Stafford Speedway returned to weekly racing action on Friday, May 15th. Feature winners on the night included David Arute in the SK Modified® feature, Adam Gray for the second consecutive week in the Late Model feature, Nick Anglace in the SK Light feature, Aaron Plemons in the Street Stock feature, and Ryan Waterman in the Street Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Wesley Prucker led the field to the green flag and he set the early pace with David Arute quickly taking second. Arute took the lead from Prucker on lap-3 with Tyler Chapman taking second, Alexander Pearl third, Troy Talman fourth, and Marcello Rufrano fifth. Prucker was slowly losing positions in the outside lane as he slid all the way back to 12th place behind Keith Rocco. With 10 laps complete Arute was still in command with Chapman and Pearl behind him. Rufrano was now fourth with Todd Owen up to fifth. Michael Christopher, Jr. was sixth followed by Dylan Izzo, Mikey Flynn, Jon Puleo, and Rocco. At the halfway point Arute was still in the lead and he had pulled away from Chapman in second. Rufrano was still third with Owen and Christopher making up the top-5. Puleo was sixth with Izzo, Rocco, Flynn, and Anthony Flannery behind him. Christopher went by Owen to take fourth place on lap-24 while Rufrano nearly took second from Chapman. Rufrano would take second from Chapman on lap-26 and Christopher got by him for third on lap-27. Puleo was now fifth behind Arute, Rufrano, Christopher, and Chapman with 10 laps to go. With 5 laps to go Arute was all by himself out front with Christopher, Rufrano, Chapman, and Puleo still giving chase. Arute led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his first win of the 2026 season with a dominating drive. Christopher finished second with Rufrano, Chapman, and Puleo rounding out the top-5.
When the 2025 racing season came to a close at Stafford Speedway, Jason Raymond was the hottest driver going in the Street Stock division. He closed out the 2025 season with a 2-race winning streak, which were also the first two feature wins of his career.
Fast forward to the beginning of the 2026 season at the NAPA Spring Sizzler®, and Raymond nearly continued his winning streak with a second place finish. Raymond followed that with a sixth place finish that has him sitting second in the Street Stock points going into the May 15th Street Stock feature event.
Despite what on paper are good results, Raymond says there is room for him and his #49 Larrabee Landscaping team to be even better.
“I feel like we’re actually not quite as good as we were at the end of last year,” said Raymond. “We’re trying to tune on the car a little to get it better. It feels like to me we’re lacking in the center of the corner. The car is not wanting to rotate good enough to get a good drive off the corner so from the center of the corner to exit is where we need to pick things up a little bit. I think we’re pretty close. The whole field is close and we just need a minor adjustment here or there to find that little bit more. We’re not far off but I think there’s still some room to gain.”
Midweek Modified Madness at Thompson Speedway kicked off midweek racing at the famed 5/8-mile oval on Wednesday with a ‘locals-only’ special to highlight the track championship warriors that call the Speedway home all summer long.
Beginning with the $5,000 to win special for the Thompson Sunoco Modifieds, it was a rat race at the start with Mikey Flynn and Chase Cook leading the side-by-side action that lasted until lap 18. Powering out of turn two, Zack Sangermano and Derek Ramstrom collided to end both their days early. The restart saw Icebreaker doubleheader winner Keith Rocco and defending champion Todd Owen coming for leader Danny Cates with the two veterans making contact that busted Rocco’s spoiler and sent Owen nearly into the frontstretch grass. The two stayed straight with Rocco and Cates swapping lanes and the lead, only giving Owen the momentum to rise back up to join the $5,000 title fight. What had worked in Owen’s favor started to work against him now as he battled with Rocco for second, allowing Danny Cates to run all the way to victory lane in the 50 lap sprint with Todd Owen keeping second ahead of Keith Rocco. Jon Puleo took home fourth with Mikey Flynn holding out for fifth.
With the dust settled on a successful Icebreaker weekend at Thompson Speedway, officials with the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) and the American Canadian Tour (ACT) have announced the May 13 Thompson Mods Race will pay $5000 to win and $500 to start.
Keith Rocco secured a pair of thrilling victories over Todd Owen at the Icebreaker in races that had many fans calling it the best racing of the weekend.
“After adding the Loyalty program for 2026, we still wanted to add in another big money race,” said co-promoter Tom Mayberry. “We think the Thompson Mods are putting on some excellent racing, and we want to keep growing this division.”
Thompson Mods waged some epic battles throughout the 52nd Icebreaker weekend. The 30-lap event on Saturday was roundly praised as the “race of the weekend” with four drivers swapping spots multiple times throughout the contest. Keith Rocco prevailed over Todd Owen and Jon Puelo. Danny Cates and Chase Cook rounded out the top five.
(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Speedway returned to action with its first Friday night weekly racing program of the 2026 season on Friday, May 8th. Feature winners on the night included Keith Rocco in the SK Modified® feature, Adam Gray in the Late Model feature, Robert Bloxsom, III in the SK Light feature, Gary Patnode in the Limited Late Model feature, and Brandon Warren in the Street Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Troy Talman took the lead at the drop of the green flag with Dylan Kopec, Keith Rocco, Dylan Izzo, and Matt Vassar all lined up behind him. Kopec took the lead from Talman coming out of turn 4 on lap-3 before the caution came out for Chase Cook, who spun and came to a stop in turn 2.
