Results of October 4 [The Better Late Than Never Edition]

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Doing more things that I shouldn't have been doing lately. Tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you the written results from Fall Final weekend -- it's been two weeks since things wrapped up at Stafford and I fail with time management. And then I'll do what I promised and give you the rest of those championship stories as soon as I post this. Cool? Awesome. Apologies to those of you who were waiting and waiting but never saw the post.)

Well, we've done it. I don't know where the summer months have gone, but this past weekend was the final time this year that Stafford held racing. And it was amazing as usual. It was supposed to be a three-day event, but the rains came on Saturday and completely crammed all of the Fall Final activities into Sunday. That meant that besides the five weekly divisions, you had the Whelen Modified Tour there for their 150-lapper and the debut of the Mini Stocks all at the same time. Mass chaos all over the place, and that means only one thing... The end of the road. Here is the recap of October 4, 2009.

The event that started it all on Sunday was the DARE Stock feature event. What a way to kick things off. The afternoon/evening of racing began with Duane Provost getting the lead early. Drivers running in the top-five included Andrew Hayes in fourth and the Saunders twins (Albert in third and Cliff in fifth). They ran single file until lap-5, when Kyle Casagrande hit the wall in turn two -- CAUTION. The restart was fine, if only for a short bit. Both Provost and Jim Brice ended up in a spin/accident in turns one and two on lap-6 -- CAUTION. Apparently, Provost leaked fluid or blew the motor in his car. Either way, his day was done. This gave Albert Saunders and Hayes the front row for the next restart. It was a restart that Hayes got the jump on. He became the new leader on lap-7. Coming up to second from fifth was Don Wood, who sat back comfortably behind Hayes for a couple of laps. The next yellow came out on lap-12, as Lori-Jo Rzeszutek spun in turn four and didn't get going until way past too late -- CAUTION. A restart with four laps ensued between Hayes and Wood that proved to be all kinds of awesome. Wood claimed the lead on the restart, with Hayes now in second. It seemed as though Wood was going to make it to victory lane as the winner, but Hayes was coming. In the final turns, Hayes went down to the inside and managed to pass Wood, then cleared him just enough to get to the finish line first, giving him his first career win at Stafford. Wood ended up finishing second. Tony Membrino, Jr finished third, with Albert Saunders in fourth.

Second up was the Stafford debut of the Mini Stocks. Cars from four different tracks came for this event. Pretty interesting turn of events in this one. It began with Randy Curchill, Jr with an early lead. His lead lasted a lap, as on lap-2, multiple cars behind him spun in turns three and four -- CAUTION. Most of them did pull away pre-yellow, while others drove away after the fact. It was a quick caution. When the green came back out, there was a new leader in Chris Williams. Williams had the lead in tact for the next four laps. On lap-6, Chad Baxter claimed the lead from Williams. Two laps later, Alan Hall, Jr ended up spinning in turn four -- CAUTION. It was after that when things got a bit crazy. Williams retook the lead on the restart, and Joe Kendall moved up into third. The lead that Williams had brought the race to lap-12, as Baxter took over for the second time in the race. Baxter also brought Kendall with him, putting Williams back into third. Kendall attempted a move around Baxter coming to take the white flag, but ended up spinning into the grass as the two made contact. Kendall did in fact keep moving. But back out front, it was nobody but Baxter. He cruised to the win, with Williams in second, Mark Panaroni in third, and Steve Michalski in fourth.

Closing out the first act (feature-wise) was the SK Light feature. It didn't start off too well. Two laps into the race, Lauren Cooper and Earl Pelletier found the concrete wall in turn one and smacked it hard -- CAUTION. When the green came back out, John Hanafin took the lead from Kyle Spencer. The race was green for a while, giving people like Tommy Membrino, Jr a chance to move through the field. Membrino was up to second by lap-19, when Harry Wheeler spun in turn three -- CAUTION. The restart was nice while it lasted. Shawn Brule spun in turn four and the yellow didn't come out until lap-20 -- CAUTION. So what did this mean? A third attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. Yeah, not so good. On the restart, Hanafin and Membrino got together a slight bit, with the loser of the battle being Hanafin. He went around and collected three other cars. Adam Skowyra ended up slightly on top of Hanafin's car -- CAUTION. The new front row was Membrino and Heather DesRochers. And on the restart, DesRochers got the jump she needed. She took control and went by Membrino. Membrino kept close to her bumper through the final two laps, and nearly got close to passing her for the lead, but it was DesRochers who claimed her second win of the season. Membrino had to settle for second, with John Montesanto and Tony Santangelo finishing the board.

The break from all of the features took place with the Whelen Modified Tour time trials. It was supposed to be 32 cars taking time, but one of the cars had trouble during practice, leading into time trials, and couldn't get two laps in. So 31 cars ended up going out for two laps each. Fast time was set by Donny Lia, who posted a time of 18.579 -- equaling out to 96.884 miles per hour. Results of the redraw and the race itself later.

After time trials, it was time to get down to business once again. SK Modified feature time. Anyone for a little chaos in your Fall Final event? This race had some of that. To start, there was Wade Mattesen getting the early lead. And by early, I mean about a lap's worth of lead. On lap-2, the first lead change of the race occurred as Curt Brainard passed Mattesen for the lead. Following Brainard around Mattesen was Richie Pallai, Jr. But Pallai wanted the lead and was pressuring Brainard for it as soon as the two of them were clear of Mattesen. Jeff Malave and Chris Matthews spun/got into an accident in turn three on lap-5 -- CAUTION. This set up a restart with Brainard and Pallai on the front row, a restart in which Pallai won. Joining Pallai were the three heavy hitters in Keith Rocco, Woody Pitkat, and Ted Christopher. Rocco wasn't going to settle for second, and on lap-10, he became the third leader as he passed Pallai. As for Pallai, his day ended on the very next lap after he met the turn four wall -- CAUTION. Christopher helped Pallai get there and was sent to the back of the field courtesy of a black flag. Back up front, however, it was Rocco who kept the lead on the restart. Now running behind him were Matt Gallo and Doug Coby. Coby wasted little time getting around Gallo for second (neither did Pitkat, sending Gallo back to fourth). And that was how they ran... Until lap-21, when someone dropped fluid down onto the racetrack coming off of pit road. The fluid was all down the backstretch and into turn three -- CAUTION. As soon as all of the fluid was removed from the track surface, it was back to green. And it was Rocco still out in front. Pitkat had found his way into second, and Todd Owen had moved past Coby for third. Josh Sylvester moved up into the top-five. This was how the top-five shaped out at lap-27, when Kirk Zervas spun in turn four -- CAUTION. (Now, apologies for confusing myself after this point.) At some point in time between the previous caution and any later cautions, there was one that occurred in turn four between Josh Sylvester and Christopher. Christopher had been working his way through the field since he was put to the back of the field earlier, and the two of them ended up in the turn four wall -- CAUTION. (Okay, confusion over.) When it was back to green, something happened. For some reason, Rocco didn't get up to speed and he was punted back to third. Pitkat became the new leader of the event, with Coby coming back up into second. Rocco's falter didn't hurt him, and he passed Coby for second on lap-32. On the very next lap, Nicole Morgillo hit the backstretch wall hard -- CAUTION. The red had replaced the yellow and an extra ambulance was needed. After the accident scene was cleared, it was back to green. Pitkat continued to hold the lead, while Coby's luck ran out on lap-35 after he went through the grass on the backstretch and came to a rest in turn three -- CAUTION. Pitkat's good run ended shortly after the restart. Although he took the lead, he began to slow down considerably, giving Rocco the lead while going to pit road at the same time on lap-36. Brit Andersen now found himself in second and Owen moved up to third. While Andersen and Owen fought for position, Rocco pulled away and collected his sixth win of the season. Owen managed to get by Andersen for second, while Gallo finished fourth.

