Nocella Rolls To Win Number Three

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Win #2 photo from Simply the Best, Crystal Snape

Valenti Modified Racing Series

New London/Waterford Speedbowl, Waterford,CT.

   Woburn, MA driver Anthony Nocella came to the Waterford Speedbowl leading the V.M.R.S points standings and on Saturday June 24th he expanded that lead by winning his 3rd M.R.S. race of the season.

   By virtue of winning at Speedway 51 in Groveton, NH a week ago, Nocella had to start 18th in the 20 car field at Waterford and steadily worked his way towards the front, taking the lead from Jeff Gallup of Agawam, MA on lap 72 then held a pack of hungry drivers at bay to take down the victory.

   

   Nocella said "We had to start 18th and I thought we had a pretty good car in practice, ran somewhat conservative in the heat race. I knew those guys up front had some fast cars and knew they were going to push it somewhat. I just tried to keep my car underneath me and hope they would slowly come back to us. If I thought I could make a clean pass I made it to work my way slowly to the front. Some of these guys were aggressive at times squeezing each other against the walls, so I just rode behind and watched them. I followed Hinckley for a bit, when he pressured me I let him go and let him make the holes for me rather than tear the wheels off my car."

   Starting from the pole Todd Annarummo of Swansea, MA assumed the initial lead while the always fast Keith Rocco of Berlin,CT charged from his third row starting position. Within 10 laps Rocco was third following Annarummo and second place Kyle James of Westerly,RI.

   A lap 11 crash brought out the first yellow of the event and gave Rocco the opportunity to race past James on lap 12 then slingshot by Annarummo for the lead one lap later. Rocco was running on a rail at his home track while behind him the action was constantly heating up. 

   Gallup, who started deep in the pack, is showing he can and will race with the best as he moved forward taking over fourth place by the quarter mark.

   A lap 43 yellow for a minor spin closed the field up with Rocco holding the point, Kyle James doing an outstanding job second, Annarummo third, Gallup fourth,  Les Hinckley of Winsor Locks, CT and Nocella 5th and 6th. When the green flew so did Rocco but James wasn't going to let Rocco run away with the event and pressured Rocco lap after lap looking first inside then outside making Rocco push his mount harder than he probably wanted to. All the while Hinckley was on a mission and drove by both Annarummo and Gallup, settling into 3rd then put on a side by side 5 lap battle with James. The 06 of Hinckley would prevail taking over second place on lap 53. A lap later Gallup out muscled James for third while Hinckley shot by Rocco becoming the new race leader on lap 56. Hinckleys lead would only last 12 laps as Gallup made an outside pass to become the fourth leader of the marathon.

   With a host of lead cars starting to fade, Nocella seized the oportunity and put Rocco and Hinckley in his rear view mirror, and followed Gallup out to a 15 car length lead over the rest of the field. Then a lap 71 spin brought out the caution for the third time and Hinckley, Rocco and James pitted for adjustments. The restart brought Gallup and Nocella side by side to the green flag and Nocella wasted no time taking over command of the race.

   The last yellow of the race came on lap 89 and by that time Hinckley had charged back to fifth place. In the last 10 laps Hinckley raced by 15 year old Sammy Rameau of Westminster, MA, Annarummo and Gallup but could only follow race leader Nocella across the line to finish a hard fought second place.

   Gallup, Annarummo and Rameau finished third through fifth.

   Heat winners were Todd Annarummo,  Kyle James and Anthony Flannery  .         

   Hard charger of the event had to be Matt Mead and crew. During warmups a suspension part broke sending the Fenton Family Dealership sponsored #77 hard into the wall. After rebuilding the entire right side of the car, Mead started last in the feature and finished 10th.

Summary

Cautions-(4)-laps 11,43,71,89

Lap leaders-(5)-#12   1-12

                       #57   13-55

                       #06    56-67

                       #4      68-71

                       #92     72-100   

Unofficial finish.

1---92-A.Nocella

2---06-L.Hinckley

3--- 4-J.Gallup

4---12-T.Annarummo

5--- 6-S.Rameau

6---93-G.Sherman

7---21-K.James

8---76-D.Perry

9---25-A.Flannery

10--77-M.Mead

11--83-M.Willis

12--16-C.Fournier

13--57-K.Rocco

14--35-A.Molleur

15--55-J.Doucette

16--17-D.Lashua

17--27-D.Robbie

18--50-C.Medeiros Jr

19--34-D.Etheridge

20--12M-R.Richardi

Next Event---July 1, 2017. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, NH

by James Snape

photos by Simply the Best, Crystal Snape