The
Valenti Modified Racing Series made its third and
final visit of the 2016 season to Stafford Motor
Speedway for the 7th Annual VMRS 80. Taking the
checkered flag was Jon McKennedy after a dramatic
unfolding of events over the final laps of the race.
At the start of the race, Rowan Pennink took the
lead with Woody Pitkat quickly moving into second.
Dylan Kopec was third with Ted Christopher and Dave
Etheridge side by side for fourth. Jon McKennedy was
quickly carving his way through traffic and he was
seventh after the first three laps as Pitkat made a
move for the lead on lap-4.
Christopher nearly followed Pitkat by Pennink but he
settled back into line in third with Kopec in fourth
and Etheridge in fifth. Christopher made a power
move in turn 1 to get by Pennink for second on lap-9
and he took the lead from Pitkat in turns 3+4 on the
same lap. This was the running order with 20-laps
complete as the front five were settled into a
single file line with Jeff Gallup in sixth and
Richard Savary in seventh for a seven car train out
front.
Pitkat got a good run on Christopher in turns 1+2 on
lap-28 and he took the lead as they raced down the
backstretch. Gallup got by Kopec to move into fifth
and Savary followed suit on lap-30 to drop Kopec
back to seventh as Pitkat was the leader with
Christopher, Pennink, and Etheridge behind him.
Roy Seidell spun coming out of turn 2 to bring the
caution out with 33 laps complete.
Pitkat took the lead back under green with Pennink
and Christopher dueling for second. Pennink got
clear of Christopher on lap-35 while Savary worked
his way up to fourth and Etheridge was fifth and
McKennedy was sixth. Pitkat had a healthy lead built
up over Pennink when he came across the lapped car
of Jimmy Dolan. Pitkat tried to go high around Dolan
but got boxed in behind him and as Pitkat went to go
low, the two cars made contact with Dolan spinning
to bring the caution out with 49 laps complete.
Pitkat took the lead back under green with Pennink,
Christopher, Savary, McKennedy, and Etheridge lined
up behind him. Pitkat was starting to stretch out
his lead over Pennink when the caution came out with
60 laps complete for a spin by Seidell in turn 2.
Pitkat took the lead back under green with Pennink
pulling alongside Christopher for second. They rode
side by side for two laps before Pennink got clear
into second. The caution came back out with 62 laps
complete for spins in turn 2 by David Schneider and
Joe Doucette.
Pitkat took the lead back under green with
Christopher now on the inside of Pennink in a fight
for second. Christopher took second on lap-64 with
Pennink and McKennedy right behind him. Pitkat was
starting to pull away from Christopher while
McKennedy went by Pennink to move into third on
lap-68. McKennedy took second from Christopher on
lap-72 and he had 8 laps to catch up to Pitkat.
Both Pitkat and McKennedy had the wick turned up to
full as they were running their fastest laps of the
race in the closing laps. McKennedy was slowly
reeling Pitkat in and with 2 laps to go, the margin
was .399 seconds after Pitkat was nearly a full
second ahead.
The race complexion changed drastically with 78 laps
complete. Christopher and Savary got together with
Savary bouncing off the wall while in turn 1, Pitkat
was going by the lapped car of Colbey Fournier when
they made contact as the caution was coming out for
Savary in turn 4. Pitkat had a flat right front tire
and he had to come to pit road for a new tire, which
put McKennedy and Pennink on the front row for the
green white checkered restart.
McKennedy took the lead with Pennink and Gallup
behind him. The caution came out again for a
multicar spin in turn 4 involving several cars to
set up another green white checkered restart.
McKennedy took the lead with Pennink sticking right
with him. Gallup was third with Etheridge in fourth.
Pennink couldn’t get close enough to McKennedy as
McKennedy took down his first VMRS win at Stafford.
Gallup finished third with Etheridge and Kopec
rounding out the top-5.
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VMRS 80 (80)
1) Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, MA
2) Rowan Pennink, Huntingdon Valley, PA
3) Jeff Gallup, Agawam, MA
4) Dave Etheridge, Portland;
5) Dylan Kopec, Palmer, MA
6) Donnie Lashua, Canaan, NH
7) Dave Schneider, Northport, NY
8) Woody Pitkat, Stafford
9) Brandon Dion, Taunton, MA
10) Matt Mead, Richmond, NH
11) Rob Richardi, Easton, Mass.;
12) Dan Meservey Jr., Brewster, MA
13) Kyle James, Ashaway, RI
14) Mike Willis Jr, Grantham, NH
15) Colbey Fournier, Berkley, MA
16) Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon
17) Joe Doucette, Framingham, MA
18) Roy Seidell, Easthampton, MA
19) Ted Christopher, Plainville
20) Richard Savary, Canton, MA
21) Bill Dixon, Oxford, ME
22) Chris Bakaj, Colchester
23) Jimmy Dolan, Bethel
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