One of two divisions still champion-less going into the final weekend was the Limited Late Model division. The battle was a good one. Andrew Durand only led Dan Flannery by twenty points; ten positions on the track was the difference between Durand winning and losing the championship. That magic number came into play during the race. How? Well, starting at the beginning, you had Joe Nogiec leading the way. He had the lead for a lap before Shawn Thibeault took over as the leader. Behind him followed George Nocera, Jr and Kevin Gambacorta, dropping Nogiec into fourth. With the green still out at the halfway mark, Thibeault was still leading, but with a different look behind him. Second was now Gambacorta. Flannery was sitting in third, with Nocera making up the top-four. This was how they ran when Christopher Harris spun in turn two; lap-14 -- CAUTION. And it was the same order as Jesse Hinze spun while going down the backstretch on the very next lap -- CAUTION. On the restart, the lead changed hands as Flannery moved past Thibeault to claim first, but the lead was short lived as lap-16 had Marc Russell and Michael Chaves wrecked in turns one and two -- CAUTION. The restart had to be done again, and again, it was Flannery to take the lead. Thibeault fell in the second spot. But it was two-laps worth of action before Corky Hinze, Bill Goldrick, and another car ended up in distress coming out of the turn four area -- CAUTION. Durand was assessed a penalty for rough riding and was sent to the back of the pack. The magic number was still ten (or eleven, but that would have meant the points leaders would be tied), and that was how many cars Durand had to pass in order to win the championship. He had a little help on the restart, as Gambacorta, Norm Sears, and Carla Botticello were involved in an accident in turn one -- CAUTION. Other cars were involved in the accident; meaning Durand had picked up a few spots to help out in the championship cause. Meanwhile, back up front, Thibeault retook the lead from Flannery on the ensuing restart. Rob Dow moved into second. Flannery encountered a bit of bad luck as a tire was going down (right rear). He spun in turn four, yet continued to go. The race remained under green-flag conditions. The remaining laps belonged to Thibeault, and he crossed the line to pick up his second win of the season. Dave Yardley, III passed Dow for second, with Nocera finishing the top-four. And the winner of the Limited Late Model track championship was Durand, who finished eighth to Flannery's fourteenth.

It was now time for the main event. The Whelen Modified Tour took to the track for their 150-lap feature. Earlier in the afternoon, at some point in time during either the SK Modified or Limited Late Model feature, the results of the redraw were as follows: The front row was Eric Berndt and Richie Pallai, Jr. Fast time setter Donny Lia was starting fourth. It was not going to be a bad starting position for him. All in all, there were seven different lead changes in the race, between five different drivers. Those drivers were Berndt, Lia, James Civali, Joe Hartmann, back to Civali, back to Lia, Ryan Preece, and then finally, back to Lia. It was a caution-filled race, as there were ten cautions that took up 42-laps of racing time. Oh... And the race went into extra laps. 153 of them, to be exact. As already stated, Lia was the final leader of the race, and held off Doug Coby to claim the win. Preece and Civali finished third and fourth respectively. Between Ted Christopher's bad day (involved in two separate incidents early in the race; lap-17 and lap-25) and Lia's win, Lia is the new points leader going into the final race at Thompson. Preece is second, only 26 points back. Christopher is 109 back, and is a longshot to win the title.

After what was an amazing Tour race, it was time for the Late Model race. It was also the last division to crown a champion. With three drivers still in contention to win the championship, it was anyone's race to win. And lose. So who would come out on top? We begin with Adam Gray taking the lead from Brian Chapin when the race began. This lead lasted all of two laps before Michael Bennett and another driver spun up in turns one and two -- CAUTION. Gray kept the lead on the restart, still with Chapin running in second. The rest of the top-five began to change dramatically, with a championship contender in Jim Peterson now running in fifth. While Gray started to drive away from the rest of the field, Peterson continued to climb up through what little of the field there was in front of him, moving up into third. The lead that Gray had established was erased come lap-14, as Dillon Moltz, another championship contender, spun on the backstretch -- CAUTION. Back to green, and it was still Gray out in front. Peterson was now in second. The third championship contender, Ryan Posocco, had managed to crack the top-five. The next yellow-flag incident came at lap-18, which included Dave Wray, John Kasper, and another car -- CAUTION. After the green came back out again, Gray powered back into the lead. In second was now Posocco, who was looking for the lead. He'd manage to get the lead from Gray on lap-23. Upon taking the lead away, Posocco immediately began to pull away from the field. It was a no contest: Posocco was not going to be caught. It was his fourth win of the year. Tom Butler ended up finishing second, with Tom Fearn in third and JJ Hill in fourth. With a fifth place finish, Peterson became the 2009 Late Model track champion; the third championship of his career.

The absolute last thing on the agenda (and I mean that literally) was the 8-lap Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shootout. There aren't a whole lot of requirements that go into a race like this. All one has to do is win a DARE Stock race in the season, from Spring Sizzler weekend to Fall Final weekend, and they're in. The one true question before this race was: Which driver was going to get bragging rights? Well, things kicked off with Victoria Bergenty taking the lead as the greens came out to start the race. She took off and things seemed fine at first sight with the dozen drivers in the race. But things started to get pretty shaky on lap-2, when Stephanie Berardi and Kyle Casagrande (in a backup car) wrecked coming out of turn two. Berardi spun and Casagrande just seemed to drive right into the side -- CAUTION. When the cleanup finished and the race continued, it was Bergenty back out in the lead. Tony Membrino, Jr moved into second, and the two of them started to pull away from the field. Although it looked like it was going to be a two-car show for the win, in all actuality, it was Bergenty who pulled away (slightly) from Membrino to pick up the win. Membrino finished second, with Robert Thompson and Andrew Hayes finishing off the board.

This is where I usually tell you about what's coming up on Friday and that you must go because it's going to be another great night of racing. But you know something? I can't. The season's over. What a ride. Nothing could cap off the season than the nine things I covered in this. Fun times. Until next year, I wish you well. Stay safe, and enjoy your winter.

Track Champion Stories

I promise that I'll get the results up from Fall Final weekend. Slow week means I tend to forget what I'm doing at times. This is definitely a slow week.

Anyway, if you don't already know, Stafford has their track champion stories up.

+ SK Modifieds: Ted Christopher
+ Late Models: Jim Peterson
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Andrew Durand
+ DARE Stocks: Don Wood

Also up is an article about the CT Rookie of the Year, Joe Allegro, Jr.

This post will be edited in due course when the rest of the articles go up onto the track site.

SK Lights to Debut at World Series

In a couple of weeks, racing at Thompson will end for the year. It will not go out without a bang.

Thompson has included a new division for the now 15-division program (including the Whelen Modified Tour, ISMAs, NEMAs, and the track's own weekly divisions). Cue the SK Lights of the Stafford Motor Speedway.

Or, as Thompson will be calling them, the SK Sunoco Light Modifieds.

The popularity to get the SK Lights to Thompson has been high. According to Don Hoenig, people have asked Thompson if they would accept the SK Lights at the track. This year, they will be making their track debut.

All rules that apply to SMS will be applied (.pdf file) to Thompson. The only difference is that the chip may be changed. Besides that, nothing.

The SK Lights will be running a 20-lap feature on Saturday, October 17.

Called It

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I left the track a bit early today. My exit took place about an hour ago, and I've been home long enough to finally get confirmation.

According to The Chrome Horn (and confirmed all over the racing blogosphere), Stafford was not going to get their Saturday stuff in today.

So a few things are going to happen. First, there will be pre-noon practice Sunday, just like I predicted in another thread about the Fall Final. Second, there will be no pit party. Only the Whelen Modified Tour will be qualifying (how do you line up Mini Stocks that are from all corners of Connecticut?).

See you Sunday. Hopefully with more shine than rain.

