Champions for Charities Drivers

The timeline was simple: Tuesday, a banner on the main page of Stafford's site said that the drivers who were going to participate in the Champions for Charities were going to be revealed the following day. And on Wednesday, the drivers were revealed.

To be eligible for consideration, there were only two stipulations you had to meet: You had to drive some type of open-wheel race car, and you had to have been a champion of an open-wheeled division.

The term "if you build it, they will come" applies here, as a dozen champions accepted invitations and will convene at the mini mile during CARQuest Extreme Tuesday. The list of twelve drivers includes both asphalt and dirt champions. Not all of them have selected their charities, but it should be determined in the coming days and weeks.

Your press release for this event is here, and your entry list is here.

Pre-2011 News

Hope you guys had a very Merry Christmas. 2011 is coming up quick, and there's news to share.

+ RallyCross is coming to Stafford. The parking lot is going will be quite busy on January 15 and 16 as the Engraving Awards and Gifts RallyCross and the Eastern States RallyCross Challenge Championship takes place.

+ In the "drivers moving up" department, Cory Casagrande is moving up from DARE Stocks to Limited Late Models, while Dylan Kopec will be racing in the SK Lights after winning the Senior Outlaw championship in the Wild Thing Kart Series last year. Kopec is not the only driver from the division to jump up to Friday nights, as there are three other drivers from the Senior Outlaws who are also joining him.

+ The third page I linked to in the last story includes more about the Champions for Charities event. The names of those who are going to be racing Senior Outlaws at the CARQuest Extreme Tuesday event will be announced sometime during the first week of January.

Champions for Charities

If you remember me talking about the schedule a few weeks back, I had mentioned something about a Champions for Charities event that was going to take place during the CARQuest Extreme Tuesday program.

Stafford put up the details of the event on the site today. I've linked to it here.

Here's what the event consists of:

During that night's schedule of events, 12-15 open-wheel champions (who were invited) will take to the track. They will pick a charity to represent and will start donating money to that charity of their choice. Stafford and CARQuest will give each driver/charity $3,000.

Each champion will be driving a Senior Outlaw from the Wild Thing Kart Series. On June 28, the drivers will qualify for the event with two eight-lap heats. This is where the donation factor comes into play. Because the more money a driver gets via donations, the better their chances are that they'll start on the pole for the heats. The two drivers who raise the most for their charities will be the two pole sitters.

After both heat races have finished, there will be a 15-lap feature. All races are done on the mini mile. The winner of the feature gets what the article calls a "champion's gift pack". There is a prize for the driver who raises the most money during the designated "fundraising period". That driver recieves also recieves a "racer's gift pack".

More information about this event will come in 2011.

I have nothing bad to say about any and all of this. Every year, there's always something different going on as part of the Extreme Tuesday event, and the 2011 edition should be pretty fun to go see.

Pre-Christmas News Megapost

This could possibly be the last post I make before Christmas, so let's make it a megapost. There's a lot to cover in this, so let's get right to it.

+ The big headline from last week: The banquet for the Whelen All-American Series, taking place last Friday night at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. Keith Rocco was the star of the show, as he was honored for his record achievement; collecting a maximum 810 points to clinch the national championship.

+ This logo, over to the right here? Well, it's going to be used in the 2011 season as NASCAR celebrates 30 seasons of the Whelen All-American Series. Sorry for taking it off the website. Thought a visual would be helpful. I'll also paste the link here as well. Did you know that nine tracks have been partnered with NASCAR for all 30 years? According to the press release, Stafford is one of those tracks.

+ Award money has also been revealed from this past season as well. $30,575 was earned from contingency sponsors (finishing in the top-3 in features; etc) and Reliable Welding and Speed for the Rookies of the Year. Another $35,500 was paid out for post-season awards.

+ And closing this out on a jolly note, Santa is coming to town. Santa is Glenn Johnson, owner of Morrison and Johnson Automotive. I love the pictures of the sleigh.

With that, I'm going to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Stay safe. Stay dry. And if there's news before the new year, I'll be posting it.

SMS Linkage Day

So... Yeah. Those banquets for the touring series/NWAMS coming this week? Stafford's got a press release on them. Won't link to that, because it's the same thing I linked to a few days ago when I did the blog entry dedicated to NASCAR Home Tracks. (There's also a press release up for the NWAMS, which I also have linked.)

Although there are more press releases on the site as well. So let's get into those, shall we?

+ One last tidbit of information in regards to the banquet and all events in the week leading up to it: There was a karting challenge between the drivers attending and some of the media. The event took place in North Carolina on Wednesday. There's video and a picture of the action in the article. Bobby Santos won the event. Ryan Truex (K&N Pro Series East) was second. Keith Rocco was third. The picture in the link was courtesy of Getty Images. Wherever that album is, I can't find it.

+ Don't think that the banquet is the only newsworthy thing going on this week. There's also a story about Victoria Bergenty.

NASCAR Home Tracks Linkage Day

You might have seen the little story on the main page of Stafford's site for a good portion of the fall - former NASCAR champions were in photo shoots with some of the champions in 2010, mainly in touring divisions. The Twitter page for the NASCAR Home Tracks (@NASCARHomeTrack) teased the release of the story on 12/6. They cut it close. Today, it's out.

Looks pretty good, too. Click here. You have the photo taken at Stafford with Bobby Santos and Bobby Allison, and the photo of Keith Rocco and Richard Petty taken at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. I believe the latter (not the actual photo in the link, but another photo) was shown on Stafford's home page as well. I might be mistaken.

Speaking of Rocco, NASCAR's Home Tracks site also has a wrap-up of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, concluding the 2010 season. (No, the series isn't wrapping up. Just the season.) Just kind of goes over what we already know. There's also information up for the NWAMS banquet, taking place on 12/10 at 7pm EST. There's scheduled to be a webcast up on the NASCAR Home Tracks page.

Your Late Awards Post

A little more than a week ago, Stafford held its annual champions banquet at LaRenaissance in East Windsor. About 500 people showed for the event.

The champions were formally crowned, and other awards were given out. I apologize for not going into full detail on this one, but the story on the awards will tell you who won what - as far as anything not previously announced goes.

Champion Stories and Champion Ceremonies

Don't have a lot to talk about, but it feels like a lot. Let's get to it. The other three champion stories are up on Stafford's site. All posted on Friday. Just as I thought they were going to be.

SK Lights - Limited Late Models - DARE Stocks

And information about the awards ceremony in November is also up. No real explaination needed.

Track Champion Stories

Hey there - sorry for any lack of updates. I should have had this posted last week, on Friday, when the following two links were posted on the track's site. But we've got champion stories.

Here is Keith Rocco's story.
Here is Ryan Posocco's story.

I have a feeling the other stories are coming during the month of October.

The End of the Road

After nearly twenty weeks of racing, it was time for the final installment of racing at Stafford. At least, for 2010. There were still four championships to be decided - at least, it seemed as though it would be the case. Every weekly championship except for the SK Modifieds would be determined throughout the course of the weekend. Most of them were close, but all of them would be closed by the time Sunday night rolled around. And there was a possibility of the Whelen Modified Tour championship in someone’s hands as well. Who won races and who won championships? Let’s find out.

Before anything was to be determined with points races, there was a matter of time trials for the Whelen Modified Tour. They were on hand, too, for a 150-lap race on Sunday afternoon, and time trials the day before was a tradition. The times, for the most part, were bunched together. The last couple of drivers, however, were the ones who set the faster of the times. The last driver to take time was Justin Bonsignore, who set the fastest time of the afternoon. His time was 18.355 seconds. (Later on, the redraw would take place. The top eight drivers redrew for the Sunday feature.)

Heat races for the weekly divisions were next, and they set the tone for the events that were to come later that day and on Sunday as well. There were extra heat races for some divisions, because the number of cars that were in attendance this weekend was larger than usual. Case in point: There were a grand total of four heats for the SK Modifieds.

The DARE Stock feature kicked things off. Stephanie Berardi originally led things off, but Albert Saunders took over as the leader within the first lap. He pulled out to an extended lead. Behind him, drivers battled for position, with Cory Casagrande eventually taking second. Over the course of the next few laps, the lead that A. Saunders had was being closed up a bit. Unfortunately, the first caution came out with eight laps on the board, when Cassandra Secore spun in turns three and four. He drove away and the race went back to green. On the restart, A. Saunders once again pulled out to the lead. Second was now Nicholas Salva, with C. Casagrande finding himself in third but not out of striking distance. It didn’t take long for C. Casagrande to move right back into second, as he passed Salva for the spot. Salva fought for the spot, and reclaimed it only laps later. With two laps left in the event, however, C. Secore spun once again; in turns one and two this time. On the restart, a multi-car situation on the backstretch brought the caution right back out again. The safety team had their work cut out for them, but after cleanup, it was restart time again. It was a dogfight for the lead between A. Saunders and Salva, but in turns three and four, Salva went up high, giving A. Saunders the lead coming to the white flag. C. Casagrande attempted to take the lead from A. Saunders, but in the end, A. Saunders ended up with the win. C. Casagrande finished second, with Stephen Daddio in third and Salva in fourth. With a seventh place finish, Tony Membrino, Jr picked up the DARE Stock championship. (Excuse me for any lack of information in this one. I was having computer issues for the duration of the feature. Let’s just say that my keys were not very happy about working.)

