Rocco & Esposito Among Speedbowl Winners
Waterford, CT — Keith Rocco won the 35-lap SK Modified feature at the Waterford Speedbowl Saturday evening.
Other Feature winners were Vin Esposito (Late Model), Al Stone III (Sportsman), Ken Cassidy Jr. (Mini Stock), and Jason Palmer (Legends).
Pole-sitter Wendell Dailey led the charge in the 35-lap SK Modified feature before nearly spinning and allowing Ed Reed Jr. and Keith Rocco to pass. Chaos ensued with twenty-three laps remaining when after a restart second-place Reed violently slammed the turn-4 wall in a multi-car crash that involved several other frontrunners including Doug Coby, Tyler Chadwick, and Ron Yuhas Jr. No injuries resulted from the red-flag incident, though the Reed mount was severely damaged. Rocco again assumed the lead after battling with Jeff Paul, later fighting-back the charges of both defending champion Rob Janovic Jr. and Jeff Pearl to score his third victory of 2008.
In 30-lap Late Model action, Ed Reed Jr. and Richard Staskowski battled side-by-side for the lead until midway when exiting turn-four, Staskowski suddenly spun bringing out the caution. When the event resumed, Reed faded and was passed by Vin Esposito who went on to win his first-ever Late Model feature event. Completing the top-5 was Tom Metcalf, Bruce Thomas Jr., Tim Jordan, and Reed.
“Grandpa Jim” Procaccini engaged in a furious battle with Brandon Plemons for the majority of the 20-lap Sportsman feature. It looked as if Procaccini was headed for his first victory of the season before a caution with only a handful of laps remaining bunched the field. On the restart, the duo once again went at it, until Procaccini spun, allowing Al Stone III to shoot from third to first. Current point-leader Stone went on to win his fourth feature of the season by a narrow margin over Ron Oldham Jr. Walt Hovey, Chuck Rogers, and Ed Lamb Jr. followed.
Defending champion Ken Cassidy Jr. took his second 20-lap Mini Stock of the season after a torrid battle with Randy Churchill Jr. Taking the lead from Nick Pappacoda on lap-5, Cassidy was soon chased by Randy Churchill Jr. Until the final laps, Cassidy and Churhill swapped the lead, with Cassidy finally gaining the advantage at the stripe. Following Churchill was Phil Evans, Lou Bellisle, and Ray Christian III.
Jason Palmer executed a daring 3-wide move late in the race to record his second Saturday Legends feature of the year. Following closely was Art Moran Jr., Michael Gervais Jr., Shaun Buffington, and Adam Gada.
SK MODIFIED (35); 1.Keith Rocco, 2. Rob Janovic Jr., 3. Jeff Pearl, 4. Dennis Gada, 5. Jeff Paul, 6. Wendell Dailey, 7. Jay Miller, 8. Frank Mucciacciaro Jr., 9. Bob Georgiades, 10. Mike Sweeney, 11. Bill Benoit, 12. Rich Hammann, 13. Matt Gallo, 14. Ron Yuhas Jr., 15. Ed Reed Jr., 16. Doug Coby, 17. Tyler Chadwick, 18. Todd Ceravolo, 19. Pete Pavone Jr., 20. Don Fowler, 21. Justin Gaydosh.
LATE MODEL (30); 1. Vin Esposito, 2. Tom Metcalf, 3. Bruce Thomas Jr., 4. Tim Jordan, 5. Ed Reed Jr., 6. Jeff Smith, 7. Rich Staskowski, 8. Jeff Pearl, 9. Anthony Macrino, 10. Mark Hudson, 11. Robert LeBlanc Jr., 12. Larry Goss, 13. Rick Nelson, 14. Dan Holben, 15. Ron Yuhas Jr., 16. Robert Andreozzi.
SPORTSMAN (20); 1. Al Stone III, 2. Ronnie Oldham Jr., 3. Walt Hovey Jr., 4. Chuck Rogers, 5. Ed Lamb Jr., 6. Brandon Plemons, 7. John Puglisi, 8. Kevin Burr, 9. Darrell Carlson, 10. Josh Galvin, 11. “Grandpa Jim” Procaccini, 12. Nate Appell, 13. Mark Cooper, 14. Joe Nogiec, 15. Jack Aquilina, 16. Matt Burr.
MINI STOCK (20); 1. Ken Cassidy Jr., 2. Randy Churchill Jr., 3. Phil Evans, 4. Lou Bellisle, 5. Ray Christian III, 6. Jack Aquilina, 7. Jeff Mehlenbacher, 8. Ben Bargnesi, 9. Christina Cunliffe, 10. Mark Panaroni, 11. Kyle James, 12. Ian Brew, 13. Chris Williams, 14. Nick Pappacoda, 15. Jeff Miller, 16. Jeff “Soup” Civardi, 17. Jackie Wolfram, 18, Mark Caise, 19. Glenn Colvin, 20. Sean Caron, 21. Charles Canfield.
LEGENDS (20); 1. Jay Palmer, 2. Art Moran Jr., 3. Michael Gervais Jr., 4. Shaun Buffington, 5. Adam Gada, 6. Ryan Morgan, 7. Carl Blandina, 8. Dan Bisignano, 9. Art Moran Jr., 10. Charles Buxton, 11. Joe Gada, 12. Silas Hiscock Sr., 13. Joe Cipriano, 14. John Weaver, 15. Peter Portante, 16. Kyle Rogers, 17. Dan McGouren, 18. William Hiscock, 19. Carl Bohn, 20. John Hugate, 21. Justin Rau, 22. Ricky White III, 23. Mike Blaskey, 24. Mark Esposito, 25. Joe Fresco, 26. Silas Hiscock Jr.
Sources:Dave Dykes/Waterford Speedbowl PR