Rocco, Posocco, Galko, Thibeault & Casagrande Score July 15th NASCAR Racing Feature Victories at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Speedway was back on track with a 5-division NASCAR Whelen All-American Series event on Friday, July 15. Keith Rocco picked up his fifth victory of the 2011 season in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Ryan Posocco took his first feature win of the 2011 season in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Matt Galko recovered from an early race incident to take his third feature win of the 2011 season in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Shawn Thibeault picked up his third win of 2011 in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Kyle Casagrande picked up his fourth feature victory of the season in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature. Casagrande’s feature victory tied him with Stacey Botticello and Norm Sears as the winningest drivers in DARE Stock history with 10 career feature wins each.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Nichole Morgillo took the lead at the green flag, driving around Mark Bakaj. Bakaj settled into second with Dan Avery, Glen Reen, and Ted Christopher making up the top-5. Reen moved into second with Avery and Christopher also getting by Bakaj to drop him back to fifth place.
Christopher went to the inside of Avery on lap-10 to take over second, while Reen was trying to take the lead from Morgillo. Reen made a move on lap-10, but he came up short. Not fazed, Reen came back the very next lap and this time was able to complete the pass on Morgillo to take over the race lead. Christopher was now right on Morgillo’s bumper while Ryan Preece and Bakaj came together in turn 4 and came to a stop to bring the caution out with 12 laps complete. Preece came to pit road where his team was working on the front of his car and he was able to continue at the rear of the field for the restart.
[Photo Gallery] by Nicholas Teto
On the restart, Reen took the lead while Christopher moved by Morgillo to take over second. Avery moved into third, with Pitkat fourth and Keith Rocco fifth as Morgillo fell back to sixth place. Morgillo continued to fall back in the field as Frank Ruocco, Eric Berndt, Todd Owen, and Curt Brainard all moved past Morgillo.
Christopher was glued to the bumper of Reen’s car at the front of the field, but he was not able to make a pass for the lead as Reen was holding serve out front. At the halfway point it was Reen and Christopher up front and they were followed by Rocco, Pitkat, and Avery.
Christopher made a move to the inside of Reen in turn 3 on lap-23 to take over the race lead. Rocco caught Rene and he moved into second on lap-27 while Christopher continued to hold the lead. With 10 laps to go Christopher had a lead of several car lengths over Rocco, who had an advantage of several car lengths over Reen in third.
Rocco closed the distance to Christopher and he made a power move to the inside of Christopher in turn 3 on lap-36 to move into the race lead. Christopher bobbled slightly in turn 1 on lap-38, which allowed Rocco to stretch his lead out by a couple of car lengths. Christopher caught back up to Rocco on the final lap, but Rocco was too strong to be overtaken and he took his fifth win of the 2011 season by a car length. Rounding out the top-5 behind Rocco and Christopher was Reen, Avery, and Pitkat.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature event, Tony Lafo took the lead at the green, but Corey Hutchings moved by Lafo to take over the race lead on lap-2. Tom Fearn followed Hutchings by Lafo as did Walt Wosko, Jr. as Lafo fell from second back to fourth. Ryan Posocco moved by Lafo to take fourth place and Dillon Moltz took fifth from Lafo on lap-8. Moltz spun in turn 4 to bring the caution out with 9 laps complete.
Back under green, Hutchings took the lead with Wosko pulling even with Fearn. Keith Rocco and Posocco were side by side for the fourth position with Jim Peterson just behind them. Wosko took second ahead of Rocco while Woody Pitkat moved by Posocco to take over fifth with Fearn settling into fourth place. Tony Lafo spun in turn 3 and Scott Cook spun in turn 1 to bring the caution back out with 10 laps complete.
John Kasper took a spin through the backstretch grass to bring the caution back out after one lap was completed. Tom Butler also spun through the backstretch grass. Dillon Moltz’s car was stalled at the pit road entrance and he had to be towed behind the wall.
Hutchings and Rocco were side by side for the lead on the restart with Pitkat, Posocco, and Fearn lined up right behind them. Rocco and Hutchings stayed side by side for the lead until lap-14 when Pitkat made a three wide move to the inside of them both entering turn 3 to take over the race lead. Posocco moved into second with Rocco falling into line in third. Hutchings was backsliding through the field as Fearn, Mark St. Hilaire, Wosko, and Peterson all moved by, dropping Hutchings from the lead to eighth place.
Posocco was all over the back bumper of Pitkat for the lead while Rocco was all over Posocco’s bumper looking for second place. The top-3 continued to run nose to tail without a position changing. Fearn was running in fourth place with Peterson rounding out the top-5 with 5 laps to go.
