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.