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.”
(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.
Stafford Speedway created its SK Light division at the end of the 2005 season with the first race taking place on April 29, 2006. That race was part of the NAPA Spring Sizzler® weekend and was won by Chris Matthews. 20 years later, Matthews is still racing in the SK Light division and he is still winning races.
Matthews won the season opening 30-lap SK Light feature in this year’s edition of the NAPA Spring Sizzler®, which was the fourth time in his career that he has won the SK Light portion of the NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Although Matthews is still going strong and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, he couldn’t picture himself still racing and winning in the SK Light ranks 20 years after he won the very first SK Light feature held at Stafford.
“I really didn’t see myself still racing 20 years later,” said Matthews. “We’re still having fun with racing and as long as it’s fun, it’s still worth doing.”
Stafford Speedway hosted the 54th Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler® on Sunday, April 26th with its SK Modifieds® and SK Lights joining the Open Modified cars in feature action.
Todd Owen took down the victory in the SK Modified® feature, his first Stafford SK Modified® victory since September 2024. In the extra distance 30-lap SK Light feature, Chris Matthews notched his first win of the 2026 season.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Marcello Rufrano and Glen Reen led the field to the green flag with Rufrano taking the early lead. Jon Puleo made a strong move to slide into second behind Rufrano with Reen third, Michael Christopher, Jr. fourth, and Matt Vassar fifth. Puleo took the lead from Rufrano on lap-4 and Todd Owen took fifth from Vassar on lap-5.
