STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Chase Dowling drove away from Ryan Preece to win Friday’s Bud Light Open 80 for the Open Modified division at Stafford Motor Speedway, earning $5,500 for his efforts.
Preece led the field to the green flag and he took the early lead with Ronnie Williams, Dowling, Matt Galko, and Joey Cipriano behind him. Williams nearly made a move for the lead on lap four, but he fell back into line in second place behind Preece. The caution came out with 10 laps complete for Les Rose Jr. and Robert Bloxsom III, who both got into the turn three wall.
Preece took the lead back under green with Williams and Dowling second and third. Cipriano and Galko swapped positions with Cipriano taking fourth and Galko sliding back to fifth. Woody Pitkat dove to the inside of Galko to move into fifth on lap 15 as Preece continued to lead Williams and Dowling out front.
With 30 laps complete, the top-three of Preece, Williams, and Dowling remained unchanged but Pitkat was now up to fourth with Cipriano in fifth. Galko was sixth followed by Eric Goodale, Craig Lutz, Chris Pasteryak, and Dana DiMatteo. The caution came back out with 38 laps complete for a spin in turn two by Bloxsom.
Under the caution every car except for Andrew Molleur decided to come to pit road for a change of two tires and adjustments. Preece won the race off of pit road followed by Dowling, Williams, Cipriano, Goodale, Pitkat, Lutz, Anthony Nocella, and Pasteryak.
Molleur led the first lap after the restart but Preece charged his way into the lead on lap 40. Dowling quickly worked his way up to second and Williams took third, dropping Molleur from the lead back to fourth place. Cipriano took fourth from Molleur on lap 42 and Pitkat followed him through into fifth as Molleur began to slide backwards. Pitkat then took fourth from Cipriano on lap-45 while Dowling was starting to apply pressure to the back bumper of Preece for the race lead. Bloxsom brought the caution back out with 50 laps complete with a spin coming out of turn two.
Dowling went wheel to wheel on the outside of Preece for two laps after the restart before getting clear into the lead on lap 53. Pitkat was up to third with Williams fourth and Cipriano in fifth. Pasteryak was sixth followed by Nocella, DiMatteo, Owen, and Galko. Brett Gonyaw spun in turn four to bring the caution back out with 57 laps complete.
Dowling took the lead on the restart with Pitkat getting around Preece to move into second. Williams was fourth in line with Cipriano right behind him in fifth. Pasteryak was sixth with Nocella and DiMatteo side by side for seventh, Galko was ninth and Noah Korner was up to tenth.
With 10 laps to go, Dowling had pulled away from Pitkat in second, who had pulled away from a host of cars that included Preece, Williams, Cipriano, and Pasteryak. Williams got around Preece to move into third on lap-74 and Cipriano took fourth from Preece on lap 75.
Dowilng cruised to his second consecutive Open Modified victory at Stafford with Pitkat coming home in second. Williams finished third with Cipriano and Pasteryak rounding out the top-five.
The finish:
Chase Dowling, Woody Pitkat, Ronnie Williams, Joey Cipriano, Chris Pasteryak, Ryan Preece, Anthony Nocella, Dana DiMatteo, Noah Korner, Andrew Molleur, Craig Lutz, Eric Goodale, Tommy Barrett Jr., Todd Owen, Matt Galko, Jeff Gallup, Anthony Bello, Mikey Flynn, Brett Gonyaw, Earl Paules, Marcello Rufrano, Robert Bloxsom III, Michael Gervais Jr., Stephen Kopcik, Les Rose Jr., Dave Salzarulo.