STAFFORD – In a caution-filled SK Light Modified feature Friday at Stafford there were few drivers left with much to be happy about at the end of the show.
But for Tyler Barry there was plenty to celebrate when the dust settled.
Barry staved off multiple challenges out front and won the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature Friday at Stafford.
It was the first victory of the season for Barry, of Griswold. The win also put Barry at the top of the division standings.
“We had a great car,” Barry said “… Made an adjustment from the practice to the race. We were pretty good here. It started off loose, but I tried to work to work in the tires enough to get it tight enough and it worked out in the end for us.”
The 16-year old Barry dedicated the victory to his grandfather Art Barry. The legendary Modified team owner and car builder passed away on Aug. 16.
“It’s real special,” Tyler Barry said. “… This one is definitely for him. It means a lot to win it for him.”
It was the second career SK Light Modified win at Stafford for Tyler Barry. Chris Matthews of Stafford was second and Alexander Pearl of Salem third.
“We gave it a a whirl, we just didn’t have quite enough at the end,” Matthews said. “Congratulations to them, they definitely deserve it. It was a good race. It was a lot of fun. A lot of carnage unfortunately. We came out and finished pretty decent and we’re happy with it.”
Said Pearl: “Around lap 10 we were running 12th. To finish third is pretty good. Lucky we got to line up on the outside those times, there was no bottom. Just a couple spots short. We had like a B-Car tonight. We’ll make it better for next week.”
Tyler Barry came into the event tied for second with Pearl in the standings, four points behind then division leader Tyler Chapman. Tyler Barry moved to the lead in the standings, with Chapman falling to second, two points off the lead. Pearl sits third in the standings, four points behind Tyler Barry.
Caution flew on lap 11 with Ron Midford leading Tyler Barry out front.
On the restart it was Tyler Barry using the outside lane to get by Midford for the lead off of turn two, but the pass was for naught with the caution flying before the lap was completed.
On the next try at a restart Midford took the outside lane, but Tyler Barry was able to use the low lane off of turn two to move to the lead.
Caution flew on lap 17 with Tyler Barry leading Midford, Derek Debbis in third and Nick Anglace in fourth.
On the restart it was Anglace going from fourth to second into turn one and then getting under Tyler Barry to take over the lead through turn three. But the pass for the lead was negated by a massive pileup in turn three that included at least 13 cars from the 36-car starting field.
After an extended delay for a major cleanup the race restarted with Tyler Barry leading, Midford in second, Anglace in third and Matthews in fourth. On the restart it was Tyler Barry holding the lead from the outside spot with Matthews getting to second. Into turn three Matthews was able to find a lane low and get by Tyler Barry for the lead through the corners, but the pass for the lead was once again negated when contact between Anglace and Midford sent Midford spinning in turn four.
The race restarted with Tyler Barry leading, Matthews in second, Chapman in third and Pearl in fourth. Barry used the outside lane on the restart to hold the top spot and leave Matthews chasing him for second over the final four laps.
Damien Palarady of Willington got his second victory of the season in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature.
“I don’t know what to say to that one,” Palarady said. “My car was fantastic thanks to my father and all of [Rob Russell Chassis] for putting this thing together.”
Matt Scappini of Litchfield was second and Jeremy Lavoie of Windsor Locks third.
Rich Hammann came into the event holding a 10-point lead over second place Lavoie in the standings. Hammann was involved in an early race incident that put him out of the event. It made for a flip-flop at the top of the standings with Lavoie leaving the track holding a 10-point lead over Hammann.
Adrien Paradis went to the front at the start and stayed there on the way to his second victory of the season in the 20-lap Street Stock feature.
Travis Downey of Barkhamstead was second and Travis Hydar of Woodbury third.
That 29 was hitting everyone one last night…
Things could be much cleaner if Mathews would stop those “no look” lane changes. He has been the brunt of many instances this season. Just because he is a veteran doesn’t mean the track officials shouldn’t have a talk with him.
Great win for the Barry clan and cool to see this Tyler follow in the family passion. Art was foundational to Modified racing. Ken must be proud!
Starting 36 cars in a support division is too many. It leads to races that take forever to complete. Last night was not the first time the SK Lites have had a marathon event this year. Run a consi or consider splitting the field into double features when car count exceeds 32. Friday nights program took over 5 hours to complete for a regular race night. Many fans left before the SK feature due to the late hour. Marathon weekly events are not popular to occasional fans which this sport needs to grow.