After two SK Modified consolation events (and a quick computer restart), it was back to feature action.

The SK Light feature was next. Unlike the DARE Stock championship situation, this one was more contested. (Not against the DARE Stocks, but the points battle wasn’t as heated in the last feature as compared to this one.) This one started off with Tony Santangelo taking off as the leader. Victoria Bergenty found herself in second. Matt Galko, who was second in points coming into this event, moved past Bergenty for third… But Bergenty tried to take over the position once again. It didn’t work. Bergenty stayed close to Galko, however. They’d remain close - on the second row, that is, when the caution came out with only two laps on the board. David Webb had spun in turns three and four. He drove away before the yellow came out, but dirt was found in the turns and it was a caution situation. It was a quick caution situation, and the restart was only a few laps later. Santangelo retook the lead with what seemed to be ease. Galko wanted the lead, and he got it. Jay Goff wanted the lead from Galko, but it wasn’t meant to be as the caution came out again. Dylan Liseo went up and over Erica Santos in turn one, and the yellow was back out only three laps into the race. Points situation chaos occurred when Tommy Barrett, Jr, the leader coming into the event, went onto pit road with a flat tire. Because the rules state that SK Light crews cannot be on pit road, it effectively ended his afternoon. Once the accident scene was cleared, the green was back out. Galko found himself as the leader, with Goff following him in second. Kyle Spencer, who was running in third, joined the two drivers. The three drivers ran close to each other, and for the most part, single file. Unfortunately for Spencer, he was being black flagged by the officials just after the midway point for possible leakage and fluid dumping. The caution had come out with five laps to go for the liquid that was being dumped by Spencer. (The “not being scored” flag came out for him while all of this was going on. Just shy of the yellow coming out.) This put Brit Andersen in second, in a return to the division since the week previous to the Fall Final last season. Seeing no liquid, it was restart time. Galko pulled right back out in front, with Goff sitting in second. Andersen was a few positions behind from the second spot that he restarted in. He’d get the second spot back as the lap wasn’t completed before the caution came out. This was for Earl Pelletier, as he spun in the middle of turn four. He was able to avoid a multi-car accident and drove off without harm or foul. This was going to be a quick caution. Let’s try that restart again, shall we? It was the same story on this restart, too. Galko in first, with Goff in second. Goff’s bad luck on restarts continued as the car went up the race track and ended up in distress. He was able to pull the car onto pit road. Meanwhile, the battle for the lead was on. Goff tried to pick up the lead as the cars came to the line for two laps to go. It seemed as though Goff had it, but the caution came out not long after they had crossed the line. It was determined that no, Galko would have the lead back. (I’m sorry, but I have no idea what the caution was for. There seemed to be smoke in turn one, but as far as anyone saw, there was no car in trouble in the corner.) On the restart, it was business as usual for Galko, as he picked the lead up once again. Joey Cipriano, III was ready to take second from Goff. He did, and he was the one who was chasing Galko around the track. While all of that was going on, Webb was stuck sitting just shy of the starter’s stand, with what seemed to be problems with the right front tire. The caution had come right back out with two laps to go. Under the caution, Webb expressed his displeasure with Pelletier - who apparently was the one who put him into the wall to begin with. Either way, people were calmed down and the race was back underway with the green. Galko once again claimed his position out front. Cipriano still found himself in second, with Goff not too far behind him. The last lap was a celebratory lap, as Galko’s win gave him the SK Light championship. Cipriano finished in second. Goff ended up in third, while Tommy Membrino, Jr finished off the board in fourth.

Topping off the “it matters” action on Saturday was the Limited Late Model feature. This feature was billed as a three-way fight for the championship here. It was interesting to see how this one was going to unfold. Duane Provost was seen as the early leader when the green came out. Unfortunately, this lead wasn’t going to last long. Keith Minchella and Robert Farrington, Jr were literally stuck together on the backstretch, coming out of turn two. This is how they stopped, and that was how the caution came out. It took a while for people to get them unstuck. They were able to get them apart, and the race was back on. Provost went right back out into the lead, with Shawn Thibeault following him. Third was being contested between Andrew Durand and Rob Dow - it lasted for about a lap, and the spot was given to Dow. Meanwhile, the lead had shifted hands, as Thibeault now had control of the position. Provost, who had been leading for the early laps of the race, was being shuffled backwards and ended up midpack. There was distance between Thibeault and Dow, as Thibeault held a half-straightaway lead by the midway point, and it kept increasing (albeit somewhat slowly) as the laps ticked off the board. It seemed as though it would be a victory lap for Thibeault, but there was also a caution. Carla Botticello and Chris Cook spun in turns one and two, bringing out the yellow with only two laps to go. At some point before the caution, Dow went onto pit road with problems (I admit that I didn’t see this), which ended his race prematurely. It all set up a crucial restart that saw a new leader in points-leader Dan Flannery, who moved from third to first in a matter of a half a lap. On the last lap, Thibeault spun in turns one and two but was able to keep his car from being beaten up by other cars in the process. The car survived, but he was out of contention to win the race. This gave the win to Flannery, who picked up the division’s championship in the process. Second belonged to Joseph Nogiec, followed by Jesse Hinze in third and Dave Yardley, III in fourth.

The DARE Stocks came back out onto the track to finish up their season with the eight-lap fun race known only as the Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock shootout. It’s a race for the division’s All-Stars - mainly winners and other notable drivers from the season. Really… There is nothing on the line but a driver’s pride (and bragging rights for an entire winter). Cliff Saunders and Albert Saunders started the race on the front row, but after the first lap, C. Saunders won the battle of the brothers. A. Saunders was left to fight for second against Josh Wood. The winner of that fight was J. Wood. The two of them and Cory Casagrande (who was in third) pulled away slightly from the rest of the field. Halfway through the race, however, the caution came out for a spin in turns three and four - involving Jeff Jolly and Kyle Casagrande. They were able to join the tail end of the field, and the race resumed. C. Saunders and J. Wood fought for the lead once the green came back out, and after the lap was completed, C. Saunders had the lead… But only slightly. He’d clear J. Wood for the lead, and with C. Casagrande on his tail, the two of them pulled away from the field. On the last lap, three cars were in distress in turns one and two. Jolly and Nicholas Salva were against the safer barrier in turn one, while A. Saunders spun just off to the left of them (he’d pull away from the scene). Just after the white flag came out, the yellow was quickly coming out as well. Once everything was cleaned up, it was back to racing. C. Saunders maintained the lead, but there was a new second place driver behind him - Don Wood. The pressure wasn’t enough, however, and C. Saunders would win the event. D. Wood would finish in second, followed by Stephen Daddio in third and C. Casagrande in fourth.

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Everyone was back at the track less Sunday afternoon for the second half of the Fall Final, and the final day of racing action of the 2010 Stafford season. Saturday, people had to worry about sunburn. Sunday, the problem was windburn. Either way, the sun was still shining. Meaning racing was good to go.

