Slow Night, Isn't It?

Wow. Last night was the most interesting night in the history of my blog. It's because there weren't a lot of cautions period. And it was also due to a few drivers making a scene in more ways than one. Now let's get down to the action from the July 7th event, shall we? First, the DARE Stocks got things started with a caution free event. (Great...five minutes of a true snoozefest. Just plain wonderful.) Taking down the win was Stacey Botticello, the all-time DARE Stock leader in wins and two time winner in the season to date. Following her to the line were Raymond Grassetti, Norman Sears, and Jim Brice.

After this race, the cautions came out very slowly. In the SK Light feature, there was only one caution. That took place on lap-2 as Brit Anderson spun and had an accident in turns one and two. After that, it was a race to the checkers with Kyler Cafro leading Chris Matthews, Duke Place, and Shelly Perry to the start/finish line at the end. This was Cafro's first win of the season and of his career.

Then we get to the Late Models, who also had minimal caution periods in this race. The first caution came out on lap two thanks to Scott Foster and Tracy Brouillette created an accident site in turn three. On the very next lap, a multi-car crash takes place in turn two. (Those cars were unknown as there were too many to count and smoke was a barrier from seeing who was involved.) With the final yellow out of the way, Woody Pitkat ended up giving himself a birthday gift by winning the feature. He was followed by Todd Owen, Tom Fearn, and Scott Cook. (But Pitkat was not done after this feature. There was another batch of fireworks to come.)

The final feature for the full-bodied cars came courtesy of the Limited Late Models. Like the Late Models, there were only two cautions in the event. The fourth lap gave us a debris caution after the front bumper of (I believe) Andrew Durand ended up in turn one. Other than that, everything was fine...except for Pete Cayer spinning in turn two on lap-11. Then it became a nine lap race to the finish. Coming down to the line first was Kevin Gambacorta with Sean Foster, Mike Sweeney, and Robert Dow on his heels.

And then the night came to a dramatic close with the SK Modified feature. This was also the race that provided the most cautions in the entire night's program, starting with a lap-30 spin by John Blewett III in turn two. Four laps later, another spin. This time, it was in turn four and the culprit was Scott Bennett. If you thought that was it for the accidents and spins for the lap, I would have to tell you that you would be mistaken. The first time they tried a restart, Kenny Horton got turned into the frontstretch wall (closer to turn one). The second time, Jim Larsen spun inbetween turns one and two. Third time was a charm, yet the yellow waved again on lap-39 with Bo Gunning spinning and getting into an accident on the frontstretch and ending up in the turn one area. (This was when he was battling for the lead.) Trying to restart the race on lap-39 failed but take two was much better. That was the last time a yellow flew as the last eleven laps ran under green flag conditions. Yet all eyes were on Woody Pitkat as he was the one to finish all 40 laps first. Chris Jones, Jeff Baral, and Todd Owen were the next three cars to finish the race.

Also of importance: A nice multi-car crash took place on the backstretch on the last lap of the SK Modified feature. Involved in the accident was Jim Larsen, Mark Anderson, and Rowan Pennink. Oh, and did I mention that Chris Jones didn't use his familiar red #39? Well, believe it or not, he was borrowing a backup ride. Give credit to Frank Ruocco.

Next week, I will be trying something new. I'll be attempting to provide live coverage of the night's event as I will not be at the track. (But I'm sure you all knew that already.) More at the track coverage will be Saturday (July 15) for the Whelen Modified Tour race in a special edition of The View From Turn One. Until then, I bid you good driving.