Oh, I'm so sorry this is done the day before our next event, but I've been busy preparing for a visit from my aunt and cousins who are coming up from Florida. My room has been a disaster zone for so long, and I had to get it cleaned up so my brother could camp in with me while our company sleeps in his. So with that said, let's get this entry started.
As you may already know, last Friday night saw the second of four appearances of the Whelen Modified Tour run rampant all over the half mile. And, as usual, we had our five weekly divisions in action as well. Because this was a Friday night event for the Tour Modifieds, our usual customers had no qualifying races to run. Everyone made it into the show. Speaking of the Tour, there were time trials to have. And your fast timer was Tony Hirschman, coming in with a time of 18.147 seconds.
With that order of business done and out of the way, we came to the portion of the evening where the first weekly feature would appear on the track. On this night, we started with the SK Lights. Now, they're known for running 20-lap features on a daily basis. But starting this week, and combined with all of the cautionfests they've had this year alone, track management decided to shorten their races by five laps. So with their first 15-lap race ahead of them, the Lights took the green flag to begin the evening. The first caution occured on lap 5 when David Webb spun on the frontstretch, while Ray Griffen, Jr and Kyle Spencer got together in turns one and two. There may have been others who were involved in this incident. Three laps later, there was a four car accident in turn two. Involved in this were Heather DesRochers, Joe Allegro, Jr, Josh Sylvester, and Kyler Cafro. I think they had a thing with threes, because after a three lap green flag period, we had a third caution. This time, the cars of Brit Andersen, George Nocera, Jr, Raymond Grassetti, and Scott Nordman provided us with a turn one accident. Now with the final yellow out of the way, the Lights could finish the final four laps without interruption. At the front of the field, however, it was a two car battle for the win. Glen Reen tried to get around Chris Matthews using just about all he could use, but it was no match. Matthews collected his third win of the season, followed by Reen, Matt Gallo, and Rich Hammann.
Next, we brought out the older siblings to the SK Lights... The SK Modifieds. They had a fairly clean race, with only two cautions throughout the entire session. Five laps in, Jim Larsen clipped the wall good enough to bring out the yellow, and we wouldn't see another caution until lap 38, when Jeff Johnson spun in turn two. Other than that, the fans saw a good battle for the lead and win. Bo Gunning and Curt Brainard fought for a good portion of the race until Ted Christopher overpowered Brainard and started to work on Gunning. But Gunning had too much for both contenders and claimed the victory. Christopher, Brainard, and Todd Owen rounded out the top-four.
In the Limited Late Models, tempers started to flare up a little. It was seven laps before they had their first caution, with David Capriati and Lori-Jo Rzeszutek spun in turn four. On the very next lap, Charlie Newman also spun, again in the turns three and four area. And two laps after that, there was a three car incident on the frontstrech, including Glenn Bartkowski, Michael Chaves, and Paul Conte. Things seemed to be fine here, but the caviar dreams seemed to disappear on lap 19. Andrew Durand had been leading at the time, and Rick Lanagan was trying to take the lead away from him. Unfortunately, he had made contact with Durand, sending Durand spinning in the middle of turns one and two. Lanagan was black flagged for overaggression on the race track, causing both first and second to move to the end of the pack. The new leader was Michael Nadeau, and he would lead the rest of the way to claim his first win of the season. The rest of the top-four were Sean Foster, Bill Davis, and Joey Ferrigno.
Then we came to the Late Models. Things didn't look too good and were bound to be like what had happened two weeks ago when an eight-car melee occured in turn one on the original drop of the green flag. Wiping the slate clean, we were destined to redo the start... Which, of course, didn't fare too well either as a false start bunched everyone up for a third try. And since that's usually a charm, we got the race underway. They were only green for nine laps as Tom Butler spun in turn one to bring out the yellow for the third time in the race. Luckily for the field (and perhaps the fans as well), every lap between laps 10 and 24 were green. On lap 25, there was a piece of debris on the backstretch -- right across from where I sit on a weekly basis. When the field was given the green flag on the restart, well... There was a second false start. So once again, the field was bunched back up. Luckily, this race had intentions of being a good one from the start, and it certainly proved so. On this night, we had a new Late Model all-time winner, and that would have been Jim Peterson. This was his 24th win of his career, and he was followed to the line by Mark Lewis, Woody Pitkat, and Jim Mavoulganes.
Now we came to the focal point of the evening: The Whelen Modified Tour's Connecticut Classic 150. Without going into too much detail (and like the last time the Tour was at Stafford, I didn't take notes because of possible confusion), I can tell you that the first half of the race was a fairly clean one. After that, it started to get a bit hectic. From what I can tell you, Donny Lia picked up his second win of the season and made it two in a row at the half-mile, with James Civali, Eddie Flemke, Jr, Zach Sylvester, and Todd Szegedy rounding out the top-five.
