Fall Final Weather Report

Let's cut to the chase: We've officially made it through the work week and the sound of cars blazing across the half mile will be heard in about an hour. Fall final practice begins at around 2pm Eastern Standard Time. The good news is that the rain's starting to clear up in the Connecticut area, so the start time will hold up. If you can make it to the track inbetween the times of 2pm and 6:30pm, I encourage you to get into the general admission grandstands for the cost of absolutely nothing and watch some practice.

So if today's schedule of events (however short it may be) is looking good for now, then what's the rest of the forecast like? Well, I'm going to give you the scoop right now. Saturday -- which is qualifying for all divisions and three features for the Dodge Weekly Racing Series -- is perfect. It's going to be mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance of rain throughout the day. We'll get that part of it in, I can assure you that. Sunday, on the other hand (which includes the Whelen Modified Tour, SK Modified, and Late Model features and the Pit Party), doesn't look too bad, although there is a 60 percent chance of rain as of 1:03pm Eastern Standard Time today.

I'll keep you informed as to the conditions for the final race of the season later today -- when I come home from a night at the Big E (which putting that in the same weekend as the Fall Final is a bit... well, controversial in this household). I'll see you tomorrow with part one of the two part weekend recap.

And Then There Was One

Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially reached the final race of the 2006 Stafford Motor Speedway season. After sixteen races and plenty of rainouts, the regular Friday night portion is over and only the Fall Final is in front of us. Who will be running for the track championships on Saturday and Sunday? We'll find all of this out -- including the regular bits of information -- in this week's entry. But before we begin, we had some interesting news coming from the pits and the track itself. First off, Ted Christopher was back in the #81 SK Modified after a few weeks' absence from the track. Also, track safety personnel needed time to fix the wall in turns three and four after incidents throughout the night put a beating towards it. One of the smackdowns was during the second DARE Stock qualifying heat when a group of cars were collected in a mid-race accident. The second cause of concern is coming up right about...now with our first race recap.

Feature-wise, the first race was the SK Lights. Shelly Perry had two weeks to rest up her broken wrist from the crash from Modified Mania weekend, and she was one of the stories from the feature, going on to finish all 20 laps with a 9th place finish. Another interesting moment was on lap-10, however, when Kyler Cafro nailed the turn three wall. (Surprise, surprise. There's the second cause and concern moment.) The red flag was brought out so the wall could be repaired and replaced and was removed from the track about ten minutes later. The wall beating was over for the night, but the cautions weren't. On lap-18, Chris Matthews spun in turn four, bringing out the second and final caution in the event. So with the two yellows out of the way, it was all down to a green-white-checkered situation. Brit Andersen powered to the front in a major way earlier on in the race and survived this three lap showdown to claim his fifth win of the season. Following him to the line were Glen Reen, Wade Mattesen, and Mike Lane. In the battle for the SK Light track championship, it's all coming down to the Fall Final. A four-way tie is what's holding Andersen, Perry, Matthews, and Richie Pallai, Jr all with 660 points.

The Late Models were next, and that was a completely wild feature. Lap-5 showed Mike O'Sullivan spinning in turn three. The very next lap had a multi-car accident in the same corner of the track. Both I believe were minor cautions (I know that the O'Sullivan spin was minor), so the race continued on. The caution flew again on lap-18 when O'Sullivan spun yet again, this time on the backstretch. (He would finish 10th, by the way.) And then... Prepare for the lap-19 moment of misery. The original time, the caution came out for debris in turn three. (I don't remember what it was or who it was from.) Then on the restart, Mark Lewis's car didn't come up to speed, resulting in a false start and a restart redo. Take two proved to be much better for Lewis, and he held off a charge from Woody Pitkat to take his first win of the season and his career. Pitkat was in second followed by Jim Peterson and Scott Foster, Jr. With one race to do in the Late Model championship, it's down to Pitkat and Peterson racing for the title. Both of them have 700 points to their credit.