Pre-Fall Final Observations

Went to see a little bit of the open practice on Friday. Here's what I learned:

• This is usually the weekend where an influx of non-SMS regulars show up. There were a few, especially in the SK Modifieds. Jeff Pearl (Waterford) was there, as well as Josh Sylvester (related to Zach) among others.
• As far as I know -- and going with MyLaps as guidance -- Brit Andersen was practicing in the SK Modifieds. If you were there, and you saw the #66 SK, then it was Brit. Sponsors on that car are the same as the SK Light. GoToMyPC and Citrix.
• The Mini Stocks may look like they're going exceptionally slow at first, but I promise that once you get 25-30 of them on the track at once, they'll put on a show.

Just a few quick things that you should know about what's coming up this weekend. Or Sunday. Weather doesn't look too good for Saturday. Rain is coming (or here) and it's not going away until late. At least Sunday doesn't look too bad.

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.

Quite a Few Things; All Fall Final Related [FF MEGAPOST]

Whoops. Where has the year gone! I can remember coming on here to post news about the start of the season, and we're already at the end of September. I can't imagine what has happened. Looks like time does fly fast when you're having fun.

I've got a few stories to post for you, so let's do that before I procrastinate any longer than I already have been.

SCHEDULE RELATED
One race to go. One last link to post here (I hope). The schedule for the CARQuest Fall Final (part the 37th) can be found if you either click here or if you go off to the sidebar and look for all of the helpful links in regards to this weekend. There have been rumors of a rain date -- the weekend afterward, October 9-11, with maybe Columbus Day just in case -- but there may or may not be a need for that now since Sunday looks like it's going to clear up. Who knows? We'll find out when Saturday and Sunday get here.

DRIVER ROSTER RELATED
I've posted these with the schedule as well, over on the side in the sidebar. There are two driver rosters you have to be concerned about. They belong to the Whelen Modified Tour, which makes the final of four appearances this year, and the Mini Stocks, which are coming from just about all over the New England region. 41 Mini Stocks are expected to show up, including three guaranteed entries through qualifiers over the summer.

NEWS ARTICLES
A few stories you should brush up on between now and this weekend:

+ Ryan Preece is in third place in points coming into this weekend's event. He's 12 points behind Ted Christopher. A win in this could certainly shake up the championship battle as Thompson still looms over the horizon.
+ The winner of the last two Fall Final events at Stafford (WMT-wise)? Mike Stefanik. He's looking to win his third Fall Final event in a row. Eight of Stefanik's 20 career WMT wins at Stafford have come via way of the Fall Final.
+ Richie Pallai, Jr is hoping two things happen: First, that he wins the SK Modified race (he won the race during Spring Sizzler weekend). Second, he'd really like to start the WMT race. He missed the field last time by .004 seconds.

LATE MODEL NEWS
And to finish things up in a megapost of epic proportions, a quick sidenote that CoCo Key Water Resort will be sponsoring the #51 Late Model, owned by Guy Beaudoin.

VFT1 vlog: SK Modified Points Match

Well, I've decided to do a little something different in discussing what I wanted to discuss. I made a video instead of writing this down.

Hear me talk about the SK Modified points situation going into tonight's event:

Results of September 18

Welcome to the wonderful world of yet another Friday night of racing! Sure, the weather hasn't been real kind to Stafford this season, but at least when it hasn't been around, things do pick up. And action did pick up this past Friday, with five divisions lined up for a night of racing. It was a crazy night, with a few unplesantries exchanged (to be named later in this story), so let's get down to it. Here are the results of the September 18 program.

First up was the Limited Late Model feature event. And the night began with George Nocera, Jr as the early leader. Dave Yardley, III was second and Norm Sears was third. Nocera's lead lasted all of nine laps as the period of yellows came into play. On lap-9, Bill Goldrick and Jeff Hubbell spun in turn two -- CAUTION. Yardley took over as the leader on the restart, but the time he had out front was short-lived. On the very next lap, Greg Butler, Jr hit the backstretch wall -- CAUTION. And then on lap-11, Brian Clement spun in turns three and four -- CAUTION. Again, it was Yardley out in front, but not for long. As he reached the exit of turn two, Yardley spun around and collected a few other cars in a multi-car accident -- CAUTION. Four yellow flags in four laps. Something had to work. Luckily for Sears, who had inherited the lead from Yardley after the last caution, things went a bit smoother than before. Sears kept the lead as the green came back out, but Andrew Durand was on his back bumper. The two of them raced until lap-17 when a two-car accident on the backstretch prompted the yellow to come out -- CAUTION. Sears regained the lead on the restart, Durand was still on his back, and moving into third was Dan Flannery. But it was a two-car race to the end, and when it was all said and done, it was Sears getting his second win of the season. Durand, Flannery, and Nocera finished off the top-four.

Second on the docket were the Late Models. To start, there was a spin by Adam Gray in turn two... But that was only the beginning. John Kasper was in a solo-car accident in turn three; regardless of which incident slowed the field, the first lap of the race wasn't completed before the yellow came out -- CAUTION. When the green came back out, it was Joe Rzeszutek out in front as the leader. Dave Wray sat in line behind him in second. There was no further movement within the top-five cars until lap-9, when Duane Noll spun in turn three. Tom Fearn, who had been running in the top-five at the time, was assessed a drive-thru penalty for both blocking and overaggressive driving. On the restart, it was Wray taking the lead from Rzeszutek. Dillon Moltz was a man on a mission after the green came back out. By lap-10, he was into fourth, and three laps later, he found himself in third. Ryan Posocco followed Moltz in his tire tracks and was ultimately up to fourth. The running order up front remained locked into place until the lap-23 mark, when Moltz and Posocco took advantage. They both made it around Rzeszutek, bringing Jim Peterson along with them. Moltz was then looking for the lead, and on lap-26, he passed Wray for the lead. Wray began to fall back numerous spots through the field as Posocco, Peterson, and others easily ran the inside groove while Wray was stuck on the outside. Moltz, meanwhile, was just too strong to be overtaken, and he cruised to his fifth win of the season. Posocco was second, with Peterson in third and Hill in fourth.

If there was an award for best race of the night, it should go to the SK Lights. Entertaining from beginning to end. It starts with a three-wide battle for the lead on the opening lap. Ted Cain was able to win the battle for the lead and became the leader early on. The yellow flags were very frequent in the first half of the race. On lap-2, Earl Pelletier and John Montesanto became tangled up and wrecked on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. On the very next lap, which was lap-3, Steve Greer and Lauren Cooper ended up in an accident in turn four -- CAUTION. And on lap-5, there was a multi-car accident in turns one and two -- CAUTION. During the stretch of yellow flags, Cain maintained his lead. He was still in the lead on lap-11, when three cars, including that of Brit Andersen, spun on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. Cain once again took the lead on the restart, but he wasn't going to be alone up front for much longer. Tommy Membrino, Jr was coming fast, and the lead finally switched over from Cain to Membrino on lap-17. Membrino did not have an easy task of keeping the lead, especially when Andersen had made it through the field after being in a mid-race incident. Andersen found himself in second and was ready to take over first. There were times where Andersen almost had the lead, but Membrino held him off. It was a close finish, but Membrino edged out Andersen to claim his second win of the season. Michael Gervais, Jr was third, while Heather DesRochers was fourth.

