by Mandy B.

The End of the Road--- Results of Fall Final Weekend

October 16, Bolton, CT--- Two weeks ultimately separated the final Friday night of racing and the Fall Final because of rain and other scheduling conflicts, meaning that racing season was going to end later than usual. (The last time rain pushed the Fall Final back into the middle of or late October? 2006.) In store for two days of action were: Two sets of time trials, five weekly divisions going out for qualifying heats, five final features for the five weekly divisions, two main events, and one All-Star race to close out what was truly a memorable season at Stafford.

Saturday afternoon was strictly qualifying (and some features). The cars of the Camping World East Series time trialed first, and it was Brian Ickler who set the fast time there. Not only did Ickler set the fastest time, but he also set the track record at Stafford with a lap time of 19.376 seconds. Then it was time for Whelen Modified Tour time trials, and the fastest driver there was Mike Stefanik, who clocked in a lap time of 18.158 seconds.

And after the qualifying heats for the five weekly divisions, it was time to run some features. Winners from the features run on Saturday were Kyle Casagrande in the DARE Stocks, Chris Bakaj in the SK Lights, and Sean Foster in the Limited Late Models. The championships went to Norm Sears in the DARE Stocks, with Joe Allegro, Jr. winning the SK Lights, and Bill Davis in the Limited Late Models. The last race was the Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock shootout, where Sears came back from the tail end of the field to win.

Then it was Sunday, and racing started at around high noon, with the Camping World East Series event. Eight cautions set up something that was nothing like what has been seen all season at Stafford, but it was something that could be talked about for quite some time. The final restart took place on lap-143, and one of the most dramatic finishes took place. Brian Ickler spun while coming to take the green flag, giving the lead to Ted Christopher before the field came to the start/finish line. Coming off of turn four to take the white flag, Peyton Sellers appeared to give a tap to the back bumper of Christopher's car and sent him spinning and facing the other way coming out of the turn. The yellow/checker came out, and Sellers thought he had won the race. It took a few minutes for CWES officials to determine that Sellers had indeed won the race. DEI teammates Trevor Bayne and Jesus Hernandez finished second and third respectively, while Austin Dillon finished fourth.

After the confusion and chaos with the CWES race, it was time for the SK Modified race. And it seemed as though the tradition of what was usually a bashfest would continue into the final weekend of play. And with two guys officially in contention to win the championship, Keith Rocco and Ted Christopher, would either driver fall into unlucky hands? If so, when? Those questions would be answered before the race was over, and in surprising fashion. It would all begin with Curt Brainard taking the lead when the race began, but it would be Richie Pallai, Jr. taking the lead from Brainard on the second lap. A few cautions passed before Pallai would eventually lose the lead to Rocco on a restart. On the next lap, it would be Christopher who would pass Rocco for the lead. Again, more cautions, and still Christopher out front. But with only three laps to go, something went wrong with Christopher's car, and he slowed down on the backstretch and ultimately spun before making it to pit road with three laps to go. This gave the lead to Woody Pitkat and, because of the fact that the car of Christopher was indeed broken, the opportunity to clinch the championship to Rocco. Although Pitkat was able to hold off Rocco over the final few laps, it would be Rocco taking the 2008 SK Modified championship. On the board, the top-four spots belonged to Pitkat, Rocco, Jeff Baral, and Brainard.

The next-to-last event on the schedule of the Whelen Modified Tour rolled off the grid next, with the championship still up for grabs there as of the start of the race. After the redraw on Saturday, it was Mike Stefanik and Ted Christopher sharing the front row. And for most of the race, it was Stefanik out in front (sans a pit stop under yellow, in which two people on the lead lap didn't pit, giving Rob Summers the lead; and one lap where Ryan Preece was trying to battle for the lead as well). Over the final few laps, it was a challenge from Matt Hirschman, but Stefanik held off the challenge to take down his first win of the season, and the 20th all time at the half-mile. Rounding out the rest of the top-four were Hirschman, Chuck Hossfeld, and Todd Szegedy.

2008 at Stafford ended with the Late Model race which saw two leaders and only one caution; the caution being early in the race. Scott Cook pulled out in front when the green first came out, but he would give up the lead to Ryan Posocco on lap-10. It felt like Posocco was in another time zone when he started to increase his lead over the final 20 laps of the event. His seventh win of the season came when he crossed the start/finish line over seven seconds in front of Jim Mavlouganes. Tom Butler finished third, while Joe Rzeszutek came in fourth. Posocco was able to officially celebrate the championship he had won during the final Friday night event of the season, as he clinched the championship back in September.