Champ Trail - July 7, 2015

  Keith Rocco keeps rolling along at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl as he continues to build on his record setting feature win total. Rocco recorded his fifth SK Modified win of the season plus a win in the Late Model division at the shoreline oval bringing his track win total to 113 wins. The win also took Rocco over the top to a career overall total of 201 wins which also include victories at Thompson and Stafford Speedways.
  Rocco's 200th career win came early Saturday night as he won the Late Model feature. He annexed no. 201 later in the evening when he won the SK Modified event. In the SK event he held off arch rival Ted Christopher to make it five out of eight at the shoreline oval. Rocco took the lead from Tyler Chadwick on lap 10. Following Christopher was Joe Gada, Matt Gallo and Diego Monahan. Other Saturday night winners were Al Stone III in the Limited Sportsman, Mark Panaroni in the Mini Stocks and Paul Buzel in the SK Lites.

  The big event last week was the 11th annual Open Wheel Wednesday event at the Seekonk Speedway in Seekonk, MA. This years event carries a total purse payout of $37,200 with $10,000 going to the winner of the 100 lap event. Second spot pays $3,500 with $2, 500 for third. Due to an impending weather forecast that called for showers and thunderstorms in the Seekonk area on Wednesday, the series and track officials decided to move the event to Thursday, July 2.
  When the gates opened on Thursday forty two modifieds rolled in. Five qualifying heats were sent to post along with two consolations. Heat winners were Ryan Preece, James Civali, Norm Wrenn, Chuck Hossfield and Doug Coby. Consi winners were Keith Rocco and Zane Ziener. "B" Main winner was Anthony Nocella.
  Race Chaser Online New England Correspondent Kyle Souza reported that Richard Savary went two for two at Seekonk Speedway in 2015. Back in June, Savary claimed the win in the Valenti Modified Racing Series event and on Thursday he scored the win in round three of the Northeast Race Cars and Parts Tri Track Open Modified Series and took $10,000 home with him.
  In a re-cap produced by Souza, James Civali and Steve Masse brought the ground pounders to the green with Dick Houlihan and Richard Savary closely following in behind. The story of the start of the race was a few quick sprints. A lap two caution for a spin involving four drivers, one of which Keith Rocco, slowed the field up for the first time. Once the field got back to green, the yellow light was on before driver’s even knew it. Zane Zeiner spun his No. 79 mount in turn four drawing the second straight caution and this time, Savary lined up to the outside of the front row. For the next five laps under the green following the restart, Savary and Civali battled wheel-to-wheel for the lead, neither giving an inch.
  The third caution of the event flew on lap nine when Andy Jancowiak came to a halt. It was put together as a “quick yellow” and it sent the field back under the green with Civali and Savary on the front row. The two drivers continued their torid battle for the lead, rising fans to their feet. It was one of the best battles the Action Track of the East has seen in recent years. Once Savary cleared for the lead on lap 31, Todd Annarummo and Woody Pitkat were working the outside and coming through the field. They drove their way from 12th and 14th starting positions respectively and found themselves inside the middle of the top ten by half way. Savary led Civali by five car-lengths at the crossed flags with the drivers in third through eighth giving everything they had to catch them. The drivers were nose-to-tail, not giving anything when suddenly Tommy Barrett jumped out of line and passed Chuck Hossfeld for the third spot. Barrett continued to march forward when he passed Masse for third.
  Leaders were in heavy lapped traffic when the fourth caution of the event flew on lap 67. It was thrown when Dwight Jarvis and Anthony Nocella spun in turn two and the pit stop game began to take shape. Leaders Savary and Civali stayed on the track under the yellow, closely followed by Pitkat, Pastreyak and Annarummo. Drivers that pitted included Masse, Matt Hirschman, Keith Rocco and Tommy Barrett.
  Savary grabbed the lead on the ensuing restart, but caution quickly flew again when Barrett spun in front of the field on the front stretch, collecting defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby. Zenier left the speedway on a wrecker after the incident.
  The green flag flew once again on lap 72, and Savary went back to command. A massive crash in turn two collected Masse, Nocella, Barrett, Dick Houlihan and others as the sixth caution flag of the event flew on the Speedway. Savary went back to leading the field when the green flag came back out and the race was on for second on back. Civali cut to the bottom to hold second spot, while Pitkat moved into third and Annarummo found a hole into fourth. With ten laps to go the field was strung out single file with Civali trying his best to close the gap to Savary. Beers was working hard on Annarummo in fourth, but failed to make the pass.
  Savary went on to drive away with the event and score the big payday of $10,000. Civali came home second, with Pitkat third, Annarummo fourth and Beers fifth. Sixth thru tenth were Patrick Emerling, Matt Hirschman, Chris Pasteryak, Joe Doucette and Chuck Hossfeld.
  Final pay-outs were as follows: Richard Savary $11,680 ( including $1480 in lap money, $100 CN Crown Award, $100 Seals-It, James Civali $4020 ( including $520 in lap money), Woody Pitkat $5395 ( including $500 from Bridgewater Raynham Overhead Door and $2395 Coil Over Commander, Todd Annarummo $2000 and Eric Beers $2500 ( including $1000 from Bridgewater Raynham Overhead Door).