The Late Models kicked off the afternoon. The points situation in the division was six points between Ryan Posocco and Woody Pitkat, the two drivers who were still in the running for the championship at this point in time. This was, in a points view, the best race of the afternoon. The fight began with Patrick Townsend leading the charge in the beginning, with Adam Gray finding his way into second. Tom Fearn got into third. The three of them moved single file, but they would be bunched together quickly as the caution came out with one lap on the board. A three-car incident in turn one (involving JJ Hill, Ryan Preece, and an unidentified car) ending with Hill spinning brought the yellow out early. On the restart, Gray took the charge and pulled ahead of Townsend to take the lead. Townsend had to settle for second. Once again, Fearn was in third. With four laps on the board, Townsend decided that second wasn’t good enough, and passed Gray for the lead. While all of this was going on, where were the two drivers still in contention to win the Late Model championship? With a third of the race in the books, they were fourth (Pitkat) and sixth (Posocco). This was because Corey Hutchings had spun through the frontstretch grass only feet in front of them. The black flag was given to Michael Bennett because of this, moving Posocco to fifth. So they were still close together. And neither of them were done moving through the field. They moved into second and third respectively after passing Gray with ease. With 19 laps on the board, Dillon Moltz went through the grass in turn two. Luckily, he kept the car in one piece. Unfortunately, he kicked dirt onto the racing surface after his safe, and that brought the second caution out. The restart that occurred later? Not good. There was a flat tire on Townsend by the time they hit the stripe to take the restart, and he found himself in the wall in turns one and two. The lap didn’t count and the caution was right back out. It also put first and second in points on the front row for the upcoming restart. The battle began when the green flew. Pitkat took advantage and moved into the lead. Second was now Keith Rocco after passing Posocco in style. But the action slowed down with nine laps to go as Mark St. Hilaire and Bennett were involved in an accident in turn three, bringing out the caution once again. It set up another crucial restart… Where Pitkat once again pulled into the lead. Rocco and Posocco resumed playing follow the leader in second and third respectively. Posocco stuck close to Rocco at one point in time, but couldn’t get around him for the spot. Two laps later, the caution returned for Tracy Brouillette, who hit the wall on the frontstretch (but was able to drive off). In short, it was a quick caution, and it was back to green in no time at all. Pitkat once again picked up the lead. Second was a fight between Rocco and Posocco. Finally, Posocco passed Rocco for the spot. Further in the pack, Moltz’s afternoon was continuing to drive him mad. After almost going around in turns one and two, dirt was kicked up onto the racing surface and the caution came right back out with only six laps left in the race. On the restart, it was back to the lead for Pitkat. It was a short green flag run, because the caution came out before the lap was completed. Tony Lafo spun in turn two, and Joe Rzeszutek wound up high in the corner in distress. It seemed as though they wouldn’t be able to go a lap without seeing the caution back in the air. Was this one going to break the streak? Pitkat once again claimed the lead. Posocco tried to battle Rocco for second. The two-car race became a three-car race as Jim Peterson joined the party. Rocco moved into second, while Posocco barely held onto third. The action was getting better… But the caution came out for the third time in the race for Moltz, who spun in turn four. Yes, it was another restart that was coming. It was the same old, same old. Pitkat leading. Followed by Rocco. Posocco kept his championship hopes alive by running in third. Behind them, fourth was between Hutchings and Peterson. Hutchings picked up that spot. Peterson had problems after that and stopped at the entrance onto pit road. And that was another caution - one that was with two laps to go. He drove away from the scene of the caution after the yellow was flying. A green-white-checker situation was now in play. What was going to happen? Pitkat once again took the lead. Rocco was still in second. The fight was for third between Posocco and Hutchings. Posocco held his ground and was in the third spot. The last lap ran green. And with double checkers, Pitkat took his eighth win of the season. Rocco settled for second, and the war for the Late Model championship was won via a third-place finish for Posocco. Fearn finished off the board in fourth.

Up next was the SK Modified feature. Unlike every other weekly feature this weekend, the SKs were the only division to crown their champion before the Fall Final. In Layman’s terms, this race was for bragging rights. The race didn’t start well. Right after the green flag came out to signal the start of the race, the caution flag came right out for an opening-lap spin with multiple cars. Some of them went onto pit road for repairs (Keith Rocco, Frank Ruocco among others) while Tom Bolles ended up being towed off the track. So far, so not good. Let’s try that again and make it better. Curt Brainard and Todd Owen fought for the lead through most of that first lap until Brainard had a minor issue, giving Owen the lead. (Brainard was shuffled back to fourth in the process.) It took five laps until another battle for the lead took shape, between Owen and Sean Foster. Unfortunately, Owen spun in the process, while a chain reaction took place behind them. Cars ended up everywhere, and another caution came out with… Five laps in the books as Woody Pitkat and Nichole Morgillo had to be brought to the infield via way of tow trucks. Other cars were brought onto pit road as well. Foster was black-flagged for overagression (for spinning Owen), giving Jeff Baral the lead when they took the green flag on the restart. That was good news for Baral, as he took the lead with ease. Unfortunately, he’d have to hold off the guy next to him all over again, as the caution came right back out before the lap was completed. Brainard and Brian Sullivan were involved in a minor incident in turn three, setting up the third caution. Other cars were also involved (including Rocco), and the top four were shuffled up once again. (Not surprising given their track record during day races.) After a sense of false security (restart pushed back a lap), the restart took place… With Mark Bakaj, Brad Hietala, and Rich Hammann in an accident on the frontstretch right as the green flag came out. These guys were not getting off of the fifth lap easily. Maybe on the restart? Baral took the lead, with a fight between Michael Gervais, Jr and Chris Matthews for second behind him. Matthews took the spot and followed Baral’s back bumper as they separated themselves from the field. The battle continued for the lead until there were 11 laps on the board, when Pitkat found himself sideways on the backstretch, in front of the Budweiser billboard. It set up yet another caution. Another restart was about to happen. The result was Baral taking the lead once again. Owen became the new car in second. That was always subject to change - and by the 16-lap mark, indeed it was. Rocco and Ruocco, who were involved in early race incidents, soon found themselves in second and third and all over Baral’s bumper. Rocco wanted the lead at the halfway point and succeeded in getting it. Ruocco was having a bit of trouble, however, making his move around Baral for second. The next caution came out with 22 laps on the board, when Joe Allegro, Jr had spun in turn two. Foster once again received an overagression penalty and was forced to move to the tail end of the field. It was a quick caution, and the restart came not too long after. Rocco regained the lead, with Ruocco now getting second place. Matthews moved around Baral as well, finding himself into the third spot. But ahead of them, Rocco began to show that sign of dominance that gave him the SK Modified and national championships. The lead he had over Ruocco was about a full straightaway’s distance. It was a cakewalk for the rest of the race, and Rocco picked up his tenth win of the year. Ruocco finished second, with Matthews in third and Baral in fourth. (Rocco also gained an automatic spot in the Turkey Derby.)

The main event - and the final race of the season - belonged to the Whelen Modified Tour. There was a chance that the championship here could be clinched as well. Would it? We’ll find out. Eric Beers was the first leader of the event, but the green flag run was short lived. Like, less than a lap. George Brunnhoelzl spun in turn one to bring out the first caution. It was going to trigger a complete restart - meaning that the lap they thought they had completed was erased, and they were going to try the start all over again. Take two was the exact same song and dance. Beers once again pulled ahead of Ron Silk, who was closely following the leader in second. Eric Berndt was all over Silk while running in third. Silk, however, wanted nothing about Berndt and pressured Beers for the lead. He got it by the time they completed the third lap. Berndt promptly followed, and together, they separated themselves from a freight train of competition (led by Mike Stefanik). It only took about 17 laps for lapped traffic to start forming up in front of the leaders - in the form of one car. Over the course of the next few laps, the “freight train” that was previously mentioned broke up, with Stefanik and Rowan Pennink catching up to the two leaders. And while another car was just being lapped, the caution came out for Gary McDonald, who spun going into turn one. The caution came out with 28 laps on the board. During this caution, cars that were further back in the field decided to pit. The restart took place with 34 laps on the board… And the leaders decided to fight for the lead. It took a little over a lap, but Silk regained the lead. It was a one-lap green flag run, as the caution came right back out with 35 laps completed. The reason for the yellow was because of a multi-car incident in turn two, involving seven cars. With 42 laps on the board, the restart took place. Silk pulled in front once again to take the lead, with Pennink and Berndt behind him, fighting for the second spot. All three cars were close together. Pennink took over as the runner-up with 44 laps down and continued to pressure Silk as the laps clicked off the board. Beers moved into third, but was closing in on Pennink. The field, over the course of the next few laps, became a single file snake. Aside from the occasional lapping of slower cars and challenges for position deeper in the field, everyone was pretty much running in one single file line. Soon enough, they crossed the halfway point of the race with minor chaos. Second place changed hands with 85 laps on the board as Beers went around Pennink, and he closed in on Silk in a matter of no time. Only ten laps after he made the pass for second, Beers made the pass for the lead, getting around Silk. Once the pass was made, it was off to the races… Until the caution came out with 101 laps on the board, for Dale Quarterley when he spun in turns one and two. Once pit road opened, the leaders and basically everybody else came down to pit. Because of the number of cars that came down to take service, Ryan Preece became the new leader. The rest of the top four did not pit under the caution. Would not pitting be an advantage? The restart was with 107 laps completed. Erick Rudolph pushed himself right into the lead. Of course, the caution came right back out on the very next lap after Justin Bonsignore, Jamie Tomaino, and Woody Pitkat were involved in a turn one accident. After differences were put aside, there was a restart with 118 laps on the board. Rudolph apparently spun the tires on the restart, giving Preece total control and the lead. Only four laps were completed before the next caution came out on lap 121. Eric Goodale was stranded against the wall on the frontstretch, but he was able to drive away from the caution scene. It set up a restart with 125 laps completed. It was a cleaner restart than before, but it ended with the same result as the last one - Preece picking up the lead. Bobby Santos had moved up onto the board, making it into fourth during the green flag run (passing Quarterley). With 127 laps gone, Joe Hartmann was on the outside of turn four, coming out of the turn, and needed to be towed off the track. That gave the field its seventh caution of the event. The next restart took place with 131 laps on the board. This time, Rudolph had the advantage. It worked, but there was a caution on the same lap. Tom Rogers, Jr spun in turns one and two, making it eight yellows on the night. It wasn’t a completed lap before the caution; meaning Preece got his lead back. How about a restart with 138 laps completed? Okay. Preece continued his trek as the leader, with Santos now following him in second. Santos wanted the lead, and he tried to get it, but he didn’t. Behind that, major chaos occurred in turns three and four. A multi-car accident with ten laps to go brought out the yellow and then red flags. It was a while before the yellow retuned; the track safety crew had to fix the wall in turn three. It didn’t take long for the field to cross up for the impending restart - it was almost instantaneously and the restart was done with seven laps to go. It was Santos’s move of the race on the restart, taking over the lead in turn two. Silk moved into second, but there was a bit of a gap between the two drivers. With two laps to go, Todd Szegedy spun in turns one and two. Was there going to be a caution? No. He got the car going again just in time… The field took the white flag, not the yellow, so the race was green the rest of the way. In the end, Santos picked up his fourth win of the season (second at Stafford). Silk wound up in second. Rudolph finished third, with Pennink in fourth. The Whelen Modified Tour championship will be decided at Thompson.