All of the action started during and after the SK Modified feature. The race itself started with Matt Gallo out in front as numerous yellows came out during the first few laps of the race. Lap-2 was the scene for a few incidents, starting with one involving two cars that got together in turn two -- CAUTION. The restart wasn't much better. Actually, it never really picked up, as there were three cars that ended up in various stages of mess on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. When the green came back out, it was Keith Rocco taking advantage and pulling away from Gallo on the restart. Not too long after the lead change, Chris Jones spun in turn four (lap-6) -- CAUTION. Sometime after the green came back out, more positions out front changed in a hurry. Ted Christopher managed to get around Gallo for second and was now hunting down Rocco for first. It was lap-10 when Christopher finally reached Rocco and made the move for the lead. Lap-11 came, and a multi-car accident occured in turn four, including Matt Gallo and others -- CAUTION. This put Christopher and Rocco on the front row, and this was where the fun began. Christopher managed to get the lead back on the restart, with Rocco settling down into second. Behind them, the rest of the front-runners managed to race in a single-file line. Meanwhile, back up to the top-two drivers, and they were still putting on a show. Lap-20 saw the next lead change as Rocco came back by to take the lead away from Christopher. Christopher didn't take this sitting back, and he retook the lead on lap-23. The next lap (lap-24) saw Christopher Jones (son of Chris Jones) spin in turns one and two -- CAUTION. On the restart, Christopher originally took the lead, but Rocco was right there on him and managed to take the lead away on lap-30. Woody Pitkat also came around and got around Christopher for second. Christopher managed to get back around Pitkat on the very next lap. Debris was spotted in turns one and two on lap-34. Not much; just some dirt kicked up onto the racing surface -- CAUTION. This set up a nice little duel between Christopher and Rocco. Christopher got the lead back on lap-35, and it originally looked like he had enough momentum to win the race. But looks can be and were in fact deceiving that night, and when the leaders went into the final turns on the final lap, that was when everything started to unravel. Rocco tapped Christopher, sending Christopher slightly high as Rocco managed to squeak by on the low side of the track. By doing this, he not only gave himself the lead back, but Rocco also managed to pick up his fifth win of the season. After the race, Christopher apparently didn't like the move Rocco put on him in the closing seconds, and retaliated by tapping Rocco's car with his own, and the two wound up in the turn one wall. Christopher finished second, followed by Pitkat in third and Richie Pallai, Jr in fourth.

The DARE Stocks were the ones who closed out the program. Stephanie Berardi began the race on the outside of the front row, but managed to find herself in the lead as the race got underway. Andrew Hayes sat in second. Early on in the event, there were two cars that got together in turns one and two; one of the cars left a piece of sheet metal lying in the grass close to the racing surface. No caution was called, although there were plenty of people who saw the debris just sitting there. The first half of the race ran green, with Jolly moving up and around Hayes for second by lap-9. The second incident of the race occured on lap-13, when Paul Jensen spun in turn two -- CAUTION. The debris was cleared up during this yellow flag and Jensen was able to pull away from the scene of the spin. When the race resumed, it was still Berardi out in front. Jolly was behind her all the way, but wasn't able to find a way up and around Berardi for the lead. The final laps of the race also ran green, and it was Berardi taking her first career DARE Stock race. Jolly ended up in second and Hayes managed to finish third. Tony Membrino, Jr finished fourth.

So... Wow. What a night. And that's just another week at the half-mile. We'll be back with another exciting night of racing this upcoming Friday night, when it will be the last Friday night of racing for the season. Five divisions, and plenty of action is on tap. If the last program was any indication of what will happen this Friday night, you don't want to miss this. All of this happens weather permitting.

Schedule for September 25

Hi. We're one week away from the Fall Final! Or a little more than a week. Either way, there's just one more event that stands between the last Friday night show of the season and the final event of the season.

Now what could go wrong there? Don't know; would like to find out live for myself.

Which is why I'm presenting the schedule for the September 25 program. Five divisions; still some great battles for championships, and controversy peeking behind its own little shadow. I'm pretty sure the last one is just there to get you ready, but after the last Friday night at the races, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some hint of it going around.

This all happens weather permitting. Because I just can't stress that enough.

Consequences Laid Down After SK Modified Race

It was a crazier than usual end to Friday night's SK Modified race at Stafford. And I mentioned that I wasn't going to be surprised to see penalties handed out after it. Monday afternoon, it was official -- penalties were in fact handed out.

And it will be a quieter night at SMS when the SKs take to the track.

As the Hartford Courant states, both Ted Christopher and Keith Rocco were suspended one event each. Both drivers were fined. Christopher lost ten points in the process. You should see this up on the track's site at some point in time Tuesday.

This doesn't mean that he can't win the championship, either. Stay tuned later this week as I explain just what can still happen even though Christopher's not racing.

A Few Unpleasantries and Debris Isn't a Problem?

Two things I want to tackle that were pretty much a cause for conversation on September 18.

First, let's get right down to it. Not a pretty sight at the tail end of the SK Modified race. Keith Rocco passes Ted Christopher in the final corners of the event, and Christopher doesn't seem to like what he just went through. To make it up, a little pushing ensues after the checkered flag between Christopher and Rocco. Two wind up in turn one. Rocco pulls away doing donuts and just making things look ten times worse than what they probably already were. Rocco pulls into victory lane still doing all of the celebration stuff (probably will be fined and/or losing points in the process). Both he and Woody Pitkat (third place) end up talking about Christopher. Not very nice things to say there. I wouldn't be surprised to see penalties for Christopher, Rocco, or both. I will be surprised to see nothing come out of it.

Second, take a good look at the picture here to the left. This is a picture taken by me during the DARE Stock race. On the first lap, there was a two-car spin that resulted in the piece of debris that you see in this photo resting in the grass right next to the track. Now, there were two cautions for dirt getting kicked up onto the racing surface. And that's going to get called over a piece of sheet metal in the grass next to the track? It didn't get picked up until the first and only caution of the event came out many laps later. I know I wasn't the only one who saw this sitting there. Some of the officials saw it. And nothing was done about it. I wouldn't want to have been the first guy (or girl) to run over this thing if I happened to have been sliding through the grassy part of turn one. It would have done some good damage to anyone's car.

Sorry about the rants. Just had this stuff run over from what I was going to write in this week's recap -- which will be up around Wednesday.

Schedule for September 18

Let's try this again. There are only two weeks left before the Fall Final next month.

There's five divisions on tap for this upcoming Friday night, which is September 18. The schedule can be found at the usual place, which you will go to if you click the link.

Some great points battles are still going. Will there be major shakeups in the races for the championships? Stay tuned.

Make it Rain

How about it stops raining? No? Darn. Well, once again, it's raining on a Friday afternoon. And that means that something's got to give. Stafford isn't racing tonight on a count of the rain and it doesn't look like it's going to stop for a while.

So the next time we can meet is next week, which is September 18. That was the week added onto the schedule back a few weeks ago because of all the August showers that had come. Speaking of added weeks, there's another week that was added to the schedule. Let's run on September 25. That means there's still two weeks of racing before the Fall Final, and as we all found out so far this season, anything can happen between now and the first weekend of October.

The rain is kicking our butts. Let's try again next week, weather permitting. Okay?

Entries for Fall Final WMT Race In

You know that the Fall Final is coming when the entry list for the Whelen Modified Tour race is up with a few entries. And with nine entries already in, the entry list for the aforementioned race is taking shape.

Keep checking the link in the sidebar as it's updated, or you can click the link above.

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.

Schedule for September 11

Only two more Friday night events between now and the Fall Final. This upcoming Friday night is one of them. I've got the schedule for the September 11 program, which may or may not include a pre-race memorial to the fallen from eight years ago.

Late Model Disqualification

Why Stafford didn't announce this earlier is anyone's guess. But there was a disqualification from the August 14 program (the last event that was run before the rainfest).

This was official for a little under three weeks.

Ryan Posocco was disqualified because the tires that were on the car that night were found to be "chemically altered".

Now, I don't know if track officials found out three weeks ago or recently, but either way, this is something I've never heard of before. In the nine and a half years I've been going to Stafford, I have never heard of anyone chemically altering their tires. I don't know how that benefits a driver.

But alas, this hurts Posocco in the points race. He dropped from first to third in the standings, now 28 points back on leader Jim Peterson. Posocco's also placed on probation until the end of the year and is suspended until he pays a $200 fine.

Thursday News and Rumors

A few things on the docket on this beautiful Thursday afternoon.

+ We're trying to run the second of two Late Model 100s on Friday. The schedule's been up for a while now. The Late Models will close out the program. If you have a rain check from either the August 21 or August 28 program, feel free to use it.

+ According to the NASCAR Home Track's Twitter page, the new age limit for support and entry-level divisions at Whelen All-American Series tracks is 14. Will 2010 be the Year of the Youth Movement at Stafford? Only time will tell before we know for sure.