Third on the docket was the Limited Late Models, and this was probably the quickest feature of the night. The only caution was on lap-16 when Kevin Gambacorta nailed the wall in turns one and two. Before this incident, however, Corky Hinze was controlling the field after an early race lead, but Andrew Durand was able to yank it away and drive off with it into the sunset. This resulted in Durand's fourth win of the season. Hinze, Sean Foster, and George Nocera rounded out the other finishers from the scoreboard. With the race for the Limited Late Model championship closing down, Gambacorta has a ten point lead over Nocera, 652-642. Bill Davis is third and 22 behind, Foster is fourth -- 24 behind, and Durand rounds out the top five and is 34 back behind the leader.

Next we had yet another insane feature with the SK Modifieds. It took four green flags to get the first lap in the books. After two false starts and one multi-car accident including Todd Owen, Brad Hietala, and Aaron Goff, the race went onto smooth sailing. That was, however, until lap-3. Kirk Zervas had a solo accident in turns three and four, bringing out the fourth caution in three laps. Between then and the next caution period on lap-19, Chris Jones was leading the pack all over the place. But three laps after the lap-19 accident in turn four, including Bo Gunning and possible others, Jones would come to find out that his lead was about to go away. A powering Frank Ruocco zoomed past Jones on lap-22 and held off Willie Hardie to take his first win of the 2006 season. Hardie would finish second, followed by Woody Pitkat and Jones. With the win and thanks to others' misfortunes, Ruocco now holds an 18-point lead over Hardie going into Fall Final weekend. Eric Berndt and Todd Owen are both 50 points behind, and they can fall out of championship contention when Ruocco takes the green flag in the feature.

The DARE Stocks were the final division to race Friday night, and they had a crazy feature as well. On the opening lap, there was a multi-car accident in turn two, bringing out the first caution flag of the race. Two laps later, Norm Sears spun in turn four, and the restart didn't fare too grand either. Debris in turns one and two was possibly spotted and hence the caution was out yet again. And then what do you know... Another debris caution, again in turns one and two -- on the very next lap, no less. So in the first four laps of the feature, there were four cautions. Thankfully, everything went smooth from then on in. It was very smooth for Jeff Jolly, who took the lead early on in the feature and remained up front through all of the caution situations so he could win his second race fo the season. Bill Dunn, Sears, and Josh White rounded out the top-four. In the DARE Stock championship situation, Sears has a 50-point lead over the next closest competitor, Tom Stirk. This means that no matter how Stirk does, Sears clinches by starting the feature on Saturday.

So this means that the Fall Final is next up on the schedule. Five divisions will have track champions, each champion different from the year before. But there will be more coming your way throughout the course of the weekend. The Whelen Modified Tour will be on hand for a 150-lap race on Sunday with qualifying the day before. Also on Sunday, there will be the ever famous and ever popular CARQuest Pit Party from 11:00am EST to noon EST. If you take a look at the schedule, you'll see that the SK Modifieds and the Late Models will be adding ten laps to their features. Please don't miss it for what it's worth, and I'll see you this weekend starting on Saturday.

More to come within the course of the week.

Fall Final Television Promo

I just wanted to show you guys a little something I found on the Stafford site last night. I had to search all throughout YouTube to find it. But with succession, I present the television advertisement for the CARQuest Fall Final weekend:



Click the little play button in the middle of the video in order to play it.

More to come this weekend when the final Friday night of racing action rolls into town...

Some Useful (Useless?) Monday Trivia and More

Here's something different... I'm breaking away from the norm to bring you some very interesting trivia for you. I went on the Stafford site earlier today, and I found five links that hold some secrets in the September Series. If this month-long ordeal had its own championship, things would be looking quite different than the points standings show. Each division has its own breakdown to detail how everyone's doing in the final weeks. Forget about what's originally going on; let's break it down for you:

