DOUBLE WEEKEND FOR MOTOTOWN
FRIDAY & SUNDAY 3/7-3/9
by Polly Reid
What does the 2007 Thompson Speedway Sunoco Modified Champion do during
the winter? Race- and because of Mototown USA, he can. A double header
weekend at ¼ mile dirt oval in Windsor, CT.
Thompson Sunoco Modified Champion Keith Rocco of Wallingford,
CT showed up Friday night in the Scott Fern 8 cylinder scoring his first
win in only his second outing at the indoor facility.
Rocco battled side by side for several circuits with Jonathan
Routhier before taking command of the lead and crossing the line by
nearly three car lengths over Routhier. Rocco will be happy to tell you,
he’s hooked on Mototown USA.
“The first time here, it was a big learning curve,” said
Rocco smiling. “The biggest
challenge is getting used to have to throwing it into the corner. If you
don’t throw it in, you
don’t
get through the corner. It’s just so hard to get used to because on
asphalt you don’t want to do that; here, you do.”
“I’m getting a feel for it, we’re getting the car closer to
what we want,” Rocco continued. “Things are coming around. Last time,
the whole race was like practice for me. We have no dirt experience-
Scott (Fern) has no dirt experience. We figured out what we had to do
over the last week and a half and came back. I knew when we came here
after the first practice I knew we had a top three car.”
Sunday afternoon at Mototown USA for round 2 of the
doubleheader weekend, Rocco took the green deep in the field 16th and by
the half way mark was up to 5th. Rocco continued to pick off his
challengers one by one taking 4th a lap later then 3rd on the next
circuit. While Rocco continued to close in on the leaders, lap traffic
eventually played into Rocco’s march forward as he settled for third at
the checkers. “We were as good as the leaders, but lap traffic messed us
up,” said Rocco shrugging his shoulders. Then, smiling even bigger he
added, “next week, it's another week. If it were up to me, I’d come here
every night. It’s a great place.”
A wider track surface complete with additional banking
greeted competitors at Mototown USA
Friday night, the re-worked surface getting the nod from drivers who
were pleased to see continued improvements since their last event two
weeks ago.
The change sure agreed with Jay
Pepin from Ridgefield, CT who scored a big win Sunday
afternoon in the 8-cylinder division besting a field of 17. The 2006
Orange Co. Speedway champion claimed his second victory of the series
with his ’73 Z28 Camaro. “When we got in the heat race, we knew the car
was going to be pretty good,” said Pepin. “We won the last time we were
here, a couple of weeks ago. I’ve got a crew chief that knows his way
around the car and when we put a lot of stagger in it and the car came
right to life.”
“People here are trying,” said Pepin about the facility. “The
track is better- there is room to pass and definitely it is a little
faster. I don’t want to call anyone a rookie, but once the guys get to
know the track, they’re going to learn they’re going to get better.
It’ll be better racing.”
If you’re a new fan to Mototown, USA, keep your eye on Marc Guerard who
takes on double duty with the Ciammella Construction sponsored 750 and
1200 sprints. Friday night was a double trip to victory lane for the
Hartford, CT driver followed by another stop at the winner’s circle on
Sunday with the 750. While Matt Norrie
scored the 1200 win over Jimmy “Bubba” Broderick and Guerard, the pair
of 95’s Guerard pilot has set the bar and will continue to be the one to
watch through out the remainder of the Bud Light 12 Pack Racing Series
season.
Lafler Chassis sprints cleaned house in the 600 division with
Friday’s win going to Timex Morgan of Rochester, NY, the Sunday victory
to “Liquid” Lou Cicconi of Aston,
PA. More 600’s would be a welcomed sight-this week, Ed
Wilberg Sr. made the trek hauling from Newark, Delaware to race under
the roof in the 600 class.
Slotted between reporting for ESPN/ABC college football and
the Indy Racing Series, Jack Arute took advantage of his “free” weekend
to compete in the Haskell Motorsports 750 sprint. It was an opportunity
to also talk to Arute about the large trophy that can’t be missed as you
sign in at the Mototown USA lobby. The brass plates read Jack Arute’s
2009 Chowder Bowl.
“What we want to do with the Chowder Bowl is take some of the
buzz that was created when the Chili Bowl started and give it a New
England flare,” said Arute. “At this point, what we’re looking at is an
invitation only race for non-winged midgets. What we’re doing the
feasibility study on now is to come up with 40 key invitations with 24
cars making the main event. It’s going to be built around the drivers
rather than the cars. What I mean by that is we’re looking for are
representatives from New England, like Bobby Santos, Ted Christopher and
Randy Cabral that want to drive here now, you’ve got top names. What you
want to do is get a Kenny Schrader, a P.J. Chesson, a couple of guys
from the Badger Series- marry them all to come here. Rather than the
Chili Bowl where it’s non-stop racing, it’s more of a chance for the
fans to meet all these top drivers, make it unique, so it has it’s own
signature, it’s own flare- that’s what we’re doing the feasibility study
on now. The next step is to try and get some midgets here and do some
testing. We think the racetrack is big enough now that it will work. And
if it works well enough, that’s what we’ll do.” Arute continued, “In a
perfect world, I’d like to do it the week before the Superbowl, the last
weekend in January. That will be two weeks after the Chili Bowl, you’ll
get an off weekend then make it a Friday, Saturday show. Then Sunday,
people can be back on the road and home for work on Monday. Run the time
trials and qualifying on Friday night. Then run your last chance, the
pit party, maybe a concert, then the main event Saturday night. Have a
big party after and on Sunday, everyone go home and talk about the
Chowder Bowl.” I’m looking forward to passing on more info as this event
unfolds.
Majority rules and as that goes, it was another great day at
Mototown USA. However, if you’re looking for a helmet thrown on the
track, got that. Or how about the ugly jumble on a restart in the 750’s
that had race director Dave Haskell flexing some muscle to keep the
zealous youngster in line- got that too. However and above all, if
you’re looking for headline drivers doing it on dirt such as Teddy
Christopher, Lou Cicconi and Randy Cabral, got that way covered at
Mototown USA. Bring a blanket for the aluminum bleachers and wear
something warm for your feet, the next event is Sunday afternoon
www.mototownusa.com for
details.
