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The combination of the full moon and Halloween certainly had an effect on the evening's racing at NSS last night, with some costly crashes, a whole bunch of cautions, and a bad day for one of our fellow KARNACians.
After all the excitement of last week's back-to-back 100 lappers it was all back to normal this week, and even though Halloween obviously affected crowd numbers (it was *very* noticeable that most families with kids had stayed away) those that made it to the stands got good value for their $10, even if most of the action was in the midfield runners rather than up at the front of the races. Plenty of cautions last night too, with some pretty spectacular crashes meaning the area's body and repair shops are going to be getting some business this week.
A small field of modifieds started the evening off, with the regular frontrunners setting the pace from the start as the top 4 cars raced off into a long lead, trading places and keeping the race tight for most of the early laps. It soon became noticeable that they were all struggling for grip coming off turn 4 with all the faster cars getting sideways as they came onto the pit straight, and this claimed the first casualties of the night when Alan Bruns in his #4B got out of shape in exiting turn 4 to drop back to 4th, then got alongside #2x of Austin Howell down the pit straight. A bit of contact as they came to the start line and it was obvious that their wheels and nerf bars got hooked together, with #2x bouncing up into the air, and the two cars locking together with nowhere to go but the pit wall heading into turn 1. A lengthy caution ensued, with Bruns being towed away with a badly damaged front end, and the #2x coming off worse with a totally wrecked car that needed lifting by both tow trucks to get back to the pits. The rest of the race ended without too much more incident to give the #22 of Jason Boyd a win.
The big crash in the modifieds turned out to be just the beginning of carnage for the night, as the Sportsman race that followed soon proved. A 9 car field settled down early on with the #111 and #23 getting out into the lead, but with a decent battle going on in the middle of the pack lead by our very own Edm in his #44. The midfield was where all the action was for most of the race until the slippery corners again claimed a victim with Edm getting out of shape down low in turn 2, before taking a big slide inbetween turns 3 and 4, catching the car perfectly before it hit the wall to bring out the caution. From the back of the field Edm fought back and had his car working well to gain him back some places by taking a nice high line through the turns. But again a lack of grip saw spin out in turn 2 and spin 180* to sit helpless and the wrong way round in the middle of the track. The cars around him managed to get past, but the #45 was left with nowhere to go and hit him head on, destroying the fronts of both cars. Both drivers seemed OK, but their cars took big hits and a lengthy caution followed. Once towed off to the pits and the track cleared for racing again the two lead cars again shot off to the front, with the #111 of Donny Williams claiming the win just ahead of #23.
The truck race saw more of the same, this time with 2 of the 9 starters barely reaching the 1st turn before crashing, forcing a restart and retiring both from the field. The track now seemed to be settling down a little more, and again the two fastest trucks got out into a big lead over the field, with the young Anthony Sergi in the #20 winning for a second consecutive week ahead of #15 Cody Blair. Another race with the lead group out well in front, but plenty of bumping, pushing and scraping back in the middle of the pack.
After a short interval a decent field of superstocks made it out into the track for one of the more contentious races of the night, at the end of the race at least. The early laps saw plenty of close racing as the faster cars tried to push their way to the front past the slower cars that had started at the front, and yet again the usual class leaders made their way around as the field settled down, with a caution or two to help bunch the field back up. As the race went on the pushing in the pack increased coming to a head towards the end with a couple of cars making some strong moves to get past each other. The checkered flag was taken by the #56 of Bobby Holley after a good battle up front for most of the race with the #00 and #16, but at the end most eyes in the stands were watching the in-lap as Cody Blair in his #15 showed exactly what he thought of one of the moves that was made of him, forcing a trackside official to get out of the way pretty quickly to avoid a lot of metal being pushed towards him at speed in the pit road.
The Late Models next, and despite having to follow last week's 100 lap races they still provided entertainment. As with every race on the night the class of the field were soon up at the front, with #55 of Todd Allen getting out in front early and never really looking back despite concerted charges from #47 Davey Gibbs (having a very strong race to finish 4th despite having to restart from the rear mid-race after coming into the pits to check his car out), Alan Bruns #4B and Zack Donnatti in the #9z. Good racing, some real door-to-door battling, especially down the front straight from Bruns and Gibbs, but yet again the race saw a big crash with Sergi's second drive of the night ending early when he went hard into the wall up in the 1st turn, seeing the ambulance coming out to check on him and a lengthy clean-up needed. Another win for #55 in a good, close race that gave a lot of entertainment, and probably took longer to get through its first 15 laps than the entire 100 lap race needed last week!
Strictly Stock ended the night as always, with William Hindman, Tim Walters Jr and the #18 of Jerry Spears battling at the front. All the action came in the last few laps, with #29 and #89 catching the #18 but not getting close enough to pass, and then Hindman cutting inside the #29 on the 3rd turn of the last lap to take 2nd. The #18 was in tech for a long time after the race having a thorough inspection, and the word in the pits was that he'd been DQ'd, pushing everyone up a place. Need that to be confirmed though.
So a decent night's racing for $10, and certainly enough entertainment for those that made it out to the track. Much more a story of crashes than racing though, with Edm's #44 taking a really big hit that did a lot of damage to his car and the #45. The crashes in the modified and late model races were also notable, and as a spectator you have to hope that there's enough incentive for the drivers to get their cars mended to keep the car counts up with just a couple of weeks left in the season.
My memory of the 2nd half races is a little less complete than the 1st mainly because I ended up spending those races yakking away with the Boneman, talking about everything from go-karts to Formula 1 engines to halloween decorations. Nice to finally meet Hired Gun after the races, as well as meeting a couple of other KARNAC regulars like Fred23. Thanks again to Flraceguy and Rex for answering all my racing 101 level questions!
