{"id":6851,"date":"2011-08-19T05:24:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T09:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-08-18T20:25:49","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T00:25:49","slug":"ryan-preece-keith-rocco-locked-tight-race-stafford-sk-modified%c2%ae-track-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/ryan-preece-keith-rocco-locked-tight-race-stafford-sk-modified%c2%ae-track-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"RYAN PREECE AND KEITH ROCCO LOCKED IN TIGHT RACE FOR STAFFORD SK MODIFIED\u00ae TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stafford\"
\nRYAN PREECE AND KEITH ROCCO LOCKED IN TIGHT RACE FOR STAFFORD SK MODIFIED\u00ae TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford\u2019s SK Modified\u00ae division is currently in
\nthe midst of one of the tightest championship battles in recent memory.
\nEntering this Friday night\u2019s Late Model 100 race program, Ryan Preece leads
\nKeith Rocco by only 4 points, which is 2 positions on the race track. The
\nchampionship margin was 2 points, but Preece\u2019s victory last Friday night,
\ncombined with Rocco\u2019s second place finish, pushed the margin up to 4 points
\nand their 1-2 finish may be a preview of what fans can expect to see over
\nthe final 6 events of the 2011 season.
\n
\nBetween them, Preece and Rocco have combined to win 10 of the 12 SK
\nModified\u00ae features run thus far during the 2011 season. Each driver has 9
\ntop-5 and 11 top-10 finishes, while Rocco holds the advantage over Preece in
\nthe win column by a 7 to 3 margin. While the race for the championship is
\nultra close, the face that both drivers are separated by only 4 points is a
\nremarkable feat, considering Rocco missed the 100-lap race due to a heat
\nrace crash that sent him to the hospital with a separated shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely wish we didn\u2019t have to miss that race,\u201d said Rocco. \u201cIf we
\nhadn\u2019t missed that race, we probably would be out front in the points, but
\nit\u2019s going to make for a good points race for the rest of the season. Last
\nweek, we wacked the car pretty good early on in the race and it got toed out
\nabout an inch and a half. It was just enough to mess us up, but the car was
\nstill pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not discouraging at all that Keith is that close to us with missing a
\nrace,\u201d said Preece. \u201cWe had a weight issue in one of the races that took
\nsome points away from us, and we have a great car and a great team and we
\nwant to win this championship. I know Keith has won some races going away
\nthis year, but I don\u2019t think that he\u2019ll be able to do that for the rest of
\nthe year.\u201d<\/p>\n

With only 6 more races left in the 2011 season to determine who will win the
\nchampionship, both drivers have the same strategy and mindset for the
\nstretch run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really don\u2019t have a strategy, our plan is to just go out and win races,\u201d
\nsaid Rocco. \u201cI\u2019m sure that Ryan and his team will be doing the same thing.\u201d
\n\u201cWe need to beat Keith and keep on winning races to win this championship,\u201d
\nsaid Preece. \u201cOur strategy is going to be the same as it was last week, get
\nthe car to the front and try to win races. We need to race every race like
\nit\u2019s the first race of the season. Things are so close right now we can\u2019t
\nfinish behind Keith. I think that if things keep going like they have been,
\nit\u2019s going to come down to the last lap at the Fall Final to who wins the
\nchampionship.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Preece trails Rocco in the win column, he thinks that he and his crew
\nhit upon something with their victory last Friday night that will give them
\nan edge over the final 6 races.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll season long, we\u2019ve been fighting one thing that Keith was beating us
\nat, and we fixed that last week,\u201d said Preece. \u201cWe made a change to the car
\nand it was the best it\u2019s been all year long. We have 6 more races left on
\nthe schedule and that\u2019s 6 more times we can get a win. I have so many great
\nsponsors and people around me with J.G. Poulin Drywall, American Lamp
\nRecycling, Sullivan and Sons, Mike Pettit, Chassis Dynamics and Mike
\nPaquette, Bob Hitchcock and Kelly Iverson, and NAPA of Canton, I don\u2019t want
\nto let anyone of them down and I want to keep winning races so that I can
\nthank them all in victory lane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both drivers have experience racing for championships, as Rocco has won 2 SK
\nModified\u00ae championships at Stafford and Preece was nearly the 2009 Whelen
\nModified Tour champion, finishing second to Donny Lia by only 16 points at
\nthe seasons end. For Rocco, winning the championship would be extra sweet
\nafter missing a race, while a championship for Preece would be a first.
\n\u201cI think this would definitely be a bit sweeter if we can win this year,\u201d
\nsaid Rocco. \u201cTo not start one feature and with the year we\u2019ve had so far,
\nthe stats speak for themselves. We want to win as many times as we can, not
\nonly for the Stafford championship, but for the National points as well.\u201d
\n\u201cMy Mom and Dad always told me not to count my chickens before they hatch,
\nso we\u2019re just looking to go racing and win,\u201d said Preece. \u201cIf we could win
\nthe championship this year, it would be a first for the crew and myself and
\nit would be awesome to win a championship at Stafford. We raced with Donny
\nLia for the championship in 2009 and if you think too much about the
\nchampionship, you can make your head crazy. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be an
\nintense race for this championship the rest of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preece won the season opening SK Modified\u00ae feature at the CARQUEST Tech-Net
\nSpring Sizzler, and he has occupied the top spot in the points standings for
\nall but one week this year. With 10 wins between them this season, they
\nhave been the class of the SK Modified\u00ae field and it is sure to be an epic
\nfight for the championship, which will conclude with the final checkered
\nflag of the season on Sunday, October 2nd during CARQUEST Fall Final
\nWeekend.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
\n860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com
\n.<\/p>\n

North East Racing Forum<\/strong> – http:\/\/www.neracingforum.com\/forum<\/a><\/http:><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RYAN PREECE AND KEITH ROCCO LOCKED IN TIGHT RACE FOR STAFFORD SK MODIFIED\u00ae TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP (Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford\u2019s SK Modified\u00ae division is currently in the midst of one of the tightest championship battles in recent memory. Entering this Friday night\u2019s Late Model 100 race program, Ryan Preece leads Keith Rocco by only 4 points, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,4163,126,197],"tags":[4161,72],"class_list":["post-6851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-modified","category-new-england","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-sk-modified","tag-stafford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6851","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=6851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}