+ Finally, from the "rumor mill" files: Heard that Stafford is in the process of adding more races to the schedule. They'll be pushing back the Fall Final to Halloween weekend if that happens. If that happens, I've got two words for you. Bundle up.

Major Modified Changes

Starting Friday (or whenever it doesn't rain next), there's going to be a face missing and a face returning. And more faces in new places as the end of the season approaches as well.

Jimmy Blewett is out of the TS Haulers SK Modified and Whelen Modified Tour rides, per the Courant's racing blog. The question is, who's getting behind the wheel? The answer: Not just one driver, but two. Keith Rocco will be taking over in the Tour ride, starting Thursday at Thompson. Ron Silk, who was recently removed from his Tour ride, will be driving the SK at Thompson and Stafford.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

I know, more rain-related lyrics. How fun.

But seriously, this was supposed to be a regular week with fireworks. Thanks to the hurricane that's coming, however, we're not getting it in. Here's another week where you get to hang back at home and wait out the rain until next Friday night.

That week should be interesting. The second of the Late Model 100s. Can't wait.

It happens with the usual "weather pending" disclaimer tagged to it.

EDIT: It seems as though we're not getting two weeks off next month. Stafford has added another date to their calendar. We're now going racing on September 18, weather permitting. That still means there's a week off inbetween the final Friday night and the Fall Final.

It's Raining Again

Your weather report doesn't look too good for tonight. It's colder than usual for late August (63 degrees? Really?), and the rain's starting to fall. And there's more rain on the way.

Who wants to bet that someone's going to pull the plug on this event in a few minutes?

Imagine This...

While there's no news to report about this week, why not think about this for a minute...

Waterford Speedbowl fans, drivers, and crew members have been talking about the Mini Stock 15-lap race that will run during Stafford's Fall Final weekend. Some of the posts have been about drivers confirming that they will be racing in the event, but some of the posters are talking about how this is all for hyping up.

Is this a sign that there's going to be a Mini Stock division at Stafford in 2010?

An idea from the thread linked is that Stafford could rotate between the DARE Stocks and Mini Stocks every other week. Or they'd have the DARE Stocks and Mini Stocks there at the same time, but not have them qualify.

(And then what about when the Tour's there on a Friday? Drop a division for ha-has? Or really cut it close with a seven-division show? Oh, how interesting that would be.)

Could six divisions get heats and features in before the curfew? They could, but only if they just start about a half hour or an hour earlier. But let's not talk about it until the race is over.

Schedule for August 28

As of today, there's only three races remaining until the Fall Final. This upcoming Friday, it's going to be a regular week on the track, with fireworks on and off of it. The schedule for August 28 calls for fireworks after dark. Should be a fun night. It's weather permitting. Maybe it can be a better night this week than what it was only a few days ago?

Oh, yes. Before I forget: Friday night should also be a qualifier for the North-South Shootout. The SK Modifieds will be racing for an automatic trip to North Carolina.

I Love a Rainy Night

Well, not really. But alas, it had to happen eventually. Friday's program, including the second of two Late Model 100s? Rained out.

The big question is now... When are they going to run this extra-distance race? The answer is... Two weeks from now, on September 4. Next Friday night, weather permitting, is a regular night at the track. So that's when everyone shall congregate.

We'll try this again in seven days.

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.

Schedule for August 21

This upcoming Friday night should be interesting. It's the second of two Late Model 100s that will be run this season. Can Dillon Moltz make it four straight extra-distance races in the division? Stay tuned to find out. And read the schedule daily to see what the order of the features will be that night. Weather permitting.

Results of August 7

Another week, and another busy night at Stafford. After yet another rainout, the first Friday night in August brought us the Town Fair Tire 150 for the Whelen Modified Tour. The track's five weekly divisions were on hand per usual, and there were time trials for the Tour. So what happened? Here come the results of August 7.

The first thing on the to-do list was time trials for the Whelen Modified Tour. A grand total of 32 cars were on hand to take time for the 150-lap main event that took place later that night (all of that to be described in further detail later on). Fast time changed four different times throughout everyone's two laps, but the fastest time came with the 27th car that took to the track; that being the car of Eric Berndt. His fast time was 18.446 seconds, translated to 97.582 miles an hour, was enough to give him his first career Whelen Modified Tour pole. Later that night, the top-six fastest qualifiers redrew, putting Ted Christopher next to Rowan Pennink on the front row. (Again, more on that later on.)

After time trials, it was time to get the features going.

First feature to go off on the evening belonged to the DARE Stocks. They came into Friday with a two-race caution free streak going for them. Could they possibly make it three in a row? It started off with a nice little duel at the front of the field between Melissa Blowers and Kyle Nosal. Nosal pulled out in front and led the first lap, but Blowers came back strong and made a pass for the lead to take it on lap-2. Her lead was short lived as well, as a new leader in Victoria Bergenty emerged on lap-3. Nosal passed Blowers again and moved up to second, while Blowers started to fall backwards through the field down to outside of the top-5. As that was going on, Bergenty and Nosal had started to pull away from the field and it suddenly started to become a two-car race to the finish. A slight mishap occurred as they took the white flag, however. A lapped car stood inbetween the leaders, prompting the two drivers to make a decision. Nosal went down to the inside groove while Bergenty went up to the outside groove. Going into the first turn, Nosal moved up the track unexpectedly, giving both Todd LaPorta and Don Wood room to make a move around him for second and third respectively. The turn of events gave Bergenty more than enough of a gap between her and LaPorta in second to take down her first career win at Stafford. LaPorta finished second, with Wood in third and Nosal in fourth.

Action then moved to the Late Models, which meant that that pit crews were needed for this one. And they were definitely needed, because the race didn't start exactly the way anyone would have wanted it to start. On the opening lap, Alan Provost went around on the backstretch, either nearly tagging or tagging the backstretch wall and coming to a stop shortly after the spin -- CAUTION. His car had to get hooked and pulled off the track, meaning his night was over before the first lap was over. When the race resumed to green, it was Mark St. Hilaire pulling out in front in front of JJ Hill. It only took four laps before Hill passed Hilaire for the lead on lap-5. Joe Rzeszutek and St. Hilaire followed Hill in second and third until lap-8, when Mike Mordino spun on the backstretch to bring out the yellow -- CAUTION. The restart saw a change in leadership as Rzeszutek cleared Hill as the green came back out. Hill was locked in a battle with Brian Chapin for second, which Hill won. Chapin started to fall back through the field, as multiple cars including Michael Bennett easily passed him. This would be the order on lap-15, when Ed Gertsch, Jr spun on the backstretch -- CAUTION. This set up a restart that was worth something, as the guy who crossed the line in first the next time by won $100, courtesy of Town Fair Tire. Hill took advantage on the restart, passing Rzeszutek to retake the lead. Aside from making the move for the lead, Hill became the leader at the halfway point and picked up the bonus money. Two laps later, on lap-17, a part of Mordino's car ended up in turn two (from what I believe is a wreck) and clearly in the way of any incoming traffic -- CAUTION. The debris is picked up, and green is seen not too long afterward. Hill retook the lead, but he had a couple of challenges behind him in the forms of Tom Butler and Jim Peterson, who came through the field, picking off other cars one by one. All three ran close together up until lap-23, when Peterson made a move to send the top-3 three-wide, with the loser of the battle being Butler as he spun coming out of turn four -- CAUTION. That set up a restart between Peterson and Hill, which Peterson won as he pulled into the lead in front of Hill, who dropped back in line in second. Bennett ran in third, but all of this only lasted a lap as Doug Blowers, Jr spun in turns three and four on lap-25 -- CAUTION. Peterson took command on the restart, with Bennett now running in second. Dillon Moltz and Woody Pitkat found themselves running in the top-five, with Hill falling back a little and in fifth. Moltz was not done moving up through the field, and passed Bennett for second; Pitkat and Hill followed Bennett fell back to fifth. On lap-28, Walt Wosko, Jr spun in turn four and therefore brought out another -- CAUTION. It set up two laps to the checkered flag, and it also set up Peterson once again getting the jump on second place (still Moltz). But a sole lap ticked off the board before trouble deeper in the field happened. Also on the restart, a car got loose and went through the infield, only to save the car. But there was a problem... The car got together with Scott Cook, who eventually was taken out by the backstretch wall -- CAUTION. From two laps to the checkers to a green-white-checker finish. It had all the ingredients of a good time. And it sure did live up to people's expectations. Peterson still sat out front, with Pitkat and Hill finding a way around Moltz for second and third. And that was how they finished. Peterson picked up his second win of the season, with Pitkat in second, Hill in third, and Moltz in fourth.

