Two For the Price of One

Good afternoon! It's time for a peek at the schedule for Friday night's "Two For the Price of One" Late Model night, along with four other divisions as part of the Whelen All American Series. It's not going to cost fans anything extra to come in around 6:15pm when the first Late Model race is run from lap-3. So when the makeup race has completed, you'll be treated to the regular qualifying heats and whatnot from four divisions -- Late Models are not doing heats -- followed by features. Do you wish to see a feature order? Very well then; I'll show it to you!

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

But from what the weather report says (two days in advance), it's going to be one of those days where it's just straight up nasty and wet. So stick around for the next couple of days, and I'll be back when I find out if the program's going to be run or not.

Friday Night Fights [7/20 Police Blotter]

Okay, here's what you've been waiting for now since I posted my other entry: The police blotter! I know, it doesn't like much, but it's really going to be something because it's the last thing you expect to hear. And with the night that went on Friday, trust me... There might be people reading this that have a different opinion. I don't know if you want to turn this into a huge conflict, but as long as I get this out of the way, I'm not the one who's going to be sticking my nose further into the situation. But here we go:

Lloyd Agor has been suspended for Friday night's event for unsportsmanlike conduct and due to the fact that he hit another car under the caution. (Here is a fan's take on the situation.) But on the other side of the spectrum, there is a familiar face to all of this. You should all know this name, boys and girls. Remember a man by the name of Chris Jones? Yes, he was the one who was escorted across the track during last season's Fall Final after a heated infield discussion. He returned, but he had someone else piloting the black #39. (The driver -- Todd Szegedy -- was just an innocent bystander.) But back to Jones... Just like last season, he had to be escorted across the track by a member of the security team. His slap on the wrist? He is indefinitely suspended from the paddock area and infield.

If you need to see the full detail, don't hesitate to see the rest of the police blotter.

Until the schedule for the July 27 event is posted, have a nice day.

A Rollercoaster Ride Worth Fifty Miles

Okay! Welcome to the fabulous world of a Tuesday afternoon at downtown "Small Town" Connecticut! I've been pretty lazy and/or willing to put off my entry until Thursday, but I wanted to give myself some ample time so that I wasn't on my butt trying to get the latest entry done on the last possible day. So with that said, I'm doing it three days before the next event. Unfortunately, I'll have to do a second entry right after this one so I can tell you all about what happened on the penalty notice sheet. There were a couple of bad boys during this heated night. For now, sit down, relax, sip some soda or whatever it is you drink at whatever time you're here, and listen as I tell the tale of the SK Modifieds going 100 laps... Plus four other features in the Whelen All American Series.

We started the night out with some full fendered action; more specifically, the cars of the Limited Late Models. Last time, their 20-lap feature ended up having four cautions in the middle of the action. We'll fast forward through the first fifteen laps of the race, telling you in the process that the race began with Sean Foster taking the lead and dominating up until the first caution on lap-16. That was when Barry Thompson spun in turns three and four. On the restart, Foster had the lead and didn't look like he was going to lose it. It appeared as though he would cruise to the win on the final lap, but as the white flag came out, the yellow was put into its place as Darrin Havanec spun in turn four, bringing out the caution to set up what looked like to be a green-white-checkered finish. Unfortunately for the field, their first attempt at the situation came up about one-and-a-half laps short. On the backstretch, Rick Lanagan ended up with the worst damage of a three car mess, with the end result being his car up against the wall going the other way. I'm looking at pictures of the night right now, and the press release on the track's site also agrees with the pictorial evidence: Paul Conte wanted to go airborne. (Let me be happy to say that it wasn't too bad and he was able to not destroy the car.) So now, there was a second attempt at a restart which proved to be the key to winning the race. Foster once again took control, and Charlie Newman followed him around the now third-place Andrew Durand. Newman tried to make a comeback, but it would be too late. Foster crossed the line first, scoring his second win of the '07 season. Newman, Durand, and Michael Nadeau finished off the scoreboard for this event.

