NASCAR: New England -- November Airings

Ladies and gentlemen, turn on your television sets and flip over to NESN next Friday night. While the awards banquet will be happening for the competitors, fans can still see the drivers through the magic of cable. NASCAR: New England will be airing twice (and by NESN's schedule, three more times) on November 17th... Which, of course, is the same day as the awards banquet. All of the episodes have (R) next to them, which is making me wonder if they'll be episodes I've seen before. R could stand for "repeat", as there are DB -- standing for "debut" and L -- possibly for "live".

There will be no other heads-up warning, so please schedule accordingly. (I think I might not get a chance to do that, considering that I might have plans on that night. I can't disclose them as of yet. They're still in the works.)

Competitor Meetings: Just a Head's Up

This month might be the first month without racing at Stafford, but it doesn't mean that there won't be anything going on there. The track has announced the five dates for their annual competitor meetings, which are to be held at the Fairground banquet facilities -- behind the turn four grandstands. Dinner will be served between 5:30 and 6:30pm Eastern Standard Time with the meeting to start around 6:30pm. As a note to all teams: Meeting attendance is limited to two team representatives. (I don't know what that means for multi-car teams, as I know there are a few who have raced there this season.)

Here is the schedule for this month:

• Limited Late Models: November 8th (Wednesday)
• DARE Stocks: November 13th (Tuesday)
• SK Modifieds: November 14th (Wednesday)
• Late Models: November 15th (Thursday)
• SK Lights: November 21st (Tuesday)

Rules and possible rule changes for the 2007 season will be discussed. If any rule changes do take effect, I will discuss them in a later entry.

We Are the Champions

Welcome to the final installment of The View From Turn One for the 2006 season. As some or all of you may know by now, yesterday was the final event of Stafford's schedule of on-track action... The CARQuest Fall Final/Pit Party. With lots of wind in the forecast and four divisions of cars battling for track championships, one can only wonder how long it was going to take until chaos ensued and cars were found damaged. Trust me on this one: It wasn't long.

The first actual incident came through the 50-lap SK Modified feature. Jeff Malave started the race on the outside of the first row, but that lead would pretty much be short lived. On the first lap of the race -- and in the first turn, to be more precise -- there was a nice multi-car accident that bent a few cars up. The second lap provided the first act in a show put on by Chris Jones as he spun in turn four. (There would be more antics of his later on.) Around lap-6, Woody Pitkat took the lead from Malave and held it for an extensive amount of time. Between the time he gained the lead to until the time he lost it, things pretty much spiraled out of control. Your next caution period would come on lap-12 when Vincent Anglace spun near where Jones spun in turn four. That turn was becoming quite a hot spot for cautions, and trust me... Things would just be worse. When lap-31 came around, things were looking south for Eric Berndt, who would be the third victim in the turn four area, spinning and bringing out the caution. On the next lap, Rowan Pennink spun and tagged the wall a bit in the frontstretch coming out of four. Finally things subsided, but not for long. When lap-41 rolled around, Bo Gunning and Wade Mattesen spun in turn four. Apparently people pointed fingers at Chris Jones for helping Gunning out, but nothing was done about him (Jones) until the next lap. That's when Jim Larsen, Dave Salzarulo, and (possibly, but couldn't confirm) Fran Siana came together in turns three and four. Again, Jones was blamed for helping one or more of these drivers out, so he was given the black flag. He pulled off the track and came to a stop in the infield. When he got out of his car, people flocked towards him in droves. I'm not sure if it was before or after the lap-43 incident in which Lloyd Agor took a ride in the backstretch grass, but Jones was led off the infield by a security officer and track personnel member. I'm pretty sure a few of the drivers were wondering why the caution period was extended, but I can't answer this for anyone. (More on Jones in a special entry tomorrow.) But anyway, we return back to the race. For the last seven laps, it was pretty much caution free, except for one minor incident regarding Pitkat. Even though he was in the lead since around lap-6 or so, he did have problems with his car. He dropped off the pace on lap-45, giving the lead to Willie Hardie. Hardie led the last few laps to take down another career win. Malave came in second, followed by Zach Sylvester and Brad Hietala. Although Hardie claimed the win, he had to finish nine spots ahead of Frank Ruocco in order to win the championship. With a seventh place finish, that didn't exactly happen. Ruocco finished close enough to win the 2006 SK Modified championship. The difference was only six points.

Next was the SK Lights and their final 20-lap feature of the season. At the top of the race, Tony Santangelo was the front runner. But on lap-4, Matt Gallo claimed the lead and just dominated the next 16 laps. The race ran caution free from the start, giving Gallo his second win of the season. At the time the checkered flag came out, Brit Andersen was second, Kyler Cafro came in third, and Duke Place was in fourth. This gave Andersen the SK Light championship... That was, however, until technical inspection took place. And that was when all heck broke loose. Upon inspection, both Andersen and Cafro's brakes were "non-compliant", disqualifying both from the original feature finish. This also eliminated Andersen from championship contention. The next person in line for the championship was Shelly Perry, and upon inspection, her brakes were indeed compliant, making her the 2006 SK Light champion. She is the first woman to win a track championship, regardless of division. She nudged out Richie Pallai, Jr. by only two points. (The top-5 after the disqualifications was Gallo, Place, Perry, Pallai, and Glenn Griswold.)

Finally we get to the Whelen Modified Tour's final race of their season. First off, there were quite a few cautions including a heavy shot in the turn two wall from Ted Christopher. (Even I felt the effect of that.) He would finish 50 laps of the event, 25th overall in the results, and 3rd in points. Second, let me tell you that Todd Szegedy led just about every lap of the race, giving him the win. But the biggest story took place on the opening green flag. By just starting the race, Mike Stefanik won his seventh Whelen Modified Tour championship and ninth championship overall. He is tied with Richie Evans for most championships by any NASCAR driver in any division.

Finally we come to the Late Model feature. It was a battle between Jim Peterson and Woody Pitkat, and whoever finished closest to the front would win the championship. But to become the champion, they'd have to overcome numerous obstacles in the form of cautions. Steve McQuillian was the leader for the first four laps until Wayne Coury, Jr. took over and began to drift away from the field. In the battle for the division crown, Pitkat's better starting position proved to be a plus as he maintained a safe distance from Peterson. Both moved up a ways from their original starting spots for the first 23 laps. And then we start a huge string of caution periods. This all started on lap-24 when John Warren spun in turn two and David Trudeau spun in nearly the same spot on the restart. Three laps without cautions proved to be fairly interesting. By this time, Pitkat was in second with Peterson almost nowhere in sight. Then on lap-27, a multi-car accident bunched the field back together. Pitkat's second place, outside restart spot didn't cost him dearly as he moved to the lead on lap-30. Peterson had reached sixth, although this was to be trouble when the field was bunched up yet again on lap-32 due to an accident featuring Trudeau, Jonathan Smith, and Rick Charette. Then on the restart, consider the field together again after a multi-car accident occured in turn one. On the next lap, Ryan Posocco took the lead from Pitkat, and with Peterson still moving up, the two could officially race each other for the championship. Well, they offically came bumper to bumper with each other around lap-34 when Tom Butler spun on the backstretch and a multi-car accident collected numerous drivers on the restart. Both contenders battled each other for a few laps until Smith spinning in an unknown location on lap-37 and Coury crashing in turns one and two on the next lap sealed the deal for Pitkat. He blew past Peterson on the final restart, putting only Tom Fearn inbetween the contenders. Peterson couldn't get past Fearn, however, and Pitkat finished ahead of Peterson for the championship. Meanwhile, Posocco took down the win, followed by Pitkat, Fearn, and of course, Peterson.

This was a great season, and I couldn't do the work without any of my trusted sources: Mod Series Scene and their administrators and members, Making Laps and their administrators and members, and the Stafford Speedway and their hard-working web techies for putting together a great website. I promise to do better over the offseason and next year, giving you more stories from the homefront and possibly some new features for the new season. If you have any suggestions for things that could make the second season of The View From Turn One a better experience, please drop me an email at ironchefmandy@sbcglobal.net or instant message me at the same address. Until the Spring Sizzler and the first features of the year, stay safe, warm, and have a happy 2006.

