...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...
After my hiatus since May, I've decided on a new lease on life. I've re-emerged from the dark layers of hell with a new location for all things VFT1.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
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.)
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.)
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
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...
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...
Sunday, July 30, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, July 24, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
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.
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.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Major Disqualification News
The disqualificationfest is upon us for the July 4th race program. (Just found this out right now, so give me two seconds to compose myself as I was literally freaking out during the original reading.) All right...this is what has changed since the last time I read the site:
- Joey Ferrigno's win from the first Limited Late Model feature was taken away because his car didn't meet the minimum wheel specifications. This makes Michael Chaves the winner of the first race.
- Glenn Bartkowski's third place finish from the second Limited Late Model feature was taken away because his car didn't meet the minimum weight requirement. This makes Ed Lofland the new third place finisher.
- Kenny Horton's second place finish from the SK Modified feature was taken away because his car didn't meet the minimum weight requirement. This makes Keith Rocco the new second place finisher and Todd Owen climbs up to the podium in third.
Well, I'll give you more information when I can after Friday's program. (Like I mentioned earlier today, I will be going. A pit visit is still up in the air. More will come that afternoon before I head out for the night.)
The Tour Without a Sight in My Eyes
Today's entry will be pretty strange, mind you. Let me explain to you right now that due to finanicial issues from the weekend, I was not able to attend the race yesterday at the track...yet by the time Mom, brother, and I left the shoreline with family, it was safe to assume that we did get there for a few minutes of figuring out where everyone was in the SK feature.
Here is what I can give you, though: a minor rundown with the winners (tech and other information pending).
SK Light: Chris Matthews
DARE Stock: Jeff Jolly
Limited Late Model #1: Joey Ferrigno
Limited Late Model #2: Sean Foster
Late Model: Tom Butler
SK Modified: Eric Berndt
Whelen Mod Tour: John Blewett III
I'll be at the track Friday for those of you who may believe that I'm going to slack off again. Be expected to miss out on me next week (7/14) because...I'm doing my own personal make up date with the Whelen Modified Tour. I'll be in Loudon, New Hampshire the entire day of the 15th so I can see Happy Hour and final practice for the Cup, the Tour race, and the Busch Series race. Go me!
Here is what I can give you, though: a minor rundown with the winners (tech and other information pending).
SK Light: Chris Matthews
DARE Stock: Jeff Jolly
Limited Late Model #1: Joey Ferrigno
Limited Late Model #2: Sean Foster
Late Model: Tom Butler
SK Modified: Eric Berndt
Whelen Mod Tour: John Blewett III
I'll be at the track Friday for those of you who may believe that I'm going to slack off again. Be expected to miss out on me next week (7/14) because...I'm doing my own personal make up date with the Whelen Modified Tour. I'll be in Loudon, New Hampshire the entire day of the 15th so I can see Happy Hour and final practice for the Cup, the Tour race, and the Busch Series race. Go me!
Sunday, July 02, 2006
A Caution-Filled 100 and Other Features
(First off, I apologize once again. I've barely had any time to get this up and posted, but I figured I'd do it today seeing as I have all the time in the world to get it done. Second off, I'm trying a new style as I'm going to e-mail it to someone for a website.)
Two nights ago, Stafford Motor Speedway had a Friday night full of racing with the Late Model 100 and three other divisions with regular-distanced events. More later with why only four divisions took a green flag in the night in question.
Before we move on to the regularly scheduled features, I have the dumb move of the night. This takes place after the Limited Late Models have finished their qualifying event and the SK Modifieds are starting to take the track for their first wave of heats. Now, apparently they (Limiteds) go eight laps and then the checkered waves. I thought they went a full ten laps and I'm guessing half of the field did as well. You see some of the back runners making a right hand turn from the frontstretch to go into the paddock area and the eventual leaders are still on the track, now heading for the backstretch. They were probably embarassed as you see them peeling off onto pit road for how the cars are usually supposed to exit the track after qualifying.
All of that aside, though: Feature time! First actual feature to run was the DARE Stocks. The chaos started on lap-6 with an accident in turn one. This ended up with Kyle Nosal in the #83 in the wall near the safer barrier. (That got a workout in the race previous to this one.) Three laps later, two cars got into an accident inbetween turns one and two. One of them was the #88 of Duane Provost and another car whose driver will remain a mystery as I didn't see the car number. After that, the race went clean until the final lap when the #09 of Ray Grassetti stalls in turn two. At that moment, the race was red/checkered because the DARE Stocks have a time limit to finish the race and they had reached that deadline. Your winner of the race happened to be Lori-Jo Rzeszutek, the second female winner in the division this season and the third female winner all-around. The rest of the top four were Norm Sears, David Gambacorta, and Carla Botticello. (NOTE: During tech inspection, Botticello's car was involved in a special look-see for something illegal. No word yet on if officials found anything.)