The Win for Barry was Great to see… Art was looking down and Smiling…. The first 10 laps were promising with that many cars ….Then disaster after wreck, wreck,….. Chapman Boys cars piled on top of one another in Turn 3 wow that was crazy…. Once again the TRACK CREW were the stars of the show… Cars smashed up like matchboxes in the infield ,, Boy the REAL WINNERS are the PARTS SUPPLIERS … Can’t even Imagine the TOTAL COST of parts and Chassis replacements … $200 K ??? between the SK and SKL ???? the Chassis repair and Parts guys are licking their chops for Tuesday morning…. WOW the amount of money spent last night is staggering.. If you replace suspension on say a complete RF and bumper you are talking about a Grand…$$ and that’s minor fix compared to rear clip and front clips ….Maybe they should split the field in two and run two Features for SKLights, Less cars less carnage…??? What do you guys think ?? does two features make sense in an ENTRY LEVEL MODS …??? I think it would cut down on some wrecks..?? maybe allow spotters ???? Something has to be done… Too many cars getting wrecked is not good for the Sport…
Suitcase Jake,
Interesting you mention allowing spotters. One driver was parked during the event for being found to have two-way communication with another party taking place.
Big Wheels around 15 minutes.
Parade of Mayberry trucks took a while.
SK Light race an hour and 8 minutes….about.
SK’s 46 minutes….about.
LM’s 50 minutes. Say an hour with driver staging and intro’s.
Looks like there were a lot of reasons it went overtime. The Lights the major culprit and I suppose you can blame the extended field for pilling in but it was the first half of the field causing the majority of the time delays including the big one.
Seriously??? You think adding a consi and cutting down a hand full of cars would has saved a lot of time? Or two features. That’s not how the Lights work. It’s equal competition, there’s got to be twenty cars that are capable of good finishes and they ultimately cause the rhubarb’s when they get in one of their collective moods. Mathew’s chopping the DNF king champion this year Debbis would not be solved by sending 6 or 9 cars home with nothing to show for all their work.
SK Lights, LM’s and SK’s all had more then their share of problems. Chalk it up to that good old reliable racing saying……”stuff” happens and be glad you’re not stuck with the repair bill as was so eloquently eluded to.
“Right turn Clyde” . I imagined that when Bessette went for a space on the high side that didn’t exist. Took the blame like a real racer. Just love that young man too pieces. While we’re at it lets add the Chapman’s and Debbis for taking it on the chin, not crying and saying they’ll be back with bells on. Not exactly but you get the idea.
Easy there race fans. The “big one” eye popping but the race itself with all those cars historic. Check me on this. You’d have to go back to way in the last century to find an undercard division, not offering a special event with bigger money to duplicate the 36 cars. Tire shortage, inflation be damned. They just want to compete God bless-em it’s what the sport is all about.
Suitcase Jake is spot on as always with his concern for the damage and cost. It’s hard to suggest changes when 36 CARS ARE SHOWING UP TO RACE IN SEPTEMBER but it’s on the table. The answer, search me, but I trust the Stafford team to make changes if they make sense.
Thanks you president Biden for making it all possible. OK he didn’t but he didn’t hurt the car count either.
Doug,
I am pretty sure Fulton Speedway in New York splits their Sportsman division into 2(and sometimes 3) features due to the amount of cars that show up. And since they use the same engines, the division is pretty much a dirt version of SK Lites.
Skl put on the best show every week. I don’t know how many races have gone with only one caution or less but I’m pretty sure the skl division leads in that category. Don’t mess with success. I agree with a consi – 8 laps, one caution allowed – second caution red checker. 30 car features- non qualified cars get paid $50 tow money.
Standard operating procedure for the fan base when something out of the ordinary happens like the SK Light race is, stop, assume what happened last with continue into the future and change everything assuming it will continue.
Last seven features going back from Friday 36-28-30-26-28-26-28.
Stafford had a good problem, too many SK Lights if there is such a thing as too many. They had the programs set, extra time allocated intros and extra laps for the often times drama filled Late Models and decided to take a chance on starting every Light that showed up. Worked out pretty good for half the race.
Split features completely off the table as far as I can see. Screws up the points and the track would be obligated to match the winners share that includes contingencies that can’t be doubled on a whim.
TC 13 this Friday requiring extra time. Greatest odds are that under 30 Lights will show up and it will be back to business as usual. Which is to say not strictly that because only 24 cars are scheduled to start in regular events with purse payouts but normal for this year in the Lights.
Anyone want to bet that most if not all the wrecked cars that are invested in points will not only be back Friday but the cars will look as if the crash had never happened. Over time this week especially for Chassis Pro.
