This just in from the track:

The weather is holding out so far, but to the chagrin of two of the drivers entered in tonight's SK lineup.

Apparently, during warm-ups, a stuck throttle caused the #25 SK of Billy Bolton to wreck and cause extensive damage that will not allow them to compete in tonight's event. 

Another practice crash involving the #2 SK of New Milford rookie and protege of Jon Cote Jr., Jess Hilger, apparently forced the #47 of Donny Lia into the turn #1 wall.  The rookie left the track uscathed, while the WMT driver Donny Lia's mount needed assistance to leave the track.  Eyewitness reports say that the crew is working hard on the car, but they are not optimistic about their chances to compete in tonight's SK event.

More news in the chatroom later!

-- Edited by bratmaster at 19:24, 2005-05-06

With a field of seven cars, Michael Bennett continued his domination of the new LLM division at SMS, But was apparently disqualified in post race inspection handing the win to Eric Grant.  The Late Models are taking the track for their feature now.

1. Eric Grant
   
2. Dan King
   
3. Ed Charette Jr

 

 

Don't forget we are in the chatroom!

 

-- Edited by openwheelracer at 12:35, 2005-05-07

An atypical night for the SK division.  Only a couple of cautions and no major controversy, although tech still isn't finished yet!  A new name in the winner's circle this year.

1. Jeff Baral
   
2. Ted Christopher
   
3. Eric Berndt
   
4. Keith Rocco

Other finishes of interest, unofficially until Tuesday of course, had Chuck Docherty (8th) , Lloyd Agor (6th) and Jeff Malave (7th) all lurking around the top ten, and Doug Coby (11th) as well.  Woody Pitkat (12th) looked really fast in practice and heats but seemed to have some difficulty in the feature, and was involved in a caution or two.  With only 20 cars starting tonights main event, it makes you wonder how many will show up next week.  Hope Donny Lia, Billy Bolton and Jeff Johnson don't have to work too hard to return to competition, but thrilled no one was hurt.

The biggest controversy of the night has to be the car count.  With only 19 cars taking the green for tonight's event, it makes me wonder if this is causing concern to the Arute family and the SMS management. 

Click on the lick below for the complete unofficial finish from Staffordmotorspeedway.com:

http://staffordmotorspeedway.com/Pages/RaceResults/rsk050605.htm

 

 

-- Edited by bratmaster at 06:40, 2005-05-07

Congrads to Baral . Only 20 cars again and cars junked in warm-ups is not very promissing .

Thank you Mandy for the scoop on the DQ in the LLM, not much gets by you lol. Last nights racing was a decent show, as was previously reported two SK's never made it past warm ups as Billy Bolton's throttle reportedly hung sending him into the wall causing heavy right side damage. Then Donny Lias #47 ride, was sent hard into the first turn wall by an off the pace first time competitor, causing the car to basically be a total loss and sending Lia to a local hospital to be checked out. Then in the 1st SK heat race, the #15 of Jeff Johnson apparently had his throttle stick, and went hard in to the first turn wall causing what looked like unrepairable damage to his machine. The SK feature was again a suprisingly clean affair, with only minor tangles and Jeff Baral taking advantage of his starting position and going on to win. The Late Models saw Rick Lanagan after being involved in last weeks "big one" go on to take the victory this week. During the LM qualifying, Kenny Horton and rookie Ryan Libby were involved in a beating and banging match that ended up getting Horton DQ'ed for the night from any further racing. Limited Late Models once again looked to be another Micheal Bennett benefit, but he was DQ'ed giving the win to runnerup Eric Grant. And finally the Dare Stocks, Joey Ferigno held off a last lap all out challenge from Charlie Newman to win, Newman ended up outside the top three as he threw all he had at Ferigno in a pretty exciting last lap. Well enough for this week, on to next.