Rick Gentes (in red) celebrates his Late Model Sprint victory Thursday at Thompson Speedway
THOMPSON – The sweep looked in hand for Keith Rocco, then Rick Gentes swept it all away.
Gentes passed Rocco on a lap eight restart and then held off Rocco on a lap nine restart to win the 10-lap Late Model Sprint Thursday, the finale of three Late Model events at the track Thursday.
Rocco, who won the first two 20-lap features of the night, finished second in the final event to win the overall event for the night.
The overall title was decided by the lowest cumulative finishing positions from all three events. Rocco, of Wallingford, finished with a four for the night.
Glenn Boss of Danielson was third in the final sprint.
“I think we probably had a better car [than Rocco] in [the first two] races, it just didn’t work out for us,” Gentes said. “We were a little bit better [in the final race]. I think we had new tires and he didn’t. That was probably the difference.”
Gentes was second overall on the night with a cumulative score of seven. Boss was third overall with a score of eight.
I understand Thompson is trying to spice up their program and bring in new fans. Maybe I’m old school, but I would rather see a 50 lap race than these 20 – 20 – 10 segment deals. Anyone else?