After a chaotic Late Model feature, the SK Lights were next. And they didn't have that bad of a feature. David Webb started out with the lead early, and it was really a test to see if he would keep the lead. It was smooth sailing for the first four laps of the race, sure, but when the multi-car spin/accident on the frontstretch near turn one came out on lap-5 -- CAUTION. It set the field up for the first restart of the feature. Webb took command of the race again when the green came back out. Shawn Brule settled into second behind him, but the one who was coming through the field was Brit Andersen, restarting the race in tenth. He was up to fifth by lap-9, and by lap-14, Andersen was in fourth. On each lap, Andersen moved closer to the front by securing the spot ahead of him, which meant that on lap-15, Andersen moved into third, and on lap-16, he was in second. Andersen began to close the gap between he and Webb, who was holding a commanding lead until his lead started to shrink. But the gap between the two was too much for Andersen, and even though he had made it close, it was Webb to pick up his first career SK Light feature win. Andersen finished second, with Earl Pelletier and Brule rounding out the board.

The pit crews came back out to the track; this time, it was for the SK Modified feature. Could they top the SK 150 that ran only two weeks ago? It sure looked as exciting. Matt Gallo became the early leader of the event, with Tom Bolles in second and close behind him. How close? Stalker close. Bolles kept Gallo close through the first three laps, but the closeness had to be put aside for a moment as there was a multi-car incident took place in turns three and four on lap-4; a combination of spin and accident -- CAUTION. The restart was between Gallo and Bolles, and this time, Bolles found a way to get around Gallo for the lead. Lap-6 was the scene for yet more trouble, when Chris Matthews had problems and couldn't get off the track and into safer pastures. He tried to pull behind the wall in turn two and wasn't able to get the car safely behind the wall -- CAUTION. After Matthews was pushed to someplace safe behind the wall, the race went back to green. And it was still Bolles out front. Three laps after the green came back out, a new leader emerged in Zach Sylvester, as he passed Bolles for the lead on lap-9. All seemed peaceful, but there was lap-11, and it seemed as though no matter what happened, nothing could go right. The first incident on the lap was due in part to four cars in an accident in turn one, including Gallo and Sean Foster -- CAUTION. They got the racing surface cleaned up and went back to green, but not without something going on to slow the pace of the event down. This time, it was Kurt Lenahan and Joe Allegro, Jr in an accident in turn three -- CAUTION. Another restart ensued, again, with Sylvester getting out in front. His tenure out in front was over on lap-15, however, when Jeff Malave passed him for the lead. Malave wasn't alone to make a pass around Sylvester. Frank Ruocco moved into second. On lap-17, after a spin involving a car that had spun in turn two (car unidentified), dirt was kicked up onto the track, prompting the track to call it debris -- CAUTION. After this yellow, things picked up immensely. Although Malave gained control on the restart, life in the lead wasn't easy. Ruocco was all over him at times, trying to pass on the inside numerous times. A tremendous battle between the two lasted a good eleven laps until lap-28, when Ruocco finally found a way to get around Malave. But even so, nobody could count Malave out. He kept close to Ruocco, nearly taking the lead back himself, but he couldn't find a way to do so. Malave continued to keep close, but Ruocco managed to hold him off to pick up his second straight win of the season. Malave came in to finish second, followed by Sylvester in third and Richie Pallai, Jr in fourth.

The last of the weekly divisions to go out was the Limited Late Models. And this race started out with a problem. It was Norm Sears hitting the turn one wall hard, in a situation almost like, if not exactly like, what had happened during Spring Sizzler weekend -- CAUTION. After everything was cleaned up, it was back to green. And it was Bill Davis taking the lead once the green came out. Davis remained in the lead for the first four laps of the race until Kevin Gambacorta took over with a pass. Dan Flannery found his way into second, and Shawn Thibeault moved into third. Lap-9 provided a spin in turn one from Paul Varricchio, Jr -- CAUTION. It was not going to be the end of Varricchio's night. The restart had Gambacorta still out in front, now with Thibeault in second and Andrew Durand settling down in third. That was the order at the lap-14 mark, as Varricchio and George Nocera, Jr got into a little accident on the backstretch. Things got a little heated on pit road after the two of them nearly got into it after the accident, but they were separated before anything got out of hand and the race went back to green with Gambacorta and Thibeault on the front row. Thibeault was hungry to get the lead from Gambacorta, and was successful on lap-17, but the leaders touched and both went around in turn one -- CAUTION. Gambacorta received a rough riding penalty because of it (although he was already in the back for the restart). The caution put Flannery and Davis on the front row as the leaders. Flannery jumped out in front on the restart, and pulled away from Davis over the course of the last two laps of the race to pick up his first career Limited Late Model win. Davis finished second, with Jesse Hinze in third and Dave Yardley, III in fourth.

Finally, it was time for the Town Fair Tire 150 for the Whelen Modified Tour. As previously mentioned, the top-six drivers redrew for new positions, giving the front row to Ted Christopher and Rowan Pennink. And out of the two of them, it was Christopher who found his way in front of Pennink to take the early lead. But the race would be slowed down early (less than a lap into the event) when Bobby Grigas, III just came to a stop in the grass on the backstretch, near the scoreboard, after something went wrong -- CAUTION. Six laps ticked off the board before the green came back out, and when it did, Christopher went back out in front. Ryan Preece jumped into second, pushing Pennink back to third. During the green flag run, Preece made at least one attempt to pass Christopher for the lead with no success. The green flag run ended on lap-60 as Reggie Ruggiero spun on the backstretch -- CAUTION. Many cars decided to pit during this yellow, half of the field went down; Christopher was not one of the drivers who pitted. Alongside of Christopher for the restart was Todd Szegedy. Christopher pulled past Szegedy for the lead on said restart and proceeded to take charge of the field again. On lap-87, a four-car spin in turns three and four prompted the officials to bring out the yellow again -- CAUTION. Cars involved included Renee Dupris and Kevin Goodale. Again, a good number of cars made the trip down pit road, and when everything was settled, the front row was Christopher and Preece. The green flag came out on lap-93, but after a three-car accident in turn one occured on lap-94 -- CAUTION. Christopher was still the leader and Preece was still in second. Another restart occurred on lap-99, and as Preece was able to take the lead from Christopher on the restart, Doug Coby hit the wall hard on the backstretch -- CAUTION. They reverted back to the last completed lap, which meant the last completed lap was one under caution, giving Christopher the lead again. The race went to a red flag situation on lap-100 to clean up the Coby accident. When the race went back to green, it was on lap-104. Preece and Christopher fought for the lead, even going as far as exchanging the lead back and forth a few times before they got back to the starter's stand. Preece was declared the leader of the lap. Christopher didn't give up and attempted to regain the lead from Preece, but Preece slowly began to stretch out the lead. The rest of the race was run caution-free, and in the end, Preece claimed his second straight win of the season. Christopher finished in second, followed by Chris Pasteryak and Eric Beers.

And that was how the wild night of August 7 ended. Friday night, weather permitting, it will be back to five divisions and not as much chaos as Stafford runs a normal Friday night program.

Schedule for August 14

And the beat goes on. Friday night is a regular week at the track, and the schedule is up for those who wish to see it. There's no feature order as of yet, but that should change by the time tomorrow or Thursday rolls around.

