Results of July 17

Another Friday night in the books. Stafford rolled out the usual five-division program, and it was good in so many ways. Quick features set the stage for what proved to be a quick night. What happened? Here comes the recap of July 17.

Opening up the program Friday night would be the Limited Late Models. They had themselves an interesting feature. We start at the beginning, where it was Jesse Hinze out front early. That lead was short lived in a hurry. On lap-2, Carla Botticello (who had a little bit of trouble during her qualfying heat) and Michael Wray spin in turn three -- CAUTION. No harm, no foul, they get going, and the race goes to back to green in a hurry. Hinze gets back out front, and another lap is barely ticked off the board when the car of Bill Davis blows up coming out of turn four -- CAUTION. Needless to say, the speedy dry was used all down the frontstretch. Things would be cleaned up, and they'd go back to green in interesting fashion. Hinze had a bit of an issue on the restart (one of his three bobbles in the race), which allowed Dave Yardley, III to take over the top spot. As for Hinze, he'd lose many positions, as Dan Flannery took over the second spot, Shawn Thibeault moved to third, and Norm Sears went to fourth. On the other hand, a driver that was moving up through the field was Andrew Durand. By lap-8, he found himself in third, and easily took second from Flannery not too long afterward. This would be the running order on lap-12, when Wray ended up spinning solo in turn four -- CAUTION. He was able to drive off and the caution period was minimal. This set up a restart that saw Durand get the better of Yardley. It would be an easy pass for the lead for Durand, giving him the lead and putting Yardley back into second. Flannery would still be in third, but it would be Sears in fourth. Back out in front, it was Durand with a good-sized lead. He was free from the threat of any challenges, and the race was caution-free the rest of the way. Durand ended up taking down his fourth win of the season. Yardley would finish second, with Flannery in third and Sears fourth. (In technical inspection, the car of Sears did not meet the minimum weight requirement by two pounds. Two pounds equals two spots lost, dropping him to sixth.)

It would be the open-wheeled portion of the show coming up, as the SK Lights took to the track. Describing this feature in one word, that word would have to be nuts. It starts out with Erica Santos in the lead, but only for the first lap. The second lap would see the second leader, with Earl Pelletier taking over. He'd bring Ted Cain along with him, and all of that punted Santos back to third. Those three cars would run in that order through the first ten laps, until lap-11, as an incident behind them sent Heather DesRochers and Tommy Membrino, Jr for a spin in turns three and four -- CAUTION. Jay Goff was put out of commission in this accident as well, but he didn't make contact until after the caution had already come out. On the lap-12 restart, things would start to become chaotic. Pelletier would lose control of the car and go straight through the infield grass. He managed to get back on track in the turn two vicinity, but he would come in contact with Cain and the two of them would go around in turn two -- CAUTION. They were thankful that it was only the two of them and nothing more than the two of them spinning out. Santos would be placed back out front as the leader, but she had Tony Santangelo on the outside, and the restart would have the two of them making a run for it... If only for a lap. Lap-13 would see Brit Andersen, Shawn Brule, Kyle Spencer, and Michael Gervais, Jr spin and get in an accident in turn three -- CAUTION. The restart still had Santos over Santangelo, and again, it would be the two of them taking charge. Deeper through the field, Pelletier was coming back from nearly getting heavily wrecked in a mid-race caution. He would be in the top-five by lap-16, when Brule and Lauren Cooper spun in turn four -- CAUTION. Santangelo would have the advantage on the restart, passing Santos on the outside to take over the lead. Santos would be passed by Pelletier and was now challenging Santangelo for the lead. On lap-18, the two made contact coming off of turn four; Pelletier got the better of the battle and reclaimed the lead. The last two laps belonged to Pelletier, and he would pick up his first victory of the year. Santangelo would finish second, with Santos and Andersen (coming back from an earlier incident) rounding out the top-four. (Technical inspection found that Santangelo's car did not meet the minimum frame height requirement. He was dropped to last place in the finishing order.)

