From Scott Running
Stafford Springs, CT — (June 29, 2013) — Saturday night, June 29th, was the 10th annual CARQUEST Super Saturday program at Stafford Motor Speedway. Mike Lichty won the 50-lap ISMA Supermodified feature, John Zych, Jr. won the 30-lap NEMA Midget feature event, and Avery Stoehr won the 20-lap NEMA Lite feature.
In the 50-lap ISMA Supermodified feature event, Mike Lichty got a good run in the outside groove to take the lead at the start of the race. Lou Cicconi, who started the race in 9th, was absolutely blistering his way to the front as he moved into second place on lap-2. Polesitter Dan Bowes was third, with Rob Summers and Tim Ice was fifth. The caution came out with 2 laps complete for debris on the backstretch.
Back under green, Cicconi smoked past Lichty to take over the lead. Bowes was third, with Summers fourth and Chris Perley got by Ice to move into fifth place. Perley made a move to get by Summers for third on lap-6 but he had a lot of distance to close down to Lichty and Cicconi at the front of the field. The caution came out and erased Cicconi’s large lead with 15 laps complete for Justin Belfiore, who came to a stop in turn 4.
Cicconi took the lead on the restart, but Lichty was all over the back of Cicconi’s car. Lichty made the pass for the lead on lap-17 with Perley right behind the lead duo in third place. Summers was in fourth, just ahead of Ice, who was back up to fifth place. Just as Cicconi had pulled away from Lichty on the previous green flag run, Lichty was now pulling away from Cicconi and Perley once he was out front. Lichty deftly navigated lapped traffic and wasn’t losing any time as he made his way through the back markers.
With 20 laps to go, Lichty had built his lead up to over a full straightaway on Cicconi and Perley. Summers continued to run in fourth place with Tim Jedrzejek in fifth. Lichty’s big lead was erased by the caution flag, which flew with 32 laps complete for Jeff Locke, who spun in turn 4.
Lichty got a dazzling restart and immediately opened up a gap over Perley, who worked his way by Cicconi and into second. Jedrzejek was fourth with Mark Sammut behind him in fifth. Lichty led the field to the checkered flag in dominating fashion to pick up his second consecutive ISMA Supermodified victory at Stafford Speedway. Perley finished second, with Cicconi, Sammut, and Jederzjek rounding out the top-5.
In the 30-lap NEMA Midget feature event, Ian Cumens took the lead at the green flag with Anthony Marvuglio moving into second after a quick duel with Paul Scally. Russ Stoehr was fourth, but he was overtaken by John Zych, Jr. for the spot on lap-4 and Zych went by Scally for third place on lap-5.
Cumens had a slight lead built up over Marvuglio, but Marvuglio began to close the gap to Cumens and by lap-7 he was right on the rear of Cumens’ car. Zych was also in the mix for the lead, making it a three-car fight for the lead. Zych went by Marvuglio for second on lap-10 and began to set his sights on Cumens in the lead.
Randy Cabral moved into fifth on lap-12 getting by Bill DeMario and the caution came out one lap later as DeMario and Scally came together and spun in turn 2. The order for the restart was Cumens and Zych on the front row, Marvuglio and Seth Carlson on row 2, and Cabral and Russ Stoehr in the third row.
Zych took the lead on the restart with Cumens in second. Carlson moved into third, with Stoehr fourth and Cabral fifth. Caution with 16 laps complete.
On the restart, Cumens and Zych dueled side by side for the lead with Cumens coming out of the fight with the lead. Cabral and Stoehr were side by side for third place behind them with Cabral taking the spot. Zych came back strong to the inside of Cumens and retook the lead on lap-20. Greg Stoehr was fifth and he was applying pressure to the back of Russ Stoehr for fourth place. Greg got by Russ on lap-23 to move into fourth while Zych was beginning to pull away from Cumens at the front of the pack.
Carlson ran Russ Stoehr down and with three laps to go was applying heavy pressure for the fifth position. Zych took the checkered flag ahead of Cumens to score a dominating victory. Cabral finished third, Greg Stoehr was fourth, and Russ Stoehr was able to hold off Carlson to finish in the fifth position.
In the 20-lap NEMA Lite feature event, Paul Bigelow took the lead from the outside of the front row to take the early lead ahead of Avery Stoehr. Brandon Igo got around David Moniz for third on lap-4 with Danny Cugini running in fifth.
Bigelow was setting a blistering pace at the front of the pack, opening up a lead of several car lengths back to Stoehr in second. Igo was several car lengths behind Stoehr at the halfway point of the race. On lap-11, Cugini overtook Moniz for fourth place and Kenney Johnson followed Cugini past Moniz to drop Moniz back to sixth place.
At the front of the field, Stoehr had caught up to Bigelow and he was looking to make a pass for the lead, which he did on lap-15, taking to the outside groove to get the job done. Igo was now pressuring Bigelow for second, but Bigelow was able to hold Igo off.
Stoehr led Bigelow to the checkered flat to pick up the victory. Igo finished third, with Cugini and Johnson rounding out the top-5.