NSS Qualifiers Coming Up

One more piece of news for you in regards to Friday's Whelen Modified Tour race at Stafford for you before I stop writing stuff for the week.

The Whelen Modified Tour race will be a qualifying race for the North-South Shootout, which is to be held in November at Concord Motorsports Park in North Carolina. The winner of the Town Fair Tire 150 will get an automatic spot in the Tour-type Modified race (125 laps). The link says that the car owner will get the spot.

But the qualifying races at Stafford will not end there. August 28 will also be a qualifying race for the NSS, but this time, the winner of the SK Modified feature will get an spot in the SK-type Modified race (50 laps).

This month'll be crazy. Business will begin to pick up.

Points Races are Tight

All six races to be held on Friday are going to mean something in the point standings. How tight are these races? Let us count the ways. Top drivers in each division coming into the Town Fair Tire 150, with distance back from leader.

Whelen Modified Tour: Todd Szegedy, Ted Christopher (-22), Ryan Preece (-59)
SK Modifieds: Ted Christopher, Jeff Malave (-34), Keith Rocco (-86)
Late Models: Ryan Posocco, Jim Peterson (-22), Dillon Moltz (-44)
Limited Late Models: Andrew Durand, Carla Botticello (-30), Dan Flannery (-48)
SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr, Erica Santos (-46), Ted Cain (-50)
DARE Stocks: Cliff Saunders and Kyle Casagrande (tied), Don Wood (-6), Jeff Jolly and Bill Dunn (tied; -10)

Should be interesting to see what happens Friday night.

Invasion of the Mini Stocks

In the eight full years I have been going to Stafford on a regular basis (I'm not counting 2000, when I started to go in the middle of the season, nor this season because it's not over as of yet), I have never seen a Mini Stock division race at the track. The closest I've gotten to seeing them is at Thompson and Waterford, as they have a regular division.

At the Fall Final this year, Stafford is allowing Mini Stocks from the other two Connecticut tracks, plus out of state tracks, to race in a 15-lap feature. It'll be an invitational-like process, where there will be qualifying races in the weeks leading up to the event (the winner of the August 8 race at Monadnock will get an automatic invite to the show), and other drivers can register through August and September. After September 28, there's an inspection fee of $20. Anyone who registers before that time pays no fee.

Since Stafford doesn't have their own Mini Stock division, teams will have to follow their home track's rules.

Registration forms are found on the home page of Stafford's site.

EDIT: As of August 6, there is now an entry list up on the track's site with a short but available list of drivers entered for this race.

Town Fair Tire 150 News [Part Deux]

Here is part two of the Town Fair Tire 150 news. We'll start with a trifecta's worth of stories from the SMS site.

+ Todd Szegedy, who has been consistent all season long, is the points leader coming into Friday night's race. He hasn't finished outside of the top-10 since last season.
+ Mike Stefanik owns Stafford. The proof is in the record books.
+ Ryan Preece (the winner of the most recent WMT race at Riverhead) finally got to celebrate in victory lane. His first victory came in the '08 Martinsville race, where he finished second and wasn't officially declared the winner until a few days after the event, as another driver had been disqualified.

And for those of you who are wondering, I wouldn't come without posting the notebook that was also seen up on the site.

Program Cancelled

Boy, they know how to make an entrance. Text message confirms cancellation. What does that mean? No racing. Sit back. Do what you want to do tonight.

And we'll meet back up next week, when the Whelen Modified Tour comes back for their third of four races (all information in an earlier post). Until then, stay safe and dry, and I will find time to talk to you later.

Weather Update

Well, tonight's Friday night, all seems clear... Uh, oh. I woke up to rain falling? Well, that's not good. Let's check the site here...

Program on hold. Update in about four minutes. (Now three.) I'll keep my browser on the SMS site until then.

Results of July 24

Oh, what a night. Friday night was one of those nights where you had to be at Stafford at all costs. And the reason was... The sixth annual SK Modified 150. You may have taken a trip down memory lane before this event, looking back at past 150s. Like the events of the past, this one had all the makings of a memorable night. So what exactly happened? Here are the events of July 24, 2009.

This memorable night started off with the Limited Late Models. And that race started with Bill Davis with the lead for the first two laps. That was until Norm Sears decided to take over. Behind Sears was Kevin Gambacorta, but unfortunately, it wasn't for long. There were six laps completed when Gambacorta spun. Thankfully, he'd get the car going again. Michael Wray wouldn't get his car straight in time on lap-7, when he went around in turn two -- CAUTION. Back to green, and it was Sears still out in front. Dave Yardley, III and Andrew Durand were now sitting pretty behind him. They ran like that for a couple of laps until Durand had enough of riding in third and passed Yardley for second. Not only did Durand make a pass for second, he was also looking for the lead. He had caught up to Sears and was now within striking distance of Sears until lap-16, when a car went around in turns one and two -- CAUTION. This set up another restart, which belonged to either Sears or Durand. Take your pick. Yet it was Sears with the advantage. All of the pieces seemed to fit into place until Carla Botticello found her way into the picture, albeit not in the way she expected to step in it was she spun in turn four on the white flag lap -- CAUTION. You know what this set up? You guessed it. One of those lovely green white checker finishes. On the green flag, it was Sears putting himself back out in front. The last two laps proved to be the most memorable two laps of his life. He ended up picking up his first career Limited Late Model victory. Durand wound up in second with Shawn Thibeault and Dan Flannery following them into the top-four.

After those guys, what could happen next? Oh, the SK Lights and their feature. It all started with Kyle Spencer with the lead. On the move in the first seven laps of the race was Brit Andersen, but on lap-8, the only moving he did was to the back of the field after he spun on the backstretch -- CAUTION. A quick one, as he was able to get going and rejoin the field. Back up front, there was a restart, and it was Spencer back out front. Tommy Membrino, Jr and John Montesanto followed along for the ride in second and third respectively. This was how they ran up until lap-12, when Jay Goff and Harry Wheeler ended up in a frontstretch accident -- CAUTION. Cleanup was somewhat extensive, but the race went back to green with Spencer still out in front. This was only going to last for a lap, as on lap-13, Shawn Brule ended up spinning on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. Again, the race ended up getting back to green, and again, it was Spencer getting the lead. But again, they'd only get one lap in before multiple cars spun in turn one -- CAUTION. Could they have some inkling of luck when they went back to green? One word answer: Yes. It was Spencer back out front, but his reign out front was ending very shortly... It was lap-15 when the first lead change of the race took place, as Montesanto took over for Spencer. You know who else was coming? Andersen, recovering from his early-race spin. On lap-16, he passed Spencer for second, and was now all over Montesanto for the lead. He'd finally make the move on lap-19 and led the rest of the way to pick up his fourth win of the year. Montesanto had to settle for second. Spencer finished third, and Michael Gervais, Jr finished fourth.

The DARE Stocks were up next. After last week's caution-free feature, the least they could do is repeat. Did they get the job done? The race got underway with Andrew Hayes leading the way early, but all is and was not ultimately easy. Bill Dunn was coming, and fast. By lap-3, Dunn had caught up to Hayes and attempted a pass, but it wasn't meant to be. Hayes had control of the lead. As the laps ticked by, there wasn't much going with the top few cars, but business was about to pick up. Albert Saunders had been in third for much of the race, but he had passed Dunn for second and was looking for first. On lap-14, Saunders made the pass around Hayes for the lead. While Hayes started to move backwards through the field, the last two laps belonged to Saunders, as he became the first multi-race winner in the DARE Stock division this season. Dunn was second, with Tony Membrino, Jr and Don Wood finishing off the board. Back to back caution-free features for the DARE Stocks. I tell you, they get the job done without all of that messy stuff going on.

