(Stafford Springs, CT)—If one had to place a label on the 2024 Limited Late Model season at Stafford Motor Speedway, that label would be parity. Stafford’s Limited Late Model division has seen 6 different feature winners emerging from the first 6 races of the season. The 6 different winners already match the total of 6 winners from 2023. Missing from the winners list is 3-time Limited Late Model champion and 24-time winner Jeremy Lavoie and 7-time winner Gary Patnode, who are still both looking for their first win of 2024.
Matt Clement kicked the season off with a win in the NAPA Spring Sizzler® followed by Devon Jencik, RJ Surdell, Rich Hammann, Kyle Theriault, and Connor Jencik. Both Theriault and Connor Jencik were winners for the first time in their Stafford careers while Surdell’s victory was his second career win and first win since the 2017 season. Theriault was a winner in only his 6th career start at Stafford with some help from a simulator, and Connor Jencik reached victory lane after struggling through the first three races.
RJ Surdell – “The week that we won, the car had rolled off the scale pads in the shop and almost crushed me, so I actually never saw the white flag, only the checkered flag because I was in so much pain. My chest and hip were killing me but I wanted to race for points because I really wanted to finish in the top-5 in points because the top-10 finishers all get a trading card and I really wanted to get a trading card of myself. That’s a pretty cool thing that Stafford does and it gives us something to look forward to and to drive for. Winning felt great because I haven’t been full-time for about 4 or 5 years now so it’s been great to be back full-time in general and getting a win in the first 3 races was pretty unexpected. We do have good equipment and I have a great chassis guy with Rob Russell so I knew we were going to be competitive, but I didn’t think we’d be up front right away.”
Kyle Theriault – “I really didn’t think I was going to win that night. I had Jeremy Lavoie and Rich Hammann running me down and RJ Surdell was also behind me and he’s no slouch either. I just drove my butt off to try and stay in front of them since that’s all I could do much to the shock of everyone else and myself. I knew I had a good car that was capable, it was more myself that I was unsure of since I don’t even have a full season in yet. I didn’t really think about it, I just kind of did it. I have a pretty fancy iRacing simulator that has everything but motion and that has been a big help. The only thing you can’t get out of the simulator is the feel of the car but visually it’s spot on and it really helped me lessen the learning curve.”
Connor Jencik – “We went through the car when we first got it and did everything we needed to do to the car and then we got to the track and we started having issues. I couldn’t get the car started and then we went out for the first practice and the car died on the track. We thought we had it fixed but we had issues for three more weeks and that third week I was able to run the heat race but the car caught on fire with an electrical issue. We replaced a bunch of things after that third week and the fourth week we finally got the car to fire and it ran the race, but it didn’t run that well. We got the car handling pretty decent for the fifth race and then our last race we changed a few more things and we tightened the car up before the race because it had rained a little bit, and the car was on rails and it was like a dream to drive. I wasn’t expecting to win but leading all 20 laps and winning the race is just insane to think about right now.”
With the Limited Late Model division now in its 20th season of competition, it is enjoying one of its most competitive seasons ever. The record for most different winners in a Limited Late Model season was the 2006 season that saw 11 different winners spread across 17 races. That 2006 season boasted 8 winners in 8 races before the first repeat winner and the 2024 season can match that with two more new winners this season.
RJ Surdell – “Everyone is pretty equal and I think there’s probably 8 or 9 cars that can win on any given Friday night and to be up front with guys like Matt Clement is a pretty good step in our progress in our shop and I’m loving every minute of it. This division is really tough and to know that we’re a top-5 car, you know that you’ve done something really good. Hopefully we can get a couple more wins.”
Kyle Theriault – “There’s a lot of talent in the division and everyone is really close. We’re running lap times within a half second of each other and everyone is really solid.”
Connor Jencik – “I feel like everyone in the division respects each other and they all race clean, which is definitely a big part of racing. Rubbing is racing, but you race each other clean and a lot of teams don’t have a lot of money, but everyone works on their cars and they all come to the track prepared. Everyone makes small tweaks and they’re always working on their cars during practice and I think that’s all a big part of why the Limited Late Model division is so competitive this season. It’s been amazing with 6 winners in 6 races. I’m hoping we can come back this Friday and be the first ones to win twice this season, which would be a huge achievement for us. I’m not really expecting that, but I’m certainly hoping for the best.”
Stafford’s Limited Late Models will be back in action this Friday night along with the SK Modified®, Late Model, SK Light, Street Stock, and Open Modified cars for the rescheduled Casella Waste Open 80 this Friday night, June 14th. All tickets from June 7th will be honored and there are tickets for the Casella 80 available now online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and tickets will also be available for purchase at the admission gates. Tickets for the Casella 80 are $30.00 for adults, $10.00 for kids 6-14, and free for kids 5 & under. Reserved seating is priced at $35.00 for all ages and pit passes are $45.00 with a valid 2024 Stafford Competition License and $50.00 without a Stafford license. If you are unable to attend the event, tune into the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
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