  At the Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night it was the SK Light Xtra Mart Xtra D program night. Xtra Mart Convenience Stores put up a $500 bonus that was split evenly among the top-5 finishers in the extra distance SK Light feature event. Rowan Pennink scored his fifth win of the season in the SK Modified® feature in what turned out to be a thrilling finish, Tom Fearn also scored win #5 of the season in the Late Model feature, Payton Henry was a first time winner in 2015 by taking the checkered flag in the 25-lap Xtra Mart Xtra D SK Light feature, Justin Bren dominated the Limited Late Model feature for his first win of the season, Tyler Trott scored his third win of 2015 in the DARE Stock feature, and Cory DiMatteo scored his third win of the season in the Legend Cars feature.
  Pennink led Matt Galko at the finish to pick up his fifth win of the 2015 season. Woody Pitkat finished third, with Mike Gervais, and Eric Berndt rounding out the top-5.

  Ryan Preece scored his third win of the season at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island as he won the the July 4th Modified 65 Lap feature at the historic quarter mile oval. Timmy Solomito finished second with Tom Rogers Jr, third.

  Down in the southland at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem NC it was all quiet. Racing resumes this coming Saturday, July 11. George Brunnhoelzl III took home the checkered flag in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour Daggett & Shuler Attorneys at Law Rusty Harpe Memorial 150 for his 12th career victory at the Caraway Speedway in North Carolina. Jason Myers finished as the runner-up with Eric Goodale in third. Kyle Ebersole and Joe Ryan Osborne rounded out the top five while Gary Putnam, Seuss, Bobby Measmer Jr., Frank Fleming and JR Bertuccio completed the top 10.

  Racing resumes this coming Wednesday, July 8th at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) where the track will host the 2nd annual Late Model 20/20 Sprint featuring TSMP’s premier fendered division. The first two 20-lap races will both give the opportunity for Late Model teams to earn championship points. The third 10-lap race, though not counting for points, will be factored into determining the purse for the evening, which includes a $1,000 prize for the race winner. As an added bonus, the winner will also earn a position as a guaranteed starter for the 100-lap American   Canadian Tour race at the World Series on Oct. 16-18, 2015.
The Dunkin’ Donuts Late Model 20/20 Sprint will also include TSMP’s three other NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions of racing. The Sunoco Modifieds will start off the feature races for the evening around 6:15 PM, followed by the Mini Stocks, Late Model Sprints and finished off by the Xtramart Limited Sportsman division. The 20-lap race for the Limited Sportsman will be their second Triple Crown Championship points event.

  Joe Skotnicki has purchased both the New York State based Race of Champions Dirt and Asphalt Series’ from Andy Harpell and will become the director of both series’ in 2016. Harpell wants to focus his efforts 100% on Five Mile Point Speedway, a dirt track in upstate New York. Skotnicki is a current member of management at Lancaster National Speedway, and former director of DIRTcar Northeast and a former employee of NASCAR.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week in a short week of trading two of the three speedway stocks were down for the week. Dover Entertainment went up 0.01 to 2.22 while Speedway Motorsports dropped 1.12 to 22.13 and the International Speedway Corporation dropped 3.14 to 34.55. NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint dropped 0.08 to 4.48 and NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear dropped 1.11 to 30.29 while NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 0.09 to 53.26. The auto manufacturers were down for the week. Toyota dropped 2.71 to 132.75 while General Motors dropped 1.15 to 33.23 and Ford dropped 0.53 to 14.87. In the home improvement sector, Lowes dropped 1.91 to 66.70 and Home Depot dropped 1.11 to 111.49. With the exception of Coca-Cola which went up 4.35 to 153.33 the big team sponsor's stocks were down. McDonalds dropped 1.12 to 96.17, Target dropped 1.81 to 82.27, Aarons Rentals dropped 0.49 to 36.04 and Fedex dropped 2.53 to 171.23.

  On the tube this coming week:

  Tuesday, July 7
1:00 AM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona race re-air, CNBC
6:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NSCS Daytona race re-air, CNBC
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
7:00 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN

  Wednesday, July 8
6:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
4:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN

  Thursday, July 9
6:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
10:00 AM, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kentucky practice, FS1
2:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Kentucky practice, FS1
3:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN
4:00 PM, NXS Kentucky practice, FS1
7:30 PM, NCWTS Kentucky race, FS1

  Friday, July 10
4:00 AM, NCWTS Kentucky race re-air, FS1
6:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
7:00 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
7:30 AM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
11:30 AM, NSCS Kentucky practice, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NSCS Kentucky practice, NBCSN
3:30 PM, NXS Kentucky qualifying, NBCSN
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NSCS Kentucky qualifying, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NXS Pre-race Show, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NXS Kentucky race, NBCSN

  Saturday, July 11
5:30 PM, NASCAR America: The States of NASCAR, NBCSN
7:00 PM, NSCS Pre-race Show, NBCSN
7:30 PM, NSCS Kentucky race,NBCSN
11:00 PM, NSCS Post Race Show, NBCSN
11:30 PM, NASCAR America: Scan All 43, NBCSN

  Sunday, July 12
4:00 AM, NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
11:00 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

   That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: July 7, 2015