Finally, we come to the DARE Stocks. Now knock on wood, but for the past three events, they've raced caution free races. Could they add another 15 laps onto that streak? Not quite. They only managed five laps under green before the first incident occured. Jeff Jolly caused an accident in turns one and two, which brought the final caution-free lap total to fifty laps in four events. But the caution periods wouldn't end there, and they wouldn't be that easy to clean up, either. On lap 14, the car of Kyle Nosal spun on the frontstretch, bringing out another caution. But what he didn't know was that Barry Fluckiger was fast approaching. Without notice, Fluckiger nailed Nosal's car on the passenger's side, leaving both cars totaled. Officials at this point had no choice but to end the race under a red-checker combination. This meant that Steve Berardi would win the race, slowly followed by Dan Flannery, Carla Botticello, and Todd LaPorta.
Now that it's taken me a whole three hours to finish this, and seeing that it will be Friday morning in about 36 minutes, let me tell you that I will not be at the track tomorrow as my brother has a banquet for school. In the event that rain does not interfere with the program, I will bring you a quick entry sometime Saturday -- if I am not disrupted by our company who is about 70 miles from Washington, DC. With that said, have a safe tomorrow, and I will hope to be with you in two weeks as the Busch East Series makes its one and only visit to Stafford. Remember, gas pedal's on the right...
After my hiatus since May, I've decided on a new lease on life. I've re-emerged from the dark layers of hell with a new location for all things VFT1.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Water, Water, Everywhere...
...And not a race to be run.
Yesterday, Stafford management decided to cancel the program orignally planned for tonight due to the showers that had poured into the state early this morning. That left me, not feeling all too good, waking up at around 3:30 this afternoon. I was greeted to the world by an e-mail from my mother indicating that the event had been cancelled. (Well, that gave me my first crack at ABC's National Bingo Night along with the other viewers who decided to tune in as well. Both Mom and I won nothing. Thank you for asking.)
Okay, that leaves us with the Tour approaching the track next week at full speed. This is their second trip to the half mile this season. So if you're looking for something to do (outdoors, I hope), this is a good plan within itself. Let's hope we can get the rain out of the forecast for that. Until then... Gas pedal's on the right.
Yesterday, Stafford management decided to cancel the program orignally planned for tonight due to the showers that had poured into the state early this morning. That left me, not feeling all too good, waking up at around 3:30 this afternoon. I was greeted to the world by an e-mail from my mother indicating that the event had been cancelled. (Well, that gave me my first crack at ABC's National Bingo Night along with the other viewers who decided to tune in as well. Both Mom and I won nothing. Thank you for asking.)
Okay, that leaves us with the Tour approaching the track next week at full speed. This is their second trip to the half mile this season. So if you're looking for something to do (outdoors, I hope), this is a good plan within itself. Let's hope we can get the rain out of the forecast for that. Until then... Gas pedal's on the right.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Storms in Forecast -- Stormy Night at Track
Welcome to this edition of The View From Turn One. Instead of pushing this entry to the day before the event, we've got a nice line of storms (and possibly a tornado or two) heading our way. And that's the reason as to why I'm getting this done now instead of later. Okay, so where did we leave off since the last time we met? Ah, yes... The usual five divisions of racing. And unlike the previous two events, all drivers at the track were qualified for their respective features. So before this evil weather gets here, let's check up on the Stafford boys.
We started the feature portion of the evening with the Limited Late Models. Yet they didn't start out too proper themselves. After a false start on the opening lap, the second take proved successful. From where I had been sitting at that time (close to the start/finish line), I had a great view of a lap 10 crash that sent one of Pete Cayer's tires down the frontstretch and into the second turn. Needless to say, technical difficulties would end his night. (So sorry with the television reference here.) Immediately after I noted this accident, I headed down to my usual spot where I would witness the second and final caution of the event. On lap 19, Ed Charette, Jr spun in the turns one and two area, setting up a still dominating victory at the end of the race. Yes, we had our first repeat winner in any division when Andrew Durand crossed the line. Rick Lanagan, Sean Foster, and Paul Conte rounded out the top four cars.
Then we had the SK Modifieds take to the track. I think this race had a caution bug bite before the race began. (The bug was a tad bit smaller than the one that came around before the Late Model race. Stay tuned for that coverage as soon as I finish with this race.) We'll start with a lap 11 spin in the turn two area courtesy of Shelly Perry, who would spin later in the race but still managed to finish 17th. Six more laps would run under green before Scott Bennett brought out the first of his two cautions. The first caution would be for a spin on the frontstretch, but later on, he wouldn't be so lucky. Okay, so now we get one more fast lap before a seven car caution occurs on the backstretch. Announced in the caution were (and I take a deep breath here): Frank Ruocco, Jeff Baral, Bo Bunning, Zach Sylvester, Richie Pallai, Jr, Jeff Malave, and Ken Barry. And, exhale. That was quickly cleaned up because the majority of those involved were able to drive off under their own power. Finally, they were able to run a good distance under the green before a lap 31 incident including Bennett's #47 on the frontstretch not only brought out the caution, but the red flag as well. He had to leave the track via an ambulance, apparently because he was shaken up and possibly due to the fact that the hand impact might have injured him. Nothing has been reported further. But back to the action on hand. Our final caution with this group was on lap 37 when Shelly Perry spun on the frontstretch. Another green-white-checkered situation occured, with the winner emerging as Keith Rocco, followed by Willie Hardie, Woody Pitkat, and Kerry Malone.
