Results of August 14

Welcome to the wonderful world of a regular week! Yes, that's right. Stafford had a regular program lined up for the fans Friday night, which meant it was the five weekly divisions and nothing else. I'd like to say that it was a quiet night for a program like this, but nothing can be considered normal at the half-mile, and there was plenty to talk about. I have nothing more to say before we start. Here are the results of August 14, also known as USG Event Night.

The program stated off with the Limited Late Models. It also started with Jeff Hubbell as the leader. His interrupted reign in front only lasted four laps, as Norm Sears hit the wall in turns three and four on lap-5 -- CAUTION. The race went back to green with a new leader in Jesse Hinze, who was able to get around Hubbell for the lead. Again, it was short lived. On lap-6, John Morgillo, Jr was involved in an accident in turns three and four, while other cars were also involved in minor ways -- CAUTION. That bunched the field back up for another restart, and again, it was Hinze with the advantage. Dan Flannery moved into second, and behind him in third was Kevin Gambacorta. That was the top-3 at the halfway mark, and on lap-11 when Rob Dow spun in turn two with another car -- CAUTION. Again, the race went back to green after what was a quick caution, but Flannery found the space to go around Hinze for the lead. On lap-12, Shawn Thibeault and Andrew Durand were involved in a spin and accident situation in turns three and four -- CAUTION. A part of Durand's car was coming off and he was black flagged and sent to pit road because of it. Meanwhile, back up front, it was Flannery still in control of the race. Now in second was Gambacorta, and he was trying to make the move past Flannery for the lead. As the laps ticked by, nothing seemed to work. But on the final lap, as there were spins all over the track (a spin in turns one and two didn't bring out the yellow), Gambacorta passed Flannery in turn three and managed to edge out Flannery for his first win of the season. Dow came back from a spin to finish third, while Dave Yardley, III finished fourth.

Feature number two belonged to the Late Models. That race didn't start off on the right foot. Not long after the original start of the race, Michael Bennett nailed the safer barrier hard, recoiled, and hit the barrier again -- CAUTION. Woody Pitkat was also involved in the accident, but not as serious as Bennett was. The accident prompted the red flag to come out with no laps in the record books. After extensive cleanup, the race went back to yellow and then back to green with Adam Gray leading the way. Brian Chapin held down second while third belonged to Ryan Posocco. This was how the top-3 looked until lap-13, when Dave Wray spun on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. The restart on lap-13 was anything but normal. At the front of the field, there was three-wide racing going on, with Tom Butler being the loser in the battle for position as one of his tires went flat and he ended up sitting close to the wall in turns three and four. The field crossed the line for lap-14, and the yellow came out -- CAUTION. They went back to green with Gray still out in front. Dillon Moltz found his way up to second, but he couldn't advance any higher. It was lap-23 when Gray and Moltz had a quick battle for the lead. The two made contact, sending Moltz around in turn two -- CAUTION. In turn, the incident between the leaders put Gray in the back for rough riding (black flag) and gave the lead to Pitkat and Posocco. All sorts of trouble ensued on the restart. For some reason, Pitkat's car didn't want to go when the green came back out. The entire inside row got the worst of the restart, as they all bunched up. There were cars all over the frontstretch in one way or another -- CAUTION. Posocco became the leader, and Tom Fearn was now on the outside for the new restart, which went smoother than the last one. Posocco got the jump and pulled away from the field. He lead the last eight laps of the race to take down his fourth win of the season. Fearn came around to finish second, with Chapin in third and Mark St. Hilaire in fourth.