Hey starting all the SKL was a good idea at the time. Trophy culture right? Can’t send anyone home for not being fast enough to qualify, that would be mean and hurt feelings! It’s a performance sport if there ever was one. Only one winner and many, many losers. Have to suck it up.
Seriously, I get it but you can also look at it this way, run a consolation race, (consi, last chance, hooligan race, etc) and that is extra track time and a legit chance to win for a lot of these teams that have next to zero chance of winning the feature, lets be honest. They are here racing, learning, getting better so they can build and win in the future. Running an extra 8 lap consi is not bad.
Now here is the problem with the deal for the track, how do we run a consi for only one division when the heats go so fast and it’s a support division and sometimes run like the first or second feature? Also, Matt Scappini ran both LLM and SKL on Friday so back to back on those two divisions should be avoided. The lineup for both heats and features had the SKL right in the middle, 3rd, for both so that would have worked great. Order was: LLM, SS, SKL, LM, SK. Of course it’s 20-20 hindsight on my part.
I’m going to bet SMS will not start more than say, 28 SKL for quite a while.
Shawn, I happen to be the one that got “penalized” for a radio, actually suspended until 2023, here are the facts just to inform the community.
1. Only reason I went to Stafford was to test the car after having been TKO’d almost two months prior, we were trouble shooting an engine issue that I ended up resolving Saturday morning following this issue.
2. I do not own radios or a raceceiver so it was offered to me prior to starting the feature as a safety precaution incase we ran into an issue.
3. I did not intend on ever racing with the group, IN FACT I started half a straightaway back, we intended on running 5 laps only, THAT BEING SAID Stafford may have thrown a black flag but I was pulling in anyway…just a coincidence.
4. Reason I got suspended was because I politely refused to hand over the radio that I do not own, when they warned me of suspension I just said “that’s fine”
5. It was my decision to let them suspend me for something so silly, nobody else’s.
To be fair. 9 cars dropped out of the race before the lap 16 incident, so really there were 27 cars out there meaning that the 36 car field had nothing to do with the pileup.
thanks to Nooney for clearing that up
Lap 6
06 that was never up to speed and the 6 out
Lap 10 First Caution
Bessette drive error changing lane with no spot available
Lap 10 Restart
West/Mathews touch, West goes around piling up field.. 77,33,48,92,75 out with damage. 28 on the restart.
Lap 17-car goes around. 27 cars on the restart. Midford backs the field up not coming up to speed. Debbis and Mathews pushed back behind Midford and when the field shakes out it’s Mathews and Debbis touching with Debbis going around that piled up the field.
Very impressive. While we’re all pontificating about the 36 cars starting one guy is paying attention citing the reality. That being the big one came with 27 cars not anything close to the original 36. Moreover it was Bessette, West/Mathews and Mathews/Debbis that caused the cautions and damage that reduced the field. All toward the front of the field and all drivers with ample experience.
The race was pretty normal until lap 17 and the crash more a blue moon event then caused by too many cars on the track or drivers with too little experience.
The forum at it’s best. Three lines obsoleting a lot of what preceded them with regard to the size of the field and the always informative and transparent Geoff Nooney connects with the fan base by setting the record straight on the black flag. I’m seeing a second place finish for Mr. Nooney at Waterford last Saturday, in part one would guess to grinding away finding that engine problem Saturday morning.Well done young man!
Silly rule or not Geoff. You had a spotter in a non spotter division.
Doug thank you, and yes the engine issue was… we had installed new valve springs supplied from RAD Auto Machine Thursday night, with minimal experience in that subject the preload on the valves was set improperly by mistake, I checked them for myself Saturday a.m. and corrected the issue. As for whoever this “Obvious” character is, I’m not arguing or denying any part of the penalty giving to me nor was I using radios for any kind of gain, so I’m fine with it all, I accomplished what I needed to, thank you.
Geoff Nooney , Smart move , it costs alot to rent the Track to test things.. You got in a Track Test Session for the Pit Pass Price…. Excellent Job… We used to go to Hudson on Sunday if we wanted or needed to test something.. Bob Webber was always easy to talk with and even let us run with one of the divisions on hand and start scratch… even got paid cash purse at the end of the night to help with gas money for the trip home ….Rest in Peace Bob … You were Truly one of a kind that just Loved Racing…!!!!
Suitcase Jake – not that easy anymore like back in the day. Now you have to join the club and purchase a number just to go one lap. Big $ to spend to get suspended for the rest of the year