The Limiteds exited the track via turn one, and in their place walked crew members, bringing out tools and other necessary equipment for 30-laps featuring the Late Models. Would you believe me if I told you that the Late Models and Limiteds finished their races in seventeen minutes each? I cannot tell a lie. That's exactly how it went. Here's extensive proof of what took place. Ed Ricard led the first two laps of the race, but whatever lead he had was short lived when Doug Blowers spun in turn four, bringing out the first caution of the event. When the green came back out, Ricard led until lap-3. And then, there was a lead change. Woody Pitkat became the new leader. And things were going on behind him. On lap-12, the cars of JJ Hill, Bobby Leone, and Rick Charette end up giving the field the second caution of the event. Charette looked like he backed up into the turn one wall, and Hill and Leone got together. Again, the green came back out. And again, Pitkat took control. The lead would only last for a couple more laps, however, because it was caution time once again. Turn one would be the scene of a two-car accident, and the two cars involved in this one belonged to Ryan Posocco and Jim Peterson, who are still tied for the all-time win lead as of the 20th. On the restart, Pitkat gave himself the lead again, and this time, nobody seemed as though they could have anything for him. He put on a show for the fans on the frontstretch as he crossed the finish line, claiming his first win of the (Late Model) season. Yes, I honestly thought he won more races in a fendered car. Finished in the top-3 a couple of times, but never had a win. Okay, the rest of the top-four: Jim Mavlouganes, Tom Fearn, and Corey Hutchings.

And now, things shift around. The full fendered automobiles take a little rest, and we drop the help on the infield for a race. This is open-wheeled competition with the sophomore season of the SK Lights. You might have heard what happened two weeks ago... They get five laps back, but they also have a time limit of twenty solid minutes to finish their race. Last week, things didn't fare too well. They went fifteen minutes over. Could the Lights rebound from the bad luck night of the 13th? I think the first lap told the entire story. A false start on the opening green flag bunched everyone up so that about a dozen of them could wreck in turns three and four as the second attempt almost became a possibility. You had the top-three drivers in the point standings involved in that (Chris Matthews, Glen Reen, and Brit Andersen), and just about everyone who was starting in the back. Needless to say, the race was red flagged with no laps on the board. Some of the cars involved got their cars moving so they could continue on with the race, while others -- like Glenn Griswold -- weren't so fortunate and had to be towed off and into the infield. Restart time comes, and Josh Sylvester assumes the top spot. The lead would have to be pulled back to the Earth's surface on lap-2, when Fred Nees, Jr winds up on the frontstretch in a solo-car accident. Sylvester would re-take the lead on the restart, but he would have a contender on his heels: Alan Provost. On lap-16, the lead changed hands when Provost snatched the lead away from Sylvester, and that would become the move of the race. Provost notched his first win of the season and of his career. Sylvester would come in second, followed to the line by Aaron Goff and Mark Bakaj. Length of race: Twenty-two minutes. They came close, I tell you.

Then it was time. The time of times! It was finally time to have the main attraction of the night. It was the 34th annual Coors Light SK Modified 100. A grand total of 28 cars started the feature, but only one could claim immortality... And a guaranteed spot in the SK-type portion of this year's North South Shootout at the Concord Motorsports Park. Who would win? The questions in the last entry would be answered in a total time of one hour, twenty-one minutes from the start of the race. The race would be Willie Hardie's from the opening green, even in the midst of three cautions between the first and 28th lap. The cautions would start coming like the plague on lap-14, when Shelly Perry brought out the first yellow flag with a spin in turn four. It was a minor incident; she drove off and it was a short caution. On the restart, Hardie took control again, but that lead only lasted three more laps as a second caution occured. Last year's winner of the event, Todd Owen, would be the next car to have problems on the night, almost as if he lost a tire and just sailed straight into the outside barrier. It would be assumed that the defending winner would not be able to defend the race successfully, handing over the title to another driver. But before we go too far ahead of ourselves, let's go back to the lap-17 restart. Again, you had Hardie taking the lead, and that would last for only four laps. Mark Anderson was the one who brought the caution out this time because he spun on the backstretch. This was a quickie caution, and the green would come back out probably less than a minute later with Hardie still in control. On lap-29, the car of Brad Hietala would experience heartbreak when he ended up in a solo-car accident in turn four. After cleanup commenced, the green came back out and it was Hardie leading the way. But now, however, Keith Rocco was coming up behind him and on lap-35, Rocco would help Hardie spin coming out of turn two. It was a four-car incident, including Jeff Malave, Richie Pallai, Jr, and Kenny Horton. Rocco would get black flagged for helping out with the caution, giving the lead to the all-time win leader period, Ted Christopher. But Christopher's lead was short lived. On the restart, Woody Pitkat stormed in front of Christopher and assumed the position of leader, even when there happened to be debris in turn four (this happening on lap-48). Pitkat went back into the lead, but it was only a lap until the next caution occured; this one being for Jim Larsen who spun in turn two. The next caution wouldn't come for a while, but there was still action. Christopher gained the lead back on lap-52, and Pitkat started to just slip back spot after spot until he really wasn't in contention anymore. Hope would seem lost for Pitkat until lap-79. Keith Rocco, who was black flagged earlier in the race, was now out of the race because his motor let loose in turns three and four, bringing out the caution. This allowed Pitkat to come to pit road and let his crew change tires. This would prove to be a very smart move for both him and his team. But at the moment, it was still Christopher out in front. The lead was erased once again when Larsen spun on lap-92 in turns three and four, setting up a crucial restart with Christopher still out in front. Pitkat was making a charge, however, and he would be back in contention on lap-95 when a series of problems occured. You had Hardie and Pallai spinning on the frontstrech, followed by Zach Sylvester in an accident in turns three and four, then Pete Pavone, Jr had his motor die on him on the frontstretch as the second restart bowed upon the field. The third test at the lap-95 restart would be a test of who would be able to get the better jump. The inside row had the advantage, but instead of Christopher pulling away, it was Pitkat going around TC. Another caution came out on lap-97 when Larsen was in a third caution along with Scott Bennett. So now, it came down to the final restart. Pitkat versus Christopher. Pitkat got the jump on Christopher, and while Christopher was falling back a couple of car lengths, it was Pitkat doing the daily double, winning both the Late Model feature and now the SK Modified 100. Christopher came in second, keeping Frank Ruocco in third and Kerry Malone in fourth.

