Rocco, Posocco, Matthews, Ferrigno, Provost Score Wins at Stafford
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway kicked off its final month of NASCAR Racing for the 2008 season with a Whelen All-American Series feature event that saw Keith Rocco win the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Ryan Posocco win the 30-lap Late Model feature, Chris Matthews win the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Joey Ferrigno win the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Duane Provost win the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Keith Rocco survived a several late caution periods to post his second feature win of the 2008 season and retake the SK Modified® points lead from Ted Christopher with 2 races remaining. The lead changed hands several times in the early laps as Wade Mattesen led lap one and Corey Hutchings led the next two laps before Woody Pitkat moved to the lead on lap-4. Pitkat slowly began to pull away from the field, building nearly a full straightaway lead before a caution with 18 laps complete erased that margin. Pitkat held the lead until a restart on lap-32 when Frank Ruocco moved to the front. Keith Rocco moved past Frank Ruocco on lap-33 to take the race lead. Several more caution periods followed, but Rocco was able to hold off Donny Travaglin and Doug Coby to take the win. Todd Owen finished fourth and Wade Mattesen rounded out the top-5.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature event, it was Ryan Posocco driving to his sixth feature win of the 2008 season. Mark St. Hilaire took the lead from the pole and he led the first 8 laps before Woody Pitkat moved to the front on lap-9. Pitkat held the lead until lap-19 when Brian Chapin took over the race lead. Chapin and Pitkat made contact racing for the lead on lap-20, which sent both cars spinning and handed the race lead over to Joe Rzeszutek. Rzeszutek caught the turn 4 wall on the restart and Posocco moved from third to the lead. Michael Bennett was on the back of Posocco’s bumper, but Posocco slowly pulled away from Bennett over the closing laps and took the checkered flag for his sixth win of the year. Bennett finished second, with Corey Hutchings, Dillon Moltz, and Tom Fearn rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, it was Chris Matthews driving to his seventh feature win of 2008. Ted Cain took the lead from the pole and he led the first four laps before Jay Goff moved to the front of the pack on lap-5. Goff stayed out front until lap-10 when Chris Matthews moved to the race lead. Goff gave chase to Matthews over the second half of the race, but could not get close enough to Matthews to make a bid for the lead. Matthews took the checkered flag for his seventh win of the 2008 season with Goff, Alan Provost, Mark Bakaj, and Cain rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, it was Joey Ferrigno driving to his second feature victory of the 2008 season. David Capriati took the early race lead from the pole and he led the first 9 laps of the race before Ferrigno moved to the front of the pack on lap-10. Once Ferrigno assumed the race lead, he slowly began to pull away from the rest of the field and he drove to a dominating win. Bill Davis came home in second place, with Corky Hinze, Sean Foster, and Capriati rounding out the top-5.
In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, Duane Provost scored his first feature victory of the 2008 season. Provost took the early lead and proceeded to wire the field in a green to checkered race. Norm Sears finished second, with Scott Roy, Don Wood, and Cliff Saunders 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