Results of September 25

Friday night was the final Friday night event on Stafford's schedule. Five divisions equal one heck of a night, and there was a little bit of business that had to be taken care of before things really got going. Last week's controversy between Ted Christopher and Keith Rocco earned the two SK Modified drivers suspensions for the week. While they weren't there, the cars that they each drive at the half-mile were. Filling in for them were their twin brothers. It was Mike Christopher in Ted's #13 and Jeff Rocco in Keith's #88 for the evening. How'd they fare? I'll save that for the recap of September 25.

Action for the evening kicked off with the DARE Stocks. It started off in style, as Duane Provost claimed stake to the lead. Andrew Hayes and Victoria Bergenty were following behind him. Lap-3 featured two cars spinning in the turn two area of the race track, but when they managed to get going again, the green remained out. Meanwhile, Provost's lead started to shrink as Bergenty moved into second around Hayes and looked for the lead. It was a successful lead change on lap-6 when Bergenty managed to take the lead from Provost. On the very next lap, Nicholas Salva spun while going into turn two and didn't get back into motion before it was too late -- CAUTION. When the green came back out for the restart, it was Bergenty still with the lead. Don Wood was now on the move, making his way up to second from fourth not long after the restart and was now trying to find a way around Bergenty for the lead. Before Wood had an opportunity to pass, there was a one-car spin in turns three and four (lap-13) -- CAUTION. The restart was where business officially picked up. Bergenty got a bit loose when the green returned, and that gave Wood the opportunity to drop to the outside and take over the lead. Bill Dunn also passed Bergenty, and began to run down Wood, who was securely in the lead. It wasn't enough, however, as Wood picked up his second win of the year. Dunn unofficially finished second. Bergenty and Hayes rounded out the top-four. After the race, it was found that Dunn's issued AVM plate was missing and there was some sort of illegal modification to the AVM plate that was on the car. Because of this, he was disqualified from the feature and indefinitely suspended.

The modified portion the program began with the SK Lights. Shawn Brule started it off by having the lead in the course of the first few laps. Ted Cain and Harry Wheeler sat in second and third respectively. On lap-6, the running order at the front of the field started to change hands. David Webb, who was running fourth, passed Wheeler for third. Wheeler ended up falling backwards through the field. After about three cars passed Wheeler, the running order was seemingly frozen for a while. On lap-16, Tommy Membrino spun on the frontstretch; no harm, no damage, but he couldn't get the car going again in time -- CAUTION. This set up a restart that Brule won. Cain was still in second, but third was now in possession of Brit Andersen. It took Andersen three laps to manage to get around Cain for second. Only problem was that he had tapped Cain's back bumper and sent Cain into the turn three wall -- CAUTION. The black flag came out for Andersen, meaning he was to park it for the rest of the event. Brule was now coming up to take the restart with Webb next to him. As the greens came back out, it was Webb who moved out in front and claimed the lead. If Brule was going to go down, he was going to go down trying. And try he did. It wasn't quite enough, however, and it was Webb to win his second race of the season. Brule finished second, with Jay Goff in third and John Montesanto in fourth. With a fifth place finish, Michael Gervais, Jr not only won the Rookie of the Year title in the SK Lights, but also won his first championship in the division.

The SK Modifieds were the division that ended up running in the smack-dab middle of the program that night. It began with Wade Mattesen as the leader, but quickly slowed down after one lap as Nicole Morgillo hit the wall in turn two on lap-2 -- CAUTION. Upon resuming the race, Doug Coby managed to pass Mattesen for the lead, becoming the race's second leader. A multi-car spin (in turn two) one lap later slowed the field down again -- CAUTION. The restarts that followed didn't change much. Coby still maintained the lead with Mattesen in second. On lap-6, Mike Christopher harmlessly spun in turn three -- CAUTION. Again, nothing changed on the restart. It was still Coby out in front, and remained so until lap-12, when both Christopher and Jeff Rocco spun in turns three and four -- CAUTION. On the restart, it was back to Coby as the leader, but a new second-place driver emerged in Richie Pallai, Jr. Pallai was itching to take the lead, but the two of them plus the rest of the top-five ran single file until lap-20 when Frank Ruocco spun in turn two -- CAUTION. When the race went back to green, it was Coby out in front again, with Pallai still in second. Pallai's good run came to an end on lap-23, when Woody Pitkat got together with him and spun coming out of turn two (another car was also involved) -- CAUTION. Todd Owen had now moved up to second, and a duel for the lead with Coby erupted on the restart. The two battled for a little bit under the green, with Owen passing Coby for the lead on lap-25. Two laps later, on lap-27, Rob Summers and two other drivers spun in turns three and four -- CAUTION. The race resumed with Owen and Coby in yet another duel for the lead. The two drivers ran side by side for what seemed like the longest time. In all reality, they had been battling for the lead for ten solid laps. Lap-37 slowed the field down yet again when Pallai spun around exiting turn two -- CAUTION. Coby regained the lead on the restart and Owen was once again on his back bumper; not willing to back down without a fight. But it was Coby who had enough momentum to get him to the finish line first, picking up his first win of the season. Owen had to settle for second. Joe Allegro, Jr and Jeff Malave finished third and fourth. As for the points championship battle? Even though he didn't race in the night's events due to an aforementioned suspension, Ted Christopher still managed to win his seventh track championship in the division.