The caution bug was back, but it had grown since the SK feature. It took five takes for the opening lap to run fully under green. The first time around, Doug Blowers spun in turn one. On the second attempt, something broke on Scott Cook's car, sending him nose first into the safer barrier. Take three showed us Wayne Coury, Jr spinning in turn one. Of course, the fourth time was not the charm when Ryan Posocco and Tom Butler got into a minor fender bender in -- you guessed it -- turn one. After the fifth time proved lucky, there were seven laps until John Warren was caught up in an accident in turns three and four. Eight laps later, Billy Snow, Jr is involved in a backstretch incident. Scott Foster, Jr would bring out the next caution on lap 20 when he spun in turn two. Snow would spin on the backstretch on lap 25 and a three car accident in turn four one lap later would prove to be the end of the elongated bug. Tom Fearn missed catching the bug and would finish first among all cars. Mike Quintiliano, Tom Butler, and Jim Mavloganes finished on the board as well.
Next were the SK Lights, who were the second division to provide the fans with a false start on the very first lap. Luckily for them, they were able to get all of their cautions out of the way early... More specifically, on lap 3. Two cautions would go hand-in-hand with each other. The first of them was for Kyler Cafro, who spun on the backstretch on the original lap. Then on the potential restart, a four car incident would bring out the caution again. Cars I could see in the accident were both Mark and Chris Bakaj and Matt Gallo. The other car was a white one (sorry, I couldn't catch the number of it). After this was cleared, the rest of the race ran under green. Chris Matthews would come through with the win, becoming the second driver in all divisions to repeat. He was followed to the line by Glen Reen, Glenn Griswold, and Brit Andersen.
Finally, we had the DARE Stocks. In the past two races, every lap was run under green. Could they come up with a trifecta of clean raced 15-lappers? The answer was yes. Bill Dunn fought hard with Tom Stirk until about midway though the race, when he had totally commanded the rest of the field. He would go on to win, followed by Jim Brice, Stirk, and Gil Main.
So now that I'm done with this entry, I need to get the heck off of the computer. Those storms I told you about earlier on? Coming quick. Oh, yeah. Those winds are picking up as I speak. Okay, next race is supposed to celebrate NASCAR Day. I think that'll have to be postponed as there's a 50 percent chance of rain in two days. I'm not sure what the track management'll do before then, but if we do end up meeting, stay safe. And I really mean stay safe today. Until next time...
We started the feature portion of the evening with the Limited Late Models. Yet they didn't start out too proper themselves. After a false start on the opening lap, the second take proved successful. From where I had been sitting at that time (close to the start/finish line), I had a great view of a lap 10 crash that sent one of Pete Cayer's tires down the frontstretch and into the second turn. Needless to say, technical difficulties would end his night. (So sorry with the television reference here.) Immediately after I noted this accident, I headed down to my usual spot where I would witness the second and final caution of the event. On lap 19, Ed Charette, Jr spun in the turns one and two area, setting up a still dominating victory at the end of the race. Yes, we had our first repeat winner in any division when Andrew Durand crossed the line. Rick Lanagan, Sean Foster, and Paul Conte rounded out the top four cars.
Then we had the SK Modifieds take to the track. I think this race had a caution bug bite before the race began. (The bug was a tad bit smaller than the one that came around before the Late Model race. Stay tuned for that coverage as soon as I finish with this race.) We'll start with a lap 11 spin in the turn two area courtesy of Shelly Perry, who would spin later in the race but still managed to finish 17th. Six more laps would run under green before Scott Bennett brought out the first of his two cautions. The first caution would be for a spin on the frontstretch, but later on, he wouldn't be so lucky. Okay, so now we get one more fast lap before a seven car caution occurs on the backstretch. Announced in the caution were (and I take a deep breath here): Frank Ruocco, Jeff Baral, Bo Bunning, Zach Sylvester, Richie Pallai, Jr, Jeff Malave, and Ken Barry. And, exhale. That was quickly cleaned up because the majority of those involved were able to drive off under their own power. Finally, they were able to run a good distance under the green before a lap 31 incident including Bennett's #47 on the frontstretch not only brought out the caution, but the red flag as well. He had to leave the track via an ambulance, apparently because he was shaken up and possibly due to the fact that the hand impact might have injured him. Nothing has been reported further. But back to the action on hand. Our final caution with this group was on lap 37 when Shelly Perry spun on the frontstretch. Another green-white-checkered situation occured, with the winner emerging as Keith Rocco, followed by Willie Hardie, Woody Pitkat, and Kerry Malone.
The caution bug was back, but it had grown since the SK feature. It took five takes for the opening lap to run fully under green. The first time around, Doug Blowers spun in turn one. On the second attempt, something broke on Scott Cook's car, sending him nose first into the safer barrier. Take three showed us Wayne Coury, Jr spinning in turn one. Of course, the fourth time was not the charm when Ryan Posocco and Tom Butler got into a minor fender bender in -- you guessed it -- turn one. After the fifth time proved lucky, there were seven laps until John Warren was caught up in an accident in turns three and four. Eight laps later, Billy Snow, Jr is involved in a backstretch incident. Scott Foster, Jr would bring out the next caution on lap 20 when he spun in turn two. Snow would spin on the backstretch on lap 25 and a three car accident in turn four one lap later would prove to be the end of the elongated bug. Tom Fearn missed catching the bug and would finish first among all cars. Mike Quintiliano, Tom Butler, and Jim Mavloganes finished on the board as well.
