North-South Shootout - Concord, NC, November 3, 2007

Rob is has enjoyed more success than other SK drivers at the North-South Shootout by posting 3 top 10 finishes in the 3 SK events held to date (5th in 2007, 10th in 2006, 8th in 2005).


(Panoramic Photo - Grab Your Browser's Horizontal Scroll Bar At The Bottom Of This Window To See Front Chute Full of Cars/Fans)

North-South Shootout, Saturday, November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd:

• Time Trials: 19th out of 29 SK's
• Heat: Starting 7th, Finished 5th (out of 11 cars) (15 laps)
  
• Feature: Started 15th, Finished 5th (out of 28 cars)

Comments: Our trip down to North Carolina Wednesday morning was easy - but the effects of the 13 hour drive were felt by all before dinner. We stopped in to see our friend Wayne Church, who works at the Roush-Yates engine building facility. Wayne gave us a personal tour...imagine a building about the size of a Home Depot...but this place was unbelievably clean and high tech with 170 of the best employees in the engine building business.

Thursday's practice sessions went well. I didn't get an exact count on the # of SK's - we heard there will be around 30 for Friday's qualifying. Waterford regulars competing include Doug Coby and Donny Fowler who is making his 1st time run at the event. Donny lost a valve during practice and had to go to a backup motor. Stafford regulars include Keith Rocco, Kenny Horton (his 1st time), the overqualified Teddy Christopher, Jeff Malave, and Woody Pitkat. The tour also has a great turnout.

We found something in the 51SK setup to really help the car turn in 3/4. Our best lap of the day was around 15.7 seconds. Frank Mucciacciaro is down for his first time and helping us out. There was a close call when an SK lost it's motor right in front (1/2 car length back) of Rob while barreling through the dog leg full bore...Rob was lifted and stayed square (couldn't see through the smoke though) only to be hit from behind (wrecking another bumper - note to self...buy Alcoa stock before next season).

We're really happy with being up to speed so quickly. FYI - 65 laps on our 1st set of tires and they're JUNK...that's what happens when you get up to 160 MPH and turn left 4 times in 15+ seconds. Tomorrow's qualifying set of tires are courtesy of our sponsors, Eagle Fence & Guardrail and Vasel Brothers Construction - THANKS GUYS!!

Time Trial Summary: This year, Rob's time trial starting position was 5th...not good as any racer wants to qualify later in a time trial session since the track gets better later in qualifying. Pitkat won the pole, Coby 2nd, Rocco 3rd, Silk 5th, Summers 7th, Christopher 8th, Blewett 10th, Horton 13th, Fowler 16th, Malone 17th and Rob was 19th of 29 SK Modifieds. Horton & Christopher apparently added lead to their cars due to tech revealing that their engines had excess compression. The top 5 were set by time. Two heats set the starting positions for the balance of the field.



Heat Summary: The initial start wasn't good as the outside lane cruised (Rob on the inside in 7th). Rob got pinched off at the dog leg of the back chute on the 2nd lap, but then made a strong front chute pass to re-claim the position by around lap 8. There was a lot of ground to make up on the lead pack in the final 7 laps. On the final lap, Rob closed on the 29 of Horton who made contact with another car in turn 4...Rob cleared the spinning car to finish 5th behind Horton who finished 4th. Summers won the heat race.

The feature lineup was as follows:
52 Pitkat
10 Coby
6 Rocco
8
58 Silk
81 Christopher
13 Summers
12 Blewett
3 Jeff Malave
1
44
00
29 Horton
59
51 Janovic
9
42
55
8
29 Fowler
79
60
9
74
91
63
54
11

Feature Summary: The race ran during the late afternoon this year - just before sunset (not good for turn 1 & 2 in the middle of the race). The green flag few at around 4:30. The initial start was a great one and Rob wasted no time getting to the front. The 1st caution came when the 11 went hard into the turn 4 wall on lap 4. Rob restarted 9th. Just one more lap was completed and another caution came with Rob then restarting 8th with 45 laps to go. The race went green and only 3/4 of a lap was completed when a wreck happened up front where Malone, Horton and Lluth were involved - Rob restarted 6th behind Coby who missed a shift. It was good to get some green flag laps and we found the setup was great. Rob was stout in turn 1 and 4 and that made up for the power advantage others had (we ran our 5 year old backup motor). Rob was pinched off to the wall in the dog leg of the back chute by the 3 and then the next caution came with 30 laps to go. Rob restarted 7th.



The restart was terrible with Rob restarting 7th behind Coby - the rear end broke in his drive train and Rob was taken back to about 12th before he cleared Coby. There was contact between the 52 of Pitkat and the 6 Rocco after Rocco took the lead one lap earlier. The 52 was put to the rear for rough riding and Rob was back up to 5th behind Farrell, Malave. Rocco pitted and took on 4 new tires. With 22 laps to go, single file restarts were ordered with the 12 of Blewett in the lead. With 18 laps to go, Christopher got spun by Blewett and the caution flew with Rob restarting 4th.


Attrition had claimed nearly half the starting field by lap 40. With 10 laps to go, the 6 of Rocco made an outside move on the 55 and the right side of Rocco's car went up on top of the outside wall and he rode on top of the wall from turn 1 to turn 2. The 55 seemed to be at fault for not giving Rocco the outside after Keith got the outside position. Another caution came with 5 laps to go and Rob was 5th after the 81 of Christopher got by Rob. The finish was Blewett pulling down the win, Christopher 2nd, the 8 of Farrell was 3rd, the 3 Jeff Malave was 4th, and Rob rounded out the top 5. There was some controversy at tech when the 12 of Blewett was found to weigh only 2,580 (20 lbs. light). The officials let the win stand. It was pretty cool to finish so well and race with some of the big dollar teams that fans either love or hate.

SK-Type Modified Feature Finish (50-Laps):

1. Jimmy Blewett, Howell, NJ
2. Ted Christopher, Plainville, CT
3. Tommy Farrell III, Neptune, NJ
4. Jeff Malave, S. Windsor, CT
5. Rob Janovic, Waterford, CT
6. Joe Lemay, Millville, MA
7. Steven Reed, Freehold, NJ
8. Donnie Fowler, Clinton, CT
9. Glenn Griswold, Vernon, CT
10. Rick Kluth, Brockport, NY
11. Sherri Hogan, Belwood, Ont,
12. Dave Flammia, Jr., Waterbury, CT
13. Tony Hanbury, Owego, NY
14. Patti Pruitt, Oswego, NY
15. Keith Rocco, Wallingford, CT
16. Rob Summers, Vernon, CT
17. Jeff Ruddy, Caledonio, ONT
18. Dave Cranmer, N. Hanover, NJ
19. Woody Pitkat, Stafford Springs, CT
20. Doug Coby, Milford, CT
21. Shaun Carrig, Little Falls, NJ
22. Richie Evans, Jr., Charlotte, NC
23. Josh Steeves, Webster, MA
24. Kerry Malone, Needham, MA
25. Kenny Horton, New Haven, CT
26. J.R. Roth, Jim Thorpe, PA
27. Ronnie Silk, Norwalk, CT