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10/06/2014 |
ROCCO SHINES
AND SURVIVES
ROUGH VMRS RACE AT WATERFORD |
Keith
Rocco, of Berlin, Connecticut, took command on
lap-11 when early leader Kyle James, of Ashaway,
Rhode Island, suffered engine trouble, and went on
to win a crash-filled 100-lap race Sunday afternoon
at Waterford, Speedbowl, Waterford, CT.
The Valenti Modified Racing Series was part of the
Fall Finale program at the historic race facility
that completed its 64th year Sunday.
Rocco started fourth in a 25-car lineup and set the
pace after James misfortune, leading laps 12 through
49 when Steve Masse of Bellingham, MA, took the
lead.
Rocco grabbed it back on lap 53 to go on and capture
his third win of the season and his fifth career
VMRS victory.
11-caution flags and a red flag were needed in the 1
hour 18 minute event with more than half the field
sidelined by crashes or mechanical issues.
The high caution flag count took a few drivers by
surprise.
Keith Rocco,” I got to thank my cars owners. They
give me an awesome piece of equipment. I’d like to
run more MRS races. Everywhere we go we got a great
car. This is one of my favorite places to race. We
win a lot of races down here and I’m expected to
win. It was smooth sailing for me. (Steve) Masse got
by me and I was able to get it back.
And the cautions? Rocco added, “It wasn’t just the
MRS race. Maybe it was something else. A full moon
(smiling) it was every division. It gets
frustrating. You want to get in some laps and get a
rhythm.
Another strong finish for Tommy Barrett Jr. The
Millis, MA, driver finished second after starting
fifth.
Barrett started the 100-lap race strong and finished
strong. “Saw the opportunity early to pass a couple
of cars. Got up to Keith (Rocco) and he drove away.
We had a restart and we were racing real hard Teddy
(Christopher) drove into me and I don’ know what
happened and I got put to the back. It made it an
easy decision to pit. We made a couple of
adjustments then drove up through but didn’t have
anything left at the end.
Cautions - “We haven’t had cautions like that I
don’t remember when. We generally have two or three
or a few more but not that much (11). Even a red
flag. It was a long race. We’ll take the second and
move on,” Barrett concluded.
Richard Savary made it back to a podium nailing down
third. “The last few races we have not been up to
snuff. We have been trying to find some stuff with
the car and hopefully we are back where we need to
be.”
Savary added, “We were good in practice and in the
heat race and we tried to stay smart in the feature.
I did have to come from the back as I got turned
early in the race. There wasn’t a lot of good
driving. A lot of guys out there were doing things
and were a little over aggressive 20 to 30 laps into
a race when you know you got to go 100.”
Savary continued, “We were fortunate the car was
good enough to come from the back. At the end we
were fast. Another lap and I think I could have got
the 9 (Barrett). Happy for my crew that we were able
to get back up on the podium.”
Steve Masse finished fourth with point-leader Justin
Bonsignore of Holtsville, NY, rounding out the top
five.
Sixth through tenth were: Rowan Pennink, Mike
Holdridge, Jonny Kay, Geoff Gernhard, and Jeff
Pearl.
25 cars started the race with 9 finishing on the
lead lap.
Race Summary:
Waterford CT Speedbowl - Oct 5, 2014
Entrants: 32 Modifieds
Race Distance: 100 Laps
Time of Race: 1:18:04.855
Margin of Victory: 1.680 Seconds
Best Lap Time: Rowan Pennink - 14.035
Best Speed: 96.188 Keith Rocco
Lead Changes: (3)
Lap Leaders: Kyle James (1-8) Keith Rocco
(12-49) Steve Masse (50-52) Rocco (53-100)
Cautions: (11) - Laps 11, 11, 24, 27, 27, 30,
34, 52, 63, 63, 69
Heat Race Winners: Heat 1 - Rocco / Heat 2 -
Pennink / Heat 3 - Richard Savary
Unofficial Order Of Finish: (1) Rocco, (2)
Barrett (3) Savary (4) Masse (5) Bonsignore (6)
Pennink (7) Holdridge
(8) Kay (9) Gernhard (10) Pearl (11) Schneider (12)
Mead (13) Pitkat (14) Chris Pasteryak (15) Willis
(16) Wrenn
(17) Christopher (18) Etheridge (19) Annarummo (20)
Sherman (21) Perry (22) Kopec (23) Dowling (24)
James (25) Bakaj
Next event: Lee USA Speedway Oct 11 & 12 |
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Source: John Spence Sr / Valenti Modified Racing Series
Posted:
October 6, 2014 |
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