Last, but certainly not least, there was a DARE Stock 15-lap feature to be run. Unlike the rest of the races on the program, this one actually went caution free. And there was only one leader in the entire event. Not bad for at least ten minutes of work. (Honestly, I don't think it was ten minutes. It might have been less than that. I didn't write a finish time to that.) What I can tell you was that the one and only leader to the event was Matt Chiarizio, who took down the win, his first of the '07 season and his career, on his birthday. Coming in behind him were Dan Flannery, Jim Brice, and Vince Gambacorta.

So, those are all the notes I have for you this week. I will do a special secondary entry so you can see who's not going to be at the track on Friday. Here's a little preview: The result is the last thing you'll ever think of. (Or it will leave you questioning why. Don't know yet.) But before I get started on that next entry, here's a treat I know you'll enjoy: How about double Late Model features? That's right! You know that event on July 13th that ended up being a four-feature night? Breathe easy, Late Model fans! You'll get the end of the July 13 feature, starting from lap-3 when the rains started to come in... And you'll get a regularly scheduled 30-lap feature as well. Just think -- it's like you get two features for the price of one! (Or one-and-a-half. I'm not quite sure about that as well.) So just keep this page up and I will be right back with the extra special police blotter from the SK 100.

Controversy? Rain? Cautions? I Highly [Doubt] It

No time to sit and think of things. I'm late, I'm late... I'm late! (You can clearly tell that I haven't seen Alice in Wonderland in a long time.) But for the record, this is the third week now that I've brought you results on the absolute last day I can possibly get them to you by. So feel lucky that on last Friday night -- Friday the 13th -- you had your standard one after the other, four divisions of Stafford racing. Why I say "four divisions" will be explained in detail towards the end of this whole thing. So shall we pick things up at around 7:32ish with the double green flags to signify the start of the DARE Stock race? I thought you'd never ask.

So like I said previously: At around 7:32pm, the man on top of the starter's stand opened up the feature portion of the evening with dual green flags for the 15-lap DARE Stock event. Things looked to be perfect for the first twelve laps of the race, with Dan Flannery leading the first eleven of them before Carla Botticello took over. Unfortunately for her, that's when the cautions started to come out. There weren't that many of them. The first of them occured on lap-13 (whoa, how ironic) as Barry Fluckiger, Frank Thompson, and Jim Brice found each other up in turn four. Back to green, and Botticello seemed to pull away from the field. On the white flag lap, she almost had things wrapped up... Until the cars of Cliff Saunders, John Hurley (who I haven't seen in a DARE Stock since at least two years ago?) and Matt Chiarizio were collected in a turn three caution, setting up a green-white-checkered situation. On the restart, Dean Casagrande tried to overpower Botticello, but it was Botticello who overpowered the field, scoring her second win of the season. Casagrande was second, followed by Flannery and Bill Dunn.