Next up was the SK Light feature. Right when the green came out for the first time, it would immediately be put out by the yellow. The #97 of Duke Place went up and over the #11 of Tony Santangelo in the turn one area. Both cars were done for the night. For the next 13 laps, the green would remain out. Yet on lap-14, there was a spin in turn one thanks to the #70 of Brit Andersen. And the following lap, a three car melee would ensue with Andersen involved again. (The other two cars were the #0 of Dennis Eschenbrenner and the #42 of Kyler Cafro.) Finally the race would finish and Richie Pallai, Jr would stand out on top. (His car is owned by one Jack Arute, Jr. You may know that last name from somewhere...) Following him to the checkered flag was Chris Matthews, Wade Mattesen, and Tim Fogg.
Next was a fireworks display that lit up the night sky, then it was time for the main event: 100 laps for the Late Models. This was the one race everyone wanted to see and, believe it or not, included me. Everyone saw a lap-19 accident on the backstretch involving the #36 of Brad Boissonneault and the #62 of Bobby Leone. Both cars were basically done then and there. If you thought that would be it for the cautions, then you'd be wrong. The insanity continued on the very next lap with a turn three accident involving many cars, all of them unknown. Then on the re-restart, JJ Hill in the #41 spins in turn one and the #82 of Rick Lanagan is sent through the frontstretch grass after the yellow has been flung out. Take three: Leader John Warren in the #55 has trouble on the restart, sending him all the way back to the back of the pack and back behind the wall. (He would go on to finish 26th.) The next time the yellow would come out would be on lap-89 with the second-place #44 of Scott Foster, Jr in a frontstretch crash that only involved him. Yet there were other cars with problems before him: Woody Pitkat (#48), Tom Fearn (#92), and Mike Quintiliano (#7). The cautionfest would continue on lap-92 when JJ Hill becomes a repeat caution offender in a turns 1 and 2 accident. Then on what could have been the final lap of the race, another caution is out in turn four. It was a red car and I really can't give out a number as I couldn't tell who was stranded in the grass. Anyway, the race ended up going to a green-white-checkered finish with Ryan Posocco's #3 winning the entire thing. Other finishers were Jim Peterson, Mark Lewis, and Tom Butler.
The final race of the night was the SK Modified feature. On the second lap of the race, Woody Pitkat's #52 stops in the middle of turns 3 and 4, bringing out the first caution. Two laps later, a two-car accident takes place in turn four. And the very next lap, there was a multi-car pile up in turn one. So right away there was three cautions in the first five laps of the race. This would quit until lap-24 when the #96 of Curt Brainard and the #6 of Chris Osella get together in the turn 4 and frontstretch area. (There could have been other cars involved, but I couldn't tell.) Another two laps pass and three cars are involved in another turn 4 caution. Those involved were the #30 of John Cleary, the #47 of Scott Bennett, and another car. (Apparently I screwed up on my notes and wrote an entirely different car number than the third car involved. So I can't give you a number on that one.) And then, the final caution occured on lap-32 when Scott Bennett brings out another caution in turns 1 and 2. With the cautions out of the way, Todd Owen's #90 held off a hard-pressed challenge from Frank Ruocco's #91 for the win. The other two to cross the finish next were Willie Hardie and Jeff Baral.
At this time, it was ten minutes to midnight and the Limited Late Models hadn't run their feature yet. Stafford decided to stop the event there and move the final feature onto the July 4th program--along with the Whelen Modified Tour and five other weekly features--so that those who were waiting out the caution-filled night wouldn't have to fall asleep during the race. I don't blame the management...I was getting tired as well.
So, that's the night of June 30th for you. Like mentioned in the above sentences, the next race is July 4th and gates are opening at 11:30 in the morning (Eastern Standard Time). This is weather permitting, of course. See you then...
Two nights ago, Stafford Motor Speedway had a Friday night full of racing with the Late Model 100 and three other divisions with regular-distanced events. More later with why only four divisions took a green flag in the night in question.
