PREECE, POSOCCO, BARRETT, NOCERA, & JOLLY SCORE SEPT. 17TH FINAL FRIDAY NIGHT SHOOT-OUT FEATURE VICTORIES AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY
Stafford Motor Speedway took to the track with its
Final Friday Night Shoot-Out program on September 17th. Ryan Preece
outdueled last week’s winner Woody Pitkat to score his first career SK
Modified® feature victory in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Ryan Posocco
scored his fourth win of 2010 in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Tommy
Barrett, Jr. scored his 10th win of 2010 in the 20-lap SK Light Modified
feature, George Nocera, Jr., won his second consecutive feature of 2010 in
spectacular fashion by crossing the start/finish line sideways in the 20-lap
Limited Late Model feature, and Jeff Jolly scored his third win of the 2010
season in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Chris Jones took the early lead as
Curt Brainard got loose in turns 3+4 and slid back from the lead to outside
the top-10. Jeff Baral took a ride through the infield grass on lap-5 while
battling for second place with Frank Ruocco but was able to keep going and
the race stayed green. Jones got sideways on lap-6 in turn 4 which allowed
Ruocco to move out front. Ted Christopher moved into second behind Ruocco
with Ryan Preece moving into third. Jones fell back to fourth place and
Zach Sylvester was fifth.
Christopher spun into the infield with 10 laps complete to bring the caution
out. Back under green Ruocco and Preece were side by side for the lead and
Preece was able to move by Ruocco in the outside groove on lap-12. Woody
Pitkat was third behind Preece and Ruocco with Zach Sylvester and Jones
dueling side by side for fourth place. Keith Rocco moved by Mark Bakaj for
sixth on lap-14 and began to close in on Sylvester, taking fifth place on
lap-15. Just ahead of Ruocco, Pitkat moved by Ruocco to take over second
place.
Jones got out of shape on lap-18 in turn 4, which allowed Rocco and
Sylvester to move by Jones. Bakaj was side by side with Jones and the two
cars made contact, which sent Jones into the turn 3 wall to bring the
caution out with 19 laps complete. Bakaj was brought to pit road for a
penalty by NASCAR Officials.
Preece took the lead back under green while Ruocco was side by side with
Pitakt for second. Pitkat was hanging tough in the outside groove and the
cars continued to run side by side as Rocco was all over the back of Ruocco
and Sylvester was right behind Rocco. Brian Sullivan spun in turn 4 to
bring the caution back out with 22 laps complete.
Preece took the lead back under green while Pitkat and Ruocco resumed their
side by side duel, but it only lasted one lap as Pitkat took second and
Ruocco settled into line in third. Sylvester was fourth and Rocco was
fifth. Pitkat made a move to take over the lead from Preece, but just as he
was making the pass for the lead, the caution came out for a spin by Adam
Skowyra, putting Preece back into the lead for the restart.
Preece took the lead back under green and Ruocco and Pitkat were back at
side by side for the second position. Rocco moved into fourth and Jeff
Malave was up to fifth as Pitkat again got the better of the side by side
battle with Ruocco for second.
With 10 laps to go, Pitkat was hounding Preece for the lead. Rocco and
Ruocco were closing in on the top-2 and Chris Matthews made a power move
around Malave to take over the fifth position on lap-33. Pitkat was looking
both high and low for a way around Preece, but Preece was able to hold
Pitkat off. Pitkat appeared to be stronger coming off turn 2, but Preece
was keeping Pitkat behind him. Pitkat made one last ditch effort on the
last lap, but he came up just short as Preece recorded his first SK
Modified® feature victory of the 2010 season. Pitkat finished second, with
Ruocco, Rocco, and Matthews rounding out the top-5.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature event, the action at the front of the pack
was wild and crazy as there was three and four wide action going on. Adam
Gray took the lead and Ryan Posocco made a three-wide move to take over
second. Dillon Moltz came up to third, with Jim Mavlouganes and Michael
Bennett making up the top-5. Tom Butler spun in turn 2 with 4 laps complete
to bring the caution out.
On the restart, Posocco was able to get around Gray for the lead in the high
groove and take over the lead. The next lap saw Moltz dive to the inside of
Gray to take over second. Bennett and Woody Pitkat also got by Gray before
the caution came back out with 6 laps complete for Mark St. Hilaire, who
spun in turn 3.
