Open Modified event win at Stafford for the Newtown driver. 

“It’s unbelievable,” Kopcik said. “There’s a lot of history to this race. Some of the best guys … [Mike] Stefanik, Jan Leaty, [Ron] Silk won the last two, Matt and Tony Hirschman, all the big names that have won this race, it’s just cool to add my name to that list on that trophy.” 

Pitkat, of Stafford, finished second. 

“We just used it up,” Pitkat said. “The thing was awesome. We just didn’t free it up enough on the pit stop. I can’t thank my guys enough, they worked their butts off all day. We were just chasing the track early on and then we were chasing an oil leak. Just crazy. Went back to the front, back to the front.” 

Nocella, of Woburn, Mass., was third. 

“I’ve got to thank all my guys, working hard,” Nocella said. “Definitely not the day we wanted. Started off practice good and by the end we were just not good at all. Struggled all the way through. Real bad at the beginning of the race and we just kept working at it. Pitted the first three yellows and just kept working on it, working on it, hoping we could get it decent by the time we put tires on it later and make a run for it. That’s what we were able to do. Just over adjusted a little bit there, but all-in-all a good run for how the day started. Almost had second, just that one last restart killed us.” 

Pole-sitter Jake Johnson controlled at the front of the field for the opening lap before Mike Christopher Jr. went to the lead on lap two. 

With Christopher leading, Johnson in second and Sam Rameau in third, the first caution flew on lap 11 for the spinning car of Dana DiMatteo. 

On the lap 11 restart Christopher and Johnson battled side-by-side for a lap and a half before Johnson took over the top spot off of turn four on lap 12. 

Caution was out on lap 16 for a multi-car wreck in turn one involving Chris Pasteryak, Chase Dowling and Mikey Flynn. Under caution fourth place running Ron Silk – the winner of the last two Spring Sizzler’s – slowed and went to pit road. Silk’s car remained jacked up on pit road when the race went back to green and behind the pit wall soon after. 

On the restart Johnson controlled out front with Rameau moving past Christopher to second and Matt Swanson jumping to third. 

On lap 18 Swanson went by Rameau for second with Matt Hirschman following to third. 

On lap 22 contact from Kopcik going into turn three sent Rameau spinning out of fourth place. Kopcik was black flagged for the incident. 

Johnson held the top spot on the lap 22 restart with Swanson settling into second. 

With Johnson leading, Swanson in second and Hirschman third, caution flew on lap 30 for the stopped car of Ronnie Williams on the turn two wall. 

On the ensuing restart Hirschman was able to overtake Swanson for second place. 

A spin by seventh place running Jake Lutz on the backstretch brought the caution back out on lap 32. Johnson controlled out front on the lap 32 restart with Hirschman settling into second place.

On lap 50 McKennedy got under Swanson off of turn two to move to third place with Pitkat following to fourth and Joey Cipriano to fifth. Not long after McKennedy slowed and fell back to 10th. 

By lap 55 Johnson had opened a 1.9 second lead over second place Hirschman with Pitkat in third, 5.9 seconds off the lead. Rameau was back to fourth by lap 56. 

On lap 60 caution was back out when Max Zachem spun in turn two just after getting lapped by Johnson. Under caution most of the leaders headed to pit road. Hirschman, who had been running second, had a long pit stop and fell back to 18th. 

Johnson won the race off pit road, followed by Dowling, Pitkat, McKennedy and Swanson. 

Rameau and Tyler Rypkema and Kopcik stayed out to assume the top three spots respectively for the restart, with Johnson restarting in fourth. 

On the restart Kopcik moved by Rypkema to second. On lap 62 Kopcik went by Rameau for the lead but the pass was negated due to a wreck in turn three involving McKennedy and Austin Beers. 

On the restart, contact from Pitkat going into turn one put fourth place Johnson into the turn one wall. Pitkat was penalized for the incident.

On the second attempt at the lap 62 restart Kopcik powered off of turn two to move past Rameau into the lead. Behind the leaders Hirschman was back up to seventh by lap 63. 

Dowling got under Rameau off of turn three on lap 65 to move into second. 

On lap 71 Eric Goodale got by Rameau for third with Timmy Solomito following to fourth and Nocella to fifth. Kopcik had opened about a half second lead over second place Dowling by lap 71.  

Kopcik saw his lead disappear when caution flew on lap 81 for the stopped car of Swanson in turn four. On the lap 81 restart Kopcik got away at the front with Goodale getting by Dowling for second and Nocella following to third. 

Kopcik opened a one second lead over second place Goodale by lap 89 but that lead was gone when a Brian Robie spin in turn one brought out the caution on lap 93. 

On the lap 93 restart Nocella got by Goodale for second at the green flag. Going into turn three Pitkat made it three-wide under Goodale and Dowling. Contact sent Goodale and Dowling into the turn three wall. 

On the restart Kopcik held off the charges of Nocella with Pitkat in third. On lap 94 Nocella found the lane under Kopcik off of turn four and completed the pass for the lead out of turn two on lap 95. 

On lap 96 Kopcik made a diving move under Nocella to regain the lead through turns three and four. 

Kopcik took the white flag, but behind him, David Arute made contact with Solomito into turn one, sending Solomito in the wall to bring the caution back out to set up a green-white-checkered finish. On the final restart, Pitkat was got by Nocella for second, but couldn’t find a way to challenge Kopcik in the lead.