Fourth of July Fireworks: On the Track. Plus Extreme Tuesday Quick Results.

Hi, all. Well, there's so much to talk about and not enough time to do it all in! A regular week with enough drama like a soap opera? Why not! One caution-free feature leads the charge in this week's installment of the blog, since my notes don't detect anything preview-worthy. It's all of the stuff that got left out of the notes that make this week memorable. I'll explain as we get into the event that was: The Fourth of July.

We started off with racing of the open-wheeled variety as the SK Lights took to the track. For the first three laps of the race, the leader was Mike Lane. Two cautions on two consecutive laps bunched the field back up. On lap-4, a three-car spin/accident occured coming out of turn four, involving the cars of Shawn Brule, Adam Skowyra, and John Walmsley. Lane would get the lead on the restart, but another yellow came out after Steve Zukowski and Chris Bakaj were involved in a turn-three accident. Again, it would be Lane on the restart, yet this green flag run would last for four laps as Brule and Tommy Membrino spun in turn two on lap-9. Lap-11 would see a lead change as Chris Matthews was able to get around Lane for the lead, with Mark Bakaj coming up to follow. On lap-13, Kyle Spencer would spin in turn two, bringing the field back to yellow. Another lead change would occur on the restart, when Bakaj got around Matthews. Matthews wouldn't be in second for long, as he'd take the lead back only a few laps later. The final caution came out on lap-18 when Fred Nees, Jr and Earl Pelletier were involved in a two-car accident in turn four. A late race restart would be key in this feature, and Matthews would have the advantage. He held off Bakaj to score his fifth win of the season. Bakaj, George Nocera, and (at that time, apparently) Lane rounded out the board. Now what happened to Lane? He was scored as last on the results page, and I hadn't heard anything about it.

Afterwards, we switched over to the land of the fullbodied autos with the Late Models. There were only three cautions, but there was time to make a move or two inbetween the second and third ones. But let's start at the beginning with this. The front two for most of the race were Scott Cook and Brian Chapin from the early stages of the race (through a lap-9 accident on the backstretch involving five drivers and a lap-11 caution where Patrick Townsend basically went up in smoke). But Ryan Posocco was coming through the field. He was third by the time the second caution came out, and he passed Chapin on lap-25. Meanwhile, Cook's lead had been erased after a lap-26 caution involved the likes of Mike Mordino, Doug Blowers, Jr, and Victor Pomerleau. Cook would eventually lose the lead on lap-27 to Posocco, and that would be the end of this race. Posocco took down his second win of the season, with the rest of the board reading as follows: Cook, Michael Bennett, and Wayne Coury, Jr.

Following them were the Limited Late Models. Jeff Hubbell was the leader for the first two laps of the race, but that's exactly how long it was before the first caution of the event. Lauren Cooper spun in turn three, bringing the yellow out for the field to see. Both Charlie Newman and Rob Dow moved past Hubbell on the restart while Hubbell started to slide backwards through the field. The next caution was on lap-9, when Kevin Gambacorta spun on the backstretch. On the very next lap, debris (not dirt!) was spotted on the frontstretch. It was the front bumper from someone's car; and for the record, I do not know whose front it was. But it was big enough to bring out the caution, so it did. Newman was once again out front on the restart, and Dow was once again behind him. But two laps later, it was back to yellow as Carla Botticello and Darrin Havanec were in an accident in turn four. The very next lap brought another caution, and it was Botticello once again. This time, she spun on the backstretch. The final restart saw Newman and Dow back out front respectively, with nobody posing a challenge to either one of the two drivers. It would be like that as they crossed the finish line; Newman winning his first race of the season, and Dow coming in second. Michael Nadeau finished third, and David Capriati in fourth.

Back to the open-wheeled gang with the SK Modifieds. The feature last week wasn't as chaotic as it had been in recent weeks, but there was tons of action to write about, especially in the second half of the race. The first half of the race was smoother than a baby's bottom, with the top-three cars running away from the field -- Doug Coby, who led all of the laps through this point in time, Kenny Horton, and Frank Ruocco. But a caution on lap-22 erased the lead that the three of them had on the rest of the field, when Woody Pitkat, Brad Hietala, and Willie Hardie wrecked on the backstretch. Coby would lose his lead on the restart, as Ruocco would get by him. But behind them, the chaos was just getting started. On lap-24, Todd Owen would spin in turn four to bring out the caution once again. The restart would go in Ruocco's favor, with Coby starting to slip back until both Keith Rocco and Ted Christopher would move by him for second and third respectively on lap-27. They went back to yellow on lap-29 after Bo Gunning spun in turn four. Five laps later, with Ruocco still in the lead, the cars of Gunning, Pitkat, and Zach Sylvester got together for yet another caution; this time, coming out of turn four. On lap-37, Wade Mattesen spun in turn four. And on the very next lap, two incidents: The first of which being for Horton spinning on the backstretch; the second being for a multi-car accident coming out of four. Every restart, it was either Christopher or Rocco on the outside. And on every restart, it was Ruocco taking advantage. The true battle was for second, but Christopher seemed to slip back. Rocco had one last shot to get around Ruocco on the final lap, but it wasn't going to happen. It was the first win of the season for Ruocco, followed by Rocco, Tom Bolles, and Christopher.

Finally, we came to the DARE Stocks. This may indeed be the shortest "feature" recap I've done this season. Reason? Green to checker. How'd we get that way? Jesse Hinze held the lead from the drop of the opening green flag to lap-7 when Todd LaPorta took over. LaPorta wasn't the only one to go around Hinze, as both Don Wood and Dan Flannery followed. On lap-11, Flannery moved past Wood for second, and on the very next lap, went past LaPorta for the lead. Wood would also make the move around LaPorta, but Flannery would hold him off to become the second multiple-race winner in the division this season. Wood finished second, followed by Jeff Jolly and Scott Roy.

In other news, the CARQuest Extreme Tuesday was held. Didn't go, but I thought it would be nice to list the winners: Chris Perley in the ISMAs, Bobby Santos, III in the NEMAs, and Norm Wrenn in the Pro-4 Modifieds.

And that's going to be it for this week. I know, I know. I should try to be more punctual with this kind of thing. (If it makes me happy, I would blame the heat. But I did that last year...) So you know what's going to happen tomorrow, right? A regular week of action awaits with only three of the five divisions going out for heats. The schedule is up for those of you who are looking for it. Until tomorrow, stay safe and dry.