• In the SK Modifieds, Eric Berndt and Willie Hardie have each earned 92 points in the two races run this month, six more than Jeff Baral, twenty more than Lloyd Agor and Jeff Malave, and thirty more than Bo Gunning and Frank Ruocco.
• In the Late Models, Tom Fearn has 96 points in those races. He's only got four more than Jim Peterson, six more than Tom Butler, and twenty more than Mike Quintiliano and Ed Ricard.
• In the Limited Late Models, we've got another tie for most points in the division. Leading the pack with 90 points is Corky Hinze and Michael Nadeau. They both have four more points than Kevin Gambacorta and Paul Conte, six more than Sean Foster, and twelve more than Charlie Newman and Joey Ferrigno.
• In the DARE Stocks, Norman Sears has the most points in the division with 94 points. He's got four more points than Vince Gambacorta and Tom Stirk, six more points than Jim Brice, and twelve more points than Carla Botticello.
• In the SK Lights, Chris Matthews has the advantage with 98 points, the most out of anyone at Stafford this month. He's got ten points more than Glen Reen and Matt Gallo, twelve points more than Kyler Cafro, and sixteen points more than Richie Pallai, Jr.

Using this information, I could tell you right now that there might be a bit of a shakeup in the points leaderboard Friday night. This will be useful in determining who will be racing for the championship at the Fall Final. Speaking of the Fall Final, Stafford has also started to collect entries for the final Whelen Modified Tour race of the season, taking place over the course of September 30 and October 1. Two of the full time Stafford SK drivers will be attempting to qualify for the race: Eric Berndt and Frank Ruocco. The entry list is updated as of today, so more entries and possibly a few more delegates will be filing in entries as well. This will be covered further in the week leading up to the Fall Final.

So I hope you enjoyed my bit of trivia. In the end, it could be the only thing that separates the pretenders from the contenders.

Rain Drives Me Crazy/SK Light News

If you didn't know by now, the September 15th event at Stafford was cancelled. The cause wasn't a mystery... It was rain. Showers were forecasted for basically the entire day and therefore the call was made to call off the event. This will make the battle for the championships come down to a two-race shootout. Consider it the final two games of the World Series or the Stanley Cup... Except, of course, for the fact that some divisions could see a three or four-car race to the chase. This could prove to be quite interesting.

Okay, now for a story in the SK Light department. Shelly Perry has injured her wrist and could possibly miss the final two races of the season. She was racing in the True Value Modified Series race at Thompson during Modified Mania when the incident occured. After being involved in a wreck late in the race, the steering wheel was ripped from her hands and caused swelling afterwards. If she feels better come Thursday (9/21), she could try to start the Mini Stock feature at Thompson and the SK Light feature at Stafford the day after and have someone sub for her at the first caution -- if there is one. (The SK Lights have been known to have caution free features this season.)

More news coming your way over the course of the week. Stay tuned.

Not Heaven, But Hey, What Can You Expect?

Friday, September 8 showed us that this "September Series" was going to be quite troublesome for the contenders in the points championships. All in all, only one person lost their points lead and one title could ultimately be decided within the next two weeks rather than three. But before we even look at who's in and who's out of the hunt for the title, let's look at some of the on-track action. The September Series continued with five divisions of Stafford drivers...starting with the entry level full bodied DARE Stocks.

On the second lap of the event, Todd LaPorta spun in turn four. That wasn't too bad, considering there was more to come. As the cars rounded turn one on the restart, Neil Provost, Jeff Jolly, and Dan Flannery make contact and are involved in a three car accident in turns one and two, triggering the yellow for the second time. On lap-5, we saw Lori-Jo Rzeszutek in an accident of her own, also in turns one and two. So in the course of the first five laps, there were two accidents and a spin. Could the feature have gotten any worse? Well, would debris on the frontstretch around lap-9 answer your question? I'm sure it did. And if you wanted to see more cautions, you'd get your wish on lap-10. Seth Wallace brought out the final caution on the backstretch when he was involved in an accident. Now because the DARE Stocks have this time limit, they have to get the feature done as quick as possible. It didn't work out that way. The red and checkered flags came out at the same time, putting the feature to a halt. Norm Sears was in the lead when this occured, so he was declared the winner and took his first win of the season. Slowly making their way around the track behind him were Carla Botticello, David Gambacorta, and Tom Stirk.

I assure you that the cautions died down a little bit during the SK Lights' feature. The only one that took place was on lap-9 when Brit Andersen nailed the frontstretch wall pretty good. He was pretty much done for the night. But on the other hand, Chris Matthews sure as heck wasn't. Taking his fourth win of the year, he finished in front of Kyler Cafro, Matt Gallo, and Wade Mattesen.