For the next two races, the action went from full fender to open wheel, starting with the 20-lap SK Light feature. Now note that since they've gone switched back to 20-lappers, they still have a time limit of 20 minutes. And since the July 6th event, I've been keeping tabs on when a feature starts (green waves) and finishes (first car crosses the finish line). Let me tell you right now that this did not come out to anything less than or equal to their time limit. The action started on the very first lap of the race, courtesy of Ted Cain, who saw the Armco barrier in turn one up close and personal. Green comes back out, and Alan Provost gets out to the top spot early. But the lead would be short lived, in a sense, as on lap-2, there was a four car accident on the frontstretch. The drivers involved in that time-consuming accident were Brit Andersen, Glenn Griswold, Michael Lane, and Scott Nordman. It was a lengthy caution, as the fine folks of the Super Clean Safety Team were on the scene, removing cars and dumping speedy-dry all over the frontstretch where Lane hit the wall. Once the accident scene turned into clear race track, the race resumed. Provost takes over the lead again, but Glen Reen was coming up strong, and Reen became the second leader of the race on lap-6. On lap-7, Jason Moore spun on the backstretch, bringing out a quick caution. Thank goodness for quick cautions, because at least one of the next two wouldn't be quick by any one of the definitions of the word. Reen would take advantage on the restart, and now trying to move to the front of the field was Chris Matthews. Matthews would make the jump up to second before a lap-17accident in turns three and four sent the field back under the yellow, involving Moore, Kyle Spencer, Fred Nees, Jr, and Rich Hammann. You'd think by now, someone in race control would remind the starter that it had been over twenty mnutes since the first wave of the green, right? Well, not really. As the green came back out, the car of Heather DesRochers ended up in the frontstretch wall, right about where I had been sitting. This was the second long yellow flag of the event. Once again, the Super Clean Safety Team was on the scene, placing lots of speedy-dry around the car and where her Light had ended up. This also set up a four-lap dash between Reen and Matthews, which ended up being Reen's race. He won his third race of the 2007 season. Matthews, Provost, and Mark Bakaj rounded out the top four. In the wonderful world known as technical inspection, however, Provost's car did not meet the minimum weight requirement of 2600 pounds, so he had to give up third place.

Attention was now shifted from how Modifieds did on their own to how they'd fare if they had help via the infield pits, because it just so happened to be time for the 40-lap SK Modified feature. You can clearly tell that by now, there had to be something in the sky, because during this race, there was a lot of jumping from whomever was in the front row later on in the event. But we'll begin from the top as we usually do, starting on the opening lap. That provided the first caution, when Zach Sylvester, Willie Hardie, and Shelly Perry were involved in a turn three accident. After this, the field played their own version of Musical Chairs. On the restart, Kerry Malone took control of the race, but he'd only lead a lap as Brad Hietala would lead the second lap. Hietala's lead wouldn't last for long either, as a new leader emerged on lap-3: That being Frank Ruocco. The action in the front would start to die down for a little bit as some action in the back picked up from last time. On lap-7, there were at least four drivers who weren't really up to speed, sending the field into caution mode for the second time in the race. The drivers were Ronnie Silk (taking over the #15 ride for the remainder of the '07 season), Richie Pallai, Jr, Jeff Baral, and Kirk Zervas. There might have been another one or two cars in that, but I couldn't tell you. (Sorry.) All right, the race went back to green, keeping the lead in Ruocco's hands until lap-9. That's when Pallai was in his second accident along with Lloyd Agor, this time in turns three and four. And then, there was a long green flag session with a new leader that would have his own problems. Keith Rocco had suddenly become the fastest driver on the track, and he passed quite a few contenders before finally passing Ruocco on lap-31. I'm about to tell you that when I mentioned something about jumping restarts, you'd find plenty of that after the original attempt at getting lap-33 completed. The first time the caution was brought out, it was for Pallai, who couldn't keep his car going in one straight direction. His car was in a one car accident in turn four. Needless to say, he wouldn't be a factor in the decision. Meanwhile, up front, the field was about to do a little shuffling in the first two rows. The initial front row for the first two attempts at a redo were Rocco and Woody Pitkat, who had moved up to second in the two laps after the lead change. Attempt two: Rocco jumped the start. On the third and fourth attempts at a redo, the SK field brought to me: Pitkat jumping and having to get put back a row thanks to race control. This now had Rocco and Ruocco on the front row for the fifth try. As the green came back out, it seemed as though Rocco's #78 may have had a problem, and a multi-car caution ensued just behind him. Hate to admit it, but Ben Dodge and Matt Buckler said he had problems, I said he had problems... Heck, I think everyone knew that his car had a couple of problems. What does race control do? Changes things up yet again. Now you had the top-four as follows: Rocco, Ted Christopher, and a second row of Ruocco and Pitkat (which I couldn't remember who was where, thank you). All I remember was that the four of them were just battling it out for the spots, and it ended up being Keith Rocco scoring his second win of the season. The rest of the board was Christopher, Pitkat (who had no air filter), and Ruocco. Now usually, it's just the top-three winding up in technical inspection. But for some reason, all four of them were inspected. No positions were lost in this chaos, and strange enough, it only took 35 minutes to finish the race.