Before we move on to the regularly scheduled features, I have the dumb move of the night. This takes place after the Limited Late Models have finished their qualifying event and the SK Modifieds are starting to take the track for their first wave of heats. Now, apparently they (Limiteds) go eight laps and then the checkered waves. I thought they went a full ten laps and I'm guessing half of the field did as well. You see some of the back runners making a right hand turn from the frontstretch to go into the paddock area and the eventual leaders are still on the track, now heading for the backstretch. They were probably embarassed as you see them peeling off onto pit road for how the cars are usually supposed to exit the track after qualifying.
All of that aside, though: Feature time! First actual feature to run was the DARE Stocks. The chaos started on lap-6 with an accident in turn one. This ended up with Kyle Nosal in the #83 in the wall near the safer barrier. (That got a workout in the race previous to this one.) Three laps later, two cars got into an accident inbetween turns one and two. One of them was the #88 of Duane Provost and another car whose driver will remain a mystery as I didn't see the car number. After that, the race went clean until the final lap when the #09 of Ray Grassetti stalls in turn two. At that moment, the race was red/checkered because the DARE Stocks have a time limit to finish the race and they had reached that deadline. Your winner of the race happened to be Lori-Jo Rzeszutek, the second female winner in the division this season and the third female winner all-around. The rest of the top four were Norm Sears, David Gambacorta, and Carla Botticello. (NOTE: During tech inspection, Botticello's car was involved in a special look-see for something illegal. No word yet on if officials found anything.)
Next up was the SK Light feature. Right when the green came out for the first time, it would immediately be put out by the yellow. The #97 of Duke Place went up and over the #11 of Tony Santangelo in the turn one area. Both cars were done for the night. For the next 13 laps, the green would remain out. Yet on lap-14, there was a spin in turn one thanks to the #70 of Brit Andersen. And the following lap, a three car melee would ensue with Andersen involved again. (The other two cars were the #0 of Dennis Eschenbrenner and the #42 of Kyler Cafro.) Finally the race would finish and Richie Pallai, Jr would stand out on top. (His car is owned by one Jack Arute, Jr. You may know that last name from somewhere...) Following him to the checkered flag was Chris Matthews, Wade Mattesen, and Tim Fogg.
Next was a fireworks display that lit up the night sky, then it was time for the main event: 100 laps for the Late Models. This was the one race everyone wanted to see and, believe it or not, included me. Everyone saw a lap-19 accident on the backstretch involving the #36 of Brad Boissonneault and the #62 of Bobby Leone. Both cars were basically done then and there. If you thought that would be it for the cautions, then you'd be wrong. The insanity continued on the very next lap with a turn three accident involving many cars, all of them unknown. Then on the re-restart, JJ Hill in the #41 spins in turn one and the #82 of Rick Lanagan is sent through the frontstretch grass after the yellow has been flung out. Take three: Leader John Warren in the #55 has trouble on the restart, sending him all the way back to the back of the pack and back behind the wall. (He would go on to finish 26th.) The next time the yellow would come out would be on lap-89 with the second-place #44 of Scott Foster, Jr in a frontstretch crash that only involved him. Yet there were other cars with problems before him: Woody Pitkat (#48), Tom Fearn (#92), and Mike Quintiliano (#7). The cautionfest would continue on lap-92 when JJ Hill becomes a repeat caution offender in a turns 1 and 2 accident. Then on what could have been the final lap of the race, another caution is out in turn four. It was a red car and I really can't give out a number as I couldn't tell who was stranded in the grass. Anyway, the race ended up going to a green-white-checkered finish with Ryan Posocco's #3 winning the entire thing. Other finishers were Jim Peterson, Mark Lewis, and Tom Butler.
The final race of the night was the SK Modified feature. On the second lap of the race, Woody Pitkat's #52 stops in the middle of turns 3 and 4, bringing out the first caution. Two laps later, a two-car accident takes place in turn four. And the very next lap, there was a multi-car pile up in turn one. So right away there was three cautions in the first five laps of the race. This would quit until lap-24 when the #96 of Curt Brainard and the #6 of Chris Osella get together in the turn 4 and frontstretch area. (There could have been other cars involved, but I couldn't tell.) Another two laps pass and three cars are involved in another turn 4 caution. Those involved were the #30 of John Cleary, the #47 of Scott Bennett, and another car. (Apparently I screwed up on my notes and wrote an entirely different car number than the third car involved. So I can't give you a number on that one.) And then, the final caution occured on lap-32 when Scott Bennett brings out another caution in turns 1 and 2. With the cautions out of the way, Todd Owen's #90 held off a hard-pressed challenge from Frank Ruocco's #91 for the win. The other two to cross the finish next were Willie Hardie and Jeff Baral.
