{"id":3044,"date":"2010-08-15T11:03:41","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T16:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2010-08-15T11:03:41","modified_gmt":"2010-08-15T16:03:41","slug":"frank-ruocco-and-keith-rocco-score-sk-modified%c2%ae-double-header-feature-events-at-stafford-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/frank-ruocco-and-keith-rocco-score-sk-modified%c2%ae-double-header-feature-events-at-stafford-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"FRANK RUOCCO AND KEITH ROCCO SCORE SK MODIFIED\u00ae DOUBLE HEADER FEATURE EVENTS AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRANK RUOCCO AND KEITH ROCCO SCORE SK MODIFIED\u00ae DOUBLE HEADER FEATURE EVENTS AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Speedway played two with an SK Modified\u00ae
\nfeature doublehader on Friday, August 13th. Frank Ruocco and Keith Rocco
\nwere the winners of the twin 40-lap SK Modified\u00ae feature events, Corey
\nHutchings won the 30-lap Late Model feature, Matt Galko won the 20-lap SK
\nLight Modified feature, Shawn Thibeault won the 20-lap Limited Late Model
\nfeature, and Andrew Hayes was the winner of the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
\nIn the first 40-lap SK Modified\u00ae feature, Eric Berndt charged to the lead
\nfrom the pole with Mark Bakaj, Sean Foster, Chris Jones, and Woody Pitkat
\nmaking up the early top-5. The top-5 ran in line for the first 9 laps
\nbefore Foster made a move by Bakaj for second and Ted Christopher was
\nworking the high groove to try to take fifth place away from Pitkat. Bakaj
\nfell back from second to sixth as Foster, Jones, Pitkat and Christopher all
\nmoved past.
\nOn lap-15, Pitkat made a move to the inside of Jones in turn 3 to move up to
\nthe third position while Berndt continued to hold the race lad. Jones spun
\nin turn 1 with 16 laps complete to bring out the first caution of the race
\nand it erased the sizeable lead that Berndt had built up over Foster and the
\nrest of the field.
\nBerndt took the lead back under green with Pitkat getting by Foster for
\nsecond. Christopher and Foster made contact one lap after the restart with
\nFoster going around in turn 2 to bring the yellow back out. On the restart,
\nPitkat got loose in turn 2 and backed up the outside line, which resulted in
\nTom Bolles and Jeff Malave spinning to the backstretch infield and the
\ncaution came back out.
\nBerndt again took the lead on the restart with Frank Ruocco moving to the
\ninside of Pitkat for second. Berndt washed up the track a tad on lap-19
\nwhich allowed Ruocco to get to the inside of Berndt and he took the lead
\nfrom Berndt on lap-20. Pitkat moved into second and Berndt fell back to
\nthird and fell back further after contact with Dan Avery sent Berndt around
\nin turn 2. The race stayed green and Ruocco and Pitkat began to wage a
\ngreat side by side duel for the lead. The two cars ran wheel to wheel for
\nseveral laps before Ruocco was able to edge ahead of Pitkat on lap-26. Todd
\nOwen was third, with Ryan Preece fourth and Jones was back up to fifth place
\nafter his early spin.
\nPitkat was trying all kinds of moves to take the lead from Ruocco, but
\nRuocco was holding Pitkat at bay. Their duel allowed Preece to close in and
\nhe went by Pitkat on lap-35 and pulled alongside Ruocco to duel for the
\nlead. Pitkat fought back behind Ruocco and Preece and he made contact with
\nthe back bumper of Ruocco on lap-38 which sent Ruocco up the track and back
\nto third place. Behind that action, Nichole Morgillo, Sean Foster, Ted
\nChristopher, and Todd Owen spun to bring the caution out and negate the pass
\nfor the lead.
\nFor the restart, Ruocco and Preece were on the front row with Pitakt and
\nJones lined up behind them. Ruocco led the field around to the white flag
\nand he held off both Pitkat and Preece to take the victory, his fourth win
\nof the 2010 season. Pitkat nipped Berndt at the line for second, with Jones
\nand Curt Brainard rounding out the top-5.
