Rocco Closes Ground On Morris
Nets a win and a fourth at Waterford, while national points leader wrecks at South Boston
Needing a win to stay in the hunt for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national title hunt, Keith Rocco did just that Saturday night. After a fourth-place finish in the first 25-lap SK Modified feature at the Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl, Rocco capped the evening with a win in the second feature.
The Wallingford, Conn., driver entered the weekend 34 points behind Philip Morris of Ruckersville, Va. Rocco was tied with Omaha, Neb. driver Bill Leighton Jr. with 801 points.
Morris and Leighton were both in action Saturday night, as well. Morris wrecked while battling for the lead at South Boston (Va.) Speedway and did not finish the race, while Leighton finished sixth at Junction Motor Speedway in McCool Junction, Neb.
Rocco failed to improve his points total with a third at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway Thursday and a 15th at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway Friday. Saturday’s performance, however, came with a full field of 23 cars at Waterford, allowing Rocco to unofficially jump to 816. Morris remains at 835 and Leighton at 801.
All points totals are unofficial until released by NASCAR Points & Membership Department, after verification of results and car counts on Tuesday.
The deadline for races to count toward NASCAR Whelen All-American Series state and national points is Sunday, Sept. 13. A driver’s best 18 results are counted toward their state and national points totals.
Under the points structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, the race winner will receive two points for every car in the event up to 23 cars. Second place will receive two fewer points, and so-on through the field. For example, if there are 23 cars, the winner receives 46 points, second gets 44 and third 42. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 30 points, second gets 28 and third 26. Race winners receive an additional five bonus points.
Rocco started 12th in the first feature at Waterford Saturday and got up as high as third before settling for a fourth-place run behind race winner Justin Gaydosh.
“We were good enough to win the first one, we just ran out of time,” Rocco said. “It was hard to get to the front.”
Rocco started eighth in the second feature and took the lead just past the halfway point. It was Rocco’s sixth win of the year at Waterford and his 13th overall.
He is scheduled to finish next weekend with asphalt Modified division races at Thompson (Thursday), Stafford (Friday) and Waterford (Saturday). Unofficially, he needs at least one win, and a minimum second and third in the other two features – contigent on each of the races having a full field of 23 cars – to tie Morris.
2009_NWAAS_South_Boston_finale_starting_lineup
Philip Morris (26) started on the pole for the GCR Presents Rotary Night 150 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway, but crashed out of the race after a battle with Justin Johnson, who started third. Alan Moore/Turn 1 Photography
Morris’ home track of Motor Mile in Radford, Va., had the weekend off, so he took his asphalt Late Model to South Boston in hopes of putting a lock on his third national championship in the last four years.
Morris had three wins and five top fives in nine previous starts at the .400-mile oval, and earned the pole for the GCR Presents Rotary Night 150, which served as South Boston’s season finale.
Morris led early, but contact with Justin Johnson in Turn 3 on Lap 96 while battling for the lead sent Morris’ car spinning. Morris was hit by an oncoming car in the spin, and the resulting damage to the car was too much for him to continue.
Johnson, from Durham, N.C., went on to win the race and capture the track championship in one of the closest points races in the track’s 52-year history. The Durham, N.C., driver edged David Quackenbush by seven points. Quackenbush entered the event with a four-point lead over Nick Smith and eight-point advantage over Johnson; Quackenbush finished sixth in the race, while Smith’s night ended on Lap 121 with a mechanical issue that left him 13th.
2009_NWAAS_South_Boston_finale_Johnson_Victory_Lane
Justin Johnson won the GCR Presents Rotary Night 150 to claim the Late Model championship at South Boston (Va.) Speedway. Alan Moore/Turn 1 Photography
Morris will wrap up his season Saturday, Sept. 12 at Motor Mile, where he holds a slim two-point lead over Frank Deiny Jr. in the battle for the track title. Morris is looking for his seventh championship at the .416-mile oval.
Leighton will race his dirt Late Model in the final points race of the season for I-80 Speedway in Omaha Sunday, Sept. 6. He also has a race remaining at Junction Saturday, Sept. 12. Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills, Calif., is fourth in the national standings at 799. The Super Late Model division at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, Calif., where he is leading the points, was off this weekend and concludes with double features Saturday, Sept. 12.
Ted Christopher of Plainville, Conn., unofficially improved to 764 with a fifth place at Stafford Friday. Christopher, the 2001 national champion, entered the weekend fifth in the nation.
In other action Saturday night:
• C.E. Falk earned his 11th win of the season with a victory in the first of the Law Enforcement Twin 75s for the Crossroads Fuel Service Late Model Stock Cars at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. Falk is second in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Virginia state standings and sixth in the nation. He was fourth in the night’s second feature.
• Andy Mercer and Dexter Canipe Jr. split the twin 50-lap Late Model features at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, with Mercer picking up his NASCAR Whelen All-American Series-leading 14th win of the season.
• Emily Sue Steck, a member of the Drive for Diversity program, earned her third victory of the season on the final race weekend for the Kwik Trip Late Model division at LaCrosse (Wisc.) Fairgrounds Speedway. Steck held off her teammate and 2007 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series champion Steve Carlson to win the second feature. Carlson had earned the win in the first feature, where Steck finished 10th. J. Herbst finished 12th and third to win the track championship by 33 points over Carlson’s son, Mike. Steck finished seventh.
• A sixth-place finish at Grandview Speedway in Bechtesville, Pa., was enough for Jeff Strunk to grab his eighth 358 Modified championship at the Berks County clay oval.
• Mike Rowe won the 40-lap Pro Series finale at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine, to claim the track championship. It was Rowe’s fourth straight win and seventh overall, resulting in the first title at Beech Ridge for the highly-decorated New England veteran.
The final points standings are scheduled to be released Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Track, state and province, and the national champion earn invitations to the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet in Concord, N.C., Friday, Nov. 13. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series champion also earns a secure spot in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, to be held at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.) Jan. 29-30, 2010.