Okay, it was time to go back to some full fenders now, because the Limited Late Models were ready to chomp at the track. Kevin Gambacorta took the early lead, even when David Capriati and Paul Conte spun in turns three and four on the second lap of the race, bringing out the first caution. On the restart, it was Gambacorta again, and it seemed as though nothing could stop him... Until lap-8, when Michael Nadeau and Sean Foster were involved in a two-car accident on the backstretch. It was on the restart when Gambacorta lost the lead to Charlie Newman, who now dominated the race until a lap-15 caution: Conte spinning in turn two. Under the caution, trouble occured with Newman's car, and he had to end his race on pit road. This now gave the lead to Andrew Durand. Durand would take control when the green came back out, but the lead shrank on lap-16. Gambacorta and Jeff Hubbell were the next two to bring out the yellow as they were involved in an accident in turns one and two. It was Durand's show for the final five laps of the race, and he would just sail to his fourth win of the season. Bill Davis, Rick Lanagan, and Michael Chaves rounded out the top-four.

As for the Late Models, well... They did take the green flag. Mark Lewis and Steve McQuillan did end up wrecking on lap-3 (in turn three). And on the restart, there just so happened to be a false start. But it began to slowly rain on their parade for the second week in a row. This was about at 10:00pm, but could the track be saved once the rain started to fall heavily? Not a chance. The race had to be called. The other 27-laps of this race will be made up, starting where the race was left off, on July 27th. I cannot tell you who was in the lead at the time the race was halted, so you'll have to stay tuned to find out who wins this one.

But let's shift our attention back towards tomorrow night. You know how wild that Late Model 100 was two weeks ago? If you liked that, you'll definitely like what is planned for this week. Think open-wheeled excitement, mixed in with cash bonuses and possible pit road strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 34th annual Coors Light SK Modified 100. Last year, it was Todd Owen winning it all. Can he repeat the feat and go back to back? Will another driver do it if he can't? In a little more than a day, those questions should be answered... Weather permitting. I've checked a couple of news stations last night, and they claim that it's going to be morning rain. One station has some rain coming in later that night, but nobody's got it added on their "seven day forecast" or whatever. In the event of rain, I will report right here. So until tomorrow, stay safe and dry, and I will see you around.

Late Model 100 and the Extreme Tuesday That Was

Well, gee. Again I decide to put this off until Thursday. I must be having the worst luck this season. Oh, well. I brush off my keyboard and I shall bring you action from the Late Model 100 and other features that took place on July 6. Let me tell you now that the only ones who had qualifying heats were the Late Models, only because the weather was sort of stinky earlier in the day. It rained for a good hour, starting at around 3:00pm, and then went on and off until about 5:30pm. There were no other major problems that happened during the three heats and practice, so let's get right to the action.

We started with the SK Lights, who before their feature had been told that they were going back to racing 20-lap features due to good behavior. For the most part (and I don't know if I should really be using that term lightly), it was a pretty good race. The first five laps of the race were clean, but as the cars were coming around to finish the sixth lap, there was an incident. I don't remember who or what caused this to occur, but in the end, five cars were involved in a turn four and frontstretch accident. Those involved were Matt Gallo, Heather DesRochers, Josh Sylvester, Michael Lane, and Mark Bakaj. The cleanup, courtesy of the Super Clean Safety Team (which irks me just typing that), took a couple of laps to get everything off the track. Once all of the accident was safely behind pit wall, the race resumed. Lap after lap ticked off until lap-17, when Tony Santangelo spun in turn one, bringing out the caution again. After the caution was when things really started to pick up. It was almost assumed that Chris Matthews was going to drive off into the sunset, but coming up through the field like a spitball was Brit Andersen. When Andersen caught up to Matthews, the two of them had an intense battle that lasted until the final lap of the race. The finishing order was decided in the last turn, down the frontstretch, and across the finish line as Andersen beat out Matthews by near centimeters. Glen Reen and Joe Allegro, Jr rounded out the top-four finishers.

The next feature to roll off was the Limited Late Models, who also ran a 20-lap feature. Luckily for them, they managed to get all of their cautions out of the way before the first half of the race expired. The first two cautions of the race took place on the opening green flag. The first of which was for Darrin Havanec, Sean Foster, and Shawn Thibeault, who were involved in a first turn accident. When the tried to start the race again, Foster and Havanec spun in about the same location as the accident. When the track was cleared, the race resumed. And wouldn't you know it... The third time was the charm. Unfortunately for them, they only got a full lap in before the next incident. That time, it was for Ed Charette, Jr who spun in turn two. (At this time, in the kitchen, there is a bunch of screaming that'll soon get put to a stop. Excuse me if I suddenly have an attitude for the rest of this entry.) Now where was I? Oh, yes: Only four more laps were completed until Thibeault spins in turn one. So now that the cautions for this event were out of the way, there was some actual racing for about fourteen laps. And unlike the race before this one, the lead never changed hands. Bill Davis lead every lap imaginable to score his first feature win of the season. Andrew Durand came in second, followed by Charie Newman and Kevin Gambacorta.

