May 13, 2008

Protest Report - Event Run May 10, 2008
The following is a summary of the protests submitted on this race night regarding any procedure, technical, scoring, or racing questions.

Protest filed by Late Models #27 Mark Burbridge, #44 Steve Laking,
#56 Jeff Stewart

Three official protests were filed over the scored finish of the Late Model Feature.  There was much confusion regarding the finish on Saturday May 10 after the race was called complete due to time curfew at lap 17 when a caution flag came out.

Upon review, officials have determined that the race could NOT be called complete because we did not pass the halfway mark of 18 laps.  Therefore the race will be completed on SATURDAY, MAY 17, with a starting line up per the official score sheets at the end of lap 17.  THE RACE WILL BE RUN AS THE FIRST EVENT ON THE  PROGRAM, prior to qualifying.

The situation was complicated when the second place car made contact with the leader exiting turn four.  At the start finish line, the 37 was still going forward in the direction of the race and only after he had crossed the line did he lose control and spin.  The caution flag was NOT for this incident but rather for an accident in turn one that was partially blocking the race surface.  The scored positions were set based on where cars were running at the time the caution flag came out, and the restart order adjusted to include accident cars.  All cars across the line before the caution are given credit for their position and the cars that crossed after the caution are scored according to the last green lap.

This means the #37 and #82 will go to the back of the field as accident cars following contact in turn 4 that led to a spin by the #37 in turn one.  The #44 and #49 who were involved in a turn one accident for which the caution flag was thrown at the end of lap 17, will also be going to the back of the field for the restart.

Given the fact the race was stopped due to curfew, the completion of the race will be under the same condition.  This means that once 18 green flag laps have been scored (17 are already complete), a caution flag will mean the end of the race.  Saturday night's completion of the race could be anywhere from one lap to 18 laps in length, depending on whether another caution is called.

The line-up for the May 10 Late Model Feature at the start of lap 18 will be as follows:

56

86

27

52

48

75

8

3X

29

34

42

06

9

88

36

37

82

44

49

3

85

 …………………………………..

Protest filed by Late Model #29 Chris Bladek

The protest questioned the scored finish for this car based on positioning of the #8 car.  Upon review the official scoring shows the #29 being passed on lap 16 by the #8 car, bring a final scored finish of #8, #3X and #29.  This decision is reflected in the above lineup.