Usually, I use this part of the story to explain what the next event at Stafford is. But instead, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the drivers for putting on a fantastic season. It was a season of definite ups and downs. Fun times and bad. But in the end, what needed to be done was done. And it was great being on the ride. Have a great end of 2010. Stay safe and dry, and let’s do it all over again - starting April 2011.

Cold Night, Hot Racing Action

After Earl came last week and (literally) rained on our collective parades, it was back to work as normal for the drivers of Stafford. They weren’t the only ones racing, however, as the September 10th event was to feature the debut of the Modified Racing Series - ex-sponsored by True Value. Their debut race was a part of the next to last program before the Fall Final. Let’s get this thing going.

A few things you need to know about the Modified Racing Series before we begin:

1. They qualify with heat races instead of time trials.
2. Their heat races are scheduled for 12 laps.
3. Their heat races are done without the help of the pace car. At least, it’s done here.

This tour race also had consolation events (for extra spots), and those would be done later in the night, in the middle of the program. Which meant that before we returned to MRS action, some of Stafford’s weekly divisions would take to the track, first.

The feature portion of the night started with the Limited Late Models. Jesse Hinze was the first leader as he pulled ahead of the rest of the field. Duane Provost was in second, with the rest of the drivers behind them like wolves. By the time they completed three laps, the pack of wolves spread out a bit, and beginning on the very next lap, a group of cars, led by Shawn Thibeault, passed Provost and dropped him back to the sixth spot. The first half of the race ran smoothly, but the second half of the race kicked off with a caution exactly halfway through. It was for Carla Botticello, who was backwards in turns one and two, bringing out the first caution of the program. She was able to drive off, and before too long, there was the restart. George Nocera, Jr took advantage and made the move around Hinze to take over as the leader. Andrew Durand was now applying pressure on Hinze for second, teasing a bit like he wanted to make a pass - he eventually did by the lap-15 mark. Three laps later, however, the caution came out for Botticello. Again, she was backwards. This time, the spin was in turns three and four. Just like the first caution, she was able to get back in line quick. The result? A late race restart, which had a fight for the lead between Nocera and Durand for what was about a half lap. Nocera pulled out into the lead. The last two laps ran smoothly, and Nocera picked up his second win of the season. Durand had to settle for the runner-up spot. Third was Dave Yardley, III, and fourth was Dan Flannery.

Next up, it was the Late Models. There was almost a three-wide fight for the lead (if there was, there was too much chaos) on the opening lap. The winner of the madness was Jim Peterson, who came from the second row in order to take the lead. He held a nice-sized lead over Keith Rocco, who was in second. Second would be taken from his grasp by Tom Fearn only a lap or two later. Both drivers pulled away from the rest of the field; mainly, seven cars running for the third position (the leader of that pack was Corey Hutchings). The race slowed down as there was a caution with 12 laps on the board. It happened when Tracy Brouillette spun in turn three, and Mark St. Hilaire seemed to just drive right into him. The distance between Peterson and Fearn was just about a full straightaway, but that huge lead was diminished into nothing. The eventual restart was less chaotic than what the start of the race was, but Peterson returned right to the front. Hutchings moved into second, while Woody Pitkat found himself in third. Those positions would change at the halfway mark, however, when Pitkat pulled a move, heading down to the outside. He passed Hutchings with near ease, bringing Michael Bennett with him. Around lap-18, however, Bennett seemed to have a problem and pulled off the pace. This gave third to Jim Mavlouganes. Meanwhile, Pitkat caught up to Peterson. It seemed as though it was going to happen - a pass for the lead. It did, with seven laps to go. Pitkat managed to pass Peterson for the lead, and began to take off. The yellow came out only three laps later, as Ryan Posocco and Scott Cook were involved in an accident on the backstretch. Posocco ended up down near the turn three area, while Cook was abandoned in turn one. The red flag came out because of this accident. The race was red flagged for about a half hour because medical personnel were attending to Cook. Red changed back to yellow, and on the restart, Pitkat picked up where he left off, which was leading the race. Both he and Peterson pulled away from the field, and the distance between first and second was enough for Pitkat to win his seventh race of the season. Peterson was second, followed by Mavlouganes in third and Hutchings in fourth.

After the MRS consolation events (15 laps; with pace car assistance), feature racing resumed.

And it was more modified action, as the SK Lights were next. It all started with Erica Santos being the first leader of the event. Behind her, the girls were trying to take command. Second was Victoria Bergenty, while third was Heather DesRochers. But a fight for third commenced between DesRochers and Joseph Cipriano, III, and an all-female top-three came to a halt as Cipriano picked up the position. Within the first five laps of the race, he had taken third and had taken second as well. Second wasn’t enough, however. As he attempted a pass for the lead, the caution came out with seven laps on the board. DesRochers and Bergenty made contact, with Bergenty spinning around in turns one and two. While that was going on, Jay Goff and another car were involved in a incident of their own. Goff wound up with the worst of the damage. He ended up on the backstretch, just coming out of turn two, with his car on fire. The red flag came out immediately and the flames were quickly extinguished. His car was towed off the track, while Bergenty drove away from her accident scene. When the green came back out, Ted Cain seemed to push Cipriano into the lead. It was clear that second belonged to Cain. Santos had to settle for third after she appeared to not come up to speed on the restart. The green flag run only lasted a lap, as the yellow came right back out with eight laps on the board. It was for Tony Santangelo and Kyle Spencer, who spun in turns three and four. Even though they spun, both cars were towed off the track, ending their nights. On the restart, it was Cipriano out in front once again. Cain was still in second. But the battle for third began again. It was between three cars - Santos, Thomas Barrett, Jr, and Matt Galko. Soon enough, the fight became a two-car race, and it was between two of the division’s youngsters in Barrett and Galko. It was definite to proclaim that Barrett was third with six laps to go. Also with six laps to go? The start of the next caution. Cain gave up his second place run in a bad way when he spun in turn four. The field ticked off the lap, making it five laps to go, and he was able to drive off. But he kicked dirt up onto the track and there was a scramble in the turn as well. The green came back out to signal a restart, and there was a fight for the lead. Cipriano and Barrett were side by side for the entire lap after the green came out. That fight ended on the next lap, as Barrett took over as the leader. The last four laps ran caution-free, and Barrett won his ninth race of the season. Cipriano finished second. Galko and Santos finished off the board.