Next were the SK Lights, who were the second division to provide the fans with a false start on the very first lap. Luckily for them, they were able to get all of their cautions out of the way early... More specifically, on lap 3. Two cautions would go hand-in-hand with each other. The first of them was for Kyler Cafro, who spun on the backstretch on the original lap. Then on the potential restart, a four car incident would bring out the caution again. Cars I could see in the accident were both Mark and Chris Bakaj and Matt Gallo. The other car was a white one (sorry, I couldn't catch the number of it). After this was cleared, the rest of the race ran under green. Chris Matthews would come through with the win, becoming the second driver in all divisions to repeat. He was followed to the line by Glen Reen, Glenn Griswold, and Brit Andersen.
Finally, we had the DARE Stocks. In the past two races, every lap was run under green. Could they come up with a trifecta of clean raced 15-lappers? The answer was yes. Bill Dunn fought hard with Tom Stirk until about midway though the race, when he had totally commanded the rest of the field. He would go on to win, followed by Jim Brice, Stirk, and Gil Main.
So now that I'm done with this entry, I need to get the heck off of the computer. Those storms I told you about earlier on? Coming quick. Oh, yeah. Those winds are picking up as I speak. Okay, next race is supposed to celebrate NASCAR Day. I think that'll have to be postponed as there's a 50 percent chance of rain in two days. I'm not sure what the track management'll do before then, but if we do end up meeting, stay safe. And I really mean stay safe today. Until next time...
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Opening Night and End of Month Entry List
Again, pardon the lateness of this entry. I only have my forgetful habit and the fact that it's 82 degrees as I'm starting to write in the living room. So with that said, let's get to the action from the May 4th program. It was the first Friday night program of the 2007 Stafford Motor Speedway season, and our usual five track divisions were on hand. We started with the Late Model 16 last chance qualifier, and we also opened with a caution. On the opening lap of the event, Doug Blowers spun on the frontstretch. His night would just get worse after that. Lap 7 would provide us our second caution of the event when David St. Amant spun somewhere in the middle of the third and fourth turns. Blowers's cautionfest would continue on lap 9 when he spun once again, this time in turn two. Three laps later, Blowers brought out the yellow for the third time in the event after spinning in turn one. NASCAR officials had enough of this and decided to have him park the car after his three mishaps. The night would be over for the #2, but at the front of the field, Corey Hutchings's night would continue on when he picked up the win. Mike Quintiliano, Tom Fearn, and Don Acker, Jr rounded out the numbers on the board.
Then we went to the first of our regularly scheduled features of the evening, featuring the entry level DARE Stocks. This race would be caution free from start to finish, although there was a lot of action at the front of the field. Jesse Hinze and Robert Thompson fought lap after lap for the lead, and it eventually came down to a last-lap dash between the two of them and Norm Sears, especially when Sears went three wide to move around Hinze for second. Though in the end, Sears could not catch up to Thompson, and he took down the win. Sears, Hinze, and Barry Fluckiger were the rest of the top four. But our friends in technical inspection shook the top four even more when both Thompson (illegal rims) and Hinze (car too light) were disqualified. This gave Sears the win, with Fluckiger, Rob Lawrence, and Matt Chiarizio the new top four.
Crews would bring out the war wagons, tires, and other necessarities when the SK Modifieds took to the track for their feature. Boy, I thought half of the field would be left standing when the race actually ended. On lap 2, Richie Pallai, Jr apparently stalled in turns three and four, bringing out the first caution. Two laps later, Zach Sylvester and Bo Gunning would spin starting on the backstretch and around the start of the turn three area. The field would be caution free until lap 11 when Woody Pitkat, Eric Berndt, Jimmy Smith, and Jeff Johnson create an accident in turn one. Brad Hietala would spin in turn three on lap 18, bringing the caution out once again. Then we had a string of green flag laps... Until lap 27, when Jeff Malave, Pitkat, Sylvester, and Willie Hardie wrecked on the backstretch. This would nearly set up a three lap dash to the finish. Key word there is "nearly", because the restart on lap 27 was a false restart and they had to redo it. In the end, the last laps would go without problems. Frank Ruocco held off all challenges by Todd Owen in the first twenty laps and Kerry Malone to win his first feature of the season. Malone would finish second, followed by Owen and Keith Rocco.