The "quickest feature of the night" award should go to the Limited Late Models. Bill Davis started out on the pole, and when the greens came out to start the race, he pulled out into the lead. Dave Yardley, III sat in second, right behind him. The two of them and the rest of the top-five drivers fell into a single line and paraded around the track. On lap-7, Carla Botticello, who was running fourth, passed Michael Wray (then third). The next lap saw Kevin Gambacorta move into the top-five as he passed George Nocera, Jr. Gambacorta quickly got by Wray for fourth. The top-four continued to run single file. This was how they ran for pretty much the entire race (yes, single file), and the race ran caution-free as Davis picked up his first win of the season. The rest of the board was Yardley, Botticello, and Gambacorta.

It was time for the final feature of the night. The Late Model feature was also the craziest race of the night, and in more ways than one. Where to begin? How about at the start of this one, where it was Doug Blowers with an early lead. It was a short lead; particularly one-lap long. On the very next lap, he seemed to spin around the exit of turn two, collecting others as the field seemingly started to stack up behind him -- CAUTION. Drivers involved in this accident included both Dillon Moltz and Ryan Posocco, who (may or may not have) ended up stuffed under the back bumper of the other. Both of them started in the back of the field when the restart came back out. The new leader of the race was Joe Rzeszutek, with Adam Gray following him in second. The two of them ran in order until lap-5 until Tom Butler and another driver spun going into turn three -- CAUTION. This set the field up for a restart, with Gray winning the battle when the green came back out. Rzeszutek was not going to back down so easily, and on lap-15, he powered past Gray to retake the lead. Gray's car started to head into the point of no return, and he fell back numerous spots. He'd eventually end his race by pulling behind the wall. Meanwhile, the battle at the front of the pack was just beginning. There was debris found in turn four on lap-20 -- CAUTION. The restart was the next time a lead change took place. This time, it was Jim Peterson getting by Rzeszutek on the restart, and he began to pull away. It wasn't until five laps later (lap-25) until the next yellow came out for Blowers, who spun again; this time, in the grass on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. Peterson got the lead again on the restart, but this lasted another full lap. On lap-26, things got scary quick. Rzeszutek, Ed Charette, and another car ended up on the frontstretch, with Charette riding the concrete barrier on the outside for a little bit on two tires -- CAUTION. The car managed to land on its tires, but the red flag was quickly brought out because the second ambulance came out onto the track and there was just a little too much debris to clear up. Thankfully, Charette got out of the car under his own power. The yellow replaced the red, and the green replaced the yellow not too long afterward. Peterson still had the lead, now followed by Moltz, Butler, and Posocco... Three drivers involved in early-race incidents. This was the running order for two laps, as debris was spotted on the frontstretch on lap-28 -- CAUTION. And on the next restart? Oh, the next lap ticked off smoothly. It was what happened after that that didn't. Dave Wray and John Kasper got tangled together and came to a rest in the grass in turn three -- CAUTION. They were literally tangled together. It took the track safety team a bit of time to untangle the mess. When they were untangled, it signaled the start of a green-white-checkered finish. It was a great finish. On the restart, Tom Fearn found a way through the traffic in front of him and managed to get around Peterson before they hit the backstretch. Posocco also managed to get by Peterson as well, but Posocco could not catch Fearn as he came to get his second win of the season. Posocco finished second, with Peterson in third and Butler in fourth.

And that's the way it was. Next up on the schedule is the last racing event on the schedule, and that's the Fall Final. You have a large crowd that's going to be in attendance for that: Stafford's five weekly divisions, the Whelen Modified Tour as they run a 150-lap feature, and the Mini Stock invitational event, which brings in cars and drivers from all over New England. It should be a wild weekend. On the schedule for the weekend: Open practice on Friday, qualifying for everyone and features for some on Saturday, and the weekend ends with more features. Should be fun. I hope you stick around and attend. This is all subject to pending weather.