So two features down, three more to go. Next up would be the second of three crazy features. This one was yet another full fendered group of cars and they would be the Late Models. Michael Bennett held his ground for the first 14-laps of the race as the leader, but then had to give it up to Tom Butler, only because his car was pretty much better and faster. During Butler's reign at the point, Tracy Brouillette spun in turn four (lap-22), bringing out the event's first caution. About two laps later, Butler lost the lead he had to Todd Owen, who would dominate for a few laps of his own. But then, things literally got out of hand. On lap-27, Doug Blowers and Mike Mordino collected each other in turns one and two causing yet another caution to fly. The restart wasn't too pretty for Wayne Coury Jr after he experienced some spinnage in turns one and two on the green flag. Trust me, those weren't the only fireworks of the night. The last caution was on lap-29 after a few cars got together on the backstretch, causing fireworks to explode. Owen, who had been leading since around lap-24, had lost his lead due to probable engine problems, giving it up to Tom Fearn. Fearn had some contact issues in the caution period before (Coury's lap-27 restart incident) with Ryan Posocco. Posocco was told to park the car afterwards. (More on Posocco and how he'll be spending his Friday night after the recaps.) But anyway, on the final restart of the race, JJ Hill's hood comes flying off of his car and lands on the track high into turn one. The caution does not come out, and Fearn holds off Butler, Woody Pitkat, and Jim Peterson to take his first win of the season.

Up for the shortest race of the night, we bring you what little of the Limited Late Model feature actually occured. Michael Nadeau started the race up front and held the lead for the first 9-laps. But hard on his back bumper was Paul Conte, who would take over the lead on the very next lap. Conte would hold off all comers, including George Nocera, Nadeau, and Sean Foster for his first win of the season. This was done without a single caution, by the way. (This makes two weeks in a row with a caution free event.)

Finally, we bring you a chaotic SK Modified feature. Four of the top-5 drivers contending for the points lead had a problem somewhere down the line, and the first one to experience anything below the norm was Woody Pitkat. On the opening lap, the car just didn't seem right and he spent numerous laps either in the pits or behind the wall. He'd finish dead last and would only collect two points towards his championship hopes. (They're literally shattered.) The second member of the "Mediocre Night Club" happened to be Frank Ruocco, as he was one of many cars involved in a lap-11 accident on the backstretch. His radiator was nearly busted and his crew spent five solid laps trying to get it fixed. During this time, however, there were a few non-contenders with problems of their own. Lap-12 had John Cleary get into the wall in turns one and two, lap-14 showed us the end result of Jim Larsen stroking the turn one wall, and the very next lap provided us with a multi-car spin on the backstretch. Now back to the championship contenders: After the three back to back to back cautions, problems rose with Todd Owen's driveshaft and Jeff Malave scraping the Safer barrier. They would become the last two members of this "Mediocre Night Club" for the night. On the other hand, they weren't the final people with problems to take care of. Lap-34 and its restart companion would prove costly. The first time we tried to complete the lap, Mark Anderson spun in turn four. The restart would be bad news for Bo Gunning as he nailed the turn one wall on the driver's side. It would take him a minute or two for him to get out of the car, but he appeared to be fine. What was a troublesome night for many was actually a godsend for Willie Hardie, who won his second win of the year. Next at the line was Lloyd Agor, Jeff Baral, and Chris Jones. Hardie, who was sixth in points before the feature ended and Eric Berndt were the only two to actually gain ground on Ruocco. (Even with the radiator troubles for five laps, he still has the points lead.)

Okay, now that the features are out of the way, there's one little bit of information that needs to be clarified. Remember back in the Late Model recap I mentioned something about Ryan Posocco and how he'd spend his Friday night this week? Well, it won't be behind a Stafford Late Model. Track officials have given him the week off due to some retaliation against Tom Fearn during one of the late race cautions. This is the first week of the season that one of the Late Model drivers (or full fendered drivers in general) has gotten a week's vacation. Let's see what that means for those racing for the Late Model championship.