Then we had the SK Lights, who put on the wreckfest of the night. Not even halfway through the opening lap of the race, there was an accident in turn two involving Brit Andersen, Kyle Spencer, Raymond Grassetti, and Wayne Robillard. They went three laps without wrecking each other until lap 4 when Michael Lane and Chris Bakaj were in an accident on the backstretch. The very next lap, a bunch of cars came together. Again, this was on the backstretch. Then they were fine, but only for the next eleven laps. That's when more cautions occured. On lap 16, Spencer spins in turn four. When the field attempted a restart, it didn't work out. At least five cars, including Grassetti, Matt Gallo, David Webb, Fred Nees, Jr, and Mark Bakaj were involved in a frontstretch incident. Before things were all said and done, the next lap proved costly for Lane, Gallo, Rich Hammann, and Scott Nordman piled up around the turn two area. NASCAR officials had enough of the wreckfest, so they threw a yellow-checkers on the field. At the front of the group was Glen Reen, and he was followed (slowly) to the line by Chris Matthews, Mike Sweeney, Jr, and Josh Sylvester.
After the crash session had come to a close, the rest of the program went fairly smoothly. When the Late Models ran their feature, there happened to be one and only one caution in the entire event. Woody Pitkat's night continued to fall down the drain after he spun in turn four on lap 5. In the front of the field, however, Scott Foster, Jr was able to get around Ed Ricard on about the seventh lap, and he fought off Jim Peterson and Ryan Posocco to claim the victory. Following Foster, Peterson, and Posocco at the line was Tom Butler.
The final feature of the evening happened to be the Limited Late Models. Just like the DARE Stocks, that race was complete green flag racing straight through. At the beginning, it appeared as though Sean Foster would make it a daily double in victory lane, but Andrew Durand had other plans. He moved past Foster around lap 13 and had a commanding lead when he scored the win. Foster followed in second, and rounding out the top four were Rick Lanagan and Joey Ferrigno.
Checking the report on the Weather Channel website, we are looking at scattered thunderstorms for tomorrow night. This is 30 and 40 percents, so nothing can be postponed as of yet. I will come back tomorrow with a better forecast for you all to see.
Oh, by the way... On the last weekend of May, the Whelen Modified Tour returns to Stafford for the Connecticut Classic 150. I am providing the entry list for you guys now so I don't forget later on. Until tomorrow when I come back with your updated forecast, stay safe.
Then we went to the first of our regularly scheduled features of the evening, featuring the entry level DARE Stocks. This race would be caution free from start to finish, although there was a lot of action at the front of the field. Jesse Hinze and Robert Thompson fought lap after lap for the lead, and it eventually came down to a last-lap dash between the two of them and Norm Sears, especially when Sears went three wide to move around Hinze for second. Though in the end, Sears could not catch up to Thompson, and he took down the win. Sears, Hinze, and Barry Fluckiger were the rest of the top four. But our friends in technical inspection shook the top four even more when both Thompson (illegal rims) and Hinze (car too light) were disqualified. This gave Sears the win, with Fluckiger, Rob Lawrence, and Matt Chiarizio the new top four.
Crews would bring out the war wagons, tires, and other necessarities when the SK Modifieds took to the track for their feature. Boy, I thought half of the field would be left standing when the race actually ended. On lap 2, Richie Pallai, Jr apparently stalled in turns three and four, bringing out the first caution. Two laps later, Zach Sylvester and Bo Gunning would spin starting on the backstretch and around the start of the turn three area. The field would be caution free until lap 11 when Woody Pitkat, Eric Berndt, Jimmy Smith, and Jeff Johnson create an accident in turn one. Brad Hietala would spin in turn three on lap 18, bringing the caution out once again. Then we had a string of green flag laps... Until lap 27, when Jeff Malave, Pitkat, Sylvester, and Willie Hardie wrecked on the backstretch. This would nearly set up a three lap dash to the finish. Key word there is "nearly", because the restart on lap 27 was a false restart and they had to redo it. In the end, the last laps would go without problems. Frank Ruocco held off all challenges by Todd Owen in the first twenty laps and Kerry Malone to win his first feature of the season. Malone would finish second, followed by Owen and Keith Rocco.
Then we had the SK Lights, who put on the wreckfest of the night. Not even halfway through the opening lap of the race, there was an accident in turn two involving Brit Andersen, Kyle Spencer, Raymond Grassetti, and Wayne Robillard. They went three laps without wrecking each other until lap 4 when Michael Lane and Chris Bakaj were in an accident on the backstretch. The very next lap, a bunch of cars came together. Again, this was on the backstretch. Then they were fine, but only for the next eleven laps. That's when more cautions occured. On lap 16, Spencer spins in turn four. When the field attempted a restart, it didn't work out. At least five cars, including Grassetti, Matt Gallo, David Webb, Fred Nees, Jr, and Mark Bakaj were involved in a frontstretch incident. Before things were all said and done, the next lap proved costly for Lane, Gallo, Rich Hammann, and Scott Nordman piled up around the turn two area. NASCAR officials had enough of the wreckfest, so they threw a yellow-checkers on the field. At the front of the group was Glen Reen, and he was followed (slowly) to the line by Chris Matthews, Mike Sweeney, Jr, and Josh Sylvester.
