Rocco Nets Eighth SK Mod Win Of 2017
-Season Winding Down As Point Battles Start To Heat Up –
WATERFORD, CT (September 23, 2017) With only three races left in the 2017 season, Keith Rocco was holding a slim nine-point lead over Ashway, RI’s Kyle James going into tonight’s event. The two would start fourth (James) and fifth (Rocco) as the green flag waved to start the 35-lap battle. With both title contenders battling in the top-five, the caution flag would appear on lap-5 five as Cory Barry, making his SK Mod debut made contact with James halting the race. On the ensuing restart James was able to use the low groove to his advantage to grab the lead away from Matt Galko. Follow James to the point was the Wheeler’s Auto sponsored #88 of Rocco. The caution would come back out as James and Galko made contact on lap- 10, setting up a restart featuring Rocco on the front row. Rocco wasted no time to make his move and shot out to the lead, while James was trying to make his way back to the front. The field started to run single file and Rocco was cruising out front while James kept picking away at the field and was on Rocco’s bumper with a handful of laps to go. Rocco was able to fend off James for the win but importantly extended the point lead to fourteen over James. Rounding out the top-five third to fifth was Galko, Andrew Molleur and Todd Owen.
In the SK Lites only one point sits between Dana DiMatteo and Andrew Molleur going into tonight’s 25-lap feature. Molleur took things into his own hands and went out and took win. Molleur used a lap-14 restart with Wayne Burroughs Jr, the two would run side-by-side and a lap latter Molleur wouldn’t look back. With Molleur pulling away in the Bud’s Truck and Diesel Service sponsored #35 on his way to his third win of the season, Burroughs and Bryan Narducci had a fierce battle for the runner up spot which Narducci would come out ahead. With the win Molleur would now be on top of the points standings over DiMatteo who would finish in the fourth spot. Rounding the top five were Molleur, Narducci, Burroughs, DiMatteo and Dennis Charette.
In the 25=lap Legends feature, it was Joey Ternullo making a three move on the inside and pushed his Laticrete sponsored #10 to the lead and the win. It was his seventh win of the year. It was announced in victory lane that this was his last Legends race as he will be entering the SK Mods next year. Rounding out the top-5 were Ternullo, Steven Chapman, Kyle Rogers. John O’Sullivan and Jesse Lakubajtys.
North Franklin, CT’s Chris Meyer not only is the point leader in the Limited Sportsman division but he showed who dominates the division as well. Meyer who started on the grid in the eighth spot chipped away at the field and took down his fifth win of the season. As the green flew to start the 30-lap race, the caution would wave on back to back laps as Jordan Hadley has issues on both. The restart saw Monte Gibbs battle with Al Stone III side-by-side for the lead allowing Meyer to join in on the battle. On lap-10 Meyer used the outside groove and moved ahead of Stone for the lead and fought off Gibbs and Stones last attempts for the win. Meyer extends his point lead over Gibbs with the win. Rounding out the top-5 were Meyer, Gibbs, Stone, Norman Root and Jason Chicolas.
It the make up 25-lap feature from last week it was all Jordan Hadley. The Waterford, CT driver moved ahead of Matt Guertin on lap-14 and held onto the top spot for the win. Rounding out the top-5 were Hadley, Nathan Taylor, Wayne Burroughs Jr, Ken Cassidy Jr and Jacob Perry.
The regular scheduled 25-lap Mini Stock race had a rough time getting rolling as the race was halted twice for starts, Once the green stayed out it was the #52 of Al Stone holding onto the lead over Nick Pappacoda. The two battled for the lead as Charles Canfield worked his way to the front Canfield used the outside lane to grab the lead on lap-11 and never let up and captured the win. For the second race in a row Nathan Taylor finished in the runner up spot. Finishing third to fifth was Sean Caron, Nick Pappacoda and Jacob Perry, for his second top-5 finish in a row.
The night ended with a special candle light vigil honoring Ted Christopher. Fans were allowed trackside and joined the Speedbowl Officials, drivers and crew members at the start / finish line for the special tribute. Earlier in the night a special auction was held for a bumper off the #13 Doug DiPisa owned modified, it went for $900 (Speedbowl’s GM George Whitney). Special thanks go out to everybody involved in the nights tribute to “TC”.
SK Modified (35-laps): Keith Rocco, Kyle James, Matt Galko, Andrew Molleur, Todd Owen, Jacob Perry, Tyler Chadwick, Paul Buzel, John Montesanto, Brent Sweet, Joshua Zentek, Dominic Capuano Jr, Corey Barry
SK Lites (25-laps): Andrew Molleur, Bryan Narducci, Wayne Burroughs, Dana DiMatteo, Dennis Charette, John O’Sullivan, Alan Gombos, Geoff Nooney, Chris Gombos, Victoria Bergenty, Ethan Durocher, Pete Lupuch, Nick Anglace, William Benoit
Legends (25-laps): Joey Ternullo, Steven Chapman, Kyle Rogers, John O’Sullivan, Jesse Jakubajtys, Jon Puleo, Brandon Remson, Anthony Marvin, Corey Caddick, Tyler Chapman, Brian Zimowski, David Shindler, Colin Haley, Corey Comeroski
Limited Sportsman (30-laps): Chris Meyer, Monte Gibbs, Al Stone III, Norman Root Jr, Jason Chicolas, Phil Evans, Jordan Hadley, Adrien Paradis III, Bo Norman, Charles Beal, Ritt Shawn, Brandon Fisher, Tyler Cinamella, Daniel Meyer, Michael Malbaum, Brandon Plemons, Darrell Carlson
Mini Stocks (25-laps) Makeup from 9/16: Jordan Hadley, Nathan Taylor, Wayne Burroughs Jr, Ken Cassidy Jr, Jacob Perry, Shawn Monahan, Nick Pappacoda, Sean Caron, Charles Canfield, Christopher Ivory, Andrew Krzeminski, Edward Field, Matt Guertin, Eric Bourgerois, Mitch Bombard, Dale Sherman, Tommy Silva, Matt Brown, Bill Sylvia, Dave Trudeau, Evan Bourgerois (DNS), Jared Roy (DNS)
Mini Stocks (25-laps): Charles Canfield, Nathan Taylor, Sean Caron, Nick Pappacoda, Jacob Perry, Shawn Monahan, Jordan Hadley, Wayne Burroughs Jr, Ken Cassidy Jr, Matt Guertin, Eric Bourgerois, Edward Field, Matt Brown, Mitch Bombard, Andrew Krzeminski, Christopher Ivory, Brandon Medina (DNS), Dale Sherman (DNS), Bill Sylvia (DNS), Dave Trudeau (DNS)