Rocco, Curioso Among Speedbowl Winners
Waterford, CT — Keith Rocco won the 35-lap SK Modified feature at the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday evening.
Other feature winners were Joe Curioso III (Late Model), Walt Hovey Jr. (Sportsman), Phil Evans (Mini Stock), and Greg Stoehr (Northeastern Midget Association).
Keith Rocco passed defending champion Rob Janovic Jr. with eighteen-laps remaining to score his fifth win of the season in the evenings 35-lap SK Modified feature. Janovic jumped-out to an early lead trailed by Dennis Gada before a third-turn pileup involving Gada and several other front-runners scattered the field. Rocco dogged Janovic for several circuits before getting the advantage with an outside-move upon the event’s final restart. Jeff Pearl, Doug Coby, and Gada rounded-out the top-5.
Just past midway in the 30-lap Late Model main event, Vinny Esposito passed early-leader Rich Staskowsi for a short-lived ride in the lead. On a restart, track officials determined Esposito jumped the start, sending him to the back. Staskowski again assumed the lead chased by Joe Curisoso III. On the final circuit, Curioso executed an outside-move, nipping Staskowski for the win by less than a fender for his first-ever Late Model triumph. Defending champion Bruce Thomas Jr., Tony Macrino, and Jeff Smith completed the top-5.
In the Sportsman 20-lap feature, pole-sitter “Grandpa Jim” Procaccini spun on lap-1, the field narrowly slipping-by without incident. On the restart, Walt Hovey Jr. jumped into the lead, going-on to score a car-length victory over Brandon Plemons, Ronnie Oldham Jr., Al Stone III, and John Puglisi.
It was a 3-wide dogfight to the checkers in the 20-lap Mini Stock feature, with Phil Evans narrowly winning over Lou Bellisle and Ben Bargnesi. Leading the early circuits, Bargnesi seemed to hold the upper-hand until a trio of late-race yellows bunched the field. Evans prevailed with a daring outside-move just as the trio approached the checkers. Following Bellisle and Bargnesi was Kyle James and Jack Aquilina.
Clinching victory in the 25-lap Midget main event was NEMA veteran Greg Stoehr.Bolting into the lead from his fourth-place starting spot in less than a lap, Stoehr resisted all-comers during a trio of restarts to record his fist win of 2008 by a dominating margin. Following was Erica Santos, Nokie Fornoro, Adam Cantor, and Joey Payne.
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SK MODIFIED (35); 1. Keith Rocco, 2. Rob Janovic Jr., 3. Jeff Pearl, 4. Doug Coby, 5. Dennis Gada, 6. Tyler Chadwick, 7. Glenn Pressel III, 8. Matt Gallo, 9. Jeff Paul, 10. Wendell Dailey, 11. Mike Sweeney, 12. Ed Reed Jr., 13. Rich Hammann, 14. Ron Yuhas Jr., 15. Dave Morgenstein, 16. Dennis Charette, 17. Shawn Monahan, 18. Steve Voelker.
LATE MODEL (30); 1. Joe Curioso III, 2. Rich Staskowski, 3. Bruce Thomas Jr., 4. Tony Macrino, 5. Jeff Smith, 6. Tim Jordan, 7. Robert LeBlanc Jr., 8. Vinnie Esposito, 9. Tom Metcalf, 10. Jeff Pearl, 11. Larry Goss, 12. Ed Lamb Jr., 13. Brain Andronaco, 14. Rich Duranti, 15. Dan Holben, 16. Mark Hudson, 17. Bob Andreozzi.
SPORTSMAN (20); 1. Walt Hovey Jr., 2. Brandon Plemons, 3. Ronnie Oldham Jr., 4. All Stone III, 5. John Puglisi, 6. Mark Cooper, 7. Joshua Galvin, 8. Jack Aquilina, 9. Nate Appell, 10. Sean Curtis, 11. Kevin Burr, 12. “Grandpa Jim” Procaccini, 13. Chris Meyer, 14. Joe Nogiec.
MINI STOCK (20); 1. Phil Evans, 2. Lou Bellisle, 3. Ben Bargnesi, 4. Kyle James, 5. Jack Aquilina, 6. Ian Brew, 7. Jeff “Soup” Civardi, 8. Mark Panaroni, 9. Ken Cassidy Jr., 10. Jeff Mehlenbacher, 11. Randolph Churchill Jr., 12. Sean Caron, 13. Nick Pappacoda, 14. Chris Williams, 15. Jackie Wolfram, 16. Chuck Rogers, 17. Christina Cunliffe, 18. Randy Churchill Jr.
NEMA MIDGETS (25); 1, Greg Stoehr, 2. Erica Santos, 3. Nokie Fornoro, 4. Adam Cantor, 5. Joey Payne, 6. William Wall, 7. Jeremy Frankowski, 8. Randy Cabral, 9. John Zych Jr., 10. Aaron Wall, 11. Mark Irving, 12. Andy Shlatz, 13. Barry Kittredge, 14. Doug Cleveland, 15. Lee Bundy, 16. Paul Homstrald, 17. Bobby Santos III, 18. Paul Luggelle, 19. Brian Cleveland, 20. Lou Cicconi, 21. Jim Peruto, 22. Mike Luggelle, 23, Aaron Wall.
Sources: Dave Dykes/Waterford Speedbowl PR