Wild 100, Other Features, and Seekonk News

(Dang. Exited the page before I could save and finish. But I've recovered nicely.)

Before we begin take two for the night, let me tell you some breaking news that occured pre-qualifying. Ted Christopher is back. Yes, you read this right. For the rest of the season, he'll be driving the #81 SK, previously driven by Chuck Docherty. I've read that Chuck would like to spend time with his family and put racing on the backburner, so good luck with any future endeavors you'll have in the future.

Now with that said, let's get to the features. Friday night was a crazy one, due to it being the SK Modified 100 and all. First on the schedule was the SK Light feature. For a change, they actually ran a clean, cautionless race. All 20 laps were completed before the cars started to slow down. And in the end, Brit Andersen took his first win of the 2006 season. At the time of the event, he finished ahead of Mike Lane, Chris Matthews, and Richie Pallai, Jr. In technical inspection, the finishing result became a mixed-up insane asylum. Mike Lane was disqualified for not having the minimum frame height requirement. I'm pretty positive that the team'll have that fixed before Friday night.

But let's put that aside, shall we? We do have the Limited Late Models to cover next. And for this race...my, oh my! I don't know what to say. On the second lap of the race, a car spun out in turn one. I can't give you a car number because I wrote down the wrong number. (Sorry.) Five laps later, Michael Chaves and Charlie Newman got together in turns one and two. Newman would be done for the night while Chaves would have a bit more to worry about. Then with four laps to go, Kevin Gambacorta spun in turn two. (He'd finish sixth, by the way.) Now here's where all of the craziness begins. It's the final lap and Chaves gets into Glenn Bartkowski in turn three. The caution comes out and the field is doubled up. On the restart, Sean Foster false starts yet benefits from a melee between then-leader George Nocera and Robert Dow. With both drivers out of the race, the night belonged to Foster. Even with a piece of sheetmetal dangling from the right side of the car (more importantly, a nice dragging piece), he still took home his second win of the year. Behind him was Paul Conte, Andrew Durand, and Corky Hinze.

Now you thought that was insane? You haven't read anything yet, considering the SK Modifieds had taken the track for their longest race of the season. On the very first green flag of the race, a false start occured thanks to Zach Sylvester. But breathe easy, because the next caution ould occur on lap-58 when Jeff Johnson spun on the backstretch. And then...what was probably the most dramatic caution of the event was on lap-61 when a battle for the lead between Bo Gunning, Lloyd Agor, and Frank Ruocco turned into a few parade laps under the banana. (The good news? It was a good night for one, a semi-good night for another, and...well, a not-so-good night for the third. And no, the results are not in the same order as the names I listed.) The not-so-good night was for Bo Gunning when he nailed the safer barrier on lap-77 along with Brad Hietala. As for the rest of the race, it went in a heartbeat. And at the finish, it was all Todd Owen. His second win of the year and it was in the longest race of the year. Following him was Willie Hardie, Jeff Malave, and Ruocco, who ended up having the best night out of those in the lap-61 incident.

Oh, but the insanity was not done yet. We still had the Late Models and their feature. Things were fine until lap-6 when Tony Lafo and Michael Bennett got together in turns three and four, bringing out the first caution. (Bennett would be involved in a later caution, which will be discussed in as much detail as I can later on in this race recap.) On the very next lap, we had the first of three multi-car scrimmages, this first one occuring in the turn one area. The next multi-car accident took place in the same area, just on lap-19. Then with only five laps to go, Wayne Coury Jr, Todd Owen, and Ryan Posocco ended up with beat cars--you guessed it, in the turn one corner of the track. You think that was it for the beat up rides? I think not, especially with a flip on the very next lap. Coming towards turn three on the backstretch, Bennett and Steve McQuillan get together with McQuillan's car ending up on its roof. The race was immediately red flagged for about five minutes as it took about that long for McQuillan to get out of his car and for the track safety team to get the car off the track. But once that was done, it was back to the same old, same old regarding the multi-car accidents. The final one was on lap-28 and was in turn four. With that said and done, it was all Woody Pitkat at the end. It was his sixth win of the season, followed to the line by Jim Peterson, Tom Butler, and Tom Fearn.

And finally, the night closed with the DARE Stocks. It wasn't too bad, considering us fans in the stands had to look at the two races previous to this one. On lap-2 and in turn two, there was a multi-car spin. Note I said spin, because it didn't look like anyone was beat up. On the ninth lap of the race, Robert Merril spun on the backstretch. Once again, no visible damage. But the non-viewable dents and bumps would come into play. On the restart, there was a multi-car accident on the backstretch. None of those cautions would faze Carla Botticello, because she took down her first win of the season. Norm Sears, Jeff Hubbell, and Tom Stirk followed her to the line.

And that's your night in a nutshell. But that's not all for this entry...there's some bonus news I must report to you about. You know Wednesday night's open wheeled Modified show at the Seekonk (MA) Speedway? Well, as of last night, I've found an updated entry list for the show with a few of our Stafford SK delegates, so to speak. I won't spoil any stories, but it's worth a look.

Now that's it. No more news until Thursday night. That's when I'll report back about what happened in Seekonk and tell you how the representatives from the half mile did. And then it's back to the computer over the weekend with the results from another regular night at Stafford. Until then, have fun.