Fall Final News: Results and Video

Sorry for doing this entry almost a week after the original Fall Final events took place. Things were just hectic around the house and we've had problems last weekend. But after recovering from the mental craziness, I'm ready to dish the dirt. And of course, your dirt includes the Fall Final Saturday results. There will be more afterwards -- perhaps later today -- but let's get to the top story: The Whelen Modified Tour and their qualifying session. We started the day off strong as Todd Szegedy ran through every sort of obstacle provided and earned himself a pole position. His time was 18.091, breaking the previous track record set by Mike Ewanitsko during the 2001 Fall Final. (His time? 18.102.) When the top ten cars redrew, Szegedy still found himself starting first, although he will be taking the green flag alongside Tony Hirschman. The next four rows are as follows:

Row Two: Ed Flemke and Donny Lia
Row Three: Dick Houlihan and Ted Christopher
Row Four: Mike Stefanik and Reggie Ruggiero
Row Five: Chuck Hossfeld and Jimmy Blewett

Stupid thing won't let me put the rows in a list.)

Next came a barrage of qualifying events for the Stafford divisions. Five of the events ran caution free, including both from the DARE Stocks. The only event that dramatically produced the most carnage was the second Late Model heat. One minor accident (no caution kind of minor) sent Jim Peterson, championship contender, to the Late Model 16 feature. But we'll put the 16 aside for now, as the first actual feature of the afternoon was about to take the green flag. For the final time this season, we've got coverage of the DARE Stocks.

Before the green even flew, however, a few cars dropped off the track like flies. One possiblity (and probably the most logical) might have been the fact that it was colder than usual for a finale weekend, but nonetheless, you had a few people drop out of the race earlier than expected. With that taken care of, the green was finally brought out, signaling the start of the final 15-lap feature and the crowning of a new DARE Stock champion in Norm Sears. (With a full 50 point lead over second place, everyone was certain nothing was going to happen to Sears inbetween the 22nd and the 30th.) Now then, from the opening lap to lap-13, things were pretty smooth. But then, two cautions occured. The first one was on lap-14 when Melissa Blowers and Tim LeDuc spun in turn three. Then on the restart, there was a two car accident and spin in turn two and the beginning of the backstretch. (Those cars were not named, only due to the fact that they left the scene before I could catch numbers. With that all set, the final two laps were smooth sailing for Vince Gambacorta. He picked up the win with Sears in second, Rob Lawrence third, and Dan Flannery fourth. Like previously mentioned, Sears clinched the championship by just starting the feature.

After the SK Lights had an interesting qualifying heat and the two last chance qualifiers were run (Late Model 16 was won by Jay Stuart and the 21 Means 21 was won by Bo Gunning), we came down to the Limited Late Model feature. 20-laps of chaos. Oh, what fun this was! Big time fun started on lap-4 when George Nocera spun in turn two, bringing out the first of five yellow flags in the event. Now if you thought the dramatics from Nocera were done, then... Well, not really. He spun in the exact same spot in turn two on lap-7. Now we fast forward to three laps later, and we see Michael Chaves and Pete Cayer spinning in turn four, bringing out caution flag number three. The lap-10 action didn't end there, however, because there was a false start. The final yellow was on lap-14, when Cayer spun for the second time in the race -- this time, however, he spun in turn one. Now there was a six lap sprint to the finish with Kevin Gambacorta trying to take the championship over Nocera, who had spun twice in the same spot and had raced his way back up into the top-four cars when the checkered flag signaled the end of the race. Corky Hinze took his first win of the season, followed by Bill Davis, Nocera, and Charlie Newman. Two points separated Gambacorta from Nocera, but the two points were in favor of Gambacorta. For the second time that day, it was a celebration in Victory Lane for the family from Ellington. (Well, three. Vince won the Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shootout not too long after.)

Sunday's events were rained out, so now the remaining three divisions and Whelen Modified Tour will all crown champions on October 28th. (That's a Saturday. Mark your calendars like I did.) The Stafford website has a video from YouTube -- downloaded by MarcandBryon -- which can be found below.



Other than that, I think I'll see you on the 28th.

Fall Final Weather Report

Let's cut to the chase: We've officially made it through the work week and the sound of cars blazing across the half mile will be heard in about an hour. Fall final practice begins at around 2pm Eastern Standard Time. The good news is that the rain's starting to clear up in the Connecticut area, so the start time will hold up. If you can make it to the track inbetween the times of 2pm and 6:30pm, I encourage you to get into the general admission grandstands for the cost of absolutely nothing and watch some practice.

So if today's schedule of events (however short it may be) is looking good for now, then what's the rest of the forecast like? Well, I'm going to give you the scoop right now. Saturday -- which is qualifying for all divisions and three features for the Dodge Weekly Racing Series -- is perfect. It's going to be mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance of rain throughout the day. We'll get that part of it in, I can assure you that. Sunday, on the other hand (which includes the Whelen Modified Tour, SK Modified, and Late Model features and the Pit Party), doesn't look too bad, although there is a 60 percent chance of rain as of 1:03pm Eastern Standard Time today.

I'll keep you informed as to the conditions for the final race of the season later today -- when I come home from a night at the Big E (which putting that in the same weekend as the Fall Final is a bit... well, controversial in this household). I'll see you tomorrow with part one of the two part weekend recap.

And Then There Was One

Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially reached the final race of the 2006 Stafford Motor Speedway season. After sixteen races and plenty of rainouts, the regular Friday night portion is over and only the Fall Final is in front of us. Who will be running for the track championships on Saturday and Sunday? We'll find all of this out -- including the regular bits of information -- in this week's entry. But before we begin, we had some interesting news coming from the pits and the track itself. First off, Ted Christopher was back in the #81 SK Modified after a few weeks' absence from the track. Also, track safety personnel needed time to fix the wall in turns three and four after incidents throughout the night put a beating towards it. One of the smackdowns was during the second DARE Stock qualifying heat when a group of cars were collected in a mid-race accident. The second cause of concern is coming up right about...now with our first race recap.

Feature-wise, the first race was the SK Lights. Shelly Perry had two weeks to rest up her broken wrist from the crash from Modified Mania weekend, and she was one of the stories from the feature, going on to finish all 20 laps with a 9th place finish. Another interesting moment was on lap-10, however, when Kyler Cafro nailed the turn three wall. (Surprise, surprise. There's the second cause and concern moment.) The red flag was brought out so the wall could be repaired and replaced and was removed from the track about ten minutes later. The wall beating was over for the night, but the cautions weren't. On lap-18, Chris Matthews spun in turn four, bringing out the second and final caution in the event. So with the two yellows out of the way, it was all down to a green-white-checkered situation. Brit Andersen powered to the front in a major way earlier on in the race and survived this three lap showdown to claim his fifth win of the season. Following him to the line were Glen Reen, Wade Mattesen, and Mike Lane. In the battle for the SK Light track championship, it's all coming down to the Fall Final. A four-way tie is what's holding Andersen, Perry, Matthews, and Richie Pallai, Jr all with 660 points.

The Late Models were next, and that was a completely wild feature. Lap-5 showed Mike O'Sullivan spinning in turn three. The very next lap had a multi-car accident in the same corner of the track. Both I believe were minor cautions (I know that the O'Sullivan spin was minor), so the race continued on. The caution flew again on lap-18 when O'Sullivan spun yet again, this time on the backstretch. (He would finish 10th, by the way.) And then... Prepare for the lap-19 moment of misery. The original time, the caution came out for debris in turn three. (I don't remember what it was or who it was from.) Then on the restart, Mark Lewis's car didn't come up to speed, resulting in a false start and a restart redo. Take two proved to be much better for Lewis, and he held off a charge from Woody Pitkat to take his first win of the season and his career. Pitkat was in second followed by Jim Peterson and Scott Foster, Jr. With one race to do in the Late Model championship, it's down to Pitkat and Peterson racing for the title. Both of them have 700 points to their credit.

Third on the docket was the Limited Late Models, and this was probably the quickest feature of the night. The only caution was on lap-16 when Kevin Gambacorta nailed the wall in turns one and two. Before this incident, however, Corky Hinze was controlling the field after an early race lead, but Andrew Durand was able to yank it away and drive off with it into the sunset. This resulted in Durand's fourth win of the season. Hinze, Sean Foster, and George Nocera rounded out the other finishers from the scoreboard. With the race for the Limited Late Model championship closing down, Gambacorta has a ten point lead over Nocera, 652-642. Bill Davis is third and 22 behind, Foster is fourth -- 24 behind, and Durand rounds out the top five and is 34 back behind the leader.