I'm sorry, but before you can breathe easy, we had the SK Modifieds on the track next. Forty laps of action with a couple of cautions sprinkled in, mixed with some intense battles for the lead equals a good preview for the main event, in my honest opinion. We'll start five laps into the race, when Willie Hardie, Wade Mattesen, and Jeff Baral get tangled up in turn three, bringing out the first caution of the event. Hardie's problems would continue on the restart, as he spun in the infield as the green was barely put away. Needless to say, the yellow was brought back out. Up front, there was a good battle for the lead on the third try to restart the race, with Kerry Malone up front and Bo Gunning trying to take the spot away from him. On lap-7, however, both of them would end up in a turn four and frontstretch accident. Lloyd Agor and Eric Berndt were the other cars involved. This put Keith Rocco in the lead. He would dominate the race until lap-30, as Woody Pitkat and Jeff Johnson were involved in an accident in turn two. A false start proved to be the case on the original restart, and when the green flag proved to be successful on the second attempt, Ted Christopher made a charge. Lap-31 gave us our third leader of the race, when Christopher finally made the move around Rocco to take the lead. Rocco would soon end up in some hot water when on the next lap, him and Brad Hietala came together and went up into the turn three wall, collecting John Cleary and Todd Owen as well. Christopher would dominate on the restart, and the laps ticked down until there wasn't any time left. He claimed his first win of the season and first since the 2006 Spring Sizzler. Rounding out the top-four were Pitkat, Gunning, and Zach Sylvester.

Then it was time for the main event... The 13th annual DiGiorgi Roofing and Siding Late Model 100. For the first three laps of the race, the field was under green flag conditions. This was until on lap-4, when Mark Lewis, Tom Fearn, and Tom Butler were involved in an accident in turn three. Butler was on and off pit road for most of the caution so that his crew could duct tape his car together because the caution was that bad. On the restart, the caution came back out again. This time, it was for a reason I couldn't spot in time (or it wasn't mentioned -- I don't know). In this race, the third time showed a spin, courtesy of Billy Snow, Jr, on the frontstretch. Around this time, Mother Nature was starting to play tricks on us. She would become the suspect on lap-6 when a number of cars were collected as part of a backstretch accident. There were nine cars involved, all of which had some form of damage to their cars or another. Woody Pitkat, who had finished second in the SK Modified race, had to get the right side of his car welded... Well, in two shifts. The rain started to come down heavier, and the drivers were instructed to bring their cars down to pit road. The race was red flagged. Crew members were allowed to head back into the paddock area to retrieve car covers and tarps, and a good majority of them had covered the cars before the rain got slower and slower until it had went away without hassle. The track was dried, thanks for the safety team and tire brigade, and the red turned to yellow. The yellow would not be seen again until lap-14, when David St. Amant spun in turns three and four. Then there happened to be a long green flag session, lasting from the restart to lap-33. Again, St. Amant brought out the caution after he spun in about the same place in three and four. There happened to be another long green session, coming to a little over halfway. Picking up a $100 bonus for leading at the halfway mark was Jim Mavlouganes, and he led until lap-55 as Jim Peterson took over the leading duties. Also at that point, Michael Bennett had a meet and greet session with the frontstretch wall, causing the yellow to come back out to visit the field. The next caution would not come until the 77th lap of the race when -- how appropriate was this -- Ed Ricard (driving #77) spun in turn four. Take two of the lap-77 restart gave us the first and only false start of the entire event. Only two laps of green were run before Ryan Posocco and Tony Lafo brought out the caution on lap-79 via a fronstretch accident. A quartet's worth of laps ticked by before Butler and Scott Cook were invoved in a turn one incident. Two laps before this one, Mike O'Sullivan secured the lead over Peterson after Peterson apparently had problems. The final caution occured on the 89th lap of the race when Scott Foster, Jr and Doug Blowers, Jr got caught up in a two-car accident on the backstretch. With that in the books, O'Sullivan just took control of the race and claimed it as his own, winning the longest race of the season for the Late Models. Completing the board were Peterson, Mavlouganes, and Corey Hutchings.

Although it was now 11:26pm, the DARE Stocks closed the night with plenty of time to spare. There was only one caution in the entire race, and that belonged to Steve Berardi spinning on the frontstretch on lap-10. Other than that, it was nice and quick: The quickest race of the night (12 minutes). Bill Dunn really didn't have to worry about the caution too much, as with less than a lap to go, he passed Rob Lawrence for the lead and the win. Lawrence would finish in second, followed by Megan Bienkowski and Barry Fluckiger. Post race inspection would put a damper onto someone's parade. That someone was Lawrence. His car had more than 23 percent of the weight on the left side of the car, so he was disqualified from second place.

