Not Heaven, But Hey, What Can You Expect?

Friday, September 8 showed us that this "September Series" was going to be quite troublesome for the contenders in the points championships. All in all, only one person lost their points lead and one title could ultimately be decided within the next two weeks rather than three. But before we even look at who's in and who's out of the hunt for the title, let's look at some of the on-track action. The September Series continued with five divisions of Stafford drivers...starting with the entry level full bodied DARE Stocks.

On the second lap of the event, Todd LaPorta spun in turn four. That wasn't too bad, considering there was more to come. As the cars rounded turn one on the restart, Neil Provost, Jeff Jolly, and Dan Flannery make contact and are involved in a three car accident in turns one and two, triggering the yellow for the second time. On lap-5, we saw Lori-Jo Rzeszutek in an accident of her own, also in turns one and two. So in the course of the first five laps, there were two accidents and a spin. Could the feature have gotten any worse? Well, would debris on the frontstretch around lap-9 answer your question? I'm sure it did. And if you wanted to see more cautions, you'd get your wish on lap-10. Seth Wallace brought out the final caution on the backstretch when he was involved in an accident. Now because the DARE Stocks have this time limit, they have to get the feature done as quick as possible. It didn't work out that way. The red and checkered flags came out at the same time, putting the feature to a halt. Norm Sears was in the lead when this occured, so he was declared the winner and took his first win of the season. Slowly making their way around the track behind him were Carla Botticello, David Gambacorta, and Tom Stirk.

I assure you that the cautions died down a little bit during the SK Lights' feature. The only one that took place was on lap-9 when Brit Andersen nailed the frontstretch wall pretty good. He was pretty much done for the night. But on the other hand, Chris Matthews sure as heck wasn't. Taking his fourth win of the year, he finished in front of Kyler Cafro, Matt Gallo, and Wade Mattesen.

So two features down, three more to go. Next up would be the second of three crazy features. This one was yet another full fendered group of cars and they would be the Late Models. Michael Bennett held his ground for the first 14-laps of the race as the leader, but then had to give it up to Tom Butler, only because his car was pretty much better and faster. During Butler's reign at the point, Tracy Brouillette spun in turn four (lap-22), bringing out the event's first caution. About two laps later, Butler lost the lead he had to Todd Owen, who would dominate for a few laps of his own. But then, things literally got out of hand. On lap-27, Doug Blowers and Mike Mordino collected each other in turns one and two causing yet another caution to fly. The restart wasn't too pretty for Wayne Coury Jr after he experienced some spinnage in turns one and two on the green flag. Trust me, those weren't the only fireworks of the night. The last caution was on lap-29 after a few cars got together on the backstretch, causing fireworks to explode. Owen, who had been leading since around lap-24, had lost his lead due to probable engine problems, giving it up to Tom Fearn. Fearn had some contact issues in the caution period before (Coury's lap-27 restart incident) with Ryan Posocco. Posocco was told to park the car afterwards. (More on Posocco and how he'll be spending his Friday night after the recaps.) But anyway, on the final restart of the race, JJ Hill's hood comes flying off of his car and lands on the track high into turn one. The caution does not come out, and Fearn holds off Butler, Woody Pitkat, and Jim Peterson to take his first win of the season.

Up for the shortest race of the night, we bring you what little of the Limited Late Model feature actually occured. Michael Nadeau started the race up front and held the lead for the first 9-laps. But hard on his back bumper was Paul Conte, who would take over the lead on the very next lap. Conte would hold off all comers, including George Nocera, Nadeau, and Sean Foster for his first win of the season. This was done without a single caution, by the way. (This makes two weeks in a row with a caution free event.)

Finally, we bring you a chaotic SK Modified feature. Four of the top-5 drivers contending for the points lead had a problem somewhere down the line, and the first one to experience anything below the norm was Woody Pitkat. On the opening lap, the car just didn't seem right and he spent numerous laps either in the pits or behind the wall. He'd finish dead last and would only collect two points towards his championship hopes. (They're literally shattered.) The second member of the "Mediocre Night Club" happened to be Frank Ruocco, as he was one of many cars involved in a lap-11 accident on the backstretch. His radiator was nearly busted and his crew spent five solid laps trying to get it fixed. During this time, however, there were a few non-contenders with problems of their own. Lap-12 had John Cleary get into the wall in turns one and two, lap-14 showed us the end result of Jim Larsen stroking the turn one wall, and the very next lap provided us with a multi-car spin on the backstretch. Now back to the championship contenders: After the three back to back to back cautions, problems rose with Todd Owen's driveshaft and Jeff Malave scraping the Safer barrier. They would become the last two members of this "Mediocre Night Club" for the night. On the other hand, they weren't the final people with problems to take care of. Lap-34 and its restart companion would prove costly. The first time we tried to complete the lap, Mark Anderson spun in turn four. The restart would be bad news for Bo Gunning as he nailed the turn one wall on the driver's side. It would take him a minute or two for him to get out of the car, but he appeared to be fine. What was a troublesome night for many was actually a godsend for Willie Hardie, who won his second win of the year. Next at the line was Lloyd Agor, Jeff Baral, and Chris Jones. Hardie, who was sixth in points before the feature ended and Eric Berndt were the only two to actually gain ground on Ruocco. (Even with the radiator troubles for five laps, he still has the points lead.)

Okay, now that the features are out of the way, there's one little bit of information that needs to be clarified. Remember back in the Late Model recap I mentioned something about Ryan Posocco and how he'd spend his Friday night this week? Well, it won't be behind a Stafford Late Model. Track officials have given him the week off due to some retaliation against Tom Fearn during one of the late race cautions. This is the first week of the season that one of the Late Model drivers (or full fendered drivers in general) has gotten a week's vacation. Let's see what that means for those racing for the Late Model championship.

Speaking of this upcoming Friday, I will be giving a brief mention about Stafford -- probably a list of drivers who took down feature wins. This is because I will be in New Hampshire for Friday's round of NASCAR Nextel Cup qualifying, practice, and the Sylvania 100 for the Whelen Modified Tour. Those will be full recaps, I can assure you of that. But for now, I'll be signing off. Not only is Blogger being a pain for me at the moment, I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting for the weekend to arrive. Until next week, friends...