Next we had yet another insane feature with the SK Modifieds. It took four green flags to get the first lap in the books. After two false starts and one multi-car accident including Todd Owen, Brad Hietala, and Aaron Goff, the race went onto smooth sailing. That was, however, until lap-3. Kirk Zervas had a solo accident in turns three and four, bringing out the fourth caution in three laps. Between then and the next caution period on lap-19, Chris Jones was leading the pack all over the place. But three laps after the lap-19 accident in turn four, including Bo Gunning and possible others, Jones would come to find out that his lead was about to go away. A powering Frank Ruocco zoomed past Jones on lap-22 and held off Willie Hardie to take his first win of the 2006 season. Hardie would finish second, followed by Woody Pitkat and Jones. With the win and thanks to others' misfortunes, Ruocco now holds an 18-point lead over Hardie going into Fall Final weekend. Eric Berndt and Todd Owen are both 50 points behind, and they can fall out of championship contention when Ruocco takes the green flag in the feature.

The DARE Stocks were the final division to race Friday night, and they had a crazy feature as well. On the opening lap, there was a multi-car accident in turn two, bringing out the first caution flag of the race. Two laps later, Norm Sears spun in turn four, and the restart didn't fare too grand either. Debris in turns one and two was possibly spotted and hence the caution was out yet again. And then what do you know... Another debris caution, again in turns one and two -- on the very next lap, no less. So in the first four laps of the feature, there were four cautions. Thankfully, everything went smooth from then on in. It was very smooth for Jeff Jolly, who took the lead early on in the feature and remained up front through all of the caution situations so he could win his second race fo the season. Bill Dunn, Sears, and Josh White rounded out the top-four. In the DARE Stock championship situation, Sears has a 50-point lead over the next closest competitor, Tom Stirk. This means that no matter how Stirk does, Sears clinches by starting the feature on Saturday.

So this means that the Fall Final is next up on the schedule. Five divisions will have track champions, each champion different from the year before. But there will be more coming your way throughout the course of the weekend. The Whelen Modified Tour will be on hand for a 150-lap race on Sunday with qualifying the day before. Also on Sunday, there will be the ever famous and ever popular CARQuest Pit Party from 11:00am EST to noon EST. If you take a look at the schedule, you'll see that the SK Modifieds and the Late Models will be adding ten laps to their features. Please don't miss it for what it's worth, and I'll see you this weekend starting on Saturday.

More to come within the course of the week.

Fall Final Television Promo

I just wanted to show you guys a little something I found on the Stafford site last night. I had to search all throughout YouTube to find it. But with succession, I present the television advertisement for the CARQuest Fall Final weekend:



Click the little play button in the middle of the video in order to play it.

More to come this weekend when the final Friday night of racing action rolls into town...

Some Useful (Useless?) Monday Trivia and More

Here's something different... I'm breaking away from the norm to bring you some very interesting trivia for you. I went on the Stafford site earlier today, and I found five links that hold some secrets in the September Series. If this month-long ordeal had its own championship, things would be looking quite different than the points standings show. Each division has its own breakdown to detail how everyone's doing in the final weeks. Forget about what's originally going on; let's break it down for you:

• In the SK Modifieds, Eric Berndt and Willie Hardie have each earned 92 points in the two races run this month, six more than Jeff Baral, twenty more than Lloyd Agor and Jeff Malave, and thirty more than Bo Gunning and Frank Ruocco.
• In the Late Models, Tom Fearn has 96 points in those races. He's only got four more than Jim Peterson, six more than Tom Butler, and twenty more than Mike Quintiliano and Ed Ricard.
• In the Limited Late Models, we've got another tie for most points in the division. Leading the pack with 90 points is Corky Hinze and Michael Nadeau. They both have four more points than Kevin Gambacorta and Paul Conte, six more than Sean Foster, and twelve more than Charlie Newman and Joey Ferrigno.
• In the DARE Stocks, Norman Sears has the most points in the division with 94 points. He's got four more points than Vince Gambacorta and Tom Stirk, six more points than Jim Brice, and twelve more points than Carla Botticello.
• In the SK Lights, Chris Matthews has the advantage with 98 points, the most out of anyone at Stafford this month. He's got ten points more than Glen Reen and Matt Gallo, twelve points more than Kyler Cafro, and sixteen points more than Richie Pallai, Jr.

Using this information, I could tell you right now that there might be a bit of a shakeup in the points leaderboard Friday night. This will be useful in determining who will be racing for the championship at the Fall Final. Speaking of the Fall Final, Stafford has also started to collect entries for the final Whelen Modified Tour race of the season, taking place over the course of September 30 and October 1. Two of the full time Stafford SK drivers will be attempting to qualify for the race: Eric Berndt and Frank Ruocco. The entry list is updated as of today, so more entries and possibly a few more delegates will be filing in entries as well. This will be covered further in the week leading up to the Fall Final.

So I hope you enjoyed my bit of trivia. In the end, it could be the only thing that separates the pretenders from the contenders.

Rain Drives Me Crazy/SK Light News

If you didn't know by now, the September 15th event at Stafford was cancelled. The cause wasn't a mystery... It was rain. Showers were forecasted for basically the entire day and therefore the call was made to call off the event. This will make the battle for the championships come down to a two-race shootout. Consider it the final two games of the World Series or the Stanley Cup... Except, of course, for the fact that some divisions could see a three or four-car race to the chase. This could prove to be quite interesting.

Okay, now for a story in the SK Light department. Shelly Perry has injured her wrist and could possibly miss the final two races of the season. She was racing in the True Value Modified Series race at Thompson during Modified Mania when the incident occured. After being involved in a wreck late in the race, the steering wheel was ripped from her hands and caused swelling afterwards. If she feels better come Thursday (9/21), she could try to start the Mini Stock feature at Thompson and the SK Light feature at Stafford the day after and have someone sub for her at the first caution -- if there is one. (The SK Lights have been known to have caution free features this season.)

More news coming your way over the course of the week. Stay tuned.

Not Heaven, But Hey, What Can You Expect?

Friday, September 8 showed us that this "September Series" was going to be quite troublesome for the contenders in the points championships. All in all, only one person lost their points lead and one title could ultimately be decided within the next two weeks rather than three. But before we even look at who's in and who's out of the hunt for the title, let's look at some of the on-track action. The September Series continued with five divisions of Stafford drivers...starting with the entry level full bodied DARE Stocks.

On the second lap of the event, Todd LaPorta spun in turn four. That wasn't too bad, considering there was more to come. As the cars rounded turn one on the restart, Neil Provost, Jeff Jolly, and Dan Flannery make contact and are involved in a three car accident in turns one and two, triggering the yellow for the second time. On lap-5, we saw Lori-Jo Rzeszutek in an accident of her own, also in turns one and two. So in the course of the first five laps, there were two accidents and a spin. Could the feature have gotten any worse? Well, would debris on the frontstretch around lap-9 answer your question? I'm sure it did. And if you wanted to see more cautions, you'd get your wish on lap-10. Seth Wallace brought out the final caution on the backstretch when he was involved in an accident. Now because the DARE Stocks have this time limit, they have to get the feature done as quick as possible. It didn't work out that way. The red and checkered flags came out at the same time, putting the feature to a halt. Norm Sears was in the lead when this occured, so he was declared the winner and took his first win of the season. Slowly making their way around the track behind him were Carla Botticello, David Gambacorta, and Tom Stirk.

I assure you that the cautions died down a little bit during the SK Lights' feature. The only one that took place was on lap-9 when Brit Andersen nailed the frontstretch wall pretty good. He was pretty much done for the night. But on the other hand, Chris Matthews sure as heck wasn't. Taking his fourth win of the year, he finished in front of Kyler Cafro, Matt Gallo, and Wade Mattesen.

So two features down, three more to go. Next up would be the second of three crazy features. This one was yet another full fendered group of cars and they would be the Late Models. Michael Bennett held his ground for the first 14-laps of the race as the leader, but then had to give it up to Tom Butler, only because his car was pretty much better and faster. During Butler's reign at the point, Tracy Brouillette spun in turn four (lap-22), bringing out the event's first caution. About two laps later, Butler lost the lead he had to Todd Owen, who would dominate for a few laps of his own. But then, things literally got out of hand. On lap-27, Doug Blowers and Mike Mordino collected each other in turns one and two causing yet another caution to fly. The restart wasn't too pretty for Wayne Coury Jr after he experienced some spinnage in turns one and two on the green flag. Trust me, those weren't the only fireworks of the night. The last caution was on lap-29 after a few cars got together on the backstretch, causing fireworks to explode. Owen, who had been leading since around lap-24, had lost his lead due to probable engine problems, giving it up to Tom Fearn. Fearn had some contact issues in the caution period before (Coury's lap-27 restart incident) with Ryan Posocco. Posocco was told to park the car afterwards. (More on Posocco and how he'll be spending his Friday night after the recaps.) But anyway, on the final restart of the race, JJ Hill's hood comes flying off of his car and lands on the track high into turn one. The caution does not come out, and Fearn holds off Butler, Woody Pitkat, and Jim Peterson to take his first win of the season.