The SK Modifieds were next. There was the possibility of a championship in this race. If Keith Rocco ended up finishing 12th or better, he would officially win his second track championship. 40 laps were between that, however. Sean Foster was the early leader, with Chris Jones running behind him. Dan Avery was third, with a pack of wolves running behind him. It was four laps before Zach Sylvester joined the party and tried to take over the spot from Avery. Other cars running in what was now the lead pack were Ryan Preece and Woody Pitkat. Over the course of the early laps, Jones took over as the leader of the race. That pack that was running at the front of the field thinned out over the course of the next few laps, as Z. Sylvester found himself in third… And ultimately, fighting for second. That didn’t work out well. He was almost three-wide with Pitkat and Pitkat, and with nine laps in the books, Pitkat won the fight and moved into third. Two laps later, he moved around Foster for second. Preece moved into third. But they still had to catch up to Jones. In the midst of all the madness, Mark Bakaj spun in the grass coming out of turn two. He eventually got going, but it was too late. The caution came out with 17 laps down. Before the restart, the inside row was already bumping each other. They were more well behaved once the restart actually happened. And there was a fight for the lead. Pitkat was about ready to take the lead from Jones, but he almost got loose and fell back into fourth. Jones was still in the lead. A full lap was completed before the next caution came out (18 laps on the board). The caution was for Nichole Morgillo, who spun in turns three and four. (Other cars may have been involved, but I didn’t catch if there were. Sorry.) On the restart, the winds changed and a new leader seemed to have emerged in Preece. But he was involved in an accident. Other cars were involved, and the caution came out within the same lap. Take two, anyone? Pitkat found himself as the leader, leaving Jeff Baral to fend off quite a few challengers. He did fend them off, as the challengers spread out into what was roughly translated to a single-file line. If you were looking for a real battle, you would have had to look further back in the field. For the cars in the top-10 or so? Not so much. Until 10 laps to go, as Preece was making his way back up through the field. He passed Ted Christopher for ninth and was looking for eighth when the caution came back out - still with 10 laps to go. A three-car incident (Josh Sylvester, Adam Skowyra, Todd Owen) was in turns one and two, and the yellow was right back out. When the green returned, it was business as usual for Pitkat, as he returned back out front. Baral was once again trying to make sure nobody happened to pass him. It was the group of cars behind him, however, that was going to make the most noise. Only two laps were completed before the next caution came out. After Curt Brainard almost stopped dead in his tracks, Frank Ruocco was sent up high in the process and was stuck in turns three and four. He drove off after the yellow came out. It set up another restart… And it was the same old song and dance. Pitkat was right back out in front. The battle for second was on between Baral and Jeff Malave, with Malave getting the spot. Baral was left with Preece for third. Unfortunately, another caution came out with six laps to go. It wasn’t known which incident brought out the caution, however - the one that had Lou Cicconi spinning in turns one and two, or the accident in turn three involving Raymond Grassetti and Ruocco. The cars from the turn three accident were either towed off or brought on pit road, and Cicconi drove away from the scene of the spin. Once again, it set up a restart - one that wasn’t going to be decided until… Well, it wasn’t actually decided yet. A multi-car accident in turn three set up another caution; this one with five laps to go. But fluid on the track brought out a red flag (the third one on the entire evening). The liquid was eventually cleaned up and the race would go right back to green flag action. Was there going to be a new leader? Yes - for a little bit. Malave had the lead going into the first turn, but Pitkat picked it right back up. Preece was going after Malave and the second spot, and he’d get it. He also wanted the lead. There were some attempts at trying the pass, but they weren’t enough. Pitkat picked up another win; his third win of the SK season (and second on the night). Preece finished second, with Malave in third. Avery rounded out the board in fourth. As for Rocco and his championship chances? A ninth-place finish secured them.

The SK Modified feature event was a qualifier for the North-South Shootout in November (being held in North Carolina). That wasn’t the only race that was a qualifier for the race that weekend - the MRS race was also a qualifier.

Speaking of the Modified Racing Series race, it was up next. Ron Silk took the lead at the drop of the green flag. Behind him, it was Rowan Pennink and Ted Christopher racing for second. Christopher took second (punting Pennink to third) and took the lead in the span of two laps. If there seemed like there was a lack of action over the early laps of the race, then there was a lack of it. The field ended up single-file with, for the most part, no battles for position. It was fast paced action for the first 24 laps of the race. And then, the caution came out. Steve Masse and Louie Mechalides spun in turns and two, bringing out what was a yellow flag and a pause to whatever momentum the race had in the early stages of the race. This led to a restart. Christopher and Silk fought for the lead for most of the lap until Christopher reclaimed it in turns three and four. With that, he began to pull away from the field. And again, the field ended up single-file. It didn’t last long, however, as Rob Janovic was high in turn four after a problem with the right front tire. That triggered the second caution. On the restart, was there going to be a new leader? Yes and no. Yes because it looked as though Silk was going to take over, and no because Christopher was keeping close to him. It wasn’t until the next lap that Christopher pulled right back out in front. And like every other restart the race had so far, Christopher pulled away from the field. The green flag run let the field play single-file once again. It wasn’t until the field hit lap-63 that the first car was lapped in the event. At that point, the tone of the race changed. It wasn’t a big change, but it was still a change. And it didn’t seem to faze Christopher at all. He still had a pretty-good sized lead, even as he was lapping cars. The rest of the race ran green, and Christopher picked up the win. Silk finished second, followed by Pennink and Jeff Malave.

The DARE Stocks would be the ones to complete the program. Stephanie Berardi took control and took the lead at the beginning. Vince Gambacorta was right behind her. This wouldn’t last long, as the caution came out within that original lap. Cory Casagrande, and Jim Brice were involved in a turn three accident (among others). After the caution came out, the leaders got into each other on the frontstretch, but as previously mentioned, the caution was already out. Therefore, both drivers got their spots back. After everything was squared away, the race went back to green. Berardi once again pushed herself into the lead, but Gambacorta was right there with her and took over as the leader as they crossed the line to complete the lap. Within the next four laps, Berardi would be sent backwards due to other drivers passing her. Those drivers included Jeff Jolly, Andrew Hayes, and Tommy Membrino, Jr. They’d have a shot at the lead, as the caution came out for the second time - this time, with six laps on the board. Kelsey Rottino was in the grass on the backstretch, smoking and in distress after taking damage to the front end. The car was towed and the restart would occur not too long after the fact. On the aforementioned restart, Gambacorta went right back out to the front. Hayes moved into second, bringing Barry Fluckiger with him. Hayes attempted to make a pass for the lead and did just that as nine laps ticked off the board. Josh Wood found himself succeeding after a move around Gambacorta for what was second on the very next lap. As the rest of the race went green, Hayes scored his third win of the season. J. Wood settled for second. Gambacorta finished third, while Jolly finished fourth.

Only one more Friday night of racing left on the calendar before the Fall Final. Next Friday night, there will be a five-division program on our hands. What championships, if any, will be decided? Weather permitting, we shall find out.

National Championship in Connecticut

The first champion of the 2010 season has been announced. No, it is not a track champion. Although give it time; I'm sure that before the Fall Final, there will be at least one champion crowned before the season officially ends. I'm talking about a national champion.

How about for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series? I like that idea. And the winner is... Keith Rocco.

Remember his win in the second of two SK Modified races? Well, that was win #17 in the quest for a perfect season in 2010. A perfect season, as already referenced, is 18 wins with at least 20 cars starting a top division. At the three Connecticut tracks, the top division is a Modified. He had two wins at Thompson (although the car counts have been slacking this season and when 20 cars did show up, he wasn't), eight wins at Stafford (counting Friday's win) and before Saturday night, only nine wins at Waterford. That totaled 17 wins with a full field.

Saturday night, Rocco was able to win the SK Modified feature at Waterford and finish the goal. He has 810 points, and even if someone else were to make it to 18 wins, it would be for second in the overall standings - the tiebreaker, according to the Courant's racing blog - is that the first person to reach 810 points would automatically become the champion.

Congratulations, Keith.

(EDIT: Here is a story from Stafford's site.)

The Banquet in a Nutshell

Part one in a three-part series detailing things that happened pre-Thanksgiving. All of which should be up by the end of the night.

I'll start with the banquet first, because I know that's pretty much the first thing that happened this week. A couple hundred people showed up to celebrate the season that was at SMS on Friday, November 20. They were also there to officially crown the five track champions and hand out a few more pieces of hardware.

The five track champions, which have already been discussed in earlier entries here, were...

+ SK Modifieds: Ted Christopher
+ Late Models: Jim Peterson
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Andrew Durand
+ DARE Stocks: Don Wood

The track's Rookies of the Year (again, mentioned previously in an earlier entry) were...

+ SK Modifieds: Mark Bakaj
+ Late Models: Adam Gray
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Dan Flannery

Moving onto all of the stuff that wasn't announced until the awards. Most Improved Driver winners for the year were...

+ SK Modifieds: Richie Pallai, Jr
+ Late Models: JJ Hill
+ SK Lights: David Webb
+ Limited Late Models: Dave Yardley, III

And as for the Most Popular Drivers? Well, they were...

