Keith Rocco
A missed Saturday night at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl wasn’t enough to knock Keith Rocco from the top of the mountain that is the national short track standings.
Though a victory Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway surely helped matters for the Wallingford driver.
For the third consecutive week Rocco sits at the top of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national standings.
Rocco won Friday’s 40-lap SK Modified feature at Stafford. He missed the SK Modified feature Saturay at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl because he was waiting out what turned out to be a rain delayed Whelen Modified Tour event at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway.
Rocco, the 2010 national champion, competes full-time in the SK Modified divisions at Stafford, Waterford and Thompson Speedway.
Rocco has 615 points with seven victories, 16 top-five’s and 19 top-10’s in 20 starts.
Under the point structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I standings, a race winner receives two points for every car in the event up to 18 cars. Second place receives two fewer points and so on through the field. Three bonus points will be awarded to a race winner with a single-digit starting position and five bonus points will be awarded to a race winner with a double-digit starting position. Whelen All-American Series points season will run through Sunday, Sept. 20.
Lee Pulliam, of Semora, N.C., has 572 points on the strength of 12 victories, 21 top-fives and 23 top-10’s in 24 starts this season at South Boston (Va.) Speedway, Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va. and Caraway Speedway in Sophia, N.C. Pulliam won national championships in 2012 and 2013.
Ryan Preece of Berlin remained in third nationally for the third week in a row. Preece competes full-time in the SK Modified divisions at Stafford and Thompson Speedway and part-time in the Tour Type Modified division at Riverhead. He has four wins, 14 top-five’s and 19 top-10’s in 19 starts this year.
Ted Christopher of Plainville, who competes full-time in the SK Modified divisions at Stafford and Waterford and part-time at Thompson fell from 11th to 13th in country this week with 355 points. Christopher has three victories in 19 starts.
Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., who competes full-time in the SK Modified division at Stafford, jumped from 20th to 17th this with week with four victories in 10 starts for 326 points.
With over 10,000 drivers competing in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series it is quite an achievement to be the leader or even in the top 25.