Early, But Came Prepared

Okay, I lied when saying that I would be back Wednesday with a schedule of events. It's actually Tuesday, and amidst the scorching temperatures that are plaguing the state of Connecticut, I have found the schedule for the postponed/cancelled (take your pick) program on Friday. Your feature order will be as follows:

• Last Chance Qualifiers (if any)
• Late Models
• SK Modifieds
• DARE Stocks
• Limited Late Models
• SK Lights

And like last week, there's supposed to be some fireworks above the sky as well as on the track. But I hope there's not going to be something that'll get in the way. You know -- that lovely stuff that caused those who were already at the track to mosey on out of there early? Yes, that stuff. I'll see you over the course of next week with highlights from this week's program and bonus coverage of the Whelen Modified Tour/NASCAR Busch Series races at Loudon. Until then, have a safe rest of the week.

Raindrops Keep Falling

...And for the time I was at the track, it was an on again, off again love affair with the wet stuff.

At about 6:15pm this evening, as the DARE Stocks were lined up in back for their qualfiying heats, the announcement was made for a cancellation. I never had a radar in front of me, but from what I've read, there was supposed to be more rain coming as the night progressed. So what happens now is that all tickets bought for the event tonight are good for next week's program. Those who did not come before the event was called will have to pay $14.00 and $5.00 for adults and kids respectively, but if the rain holds off next weekend, it'll be worth it. In regards to the schedule, I'll come back Wednesday with more.

Until next time, stay safe and dry.

Summer Blast-off Schedule

Hello, there! I told you in my previous entry that if I find out the tentative order of features for Friday's event, I would come here early and post it here in a separate entry. Well, that's what I'm doing at this very point in time. Today's business at the track included getting a more updated schedule up for the upcoming program. And the race order is as follows:

• SK Lights
• Late Models
• SK Modifieds
• DARE Stocks
• Limited Late Models

And of course, there are fireworks during the evening.

So because this was the only order of business I had to conduct after the posting of my original blog entry, I bid you a good rest of tonight and Thursday. And for those of you who are making your way to the Travelers Championship this weekend, have a fun time! It should be easier getting in and out with a new access road leading towards parking, and other than that, things look mildly okay.

Until Friday, take care.

Accidents Come in Mainly Twos (and Threes)

I admit, I've been slightly bored this past weekend. Sunday didn't do any justice (I had my mother in my bedroom, flipping back and forth between the NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Michigan and some Lifetime made for television movie or something like that). I think to make up for this emotion I'm having, maybe we should get this entry done and out of the way before I put it off until Thursday like I always do. That sounds like a good idea. I've got the highlights (and low points) of the June 15th "Allstate Night at the Races" program.

We started the night out with the DARE Stocks' 15-lap feature. This night looked to be shaky from the start, and on lap three, we get our first caution of the event when the cars of Duane Provost, Steve Berardi, and Dean Casagrande spin on the backstretch. They all drive away and it is a quick caution period. When the green flag comes out again, they're able to get in five more laps before the next incident occurs on lap-8: Melissa Blowers spins on the frontstretch. Again, a few laps are run under yellow. They try to restart the race, but it's a false start. Therefore, they must try again. The third time's a charm, and there's another three lap session before Albert Saunders spins while in turns one and two. A second false start later, and it's a four-lap race to the finish. Jeff Jolly and Norm Sears were engaged in a battle for the lead since the first restart of the race, and that lead went back and forth until around lap-12, when Jolly took the lead for good. The win was his second of the season. Sears, Casagrande, and Bill Dunn rounded out the top-4.

Then we brought out some of the open-wheel flavor with the SK Lights. All seemed nice and peachy until lap-10, when all chaos erupted. It took them four times to get the lap into the record books, with three accidents in the process. On the first time around, a six-car accident took place in the middle of turns one and two. Take two? Nope; didn't work out as well as most may have thought. As the green flag was still over the starter's stand, Mike Sweeney, Jr and Ray Griffen, Jr make contact and wind up in the grass over in turn one afterward. I honestly though that the third time would solidify this race, but the only thing it proved was that there was going to be another caution. This time, it was a multi-car incident in turn four. When the final caution of the race was cleaned up, driven off, and whatnot, Glenn Griswold obtained the lead and did not come across a challenge while picking up his first feature win of the season. Brit Andersen, Josh Sylvester, and Glen Reen finished out the board. (A side note here before I continue: The top five finishers in this race ended up in Tech for unknown reasons.)

