Christopher Keeps Rolling At Stafford In Senator’s Cup

Michael Christopher Jr. in victory lane Friday night at Stafford Speedway.

STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Michael Christopher Jr. came out on top at Stafford Speedway Friday night during round two of the Tick Mike Triple Crown for its SK Modified division.

The 50-lap Call Before You Dig Senator’s Cup served as the second of three legs of the Triple Crown and Christopher took top honors for the second consecutive week.

It was also Christopher’s third straight victory in the CBYD Senator’s Cup 50-lap feature event.

Other feature winners on the night were Paul Varricchio Jr. (Late Models), Nickolas Hovey (SK Lights), Kyle Theriault (Limited Late Models), and Aaron Plemons (Street Stocks).

Troy Talman and Tyler Chapman led the field to the Senator’s Cup green flag and raced wheel to wheel for the lead early, with Chapman holding the lead by a nose for the first two laps.

Talman edged his way in front of Chapman to lead lap three before clearing into the lead outright on lap four. Dylan Kopec was third behind Talman and Chapman at that point, with Mikey Flynn fourth and Cory DiMatteo fifth.

Chapman worked his way back to the inside of Talman, though, and retook the lead on lap six.

With 10 laps complete, Chapman was still in the lead with Kopec behind him in second. Flynn was third with Talman back to fourth. Christopher was working his way toward the front at that point and he took fifth on lap 10.

Lap 11 saw Kopec get around Chapman to take over the lead, while further back, Christopher rode behind Talman until lap 14 when he took fourth place.

The battle for the lead got wild a circuit later, when Chapman made a move to the inside of Kopec and the two cars touched, sending Kopec around in turn three to bring the caution out. Chapman was sent to the rear of the field for making contact with Kopec.

Flynn took over the lead with Christopher now in second on the restart. Michael Gervais Jr. was up to third with Max Zachem taking fourth. But a multi-car incident broke out going down the backstretch that saw Jon Puleo get sideways and collect the cars of DiMatteo and Andrew Molleur, among others.

That incident brought out the red and yellow flags with 17 laps complete.

Christopher powered his way into the lead on the next green flag, with Flynn and Zachem going wheel to wheel for second after they nearly went three-wide with Gervais on the restart.

However, it wasn’t long before Todd Owen, Matt Vassar, and Steven Chapman all spun into the turn-three wall to bring the caution flag out with 19 laps complete.

Christopher took the lead back under green with Zachem second, Keith Rocco third, Flynn fourth, and Marcello Rufrano fifth. Zachem was working Christopher over trying to get to his inside to make a bid for the lead, but Christopher was able to maintain serve through the halfway benchmark.

With 15 laps to go, Christopher was still out front with Zachem, Rocco, Rufrano, and Flynn behind him. The top five cars had pulled away from the rest of the field at that point, with Gervais in sixth followed by Talman, Alexander Pearl, Anthony Flannery, and Noah Korner.

There was no stopping Christopher after that, as he led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his second consecutive and second overall win of the Stafford season.

Zachem finished second with Rocco, Rufrano, and Flynn rounding out the top five.

The finish:

1. Michael Christopher Jr., 2. Max Zachem, 3. Keith Rocco, 4. Marcello Rufrano, 5. Mikey Flynn, 6. Michael Gervais Jr., 7. Alexander Pearl, 8. Troy Talman, 9. Anthony Flannery, 10. Noah Korner, 11. Dylan Kopec, 12. David Arute, 13. Matt Vassar, 14. Todd Owen, 15. Cory DiMatteo, 16. Curt Brainard, 17. David Flammia Jr., 18. Dylan Izzo, 19. Wesley Prucker, 20. Steven Chapman, 21. Art Caruso, 22. Tyler Chapman, 23. Jon Puleo, 24. Andrew Molleur, 25. Wade Gagner.