I shouldn't forget what happened Tuesday night -- the CARQuest Extreme Tuesday program took place. Winning there was Rob Summers in the ISMA Supermodifieds, Erica Santos with the NEMA Midgets (becoming the first girl to win in the division), and Jeff Zuidema in the Pro-4 Modifieds.

Now then, to this week's story: It's a regular night of racing, boys and girls. It's also known as "Town Fair Tire Summer Heat", whatever that means. I'm thinking it's just a fancy way of saying that it's a regular night. The feature order starts with any last chance qualifers, if any; followed by the five divisions in the following order: DARE Stock, SK Lights, SK Modifieds, Limited Late Models, and Late Models. And for those of you who have a youngster in the Kids Club, be sure to remind them that there's a meeting tomorrow. I would wish that the track had a list of drivers who would show up to visit, but I'd probably be following them if I found out along with you. So... Yeah. Okay, that's it for now. It's 5:30pm here, and I'm done. So until tomorrow, I bid you good evening.

Dual Batch of Fireworks

Today, there's no time for unnecessary chit-chat. I've been a part of a fairly good hot streak recently, getting my entries in before Thursdays. (I'm trying not to do these things on the absolute last day I possibly can.) Will the hot streak continue? Nope. I'm posting this on a Thursday. It looks like the streak has been broken. Anyway, there were five features and one LCQ that went on Friday night, so without further ado... I bring you the events of June 29: The second attempt of the Summer Blast-Off night.

We started the night off on the right foot when the non-qualified Late Models were brought out onto the track for their final chance to make the show. Sixteen laps of action, and no cautions to boot. When I said we were starting the night off on a good note, I really mean that. Anyway, taking down the win was Scott Cook, and he was followed by Jim Mavlouganes, division newcomer Dillon Moltz, and Mike Quintiliano. They would be racing right after the Limited Late Models ran their feature...

...And that was the first feature event of the night. Unfortunately, unlike the one and only last chance qualifier that ran previous to this race, the Limited Late Models began the night filled with cautions on just the second lap out of twenty. Now please excuse me for my poor taste in judgment regarding this caution, but the incident occured in turns three and four and for some reason, I just couldn't pinpoint about half of the cars in this. I know for a fact that two of the cars involved belonged to Andrew Durand and Pete Cayer, but there was a white car that was also a part of this and also a car that drove off and joined the group before I could tell what the number was. (So again, I dearly apologize.) Getting back to the action, however -- a grand total of only two more laps were run under green before the next caution came out. This time, it was for Jeff Hubbell who spun/wrecked in turn three. On lap six, Ed Charette, Jr spun on the backstretch, bringing out the third caution of the first feature. For some reason, cautions coming on every two laps were getting to be the next best thing, as two laps later, Paul Conte and Charette spin in turn four. After a quick caution, the green was back out. And this time, more than two laps were run under the green... They got five laps in before Darrin Havanec and Kevin Gambacorta get together in turns three and four. Luckily, this was the final caution of the feature, and the remaining seven laps were all run cleanly. Up front, Rick Lanagan was bound to make it two in a row by any means, and after holding off the challenge of Sean Foster, he would make it so. It was his third win of the season. Rounding out the top-four were Foster, Bill Davis, and Corky Hinze.

The warwagons and crews of the Late Models came out for their feature next, and they seemed to have a pretty decent race. The only two mishaps that occured came on lap-25. The first time, it was for a multi-car accident on the backstretch. The restart on the same lap bunched the cars back up because it was a false start. Other than that, it was pretty much caution-free. Tom Fearn didn't mind the two caution flags, it seemed, because his car seemed to have it all. He beat Corey Hutchings, Woody Pitkat, and Jim Peterson to the line to score his first win of the season.

Then, there was the traditional "beginning of summer" fireworks display. The people who were sitting around me at the time (and I don't think I could have counted all of the people before the lights were turned off) were really getting into the music; singing along and everything. It was just one of those laid back moments where I could remove myself from the book and focus on other things. Joyous occasion. Of course, the lights regained their power afterwards, and during the course of the brief intermission, drivers were starting to make their way from all places just to line up behind the backstretch. We still had three features to run.