After the crash session had come to a close, the rest of the program went fairly smoothly. When the Late Models ran their feature, there happened to be one and only one caution in the entire event. Woody Pitkat's night continued to fall down the drain after he spun in turn four on lap 5. In the front of the field, however, Scott Foster, Jr was able to get around Ed Ricard on about the seventh lap, and he fought off Jim Peterson and Ryan Posocco to claim the victory. Following Foster, Peterson, and Posocco at the line was Tom Butler.
The final feature of the evening happened to be the Limited Late Models. Just like the DARE Stocks, that race was complete green flag racing straight through. At the beginning, it appeared as though Sean Foster would make it a daily double in victory lane, but Andrew Durand had other plans. He moved past Foster around lap 13 and had a commanding lead when he scored the win. Foster followed in second, and rounding out the top four were Rick Lanagan and Joey Ferrigno.
Checking the report on the Weather Channel website, we are looking at scattered thunderstorms for tomorrow night. This is 30 and 40 percents, so nothing can be postponed as of yet. I will come back tomorrow with a better forecast for you all to see.
Oh, by the way... On the last weekend of May, the Whelen Modified Tour returns to Stafford for the Connecticut Classic 150. I am providing the entry list for you guys now so I don't forget later on. Until tomorrow when I come back with your updated forecast, stay safe.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Spring Sizzler: *Add Clever Title Here*
I am so sorry for not getting this done sooner, but on top of the Rangers still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup and the fact that I had been out of the house one day this week already with another day gone for the computer being a major jerk, I had no time on my hands. And I just plain forgot to write up an entry. So today, I'll take the time to cover both days of the Sizzler. From qualifying to the features to the never-boring Pit Party, whatever I have in my notes (and what I get from the track site) is what you'll get. Let's get this season started, shall we?
First up on the docket, we had Whelen Modified Tour qualifying. A grand total of fourty-two cars took time on the half mile in hopes of getting the Bud Pole Award and possibly some time in the record book as the holder of a new track record. Two cars just couldn't make it out for time (including Mike Stefanik's #16, as there was some sort of problem that I couldn't make over the PA system), but amongst the other fourty cars, there happened to be a shattered record from one of them... Matt Hirschman in the #59 with an 18.009, translating to 99.950 miles an hour. The top eight qualifiers redrew later that day, and it would lead to Tony Hirschman and Reggie Ruggiero sitting on the front row when the race would run the next day.
With the Tour out of the way, qualifying and features for the five Stafford divisions could begin. After all divisions finished with their five, eight, or ten lap races, the stage was set for the first last chance qualifier of the season: The 21 Means 21 feature for the SK Modifieds. Fourteen cars, eight spots up for grabs through the race. There would be some beating and banging going on for them. Not too long after the green flag flew, we had our first feature caution. Kirk Zervas happened to bring out the yellow after he was involved in a single-car incident on the frontstretch. After the delicate cleanup by the "Super Clean" Safety Team (or something to the tune that), we went back to green. At first, one would likely say that Todd Owen would easily get into the feature through the LCQ, even though you couldn't tell that towards the end of the race, he started to have some car issues. On what was originally considered to be the final lap, Owen's car brought out the second and final caution flag of the race, with his car ending up close to the exit of the turn two wall. (Yes, he would be a part of the next day's feature, don't worry.) Now with him out of contention, this opened the door to Zach Sylvester, as he picked up the win. Following him to the line was Lloyd Agor, Dave Salzarulo, and Kerry Malone in a return appearance to Stafford just a few years after winning his track championship.
Now we got to our first official feature of the evening, which just so happened to be the SK Lights. I personally thought that a bunch of these guys weren't going to finish the race based on the number of early race accidents that had occured. The first caution happened on just the second lap of the race when Joe Allegro in the #08 and Paul Colla in the #86 busted their cars up a bit in the turns three and four area of the track. Two laps later, Ray Griffen in the #71 spins in turn four. And on the very next lap, Keith Franklin in the #97 spins (and possibly leaked some fluid in the process) in the first and second turns. At the front of the field, however, Chris Matthews was showing the field that his couple of wins in the season previous were no fluke. He was trying to hold off Glen Reen for the win, but on lap-19, Franklin wrecks his car in turn two, near where I had been taking the notes for this race. This set up a green-white-checkered shootout to the finish, which proved successful for Matthews. He was originally declared the winner with Reen, Brit Andersen, and Glenn Griswold rounding out the top-four. But in post-race inspection, Reen's Modified had illegal brake calibers. This moved Andersen up to second, Griswold up to third, and gave fourth place to Mark Bakaj in the #52.
Then it was time for the Late Model 16 race. It was all green flag racing and it all belonged to Ryan Posocco. He took down the win with Tom Fearn, Mark Lewis, and Scott Cook finishing the board off. I would say more about this, but I had been in a rush due to the fact that Stafford High School was hosting a track and field meet on that day and my mother took a group of students from our town to the event. So I missed the entire Limited Late Model feature. From what the website says, Rick Lanagan was declared the winner with Bill Davis, Charlie Newman, and Andrew Durand completing the top-four. The DARE Stock feature was supposed to go after this, but the rains came and the race was pushed back to Sunday's program.