The third race of the night had the warwagons and teams of the Late Models parade across the track for 30 laps of action. Six laps into the race, Doug Blowers, Jr spun in turn three, giving us the first caution of this feature. A half dozen laps later, on lap-12, there's caution number two: David St. Amant spins in turn four. And then four laps later, Tom Butler, JJ Hill, and possible other drivers are involved in a backstretch accident. The action on lap-16 would continue as Jonathan Smith's car meets the frontstretch wall and two wreckers afterward. Only three more laps were completed after the next restart, because on lap-21, Billy Snow, Jr spun in turn three, bringing out the sixth caution of the event. Again they went back to green, but on lap-24, the final caution of the event occured when Tony Lafo and Jim Mavlouganes wrecked on the backstretch. Meanwhile, Ryan Posocco took over the show and made it to the front with plenty of laps to spare. He would take down his first win of the season, followed by Jim Peterson, Woody Pitkat, and Corey Hutchings. Posocco's win in the feature tied him with Peterson for the all-time Late Model win record. (As a second side note: The top five cars were brought into Tech.)

After switching up warwagons and teams, the SK Modifieds were now the dominant division on the track. Luckily, they weren't trying to conduct a repeat of last week's one hour marathon session. I think because their first caution was a good 14-laps into the race, courtesy of John Cleary and Kerry Malone, who were involved in an incident in turns one and two, this race was going to be a pretty smooth one. Just try telling that to the drivers. Lap-24 was a pretty chaotic lap, starting when Malone seemed to stall in turn three. As the Mods attempted to try the lap again, Curt Brainard and Jeff Johnson wrecked in turn two. Thankfully, the third time was indeed successful. Yet it was only a lap before Ted Christopher spun in the first and second turns. It was a quick caution, and the green came back out. On lap-34, Eric Berndt spun in turn four, sending the cars under the yellow once again. After yet another quick caution, the green was released upon the field, three more laps were completed, and then... Bo Gunning wrecked in turn two, which set up another restart. Actually, there were two false starts in a row, bunching the field up for the final restart of the race. A battle between Woody Pitkat and Willie Hardie came down to the absolute final lap, where Pitkat bumping Hardie just enough to get by. This was Pitkat's second win of the season. Christopher, Hardie, and Jeff Malave finished in the top-four.

The final race of the night was focused on the Limited Late Models. The only major problems occured on lap-13. First off, Bill Davis spun on the original attempt of the lap. And on the restart, Lori-Jo Rzeszutek spun in turn one. At the front, it appeared as though it was Andrew Durand leading the parade. He crossed the line in first, but Tech had news for him: The left side of his car was too heavy, and he was disqualified from the finishing order. This gave Rick Lanagan his second win of the season. Rounding out the board were Joey Ferrigno, Kevin Gambacorta, and Corky Hinze.

Okay, so now that we've gotten that squared away, I'd like to tell you what's coming up next on the docket. It's a regular week, with all five of Stafford's weekly divisions running normal-length features. Let me also say that it's the Summer Blast-Off/CARQuest Dealer night. All general admission and reserved seating prices are lowered for this event. Anyone under the age of 14 will get into the track for no charge at all with a parent or guardian alongside. This is a great night, as there are fireworks at some point after dark. At this point in time, the schedule for the event says that "feature events begin" around 7:30pm with "fireworks after dark". If this is not changed before Friday, I will mention what the order is in the next entry. So until then, I would like to remind all of you to stay safe throughout the week, and congratulations to the class of 2007. May you have a bright and healthy future.

A Night to (Semi)-Remember

Okay, so again I've put this off until the absolute last day. (Though this time, with the amount of material I'm covering, it could have been worse. I could be writing this before the time I usually seclude myself and get ready for our next event.) But breathe easy, readers, as I uncover the mysteries, secrets, and scandals that was the June 8 event at the Stafford Motor Speedway... Which in turn included the first and only appearance for the Busch East Series, and that in turn gave fans their only opportunity to see some of the top developmental drivers racing for the major NASCAR Nextel Cup teams. Stars and cars all around, and not a second's worth of time to waste. So let's get to the action!

