Beautiful spring night for racing in New England and SK Modified driver Keith Rocco has set the bar for the remaining 8 races at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in 2016.Two races, two victories.Rocco set a blistering pace in his 8 car heat race with the most potent teams in his segment. Preece, Studley. Pennink and never broke a sweat. The second heat race with the dominant Stan Mertz race team of Woody Pitkat #6, reigning division champion and #59 Ronnie Williams joining Thompson in 2016 were the cream of the field and Pitkat led post to post. Perfect track conditions but a little windy.
With this win Rocco now has 40 career wins at Thompson which ties him with Woody Pitkat for 8th in career victories at the 5/8's mile track
The feature green flag dropped and #16 Rowan Pennink driving the former race car that Rocco drove last year for his father in law Todd Ceravolo set a blistering pace and hit his marks with precision and the crowd wondered if Pennink could maintain the 19.755 pace. Rocco, Preece and Pitkat were slicing up the field on every lap and by lap nine Rocco was acting like a woodpecker on Pennink's rear bumper. Lap ten Rocco made the clean pass and on lap 11 went on cruise control. Lap 15 thru 20 was a very good battle between Pitkat and Preece that had the crowd on the edge of their bleacher seat. On lap 20 Preece had the #31 dialed in and the chase was on. Can Rocco duplicate his historical 2010 National season with fewer car counts and less races on the schedules remains to be seen. I think a top 3 in the National NASCAR All-American standings would be the same as winning it all with the current formula.
In the press box, Rocco said he was very aware of Preece’s charge to the front, but he had a plan to hold him off and stuck to it to the end. “I was just trying to save something for the end. We had such a lead I figured I’d bank a little bit in case we had to restart. My spotter was telling me how far back (Preece) was,” Rocco said in Victory Lane. “This thing in incredible – This new Hoosier Tire they gave us makes the racing good. It gives us two grooves of racing again.”
Rocco is maturing as a family man and the Best in New England and proves it every week no matter where he is driving. Race Fans, you are watching Hall of Fame material every time you purchase a admission ticket to watch Kid Rock perform his driving skills.
Next NASCAR event at Thompson will be June 1st Military Night and a very special 20/20 Late Model Shootout for the race fans !
| Position | Car | Driver | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 57 | Keith Rocco | 30 |
| 2 | 31 | Ryan Preece | 30 |
| 3 | 6 | Woody Pitkat | 30 |
| 4 | 16 | Rowan Pennink | 30 |
| 5 | 59 | Ronnie Williams | 30 |
| 6 | 1m | Adam Norton | 30 |
| 7 | 36 | Jason Sundeen | 30 |
| 8 | 31K | Steven Kopcik | 30 |
| 9 | 27 | John Studley | 30 |
| 10 | 54 | Joey Parker | 30 |
| 11 | 40 | Kyle Trainor | 30 |
| 12 | 7 | Andrew Charron | 30 |
| 13 | 52 | John Catania | 29 |
| 14 | 02 | Paul LaPlante | 29 |
| 15 | 4 | Richie Cooper | 29 |
| 16 | 42 | Kyle Kafro | 28 |
Enjoyable people; both drivers Keith and his twin Jeff, AND their growing families. May they all enjoy a great 2016 Racing Season.
ReplyDeleteClass acts ! Hope your feeling a little better Crystal, Wayne
ReplyDelete