\nIn the second 40-lap SK Modified\u00ae feature, Tom Bolles didn\u2019t get through the
\ngear box on the start and bottlenecked the inside row, which set off a chain
\nreaction that collected several cars including Dan Avery, Raymond Grassetti,
\nMatt Gallo, Adam Skowyra, and Nichole Morgillo and brought the caution flag
\nout.
\nBolles took the lead under green with Mark Bakaj getting a good run on the
\noutside to take second. Jeff Malave was third with Ted Christopher and Sean
\nFoster making up the top-5 in the early stages. Christopher quickly worked
\nhis way by Malave and he took second from Bakaj on lap-5. Bolles had pulled
\naway to a nice lead over Christopher, but Christopher was slowly shrinking
\nthe gap to Bolles while Bakaj, Malave, and Todd Owen held down the remainder
\nof the top-5 positions at lap-10. Christopher ran Bolles down and he took
\nthe lead on lap-15. Foster and Frank Ruocco went for synchronized spin into
\nthe infield with 15 laps complete to bring the caution flag out.
\nChristopher took the lead back under green with Bolles, Owen, Keith Rocco,
\nand Ryan Preece making up the top-5. The caution came back out with 19 laps
\ncomplete for a multi-car spin in turn 1 involving Chris Jones and Donny
\nTravaglin. On the restart, the caution came back out as Tom Bolles went
\naround in turn 2 and collected several other cars.
\nChristopher maintained the lead back under green with Rocco moving into
\nsecond. Preece and Owen were side by side for third place, with Zach
\nSylvester and Woody Pitkat single file behind them. Preece would win the
\nbattle with Owen for third and it was three car train between Christopher,
\nRocco, and Preece for the race lead. Rocco was able to pull alongside
\nChristopher momentarily on lap-30, but settled back into line.
\nRocco rode behind Christopher until the final lap of the race when he made a
\nmove to the inside of Christopher in turn 1. The two cars ran wheel to
\nwheel down the backstretch and when they hit turn 3, Rocco edged ahead of
\nChristopher and came off turn 4 with the race lead and his 8th victory of
\nthe 2010 season. Christopher finished second, with Preece, Owen, and
\nSylvester rounding out the top-5.
\nIn the 30-lap Late Model feature event, Adam Gray powered by Mark St.
\nHilaire at the green flag to take the early race lead. Scott Cook was third
\nbehind St. Hilaire with Tom Fearn and Corey Hutchings making up the top-5.
\nCook made a move to the inside of St. Hilaire on lap-3 for second and he
\nbrought Fearn and Hutchings along with him by St. Hilaire. The caution came
\nout with 4 laps complete for a spin in turn 3 that involved Michael Bennett,
\nJ.J. Hill, Dillon Moltz, Patrick Townsend, and Jim Peterson.
\nGray took the lead back under green but as the field hit turns 3+4, Fearn
\nwent around as did Ryan Posocco and Woody Pitkat to bring the yellow back
\nout without completing a lap. On the restart, Hutchings pulled alongside
\ngray and he took the lead from Gray on lap-6. Posocco followed Hutchings by
\nGray to take over second with Tom Butler and Cook rounding out the top-5
\nbehind Gray. Duane Noll spun in turn 3 to bring the yellow out with 6 laps
\ncomplete.
\nOn the restart, Hutchings, Gray, and Posocco went 3-wide into turn 3 for the
\nlead with Hutchings coming out ahead of Gray, Cook, and Posocco. The
\ncaution came back out for a multi-car accident in turn 1 that involved
\nPatrick Townsend, Doug Blowers, Jr., Don Acker, Jr., Dillon Moltz, John
\nKasper, Michael Bennett, and Tom Butler.
\nHutchings took the lead back under green but Cook was glued to his back
\nbumper. Tom Fearn looped his car around in turn 1 to bring the caution out
\nwith 10 laps complete. Hutchings continued to lead back under green with
\nCook and J.J. Hill behind him. Posocco and Gray were side by side for
\nfourth with Gray taking the spot. Gray moved by Hill for third place on
\nlap-14 and Posocco followed him by Hill, dropping him out of the top-5.