Up for the shortest race of the night, we bring you what little of the Limited Late Model feature actually occured. Michael Nadeau started the race up front and held the lead for the first 9-laps. But hard on his back bumper was Paul Conte, who would take over the lead on the very next lap. Conte would hold off all comers, including George Nocera, Nadeau, and Sean Foster for his first win of the season. This was done without a single caution, by the way. (This makes two weeks in a row with a caution free event.)

Finally, we bring you a chaotic SK Modified feature. Four of the top-5 drivers contending for the points lead had a problem somewhere down the line, and the first one to experience anything below the norm was Woody Pitkat. On the opening lap, the car just didn't seem right and he spent numerous laps either in the pits or behind the wall. He'd finish dead last and would only collect two points towards his championship hopes. (They're literally shattered.) The second member of the "Mediocre Night Club" happened to be Frank Ruocco, as he was one of many cars involved in a lap-11 accident on the backstretch. His radiator was nearly busted and his crew spent five solid laps trying to get it fixed. During this time, however, there were a few non-contenders with problems of their own. Lap-12 had John Cleary get into the wall in turns one and two, lap-14 showed us the end result of Jim Larsen stroking the turn one wall, and the very next lap provided us with a multi-car spin on the backstretch. Now back to the championship contenders: After the three back to back to back cautions, problems rose with Todd Owen's driveshaft and Jeff Malave scraping the Safer barrier. They would become the last two members of this "Mediocre Night Club" for the night. On the other hand, they weren't the final people with problems to take care of. Lap-34 and its restart companion would prove costly. The first time we tried to complete the lap, Mark Anderson spun in turn four. The restart would be bad news for Bo Gunning as he nailed the turn one wall on the driver's side. It would take him a minute or two for him to get out of the car, but he appeared to be fine. What was a troublesome night for many was actually a godsend for Willie Hardie, who won his second win of the year. Next at the line was Lloyd Agor, Jeff Baral, and Chris Jones. Hardie, who was sixth in points before the feature ended and Eric Berndt were the only two to actually gain ground on Ruocco. (Even with the radiator troubles for five laps, he still has the points lead.)

Okay, now that the features are out of the way, there's one little bit of information that needs to be clarified. Remember back in the Late Model recap I mentioned something about Ryan Posocco and how he'd spend his Friday night this week? Well, it won't be behind a Stafford Late Model. Track officials have given him the week off due to some retaliation against Tom Fearn during one of the late race cautions. This is the first week of the season that one of the Late Model drivers (or full fendered drivers in general) has gotten a week's vacation. Let's see what that means for those racing for the Late Model championship.

Speaking of this upcoming Friday, I will be giving a brief mention about Stafford -- probably a list of drivers who took down feature wins. This is because I will be in New Hampshire for Friday's round of NASCAR Nextel Cup qualifying, practice, and the Sylvania 100 for the Whelen Modified Tour. Those will be full recaps, I can assure you of that. But for now, I'll be signing off. Not only is Blogger being a pain for me at the moment, I'm on the edge of my seat, waiting for the weekend to arrive. Until next week, friends...

September Series Kicks Off

Friday night was the first day of September and therefore started what Stafford called the "September Series". This is the first time the track management has had racing for the entire month, but you can only blame the rain for this. (Oh, and by the way: It was a clear night for action.) Let's get to the features. September 1st, what did you have for us?

Well, they gave us the DARE Stock feature first. And they gave the first caution on lap-9 when a multi-car accident took place in turn four and the frontstretch. When that was cleaned up (and said and done), the rest of the race remained caution free. Jim Brice held off all challenges from his competitors and won his first race of his career. Following him to the line were Vince Gambacorta, Steve Berardi, and Tom Stirk. (Post race tech inspection said otherwise. Berardi's third place was stripped from him because his car didn't meet the minimum frame height requirement.)

Right after they were done, we went into the action of the SK Lights. To tell the truth, there wasn't much action. No cautions. But Brit Andersen stirred the pot some with his fourth win of the season. Next three at the line? Chris Matthews, Glen Reen, and Richie Pallai, Jr.

The Late Models took to the track after a quick detour from the norm...fireworks above and beyond the track sponsors gracing the backstretch with a musical performance. Cautionfest started on lap-3 when debris was seen in turn one. Three laps later, John Severns and Billy Snow, Jr get together on the frontstretch and right when they first entered the turn one area. After a brief cleanup by the safety team, the green was back out...until lap-17, when Steve McQuillan and Dave Wray made contact in turn three. Then finally, lap-20 proved costly for Severns and Jonathan Smith as they got into an accident in turn four and the frontstretch. Now with cautions out of the way, the race belonged to Scott Foster, Jr. He took down his first win of the season with Jim Peterson, Tom Fearn, and Ryan Posocco following him to the finish.

Your next feature of the night was courtesy of the Limited Late Models. The first 14 laps were clear under green. And then...caution in turn four, thanks to Sean Foster. When all was finished, the final five laps of the race were green, green, green, and Kevin Gambacorta captured win number two of the 2006 season. 2nd through 4th were Corky Hinze, Charlie Newman, and Michael Nadeau.

With the final feature, we have the SK Modifieds. Let me tell you...it was something, all right. Our first caution occured on lap-2 with a multi-car accident in turns three and four. With that came a minor bit of controversy in regards to some of those "involved" in the wreck. There were one or two people that decided to slow up so that they didn't end up with battered cars, but track officials thought otherwise and added them in as caution cars. (I'd give you more on this opinion, but I'd like to remain as fair as possible here.) Next caution: Three laps later, Rowan Pennink spins in turn tour. (He'd go on to finish 9th.) We wouldn't see a yellow for five more laps; this being due to Chris Jones spinning on the frontstretch after an apparent incident with Jeff Johnson. (After he pulled behind the wall, Jones told the #15 crew and officials that they were "#1". I wouldn't be surprised to see a suspension in his future.) Anyway, lap-13 wasn't pretty for a few drivers as turns three and four became the hot spot for a second multi-car accident. Pulling away from all of these caution periods and restarts was Eric Berndt who had taken the lead at lap-3. But the lead would shrink on lap-15 when Pennink and (by what I wrote) Bo Gunning got together in turn two. And then the caution would fly on lap-24 when Lloyd Agor spun in turns three and four. Finally, the last two cautions took place on lap-37. The first time around, Steve Zukowski spun in turn one with what looked like help from Frank Ruocco. The second time around, the officials didn't like the start. But those two incidents went out the window and it was a three-lap race to the finish. At the end, however, Berndt sat pretty in Victory Lane, winning his third race of the season. Gunning, Jeff Malave, and Ruocco finished off the top-four.

The September Series is back in action this Friday night with five divisions and a whole lot of action. Points leads could change hands. Who'll leave the track on the 8the with the title of "points leader"? Stay tuned and find out.

What Would You Do...

...if a nice batch of rain came right through the state of Connecticut during the majority of your Friday? Stafford management decided to keep the racing intact and deemed the night suitable for racing. There was just one subplot, though: NO HEATS. All of the cars that were signed in were eligible for feature racing, five of them would leave feature winners, and a maximum of five different drivers would leave as the leaders of their respective division's point standings. So what really happened on the night of August 25? Let's answer the famous question "What would you do?" with each one of our features tonight.

...if you've only ran your third SK Light feature in your career?
The 20-lap SK Light feature started out strong for the first 19 laps with some wicked sweet action in all directions. But as the final lap started, Duke Place became the first victim of the grass treatment, spinning in turn 2. The restart on the same lap didn't go as planned either, as a false start bunched the cars together again. A green-white-checkered situation was in effect...and this is when some more chaos ensued. On the first attempt, Fred Nees spins on the frontstretch. Second attempt? Multi-car accident in turn 2, including Shelly Perry, Kyler Cafro, and a few others. Third attempt? Perry and Nees get together in the turn 4 vicinity and wind up in the frontstretch. Now, I didn't know the SK Lights had a time constraint like the DARE Stocks do, but time had expired and we had experienced a red/checked situation. The leader of the pack happened to be Matt Gallo, who in his third race of his career was named the winner of the event. Behind him at the time of the final caution was Tim Fogg, Place, and Wade Mattesen.