+ SK Modifieds: Woody Pitkat
+ Late Models: Dillon Moltz
+ SK Lights: Heather DesRochers
+ Limited Late Models: Carla Botticello
+ DARE Stocks: Kyle Casagrande

And finally, the Craftsman Mechanic of the Year award went to John Berardi, who worked on both Don Wood and Stephanie Berardi's DARE Stocks this past season.

More to come later tonight. Part two of the three part Tueday event: The schedule notes. Stay tuned.

Bring on the Banquet

So now that the racing season is over (and I finally got all of my news stories posted), what's next on the agenda? Besides the final swap meet of the year -- also Stafford's final on-track action for 2009 -- there's the annual banquet at La Renaissance in East Windsor. There'll be about 500 people there to celebrate the season that was. And to watch as hardware is handed out.

Awards will be given out in a few categories: The five track champions, along with the four Rookies of the Year. Results of the Most Popular Driver awards will also be revealed, as well as the Most Improved Drivers for the year.

I promise that as soon as everything is revealed with Most Improved Drivers and Most Popular Drivers (hopefully it's all in print the day after the banquet; I'm doubtful for attendance), I will be posting with a quick results post explaining everything.

So stay tuned for that.

Results of October 4 [The Better Late Than Never Edition]

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Doing more things that I shouldn't have been doing lately. Tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you the written results from Fall Final weekend -- it's been two weeks since things wrapped up at Stafford and I fail with time management. And then I'll do what I promised and give you the rest of those championship stories as soon as I post this. Cool? Awesome. Apologies to those of you who were waiting and waiting but never saw the post.)

Well, we've done it. I don't know where the summer months have gone, but this past weekend was the final time this year that Stafford held racing. And it was amazing as usual. It was supposed to be a three-day event, but the rains came on Saturday and completely crammed all of the Fall Final activities into Sunday. That meant that besides the five weekly divisions, you had the Whelen Modified Tour there for their 150-lapper and the debut of the Mini Stocks all at the same time. Mass chaos all over the place, and that means only one thing... The end of the road. Here is the recap of October 4, 2009.

The event that started it all on Sunday was the DARE Stock feature event. What a way to kick things off. The afternoon/evening of racing began with Duane Provost getting the lead early. Drivers running in the top-five included Andrew Hayes in fourth and the Saunders twins (Albert in third and Cliff in fifth). They ran single file until lap-5, when Kyle Casagrande hit the wall in turn two -- CAUTION. The restart was fine, if only for a short bit. Both Provost and Jim Brice ended up in a spin/accident in turns one and two on lap-6 -- CAUTION. Apparently, Provost leaked fluid or blew the motor in his car. Either way, his day was done. This gave Albert Saunders and Hayes the front row for the next restart. It was a restart that Hayes got the jump on. He became the new leader on lap-7. Coming up to second from fifth was Don Wood, who sat back comfortably behind Hayes for a couple of laps. The next yellow came out on lap-12, as Lori-Jo Rzeszutek spun in turn four and didn't get going until way past too late -- CAUTION. A restart with four laps ensued between Hayes and Wood that proved to be all kinds of awesome. Wood claimed the lead on the restart, with Hayes now in second. It seemed as though Wood was going to make it to victory lane as the winner, but Hayes was coming. In the final turns, Hayes went down to the inside and managed to pass Wood, then cleared him just enough to get to the finish line first, giving him his first career win at Stafford. Wood ended up finishing second. Tony Membrino, Jr finished third, with Albert Saunders in fourth.

Second up was the Stafford debut of the Mini Stocks. Cars from four different tracks came for this event. Pretty interesting turn of events in this one. It began with Randy Curchill, Jr with an early lead. His lead lasted a lap, as on lap-2, multiple cars behind him spun in turns three and four -- CAUTION. Most of them did pull away pre-yellow, while others drove away after the fact. It was a quick caution. When the green came back out, there was a new leader in Chris Williams. Williams had the lead in tact for the next four laps. On lap-6, Chad Baxter claimed the lead from Williams. Two laps later, Alan Hall, Jr ended up spinning in turn four -- CAUTION. It was after that when things got a bit crazy. Williams retook the lead on the restart, and Joe Kendall moved up into third. The lead that Williams had brought the race to lap-12, as Baxter took over for the second time in the race. Baxter also brought Kendall with him, putting Williams back into third. Kendall attempted a move around Baxter coming to take the white flag, but ended up spinning into the grass as the two made contact. Kendall did in fact keep moving. But back out front, it was nobody but Baxter. He cruised to the win, with Williams in second, Mark Panaroni in third, and Steve Michalski in fourth.

Closing out the first act (feature-wise) was the SK Light feature. It didn't start off too well. Two laps into the race, Lauren Cooper and Earl Pelletier found the concrete wall in turn one and smacked it hard -- CAUTION. When the green came back out, John Hanafin took the lead from Kyle Spencer. The race was green for a while, giving people like Tommy Membrino, Jr a chance to move through the field. Membrino was up to second by lap-19, when Harry Wheeler spun in turn three -- CAUTION. The restart was nice while it lasted. Shawn Brule spun in turn four and the yellow didn't come out until lap-20 -- CAUTION. So what did this mean? A third attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. Yeah, not so good. On the restart, Hanafin and Membrino got together a slight bit, with the loser of the battle being Hanafin. He went around and collected three other cars. Adam Skowyra ended up slightly on top of Hanafin's car -- CAUTION. The new front row was Membrino and Heather DesRochers. And on the restart, DesRochers got the jump she needed. She took control and went by Membrino. Membrino kept close to her bumper through the final two laps, and nearly got close to passing her for the lead, but it was DesRochers who claimed her second win of the season. Membrino had to settle for second, with John Montesanto and Tony Santangelo finishing the board.

The break from all of the features took place with the Whelen Modified Tour time trials. It was supposed to be 32 cars taking time, but one of the cars had trouble during practice, leading into time trials, and couldn't get two laps in. So 31 cars ended up going out for two laps each. Fast time was set by Donny Lia, who posted a time of 18.579 -- equaling out to 96.884 miles per hour. Results of the redraw and the race itself later.

After time trials, it was time to get down to business once again. SK Modified feature time. Anyone for a little chaos in your Fall Final event? This race had some of that. To start, there was Wade Mattesen getting the early lead. And by early, I mean about a lap's worth of lead. On lap-2, the first lead change of the race occurred as Curt Brainard passed Mattesen for the lead. Following Brainard around Mattesen was Richie Pallai, Jr. But Pallai wanted the lead and was pressuring Brainard for it as soon as the two of them were clear of Mattesen. Jeff Malave and Chris Matthews spun/got into an accident in turn three on lap-5 -- CAUTION. This set up a restart with Brainard and Pallai on the front row, a restart in which Pallai won. Joining Pallai were the three heavy hitters in Keith Rocco, Woody Pitkat, and Ted Christopher. Rocco wasn't going to settle for second, and on lap-10, he became the third leader as he passed Pallai. As for Pallai, his day ended on the very next lap after he met the turn four wall -- CAUTION. Christopher helped Pallai get there and was sent to the back of the field courtesy of a black flag. Back up front, however, it was Rocco who kept the lead on the restart. Now running behind him were Matt Gallo and Doug Coby. Coby wasted little time getting around Gallo for second (neither did Pitkat, sending Gallo back to fourth). And that was how they ran... Until lap-21, when someone dropped fluid down onto the racetrack coming off of pit road. The fluid was all down the backstretch and into turn three -- CAUTION. As soon as all of the fluid was removed from the track surface, it was back to green. And it was Rocco still out in front. Pitkat had found his way into second, and Todd Owen had moved past Coby for third. Josh Sylvester moved up into the top-five. This was how the top-five shaped out at lap-27, when Kirk Zervas spun in turn four -- CAUTION. (Now, apologies for confusing myself after this point.) At some point in time between the previous caution and any later cautions, there was one that occurred in turn four between Josh Sylvester and Christopher. Christopher had been working his way through the field since he was put to the back of the field earlier, and the two of them ended up in the turn four wall -- CAUTION. (Okay, confusion over.) When it was back to green, something happened. For some reason, Rocco didn't get up to speed and he was punted back to third. Pitkat became the new leader of the event, with Coby coming back up into second. Rocco's falter didn't hurt him, and he passed Coby for second on lap-32. On the very next lap, Nicole Morgillo hit the backstretch wall hard -- CAUTION. The red had replaced the yellow and an extra ambulance was needed. After the accident scene was cleared, it was back to green. Pitkat continued to hold the lead, while Coby's luck ran out on lap-35 after he went through the grass on the backstretch and came to a rest in turn three -- CAUTION. Pitkat's good run ended shortly after the restart. Although he took the lead, he began to slow down considerably, giving Rocco the lead while going to pit road at the same time on lap-36. Brit Andersen now found himself in second and Owen moved up to third. While Andersen and Owen fought for position, Rocco pulled away and collected his sixth win of the season. Owen managed to get by Andersen for second, while Gallo finished fourth.