We started the night with thirty cars taking two laps of time each. Because sitting in the stands and trying to listen to all of the times was going to be quite difficult, I gave myself ample time and grabbed some pavement over by the time trial board towards the end of their session. There, I got a good look on how they do things: More organized than any other touring series I've seen in my life. (And I haven't seen too many.) Due to this prim and proper style of getting things done, I found that finding the fast time was going to be easy. And it was... Your fast time was 19.573 seconds (translating to 91.963 miles an hour), and it belonged to Sean Caisse. Regardless of where anyone qualified, there was no redraw. So where they qualified was where they would start in the feature later on in the night.

And now, we jump to our local part of the program. Since all weekly drivers in the top-18 in points were qualified into their respective features, there happened to be no last chance qualifiers. At about 7:30, we went from awards and the opening ceremonies to the SK Lights and their 15-lap feature. Their race started slow as on the opening lap, Aaron Goff spins in turn one. When officials wanted to try again, the cars of Harry Wheeler, Rich Hammann, Scott Nordman, and Ray Griffen, Jr were all involved in an accident that happened at the end of the frontstretch and into turn one. The third time was a charm, and they went a whole five laps before the caution flew again. This time, the wreck took place in the middle of the first and second turns. Involved in this melee were Brit Andersen, Chris Matthews, and Josh Sylvester. After that, it was smooth sailing to the finish. Matt Gallo held off a charge from Raymond Grassetti to score his first victory of the season. Grassetti came in second, followed by Kyler Cafro, Glenn Griswold, and Mark Bakaj.

For the second feature, it was time to bring out the warwagons. We were going racing with fenders, because the Late Models took to the track. Everything was fine from the drop of the original green flag to around lap-13, when Doug Blowers spun on the backstretch. After he drove off, we were back to good, clean racing for the most part. But this all changed on lap-24 when it looked like someone's engine expired on them. The Super Clean Safety Team was on the case, applying speedy dry onto the track, starting in the vicinity of turn two. Of course, this race just wouldn't be complete without one more caution, and on the final lap, we got it. Blowers spun again -- this time, on the final lap -- in turn four, sending the boys into a mode of green-white-checkered. At the front of the pack, it was an intense two-lap battle, with Scott Foster, Jr and Jim Mavlouganes battling for the win. But Foster held Mavlouganes off and scored his second win of the season. Ryan Posocco and Jim Peterson rounded out the top-4.

Our third race of the night belonged to the Limited Late Models. They couldn't get one lap in before the first caution of the event flew. It was for Joey Ferrigno and David Capriati, who got into an accident over in turn four. When they were able to get the race "underway", they only got three laps in. On lap-4, Charlie Newman spun in turn four, which brought out yet another yellow. The second chance to get that lap into the record books didn't fare so well, as Peter Martin and Rick Lanagan were involved in an accident on the backstretch. Up front, however, it was all Andrew Durand. It was like a celebration lap as he claimed his third win of the '07 season. Darrin Havanec, Sean Foster, and Kevin Gambacorta finished off the board.

