Todd Owen in victory lane at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Todd Owen in victory lane at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Northeast

Owen Stops Dowling In Stafford Weekly Competition

July 31, 2021

STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Todd Owen scored his first SK Modified victory of the season Friday night during weekly action at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Doug Meservey Jr. took the early lead at the drop of the green with Matt Vassar in second. Mikey Flynn was third followed by Michael Gervais Jr. and Chase Dowling. The caution came out with four laps complete as David Arute spun in turn two which collected several cars behind him including Bran Narducci, Dylan Kopec, Keith Rocco, Nick Giardina and Teddy Hodgdon.

Meservey took the lead back under green with Flynn taking second.  Dowling moved up to third with Andrew Molleur taking fourth and Tyler Hines fifth as Vassar fell back to sixth.  Molleur took third from Flynn on lap eight and Hines followed him forward to take fourth and drop Flynn back to fifth with Meservey and Dowling the lead cars. 

Dowling made a move to take the lead from Meservey on lap 13 and that move brought Hines up to second as Meservey fell back to third with Molleur in fourth and Owen fifth. Hines went by Dowling to take the lead on lap 14 and Dowling almost pulled off a crossover move on lap 15 but he settled back into second behind Hines.  Meservey drifted up the track on lap 17 which allowed Molleur to move into third, Owen fourth, and Michael Christopher Jr. fifth as Meservey slid back to sixth place. Meservey’s car then dropped off the pace on lap 19 and he pulled onto pit road. 

Stephen Kopcik went by Christopher to move into fifth place on lap 21 with Hines still leading Dowling, Molleur, and Owen.  Owen went by Molleur to move into third on lap 25 and he began to close down the gap to Dowling in second.  Owen caught Dowling on lap 29 and  he made a pass to take second place on lap 30.  Kopcik pulled alongside Dowling for third and the two cars ran side by side for a lap before Kopcik took third on lap 31.  The caution flew with 36 laps complete as Kopec and P.J. Peters spun through the frontstretch grass to set up a 4 lap sprint to the finish.

Hines took the lead on the restart but coming off turn 4 Hines and Kopcik came together with Hines spinning into the infield to bring the caution out before a lap could be completed.  Hines was finished for the evening while Kopcik brought his car to pit road with damage to the right front of his car. This put Owen in the lead for the restart with Dowling in second.

Dowling took the lead on the restart with a push from Christopher but Owen came back strong to Dowling’s inside on lap 38 to retake the lead. Dowling was second with Molleur and Christopher side by side for third.  Owen held off Dowling to the line to pick up his first win of the season. Christopher got around Molleur for third on the final lap with Vassar rounding out the top-five.

In other action, Zack Robinson took down his first Late Model feature win, Nick Anglace notched his second SK Light win of the year, Devon Jencik became a first time winner at Stafford in the Limited Late Model feature, and Travis Hydar took down his second Street Stock win of the season.