STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – A change of scenery was all Bryan Narducci needed to finally find victory lane in an SK Modified at Stafford Motor Speedway.
After losing his ride with Bear Calicchio, Narducci moved over to a Keith Rocco Racing-prepared car for Friday night’s weekly program at the half-mile paved oval, and the move paid off in his first SK Modified win at Stafford.
Narducci took the lead coming off the fourth corner on lap nine of 40 and led the rest of the way, winning by 1.040 seconds over early leader Matt Vassar.
In the 40-lap SK Modified feature, Vassar took the lead at the drop of the green flag, with Doug Meservey Jr. taking second from Mikey Flynn after racing side by side for the opening lap. The caution flew with two laps complete for Chris Viens, who got into the turn-four wall.
Meservey took the lead from Vassar on the restart, with Narducci moving up to third. Mikey Flynn and David Arute were side by side for fourth place with Michael Gervais Jr. right behind them. Arute got clear into fourth place on lap six, while Gervais ended up side by side with Flynn for fifth as Meservey led Narducci and Vassar.
Narducci made a move to the inside of Meservey for the lead on lap nine and he took the lead coming out of turn four. Vassar moved into second with Arute now side by side with Meservey for third place and Gervais in fifth.
Meservey began to slide backwards as he was stuck in the outside lane and he fell back to 10th place with 15 laps complete. As the race hit the halfway mark of 20 laps, the order was Narducci over Vassar, Arute, Gervais, Stephen Kopcik, Flynn, Tyler Hines, Marcello Rufrano, Todd Owen, and Michael Christopher Jr.
Arute was applying heavy pressure to Vassar for second place, but he was unable to complete a pass. Narducci, meanwhile, was starting to slowly stretch out his lead over Vassar and Arute, while Kopcik was closing in on the back bumper of Arute with 11 laps to go.
With five laps to to, Narducci was still slowly pulling away from Vassar in second, who still had Arute looking for a way to make a pass and take over second.
Hines had caught up to Kopcik to make it a four-car fight for second, but no one could catch Narducci as he took the checkered flag to pick up his first career SK Modified victory.
Arute finished third, with Kopcik and Hines rounding out the top five.
In addition to Narducci, Adrien Paradis III also scored his first career Stafford win by topping the night’s Street Stock feature. Wayne Coury, Jr. won the Late Model feature, Brian Sullivan won the SK Light feature, and Gary Patnode won the Limited Late Model feature.
The finish:
SK Modifieds (40 laps): 1. Bryan Narducci, 2. Matt Vassar, 3. David Arute, 4. Stephen Kopcik, 5. Tyler Hines, 6. Michael Gervais Jr., 7. Mikey Flynn, 8. Michael Christopher Jr., 9. Ronnie Williams, 10. Todd Owen, 11. Marcello Rufrano, 12. Andrew Molleur, 13. Doug Meservey Jr., 14. Keith Rocco, 15. Dan Wesson, 16. Teddy Hodgdon, 17. Jon Puleo, 18. Noah Korner, 19. Chase Dowling, 20. Dylan Kopec, 21. Tyler Leary, 22. Fran Siana, 23. PJ Peters, 24. Chris Viens.