At this time, it was ten minutes to midnight and the Limited Late Models hadn't run their feature yet. Stafford decided to stop the event there and move the final feature onto the July 4th program--along with the Whelen Modified Tour and five other weekly features--so that those who were waiting out the caution-filled night wouldn't have to fall asleep during the race. I don't blame the management...I was getting tired as well.
So, that's the night of June 30th for you. Like mentioned in the above sentences, the next race is July 4th and gates are opening at 11:30 in the morning (Eastern Standard Time). This is weather permitting, of course. See you then...
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Whoa...Crazy Weekend
Yep, it's going to be insane this weekend. Stafford actually has a good enough weekend to get their regular Friday night installment done! Celebrate good times, come on! (Okay, I'll quit singing. Besides, my abilities suck anyway.) And after that, we get to make up a Whelen Modified Tour race. Doesn't that sound fun to you? Of course it does!
Friday night is the annual Late Model 100--and I can hear the open-wheeled fans right now groaning over the fact that it could potentially be a snorefest. Well, considering the fact that the other four divisions have regular-distanced features, I don't think I can go wrong on the above statement unless the race in question has more crashes than an action movie. That's all going down with little to no rain. *stands up and dances*
Gasp! But wait, there's more!
The Whelen Modified Tour's coming back for their make-up date from back in May. What date is this going to happen? July 4. Or as I like to put it, Independence Day. If you haven't paid attention to the schedule of events for that whole day, let me tell you that the pit gates open at a mind-boggling 7:30am Eastern Standard Time and the general admission gates open at 11:30am Eastern Standard Time. (This sounds like the Spring Sizzler or Fall Final, doesn't it? Anyway...)
So until Friday, I'll let you decide on one event or the other. (Or if you'd prefer more SK Modified action, I'll recommend the Pepsi 300 at the Waterford Speedbowl. Yet I doubt anyone will attend all three events over the course of five days...) Until then, take care and put some sunscreen on!
Friday night is the annual Late Model 100--and I can hear the open-wheeled fans right now groaning over the fact that it could potentially be a snorefest. Well, considering the fact that the other four divisions have regular-distanced features, I don't think I can go wrong on the above statement unless the race in question has more crashes than an action movie. That's all going down with little to no rain. *stands up and dances*
Gasp! But wait, there's more!
The Whelen Modified Tour's coming back for their make-up date from back in May. What date is this going to happen? July 4. Or as I like to put it, Independence Day. If you haven't paid attention to the schedule of events for that whole day, let me tell you that the pit gates open at a mind-boggling 7:30am Eastern Standard Time and the general admission gates open at 11:30am Eastern Standard Time. (This sounds like the Spring Sizzler or Fall Final, doesn't it? Anyway...)
So until Friday, I'll let you decide on one event or the other. (Or if you'd prefer more SK Modified action, I'll recommend the Pepsi 300 at the Waterford Speedbowl. Yet I doubt anyone will attend all three events over the course of five days...) Until then, take care and put some sunscreen on!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Three Firsts is a First
As most of you may know already, Stafford had cancelled its 6/23 program and will be back in action for yet another show on Friday. (More on that in a later blog.) But let's see here...I did get to see something (make it a few somethings) as I was heading down to Foxwoods for an impromptu Bingo session. Can you say "a night of firsts"? Well, I sure can and will and I will go further by saying that it was a night of three firsts.
First time I've seen a hauler drive by me as I'm stopped at a stop sign at the corner of two Connecticut Routes. As I'm at a red octagon at the corner of Routes 31 and 32, I notice this big, white and red (might have been orange) hauler come flying by us. With the positioning of the stripes on the back part of the hauler, I could tell it was the TS Haulers sponsored SK Modified hauler. Mom and I would lose this as we were heading in the same direction it would be going in but we would later catch up to it going onto Route 2. We'd lose it again on interstate 395.
First time driving by a "hauler" as it's sitting in the parking lot of a restaurant. This was probably the coolest find of them all. Coming past the Department of Motor Vehicles on Route 32 there is this pizza place and there is room for a small enough hauler--one that has the car visibly seen on all angles. Well, what a perfect time to spot Shelly Perry's SK Light parked right there for the whole world to see. I'm thinking that they were heading home with the fact that they come from Rhode Island and they stopped for a bite to eat. Who knows...
First time driving by a "hauler" as it's on the other side of the yellow lines. Still on Route 32, probably near the Franklin mushroom factory, Mom and I happen to just fly by the "hauler" of the 97 SK Light (an open hauler, just like Ms. Perry's) as it's heading to the track. Yes, you heard me right. To the track. Now, don't get me wrong, but did the driver of said hauler not notice Mr. TS Haulers driver dude drive right by him? Would it signal him turning around somewhere and heading back the way he came? Uh, not quite. So we see a not-too-smart move in the process.