Speaking of this upcoming Friday, I will be giving a brief mention about Stafford -- probably a list of drivers who took down feature wins. This is because I will be in New Hampshire for Friday's round of NASCAR Nextel Cup qualifying, practice, and the Sylvania 100 for the Whelen Modified Tour. Those will be full recaps, I can assure you of that. But for now, I'll be signing off. Not only is Blogger being a pain for me at the moment, I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting for the weekend to arrive. Until next week, friends...

September Series Kicks Off

Friday night was the first day of September and therefore started what Stafford called the "September Series". This is the first time the track management has had racing for the entire month, but you can only blame the rain for this. (Oh, and by the way: It was a clear night for action.) Let's get to the features. September 1st, what did you have for us?

Well, they gave us the DARE Stock feature first. And they gave the first caution on lap-9 when a multi-car accident took place in turn four and the frontstretch. When that was cleaned up (and said and done), the rest of the race remained caution free. Jim Brice held off all challenges from his competitors and won his first race of his career. Following him to the line were Vince Gambacorta, Steve Berardi, and Tom Stirk. (Post race tech inspection said otherwise. Berardi's third place was stripped from him because his car didn't meet the minimum frame height requirement.)

Right after they were done, we went into the action of the SK Lights. To tell the truth, there wasn't much action. No cautions. But Brit Andersen stirred the pot some with his fourth win of the season. Next three at the line? Chris Matthews, Glen Reen, and Richie Pallai, Jr.

The Late Models took to the track after a quick detour from the norm...fireworks above and beyond the track sponsors gracing the backstretch with a musical performance. Cautionfest started on lap-3 when debris was seen in turn one. Three laps later, John Severns and Billy Snow, Jr get together on the frontstretch and right when they first entered the turn one area. After a brief cleanup by the safety team, the green was back out...until lap-17, when Steve McQuillan and Dave Wray made contact in turn three. Then finally, lap-20 proved costly for Severns and Jonathan Smith as they got into an accident in turn four and the frontstretch. Now with cautions out of the way, the race belonged to Scott Foster, Jr. He took down his first win of the season with Jim Peterson, Tom Fearn, and Ryan Posocco following him to the finish.

Your next feature of the night was courtesy of the Limited Late Models. The first 14 laps were clear under green. And then...caution in turn four, thanks to Sean Foster. When all was finished, the final five laps of the race were green, green, green, and Kevin Gambacorta captured win number two of the 2006 season. 2nd through 4th were Corky Hinze, Charlie Newman, and Michael Nadeau.

With the final feature, we have the SK Modifieds. Let me tell you...it was something, all right. Our first caution occured on lap-2 with a multi-car accident in turns three and four. With that came a minor bit of controversy in regards to some of those "involved" in the wreck. There were one or two people that decided to slow up so that they didn't end up with battered cars, but track officials thought otherwise and added them in as caution cars. (I'd give you more on this opinion, but I'd like to remain as fair as possible here.) Next caution: Three laps later, Rowan Pennink spins in turn tour. (He'd go on to finish 9th.) We wouldn't see a yellow for five more laps; this being due to Chris Jones spinning on the frontstretch after an apparent incident with Jeff Johnson. (After he pulled behind the wall, Jones told the #15 crew and officials that they were "#1". I wouldn't be surprised to see a suspension in his future.) Anyway, lap-13 wasn't pretty for a few drivers as turns three and four became the hot spot for a second multi-car accident. Pulling away from all of these caution periods and restarts was Eric Berndt who had taken the lead at lap-3. But the lead would shrink on lap-15 when Pennink and (by what I wrote) Bo Gunning got together in turn two. And then the caution would fly on lap-24 when Lloyd Agor spun in turns three and four. Finally, the last two cautions took place on lap-37. The first time around, Steve Zukowski spun in turn one with what looked like help from Frank Ruocco. The second time around, the officials didn't like the start. But those two incidents went out the window and it was a three-lap race to the finish. At the end, however, Berndt sat pretty in Victory Lane, winning his third race of the season. Gunning, Jeff Malave, and Ruocco finished off the top-four.

The September Series is back in action this Friday night with five divisions and a whole lot of action. Points leads could change hands. Who'll leave the track on the 8the with the title of "points leader"? Stay tuned and find out.