2008 Spring Sizzler...

Day One. Yes, I'm deciding to play the "two entries in three days" card here as I do all of Saturday's stuff in one entry and then Sunday's stuff in another. At least I've got my priorities in one bunch here. But at least I know I'm not going to be sitting here for five hours, plugging away at a large entry. So we'll take it one step at a time.

And speaking of taking it a step at a time, let's start with the first step of Saturday afternoon: Time trials for the Whelen Modified Tour's 200-lapper on Sunday. A solid group of 35 cars lined up to present two laps each... Well, almost all of them, and some not so fortunate than others. There was the spin before Jimmy Blewett took the green flag for his two, and when he turned around, went to the start of the backstretch and tried to get as much momentum to (supposedly) take his two laps, NASCAR didn't like that and didn't accept either time. He was allowed to redo his trial, but he was only allowed to do one lap. That lap was the fourth fastest out of all drivers.

But the driver at the head of the board was 17-year-old Ryan Preece, with a time of 18.057 (or 99.684 miles an hour). That time earned him the Coors Light pole award for the Spring Sizzler. He was also the youngest driver in the history of the Modified Tour to set fast time.

Also to make note: All 35 cars were able to start in Sunday's event because track management was just so darn nice.

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Okay, so now that we got that out of the way, it was time for the Stafford weekly divisions to get their qualifying on. The order of qualifying was something like this: SK Lights, SK Modifieds, Limited Late Models, DARE Stocks, and Late Models. (I might have screwed it up somewhere down the line. Apologies.) But for the record, with the occasional close encounter of the caution kind, things went pretty smoothly.

And then we get to features. There were only three full-length features and one last chance qualifier that was actually considered a last chance qualifier (the Late Model 16 and no SK 21?), and the reasoning behind that was anyone's guess. So that allowed me to stay in the paddock area for a little while longer as the SKs were finishing up their 10-lap consolation event. After that ended, I paraded to the usual seat in the general grandstands to watch the features.

Saturday's opening feature happened to be the SK Lights. And what do you know? On the first lap, in turn one, there was a caution. It was for the cars of Michael Lane and Harry Wheeler. Lane's car needed the wrecker, so his afternoon was done before the first lap was officially counted. By this time of day, I felt extremely thirsty and needed a cool beverage. On my way to a booth, I caught myself in numerous places for the next three yellows. I wound up with different angles of CJ Lacativa's spin in the frontstretch grass on lap-2; Chris Bakaj spinning in turn two on lap-7 (and I believe it was a two-car incident but am not fully sure); and finally Wheeler's second incident on lap-10 as he spun once again in turn four. I finally got back to my usual seat to check out a wild finish, but not before a caution on lap-15 involving Neil Provost, Jr spinning in turns three and four. This is where the action heats up. Chris Matthews held onto the lead until the green came out and George Nocera powered past him (taking Mark Bakaj along with him). Unfortunately, this lead would only last a whole two laps as the caution came back out on lap-17 when Aaron Goff spun in turns three and four, setting up the field for the final laps. With two laps to go, Matthews retook the lead and that would practically be the end of it as he took down his first win of the season. Alan Provost would finish second, soon followed by Nocera and Raymond Grassetti.

Next up on the itinerary was some full-bodied action with the Limited Late Models. And I'm sorry for any early spoilerage, but this was a start-to-finish win in progress. Bill Davis gained early possession of the lead at the start of the race, and it seemed as though nothing could stop him -- including when the field was frozen on lap-11 after Darrin Havanec spun on the frontstretch to bring out the first caution of the event. Davis regained the lead on the restart, but only for four laps as the second yellow of the feature came out for a four-car accident in turns three and four (drivers involved: Jeff Hubbell, Lauren Cooper, Kevin Gambacorta, and Robert Dow). Again, Davis took the lead when the green came back out, and he would still have it on lap-17 when the caution once again revealed itself after Carla Botticello spun in turn four. Davis regained the lead, but it would start to get harder to keep as Sean Foster was breathing down his neck. The pressure would build up as a lap-19 caution would tighten the field back up one last time (the caution was for Botticello, Gambacorta, and Ed Charette, Jr who were involved in an accident/spin in turns one and two). Foster would challenge Davis for the lead by racing side-by-side with him, but it was too late. Davis would come to the finish first, picking up his first win of the season. After him was Foster, Joey Ferrigno, and Andrew Durand.

The cleanest "feature" of the afternoon happened to be the DARE Stock feature. Jeff Jolly was the first leader of the event and held onto the lead up until a lap-7 caution involving John Kasper, Todd LaPorta, and a third car that I might have misidentified in my notes. Either way, all three of them were involved in a spin/accident in turns three and four, and that obviously brought out the yellow. On the restart, it looked like Jolly had the advantage, but Norm Sears was coming up fast. At lap-8, he managed to get around Jolly, and it would ultimately be the pass for the win. Sears cruised to his first win of the season, followed by Jolly, Scott Roy, and Tom Stirk. After the race, the technical inspection experts revealed the car of Scott Roy to exceed the maximum compression ratio of 11:1, which meant that he was disqualified from the finishing order.

Saturday's final action on the race track occured when the Late Models had their 16-lap last chance qualifier. No cars were harmed in the making of this race (torn apart, I mean), and only one car lead laps. That car would be driven by Scott Foster, who would score one of the final spots in the feature on Sunday. The rest of the board looked as follows: Don Acker, Jr, Jim Mavlouganes, and Tom Fearn.

And that would be it for Saturday. Tomorrow, I finish up the action of the Sizzler by giving you reviews of the SK Modifieds and Late Models, along with a little thing about the Whelen Modified Tour race. Until tomorrow, you know what to do. Stay safe. (And dry.)