Lia Takes Stafford Win, Pts Lead; Grabs 26-Point Lead Heading To Season Finale STAFFORD, Conn. – Donny Lia took destiny into his own hands Sunday at Stafford Motor Speedway as he captured the CARQUEST Fall Final checkered flag and left with the championship points lead with one race remaining on the schedule. Lia (No. 4 Mystic Missile Dodge), who entered the day just one tally back of points leader Ted Christopher, took the race lead for the final time on Lap 115 and held on through multiple restarts and a green-white-checker finish for his fourth win of the season. As a result of his win, and a pair of accidents that relegated Christopher to a 31st place finish, Lia will take a 26-point lead to the season finale in two weeks at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway. It marked the 15th career win for Lia, and his third at Stafford. Lia also earned the 15th Coors Light Pole Award of his career earlier in the day. “It was a great day for us – we won the pole, won the race, and had a great race car,” Lia said. “We were able to get to the front and lead some laps, then we pitted and were fortunately able to come back through and get the lead again and just maintained the lead from there on out.” Lia’s primary competition for the title in the season finale will be Ryan Preece, who challenged Lia for the lead on a couple of occasions in the later stages of the race, but crossed the line third to stay within striking distance of the championship. Now in his third full season, this will be his first shot at the Whelen Modified Tour crown. “I had nothing for the 4 [Lia] at the end,” Preece said. “My best bet was to rattle him up and be very aggressive getting through traffic, but at the same time we wanted to finish this race, and we’ll carry it over to Thompson.” Doug Coby was the race runner-up on Sunday. Following Preece across the line were James Civali, Chris Pasteryak, Rowan Pennink, Eric Beers, Mike Stefanik, Reggie Ruggiero and Erick Rudolph. Christopher, who was involved in accidents on Lap 17 and Lap 23, slipped to third in the standings and is now 109 behind Lia. The 2008 Whelen Modified Tour champion had a 48-point lead after New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 19, but engine trouble at Martinsville Speedway the following week combined with Sunday’s result, has dealt in a damaging blow toward his bid to repeat. “What are you going to do? Sometimes it happens,” Christopher said. “It all started last week at Martinsville. You end up having a bad day there and it unfortunately it rolled over to this week.” Christopher had maintained the championship lead for 17 of the last 18 races dating back to last year before Sunday’s reversal of fortunes. Todd Szegedy, fourth in points entering Sunday, remained in the same position with a 20th place finish and is now 113 out of first. Pennink also still maintains a mathematical shot at the championship, but in fifth place and 148 points out of first, he and Szegedy will both be officially eliminated from contention when Lia takes the green flag in the season finale. As the attention now shifts toward Thompson, Lia will be gunning for his second title in three years. The Jericho, N.Y., native clinched the 2007 crown at the Fall Final with one race to go in the season, but it will all be on the line in this year’s World Series. “This year it’s tighter,” Lia said. “I think this is what makes you a champion, even more so than 2007, because we’ve had to work [harder] for it this year. We’ve had to come from behind. We had some bad luck, but now we’ve put together a good run of finishes, and that’s a testament to this crew.” Lia can clinch his second Whelen Modified Tour crown by finishing fifth or better at Thompson, but with Preece just 26 points out, there are a number of scenarios that will make every lap important in the season finale. The World Series of Speedway Racing presented by Xtra Mart will commence with practice and qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour on Saturday, Oct. 17. The 150-lap race is set to go green on Sunday, Oct. 18 at approximately 3:30 p.m. Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points Total Award Status 1 4 4 Donny Lia Mystic Missile Dodge 153 180 $7,600 Running 2 3 19 Doug Coby Major Motion Trans./Family Auto Ctr. Chevrolet 153 170 3,200 Running 3 20 3 Ryan Preece Davidson Co./Reynold's Auto Wrecking Chev. 153 165 2,900 Running 4 16 79 James Civali Hill Enterprises/Coors Light/Sunoco Pontiac 153 160 2,600 Running 5 14 52 Chris Pasteryak Furnace & Duct Supply Chevrolet 153 155 2,400 Running 6 24 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner Chevrolet 153 150 2,950 Running 7 21 46 Eric Beers Cape Cod Aggregates/J&R Pre-Cast Chevrolet 153 146 2,100 Running 8 15 16 Mike Stefanik Diversified Metals/Sanderson-MacLeod Pontiac 153 142 2,000 Running 9 19 14 Reggie Ruggiero Atlantic Sprinkler Chevrolet 153 138 1,750 Running 10 13 59 Erick Rudolph Original Pizza Logs/Prime Tyme Chevrolet 153 134 2,200 Running 11 26 58 Eric Goodale * Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 153 130 1,850 Running 12 22 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood Chevrolet 153 127 1,518 Running 13 17 10 Ed Flemke, Jr. Ron Bouchard Autos/Kleer Trimboards Chev. 153 124 1,500 Running 14 18 0 Tim Arre Cliff Nelson/Earle's Asphalt Chevrolet 153 121 1,075 Running 15 27 8 Glenn Tyler Sypher Const./Financial Fed. Credit Chevrolet 153 118 1,450 Running 16 8 28 Woody Pitkat TSI Harley-Davidson/Ramar-Hall Chevrolet 153 115 1,510 Running 17 2 39 Richie Pallai, Jr. Bosch Spark Plugs Chevrolet 153 112 985 Running 18 31 26 Gary McDonald Lakeland Landscape/TRC Electric Chevrolet 152 109 1,360 Running 19 28 33 Wade Cole Perf. Engines/Kendall Oil/Ryan's Oil Chevrolet 152 106 1,335 Running 20 10 2 Todd Szegedy Wisk/Snuggle Ford 149 103 1,410 Running 21 11 99 Jamie Tomaino Ideal Racing Chevrolet 148 100 1,280 Running 22 6 17 Glen Reen MotoStar/Reen Ortho./Pep Boys Chevrolet 147 97 1,450 Out of Fuel 23 29 68 Johnny Bush J.B. Stone Setters/Mehner Racing Chevrolet 140 94 1,225 Running 24 30 9 Jake Marosz Middlesex Auto Center Chevrolet 130 91 1,225 Running 25 1 54 Eric Berndt North End Auto Parts Chevrolet 129 88 825 Engine 26 9 12 Keith Rocco TS Haulers/Hoosier Tire of Calverton Chevrolet 124 85 1,325 Accident 27 23 1 Rob Summers Frasco Fuel Chevrolet 108 82 825 Accident 28 12 05 Joe Hartmann Charlie's Quality Collision Chevrolet 106 79 825 Engine 29 7 50 Kevin Goodale Riverhead Building Supply Chevrolet 94 76 1,225 Nerf Bar 30 25 75 Carl Pasteryak Dawley's Auto Center/Sunoco Pontiac 76 73 825 Accident 31 5 36 Ted Christopher Al-Lee Installations Chevrolet 61 70 1,925 Accident 32 32 90 Renee Dupuis UIG/SFI Chevrolet 61 67 825 Vibration