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04/14/2014 |
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KEITH ROCCO
DOMINATES
2014 VMRS SEASON OPENING EVENT
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 The
Valenti Modified Racing Series kicked off its 11th
season with a banner field of cars on hand at
Waterford Speedbowl for the tracks annual Blastoff
Weekend Saturday and Sunday. Keith Rocco scored a
convincing victory for car owner John Rufrano
following the 100-lap feature, wiring the race from
green to checkered flags to finish off a big weekend
for the second-generation driver from Berlin (CT).
Rocco won the track’s NASCAR SK Modified and Late
Model features Sunday as well, tying a 54-year old
track record with three wins in a single day at the
speedway.
The buildup of anticipation for the series over the
offseason culminated with a star studded 33 entries
vying for the 24 starting positions for Sunday’s
100-lap feature. Saturday’s three 12-lap heat races
were won by Keith Rocco in the Rufrano #68, his
brother Jeff Rocco in the Pane #57 and Ted
Christopher in the Brady #00. Justin Bonsignore
brought the Barry #21 home a winner in Saturday’s
15-lap consolation race.
Keith Rocco drew the pole position in the redraw for
starting spot and lined up with Rowan Pennink in the
Casella #25 on the front row to bring the field to
green for Sunday’s feature. Rocco got the jump over
Pennink at the initial green flag and pulled out to
the lead. The front runners quickly singled out and
settled in with Rocco leading Pennink, Mike
Holdridge, Max Zachem and Todd Annarummo as the
early top-five.
Caution would wave for the first time on lap-10 when
Brad Van Houten spun his #09 car, giving several
teams the chance to pit for adjustments. The #85 of
Todd Szegedy, #53 Norm Wrenn, #86 Shawn Solomito,
Bonsignore and more were among those to take
advantage.
Rocco led Pennink off the line for the restart and
picked up where he left off. Annarummo was up to
third with Christopher coming on strong, moving to
fourth around Zachem on lap-18. Caution flew again
on lap-20 when Bonsignore and Solomito tangled on
the back chute, resulting in Solomito’s day coming
to an end on the business end of the hook.
Bonsignore suffered rear sheet metal damage on his
car sending him to a return visit to the pit area.
Rocco spun his tires on the restart but recovered to
hold his lead on Pennink. Christopher continued to
march forward, moving to second spot past the inside
of Pennink on lap-22. He and Rocco teamed up to pull
out to a several car length lead as Pennink trailed
in third, ahead of the #34 of Dave Etheridge and
two-time series champion Chris Pasteryak in his
familiar #5 machine. Anthony Nocella was another
driver on the charge as he piloted his #92 from his
15th place starting position into the lead pack.
Christopher continued to press Rocco hard at the
front and the duo’s pace enabled them to open over a
straightaway advantage over the field. Yellow
returned on lap-41 as the #66 of Dylan Kopec and #32
of Tom Abele Jr. tangled exiting turn two with both
cars spinning into the racing groove for a quick
caution period.
Christopher lined up to Rocco’s outside with all
eyes on the front row to see which would come out on
top for the restart. Rocco got a great jump and
resumed his position at the front. Just after
Christopher ducked in line looking poised to
continue his pursuit of the lead, his engine let go
at the end of the back chute on lap-42 spewing a
massive oil slick onto the racing surface. A tightly
bunched pack behind had little control as they
approached turn three and several cars piled up in a
grinding wreck. When the dust settled defending race
winner Stephen Masse’s #13 car had the #99 of
Richard Savary perched atop his machine. Holdridge
and Szegedy were both involved, as were Wrenn and
Bonsignore who were wedged in the turn three armco
barrier. The incident drew the red flag for a
lengthy cleanup. When the race returned to the
yellow flag, Pennink ducked to the pits from his
position among the to check over his machine
following the melee.
Pasteryak and Nocella moved in behind Rocco for the
ensuing restart. Pasteryak tried to catch Rocco
offguard, ducking in line behind him through turns
one and two and tried a crossover move to the bottom
of Rocco exiting turn two. Rocco fought off the bid
and regained control with Pasteryak in tow. They
were able to slowly extend themselves away from
Nocella, who ran all alone in third as an extended
run of green flag racing continued. Pennink was
storming his way back to the front, chasing Jeff
Rocco down for a position among the top-five during
the stretch of clean competition. Those two hooked
up in their own battle for fourth position as
Pasteryak stayed in Keith Rocco’s tire tracks out
front and Nocella was content riding in third.
As the race approached the final 25 laps Rocco’s
pace out front appeared to be too much for
Pasteryak. The lead slowly stretched out as Rocco
hit lapped traffic at the tail of the field. That
proved little to slow Rocco’s charge, however a
caution erased his advantage when Van Houten spun
again between turns one and two on lap-84. Another
great restart by Rocco was negated as Pennink and
Dylan Kopec went hard into the turn one wall with
Mike Willis Jr’s #38 collected.
Rocco got away from Pasteryak one final time on the
restart and was able to cruise from there. Pasteryak
was under fire from a fast closing Szegedy who had
arrived back among the leaders for the final run to
the checkered flag. Szegedy wrestled third position
away from Nocella, who slid back in the latter
stage. Rocco closed out the win with Pasteryak able
to hold back Szegedy for second. Jeff Rocco finished
a solid fourth and Zachem got around Nocella on the
final lap to claim fifth.
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VMRS Blastoff 100 Race
Results
1. 68 Keith Rocco
2. 5ct Chris Pasteryak
3. 85 Todd Szegedy
4. 57 Jeff Rocco
5. 20ct Max Zachem
6. 0 Mike Holdridge
7. 58 Eric Goodale
8. 92 Anthony Nocella
9. 12 Todd Annarummo
10. 38 *Mike Willis, Jr.
11. 90 Jeff Pearl
12. 32 Tom Abele, Jr.
13. 15 Charlie Pasteryak
14. 17 Todd Owen
15. 25 Rowan Pennink
16. 66 Dylan Kopec
17. 09 Brad Van Houten
18. 34 Dave Etheridge
19. 21 Justin Bonsignore
20. 00 Ted Christopher
21. 13 Steve Masse
22. 53 Norm Wrenn
23. 99 Richard Savary
24. 86 Shawn Solomito
Did Not Qualify - Dana Smith, David Schneider, Matt Mead, Roy
Seidell, Dennis Charette, Danny Cates, Chris Bakaj, Rob Richardi, Jr. and
Gregg Hurley
Time of Race: 1:01:53
Margin Of Victory: 1.243 seconds
Best Lap: #68 Keith Rocco- 14.171 seconds
Waddell Communications Lap Leaders: #68 Keith Rocco 1-100
Caution Periods: 6 Cautions- on laps: 10, 20, 41, 42, 84, 84
Next Race: Saturday April 19th at
Monadnock Speedway Winchester, NH |
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Source: Brian Darling / Valenti Modified Racing Series
Posted: April
14, 2014 |
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