...if you're battling for the all-time Late Model win record?
This was actually one of the more temper-controlled 30-lap Late Model features I've seen to date. Instead of a caution filled-fest like the SK Lights were, this was pretty much calm. On lap-2, Johnathan Smith spun in turns 1 and 2, bringing out the first caution of the race. The next time the yellow would come out would be on lap-20 when Brad Boissonneault spun on the backstretch. Six laps later, the caution flew for the final time for debris in turn 1 (for what I could see; this may be different). At this time, Ryan Posocco was in the lead and he wouldn't let it go, even though Woody Pitkat was coming strong towards the end of the race. For all it was worth, Posocco scored his second win of the season with Pitkat in second, Todd Owen third, and Jim Peterson fourth. Posocco is only two wins away from capturing the all-time win record in the Late Model division.

...if you were in a battle for the points championship and wanting a third win in 2006?
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, there wasn't a lot to talk about. Lap-4 showed us a lot of speedy dry when oil was dumped all over the track. After that was cleaned up, a familiar face showed up in the top spot, and his name happens to be Andrew Durand. He took the lead on lap-3 and showed his muscle all the way through the race, even when a lap-12 came out for debris in turn 1. When all was said and done, Durand scored his third win of 2006. Following him to the line was Sean Foster, George Nocera, and Kevin Gambacorta.

...if you haven't won a feature since July of 2005?
The 40-lap SK Modified feature started out strong in terms of cautions when an unknown car spun in turn 2 on lap-3. On the restart, Willie Hardie took the lead from Lloyd Agor and was literally off to the races. This charge would come to a halt, however, when Jeff Johnson and Rowan Pennink spun on the frontstretch when lap-10 rolled around. The next two cautions would go hand in hand with each other. On lap-14, Johnson and Vincent Anglace would come together in turns 1 and 2, setting up one of those traditional double file restarts we all know and love. But Hardie decides to jump the gun on said restart and a false start occurs. This time, however, we're clean on the next restart and we're back to green flag racing...for four laps. Lap-18 brings us John Blewett III and Jeff Baral come into contact with each other in turn 4. And so this means that the next 22 laps would be run under green flag conditions. Hardie fought off a hard pressed Frank Ruocco--who had been coming off of a second place finish last week and was now trying not to do anything stupid as he was unofficially in the points lead as of the first lap--and successfully defended all challenges. Hardie and Ruocco would be the first two finishers at the finish line with Agor and Todd Owen coming after them. This, of course, would be Hardie's first win since July of 2005.

...if you were just trying to win your first feature win in general?
The final race was the 15-lap DARE Stock feature, and that probably went as quick as the Late Models. There were only two multi-car accidents, the first of which being on lap-4 and in turn 4. This set up the first and only lead change of the race. Barry Fluckinger drove past Jim Brice on the restart, but this lead would be destroyed on lap-5 when the second of two multi-car accidents took place on the backstretch. Again, Fluckinger charged past Brice on the restart, and again the lead would be called to a halt. Lap-12 showed us more liquid--possibly water--and bunched the field up for a third time for the final three laps. Brice was no match for Fluckinger on the final restart, and Fluckinger took down his first win of his career. Brice followed in second, and the top-4 ended with Norm Sears and Lori-Jo Rzeszutek.

And this concludes our segment entitled "What Would You Do?", where every answer was "Pull out the win." Until next Friday, when the September Series at Stafford starts up, gas pedal's on the right...

Urgent SK News

We interrupt your quiet Thursday evening with some major news coming out of the SK corner of the known universe. Ladies and gentlemen, it has been rumored (and possibly confirmed) that Ted Christopher is out of the DiPesa-owned 81. His possible replacement is the most recent name in the Whelen Modified Tour record book and top rookie in the 2006 season...James Civali. I'm guessing this had to do with Christopher's comment during his interview Friday night, calling the motor he was using a "Pettit air compressor". It blew up after turning the quickest lap of the feature, by the way.

And could Bob Potter be subbing for Bo Gunning? According to sources, Potter might strap into the 84 ride as Gunning's sitting out Friday night's race. Remember...after an incident in the SK Modified feature, Gunning decided to exit the infield after stirring up a dust cloud.

All of this will be answered tomorrow.

(News for this was collected at the Making Laps message board.)

Tech Can't Stop 'Em Now

Sorry for being late once again. (I should just have my blogging party moved to Wednesdays so I can get everything organized. But nonetheless, I'm doing it for your enjoyment.) Okay, so we had an event on August 18. And all the features were run. I say we start the festivities and begin with the minutes of the evening. Sounding good? Great! Read on...

The first of the usual five features on the night was the DARE Stock 15-lapper. From the start, Jeff Hubbell powered himself in front of the field, and it appeared as though nobody could stop him. Nothing could stop him, either. No cautions were drawn in the making of this feature, and to Hubbell, this was a good thing. He dominated the race and took his first of the 2006 season. After him was Norm Sears, David Gambacorta, and Vince Gambacorta. (To the person who requested I write this: You get your wish.)

Next on the docket was the SK Lights for 20-laps of racing. Lap-2 showed the brunt of the race as Dennis Eschenbrenner and Chris Matthews nailed each other on the frontstretch. (They would both be done for the night.) Lap-8 proved to be a near disaster for Anthony Burr as he soon gets involved in his own private accident in turn two. Strange enough, he'd finish the race in a good way, as the rest of the race was green to the finish. Glen Reen--who had finished fourth the previous week--became the most recent first time winner in the 2006 season by taking down the win. Following him to the line included Brit Andersen, Burr, and Tony Santangelo.

The Late Models soon followed with 30-laps...of pure insanity with a special finish to be remembered for the rest of eternity. On the opening lap, Mike Quintiliano nailed the turn one wall on the driver's side and would finish the race in a not-so-good spot. Lap-9 was the second trouble spot, and the location for an accident with John Severns and Billy Snow as turns one and two. Everything seemed to be resolved in terms of driving styles until lap-16. Johnathan Smith spun in turn two and a quick caution ensued. On the restart, Charlie Christoforo (and possibly Snow) collects the frontstretch wall. About five laps are needed to clean up the mess, and we are back to racing...and another caution on lap-17. This time, we find Rick Lanagan in an accident in turn one while Doug Blowers spins in a nearby location on the racetrack. The chaos continues on lap-19 when Tony Lafo supins in turn two, and a lap later, Wayne Coury spins in turn four. Of course, the cautions don't seem to leave our sight and we've got a mess of things to come on lap-21. On the initial running, Blowers spins yet again, this time in turns three and four. Quick caution and a green later, we find ourselves in turns one and two when a multi-car accident takes place. And with this, the cautions end. But like I said earlier, there was insanity in all aspects of this race. And the second attempt at the restart on lap-21 was no different. Jim Peterson blazes from about fourth to first on lap-20 and charged his way to the win. Scott Foster, Tom Fearn, and Woody Pitkat finish behind him. Now what's going to be remembered for the rest of Stafford's Late Model history is that Peterson's win in the August 18th event ties him for the most Late Model victories since they were incepted with Chuck Zentarski.

From the historic to the so-so, the Limited Late Models were on hand to put on their 20-lap show. The first and only caution occured on lap-3 (as I was taking care of some business, my mom decides to write this for me) as Charlie Newman is involved in a solo accident in turn one. Since that was the end of the yellows for that race, the green stayed out for the remaining 17 laps. Mike Sweeney took the lead from Rich Hammann and never looked back, cruising to the win with ease. Paul Conte, Sean Foster, and Kevin Gambacorta finished 2nd through 4th respectively. (This was Sweeney's first win of the 2006 season.)

Finally, we come to our 40-lap feature for Jack Arute's child...Stafford's own SK Modifieds. Like the Late Models, we start the cautions on the very first lap. Scott Bennett spins on the backstretch, causing the banana to fly. Three laps later, John Blewett III spins in turns three and four, presenting the caution again. Things seemed to run normally (yes, even with the sudden spawn in yellows), but all of a sudden...our little friend known as the scoreboard goes "el busto" in our faces. All I can tell you is that some time between the 4th and 12th lap, Brad Hietala has a meet-and-greet with the backstretch wall. The next lap I remember clearly (the scoreboard is still lights out) is lap-33. This is because Blewett spins yet again, this time on the frontstretch. And the restart? Well, that doesn't prove to be driver's best friend. Right as the pack of cars starts to round turn one, a multi-car caution occurs. But since this was the final caution of the night, things start to look up. Woody Pitkat had the lead since lap-5 and didn't let it go, although Frank Ruocco wanted to change some plans. It didn't work. Pitkat lead 35 laps to win his second win of the season. Ruocco finished second, Chris Jones third, and Jeff Malave fourth.

