The number of weeks leading up to the July 23rd SK Modified 150 have diminished. It was officially a week away. Before that, Stafford had one last regular program on their hands, featuring the five weekly divisions. Besides action, there was a chance of something else in the air. Rain. By the end of the heats, it was coming. Was it going to hit before the features were up? The race was on… Literally and figuratively.
First up was the SK Lights. It began with Jay Goff powering his way into the lead. He wasn’t alone, as Heather DesRochers joined him and promptly passed him to take over on the same lap - the first. DesRochers began to pull away from the rest of the field. Behind her, Goff and Erica Santos started the battle for second. Santos picked up the spot. Further back in the field, Victoria Bergenty and John Hanafin slowed down a bit after contact down the backstretch. Hanafin seemed to find Frank Cardile, who ended up high in the turn three area of the track. And thus, the first caution came out with only three laps on the board. On the restart, DesRochers pulled back out to the top spot. Santos and Joey Cipriano were also in the mix. It was a three-way fight for the lead. It wasn’t going to last long. One lap after the restart, with four laps down, Tony Santangelo was in the grass in turn two (with a presumed flat tire). David Webb was stuck in turn three. Both cars were stranded and the caution came right back out. Matt Galko came down onto pit road with problems of his own, and he was forced out of the race as he was also involved (slightly) in the latest yellow. The action resumed on the restart, where DesRochers wasn’t done leading the event. Behind her, it was still a fight between Santos and Cipriano. Add Thomas Barrett, Jr, who was running in fourth, and it was officially anyone’s race. Cipriano dropped to the inside lane to challenge DesRochers for the lead. He got it with nine laps down. Barrett found his way into second, and Santos managed to get into third, sending DesRochers into fourth by the halfway point. With six laps left in the race, the two young drivers began to race for the lead. Cipriano chose the outside lane; Barrett chose the inside lane. The inside lane was the better of the two lanes, and with five laps to go, Barrett became the third leader of the race. The last five laps ran smoothly, and Barrett scored his fourth win of the season. Cipriano ended up second, with Santos in third and DesRochers in fourth.
Up next, it was the Late Models. A dragrace down the frontstretch occurred between JJ Hill and Adam Gray. Hill won the fight and became the leader. A mess ensued with most of the field over the course of the first two laps of the race. Michael Bennett pulled away from the bonsai moves and found himself in second. Behind them, the action brewed to a point where Keith Rocco and Corey Hutchings got together on the backstretch and ended up wrecked by turn three. There was no debate; yellow was the way to go. As the green came back out, Hill found his way back to the lead. Ryan Posocco joined him and got around him on the very next lap. Dillon Moltz managed to get into second, punting Hill back into third. As first (Posocco) and second (Moltz) were beginning to pull away from the rest of the field and the chaos, everyone had been fighting for position behind them. Third was highly contested, belonging to Gray at one point and Scott Cook not too long afterward. Things eventually settled down once Cook moved into third, and it was pretty much quiet for a while. The race slowed down with thirteen laps down when the caution came out. It was for debris which came from an incident on the backstretch involving Tom Butler and Woody Pitkat. Even though those involved in the aforementioned incident kept racing, the debris was posing a hazard and it was to be removed as soon as possible. It was removed, and the racing action resumed. Posocco claimed his spot once again. Moltz was again in second, with Cook still in third… For the time being. A change in position changed that, and Bennett now claimed that spot. A bit further back in the field, Gray went around in turns three and four. As he was about to get going again, track officials found his attempt to be too late and threw the caution with ten laps to go. On the restart, things picked up where they left off - Posocco was in the lead. Bennett now found himself in second and had begun to hunt down Posocco. On the last lap, Bennett made a last ditch effort to make a move… Two efforts, really. None of them worked, and Posocco picked up the win. Bennett had to settle for second. Moltz and Jim Peterson finished off the board.
Things became pretty chaotic after that. As the Late Model race progressed, the line of storms that was coming eventually did come. Cloud to ground lightning and strong winds postponed the action, and on and off rain made for long waits in an attempt to dry the track. The coup de grace happened when the power was knocked out. That cancelled any plans of getting the remainder of the program in. The three divisions that didn’t get a chance to run were rescheduled accordingly:
- The DARE Stock race was moved to this upcoming Friday - July 23.
- The Limited Late Model race was moved to next Friday - July 30.
- The SK Modified race was moved to August 13.
All races are tacked on to their respective new weeks for the price of the original night’s program. The extra DARE Stock race is a part of the 7th annual SK Modified 150. It’s the longest event for the SK Modifieds over the course of the 2010 season. And all six races happen weather permitting.
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