June 11--- When Rockland native Dale Quarterley last raced at the twisty road course in Sonoma, California, the year was 1995, the track was known as Sears Point Raceway, and his racing vehicle was a motorcycle. In 2007, Quarterley will return to the track, now known as Infineon Raceway, in a NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series stock car. On June 23rd, he'll
strap into his No. 32 Carpet One Chevrolet with the goal of adding to his impressive road racing record in the Blue Lizard Australian Suncream 200.
 
      Quarterley, a six-time winner in NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series competition including two wins on Lime Rock Park's road course, will be racing under the banner of Kosmo Racing, owned by Kerrie Kosmides. Quarterley's experience at Infineon Raceway began in the 1980s, and it was the first track where he put his Superbike in the winner's circle.
 
       The Carpet One Chevrolet that Quarterley will be driving at Infineon Speedway has an impressive track record. It's won poles and led hundreds of laps at both Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen in NASCAR Grand National competition. Luck hasn't always been on its side as it's suffered flat tires and extended races where it ran out of gas while leading. But Quarterley is confident that it can return to winning form far from his  Bay State home.
 
     "The car always runs up front," he said. "It wants to run up front every time it gets on the track. I hope it likes being on the west coast as much as it's liked racing back east." And while the race track may have changed since he was on it last, Quarterley maintains that it won't be as much as a challenge in a car as it was on a motorcycle.  "If you spin out in a car, you just pop it into reverse, get back on the track, and drive away," he said. "On a bike you're usually not that lucky." Quarterley has backed off as a steady driver for the past 18 months on the Busch East circuit. Last year he coached Jeff Anton of Russell and this season he's got the same deal going with  John Salemi of Nashua, NH who placed ninth at Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway last weekend.
 
      Former series regular Eddie MacDonald of Rowley made his first NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series start of the season last Friday night at Stafford Speedway in CT. And he came away with his first victory since 2005. MacDonald led the final 81 laps. His win also earned him a secured starting spot in the postseason Toyota All-Star Challenge. Defending Busch East champion Mike Olsen of N. Haverhill, NH passed Matt Kobyluck of CT with three laps to go take second, while Marc Davis and Bryon Chew were fourth and fifth respectively. It was MacDonald’s third career Busch East win, with his most recent coming Oct. 30, 2005 at Thompson (CT.) International Speedway. He ran 82 races from 2001-06, making seven starts last season. Jesus Hernandez, Mike Johnson, Chase Austin, John Salemi and John Freeman rounded out the top 10. Point leader Joey Logano was 11th. Pole sitter Sean Caisse led the first 30 laps before being sidelined by mechanical problems and finished 24th. Logano leads Olsen by 40 points (794-754) and Rogelio Lopez (734) by 60.
 
       Stafford Motor Speedway has a reputation for being a tricky half-mile oval. NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series driver Jeff Anton of Russell found out how fickle the track can be during the running of Friday night's TSI Harley-Davidson 150 as his No. 30 Baran Institute of Technology/Engineered Floors, Inc. Chevrolet ran well in the one lane where it was most happy. A little off that line, though, and Anton was struggling. He wound up finishing 18th.
 
       Anton, off an encouraging short-track race just six days earlier in South Boston, Virginia, came to Stafford with a large contingent of supporters from Baran Institute on hand to cheer him on. They witnessed a driver who struggled through the two practice sessions, but progressed enough to time in eighteenth in qualifying.
 
      "I thought we'd be better here since it's a track we've been to before and we know it fairly well," he said, "but it didn't seem to make that much of a difference. As far as how the car qualified, it's getting better every week and that car's getting faster.
 
          Starting 18th, it was almost immediately after taking the green flag that Anton discovered his car did not like being on the outside. "We started off on the outside and it took a while to get to the inside. We could not handle on the outside to save our lives," he said.  Even a pit stop for a chassis adjustment under caution on lap 121 didn't help that much as he went on to finish eighteenth.
 
      "It wasn't our night," Anton said. "We got caught on the outside on a few of those restarts and when we went back green we just went straight backwards. Once I got back on the inside I could run with anyone but it took a while to pass each car. After I'd clear that car there'd be a ten- to fifteen-car gap up to the next one in my sights and I'd be able to run them down. It wasn't that the car was horrible, it just had one line where it was good and if I was just a little too low or a little too high, it wouldn't go. It knew where it wanted to be to be decent and it wasn't happy anywhere else."
 
       With Stafford now behind him, Anton is already looking forward to the next race on the schedule, which is at New Hampshire International Speedway set for June 29. He'll be driving the newer car that he drove to an eighth place finish in the combination race at the Iowa Speedway last month.
 
      Matt Kobyluck of Uncasville, CT was not too disappointed about his third place finish in the NASCAR Busch East Series TSI Harley Davidson 150 at Stafford Motor Speedway last Friday night. The driver of the No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet led 38 laps of the event en route to his second straight top-three finish in as many weeks.
 
            I'm not disappointed because at that point (in the race) that was the best we were going to do," said Kobyluck. I'm happy to get another top-five. I'm just disappointed because the car was so much better earlier than it was at the end. I don't know if it was something that broke or if the tires just went so bad that you couldn't drive it. We'll have to check it out and see."
 
            Kobyluck started on the outside pole after turning a lap of 91.227 mph (19.731 seconds) in qualifying. Sean Caisse led the first 30 laps, but handed the lead to Kobyluck when he went down pit road. Once out front, Kobyluck pulled out to a convincing margin. "I had almost a straightaway lead on the rest of the field, and the car wasn't changing at all. I thought the car was going to be golden until the end  and we were just going to check out there. I guess that's why they say it's never over until it's over."
 