The night in a nutshell is closed, but there's just one more thing that needs to be detailed: Bo Gunning. Although he wasn't involved in much going on, he did receive a week's vacation from the track. Apparently he was doing donuts in the infield and left said location during the feature. Therefore, he gets a week's time off to think about what he did.

Now that's it. I promise. Have a safe Thursday and enjoy what's going to be happening this Friday night: Another regular night full of features that will prove to be as exciting as the next. I hope.

Wild Night With the Tour

Welcome to another installment of The View From Turn One. Tonight, we cover the action from the August 11th program, one that was fun-fueled for all its worth. I would like to point out ahead of time that it was the Whelen Modified Tour that came to the half mile that evening for the New England Dodge Dealers 150. During a rousing game of time trials, Tony Hirschman set the fastest time with an 18.359. After a top-8 redraw (or during that time), we had some Stafford divisions that were on the track for their features.

Our first feature of the night was the Limited Late Models. On the opening lap, a multi-car accident went down in turn two, causing all sorts of confusion and chaos to occur. That was cleaned up and the race went back to green. Yet as with most of the features, the banana came flying back out...this time on lap-18. Charlie Newman stalled in turns one and two, bringing another caution to the table. And the restart? Well, that wasn't very good to Andrew Durand. He spun in turn four, prompting the final caution of the event. The green-white-checkered situation was in place and that actually worked out in the end. Robert Dow saw the good side of the cause, and he effectively took down his first win of the 2006 season. George Nocera, Sean Foster, and Paul Conte followed him to the line.

Next was the Late Models, and did they put on a show for the audience. Once again, we had an opening lap caution. Tom Fearn took a nice spin into the turn one wall, but he would recover from it and finish strong at the end of the race. (Technical inspection would say other things.) Lap-8 saw a multi-car accident in turns one and two which saw a few cars beaten and bruised. The final caution was on lap-21 when John Severns and Billy Snow spun in turns one and two. And then...it was a nice race to the finish. Quite a few cars had a shot of winning the race, and all four were former feature winners in the division. Yet Jim Peterson had the best of everyone, and he came to the line for his second win of the season. Rounding out the top-4 were Fearn, Woody Pitkat, and Todd Owen. Of course, if you read about Fearn spinning out in the opening lap, then you might have seen a comment regarding tech inspection. Well, Fearn was disqualified for having improperly mounted additional weight. His second place was stripped from him.

Then...oh, we had a blast with the SK Modifieds. It literally went down to the wire. On lap-4, Vincent Anglace took a nice spin through turn four. On the next lap, Anglace and Eric Berndt collided on the frontstretch. And if you thought that the frontstretch was a safe place, lap-13 proved this theory wrong. Brad Hietala nailed the frontstretch wall and stopped right in front of my usual grandstand seating area. After a nice cleanup detail and two more laps of racing, Lloyd Agor was involved in an accident on the backstretch. Again, that was cleaned up and one lap later, another caution. Woody Pitkat was taken out in turn three. The next (and final) caution didn't occur until lap-39 when one of the Xtra-Mart team cars (and I wrote Zach Sylvester's number, though I may be wrong on that) spun in turn four. This set up nine laps to the checkered, and it was a fierce race. On the very last lap (and in the very last turn), Kenny Horton overpowered Chris Jones and won the race with inches to spare. Ted Christopher and Bo Gunning came across in third and fourth, respectively.

The Tour race was next, and that generated quite a bit of controversy within itself. Without giving you every bit of trouble (due to the fact that I'm a little tired and I don't have full notes for the race), there was one big accident that took quite a bit of cleanup time. Some of the drivers involved in it were Jamie Tomaino and pole sitter Tony Hirschman. Yet in the end, it was all James Civali. He held off a hard-fought charge from Reggie Ruggerio to win his first Whelen Modified Tour feature. As Ruggerio spun in turn one in the final two laps of the race, this let Ken Barry, Chris Pasteryak, Matt Hirschman, and Mike Stefanik finish within the top-5.

With the longest race of the night out of the way, we get to the shortest race of the night: The SK Lights. I mean it was short when I mention the fact that there were no cautions during the duration of the 20-laps that were run. (Although there might have been a few incidents where the yellow might have come out. Brit Andersen took this into account when he finished the race in first place. As of the time I took my notes, I had Wade Mattesen, Chris Matthews, and Glen Reen as the next three cars. But like in the Late Model feature, let the tech inspection prove otherwise. Mattesen's car had an inoperative RPM rev limiter (whatever those are), and he was disqualified from the feature finish.

Finally, the DARE Stocks came out onto the track. (This was at around 11:30pm EST.) On lap-8, Rob Lawrence spins in turn two. On lap-11, there were multiple spinouts. Too many to count, exactly, and too many to pick which one brought out the caution. So in my opinion, whoever spun before and during the caution was to blame. Then on lap-14, we had a blast. The original lap-14 caution came out for Jesse Hinze when he spun in turns three and four. On the restart, Lori-Jo Rzeszutek and Duane Provost got caught up in an accident in turn four. this led us to the second green-white-checkered situation of the night. Raymond Grassetti didn't mind this, though, as he led the field to the checkers. David Gambacorta, Joseph Scata, and Jeff Jolly rounded out the top-4. Yet during the feature, a track official and a track officer came up to the grandstands near the handicapper's booth (this was in the pits, mind you) and took away a radio belonging to a crew member from Scata's crew. Now, the DARE Stocks are not allowed to have any two-way communications with anyone. They're only allowed to listen to the track officials in the scorer's stand. With the confiscated radio, Scata was disqualified from the feature finish.

Oh, that was a wild night, considering I didn't get home until near one in the morning. (As I sigh.) Okay, more action comes your way Friday night. It's a regular week for the local boys, and I'll cover all the ups and downs...probably from the pits again. Until then, have a nice rest of the week.

Oh, What a Night...

Sorry for being so late, but I was just drawn into an addiction! (It's not what you think; I swear.) I've got some incredible news for you, so...do you want to hear it? You do? Good! Just sit back and enjoy a night that was filled with more action than you can shake a stick at. Relive the night of August 4, 2006.

We begin with the DARE Stocks and our first wild feature of the evening. The race was quick except for one caution. That was on lap-3 when Michael Nordman and Robert Thompson were involved in an accident somewhere in the turn 1 area. When that was cleared, the remaining some-odd cars in the field ran from green to checkers. At the time I wrote what I did originally, Dan Flannery came across the line first on his birthday, followed by Vince Gambacorta, Rob Lawrence, and Lori-Jo Rzeszutek. Yet post race inspection was another story, and both Flannery and Gambacorta were disqualified for having illegal rear suspensions. This put Lawrence as the winner, Rzeszutek in second, then Norm Sears and Carla Botticello after them.

When the SK Lights came out afterward, I thought it was going to be another one of those boring moments when the race was caution free. Chris Matthews had crossed the line first (as of press notes) with Brit Andersen, Duke Place, and Glen Reen coming in second, third, and fourth respectively. Once again, the magic of post race inspection loomed upon the competitors and disaster struck...on Matthews. For not meeting the frame height requirement, he was eliminated from the race and Andersen became the winner.

Could this night get any crazier? I think it could, and it sure as heck did. This was because the Late Models had taken to the track for their regular feature. The second lap proved to be part of the case. A multi-car accident had occured in turns 1 and 2. (Like I said, things could get crazier. No exeption, eh?) Lap-18 continued the carnage when Brad Boissonault stalled in turn 4. Four laps later, Jim Peterson's involved in an accident in the same spot as the last caution took place. NASCAR officials felt it was appropriate that he serve a three-lap penalty. I'm not sure why this was the move on NASCAR's part, but Peterson did serve the penalty and everyone (well, mostly everyone) was happy. During this span of three laps, however, there was yet another caution. This took place on lap-19 when yet another multi-car accident occured in the turns 1 and 2 area. (Suffering the worst damage was Bobby Leone.) When the dust and sort cleared, Ed Ricard came out on top. Tom Fearn, Mark Lewis, and Scott Foster rounded out the top-four. (The good news? No post-race incident.)

