John Blewett, III wound up in victory lane at Stafford Motor Speedway Tuesday evening. The Howell, NJ native passed his brother Jimmy, also of Howell, with less than fifteen laps remaining to capture the first Whelen Modified Tour victory for Blewett Motorsports. The team was started by his grandfather John.

Jimmy Blewett, who had been competing at Stafford with the TS Haulers team in the SK Modified Division on a weekly basis, dashed off to the early race lead from a second place starting position. Jimmy led the first sixty-nine circuits and really didn’t face much of a challenge until about lap fifty-five. The Reg was coming.

During the time between, the race was interrupted for three caution periods including one that brought out the red flag. Rookie campaigner, Ron Yuhas, Jr., had some contact on the back straightaway that apparently broke off his fuel pump or a fuel line. The car erupted in flames and the track crew seemed to have a difficult time closing the fuel shutoff valve. That led to a long cleanup period.

Ruggiero, who piloted Lakewood, NJ’s Dick Barney’s #41 Modified to Jimmy’s tail by that point, clearly had the fastest car on the track. On lap sixty-four, The Reg dove under young Blewett entering turn one. Jimmy crowded Ruggiero and as the cars came off turn two, after a little contact, Ruggiero spun, collecting the #2 Modified of Thursday’s winner, Todd Szegedy.

Ruggiero had been quite fast. Unfortunately, I think he was a little too eager to get the lead. Had Reg waited a lap or two, he probably would have blown by Blewett like he was standing still.

The lead lap cars that had planned on stopping took advantage of the resulting caution to do so. As it turned out, only one of those who chose to pit at that time wound up earning a podium finish. That was eventual race winner, John Blewett, III.

Those who chose not to stop included the race leader, Jimmy Blewett, James Civali, Donny Lia and Anthony Sesely. Sesely went on to win the rookie-of-the-race. No doubt the strategy not to pit aided Anthony’s cause although the Matawan, NJ driver had a car that was a hand full at the end of the race. Sesely finished eighth.

The subsequent restart found two of the Whelen Modified Tour’s brightest young stars side-by-side on the front row. Both Jimmy Blewett and James Civali have caught their share of grief for things they have done on the racetrack. This pair demonstrated over the next thirty laps why they deserve to be on the Tour.

Blewett and Civali raced side-by-side for lap-after-lap trading the lead many times. Official lead changes are only counted at the finish line. Blewett and Civali exchanged it far more times than the box score reveals.

Danny Sammons of Trenton, NJ was soldiering through the race and hoped to get a good finish. Although he had spun early in the race, he had pitted Ralph Solhem’s #0 and was riding along when contact caused another spin, which precipitated a crash that would eliminate Sammons from the competition. The real scare, at least for Solhem, probably came after the accident was over. The track crew had the #0 car on a double-hook and came within inches of flipping Ralph’s Modified onto its’ roof.

Around lap one hundred, Civali’s King Racing #28 fell off of the pace. Donny Lia moved into the second spot. One might have thought that Donny would have had something for Jimmy. Instead, Jimmy Blewett dashed off to a lead of nearly a dozen car lengths. Civali retired with ignition woes.

A caution for a spin by the aforementioned Ruggiero on lap one twenty-five closed up the field. Despite the speed advantage that the fresher tires had given John Blewett, III from the lap sixty-five pit stop, the #66 was at a deficit to the leader of quite a bit of real estate. Had the caution not flown, JB, III probably wouldn’t have been able to reel in his brother in the laps remaining.

John passed Lia and then got under his brother Jimmy Blewett after throwing a crossover move at him coming out of turn four on lap one sixty-five. He pulled along side and completed the pass on the next lap. The victory was John’s first of the season and ninth career Whelen Modified Tour win.

Mike Stefanik leaves Stafford with a slim lead over defending champion Tony Hirschman in the point standings. These two drivers account for eleven Whelen Modified Tour championships between them including nine of the most recent eleven. Business is sure to pickup at Loudon in just a few days. We hope to see you all there.