One of two divisions still champion-less going into the final weekend was the Limited Late Model division. The battle was a good one. Andrew Durand only led Dan Flannery by twenty points; ten positions on the track was the difference between Durand winning and losing the championship. That magic number came into play during the race. How? Well, starting at the beginning, you had Joe Nogiec leading the way. He had the lead for a lap before Shawn Thibeault took over as the leader. Behind him followed George Nocera, Jr and Kevin Gambacorta, dropping Nogiec into fourth. With the green still out at the halfway mark, Thibeault was still leading, but with a different look behind him. Second was now Gambacorta. Flannery was sitting in third, with Nocera making up the top-four. This was how they ran when Christopher Harris spun in turn two; lap-14 -- CAUTION. And it was the same order as Jesse Hinze spun while going down the backstretch on the very next lap -- CAUTION. On the restart, the lead changed hands as Flannery moved past Thibeault to claim first, but the lead was short lived as lap-16 had Marc Russell and Michael Chaves wrecked in turns one and two -- CAUTION. The restart had to be done again, and again, it was Flannery to take the lead. Thibeault fell in the second spot. But it was two-laps worth of action before Corky Hinze, Bill Goldrick, and another car ended up in distress coming out of the turn four area -- CAUTION. Durand was assessed a penalty for rough riding and was sent to the back of the pack. The magic number was still ten (or eleven, but that would have meant the points leaders would be tied), and that was how many cars Durand had to pass in order to win the championship. He had a little help on the restart, as Gambacorta, Norm Sears, and Carla Botticello were involved in an accident in turn one -- CAUTION. Other cars were involved in the accident; meaning Durand had picked up a few spots to help out in the championship cause. Meanwhile, back up front, Thibeault retook the lead from Flannery on the ensuing restart. Rob Dow moved into second. Flannery encountered a bit of bad luck as a tire was going down (right rear). He spun in turn four, yet continued to go. The race remained under green-flag conditions. The remaining laps belonged to Thibeault, and he crossed the line to pick up his second win of the season. Dave Yardley, III passed Dow for second, with Nocera finishing the top-four. And the winner of the Limited Late Model track championship was Durand, who finished eighth to Flannery's fourteenth.

It was now time for the main event. The Whelen Modified Tour took to the track for their 150-lap feature. Earlier in the afternoon, at some point in time during either the SK Modified or Limited Late Model feature, the results of the redraw were as follows: The front row was Eric Berndt and Richie Pallai, Jr. Fast time setter Donny Lia was starting fourth. It was not going to be a bad starting position for him. All in all, there were seven different lead changes in the race, between five different drivers. Those drivers were Berndt, Lia, James Civali, Joe Hartmann, back to Civali, back to Lia, Ryan Preece, and then finally, back to Lia. It was a caution-filled race, as there were ten cautions that took up 42-laps of racing time. Oh... And the race went into extra laps. 153 of them, to be exact. As already stated, Lia was the final leader of the race, and held off Doug Coby to claim the win. Preece and Civali finished third and fourth respectively. Between Ted Christopher's bad day (involved in two separate incidents early in the race; lap-17 and lap-25) and Lia's win, Lia is the new points leader going into the final race at Thompson. Preece is second, only 26 points back. Christopher is 109 back, and is a longshot to win the title.

After what was an amazing Tour race, it was time for the Late Model race. It was also the last division to crown a champion. With three drivers still in contention to win the championship, it was anyone's race to win. And lose. So who would come out on top? We begin with Adam Gray taking the lead from Brian Chapin when the race began. This lead lasted all of two laps before Michael Bennett and another driver spun up in turns one and two -- CAUTION. Gray kept the lead on the restart, still with Chapin running in second. The rest of the top-five began to change dramatically, with a championship contender in Jim Peterson now running in fifth. While Gray started to drive away from the rest of the field, Peterson continued to climb up through what little of the field there was in front of him, moving up into third. The lead that Gray had established was erased come lap-14, as Dillon Moltz, another championship contender, spun on the backstretch -- CAUTION. Back to green, and it was still Gray out in front. Peterson was now in second. The third championship contender, Ryan Posocco, had managed to crack the top-five. The next yellow-flag incident came at lap-18, which included Dave Wray, John Kasper, and another car -- CAUTION. After the green came back out again, Gray powered back into the lead. In second was now Posocco, who was looking for the lead. He'd manage to get the lead from Gray on lap-23. Upon taking the lead away, Posocco immediately began to pull away from the field. It was a no contest: Posocco was not going to be caught. It was his fourth win of the year. Tom Butler ended up finishing second, with Tom Fearn in third and JJ Hill in fourth. With a fifth place finish, Peterson became the 2009 Late Model track champion; the third championship of his career.

The absolute last thing on the agenda (and I mean that literally) was the 8-lap Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shootout. There aren't a whole lot of requirements that go into a race like this. All one has to do is win a DARE Stock race in the season, from Spring Sizzler weekend to Fall Final weekend, and they're in. The one true question before this race was: Which driver was going to get bragging rights? Well, things kicked off with Victoria Bergenty taking the lead as the greens came out to start the race. She took off and things seemed fine at first sight with the dozen drivers in the race. But things started to get pretty shaky on lap-2, when Stephanie Berardi and Kyle Casagrande (in a backup car) wrecked coming out of turn two. Berardi spun and Casagrande just seemed to drive right into the side -- CAUTION. When the cleanup finished and the race continued, it was Bergenty back out in the lead. Tony Membrino, Jr moved into second, and the two of them started to pull away from the field. Although it looked like it was going to be a two-car show for the win, in all actuality, it was Bergenty who pulled away (slightly) from Membrino to pick up the win. Membrino finished second, with Robert Thompson and Andrew Hayes finishing off the board.

This is where I usually tell you about what's coming up on Friday and that you must go because it's going to be another great night of racing. But you know something? I can't. The season's over. What a ride. Nothing could cap off the season than the nine things I covered in this. Fun times. Until next year, I wish you well. Stay safe, and enjoy your winter.

Track Champion Stories

I promise that I'll get the results up from Fall Final weekend. Slow week means I tend to forget what I'm doing at times. This is definitely a slow week.

Anyway, if you don't already know, Stafford has their track champion stories up.

+ SK Modifieds: Ted Christopher
+ Late Models: Jim Peterson
+ SK Lights: Michael Gervais, Jr
+ Limited Late Models: Andrew Durand
+ DARE Stocks: Don Wood

Also up is an article about the CT Rookie of the Year, Joe Allegro, Jr.

This post will be edited in due course when the rest of the articles go up onto the track site.

Results of September 25

Friday night was the final Friday night event on Stafford's schedule. Five divisions equal one heck of a night, and there was a little bit of business that had to be taken care of before things really got going. Last week's controversy between Ted Christopher and Keith Rocco earned the two SK Modified drivers suspensions for the week. While they weren't there, the cars that they each drive at the half-mile were. Filling in for them were their twin brothers. It was Mike Christopher in Ted's #13 and Jeff Rocco in Keith's #88 for the evening. How'd they fare? I'll save that for the recap of September 25.

Action for the evening kicked off with the DARE Stocks. It started off in style, as Duane Provost claimed stake to the lead. Andrew Hayes and Victoria Bergenty were following behind him. Lap-3 featured two cars spinning in the turn two area of the race track, but when they managed to get going again, the green remained out. Meanwhile, Provost's lead started to shrink as Bergenty moved into second around Hayes and looked for the lead. It was a successful lead change on lap-6 when Bergenty managed to take the lead from Provost. On the very next lap, Nicholas Salva spun while going into turn two and didn't get back into motion before it was too late -- CAUTION. When the green came back out for the restart, it was Bergenty still with the lead. Don Wood was now on the move, making his way up to second from fourth not long after the restart and was now trying to find a way around Bergenty for the lead. Before Wood had an opportunity to pass, there was a one-car spin in turns three and four (lap-13) -- CAUTION. The restart was where business officially picked up. Bergenty got a bit loose when the green returned, and that gave Wood the opportunity to drop to the outside and take over the lead. Bill Dunn also passed Bergenty, and began to run down Wood, who was securely in the lead. It wasn't enough, however, as Wood picked up his second win of the year. Dunn unofficially finished second. Bergenty and Hayes rounded out the top-four. After the race, it was found that Dunn's issued AVM plate was missing and there was some sort of illegal modification to the AVM plate that was on the car. Because of this, he was disqualified from the feature and indefinitely suspended.