And then...a quick race for the Limited Late Models. Only thing that happened here of significant noteworthiness was an accident featuring Darrin Havanec and Ky Jensen on lap-10 (in the turns 3 and 4 area). Neither one finished outside of the top-15, although there were only 19 cars taking the green flag to begin with... Anyway, nothing else prevailed except for George Nocera who took down the win. Andrew Durand tried his hardest to make a move, but nothing would faze Nocera. Durand finished second, Bill Davis came in third, and Kevin Gambacorta was fourth. (Again, no disqualifications in tech. Yet this would change in a flash.)

Rounding out the night was Stafford's own SK Modifieds. And did they put on a show. The show started on lap-5 when a spin on the frontstretch from Kirk Zervas and Vincent Anglace brought out the caution. Then all was quiet on the home front until lap-24. During a battle for the lead in turn 4, Kenny Horton and Frank Ruocco got together. (They'd both finish in the top-ten when the checkered came out and some post-race drama came about.) Two more laps come flying through the book and again there's a caution. Scott Bennett ends up in turn 1 (and went on to finish 18th.) Now that all of the cautions were sifted through, the last 14 laps were run under green. John Blewett III powered past Jeff Baral on lap-29 to preserve the win for the #12 team and they would capture their first win of the 2006 season. Ted Christopher, Baral, and Curt Brainard were the next three cars to finish behind Blewett. But remember...there was still tech inspection, and that wasn't a godsend for Christopher. According to Monday's press release, his care had an illegal flywheel and he was stripped of his second place finish.

So that's it and all for the events of August 4, 2006. To be a car who had been disqualified for one reason or another, it must have been dreadful. But I'm sure all of them can put the past aside and focus on Friday night's program, which features the Whelen Modified Tour and 150-laps of racing excitement. A few of the Stafford regulars will test their luck in time trials and (if they succeed) the big event. I'll be there with all of the results in next week's blog. So until then...gas pedal's on the right...

Boy, What a Week

If you're a die hard race fan, you'd probably enjoy going to four events in four days. And at four tracks, too. But not all was scheduled on the appropriate day when threats of wet stuff came crashing down on Friday. This cancelled any plans of going to Stafford and therefore no regular entry for you this week. But no fear. Read on, faithful followers.

We'll start with Wednesday night and the second annual Seekonk (MA) Speedway Open Wheel Wednesday program. It was $10,000 to win and a grand total of 40 Modifieds tried their luck on the track. Of course, there happened to be a hint of controversy as I read that the Whelen Tour drivers got stuck racing in a heat together. Now what's up with that I don't know, but that really cheesed off a few people including last year's winner Donny Lia. He was in that eventful second heat along with a pack of Tour drivers including Chuck Hossfeld, Ted Christopher, Matt Hirschman, and even our Stafford representitive Frank Ruocco.

Before you say anything, let me tell you that I've read numerous opinions on this subject and I can't deny any and all words spoken. What I can tell you is this: When Hossfeld spun in the heat, Lia attempted to check up to avoid being a part of what was destined to be a wreck. When I say "destined to be", however, is when things really get going. Once Lia tried to check up, he got "run over" (using terminology from an article from Speed 51) by Ruocco. This was literally all that she wrote for Lia as he wasn't going to be around to defend his title from the previous year.

Of course, this is after running a consi with a field that was also packed with Whelen Tour drivers. How can you blame the luck of the draw? When you think it's fixed, of course. And people were really pointing fingers when True Value Modified Series driver Kirk Alexander won the race and the ten grand at the end of the night. Two more of the TVMS gang finished second and third, shaking the rattles of the WMS boys some more. Yet they calmed down some when Hossfeld became the only member of the crew to finish in the top-five, finishing fourth in a night deemed as controversial.

Another night that was in my mind was Friday and what little was run at Stafford. That night got rained out and was called off for good when a nice line of thunderstorms came across the state at around the four o'clock hour (Eastern Standard Time) and didn't wear off until about six o'clock. I was positive that the management was going to call the race earlier on in the day, but why push your luck when you've already got guys signed in and practicing? God only knows, and he won't tell answers. So we'll push this aside. We know now that another night has been called due to rain.

But things cleared up for Saturday when it was a Waterford night. And because of the previous night's rainout, Mom and I decided to go. Once again, prepare for a quick entry of "The View From Turn Four", the companion to "The View From Turn One". Now, this'll be a bit different than what I usually do for Stafford because I've used up all of my brain energy with going over Seekonk. But I can give you some winners. Sound good to you? Good! Here they are--the winners of the Bowl event of July 29th.

• SK Modifieds: Jeff Pearl
• Late Model: Tim Jordan
• Sportsman: Ron Oldham, Jr
• Mini Stock: Ken Cassidy
• Legends: Mark Bakaj (National Qualifier)

And who could forget all of the information regarding the night in question?

Other than that, I have nothing else to report on. Until Friday, can we all keep dry for a change? Thank you, and have a sweet rest of the weekend.

Wild 100, Other Features, and Seekonk News

(Dang. Exited the page before I could save and finish. But I've recovered nicely.)

Before we begin take two for the night, let me tell you some breaking news that occured pre-qualifying. Ted Christopher is back. Yes, you read this right. For the rest of the season, he'll be driving the #81 SK, previously driven by Chuck Docherty. I've read that Chuck would like to spend time with his family and put racing on the backburner, so good luck with any future endeavors you'll have in the future.

Now with that said, let's get to the features. Friday night was a crazy one, due to it being the SK Modified 100 and all. First on the schedule was the SK Light feature. For a change, they actually ran a clean, cautionless race. All 20 laps were completed before the cars started to slow down. And in the end, Brit Andersen took his first win of the 2006 season. At the time of the event, he finished ahead of Mike Lane, Chris Matthews, and Richie Pallai, Jr. In technical inspection, the finishing result became a mixed-up insane asylum. Mike Lane was disqualified for not having the minimum frame height requirement. I'm pretty positive that the team'll have that fixed before Friday night.

But let's put that aside, shall we? We do have the Limited Late Models to cover next. And for this race...my, oh my! I don't know what to say. On the second lap of the race, a car spun out in turn one. I can't give you a car number because I wrote down the wrong number. (Sorry.) Five laps later, Michael Chaves and Charlie Newman got together in turns one and two. Newman would be done for the night while Chaves would have a bit more to worry about. Then with four laps to go, Kevin Gambacorta spun in turn two. (He'd finish sixth, by the way.) Now here's where all of the craziness begins. It's the final lap and Chaves gets into Glenn Bartkowski in turn three. The caution comes out and the field is doubled up. On the restart, Sean Foster false starts yet benefits from a melee between then-leader George Nocera and Robert Dow. With both drivers out of the race, the night belonged to Foster. Even with a piece of sheetmetal dangling from the right side of the car (more importantly, a nice dragging piece), he still took home his second win of the year. Behind him was Paul Conte, Andrew Durand, and Corky Hinze.

Now you thought that was insane? You haven't read anything yet, considering the SK Modifieds had taken the track for their longest race of the season. On the very first green flag of the race, a false start occured thanks to Zach Sylvester. But breathe easy, because the next caution ould occur on lap-58 when Jeff Johnson spun on the backstretch. And then...what was probably the most dramatic caution of the event was on lap-61 when a battle for the lead between Bo Gunning, Lloyd Agor, and Frank Ruocco turned into a few parade laps under the banana. (The good news? It was a good night for one, a semi-good night for another, and...well, a not-so-good night for the third. And no, the results are not in the same order as the names I listed.) The not-so-good night was for Bo Gunning when he nailed the safer barrier on lap-77 along with Brad Hietala. As for the rest of the race, it went in a heartbeat. And at the finish, it was all Todd Owen. His second win of the year and it was in the longest race of the year. Following him was Willie Hardie, Jeff Malave, and Ruocco, who ended up having the best night out of those in the lap-61 incident.

Oh, but the insanity was not done yet. We still had the Late Models and their feature. Things were fine until lap-6 when Tony Lafo and Michael Bennett got together in turns three and four, bringing out the first caution. (Bennett would be involved in a later caution, which will be discussed in as much detail as I can later on in this race recap.) On the very next lap, we had the first of three multi-car scrimmages, this first one occuring in the turn one area. The next multi-car accident took place in the same area, just on lap-19. Then with only five laps to go, Wayne Coury Jr, Todd Owen, and Ryan Posocco ended up with beat cars--you guessed it, in the turn one corner of the track. You think that was it for the beat up rides? I think not, especially with a flip on the very next lap. Coming towards turn three on the backstretch, Bennett and Steve McQuillan get together with McQuillan's car ending up on its roof. The race was immediately red flagged for about five minutes as it took about that long for McQuillan to get out of his car and for the track safety team to get the car off the track. But once that was done, it was back to the same old, same old regarding the multi-car accidents. The final one was on lap-28 and was in turn four. With that said and done, it was all Woody Pitkat at the end. It was his sixth win of the season, followed to the line by Jim Peterson, Tom Butler, and Tom Fearn.