...Which brings us to Sunday. After the hour that was declared the "CARQuest Belts and Hoses" Pit Party (why the name of that was made longer is anyone's guess) ended, the track was cleared for the first race of the afternoon. This happened to be the SK Modified feature. On the opening lap of the event, there was a three car incident on the backstretch, including Richie Pallai, Jr, Shelly Perry (both of whom graduated up from the SK Light division), and Fran Siana. Perry and Siana would continue the race, while Pallai's day would just go downhill from there, from the result of a caution later in the race. When the starter tried to start the race again, a false start occured, with the culprit being someone I totally don't remember off the top of my head. (Note to self: Write that down next time.) Back to the racing, the third start was a charm and they got four full laps done when the second caution of the race happened. This time, Keith Rocco, Ted Christopher (yes, in the familiar black, blue, and silver #13), and Scott Bennett caused an accident in turn one, sending a red #78 into the safer barrier. A nice cleanup session occured, and when the green flag dropped, a lap was completed before the starter put that away for the yellow. Jim Larsen, Willie Hardie, Wade Mattesen, and Shelly Perry were involved in an accident over in the vicinity of turn three. Everyone except for Larsen would finish the race. They would finally get a half-dozen laps in before the next caution period, which involved Richie Pallai, Jr and Todd Owen, whose weekend was just getting worse by the lap. They would get into an accident in turn one. Your final caution was on lap-25 when Brad Hietala spun in the backstretch grassy area and just didn't get the car started in time to keep the green flag out. Your original top-four at the checkered flag were Woody Pitkat, Lloyd Agor, Jeff Baral, and Jeff Malave. But during the magic that was post-race inspection, Pitkat's Modified was found to have an illegal rear spoiler. He was originally disqualified from the race, but upon further inspection, officials could not determine whether or not the modification could give the car an advantage. Thus he was dropped to the 20th finishing spot and will be handicapped outside of the top-18 for Friday's racing action.
And now, your feature presentation. It was finally time for the Whelen Modified Tour to perform in front of all the fans. I wasn't taking notes for this event, but I could tell you some of the highlights. They include Chuck Hossfeld's car looking like it was run over by an 18-wheeler about 25 laps into the race, courtesy of Frank Ruocco; a red flag to clean up an incident on the frontstretch a little more than halfway through; and Donny Lia holding off Todd Szegedy for the win. It was the first Spring Sizzler win for Mystic Missle car owner Bob Garbarino.
After the 200-lap showdown was over, the Late Models took to the track for their scheduled feature event. Wayne Coury, Jr led the first 14 laps of the race before he was challenged by former Waterford and Thompson driver Corey Hutchings for the lead. Coury relinquished the top spot halfway into the race, and Hutchings dominated the second half in style. He cruised to the win with Woody Pitkat, Mike Quintiliano, and Coury finishing out the board. The race was caution-free.
Finally, the DARE Stocks raced their feature that was supposed to be done the day before. This race, like the Late Models, also ran completely green flagged, but there was no lead change involved in the making of their 15-lap production. Jeff Jolly led every lap possible on his way to his first victory of the season. At the line behind him were Dean Casagrande, Vince Gambacorta, and Todd LaPorta.
With all of the racing action said and done, I officially declare opening weekend a success and over. This brings us to tomorrow night; the first Friday night of the season. All five Stafford divisions will be on hand. And I might bring a camera along with me to take pictures of the action and in the pits. So until we meet again, I bid you a safe rest of today and tomorrow.
First up on the docket, we had Whelen Modified Tour qualifying. A grand total of fourty-two cars took time on the half mile in hopes of getting the Bud Pole Award and possibly some time in the record book as the holder of a new track record. Two cars just couldn't make it out for time (including Mike Stefanik's #16, as there was some sort of problem that I couldn't make over the PA system), but amongst the other fourty cars, there happened to be a shattered record from one of them... Matt Hirschman in the #59 with an 18.009, translating to 99.950 miles an hour. The top eight qualifiers redrew later that day, and it would lead to Tony Hirschman and Reggie Ruggiero sitting on the front row when the race would run the next day.
With the Tour out of the way, qualifying and features for the five Stafford divisions could begin. After all divisions finished with their five, eight, or ten lap races, the stage was set for the first last chance qualifier of the season: The 21 Means 21 feature for the SK Modifieds. Fourteen cars, eight spots up for grabs through the race. There would be some beating and banging going on for them. Not too long after the green flag flew, we had our first feature caution. Kirk Zervas happened to bring out the yellow after he was involved in a single-car incident on the frontstretch. After the delicate cleanup by the "Super Clean" Safety Team (or something to the tune that), we went back to green. At first, one would likely say that Todd Owen would easily get into the feature through the LCQ, even though you couldn't tell that towards the end of the race, he started to have some car issues. On what was originally considered to be the final lap, Owen's car brought out the second and final caution flag of the race, with his car ending up close to the exit of the turn two wall. (Yes, he would be a part of the next day's feature, don't worry.) Now with him out of contention, this opened the door to Zach Sylvester, as he picked up the win. Following him to the line was Lloyd Agor, Dave Salzarulo, and Kerry Malone in a return appearance to Stafford just a few years after winning his track championship.
