Results of July 9

If there was one thing I forgot to do this week, it was put the write up of last week's events on the blog. Okay, doing that now.

On the 12th week of action at Stafford, it was a five-division program. No special races, no extra bang for the buck… Just the racing action. It was part of a span of regular programs that would be leading up to the SK 150 later on in the month.

The first feature to run was that of the Limited Late Models. The start was delayed for a few minutes as track officials had to clean up a mess that sat on the frontstretch, just off of turn four. Once they did, the race was on. Duane Provost darted out front, followed by Jesse Hinze, who found his way into second. Carla Botticello, who had been fighting for third, spun in front of the field in turns three and four and sat idly in the grass in turn four. The caution came out with only one lap on the board. It was a quick caution; Botticello returned to the back of the pack. On the restart, Provost maintained control of the lead. Now in second was Robert Dow. George Nocera, Jr was coming as well and was battling Hinze for third. The battle was also on for first, which was taken by Dow with two laps down. Nocera found his way around Hinze for third and a few laps later found himself in second after he passed Provost. As Provost fell backwards through the field, making his way into the top three was Andrew Durand, who sat in third. It would be a while until the next caution came with twelve laps completed, when Botticello’s bad luck continued after she hit the wall in turns one and two, just after the safer barrier. After the cleanup, the restart happened. And a fight for the lead ensued between Dow and Nocera. Dow reclaimed the lead during the lap, but Nocera continued to remain close at hand. The rest of the top five drivers also kept close (Durand, Shawn Thibeault, and Michael Wray), and soon enough, third was now a dogfight between Durand and Thibeault. Thibeault picked up the spot with three laps to go. But back up front, the race belonged to Dow. He’d pick up the win, with Nocera in second. Thibeault ended up in third. Durand finished off the board.

Up next was the Late Models. It was a dragrace when the race began, with Tony Lafo and Scott Cook racing for the lead. The first lap ended with the two cars still side-by-side. By the second lap, things still weren’t set in stone. When the field got into turn one, Woody Pitkat got turned and was sent through the grass. Corey Hutchings spun midfield, sending the rest of the field around him. Others weren’t so lucky, including Doug Blowers, who ended up next to the safer barrier. It set up the first caution of the event. A black flag was awarded to Pitkat during the caution, sending him straight to the back of the field for the ensuing restart. Cook got the jump, with Keith Rocco’s help. For the first time all race, there was a clear cut leader. Also in the mix at the front of the field was Jim Peterson, who was sitting in third. And Dillon Moltz, who was in fourth, wasn’t too far behind as well. As the leaders crossed the line to complete nine laps, Rocco made the move to past Cook for the lead. It was successful, and others realized that if Rocco could pass Cook, then they could as well. Peterson, Moltz, and Michael Bennett consecutively passed Cook for the second, third, and fourth spots. Things were quiet for a while after that. It wasn’t until the 24-lap mark until a battle came up for third - Bennett took the spot over Moltz. Besides that, the remainder of the race went uneventful, and Rocco won his first Late Model race of the season. Peterson settled for second, followed by Bennett and Moltz.

The middle of the event called for the SK Lights. Jay Goff was the early leader, with Zachary Aszklar right behind him. Behind them, Ted Cain and Harry Wheeler were fighting for third. Add in Erica Santos, and it became three-way. Cain picked up the position, followed by Santos. The voyage of Cain to the front wasn’t done yet, and he soon passed Aszklar for second. The trip to the lead was put on hold as the first caution came out with five laps completed in the race. It was for Thomas Barrett, Jr, who spun in turns one and two. He managed to get the car going, but he would have to restart in the back. Speaking on the restart, it was Goff getting back out to the front once again. Aszklar found his way back around Cain for second and passed Goff for the lead. As soon as the cars crossed the line to complete the sixth lap, things went haywire. All of a sudden, it appeared as though something on Joey Cipriano’s car broke, and he ended up flipping onto his roof. There was no need for yellow; the red flag was the only option at that point. Thankfully, he was able to get out of the car under his own power.

Unfortunately, I lost most of the SK Light feature after this while working on it. (I apologize for this. What I did (and how I did it) was purely accidental, and I hope you can forgive me.) Barrett came back after the early race spin and won his third race of the season after passing Aszklar about midway through the race. Matt Galko managed to finish second. Aszklar and Earl Pelletier finished third and fourth.