Posocco took the lead back under green with Pitkat moving into second.
Bennett got by Moltz for third with Gray holding down the fifth position
behind Moltz. Moltz was able to move back by Bennett for third on lap-15
while Posocco was the leader by a half straightaway over Pitkat, who had
nearly a half straightaway lead over Moltz in third.
Tom Fearn was running in fifth place when he lost a right front tire and
brought the caution out with 26 laps complete, which erased Posocco’s lead
and set up a sprint to the finish.
Posocco took the lead back under green with Moltz moving into second.
Pitkat fell back a spot to third, with Jim Peterson moving into fourth and
Tom Butler moved into fifth. Jim Mavlouganes spun to the infield grass with
28 laps complete to bring the caution out and set up a green white checkered
finish.
On the restart, Butler shot through the infield grass to immediately bring
the caution back out. Posocco led the field around for the final 2 laps
back under green to take his fourth win of the 2010 season. Pitkat finished
second, with Moltz, Peterson, and Bennett rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Victoria Bergenty powered
into the lead at the green flag but her stay up front was short as Erica
Santos moved to the front of the field on lap-2. SK Light Modified points
leader Matt Galko spun and hit the backstretch wall to bring the caution out
with 2 laps complete after contact with Ted Cain. Cain was black flagged
and parked for the remainder of the feature for over aggressive driving.
Back under green, Santos took the lead with Heather DesRochers in second.
Tommy Barrett, Jr. was side by side with Bergenty for third, but he quickly
moved to the inside of DesRochers and took over second and then moved by
Santos for the lead on lap-4. The caution came out with 5 laps complete as
Jay Goff spun in turn 2, which collected the car of Santos, Joey Cipriano,
and Tommy Membrino, Jr.
Barrett charged back into the lead on the restart with David Webb moving
into second. DesRochers was third, Zach Aszklar was up to fourth, and Earl
Pelletier was in fifth. Barrett was pulling away and he went unchallenged
for his 10th win of the 2010 season, his fourth in a row, and his eighth win
in the last 9 SK Light Modified events. David Webb finished second, with
DesRochers, Pelletier, and Aszklar rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, Jesse Hinze took the lead at
the drop of the green and began to immediately pull away from the pack.
Carla Botticello was second behind Hinze, with Shawn Thibeault, Kevin
Gambacorta, and George Nocera, Jr. making up the top-5. Botticello spun in
turn 2 on lap-7, but she was able to get her car going and the race stayed
under green flag conditions. Thibeault was given a pit road drive through
penalty for overaggressive driving, which put Gambacorta up to second place
behind Hinze. Nocera was now third, with Andrew Durand fourth and Dave
Yardley in fifth. Durand and Dan Flannery spun in turn 2 to bring the
caution out with 13 laps complete.
Michael Wray spun on the restart to bring the yellow back out before the
field could come back around to complete a lap. Gambacorta appeared to get
the jump on Hinze as the race went back to green, but Hinze moved by
Gambacorta in turn 2 and brought Nocera with him as Gambacorta fell back to
third place. Nocera was all over the back of Hinze looking to make a pass
for the lead. Hinze was able to keep Nocera behind him until the last lap
when Nocera was able to make the pass. Hinze fought back coming to the
checkered flag and the two cars made contact with Nocera taking the
checkered flag for the victory sideways. Hinze finished second with Rob
Dow, Yardley, and Gambacorta rounding out the top-5.
In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, Stephanie Berardi and Albert
Saunders were side by side for the lead for the first two laps and on the
third lap, Vince Gambacorta made a three-wide move to the inside of Berardi
and Saunders and made contact, which sent Berardi and Saunders into a half
spin. The race stayed under green and Jeff Jolly was the beneficiary of the
spin by Berardi and Saunders as he took over the race lead. Cory Casagrande
was second with Cliff Saunders, Josh Sylvester, and Kyle Casagrande behind
him.
At the lap-10 mark of the race, Cory Casagrande had run Jolly down and was
looking to make a pass to take over the lead. Cliff Saunders was right
behind Casagrande as it was a three-car train for the lead and Wood and Kyle
Casagrande were also closing in. Kelsey Rottino spun on the backstretch to
bring the caution out with 11 laps complete.
(continued)
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