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...