On lap-26 Posocco pulled to the inside of Pitkat in turns 1+2, but couldn’t complete the pass. Posocco did complete the pass in turns 3+4 to take over the lead. Once Posocco was in front, he pulled out to a lead of several car lengths and he led the field around for the final 5 laps to take his first feature victory of the 2011 season. Pitkat finished second, with Rocco, Peterson, and Fearn rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Tony Santangelo took the lead from the pole while Harry Wheeler made a strong move into second. Shayne Prucker was third, with Tony Membrino, Jr. in fourth and Jesse Ruocco in fifth. Frank Cardile and Tommy Barrett, Jr. came together with 2 laps complete to bring the caution out.
Santangelo took the lead back under green with Prucker making a run to the inside of Wheeler to take over second. Prucker’s pass allowed Tony Membrino, Jr. to pull alongside Wheeler and he took third. Wheeler spun in turn 4 and his spin collected the cars of Kyle Spencer, Cody Gneiting, and Jay Goff to bring the caution out with 4 laps complete.
Santangelo took the lead back under green with Prucker in second. Ruocco and Joey Cipriano were side by side for third with Cipriano taking the position. Tommy Membrino, Jr. spun in turn 3 and collected the car of Matt Galko to bring the caution out with 6 laps complete.
Santangelo took the lead at the green, but Cipriano quickly made a move to the inside of Santangelo. Cipriano took the lead from Santangelo on lap-8 after several laps of side by side action. The car on the charge was Barrett, who was involved in an earlier caution. Barrett was slicing his way through traffic and he took the lead from Cipriano on lap-14. As the field was coming to the white flag, Ruocco got against the turn 4 wall and came back down the track into the path of Prucker and both cars went through the grass on the infield to bring the caution out with 18 laps complete.
Barrett took the lead back under green, but Galko, who was also involved in an earlier incident, moved into second behind Barrett. As they navigated turns 1+2 on the final lap, Galko pulled to the inside of Barrett and he made the pass for the lead heading into turn 3. Barrett and Galko touched bumpers coming to the checkered flag but Galko was able to take the checkered flag ahead of Barrett. Rounding out the top-5 behind Galko and Barrett was Cipriano, Cardile, and Dylan Liseo.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, D.J. Burnham took the early lead ahead of Jesse Hinze, Shawn Thibeault, Chris Cook, and Norm Sears. Thibeault moved to the inside of Hinze on lap-4 to take over second place while Burnham was comfortably out in front. George Nocera, Jr. moved by Sears on lap-5 to take over the fifth position.
Nocera moved by Cook for third place on lap-8 while Thibeault had closed the gap to Burnham at the front of the field. The caution came out with 10 laps complete for Duane Provost, who hit the turn 2 wall.
On the restart, Thibeault powered past Burnham to take over the race lead. Nocera made a move to the inside of Burnham to take over second and as Nocera was going by, Burnham got loose and he fell back several more spots as Kevin Gambacorta and Dan Flannery both got by.
Carla Botticello lost an engine with 18 laps complete to bring the caution out and set up a green white checkered finish.
Thibeualt took the lead back under green and he led Nocera around for the final two laps to pick up his third feature win of the 2011 season. Nocera came home in second, with Gambacorta, Dan Flannery and Burnham.
In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, James Carroll took the lead at the green flag with Kris Fluckiger, David Arute, Andrew Hayes, and Don Wood making up the early top-5. The top-5 ran in line until lap-3 when Arute moved past Fluckiger to take over second place. Brandon Michael lost a right front tire to bring the caution out with 3 laps complete.
On the restart, Arute powered into the lead with Hayes following him to take over second. Kyle Casagrande made a strong move into third with Carroll falling back to fourth, just ahead of Don Wood. Donnie Swan spun in turn 3 to bring the caution out with 4 laps complete.
Arute again took the lead on the restart while Casagrande moved by Hayes to take over second. Don Wood followed Casagrande by Hayes to drop him from second back to fourth, while Josh Wood was now into the fifth position. Kelsey Rottino spun in turn 1 on lap-7, but he was able to get his car moving and the race stayed under green flag conditions.
Doug Phelps got sideways in turn 1 just in front of Arute on lap-9, but Arute and Casagrande were able to navigate their way around Phelps. Phelps spun again in turn 2 on lap-10 but he got moving and the green flag stayed out. Casagrande rode behind Arute until lap-12 when Casagrande made a move to the inside of Arute in turns 3+4 to take over the race lead. Swan spun in turn 3 to bring the caution out with 13 laps complete and set up a green white checkered finish.
Casagrande took the lead on the restart while Josh Wood moved into second. Arute was fading back in the high groove as Don Wood, Cliff Saunders, and Hayes were all able to move by Arute. Casagrande led the field around to the checkered flag to pick up his fourth DARE Stock feature victory of the 2011 season. Josh Wood finished second, with Don Wood, Cliff Saunders, and Hayes rounding out the top-5.
For more information contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (860) 684-2783, or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR