Results of September 4

Hope everyone had a nice and safe Labor Day weekend. Stafford finally got back to work with another five-division program as the holiday weekend got underway, with the Late Models finally getting their second 100-lap feature of the season into the record books. With the bugs out in full force (how many times did someone have to smack themselves just to kill one of those pesky little things?), it was racing at its finest. Here are the results of September 4.

Beginning the night off in style were the SK Lights. And the race started with Adam Skowyra out in front early. Any luck he may have been holding went out the door on lap-3, when his car and a few others wrecked on the backstretch -- CAUTION. The whole incident on the backstretch gave the lead to Tony Santangelo. His lead was also short lived, as on lap-4, a new leader emerged in Jay Goff. Four laps passed before musical leaders started up all over again and Earl Pelletier took over as the leader on lap-8. Goff fell back into second. Throughout the race, Goff tried to make a move around Pelletier. Goff found momentum in the corners but eventually lost it on the straightaway. The top-two ran as the top-two until the white flag lap, as there was a car that spun in turn four -- CAUTION. This sent the race into overtime and a green-white-checker finish loomed over the horizon. On the restart, Pelletier and Goff battled for the lead. Pelletier won the battle and started to pull away. Michael Gervais, Jr moved past Goff for second, and Raymond Grassetti also found a way around Goff; this time, for third. But out in front, it was Pelletier who cruised to his second win of the season. Gervais finished in second, with Grassetti in third and Goff in fourth.

Second on the schedule was the Limited Late Models. And it didn't start off too well. On the first lap, not long after the green came out to start the race, Carla Botticello spun on the backstretch and collected two other cars in the now accident -- CAUTION. The race went back to green, and it was Jeff Hubbell with the early lead. His lead lasted all of one full lap as Dave Yardley, III took over on lap-2. And Yardley's lead was two laps long. On lap-4, Andrew Durand became the third leader of the race. Yardley was in second. Norm Sears and Bill Davis were behind them, and they ran in that order until lap-10 as a car spun on the backstretch -- CAUTION. Durand retook control on the restart, still with Yardley and Sears behind him. Lap-12 had Kevin Gambacorta and George Nocera spinning in turns three and four -- CAUTION. On the restart, it was still Durand and Yardley in first and second, but Rob Dow moved into third. A scary occurrance happened on lap-17, as Hubbell smacked the turn four wall hard -- CAUTION. The red flag was brought out and Hubbell was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons. When the race went back to green, it was Durand still out in front. The real battle was for second, third, and fourth between Yardley, Dow, and Sears. Dow got around Yardley for second, but neither of them could catch Durand. It was his fifth win of the year. Dow ended up finishing second. Yardley was third and Sears was fourth.

Closing out the open-wheeled portion of the show was the SK Modified division. And to start, it was Matt Gallo ahead of the field. Tom Bolles was in second early on, but soon started to slide backwards as many drivers moved past him to improve position. On lap-9, Willie Hardie and the bad luck streak continued as he hit the wall in turns three and four -- CAUTION. Gallo retook the lead on the restart, followed by Mark Bakaj right behind him. Bakaj attempted numerous passes throughout the course of the long green flag run, but to no avail. Todd Owen moved into third place on lap-23, getting around Doug Coby. Only seven laps later, on lap-30, Kirk Zervas spun on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. Gallo kept a hold on the lead on the ensuing restart with Owen right behind him after taking second from Bakaj. Owen was about to make a move on Gallo, but on lap-32, Chris Matthews spun in turn four -- CAUTION. When the restart came back out, it was Gallo still out in front. But the lead was short lived when there was a multi-car accident in turn one on lap-33 -- CAUTION. Bakaj took over as the leader when the green came back out, but he was about to be challenged from someone coming up through the field over the course of the green flag session. That driver was Woody Pitkat, who by lap-34 had moved into the second spot. But it was "make a move deja vu", and as Pitkat had finally managed to make it up to the lead, which happened on lap-37, there was a three-car accident in turn one -- CAUTION. Bakaj retained the lead with Pitkat now on the outside of the front row. They tried to make it up on the restart and failed immediately as there was a multi-car accident in turns three and four on the restart lap -- CAUTION. Pitkat took the lead from Bakaj on the restart and was able to lead a lap before debris was found in turn four on the next lap -- CAUTION. It set up three laps to the finish line. Pitkat won the lead on the restart and began to pull away from the field to take down his first win of the season. Bakaj finished second, as Owen and Coby finished the top-four.

The last race before the main event belonged to the DARE Stocks. Kyle Nosal started on the outside of the front row, but managed to find himself in the lead as the green came out to start the race with Bill Dunn not too far behind him. All was fine until lap-7, when Duane Provost spun on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. The restart had Nosal and Dunn on the front row, and when the green came back out, it was Dunn taking over as leader. Nosal slipped into second. Stephanie Berardi and Don Wood held onto third and fourth respectively. That was how they ran until lap-11. Ryan Nicewicz ended up wrecking on the backstretch -- CAUTION. They restarted nice, with Dunn still out in front. In two laps' time, Cliff Saunders wasn't able to get off the track after going through some kind of car issue; coming to a stop so close to pit road on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. The next attempt at a restart was a short one, at best. A five-car accident in turn three prompted little hesitation to throw the yellow -- CAUTION. When they did get back under green, it was still Dunn as the leader. One more lap was completed as a two-car spin in turns three and four (lap-14) resulted in -- CAUTION. By this time, time had expired on the feature, something that hadn't been done in a while with the DARE Stocks. Officials threw out both the yellow and checkered flags, giving Dunn the win; his first of the season. Don Wood finished second. Barry Fluckiger and Robert Thompson rounded out the board.

Finally, it was time for the main event. It was time for the Late Models to run 100 laps. The race began with Adam Gray in control in the early laps. A wide variety of drivers ran behind him, with the driver picking up a few spots through the first nine laps being Michael Bennett. On lap-10, things started to take effect in terms of position changes as Bennett found himself in second and looking to take over the top spot. Bennett was successful on lap-13, when he finally passed Gray for the lead. Gray started to fall backwards through the field as Tom Butler, Dillon Moltz, Ryan Posocco, and Jim Peterson all easily passed him. No other changes among the top-four drivers occured until lap-37, as Ed Gertsch wrecked in turn four and didn't stop until he reached the frontstretch -- CAUTION. And that set up the first restart of the race, which also saw the second lead change of the event. Butler passed Bennett on the restart, and Moltz quickly followed suit around Bennett, this time for second. The positioning of the lead drivers didn't change until lap-62, when Brian Chapin hit the wall in turn four -- CAUTION. On the restart, it was Butler still in the lead, now with Peterson in second and Moltz in third. Through the course of the final 38 laps, many position changes took place within the top-five drivers, but none of them included Butler. He was pressured a bit by Moltz and Peterson a couple of times, but aside from that, he commanded the race from the last restart to the end, picking up his second win of the season. Peterson, Moltz, and Posocco finished off the top-four.

And that was it for the week. Sounded pretty wild, didn't it? I agree with you. Coming up Friday night, it's another five-division program at the half-mile. It's also September 11, which means I'm pretty certain there's going to be some memorial for what happened eight years ago on that date. As usual, it all goes down as long as the rain also doesn't come down along with it. Everything happens weather permitting.