The modified portion the program began with the SK Lights. Shawn Brule started it off by having the lead in the course of the first few laps. Ted Cain and Harry Wheeler sat in second and third respectively. On lap-6, the running order at the front of the field started to change hands. David Webb, who was running fourth, passed Wheeler for third. Wheeler ended up falling backwards through the field. After about three cars passed Wheeler, the running order was seemingly frozen for a while. On lap-16, Tommy Membrino spun on the frontstretch; no harm, no damage, but he couldn't get the car going again in time -- CAUTION. This set up a restart that Brule won. Cain was still in second, but third was now in possession of Brit Andersen. It took Andersen three laps to manage to get around Cain for second. Only problem was that he had tapped Cain's back bumper and sent Cain into the turn three wall -- CAUTION. The black flag came out for Andersen, meaning he was to park it for the rest of the event. Brule was now coming up to take the restart with Webb next to him. As the greens came back out, it was Webb who moved out in front and claimed the lead. If Brule was going to go down, he was going to go down trying. And try he did. It wasn't quite enough, however, and it was Webb to win his second race of the season. Brule finished second, with Jay Goff in third and John Montesanto in fourth. With a fifth place finish, Michael Gervais, Jr not only won the Rookie of the Year title in the SK Lights, but also won his first championship in the division.

The SK Modifieds were the division that ended up running in the smack-dab middle of the program that night. It began with Wade Mattesen as the leader, but quickly slowed down after one lap as Nicole Morgillo hit the wall in turn two on lap-2 -- CAUTION. Upon resuming the race, Doug Coby managed to pass Mattesen for the lead, becoming the race's second leader. A multi-car spin (in turn two) one lap later slowed the field down again -- CAUTION. The restarts that followed didn't change much. Coby still maintained the lead with Mattesen in second. On lap-6, Mike Christopher harmlessly spun in turn three -- CAUTION. Again, nothing changed on the restart. It was still Coby out in front, and remained so until lap-12, when both Christopher and Jeff Rocco spun in turns three and four -- CAUTION. On the restart, it was back to Coby as the leader, but a new second-place driver emerged in Richie Pallai, Jr. Pallai was itching to take the lead, but the two of them plus the rest of the top-five ran single file until lap-20 when Frank Ruocco spun in turn two -- CAUTION. When the race went back to green, it was Coby out in front again, with Pallai still in second. Pallai's good run came to an end on lap-23, when Woody Pitkat got together with him and spun coming out of turn two (another car was also involved) -- CAUTION. Todd Owen had now moved up to second, and a duel for the lead with Coby erupted on the restart. The two battled for a little bit under the green, with Owen passing Coby for the lead on lap-25. Two laps later, on lap-27, Rob Summers and two other drivers spun in turns three and four -- CAUTION. The race resumed with Owen and Coby in yet another duel for the lead. The two drivers ran side by side for what seemed like the longest time. In all reality, they had been battling for the lead for ten solid laps. Lap-37 slowed the field down yet again when Pallai spun around exiting turn two -- CAUTION. Coby regained the lead on the restart and Owen was once again on his back bumper; not willing to back down without a fight. But it was Coby who had enough momentum to get him to the finish line first, picking up his first win of the season. Owen had to settle for second. Joe Allegro, Jr and Jeff Malave finished third and fourth. As for the points championship battle? Even though he didn't race in the night's events due to an aforementioned suspension, Ted Christopher still managed to win his seventh track championship in the division.

The "quickest feature of the night" award should go to the Limited Late Models. Bill Davis started out on the pole, and when the greens came out to start the race, he pulled out into the lead. Dave Yardley, III sat in second, right behind him. The two of them and the rest of the top-five drivers fell into a single line and paraded around the track. On lap-7, Carla Botticello, who was running fourth, passed Michael Wray (then third). The next lap saw Kevin Gambacorta move into the top-five as he passed George Nocera, Jr. Gambacorta quickly got by Wray for fourth. The top-four continued to run single file. This was how they ran for pretty much the entire race (yes, single file), and the race ran caution-free as Davis picked up his first win of the season. The rest of the board was Yardley, Botticello, and Gambacorta.

It was time for the final feature of the night. The Late Model feature was also the craziest race of the night, and in more ways than one. Where to begin? How about at the start of this one, where it was Doug Blowers with an early lead. It was a short lead; particularly one-lap long. On the very next lap, he seemed to spin around the exit of turn two, collecting others as the field seemingly started to stack up behind him -- CAUTION. Drivers involved in this accident included both Dillon Moltz and Ryan Posocco, who (may or may not have) ended up stuffed under the back bumper of the other. Both of them started in the back of the field when the restart came back out. The new leader of the race was Joe Rzeszutek, with Adam Gray following him in second. The two of them ran in order until lap-5 until Tom Butler and another driver spun going into turn three -- CAUTION. This set the field up for a restart, with Gray winning the battle when the green came back out. Rzeszutek was not going to back down so easily, and on lap-15, he powered past Gray to retake the lead. Gray's car started to head into the point of no return, and he fell back numerous spots. He'd eventually end his race by pulling behind the wall. Meanwhile, the battle at the front of the pack was just beginning. There was debris found in turn four on lap-20 -- CAUTION. The restart was the next time a lead change took place. This time, it was Jim Peterson getting by Rzeszutek on the restart, and he began to pull away. It wasn't until five laps later (lap-25) until the next yellow came out for Blowers, who spun again; this time, in the grass on the frontstretch -- CAUTION. Peterson got the lead again on the restart, but this lasted another full lap. On lap-26, things got scary quick. Rzeszutek, Ed Charette, and another car ended up on the frontstretch, with Charette riding the concrete barrier on the outside for a little bit on two tires -- CAUTION. The car managed to land on its tires, but the red flag was quickly brought out because the second ambulance came out onto the track and there was just a little too much debris to clear up. Thankfully, Charette got out of the car under his own power. The yellow replaced the red, and the green replaced the yellow not too long afterward. Peterson still had the lead, now followed by Moltz, Butler, and Posocco... Three drivers involved in early-race incidents. This was the running order for two laps, as debris was spotted on the frontstretch on lap-28 -- CAUTION. And on the next restart? Oh, the next lap ticked off smoothly. It was what happened after that that didn't. Dave Wray and John Kasper got tangled together and came to a rest in the grass in turn three -- CAUTION. They were literally tangled together. It took the track safety team a bit of time to untangle the mess. When they were untangled, it signaled the start of a green-white-checkered finish. It was a great finish. On the restart, Tom Fearn found a way through the traffic in front of him and managed to get around Peterson before they hit the backstretch. Posocco also managed to get by Peterson as well, but Posocco could not catch Fearn as he came to get his second win of the season. Posocco finished second, with Peterson in third and Butler in fourth.

And that's the way it was. Next up on the schedule is the last racing event on the schedule, and that's the Fall Final. You have a large crowd that's going to be in attendance for that: Stafford's five weekly divisions, the Whelen Modified Tour as they run a 150-lap feature, and the Mini Stock invitational event, which brings in cars and drivers from all over New England. It should be a wild weekend. On the schedule for the weekend: Open practice on Friday, qualifying for everyone and features for some on Saturday, and the weekend ends with more features. Should be fun. I hope you stick around and attend. This is all subject to pending weather.

Fifth Championship in the Works?

The "five championship" club at Stafford is an exclusive club. In fact, it's so exclusive, there are only two members in it -- Bob Potter and Ted Christopher.

But 2009 could be a year of change (as if it wasn't supposed to be already). The club could induct a new member in Ryan Posocco.

Would anyone have anything to say that would prove otherwise? Things are looking up for Posocco this season. He'll have a part-time teammate in Christopher. But even so, it may not be easy for him to repeat and win championship number five.

It's the same car, the same engine, and the same team backing Posocco up this season. If all of that adds up, he'll be in some elite company.

Matthews Moves Up to SKs

The 2009 SK Modified rookie class at Stafford just got a little bit bigger... And a bit more decorated.

Chris Matthews becomes the fifth former SK Light competitor to make the jump to the SKs this offseason, and the second past champion to move up (Joe Allegro, Jr being the other SK Light champion to graduate).

The car that Matthews will be driving will be a car that was previously run by Todd Owen.

More on Rocco's Meet With the Governor

In regards to a past entry I wrote this month...

Stafford has a piece up on their site about Keith Rocco going to the state capital to meet with Jodi Rell. The story, if you don't remember, has Rocco being honored for his achievements last season (SMS SK champion, Connecticut champion in the Whelen All-American Series, and fourth overall in the national standings) by the Governor.

I know, not much to discuss about this. Sorry about that. I promise I'll have more stuff coming. Lack of patience, I guess.