The Modified portion of the show began with the SK Lights. And it started with Jay Goff taking the lead at the start of the feature. Goff held the lead for the first five laps of the race until lap-6, when multiple cars found themselves in distress on the backstretch -- CAUTION. The question here was: How many cars were involved in the accident? The answer was there were more cars than tow trucks working to clean up the mess, especially when one of the cars went off hammock-style, prompting the red flag to come out for the second time. After the yellow came back out, a penalty was assessed to Brit Andersen for rough riding. And after everything was settled, the race went back to green. On the restart, Kyle Spencer took the lead from Goff and brought Heather DesRochers with him. Goff dropped back to third. One driver that was moving quickly through the field after the restart was Andersen, who was really moving through the field. By lap-8, he had found himself in the top-5, and by the time lap-12 came around, he had moved into third and was looking to keep moving. He passed DesRochers for second on lap-16 and quickly reached Spencer. On the next lap, Andersen found a way around Spencer for the lead. After Andersen got by Spencer, he started to pull away from the field over the course of the three laps that were remaining in the race and picked up his fifth win of the year in the process. Spencer finished second, with DesRochers in third and Michael Gervais, Jr in fourth.

Action shifted to the fastest division Stafford has to offer when the SK Modifieds took to the track. It started pretty clean, with Doug Coby getting the early jump ahead of the rest of the field to take the lead. Drivers behind Coby included Matt Gallo and Tom Bolles, who were running second and third respectively. There were drivers who were moving up through the field in the early stages of the race; they were Ted Christopher and Frank Ruocco, who moved up into fifth and sixth in five laps from their original starting spots of tenth and twelfth respectively. That would be how they ran until lap-10, when four cars were collected in an accident on the backstretch, including Jimmy Blewett and Sean Foster -- CAUTION. This put Coby and Gallo on the front row for the restart. On the restart, Gallo pulled out in front to take over leadership. Coby dropped back into second, but this was only for a short time. It was lap-13 when Gallo found himself sliding up the racetrack, giving Coby the advantage and giving him the lead again. Gallo lost quite a few spots during the green flag run. But Gallo wasn't the only one to lose spots during the period of green, as Christopher brought Woody Pitkat and Ruocco past Coby on lap-20. That was the running order on lap-24, when Joe Allegro, Jr spun in turn three -- CAUTION. Another caution prompted another restart, and when the green came back out, it was Christopher holding onto first with Pitkat behind him. The running order within the top-4 didn't change until lap-35, when Ruocco passed Pitkat for second. It didn't matter, however, because Christopher came down to the finish line first, picking up his fourth win of the season. The rest of the top-4 was Ruocco, Pitkat, and Coby.

It was up to the DARE Stocks to close out the program. As referenced last week, they had a three-race caution-free streak going for them. Would the trend continue and would the race end up going green to checker for a fourth straight week? The race went to green, and in turn one, Jeff Jolly wound up spinning. His car sat close to the track, not starting up until it was too late -- CAUTION. So the streak ended at three races, as the fourth didn't get a lap in. The spin in turn one was a quick caution, as Jolly was able to get going after the yellow came out, and it was back to green not too long afterward. Kyle Nosal was the one who found the front early in the race after the green was dropped, and he found himself in total control of the race. His lead lasted a full four laps. On lap-5, and in turn two, there was a multi-car accident that included more cars than one could count -- CAUTION. Not only that, but one of the cars involved was torn up so bad, the red flag was brought out for the third time in the night. It took some time before the track was cleared; maybe five minutes worth of it. When the racing surface was cleared, it was back to racing with a new leader emerging in Bill Dunn. This is where Dunn took advantage. He pulled away from the field and looked to be in complete control of the race. But newcomer Nicholas Salva spun in turns three and four on the last lap of the race -- CAUTION. The spin set up the first and only green-white-checker of the evening. And on the drop of the green, it was Dunn back out in front. He wasn't alone, however, as Barry Fluckiger was right behind him. The two remained close and Fluckiger remained on Dunn's bumper until the very last second, as they were coming off of turn four. Fluckiger made the pass around Dunn for the lead and just edged out Dunn for his second win of the season. Dunn had to settle for second. Don Wood and Duane Provost rounded out the board.

And that was how the crazy night ended. They'll do it all over again next Friday night. The Late Models are racing extra laps. Instead of 30-laps, they'll race in the second of two Late Model 100s on the season. Should be highly entertaining, and it's all going to be weather permitting.