Keith Rocco survived right up to the end of the VMRS 100 at Waterford Speedbowl’s Finale to take the win. (Credit: Crystal Snape photo)

By Lou Modestino

Keith Rocco of Berlin, Connecticut took command on lap-11 when early leader Kyle James, of Ashaway, Rhode Island, suffered engine trouble, and went on to win a crash-filled 100-lap race Sunday afternoon at Waterford, Speedbowl, Waterford, CT. The Valenti Modified Racing Series was part of the Fall Finale program at the historic race facility that completed its 64th year Sunday.

Rocco started fourth in a 25-car lineup and set the pace after James misfortune, leading laps 12 through 49 when Steve Masse of Bellingham took the lead. Rocco grabbed it back on lap 53 to go on and capture his third win of the season and his fifth career VMRS victory.

A record 11-caution flags and a red flag were needed in the 1 hour 18 minute event with more than half the field sidelined by crashes or mechanical issues. The high caution flag count took a few drivers by surprise.

Keith Rocco said,” I got to thank my cars owners. They give me an awesome piece of equipment. I’d like to run more MRS races. Everywhere we go we got a great car. This is one of my favorite places to race. We win a lot of races down here and I’m expected to win. It was smooth sailing for me. (Steve) Masse got by me and I was able to get it back.

On the cautions, Rocco added, “It wasn’t just the MRS race. Maybe it was something else. A full moon (smiling) it was every division. It gets frustrating. You want to get in some laps and get a rhythm.

It was another strong finish for Tommy Barrett, Jr. as the Millis driver finished second after starting fifth. Barrett started the 100-lap race strong and finished strong. “I saw the opportunity early to pass a couple of cars. Got up to Keith (Rocco) and he drove away. We had a restart and we were racing real hard Teddy (Christopher) drove into me and I don’t know what happened and I got put to the back. It made it an easy decision to pit. We made a couple of adjustments then drove up through but didn’t have anything left at the end.

On the cautions- “We haven’t had cautions like that I don’t remember when. We generally have two or three or a few more but not that much (11). Even a red flag. It was a long race. We’ll take the second and move on,” Barrett concluded.

Canton’s Richard Savary made it back to a podium nailing down third. “The last few races we have not been up to snuff. We have been trying to find some stuff with the car and hopefully we are back where we need to be.” Savary added, “We were good in practice and in the heat race and we tried to stay smart in the feature. I did have to come from the back as I got turned early in the race. There wasn’t a lot of good driving. A lot of guys out there were doing things and were a little over aggressive 20 to 30 laps into a race when you know you got to go 100.”

Savary continued, “We were fortunate the car was good enough to come from the back. At the end we were fast. Another lap and I think I could have got the 9 (Barrett). Happy for my crew that we were able to get back up on the podium.”

Steve Masse finished fourth with point-leader Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville, NY, rounding out the top five.Sixth through tenth were: Rowan Pennink, Mike Holdridge, Jonny Kay, Geoff Gernhard, and Jeff Pearl.

Some 25 cars started the race with 9 finishing on the lead lap.

Race Summary:
Waterford CT Speedbowl
Oct 5, 2014
Entrants: 32 Modifieds Race Distance 100 Laps Time of Race 1:18:04.855 Margin of Victory 1.680 Seconds Best Lap Time Rowan Pennink – 14.035 Best Speed: 96.188 Keith Rocco Lead Changes (3) Lap Leaders: Kyle James (1-8) Keith Rocco (12-49) Steve Masse (50-52) Rocco (53-100) Cautions: (11) – Laps 11, 11, 24, 27, 27, 30, 34, 52, 63, 63, 69 Heat Race Winners: Heat 1 – Rocco / Heat 2 – Pennink
Heat 3 – Richard Savary Next event: Lee USA Speedway Oct 11 & 12
Unofficial Order Of Finish: (1) Rocco, (2) Barrett (3) Savary
(4) Masse (5) Bonsignore (6) Pennink (7) Holdridge (8) Kay
(9) Gernhard (10) Pearl (11) Schneider (12) Mead (13) Pitkat
(14) Chris Pasteryak (15) Willis (16) Wrenn (17) Christopher
(18) Etheridge (19) Annarummo (20) Sherman (21) Perry (22) Kopec (23) Dowling (24) James (25) Bakaj