And that was the last first in a night of firsts...which if I remember correctly is a first for me. (Three firsts for me is a first.) All right, this is posted late as is so more on the next event at Stafford later on in the week.
First time I've seen a hauler drive by me as I'm stopped at a stop sign at the corner of two Connecticut Routes. As I'm at a red octagon at the corner of Routes 31 and 32, I notice this big, white and red (might have been orange) hauler come flying by us. With the positioning of the stripes on the back part of the hauler, I could tell it was the TS Haulers sponsored SK Modified hauler. Mom and I would lose this as we were heading in the same direction it would be going in but we would later catch up to it going onto Route 2. We'd lose it again on interstate 395.
First time driving by a "hauler" as it's sitting in the parking lot of a restaurant. This was probably the coolest find of them all. Coming past the Department of Motor Vehicles on Route 32 there is this pizza place and there is room for a small enough hauler--one that has the car visibly seen on all angles. Well, what a perfect time to spot Shelly Perry's SK Light parked right there for the whole world to see. I'm thinking that they were heading home with the fact that they come from Rhode Island and they stopped for a bite to eat. Who knows...
First time driving by a "hauler" as it's on the other side of the yellow lines. Still on Route 32, probably near the Franklin mushroom factory, Mom and I happen to just fly by the "hauler" of the 97 SK Light (an open hauler, just like Ms. Perry's) as it's heading to the track. Yes, you heard me right. To the track. Now, don't get me wrong, but did the driver of said hauler not notice Mr. TS Haulers driver dude drive right by him? Would it signal him turning around somewhere and heading back the way he came? Uh, not quite. So we see a not-too-smart move in the process.
And that was the last first in a night of firsts...which if I remember correctly is a first for me. (Three firsts for me is a first.) All right, this is posted late as is so more on the next event at Stafford later on in the week.
Friday, June 23, 2006
The Midnight Weather Report (6/23 Event)
It is now 12:03am Eastern Standard time. As I write this, a new Friday is upon us and there is supposed to be racing tonight. I would like to say that there will be a full docket of features, but I am ashamed to report something like this on such short notice. With the recent addition of Weatherbug on the computer in my room, I can admit to seeing that it doesn't look good for tonight. There's a 70 percent chance of showers for the day alone and it just gets worse for the afternoon and evening. Yet all of this appears to be coming at a pretty good speed, so we might get this within the next few hours. Will we get this event in, or are we going to find alternate means of entertainment? More from the Turn One Weather Center as the day progresses.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Another One Bites the Dust
And once again, we've got ourselves the police blogger from Friday's events. There's nothing real special when you look at the majority of them as you see a bunch of rough riding penalties. But there's one that really tickled my fancy and is getting its own mention from this faithful follower. I'd like to draw your attention to the following penalty:
Date Issued: 6/19/06
Name: Phil Balmer
Division: SK Light Modified
Date of Infraction: 6/16/06
Rules Infractions: Intentionally causing a caution during the 6/16/06 SK Light Modified feature event. Unsportsmanlike conduct. Actions detrimental to the sport of auto racing.
Penalties: Black flagged for 3-lap penalty. Removed from competition in the 6/16/06 SK Light Modified feature event. Indefinite suspension.
See? This is what you get for flipping off about five officials after you've been denied access to the Jimmy Bosco paddock area. Did he deserve what he got? Of course. It's been proved time and time again that if you play the devil card, you are going to get shafted. Think about your actions and come back when you've graduated from anger management class.
Other penalties from the night can be found here.
Date Issued: 6/19/06
Name: Phil Balmer
Division: SK Light Modified
Date of Infraction: 6/16/06
Rules Infractions: Intentionally causing a caution during the 6/16/06 SK Light Modified feature event. Unsportsmanlike conduct. Actions detrimental to the sport of auto racing.
Penalties: Black flagged for 3-lap penalty. Removed from competition in the 6/16/06 SK Light Modified feature event. Indefinite suspension.
See? This is what you get for flipping off about five officials after you've been denied access to the Jimmy Bosco paddock area. Did he deserve what he got? Of course. It's been proved time and time again that if you play the devil card, you are going to get shafted. Think about your actions and come back when you've graduated from anger management class.