\nHutchings had pulled out a several car length lead on Cook but Cook was
\nclosing the gap back to Hutchings when a huge flame erupted from the engine
\ncompartment of Jim Peterson\u2019s car with 15 laps on the board to bring the
\nyellow out.
\nHutchings again took the lead, but Cook lost several spots as Gray, St.
\nHilaire, and Posocco all got by Cook on the restart. St. Hilaire drifted up
\nthe track on lap-19, which allowed both Posocco and Cook to get by and Keith
\nRocco also was able to get past St. Hilaire, dropping him from third back to
\nsixth in the running order.
\nCook made his way past Posocco for third on lap-23 and Rocco followed him
\nthrough, dropping Posocco from third back to fifth. Hutchings was still in
\ncommand ahead of Gray, with Gray beginning to reel Hutchings back in after
\nHutchings had built up a sizeable advantage. Gray was never able to get
\ncloser than a couple car lengths to Hutchings as Hutchings took down his
\nsecond win of the 2010 season. Gray finished second with Cook, Posocco, and
\nSt. Hilaire rounding out the top-5.
\nIn the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Earl Pelletier took the early
\nrace lead ahead of Zach Aszklar, Jay Goff, Erica Santos, and Dylan Liseo.
\nPelletier held the lead until lap-5 when Aszklar moved to the front. Santos
\nmoved alongside Pelletier behind Aszklar and they rode side by side for
\nsecond with Matt Galko, Joey Cipriano, and Tommy Barrett, Jr. behind them.
\nPelletier spun with 8 laps complete as did Liseo to bring the caution out
\nfor the first time. The restart order was Aszklar and Galko on the front
\nrow, Santos and Cipriano on the second row, and Barrett and Goff in the
\nthird row. Galko powered into the lead on the restart with Cipriano moving
\ninto second. Aszklar settled into line in third, but Barrett made a power
\nmove to his inside to drop him back to fourth. Ted Cain spun off turn 4 to
\nbring the yellow out with 10 laps complete.
\nCipriano took to the outside groove to power his way by Galko for the race
\nlead on the restart with Aszklar, Barrett, and David Webb making up the
\ntop-5. Webb and Aszklar went around in turn 2 with 13 laps complete to
\nbring the caution back out.
\nOn the restart, the battle for the lead was intense as Barrett made a 3-wide
\npass to take the lead, only to have Galko take the lead back on the next
\nlap. With Galko back in front, Cipriano and Barrett touched wheels and spun
\nto bring the caution back out.
\nBack under green Galko was in the lead with Tony Santangelo, Pelletier,
\nGoff, and Santos lined up behind him. Galko led Santangelo around for the
\nfinal 6 laps to nail down his third win of the 2010 season. Rounding out
\nthe top-5 behind Galko and Santangelo was Pelletier, Goff, and Santos.
\nIn the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, Duane Provost and Carla
\nBotticello battled door to door for the race lead before Provost cleared
\nBotticello on lap-2. Jesse Hinze was third, with Andrew Durand and George
\nNocera, Jr. making up the top-5 behind Provost and Botticello. The top-5
\nran in line for the first 8 laps before Nocera made a move to the inside of
\nDurand for fourth place. Provost blew an engine at the start\/finish line
\nand spun in turn 1, which collected Nocera and brought the caution out.
\nOn the restart, there was contact made mid pack with Michael Wray taking a
\nhard hit into the turn 1 wall along with Michael Nadeau, which brought out a
\nbrief red flag. Back under green, Durand and Botticello went door to door
\nfor the lead with Durand moving to the front on lap-10. Shawn Thibeault was
\nalso able to move by Botticello, dropping her back to third in the running
\norder. With 11 laps on the scoreboard, the caution came out for Michael
\nChaves, who spun and came to a stop in the infield.