After all the excitement of last week's back-to-back 100 lappers it was all back to normal this week, and even though Halloween obviously affected crowd numbers (it was *very* noticeable that most families with kids had stayed away) those that made it to the stands got good value for their $10, even if most of the action was in the midfield runners rather than up at the front of the races. Plenty of cautions last night too, with some pretty spectacular crashes meaning the area's body and repair shops are going to be getting some business this week.
A small field of modifieds started the evening off, with the regular frontrunners setting the pace from the start as the top 4 cars raced off into a long lead, trading places and keeping the race tight for most of the early laps. It soon became noticeable that they were all struggling for grip coming off turn 4 with all the faster cars getting sideways as they came onto the pit straight, and this claimed the first casualties of the night when Alan Bruns in his #4B got out of shape in exiting turn 4 to drop back to 4th, then got alongside #2x of Austin Howell down the pit straight. A bit of contact as they came to the start line and it was obvious that their wheels and nerf bars got hooked together, with #2x bouncing up into the air, and the two cars locking together with nowhere to go but the pit wall heading into turn 1. A lengthy caution ensued, with Bruns being towed away with a badly damaged front end, and the #2x coming off worse with a totally wrecked car that needed lifting by both tow trucks to get back to the pits. The rest of the race ended without too much more incident to give the #22 of Jason Boyd a win.
The big crash in the modifieds turned out to be just the beginning of carnage for the night, as the Sportsman race that followed soon proved. A 9 car field settled down early on with the #111 and #23 getting out into the lead, but with a decent battle going on in the middle of the pack lead by our very own Edm in his #44. The midfield was where all the action was for most of the race until the slippery corners again claimed a victim with Edm getting out of shape down low in turn 2, before taking a big slide inbetween turns 3 and 4, catching the car perfectly before it hit the wall to bring out the caution. From the back of the field Edm fought back and had his car working well to gain him back some places by taking a nice high line through the turns. But again a lack of grip saw spin out in turn 2 and spin 180* to sit helpless and the wrong way round in the middle of the track. The cars around him managed to get past, but the #45 was left with nowhere to go and hit him head on, destroying the fronts of both cars. Both drivers seemed OK, but their cars took big hits and a lengthy caution followed. Once towed off to the pits and the track cleared for racing again the two lead cars again shot off to the front, with the #111 of Donny Williams claiming the win just ahead of #23.
The truck race saw more of the same, this time with 2 of the 9 starters barely reaching the 1st turn before crashing, forcing a restart and retiring both from the field. The track now seemed to be settling down a little more, and again the two fastest trucks got out into a big lead over the field, with the young Anthony Sergi in the #20 winning for a second consecutive week ahead of #15 Cody Blair. Another race with the lead group out well in front, but plenty of bumping, pushing and scraping back in the middle of the pack.
After a short interval a decent field of superstocks made it out into the track for one of the more contentious races of the night, at the end of the race at least. The early laps saw plenty of close racing as the faster cars tried to push their way to the front past the slower cars that had started at the front, and yet again the usual class leaders made their way around as the field settled down, with a caution or two to help bunch the field back up. As the race went on the pushing in the pack increased coming to a head towards the end with a couple of cars making some strong moves to get past each other. The checkered flag was taken by the #56 of Bobby Holley after a good battle up front for most of the race with the #00 and #16, but at the end most eyes in the stands were watching the in-lap as Cody Blair in his #15 showed exactly what he thought of one of the moves that was made of him, forcing a trackside official to get out of the way pretty quickly to avoid a lot of metal being pushed towards him at speed in the pit road.
The Late Models next, and despite having to follow last week's 100 lap races they still provided entertainment. As with every race on the night the class of the field were soon up at the front, with #55 of Todd Allen getting out in front early and never really looking back despite concerted charges from #47 Davey Gibbs (having a very strong race to finish 4th despite having to restart from the rear mid-race after coming into the pits to check his car out), Alan Bruns #4B and Zack Donnatti in the #9z. Good racing, some real door-to-door battling, especially down the front straight from Bruns and Gibbs, but yet again the race saw a big crash with Sergi's second drive of the night ending early when he went hard into the wall up in the 1st turn, seeing the ambulance coming out to check on him and a lengthy clean-up needed. Another win for #55 in a good, close race that gave a lot of entertainment, and probably took longer to get through its first 15 laps than the entire 100 lap race needed last week!
Strictly Stock ended the night as always, with William Hindman, Tim Walters Jr and the #18 of Jerry Spears battling at the front. All the action came in the last few laps, with #29 and #89 catching the #18 but not getting close enough to pass, and then Hindman cutting inside the #29 on the 3rd turn of the last lap to take 2nd. The #18 was in tech for a long time after the race having a thorough inspection, and the word in the pits was that he'd been DQ'd, pushing everyone up a place. Need that to be confirmed though.
So a decent night's racing for $10, and certainly enough entertainment for those that made it out to the track. Much more a story of crashes than racing though, with Edm's #44 taking a really big hit that did a lot of damage to his car and the #45. The crashes in the modified and late model races were also notable, and as a spectator you have to hope that there's enough incentive for the drivers to get their cars mended to keep the car counts up with just a couple of weeks left in the season.
My memory of the 2nd half races is a little less complete than the 1st mainly because I ended up spending those races yakking away with the Boneman, talking about everything from go-karts to Formula 1 engines to halloween decorations. Nice to finally meet Hired Gun after the races, as well as meeting a couple of other KARNAC regulars like Fred23. Thanks again to Flraceguy and Rex for answering all my racing 101 level questions!
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