Other penalties from the night can be found here.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Solo Busch East Appearance (and Weekly Results)
It's been two days since I've posted a blog and it's also been that long since I remembered what the heck my password to Blogger was. I've succeeded in both tonight and therefore I bring you the events of June 16, 2006. This is also called the Busch East race from Stafford Motor Speedway. Speaking of the Busch East race, qualifying started at around 5pm Eastern Standard Time for the said series and Sean Caisse won it with a 19.796 time--which averages out to about 90.927 mile an hour speed. He also started on the pole after drawing it later on in the evening...but that's all I'm going to say about that for now. Let's get to the weekly portion of the night and I'll return later with more on the TSI Harley Davidson 150.
Unlike last week, we start out with the DARE Stock race and the first 15-laps of the night in terms of features. The first seven laps started out cleaner than a baby's diaper, and then from there it all fell apart. On the frontstretch, the race's big one occured when Jeff Hubbell, Melissa Blowers, and Lori-Jo Rzeszutek got into each other and sent themselves in both the wall and grass. All three of them were done for the event after that mess. As soon as the green flag came back out, another three car melee took place coming out of turn two. Once again, the caution came out but didn't last as long as the first one did. Those were the only two yellows of the race and that was all David Gambacorta had to face as he sailed to the finish line in first place.
Then it was the SK Lights and the 25-lap feature that they usually have. Phil Balmer decided that he would play dirty for a while and as he brought out a caution, he flipped off the officials at the pit gate near where I sit on a general admission basis. (Nice job, pal. I hope you get some time off to think about it. Can't wait for the police blogger.) The other main story of the race was Chris Matthews and his dominant performance. Methinks it was the right move to think that way because it was his second "dominant performance" of the season...he won the race and became the first SK Light driver to have more than one career win in the season.
After that, I decided not to write full recaps during the races as I needed to see what was going on rather than putting my eyes on my notes every five seconds. And with the 30-lap Late Model feature next, I knew it was a smart move on my part. Four caution flags flew in this race, all for minor accidents where all of the cars drove away on their own. But the story of the whole feature was Woody Pitkat. Could he win four features in a row? Not really. In the end, the Monson, Massachusetts native Jim Peterson took down his first feature win of the season in true fashion...a big lead at the end.
Speaking of big leads, the Limited Late Model 20-lap feature was the same story. A big lead was insurmountable for the rest of the field when Charlie Newman became the fourth different driver to win a race in this division in the 2006 season. (Let me tell you, it was better than the same two drivers winning every race last year...) There was only one caution, and it occured on lap-15. It was a minor spin inbetween turns one and two and that driver pulled away. But in the next feature, it was a different story...
The SK Modifieds took to the track for the final regular feature of the night...a 40-lap event. Unlike the previous week, there wasn't a controversial caution that took place. Yet there was a caution midway through when the leaders at the time (and I forget who they were) got together and caused a nice wreck on the backstretch. People were banging cars everywhere and one person even went airborne: A repeat wrecker from last time, Frank Ruocco. Lucky for him, he finished the race a few laps down. But coming down from the and landing on the track surface had to be a hard hit on the cracked ribs he suffered. (Oh, I'll stop for there. I really don't want to sound like a "homer" or anything...)
Finally, the event wrapped up with the TSI Harley Davidson 150 for the Busch East Series. (I admit to leaving early because it was sort of...well, getting boring for me. They aren't my favorite things to see in the whole world, but I did see enough to comment on it. Good for me.) What I didn't see though was a late race red flag. Apparently Rich Gould and Mike Johnson brought out the red for a full 22 minutes. Other than that, I didn't miss much. The race was a two-man show with Caisse and Matt Kobyluck leading every lap imaginable. In the end, the rookie took the lead and he took the race. Congratulations to Sean Caisse and the rest of his team. Two in a row is very impressive, and he could very well make it three when the group races again.
Unlike last week, we start out with the DARE Stock race and the first 15-laps of the night in terms of features. The first seven laps started out cleaner than a baby's diaper, and then from there it all fell apart. On the frontstretch, the race's big one occured when Jeff Hubbell, Melissa Blowers, and Lori-Jo Rzeszutek got into each other and sent themselves in both the wall and grass. All three of them were done for the event after that mess. As soon as the green flag came back out, another three car melee took place coming out of turn two. Once again, the caution came out but didn't last as long as the first one did. Those were the only two yellows of the race and that was all David Gambacorta had to face as he sailed to the finish line in first place.