\nThibeault was working Durand over for the race lead, but Durand was able to
\nkeep himself out front. Kevin Gambacorta was up to third, with Dave Yardley
\nand Rob Dow making up the remainder of the top-5. Durand was able to keep
\nout front until lap-16 when Thibeault made a move for the lead in turn 3.
\nOnce Thibeault was able to get by Durand, he slowly pulled away and went
\nunchallenged to his second victory of the 2010 season. Durand finished
\nsecond, with Gambacorta, Yardley, and Dow rounding out the top-5.
\nIn the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, Stephanie Berardi took the lead at
\nthe green and she led the first two laps before Albert Saunders moved to the
\nfront of the field on lap-3. Saunders took the lead back under green with
\nAndrew Hayes moving into second. Tony Membrino, Jr. moved into third with
\nBerardi falling from second back to fourth with Don Cook holding down the
\nfifth position.
\nOn lap-6 Kyle Casagrande moved by Cook and he brought Cory Casagrande and
\nJeff Jolly with him past Cook. On lap-11, Hayes moved to the inside of
\nSaunders to take over the race lead. One lap later, Membrino also moved
\npast Saunders to drop him back to third. Kyle Casagrande was fourth and
\nJolly was fifth. Cory Casagrande cut down a tire and found the turn 3 wall
\nwith 13 laps complete to bring out the caution and set up a green white
\ncheckered finish.
\nHayes took the lead on the restart and he led the final 2 laps to score his
\nsecond win of the 2010 season. Albert Saunders finished second, with Kyle
\nCasagrande, Jolly, and Membrino rounding out the top-5.
\nFor more information contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
\n(860) 684-2783, or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
\n###<\/p>\n

SK MODIFIED\u00ae FROM 7\/16 (40)
\n1) Frank Ruocco, Cheshire
\n2) Woody Pitkat, Stafford Springs
\n3) Ryan Preece, Berlin
\n4) Chris Jones, New Milford
\n5) Curt Brainard, Canton
\n6) Zach Sylvester, Lebanon
\n7) Keith Rocco, Meriden
\n8) Dan Avery, Somers
\n9) Donny Travaglin, Winsted
\n10) Sean Foster, Ellington
\n11) Kurt Lenahan, Roxbury
\n12) Todd Owen, Somers
\n13) Raymond Grassetti, Monson, Ma
\n14) Ted Christopher, Plainville
\n15) Nichole Morgillo, Wallingford
\n16) Eric Berndt, Cromwell
\n17) Mark Bakaj, Lebanon
\n18) Jeff Baral, Enfield
\n19) Jeff Malave, Manchester
\n20) Tom Bolles, Ellington
\n21) Chris Matthews, Stafford
\n22) Chris Jensen, Wolcott<\/p>\n

SK MODIFIED\u00ae (40)
\n1) Keith Rocco, Meriden
\n2) Ted Christopher, Plainville
\n3) Ryan Preece, Berlin
\n4) Todd Owen, Somers
\n5) Zach Sylvester, Lebanon
\n6) Woody Pitkat, Stafford Springs
\n7) Frank Ruocco, Cheshire
\n8) Nichole Morgillo, Wallingford
\n9) Chris Jones, New Milford
\n10) Donny Travaglin, Winsted
\n11) Curt Brainard, Canton
\n12) Tom Bolles, Ellington
\n13) Matt Gallo, Kensington
\n14) Mark Bakaj, Lebanon
\n15) Sean Foster, Ellington
\n16) Raymond Grassetti, Monson, Ma
\n17) Dan Avery, Somers
\n18) Chris Matthews, Stafford
\n19) Jeff Malave, Manchester
\n20) Jeff Baral, Enfield
\n21) Michael Gervais, Jr., Southbury
\n22) Eric Berndt, Cromwell
\n23) Adam Skowyra, Brimfield, Ma
