Rocco Scores Fifth Of Season On Nostalgia Weekend At Speedbowl
Waterford, CT — Keith Rocco won the 35-lap SK Modified feature on Nostalgia Weekend 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.
“I’ve never won five races in one season anywhere,” commented Rocco. “This season has just been really good to us as far as racing at the Speedbowl goes. Tonight I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to win, so I tried working the outside. After a few laps, the car came to me, and I was more confident as I started moving-up. It was definitely there for me during the later stages. This is the last race in our weekly schedule. It always feels good to end-up in victory lane at Waterford, but especially-so if you have an off-week at Thompson & Stafford.”
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 rear. 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.
“It’s a huge, huge relief, getting this first win,” said Curioso in victory lane. “We just couldn’t seem to catch a break even though we’ve been fast every week. I’d only passed like one car on the outside tonight, so I wasn’t sure if I could get it done. At the end, I got up there and it worked. I kind of feel bad for Rich after he led so long, but only one of us can win. I’m sure he’ll be here soon also.”
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.
His third victory of the season, the winner revealed that he’d not quite expected to be in the midst of his most successful endeavor to date.
“This season has treated us really well,” stated Hovey, one of many young Speedbowl competitors with a long family history at the shoreline oval. “I kind of regret having missed an event earlier in the season, but honestly, I wasn’t counting on having this type of a year. Things have just fallen-together. It’s been a combination of trying different setups, and just really having our program together. The fact that it’s a great bunch of guys I’m racing against has made it fun again – that means a lot.”
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.
“I wasn’t too confident about possibly scoring a win tonight, as the car super- loose and I was having a hard time holding it in the groove.” said Evans. “It got kind of hairy on the last-lap, we were running so close. Believe me; I knew the other guys were there. I just hung it up on the outside, and thankfully, it stuck.”
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.
As part of Nostalgia Weekend, many memories were rekindled thanks to the presence of the stars and cars of the New England Antique Racers, Senior Tour Auto Racers, and the Atlantic Coast Old Timers vintage racing clubs.
Day-two of Nostalgia Weekend continues Sunday when the cars of yesteryear take to the track for a day of exhibition racing. Please log-on to www.speedbowl.com for more information.
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.
CURRENT POINT STANDINGS (TOP-10);
SK MODIFIED; Dennis Gada (678), Keith Rocco (648), Rob Janovic Jr. (618), Jeff Paul (616), Jeff Pearl (574), Tyler Chadwick (572), Ron Yuhas Jr. (570), Doug Coby (472), Justin Gaydish (416), Jay Miller (408).
LATE MODEL; Bruce Thomas Jr. (666), Tim Jordan (608), Vin Esposito( 574), Ed Reed Jr. (574), Ron Yuhas Jr. (534), Rich Staskowski (474), Tom Metcalf (416), Robert LeBlanc Jr. (414), Larry Goss (394), Joe Curioso III (334).
SPORTSMAN; Al Stone III (680), Ron Oldhan Jr. (610), Walt Hovey Jr. (604), Mark Cooper (550), Josh Galvin (526), “Grandpa Jim” Procaccini (526), Brandon Plemons (508), John Puglisi (508), Jack Aquilina (494), Ed Lamb Jr. (428).
MINI STOCK; Ken Cassidy Jr. (686), Randy Churchill Jr. (678), Lou Bellisle (636), Phil Evans (544), Jack Aquilina (542), Ray Christian III (532), Mark Panaroni (526), Ben Bargnesi (526), Ian Brew (500), Kyle James (492).
SAT. LEGENDS: Jason Palmer (316), Shaun Buffington (310), Michael Gervais Jr. (308), Adam Gada (272), Ryan Morgan (266), Art Moran Jr. (252), Mark Esposito (216), Carl Blandina (192), Max Zachem (184), Joe Gada (142).
Sources: Dave Dykes/Waterford Speedbowl PR.