And finally, the night closed with the DARE Stocks. It wasn't too bad, considering us fans in the stands had to look at the two races previous to this one. On lap-2 and in turn two, there was a multi-car spin. Note I said spin, because it didn't look like anyone was beat up. On the ninth lap of the race, Robert Merril spun on the backstretch. Once again, no visible damage. But the non-viewable dents and bumps would come into play. On the restart, there was a multi-car accident on the backstretch. None of those cautions would faze Carla Botticello, because she took down her first win of the season. Norm Sears, Jeff Hubbell, and Tom Stirk followed her to the line.

And that's your night in a nutshell. But that's not all for this entry...there's some bonus news I must report to you about. You know Wednesday night's open wheeled Modified show at the Seekonk (MA) Speedway? Well, as of last night, I've found an updated entry list for the show with a few of our Stafford SK delegates, so to speak. I won't spoil any stories, but it's worth a look.

Now that's it. No more news until Thursday night. That's when I'll report back about what happened in Seekonk and tell you how the representatives from the half mile did. And then it's back to the computer over the weekend with the results from another regular night at Stafford. Until then, have fun.

Another Short Night (with Penalties)

Sorry for not getting this done when I had a chance to. I was waiting until the temperatures died down to something more comfortable for my tastes. (In other words: Tonight.) And now, for your reading enjoyment: The event from July 14th, 2006.

First up, we had the DARE Stocks. All was good and clean until lap-10 when Joseph Scata and a Rent-a-Racecar driver (who shall remain unidentified) got together on the frontstretch and spun out. This was the only caution of the race and it would be a quick final five laps. It seemed that nobody could catch David Gambacorta, and it was the truth as he took his second win of the season. Following him to the line was Jeff Hubbell, Vince Gambacorta, and Norm Sears. What's ironic about the first and third place finishers is that they're nephew (David) and uncle (Vince), and this was the first time the two of them have finished on the podium together.

After what seemed like a family reunion occured, it was time for some open wheeled action with the SK Lights. And it was more or less a dominant feature for Anthony Burr...with the exception of a few cautions, that is. Lap-17 proved to be a bad omen for some people. The first time the yellow came out, it was for Richie Pallai, Jr as he spun on the frontstretch. Of course, the restart on the same lap didn't help either. Shelly Perry and Michael Lane get together in turn two, causing a caution to occur. Restart number two provided a false start from Brit Andersen. But the third time's the charm and it was all Burr at the finish. Chris Matthews, Wade Mattesen, and Duke Place came across in second, third, and fourth respectively.

Then it was the Late Model feature which had more real cautions than any other division on the night. On the very first lap, JJ Hill spins in turn two. Then Bobby Leone goes around on the frontstretch on lap-9. And two laps later, a multi-car incident was put together on the backstretch. (I would have loved to give you some names, but it wasn't very possible. Too much dust, you know.) Yet the winner was someone who's been known to avoid all of the yellows at the right time. You may have heard of him...Woody Pitkat. His fifth win of the season was celebrated in front of Scott Foster, Tom Butler, and Todd Owen.

What could have been the quickest race of the night was next, courtesy of the Limited Late Models. The only caution in the event was on lap-3 when Pete Cayer experienced some "technical difficulties" when he spun in turn four. (NOTE: His car is sponsored by NBC 30. Hence the irony behind what's written in quotations.) This didn't faze Andrew Durand, though, as he had a reasonable margin of victory. Bill Davis, Sean Foster, and Kevin Gambacorta finished in a tail behind Durand. (You know what else is ironic? All three Gambacortas finished in the top-3 in their divisions. How impressive.)

To cap off the night, the SK Modifieds put a show on for the fans. What seemed to be a butt whooping from Bo Gunning almost wasn't going to happen. A multi-car accident on the frontstretch on lap-3 brings out the first yellow Gunning didn't want, and then things got nearly worse on lap-37 when Rowan Pennink spun on the backstretch. On the final restart of the race, Gunning almost lost the lead he had since the very start of the race thanks to a short yet hard fought move from Frank Ruocco. Yet it was all Gunning at the line. Ruocco beat out Willie Hardie for second, and Zach Sylvester rounded out the top four cars. This was Gunning's first win in nearly three years. To celebrate, he did a quick burnout before coming to Victory Lane. (Your penalties are included in that link.)

Your next event at Stafford is the 33rd annual SK Modified 100...something that I'll really enjoy as a fan of the SKs. As usual, I'll be reporting back with as much knowledge as my little notes can take me, and everything will be up before the week is over. So until tomorrow (as it's almost two in the morning on the East Coast), take care.

Slow Night, Isn't It?

Wow. Last night was the most interesting night in the history of my blog. It's because there weren't a lot of cautions period. And it was also due to a few drivers making a scene in more ways than one. Now let's get down to the action from the July 7th event, shall we? First, the DARE Stocks got things started with a caution free event. (Great...five minutes of a true snoozefest. Just plain wonderful.) Taking down the win was Stacey Botticello, the all-time DARE Stock leader in wins and two time winner in the season to date. Following her to the line were Raymond Grassetti, Norman Sears, and Jim Brice.

After this race, the cautions came out very slowly. In the SK Light feature, there was only one caution. That took place on lap-2 as Brit Anderson spun and had an accident in turns one and two. After that, it was a race to the checkers with Kyler Cafro leading Chris Matthews, Duke Place, and Shelly Perry to the start/finish line at the end. This was Cafro's first win of the season and of his career.

Then we get to the Late Models, who also had minimal caution periods in this race. The first caution came out on lap two thanks to Scott Foster and Tracy Brouillette created an accident site in turn three. On the very next lap, a multi-car crash takes place in turn two. (Those cars were unknown as there were too many to count and smoke was a barrier from seeing who was involved.) With the final yellow out of the way, Woody Pitkat ended up giving himself a birthday gift by winning the feature. He was followed by Todd Owen, Tom Fearn, and Scott Cook. (But Pitkat was not done after this feature. There was another batch of fireworks to come.)

The final feature for the full-bodied cars came courtesy of the Limited Late Models. Like the Late Models, there were only two cautions in the event. The fourth lap gave us a debris caution after the front bumper of (I believe) Andrew Durand ended up in turn one. Other than that, everything was fine...except for Pete Cayer spinning in turn two on lap-11. Then it became a nine lap race to the finish. Coming down to the line first was Kevin Gambacorta with Sean Foster, Mike Sweeney, and Robert Dow on his heels.

And then the night came to a dramatic close with the SK Modified feature. This was also the race that provided the most cautions in the entire night's program, starting with a lap-30 spin by John Blewett III in turn two. Four laps later, another spin. This time, it was in turn four and the culprit was Scott Bennett. If you thought that was it for the accidents and spins for the lap, I would have to tell you that you would be mistaken. The first time they tried a restart, Kenny Horton got turned into the frontstretch wall (closer to turn one). The second time, Jim Larsen spun inbetween turns one and two. Third time was a charm, yet the yellow waved again on lap-39 with Bo Gunning spinning and getting into an accident on the frontstretch and ending up in the turn one area. (This was when he was battling for the lead.) Trying to restart the race on lap-39 failed but take two was much better. That was the last time a yellow flew as the last eleven laps ran under green flag conditions. Yet all eyes were on Woody Pitkat as he was the one to finish all 40 laps first. Chris Jones, Jeff Baral, and Todd Owen were the next three cars to finish the race.

Also of importance: A nice multi-car crash took place on the backstretch on the last lap of the SK Modified feature. Involved in the accident was Jim Larsen, Mark Anderson, and Rowan Pennink. Oh, and did I mention that Chris Jones didn't use his familiar red #39? Well, believe it or not, he was borrowing a backup ride. Give credit to Frank Ruocco.

Next week, I will be trying something new. I'll be attempting to provide live coverage of the night's event as I will not be at the track. (But I'm sure you all knew that already.) More at the track coverage will be Saturday (July 15) for the Whelen Modified Tour race in a special edition of The View From Turn One. Until then, I bid you good driving.