Then it was the SK Lights and the 25-lap feature that they usually have. Phil Balmer decided that he would play dirty for a while and as he brought out a caution, he flipped off the officials at the pit gate near where I sit on a general admission basis. (Nice job, pal. I hope you get some time off to think about it. Can't wait for the police blogger.) The other main story of the race was Chris Matthews and his dominant performance. Methinks it was the right move to think that way because it was his second "dominant performance" of the season...he won the race and became the first SK Light driver to have more than one career win in the season.
After that, I decided not to write full recaps during the races as I needed to see what was going on rather than putting my eyes on my notes every five seconds. And with the 30-lap Late Model feature next, I knew it was a smart move on my part. Four caution flags flew in this race, all for minor accidents where all of the cars drove away on their own. But the story of the whole feature was Woody Pitkat. Could he win four features in a row? Not really. In the end, the Monson, Massachusetts native Jim Peterson took down his first feature win of the season in true fashion...a big lead at the end.
Speaking of big leads, the Limited Late Model 20-lap feature was the same story. A big lead was insurmountable for the rest of the field when Charlie Newman became the fourth different driver to win a race in this division in the 2006 season. (Let me tell you, it was better than the same two drivers winning every race last year...) There was only one caution, and it occured on lap-15. It was a minor spin inbetween turns one and two and that driver pulled away. But in the next feature, it was a different story...
The SK Modifieds took to the track for the final regular feature of the night...a 40-lap event. Unlike the previous week, there wasn't a controversial caution that took place. Yet there was a caution midway through when the leaders at the time (and I forget who they were) got together and caused a nice wreck on the backstretch. People were banging cars everywhere and one person even went airborne: A repeat wrecker from last time, Frank Ruocco. Lucky for him, he finished the race a few laps down. But coming down from the and landing on the track surface had to be a hard hit on the cracked ribs he suffered. (Oh, I'll stop for there. I really don't want to sound like a "homer" or anything...)
Finally, the event wrapped up with the TSI Harley Davidson 150 for the Busch East Series. (I admit to leaving early because it was sort of...well, getting boring for me. They aren't my favorite things to see in the whole world, but I did see enough to comment on it. Good for me.) What I didn't see though was a late race red flag. Apparently Rich Gould and Mike Johnson brought out the red for a full 22 minutes. Other than that, I didn't miss much. The race was a two-man show with Caisse and Matt Kobyluck leading every lap imaginable. In the end, the rookie took the lead and he took the race. Congratulations to Sean Caisse and the rest of his team. Two in a row is very impressive, and he could very well make it three when the group races again.
Friday, June 16, 2006
TC's Got a (Tour) Ride and the Busch Boys Roll in Town
It's official: Ted Christopher will be in Jennerstown (PA) on Saturday night. And he will be in a Whelen Modified Tour car as well. The Hartford Courant states that Eddie Whelan has offered the former Stafford SK Modified champion a ride and he has accepted to drive for him. (Note: Whelan currently fields a full-time ride for Mike Andrews, Jr. The car was previously driven by Mike Ewanitsko, but injuries have kept him out of the car.) Nobody knows if this deal will continue past Jennerstown.
In other news: The Busch East Series makes its only appearance at the half mile tonight. I haven't been feeling all too good over the past few days, but my medical condition is withstanding and I should get the clean bill of health for tonight's events. A full report on the night will be written up while I'm there and I will be posting it up on here tomorrow.
In other news: The Busch East Series makes its only appearance at the half mile tonight. I haven't been feeling all too good over the past few days, but my medical condition is withstanding and I should get the clean bill of health for tonight's events. A full report on the night will be written up while I'm there and I will be posting it up on here tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Dug Your Grave? Live In It
Before I begin to actually write this, let me mention that this is what I've been waiting for...and probably what you've been waiting for as well. It's the official results of the melee on lap-32!
Three full programs into the season and it's over for someone's hunt in the championship. Just desserts have been served up to Jimmy Blewett for his actions during the 6/9 SK Modified feature. Because of his unsatisfactory driving and nailing another car, Blewett has been suspended for the rest of the 2006 season. The group on the Making Laps message board sort of discussed the possiblity of a two week vacation and one went further, saying that it could have been extended to a season ender. Well, I can't blame him for making an accusation like that. Blewett dug his own grave when he literally shoved Frank Ruocco into the turn one wall (and just to let you know again, the incident took place feet before...right in front of where I was sitting), so it's logical to deduct that the man should live in it as well.
Oh...before I forget, let me mention that the only thing Ruocco ended up getting in the penalty notices was a fine for not taking a ride in the ambulance after the wreck occured. Remember? I told you what happened. I witnessed everything, you know.
Here are the other penalties from the night.