Next was the always-entertaining SK Modified division. And they didn't disappoint. With so much going on at once, there was sure to be something mindblowing. But to start, it was pretty much all calm. Wade Mattesen and Joe Allegro, Jr occupied the front row; Mattesen grabbed the early lead from it. Allegro would fall in line in second. Zach Sylvester would find a way around Matt Gallo for third. But Mattesen still had the lead, and the laps ticked away. On lap-17, Willie Hardie, making a return appearance to the track, ended up spinning in the grass on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. A quick caution, at that, as he was able to drive away. A restart, and Mattesen was still out in front. Another lap was completed when Ted Christopher and Brad Hietala happened to spin in turns one and two -- CAUTION. A restart on lap-19 saw the first lead change take place, as it was Keith Rocco easily getting around Mattesen for the lead. With Rocco in front, the field was lucky they completed yet another lap. Christopher was involved in yet another incident; this time, with Allegro in turn two -- CAUTION. The next restart showed much of the same, with Rocco still in the lead. But now, he had a whole new cast of characters behind him, including Mark Bakaj (second) and Doug Coby (fourth) among them. It wasn't until lap-27 when things started to get a little chippy. Don't know how this one started, but it ended with numerous cars in all various directions in the entrance to turn one -- CAUTION. They got another lap done under green flag conditions (with Rocco still as the leader) when another multi-car incident occured in the turn four area (coming up onto the frontstretch) -- CAUTION. It would be the same thing all over again: Restart with Rocco as the leader, get one lap in, and then, another accident incident. This time, involving Kenny Horton and Dave Salzarulo in turn three -- CAUTION. Rocco would still be out in front, again, with another cast of drivers (now including Christopher, he of two cautions, in fifth). Rocco still took command on the restart, and this time, they completed more than just one lap before the caution came out again. Instead, there would be an incident on lap-34, when Nichole Morgillo and Hietala (of a previous incident) ended up in a two-car accident in turn four -- CAUTION. The restart would happen with six laps to go in the event. And as it was throughout most of the race, Rocco took the lead again. The battle for position was behind him, with Donny Travaglin getting around Jeff Malave (and taking Christopher with him). Malave and Christopher would find a way around Travaglin, which gave leader Rocco all the room in the world. He crossed the line at the finish, collecting his fourth win of the season. Christopher would wind up finishing second, as Malave finished third and Travaglin finished in fourth.

Things would start to settle down with the fourth feature of the night, which was the DARE Stock feature. Well, it would settle down towards the end of the event, but it started out with some action. Stephanie Berardi was in control of the race in the early stages, but it was the stuff that was going on behind her that told the story of the race. You had a three-wide fight for the second position, with Victoria Bergenty, Jeff Jolly, and Duane Provost all trying to take second from each other. The winner of that battle would be Jolly, who wasn't going to sit back on that second spot. He was coming for the lead. It took him until lap-4 to finally catch up to Berardi, and that was when the lead change took place. Jolly would become the second leader of the event. Also on the move was Bill Dunn, and he would make a move around Berardi for second, sending Berardi back to third. While Jolly had stretched his lead out, Dunn was on the move and trying to catch up to the leader. Dunn had closed the gap on Jolly over the course of time, but Dunn couldn't close it quick enough as Jolly took down the win. It was his first win of the season, and a caution-free race to boot. Dunn would have to settle for the runner-up spot. Berardi finished third, while Matt Chiarizio would pass both Bergenty and Provost during the feature to finish fourth.

The last feature of the night belonged to the Late Models. And after the caution-marred feature on the 10th, things went pretty smooth only a week after. It all started with Joe Rzeszutek taking the early lead. The top-five drivers switched positions fairly quickly within the first few laps, with Tom Butler taking second from Dave Wray, and Scott Cook moving around Mark St. Hilaire for fourth. They would run like that for a while. Meanwhile, a little deeper in the field, Ryan Posocco found himself in a little trouble. Something wasn't right with the car, and he started to go backwards through the field. His night wouldn't be over, but it was evident that he would not be winning as he lost a couple of laps in the later stages of the event. Back up front, the two frontrunners in Rzeszutek and Butler had begun to pull away from the rest of the field. Wray was still in third at this point in the race, and he too had given himself a bit of a cushion over Cook in fourth. But Butler, who was still in second, was cutting into Rzeszutek's lead. The distance between first and second was noticeably smaller as the laps ticked by, and by lap-18, not only was Butler able to substantially squash the lead, he passed Rzeszutek for the lead. There were no changes within the top-four over the course of the final twelve laps. It was a caution-free feature (the second one of the night), and it was Butler claiming his first win of the season. Rzeszutek would finish second, followed by Wray in third and Cook in fourth.

And that's how it all went down. And it went ended pretty quick. People were out of there at 9:30. The quickest Friday night of the season.

Friday night should be a very interesting night, weather permitting. On the schedule is the sixth annual SK Modified 150. It's the longest race on the schedule for the division this season, and if the last five installments told the story, the sixth installment will be just as exciting. I can't wait. Should be a nail biter.