Cue up the other bunch of crews and equipment for the SK Modifieds. Forty laps of racing pretty much saw a couple of false starts within a ton of cautions mixed in. (Or was it the other way around?) The action in this race started on the absolute first lap of the race, as the flagman didn't even have the green flag out of the way before the first yellow came out. It was for a multi-car accident that took place in the first and second turns. Pretty much everyone who was involved in that was able to drive off. The next three attempts to start the race gave us false start after false start. The fifth time was the one that sealed the deal, and the race was finally counting down laps. There were only three laps counted before the first caution. On lap-4, Jimmy Smith spun on the backstretch, giving the field their second (accident/spin related) caution. It was a quick yellow flag session, and about two to three pace laps later, the green was back out. Lap-7 was the next moment of gold when Richie Pallai, Jr spun in turns one and two. Again, minimal pace laps were run before the green was once again shown to the field. When lap-16 rolled around, the yellow was back out. This time, it was for a two-car accident coming out of turn two. (The numbers of the cars involved are unknown.) Debris remained, and clean-up commenced. After the clean-up session ended, it was time to get the show rolling once more. Unfortunately for the field, the caution came out one lap later, when Shelly Perry hit the outside retaining wall in turns three and four. The retry lap wasn't successful, as there was yet another false start to hinder the field. Four more laps were completed under green before Pallai and John Cleary were involved in a frontstretch incident. On the very next lap, the caution string continued to unravel when Curt Brainard spun/was in a solo-car incident on the backstretch. The field got seven laps in before the next caution period occured, starting on lap-28 when Bo Gunning -- who was driving a backup car provided to him by Frank Ruocco -- gave us yet another caution by hitting the wall in turn four. Speaking of Ruoccco, the next caution came out a lap later after he spun in the frontstretch grass. The next time there was a back-to-back caution session was on laps 36 and 37. The former was for Scott Bennett, who spun in turns three and four. The latter was for a multi-car accident coming out of two and ending up on the backstretch. The lap-37 accident happened to be the last caution of the event, meaning it was a race to the finish line. Zach Sylvester and Woody Pitkat battled each other for the win, and it looked like Pitkat had Sylvester a couple of times. But in the end, Sylvester won his first feature in seven years. Pitkat came in second, followed by Keith Rocco and Ted Christopher.

The life and times of the extra support from the inside-the-track pits soon faded, and the DARE Stocks took to the track for the first of the two 15-lap features of the night. The first caution flew on lap-6 when Melissa Blowers spun in turn four. On the restart, Steve Berardi and John Kasper were involved in a turn-two accident, bringing the caution out yet again. Once that was cleaned up, a couple of pace laps were run and the green was brought back to the field. Fortunately, a dozen laps were run under normal, fast-paced conditions. Of course, there was always a catch to the matter. That was that after those six laps were run, Rob Lawrence spun in the middle of turns one and two, making the flagman wave the yellow for a third time. Only two laps after the spin, a five-car accident on the backstretch had the cars parade around the track for more pace laps. The cars involved were Lawrence, Robert Thompson, Jim Sullivan, Tom Stirk, and Duane Provost. The final caution of the event occured on the original white flag lap, when a multi-car caution occured on the frontstretch. Now with the cautions out of the way, the race belonged to Dean Casagrande. He scored his first win of the season, and he was followed by Norm Sears, Vince Gambacorta, and Bill Dunn.

The final race of the night belonged to the SK Lights. And unlike previous episodes, they managed to have a fairly clean race. All in all, there were three cautions: The first of which was on the opening lap of the race when Scott Nordman, Kyler Cafro, and Mike Sweeney, Jr collected each other on the frontstretch. I believe it was Nordman and Sweeney's cars that needed to be pulled apart. The good part about it was that both cars were finally unhooked from each other, yet both would be done for the night. On lap-9, Alan Provost spun in turn three, bringing out the second caution of the race. And finally, Aaron Goff was involved in a solo-car accident on the backstretch on lap-11, ending the night filled with cautions. Glen Reen, who had been out in front since around the time the second caution occured, never lost the lead to anyone and took down the win. This was his second win of the season. Rounding out the top-four were Brit Andersen, Chris Matthews, and Matt Gallo.

And now, before I cut you loose for the remainder of the night, some highlights from Loudon and the Saturday filled with open wheels and the stars and cars of the Busch Series. Donny Lia won his third race in a row and fourth out of the six races run so far after taking down a shortened feature event. After a lap-36 caution had to be red flagged, the fine folks from NASCAR realized that if the Tour continued into the planned start of the Camping World 200, those who came for the second race wouldn't be too happy. So the race was cut from 100 laps to only 85. In the Camping World 200, it came down to a showdown between Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards... Which ended with Harvick just squeaking out the win. When I get the photos developed, I will share them with you.

That's it. We are done. I would like to remind all of you that the next event at Stafford will be the 13th Annual DiGiorgi Roofing and Siding Late Model 100. You heard me -- 100 laps for the Late Models and regular distanced features for the other men and women (weather permitting). It looks okay for now, with a 30 to 40 percent chance of rain throughout the late afternoon and evening. So until tomorrow, stay dry and safe; and I hope to see you then.