Friday, August 11, 2017

Rocco back in the drivers seat after big win...

Posted by Wayne G. Barber Photos by Wayne G. Barber


The five time track Sunoco Modified champion Keith Rocco # 57 entered the night in a dogfight with Ryan Preece and stood at second in the standings, 13 points back. Rocco's race teams were stout in their practice's and heats and so was Preece #31, Ted Christopher #79 and the Stan Mertz/#6  Woody Pitkat entry and two other division race's later ( Whelen 150 laps (10th) & the Late/ Model 25 laps ( Win)  A 20 car field made the feature 30 lap event.

A very entertaining 30-lap feature that saw the points race tighten up and a familiar face return to the top of the leader board and to victory lane. Keith Rocco won the Sunoco race during the 2016 Bud 150 event and repeated the feat in 2017 with his second win of the season. Rocco now climbs to 43 career wins at Thompson. 242 all tracks career,Rocco outraced a hard charging Steve Masse in a bumper to bumper dash to the finish in the closing laps to take the victory and the points lead. Nicholas Giardina #25 DNS and Adam Gada #17ct retired after 1 lap. Hard luck for Nick Silva after 8 laps with mechanical problems. after Ryan Preece experienced mechanical issues at lap 14, early on in the event the points leader board would certainly be wide open. Rocco benefited from a late caution that saw all three of the leaders at the time, and another 3 cars in the carnage in turn two, Woody Pitkat, Rowan Pennink #16 ,Ted Christopher, and Troy Talman #3, spin out of turn two at lap 17. Talman posted the fastest lap of the race at 19.568 and Pitkat had a rocketship with a 19.575 best lap. When the green waved once again Rocco took the lead and was practically pushed around the track separated by a paper clip by Bellingham, Mass. Steve Masse #87 until a last lap duel allowed Rocco to gain enough of a gap to win.

In the press box, Rocco said, “Masse was pushing us pretty good down the straightaway, but to move to dive bomb somebody and make it stick is pretty tough. I think his car was too free to do that,” Rocco said of the battle for the lead in the closing laps. He added that he felt like his team finally caught a break in 2017 as the results allowed him to overtake Ryan Preece 230 to 208 for Preece and Owen as Rocco continues his quest for a second straight Sunoco Modified title. Masse held on for a second place finish followed by Ted Christopher with 98 career track wins  for third and Woody Pitkat, who recovered from their on-track incident, in fourth and Todd Owen in fifth. A real nice crowd on a beautiful Red full moon over the infield scoreboard night. Two dates , ( Sunday Sept. 10 twin 20 lappers and  at the World Series on Oct 14th with three point races have Rocco clearly in the drivers seat for another Sunoco SK Modified track championship and Rocco is also leading the SK points race at Stafford Speedway on the Friday schedule and he has only won 4 out of seven events at the New London/ Waterford Speedway and the reigning NASCAR Connecticut Champion  could three/ peat in 2017.

Sunoco SK Modified Finish 8-9-17

157Keith Rocco (2)30   230 points
287Stephan Masse30  151 points
379Ted Christopher30  175 points
46Woody Pitkat30  202 points
581Todd Owen (1)30  208 points
606Joey Gada30
727John Studley30
877Matt Gallo30
968Marcello Rufrano30
1042Kyler Cafro27
1102Paul LaPlante20
123Troy Talman (1)17
1347Timmy Jordan17
1436Jason Sundeen17
1516Rowan Pennink17
1676Shelly Perry17
177Andrew Charron17
1831Ryan Preece (1)14
198Nick Salva4
2017CTAdam Gada1
2125Nick GiardinaDNS

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