Three full programs into the season and it's over for someone's hunt in the championship. Just desserts have been served up to Jimmy Blewett for his actions during the 6/9 SK Modified feature. Because of his unsatisfactory driving and nailing another car, Blewett has been suspended for the rest of the 2006 season. The group on the Making Laps message board sort of discussed the possiblity of a two week vacation and one went further, saying that it could have been extended to a season ender. Well, I can't blame him for making an accusation like that. Blewett dug his own grave when he literally shoved Frank Ruocco into the turn one wall (and just to let you know again, the incident took place feet before...right in front of where I was sitting), so it's logical to deduct that the man should live in it as well.
Oh...before I forget, let me mention that the only thing Ruocco ended up getting in the penalty notices was a fine for not taking a ride in the ambulance after the wreck occured. Remember? I told you what happened. I witnessed everything, you know.
Here are the other penalties from the night.
Monday, June 12, 2006
After Weekend Headlines
After the first real racing at Stafford in a while, I'm happy to report that news has broken concerning two of the podiums. Well...I'm not really happy, but there is news and I'm right on it. The SK Light and DARE Stock feature finishes have changed quite a bit since the last time we spoke with each other, but the winners remain the same. Taken from the press release from today:
"In the SK Light feature finish, second and third place finishers Anthony Burr and Duke Place were disqualified from their finishing positions following post-race technical inspection. Both cars were found to have illegal carburetor parts. Unofficial DARE Stock third place finisher Joseph Scata was disqualified from the official order of finish. Scata's car failed to meet the minimum height requirement in post-race technical inspection and thus he was disqualified from the official May 5 DARE Stock finishing order."
Well, it sucks to be them. I mean, come on. This is the first time all season I've had to see this happen to people who try very hard to make good, strong finishes every race they enter. Yet once this happens to them, this puts their reputation down to an all-time low. Just show me good, clean top-3s for the rest of the year. Okay? All right...other news to report: Tuesday, July 11 is the third annual CARQuest Extreme Tuesday. Basically it's an open-wheeled night for those people who are interested in those series that don't race weekly at the track. (Meaning for a change, there's going to be no Mandy in turn one...even if this thing doesn't get rained out.) But there is a light side to all of this, and that's called the CARQuest Clash. You get some of the biggest names in racing and stick them in open-wheeled cars for show. This year, I hear Stafford's booked Al Unser Jr, Sarah Fisher, Sammy Swindell (who has competed in this event before), Dave Steele, and...get ready for this...Rusty Wallace. Yes, you saw that right. You want proof? You can read it here. It's going to be interesting if I do say so myself. So if anyone who's reading this is going, drop me a line and tell me how it was.
All right, I'm still looking for those penalty notices from Friday night. I've seen nothing and I'll report same for that. When I get them, be sure to check back for my opinions on them. (And like the entry on Saturday, I'll be completely unbiased. Or at least I'll try to.)
"In the SK Light feature finish, second and third place finishers Anthony Burr and Duke Place were disqualified from their finishing positions following post-race technical inspection. Both cars were found to have illegal carburetor parts. Unofficial DARE Stock third place finisher Joseph Scata was disqualified from the official order of finish. Scata's car failed to meet the minimum height requirement in post-race technical inspection and thus he was disqualified from the official May 5 DARE Stock finishing order."
Well, it sucks to be them. I mean, come on. This is the first time all season I've had to see this happen to people who try very hard to make good, strong finishes every race they enter. Yet once this happens to them, this puts their reputation down to an all-time low. Just show me good, clean top-3s for the rest of the year. Okay? All right...other news to report: Tuesday, July 11 is the third annual CARQuest Extreme Tuesday. Basically it's an open-wheeled night for those people who are interested in those series that don't race weekly at the track. (Meaning for a change, there's going to be no Mandy in turn one...even if this thing doesn't get rained out.) But there is a light side to all of this, and that's called the CARQuest Clash. You get some of the biggest names in racing and stick them in open-wheeled cars for show. This year, I hear Stafford's booked Al Unser Jr, Sarah Fisher, Sammy Swindell (who has competed in this event before), Dave Steele, and...get ready for this...Rusty Wallace. Yes, you saw that right. You want proof? You can read it here. It's going to be interesting if I do say so myself. So if anyone who's reading this is going, drop me a line and tell me how it was.
All right, I'm still looking for those penalty notices from Friday night. I've seen nothing and I'll report same for that. When I get them, be sure to check back for my opinions on them. (And like the entry on Saturday, I'll be completely unbiased. Or at least I'll try to.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)