The "assistance of the pit crew" portion of the program kicked off with the Late Model feature. Again, it was a very interesting feature. Out front early was Adam Gray, but in second was Michael Bennett, and he wasn't going to back down without a fight. He challenged Gray for the lead and was successful in passing him on lap-6. He began to stretch himself out from the rest of the field. While that was happening, Gray was slipping backwards, as numerous drivers passed him (including JJ Hill, Ryan Posocco, and Dillon Moltz). Posocco and Hill would fight for position among the top-five cars until lap-16, when they touched and ended up spinning in turn one -- CAUTION. Bennett found himself on the front row with Moltz on the restart, which originally favored Bennett as he moved back into the lead. But only three laps later, on lap-19, Moltz made the pass for the lead. Bennett suddenly found himself in second. On lap-21, you had two cars getting in an accident in turn one. That didn't work out well -- CAUTION. This set up a restart, which belonged to Moltz. Second would now belong to Jim Peterson, who got around Bennett for the position. Everything seemed pretty normal. That was the case until lap-28, when Tony Lafo hit the wall in turn one and proceeded to stop somewhere along the backstretch -- CAUTION. This set up a two-lap fight for the victory. And those two laps belonged to Moltz. It wasn't one of those wins where a driver just pulls away from the rest of the field, but it was a win. And it was his fourth win of the season. The rest of the board was Peterson, Bennett, and Woody Pitkat.

Closing out the night was a race that, in past years, drivers would call exciting. It was time for the SK Modified 150. It was truly a "hold onto your seat" kind of race. Let's get right to it. Matt Gallo assumed the leader position early, but it was safe to say that there were other people coming. And fast. Who was coming? For starters, there was Frank Ruocco, who was coming from the tenth starting spot. At lap-20, he had put himself into second, and on the very next lap, found a way around Gallo for the lead. With the new leader came more quick cars making their way to the front of the field. Another car that was making a charge that of Eric Berndt. Berndt would find himself in third with a third of the race in the record books. Gallo's good night started to take a sharp decline on lap-57, when he spun in turn four -- CAUTION. It set up the first restart of the race three laps later. (If you don't know, caution laps in this race counted. So each restart was literally a crucial one.) And this was also where Berndt made the move for second. But it was still Ruocco out front. The two of them would begin to put on a pretty entertaining battle for the lead. Berndt tried both grooves, with little success. Also around this point in the race, a third driver had been coming towards the front of the field. Cue Todd Owen. On the first restart of the race, Owen had been sitting in fifth. He'd have to wait a little bit, however, because on lap-71, Willie Hardie was in a solo-car incident in turns three and four -- CAUTION. Another restart was on our hands, and Berndt provided another challenge for Ruocco, which Ruocco had won. In the next nine laps, the top-three cars were now Ruocco, Berndt, and Owen. This would be your running order until lap-93, as Mark Bakaj spun in turn two -- CAUTION. The caution ran for six solid laps. A restart presented itself just shy of the 100-lap mark. And on the restart, Owen would take over second, putting Berndt back to third. Now it was Owen who was starting to challenge Ruocco for the lead. Yet even with Owen now behind him, Ruocco was just too good. The next time the field saw the yellow, it was lap-108, and it was for Kenny Horton, who had spun in the grassy part of the frontstretch -- CAUTION. The green came back out on lap-111, with Ruocco still holding off the challenge of those behind him, but a single lap ticked off the board when Gallo spun again, this time in turn two -- CAUTION. Another three laps had passed for the caution period, and on lap-115, the race was back to green. Berndt had reclaimed second from Owen, and had resumed the fight to take the front spot from Ruocco. Again, Ruocco was proving to be too much and slightly pulled away. Not by much. Lap-125 saw Keith Rocco, who was in the top-10 at the time, seemingly blow up going into turn one -- CAUTION. Was there liquid? Would there have to be speedy dry thrown onto the track? No, there wasn't liquid, and that's the reason why the race went back to green three laps later. On the restart, Owen took second away from Berndt, yet Owen was not able to make any sort of move around Ruocco for the lead. This was the running order at the lap-132 mark, when three cars got together in turn one (including Ted Christopher and Doug Coby) -- CAUTION. It wasn't a long yellow; only lasted for three laps as all the cars involved were able to drive away. And the green came back out with Ruocco still out front, and still being challenged. Berndt's good run would end on lap-138 when he spun coming off of turn two -- CAUTION. The restart took place on lap-140, meaning it was going to be a dash for ten laps. And wouldn't you know it... Another challenge from Owen on the restart. And again, Ruocco held off Owen. The final ten laps ran down under green flag conditions, and when it was all said and done, it was Ruocco holding off Owen to pick up his first win of the season and second SK Modified 150. Owen finished second, with Tom Bolles unofficially finishing third and Woody Pitkat in fourth. (In technical inspection, Bolles was weighed and the car was found to exceed the maximum weight percentage on the left side. Therefore, he was disqualified.)

A pretty interesting evening that closed before all of the unpleasant weather rolled around. Just in time, too -- SKs were in the middle of tech by the time the rain arrived.

Next Friday night isn't just the last night of July. It'll also be another five-division show for you. No special additives. I promise. All of this is weather permitting.

A Little Bit of Trivia

Still working on the weekly recap (I'm almost done, so it'll be up at some point in time on Wednesday), but I'm here with some trivia for you. Call it whatever you'd like. I call it interesting.

This year, when Frank Ruocco made the pass for the lead (and ultimately for the win) in the SK 150, he made the pass on lap-21. Looking back through the 150s of SMS past, and you notice that this kind of thing is eerily similar to the 2003 SK 150 -- when Ruocco made the pass for the lead (and again, ultimately for the win) on lap-21. He led both races for the same amount of laps. And it led to two 150 wins.

How's that for trivia?

Schedule for July 31 + DQ News

Two things you need to know. First, here's a schedule out for the July 31 program, but of course, nothing is finalized. The order of features is anyone's guess. No special stuff going on this week.

Something that was finalized, however, was the SK 150 order of finish. I was going to write about this over the weekend, but I decided against it because I wanted to wait for it to be official before I did. Now, you may have read up about the rules in an earlier post -- I had said that Tech was going to automatically disqualify anyone who was too light or too heavy in terms of weight and drop them to last in the finishing order.

Friday night, after the 150, I decided to hang around the track. And that's when I found out that Tom Bolles had been disqualified. He was weighed, and then the next thing you know, his car was never inspected. How come? Too much weight on the left side of the car. Instant last place finish; made official today.

All the news I have for you right now. Look for the weekly recap coming later this week.

Town Fair Tire 150 News

Guess what? The third coming of the Whelen Modified Tour is on its way to Stafford. In a little under two weeks, they'll be here for the third of four appearances, as they'll be racing in the Town Fair Tire 150.

And since it's two weeks away, there's news to report on.

First off, the schedule. All weekly divisions need not qualify. Time trials will take up the qualifying session. Speeds things up knowing that there won't be heats right after the Tour boys take to the track.

Second, the entry list is rolling right along. It'll shape out over the course of the next week. Guaranteed. So this entry list is not the final entry list.

SK 150 News

If I had to describe the rules and schedule in one word: Wow.

First off, the SKs are scheduled to be the last feature to go out for the night. So, yeah; technically, you're saving the best for last.

And then, there are some extra rules tagged onto the last feature of the evening.

The boys running technical inspection are not going to be easy with the weight of anyone going up and over the scales at the end of the night. So if you're too light or too heavy, you're probably getting punted to the tail end of the finishing order.

All yellow flag laps will count. Okay, easy enough. Not that big of a deal.

Unless something drastic happens to the tires that are on the car at the start of the night, everyone's going to have to race on four tires. If you get a flat or if the rim's damaged, you can fix it. Aside from that, you're not going to be able to get an advantage with fresh Hoosiers.

And then, there's the tire credit rule. No extra tire credits. Everyone's going to get one extra tire credit after the 150. Not that big of a deal, unless things start to get messy.

But yeah. I'm surprised that the 150 is the last feature of the evening. Wasn't expecting something like that to happen. Can't wait to see what goes down tomorrow night. (If the rain goes away!)