It was more open wheeled madness with the SK Modifieds. Josh Sylvester slightly pulled ahead to begin the event. Sean Foster sat behind him, followed by Mark Bakaj. Frank Ruocco was also coming, making his way to third in the first two laps. Also in the first two laps? The first caution. It involved multiple cars, starting with Bakaj heading into the frontstretch wall hard. Other cars ended up in distress and the yellow came out. On the restart, the first two rows were in a battle for position. Things didn’t clear up in a lap, when Woody Pitkat ended up in the grass down on the frontstretch. He didn’t get going again and the caution came out once again with three laps down. He went onto pit road for repairs and joined the field right as the field was about to take the green flag. It was a green flag that J. Sylvester took advantage of - he powered right back to the front. Ruocco managed to get around Foster for second, and in the span of a lap, got around J. Sylvester for the lead. He crossed the line to complete the fourth lap just in time. Once again, the yellow came out. It appeared to be for debris in turn three. The mess was cleaned up and the field took the green for the restart. Ruocco reclaimed the lead, held off J. Sylvester for the spot… And if there was going to be a challenge for the lead, it was going to happen after a caution with six laps completed. Joe Allegro, Jr found himself stranded up in turns three and four, prompting the yellow back out. All of that signaled yet another restart. Ruocco didn’t hold up in getting back out front. Second was now a fight between brothers - J. Sylvester and Zach Sylvester. As they came to complete the ninth lap, it was J. Sylvester in second by a nose. The sibling rivalry gave Ruocco all the motive he needed to start building a lead. A bit deeper back in the field, Z. Sylvester found his way into second. Todd Owen was now in third, with J. Sylvester sitting in fourth. During the green flag run, Owen happened to pass Z. Sylvester for second. The end result of the run came with 18 laps down, when Chris Jones ended up in the safer barrier in turn one; it prompted the caution to come back out. (It also gave the track crew time to pick up a traffic cone that was sitting just past the start line, that got there for some unknown reason.) The green came back out, and it was Ruocco right back out in front. Owen was still plugging away in second and was not ready to back down from a challenge. Another long green flag run was on the field’s hands… That was until the board said 33 laps down. Nichole Morgillo spun in turns three and four, bringing out the next caution. A very crucial restart was about to happen. Ruocco bolted back to the front spot, with Owen and Z. Sylvester fighting for second. Behind them, Dan Avery showed some muscle by getting around Keith Rocco for fourth. With every battle and pass, the field reached four laps to go. Would the final four laps be the final battle of the race? If it was, they were coming after the caution. Again, Morgillo was involved. This time, she ended up backed up into turn one. It signaled an eventual restart. Was something going to happen? Yes. Once again, Ruocco pulled ahead. Owen was still on his bumper. Over the course of the final four laps, it looked like Owen had a few tricks up his sleeve. The tricks weren’t enough. Ruocco took his second win of the season. Owen ended up finishing second. Rocco wound up third, while Z. Sylvester finished fourth.

Finally, it was the DARE Stocks. It started with Donald Cook pulling into the lead, followed by Stephanie Berardi, who had her hands full with three drivers - the one driver that did find room for clearance was Nicholas Salva. Berardi found her way around Cook into the lead, bringing Salva with her. Cook fell to third and was challenged by Josh Wood for the spot. Third officially belonged to Wood. All of the action that was building was put to a halt with four laps down, as Vince Gambacorta spun in turns one and two, giving the race its first caution. The restart came around with Berardi still leading. Salva was still in second, but third was now between Wood and Cory Casagrande. Wood got the position and ended up bringing his magic into second. Along with that, Salva became the new leader. The rest of the top four drivers changed around as well. Things were put on hold once again, now with four laps to go, when a couple cars spun in turn four. It brought out a caution and a restart. Wood jumped the aforementioned restart, forcing him to the tail end of the field when they tried it again. It put Salva into the lead, with Tony Membrino, Jr in second. They tried the restart again. It was much more successful. Salva maintained his lead with Membrino still following him. Membrino fell back into the main pack and almost lost the car in turn four, but he saved it. Unfortunately, he lost second in the process. Second was C. Casagrande, who already had two wins on the season. He had no choice but to let Salva take his first win of the season. C. Casagrande finished second, with Albert Saunders in third and Membrino in fourth.

One weekend to go. That's what's left before the SK Modified 150. On the July 16th edition of Stafford's racing action, a five-division program is on tap. It's weather permitting.