Now we got to our first official feature of the evening, which just so happened to be the SK Lights. I personally thought that a bunch of these guys weren't going to finish the race based on the number of early race accidents that had occured. The first caution happened on just the second lap of the race when Joe Allegro in the #08 and Paul Colla in the #86 busted their cars up a bit in the turns three and four area of the track. Two laps later, Ray Griffen in the #71 spins in turn four. And on the very next lap, Keith Franklin in the #97 spins (and possibly leaked some fluid in the process) in the first and second turns. At the front of the field, however, Chris Matthews was showing the field that his couple of wins in the season previous were no fluke. He was trying to hold off Glen Reen for the win, but on lap-19, Franklin wrecks his car in turn two, near where I had been taking the notes for this race. This set up a green-white-checkered shootout to the finish, which proved successful for Matthews. He was originally declared the winner with Reen, Brit Andersen, and Glenn Griswold rounding out the top-four. But in post-race inspection, Reen's Modified had illegal brake calibers. This moved Andersen up to second, Griswold up to third, and gave fourth place to Mark Bakaj in the #52.
Then it was time for the Late Model 16 race. It was all green flag racing and it all belonged to Ryan Posocco. He took down the win with Tom Fearn, Mark Lewis, and Scott Cook finishing the board off. I would say more about this, but I had been in a rush due to the fact that Stafford High School was hosting a track and field meet on that day and my mother took a group of students from our town to the event. So I missed the entire Limited Late Model feature. From what the website says, Rick Lanagan was declared the winner with Bill Davis, Charlie Newman, and Andrew Durand completing the top-four. The DARE Stock feature was supposed to go after this, but the rains came and the race was pushed back to Sunday's program.
...Which brings us to Sunday. After the hour that was declared the "CARQuest Belts and Hoses" Pit Party (why the name of that was made longer is anyone's guess) ended, the track was cleared for the first race of the afternoon. This happened to be the SK Modified feature. On the opening lap of the event, there was a three car incident on the backstretch, including Richie Pallai, Jr, Shelly Perry (both of whom graduated up from the SK Light division), and Fran Siana. Perry and Siana would continue the race, while Pallai's day would just go downhill from there, from the result of a caution later in the race. When the starter tried to start the race again, a false start occured, with the culprit being someone I totally don't remember off the top of my head. (Note to self: Write that down next time.) Back to the racing, the third start was a charm and they got four full laps done when the second caution of the race happened. This time, Keith Rocco, Ted Christopher (yes, in the familiar black, blue, and silver #13), and Scott Bennett caused an accident in turn one, sending a red #78 into the safer barrier. A nice cleanup session occured, and when the green flag dropped, a lap was completed before the starter put that away for the yellow. Jim Larsen, Willie Hardie, Wade Mattesen, and Shelly Perry were involved in an accident over in the vicinity of turn three. Everyone except for Larsen would finish the race. They would finally get a half-dozen laps in before the next caution period, which involved Richie Pallai, Jr and Todd Owen, whose weekend was just getting worse by the lap. They would get into an accident in turn one. Your final caution was on lap-25 when Brad Hietala spun in the backstretch grassy area and just didn't get the car started in time to keep the green flag out. Your original top-four at the checkered flag were Woody Pitkat, Lloyd Agor, Jeff Baral, and Jeff Malave. But during the magic that was post-race inspection, Pitkat's Modified was found to have an illegal rear spoiler. He was originally disqualified from the race, but upon further inspection, officials could not determine whether or not the modification could give the car an advantage. Thus he was dropped to the 20th finishing spot and will be handicapped outside of the top-18 for Friday's racing action.
And now, your feature presentation. It was finally time for the Whelen Modified Tour to perform in front of all the fans. I wasn't taking notes for this event, but I could tell you some of the highlights. They include Chuck Hossfeld's car looking like it was run over by an 18-wheeler about 25 laps into the race, courtesy of Frank Ruocco; a red flag to clean up an incident on the frontstretch a little more than halfway through; and Donny Lia holding off Todd Szegedy for the win. It was the first Spring Sizzler win for Mystic Missle car owner Bob Garbarino.
After the 200-lap showdown was over, the Late Models took to the track for their scheduled feature event. Wayne Coury, Jr led the first 14 laps of the race before he was challenged by former Waterford and Thompson driver Corey Hutchings for the lead. Coury relinquished the top spot halfway into the race, and Hutchings dominated the second half in style. He cruised to the win with Woody Pitkat, Mike Quintiliano, and Coury finishing out the board. The race was caution-free.
Finally, the DARE Stocks raced their feature that was supposed to be done the day before. This race, like the Late Models, also ran completely green flagged, but there was no lead change involved in the making of their 15-lap production. Jeff Jolly led every lap possible on his way to his first victory of the season. At the line behind him were Dean Casagrande, Vince Gambacorta, and Todd LaPorta.
With all of the racing action said and done, I officially declare opening weekend a success and over. This brings us to tomorrow night; the first Friday night of the season. All five Stafford divisions will be on hand. And I might bring a camera along with me to take pictures of the action and in the pits. So until we meet again, I bid you a safe rest of today and tomorrow.
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