\n24) Kurt Lenahan, Roxbury<\/p>\n

LATE MODEL (30)
\n1) Corey Hutchings, Salem
\n2) Adam Gray, Belchertown, Ma
\n3) Scott Cook, Uncasville
\n4) Ryan Posocco, Stafford Springs
\n5) Mark St. Hilaire, Berlin
\n6) Ed Ricard, Stafford Springs
\n7) Keith Rocco, Meriden
\n8) Tracy Brouillette, Prospect
\n9) Tony Lafo, Higganum
\n10) Don Acker, Jr., Orange
\n11) J.J. Hill, Stafford Springs
\n12) Patrick Townsend, Springifeld, Ma
\n13) Tom Fearn, East Longmeadow, Ma
\n14) Dillon Moltz, Waterford
\n15) Jim Peterson, Monson, Ma
\n16) Michael Bennett, Stafford Springs
\n17) Tom Butler, Stafford Springs
\n18) Ryan Preece, Berlin
\n19) John Kasper, Wilbraham, Ma
\n20) Duane Noll, Monroe
\n21) Woody Pitkat, Stafford Springs<\/p>\n

SK LIGHT MODIFIED (20)
\n1) Matt Galko, Meriden
\n2) Tony Santangelo, Middlefield
\n3) Earl Pelletier, Wolcott
\n4) Jay Goff, Stafford Springs
\n5) Erica Santos, Franklin, Ma
\n6) Dylan Liseo, East Hartford
\n7) Heather DesRochers, Granby, Ma
\n8) Zach Aszklar, Wallingford
\n9) Shayne Prucker, Stafford Springs
\n10) Ted Cain, Plymouth
\n11) Harry Wheeler, Stafford Springs
\n12) Victoria Bergenty, Plainville
\n13) Rick Williams, Haddam
\n14) David Webb, New Milford
\n15) Joey Cipriano, III, Waterbury
\n16) Tommy Barrett, Jr., Millis, Ma
\n17) Stephen Greer, Harwinton<\/p>\n

LIMITED LATE MODEL (20)
\n1) Shawn Thibeault, Plainville
\n2) Andrew Durand, Chicopee, Ma
\n3) Kevin Gambacorta, Ellington
\n4) Dave Yardley, III, Meriden
\n5) Rob Dow, Stafford Springs
\n6) Jesse Hinze, Farmington
\n7) Carla Botticello, Manchester
\n8) Dan Flannery, Ellington
\n9) Brian Clement, Wethersfield
\n10) Chris Cook, Pepperell, Ma
\n11) Michael Chaves, South Windsor
\n12) Paul Varricchio, Jr., Berlin
\n13) Michael Wray, Northford
\n14) Michael Nadeau, Enfield
\n15) Joe Nogiec, Bristol
\n16) Duane Provost, Indian Orchard, Ma
\n17) George Nocera, Jr., Plainville
\n18) Derek McLellan, Plainville<\/p>\n

DARE STOCK (15)
\n1) Andrew Hayes, Charlton, Ma
\n2) Albert Saunders, Stafford
\n3) Kyle Casagrande, Stafford Springs
\n4) Jeff Jolly, Wallingford
\n5) Tony Membrino, Jr., Plantsville
\n6) Paul Arute, Tolland
\n7) Vince Gambacorta, Ellington
\n8) Stephanie Berardi, Broad Brook
\n9) Barry Fluckiger, Vernon
\n10) Donald Cook, Agawam, Ma
\n11) Kelsey Rottino, Willimantic
\n12) James Carroll, West Hartford
\n13) Cliff Saunders, Stafford
\n14) Kaitlyn Brice, Manchester
\n15) Paul Jensen, East Hampton
\n16) Stacy Macha, Columbia
\n17) Cory Casagrande, Stafford Springs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FRANK RUOCCO AND KEITH ROCCO SCORE SK MODIFIED\u00ae DOUBLE HEADER FEATURE EVENTS AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY (Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Speedway played two with an SK Modified\u00ae feature doublehader on Friday, August 13th. Frank Ruocco and Keith Rocco were the winners of the twin 40-lap SK Modified\u00ae feature events, Corey Hutchings won the 30-lap Late Model feature, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,197],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-stafford-connecticut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}