Sunday, November 13, 2011

Riley takes the checkers at Stafford

Stafford Springs, CT -- The CASCOR Winter Late Model series headed East, as their second race of the season took place at the Stafford Motor Speedway. 13 cars would take the Green at the Stafford 50 lapper.


The Green flag would drop in heat number 1 with Brent Sweet on the pole and Ben Althen on the outside. Justin Collison took the 4th position from Matt Riley on lap 3. On lap 4 Collison would pass Tim Johnston for 3rd and attempted to make a pass on 2nd place Ben Althen. Collison made contact with Althen, sending him spinning and brought out the first caution. The green would fly again as Sweet led them down with Tim Johnston 2nd.

Ben Althen dug deep into turn 1 and took 2nd place, but lost it going down the backstretch. Robert Hill would spin in turn 1 a lap later but no caution would fly. Collision would move up to 2nd followed by a hard charging Riley. Robert Hill would spin again right in front of the leaders and brought out the yellow on lap 6.

Collison and Sweet would make contact coming to the restart, with Collison taking the lead after getting a good jump. Andrew Hayes would spin
on the backstretch as Brent Sweet overdrove turn 3 and got into Collison, collecting Riley as well. Riley would take the lead due to the time of the yellow coming out.

Riley and Tim Johnston would lead the field back to the green. Collision would make a charge back to the front, but didn’t have enough time to challenge Matt Riley. Riley wins, Johnson 2nd, with Althen 3rd.


Will Goshen would lead the field down to the green in Heat 2 with Wesley Hoag on the outside. Hoag and Goshen would battle side by side for the lead as Shawn Breitzman would get loose out of turn 2, collecting Will Wolf in the process. The yell
ow would not fly for that incident, but it would come out when Mike Husby got loose off of turn 2 in a single car spin.

Will Goshen would be able to retake the lead on the restart, right before contact ensued between Breitzman, Will Wolf and Hoag. Wolf would go head-on into the backstretch wall but would be able to continue. On the restart Goshen would feel some pressure from Husby on the outside. Breitzman would lose it by himself but would not bring out a yellow.

Brandon Hauck would go into turn 2 deep on the white flag lap, forcing Wolf to overdrive and collect Husby in the process. Will Goshen would win, Wesley Hoag finished 2nd, with Hauck rounding out the podium.


Once feature time rolled around, the field was ready to get down to business. After the field redrew for position, Mike Husby would be on the pole with Brent Sweet starting 2nd. After taking the green, Sweet would fall back as he was trapped on the outside, with Will Wolf and Matt Riley passing him on the bottom. Shawn Breitzman would spin on the front stretch and bringing out the yellow, narrowly avoiding contact with Andrew Hayes and Tim Johnston. On the lap 10 restart Ben Althen would be slow coming up to speed, stacking up multiple cars behind him in the process.

Meanwhile, Will Wolf would power his way into the lead a lap later, getting by Husby on the inside. Will Goshen and Wesley Hoag would make contact out of turn 2 on lap 16, sending Hoag spinning and bringing out the yellow. Will Wolf would elect to start on the outside on the restart, and would get a good jump on Husby. Husby was slow coming up to speed, and was passed by Riley for the 2nd spot. Wesley Hoag would start a charge back to the front, but would clip the left rear of Sweet’s car going into turn 1, bringing out the caution again on lap 23. The restart on lap 29 would see Wolf lead while Riley was 2nd. Andrew Hayes would get the 3rd spot from Husby, and Husby would be passed by Justin Collison for 4th on the same lap. Justin Collison would spin by himself on the backstretch shortly after, bringing out the yellow on lap 31.

The green would fly on lap 37, with Matt Riley giving Wolf a challenge for the lead on the outside. Brandon Hauck would take the 4th position from Hayes right before Collison and Sweet made contact out of turn 2, sending Sweet spinning into the infield and bringing out another yellow at lap 39.

On the restart Riley would get a great jump and was able to take the lead from Wolf, with cars going three wide into turn 1 behind them. Tim Johnston would be the unlucky one from that situation, as he was sent spinning, bringing the yellow out again at lap 44.

The race would end under caution with Matt Riley the winner, Will Wolf 2nd, Brandon Hauck 3rd, Mike Husby 4th, Wesley Hoag would round out the top 5. Will Goshen was 6th, Shawn Breitzman 7th, Ben Althen 8th, Andrew Hayes 9th and Brent Sweet 10th. Tim Johnston would finish 11th, Justin Collison 12th and Robert Hill would round out the field in 13th.

Next week the CASCOR Latemodel Series heads to Barrie Speedway for the Pizza Pizza 75. Will we see Matt Riley repeat as a winner? Or will a new face be seen in victory lane?