You've seen all of the good, clean races that occured so far, right? Who would have thought that the race of the night, however, belonged to the next set of cars to run: The SK Modifieds. From what I've read, nearly every car in the field of 27 either dropped out of the race early due to some problem, or was a part of one of the thirteen cautions that they brought out. The action got started on the second lap of the event, as Richie Pallai, Jr spun in the second turn. Six laps later, we had caution number two when Scott Bennett spun in turn four. Three laps later, a black car (I believed it to be Bennett) spun again; this time on the backstretch. After he drove his car off, we had our longest green flag session of the entire race: A whole 16 laps were run under the green before Curt Brainard spun in turn four on lap-27. A false start proved to be the case the second time around, and the third time was not a charm this time as there was a multi-car accident in turn three. The Mods could only get two laps in during the next green flag period, as Keith Rocco, Ted Christopher, Eric Berndt, John Cleary, Scott Bennett, Rowan Pennink, and Curt Brainard were involved in an accident in turn four. (Thankfully, Ben Dodge provided us with a list of who was involved in that accident. I wouldn't be so lucky again.) When they tried to do the lap again, there was controversy afoot. Coming out of two, Willie Hardie appeared to be knocked from both the side and the back and nailed the backstretch wall, collecting Lloyd Agor and Wade Mattesen in the process. Fingers were being pointed at the two possible suspects who might have ended Hardie's night: Zach Sylvester, who was the leader at the time of the caution, and Frank Ruocco, who was behind Hardie. For both of them, they ended up on the safe end of the deal. No black flags were given during the duration of that caution period. All might have been safe for now, but only one lap was turned under green as Cleary and Pennink were involved in an incident on the backstretch. On the possible restart, there was another multi-car accident on the backstretch. It could have been worse, as nearly everyone who wasn't a part of the accident tried to steer clear of a spinning Frank Ruocco. There appeared to be no contact. After the cleanup commenced, we got three laps into the record books before Keith Rocco brought out another caution. This time, it was a cingle-car accident in turn three. Two more laps would be run under green before Todd Ownn and Agor would bring out the twelfth caution... An incident on the backstretch. More fingers were pointed at people after this was said and done, but it turned out that Owen had a problem with the car. Therefore, nobody was to blame for knocking out another two cars. But the restart? Well, that didn't bode so well for both Sylvester and Christopher. The pace car wasn't even safely off the track yet, and there was a multi-car caution on the frontstretch. I couldn't tell who or what caused this to occur, but it knocked a few contenders out of this event. It set up a six-lap dash to the finish, however, for those who were still able to get their cars around the track at a safe speed. Only two cars had a shot of winning the feature, from what I could tell... Ruocco and Berndt. Berndt tried his best to make a move, but it wasn't enough. After about one hour, thirteen minutes of dramatics, we finally had a winner in this collected pile of chaos. It would be Ruocco's second win of the season. Berndt would finish second, followed by Bo Gunning and Brad Hietala.

And now we shift our attention from something that took nearly forever to complete to something that took about three minutes out of my time. The last weekly division to go was the DARE Stocks. And after what had happened in the previous features, they ran yet another caution free event. Norm Sears would be your winner, taking his second win of the season. (For some reason, the track's site says that this win was his first. Last time I checked, he was declared the winner of the May 4th event. I do not have the information about the reasoning at my fingertips at this point in time.) The rest of the board had Vince Gambacorta second, Duane Provost third, and Matt Chiarizio fourth.

Now it leads us to the main point of the evening (though I've already mentioned which race was the race of the night). It was finally time for the TSI Harley Davidson 150. Unfortunately, I would leave the track a bit early. I don't think this race was up my alley, and perhaps it was because I wasn't willing to sit down to watch this. Though I can tell you that the winner of the event was Eddie MacDonald, who isn't running every race on the schedule this year due to sponsorship issues. Following him to the line were Mike Olsen, Matt Kobyluck, Marc Davis, and Bryon Chew.

Now that I've spent the time going over what was a wild night, I would like to tell all of you that we are racing tomorrow evening. We are going back to having qualifiying heats for the Stafford divisions because we have no major touring series here until July 10, which by my page is a Tuesday night. Sit back, relax, and have a nice, safe, rest of the day. I'll see you tomorrow night. Until next time, the gas pedal's on the right...

Since I've Been Gone... [6/1 Winners]

This is going to be quick, as I have no notes. Remember, I couldn't make it due to commitments that my brother had made two weeks before June 1st.

Here are the winners from the June 1 program:

• SK Modifieds: Woody Pitkat
• Late Models: Scott Cook
• SK Lights: Brit Andersen
• Limited Late Models: Sean Foster
• DARE Stocks: Carla Botticello

And before I forget, we have some Busch East cars arriving tomorrow at around 8:30am EST (yes, that early) for the 17th annual TSI Harley Davidson 150. In case I didn't do this before, I would like to present to you an entry list for your perusing pleasure. Luckily for the track divisions, there will be no qualifing heats. Features are supposed to start around 6:15pm EST, beginning with any last chance qualifiers. If we don't need LCQ's, we'll begin with the SK Lights.

Stay safe, and I'll give you all of the information regarding what happens in the next entry. Until next time... See ya...