KEITH ROCCO WINS LINCOLN TECH 80 MODIFIED RACING SERIES FEATURE AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY
(Stafford Springs, CT)—Keith Rocco continued his winning ways at Stafford
Speedway as he picked up his first career Modified Racing Series victory in
the Lincoln Tech 80. The race was started on June 24th, but rain halted the
race with 32 laps complete. Rocco was the race leader when the rain came
and he had to fight off strong challenges from Matt Hirschman and then Todd
Owen to take the victory as he led the final 47 laps of the race.
With the race taking the green flag on June 24th, Keith Rocco led the field
to the green and he led the first lap of the race before Chris Pasteryak
went to the front on lap-2. Dave Etheridge followed Pasteryak by Rocco as
Rocco fell from the lead back to third place. Matt Hirschman was in fourth
and Doug Coby rounded out the top-5 in the early laps.
The top-5 ran in line until lap-11 when Rocco moved past Etheridge for
second. Rocco continued his charge back to the front on lap-13 when he made
a power move to the inside of Pasteryak in turn 3 to retake the lead.
The top-4 cars were beginning to pull away from Coby in fifth, while Josh
Sylvester, Steve Masse, and Todd Owen were lined up behind Coby. The first
caution came out with 25 laps complete as Mike Holdridge spun, which erased
the margin that the top-4 cars had built up.
Rocco took the lead back under green with Etheridge moving into second.
Hirschman took third, with Pasteryak falling back to fourth and Coby
continued to run in fifth. The second half of the top-10 was Masse,
Sylvester, Owen, Joe Ducette, and Les Hinckley.
The caution came back out and the race was halted with 32 laps complete for
rain with Rocco in the lead.
As the race resumed, Rocco powered into the lead with Hirschman taking
second. Etheridge was third, with Pasteryak and Masse making up the top-5.
Owen was sixth, Coby was seventh, Sylvester was eighth, Steve Reed was
ninth, and Hinckley was tenth.
Hirschman was hounding Rocco for the lead and several times Hirschman was
able to get alongside Rocco, but he was not able to complete a pass.
Etheridge and Pasteryak were continuing to run third and fourth while Todd
Owen was now in fifth with 30-laps to go.
After several laps of trying to make a pass for the lead, Hirshcman was
finally able to make a pass stick on lap-54 as he went by Rocco in turn 2,
but Jack Bateman spun to bring the caution out and put Rocco back to the
front of the field for the restart.
Rocco took the lead with Etheridge moving into second ahead of Hirschman.
But Hirschman fought back on the outside groove and went back by Etheridge
as the caution came back out for a spin by Sylvester with 55 laps complete.
Rocco took the lead while Hirschman took second and Owen made a hard charge
on the outside groove to pull alongside Etheridge for third place. Owen
would take the spot from Etheridge on lap-57 while Rocco continued to lead
ahead of Hirschman. Hirschman again was making a bid for the lead, but was
not able to make a pass. Mike Holdridge, Sylvester, and Bateman all spun in
turn 1 to bring the caution back out with 59 laps complete.
Hirschman and Rocco were side by side before Rocco got clear into the lead.
The caution came back out with 60 laps complete as Steve Masse got loose in
turn 2 and Rowan Pennink drove up and over his right side tires and found
the wall. Also involved were the cars of Pasteryak, Tim Jordan, and
Etheridge.
Rocco and Hirschman were again fighting side by side for the lead while Owen
was right behind Rocco. Rocco got clear of Hirschman on lap-62 and Owen
moved into a side by side duel with Hirschman for second. Hirschman fell
back to fourth as Coby moved up to third while Owen was all over the back of
Rocco for the race lead with 15 laps to go.
With 10 laps to go, it was a four-car train for the top spot with Rocco
leading Owen, Coby, and Hirschman. With 5 laps to go the running order
remained the same, but Rocco was able to pull away from Owen by several car
lengths. Rocco led the field around to take the checkered flag. Owen
finished second, with Coby, Hirschman, and Hinckley 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.
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MODIFIED RACING SERIES LINCOLN TECH 80 (80)
1) Keith Rocco
2) Todd Owen
3) Doug Coby
4) Matt Hirschman
5) Mike Stefanik
6) Les Hinckley
7) Max Zachem
8) Chris Pasteryak
9) Tommy Barrett, Jr.
10) Dave Etheridge
11) Steve Reed
12) Norm Wrenn
13) Tim Jordan
14) Jack Bateman
15) Joe Doucette
16) Lou Mechalides
17) Steve Masse
18) Rowan Pennink
19) Josh Sylvester
20) Mike Holdridge
21) Rob Goodenough
22) Shelly Perry
23) Jon McKennedy
24) Jeff Malave
25) Todd Annarummo
26) Richard Savary
27) Justin Bonsignore
28) Adam Norton