            Kobyluck led all but one lap of the next 39 circuits, but lost the lead to Eddie MacDonald following a lap 70 restart. The field took the green and MacDonald beat him to the line. A caution came out and halted Kobyluck's attempt to get a run on the driver. "I kind of thought we hadn't completed the lap, but there's no arguing with city hall. You have to work with the hand they deal you," he said.
 
            The caution tightened the field up once again, and MacDonald was able to duplicate the feat of the previous green flag run and drive right out in front of the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet.  Kobyluck continued to be a contender in second, but started to fall off in the closing laps of the race. At lap 137, Kobyluck went high in turns one and two and allowed Mike Olsen to go under him and relegate his team to third. Many speculated that Kobyluck, whose brakes were glowing red in turn three, did not have brake issues.
 
            "I didn't lose any brake, but it was like something broke in the car. The nose was just driving up the racetrack like the locker in the rear end broke or something. It would just lock up instead of letting it release so I could turn in the corner," he explained. "It was a handful those last few laps." Kobyluck held on for third as the field took the checkers in its scheduled distance of 150 laps.
 
     Bob Anderson of Brockton's West Side does not compete in any of the main stream racing divisions. Instead he carved out his niche by entering  Demo Derbies. He started way back in 1964, sitting on a pillow because his legs were not long enough to reach the gas, clutch and brake pedals. "I was only 14 and told them (promoters) that  I was 16 years old. Since then I've
been in over 900 Demos all over New England and New York. I've won about 60 of them and just missed winning in another 200. Outside of New England I've been to Islip and Riverhead (both on Long Island, NY) for the year-end championship events and also to Wall Stadium in NJ," he revealed.   He stays pretty close to New England these days because he's more familiar with the competition.  His list of Demo wins include: Seekonk, Hudson, NH, the defunct Pines in Groveton, Riverside Park in Agawam and the Weymouth Fair. Also the Brockton Fairgrounds which he considers to be one of the toughest places to win.
 
      At age 56, he's still going at it. "I don't know when I'm going to give it up because I really enjoy it," he said with a laugh. His next event will be at the Seekonk Speedway on July 4.  He makes his living towing and salvaging old cars. "Business is pretty good because the price of scrap steel is right up there, right now," said Anderson with another grin. Towing cars to the scrap pile also gives him the opportunity to find some strong mounts for his Demo Derby efforts.  His vehicle of choice is a full size station wagon.  We ran into Bob at the recent 3rd Annual Reunion at Bezema Buick, Pontiac, GMC in Norwood two weeks ago.
 
       Tiverton, RI's Ryan Thibault took a fourth place in last weekend's 250 AMA Hillclimb held at Jefferson, PA in an event that was won by Phil Libhart of the Keystone State. In the 250 point chase Walter Strank, another PA rider, leads the standings , Libhart is next while Thibault holds down third. Ryan, though, won the Unlimited event while Strank and Libhart placed
second and third. Thibault leads the Unlimited point standings.

     Thursday Night Thunder at the Thompson (CT) Speedway saw Kerry Malone of Needham take the win in the Sunoco Modifieds while Tom Cravenho of Raynham ended up eighth while Bellingham's Steve Masse cracked the top ten. Rick Gentes of RI won the Late Model main while Plymouth's Paul Newcomb, Jr. ended the night in sixth. Springfield's Mike O'Sullivan ended up the winner in the Pro Stocks while Fred Astle, Jr. had to settle for runner-up. Jay Macedonio of Somerset took a fourth while Dave Berghman of Seekonk rounded out the top five. The TIS Modifieds saw Roger Larsen of Milford take the win while Seekonk's Mike Viens placed second. A pair of Raynham drivers Leo Olivera and Richie Ferreira placed seventh and ninth.  Thursday Night Thunder returns to the 5/8 mile track at 5 p.m.
 
     Heavy rain last Saturday  forced the cancellation of the Town Fair Tire True Value Modified Series 100 and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program at the Waterford (CT)Speedbowl. The rain date for True Value Modified Series has been tentatively scheduled for Saturday evening June 30.    The weather also washed out the scheduled events for the Seekonk Speedway in MA.
 
   Checking the rest of the southern New England racing action this weekend offers the following. On Friday it's NASCAR Weekly Racing at the Stafford (CT) Speedway. Seekonk schedules three racing divisions the same night and comes back with four others on Saturday evening. Waterford (CT) plans NASCAR Weekly Racing the same night. On Sunday, MotoX action returns to the Capeway Rovers track in Middleboro while the Tri-State Karters will be in action in Pomfret, CT. For the bikers, it's the Annual Bike Week in the Lakes Region of NH. Weirs Beach will be hectic with activity all week with a Hillclimb at the Gunstock Ski Area in Gilford, NH on Wednesday and then Flat Track Motorcycle action at the Rochester, NH Fairgrounds all day long and into the night on Friday. NHIS in Loudon, NH offers roadracing all weekend on the 1.6 mile roadcourse. New England Dragway in Epping, NH plans drag racing events Friday though Sunday.

    Lou Modestino is a long-time columnist and Public Relations person, working for numerous tracks in the northeast, and now writes for The Enterprise in Brockton, MA.  He may be reached at lmodestino@hotmail.com. 

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