Diego Monahan celebrates Saturday at the Waterford Speedbowl (Photo: Mark Caise/Waterford Speedbowl)
The victory lane celebration kicked off early Saturday night at the Waterford Speedbowl for Diego Monahan.
Before parking on the frontstretch of the track to be celebrated, Monahan was showered with water as he drove down the track by Keith Rocco.
Call it letting off a little steam after a hard fought battle for SK Modified supremacy at the Speedbowl.
Monahan, of Quaker Hill, held off Rocco and his brother Shawn Monahan to win the 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Saturday at the Waterford Speedbowl.
“What a race that was,” Diego Monahan said. “… What an unbelievable race. That’s what puts people in the stands up here. That’s why people come out to watch the races, stuff like that.”
“… The problem is, everybody comes here and races for second. So you’ve got beat Keith at a different game. It’s hard to outdrive him, out-motor him, out-handle him. That’s just the facts. So you’ve got to outsmart him. If he gets impatient and he’s getting pissed and he’s banging – he shoved me up in turn one, you see him lock on to me? He shoved me two or three times. I stood on on the brake pedal. ‘You’re going to take us all out.’ And I pulled back down and he let me go. You have to outsmart him because Keith is that good. He’s that good here. Anybody that comes out here and tries to beat him is going to have their hands full. So I felt like I accomplished something now.”
Rocco, of Wallingford, was second and Shawn Monahan, of Waterford, third.
“I knew Keith was going to be my biggest fear as a competitor,” Diego Monahan said. “I could hang my brother out there. Whoever got out there, I was going to be able to hang them out there. But Keith was the one that I though may be able to pull it off. My brother almost got me. He almost got me.”
On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, Rocco went from third to second and then got under Monahan before contact between the two on the frontstretch sent Rocco spinning in turn one, an incident that ended up collecting Tim Jordan and Craig Lutz in a hard wreck.
But officials deemed the caution had flown just before the incident between Rocco and Diego Monahan, which set up another restart with Diego Monahan and Shawn Monahan on the front row and Rocco third.
Diego Monahan of Quaker Hill was able to deftly keep his brother and Rocco behind for the final two laps to grab his first victory since Aug. 3 2013.
“A lot of guys roll over for Keith,” Monahan said. “I watch him through traffic, when he gets a wheel on somebody they’re like moving out of the way,’ Diego Monahan said. “I’m really old school. Me and my brother, we raced from the Enduro days all the way up until now and I don’t care who it is, Teddy, him, Preece, I’m not going to move over. It’s going to be race. And Keith understands that. He knows.”
Ouch
disgraceful performance by monahan you are proud you kept brake checking and blocking to win.?? that’s why jordan and lutz have wrecked racecars..kusheba and gada were smart to save their equipment when you tried to run them to the fence. both along with rocco all three were clearly faster ..your brother was just as bad when he got punted by rocco then showed his true colors weeks ago ..yeah great racing NOT!!! bums !!
Im not going to move over……your words not mine,You should ad,Not going to give him a lane at all,Going to weave and block all over,stand on the brakes and when he gets to my door turn left and put him in the dirt!If keith didnt lift at that point he would have hook into the frontstreach fence and who knows how many more cars would have been junked.I wonder if keith would have been as gracious with his comments had he ended up in a bucket and in the ambulance.That was not racing at all.
Outsmart! He’s an idiot. The arrogance of it all is what makes my head spin. Old school racing was not blocking and weaving all over the track to keep someone behind you. That’s the Monahan way of racing when they get in front. Keith had no chance because this moron would have done anything to win that race. The only Keith could have done was dump him and hope they didnt penalize him. Then again it’s late in the year so I’m sure 2nd place is better than getting your car back in a box.
been going to the bowl for years and stand at the fence in turn one .dennis gada and bob potter two of my favorites used the outside and crossover and rarely did they get “put out” or blocked to the extent I have seen by the monahans.sat night was aweful I watched the 6 and the 72 try several times to pass clean outside ..were driven to the wall out of 4 and outta 2 as well .. I guess they thought better ..probably had their parents warning them on the radio!..rocco went up top several times and then decided to do a crossover. he was BESIDE monahan on the bottom and was run into the grass!.why monahan wasn`t put to the rear behooves me!.as a result the other post is correct jordan and lutz collected.if you want to see enduro racing with modifieds go to boman grey!. monahans comments just solidify what everyone witnessed in the stands or in my case looking straight down the front chute.go back to the enduro`s thats where they belong! PS I guess management is glad they sent the girl packing ..no more wrecks right? that kind of driving will get somebody hurt, perhaps themselves.the fact monahan wasn`t sent to the rear tells me the race director condones this kind of driving.the new boman grey stadium/bowl
Outsmart? Your a moron. I’ve never seen somebody block so badly ever. In the GRASS!!? Seriously? The GRASS. that’s what puts people in the stands? I think side by side racing is what puts people in the stands and I’m pretty sure Keith Rocco was legit in the grass. And then some top respected drivers horrifically wrecked. Absolutely horrible racing, and lost cars. I’m dissapointed the bowl let you have your spot back after causing attlesst 4 wrecked cars. Horrible. No respect for this driver. I rather watch a driver push through traffic and use the chrome horn than block for the lead to that extent ANYDAY!
I have seen chadwick ,kyle james at the bowl.preece,teddy along with pennick run as good or better than rocco and even when ahead of him NEVER drove him intentionally to the grass at times others were fast enough when going outside wasn`t an option for rocco based on the line they were running. CLEARLY that wasn`t the case here. 72 and 6 were faster and tried him outside and I believe one or both touched the wall coming out of turn two and decided it wasn`t worth getting wrecked or worse over. 41 and 36 were almost there as well and would have gotten the same treatment as well.rocco tried the same and finnaly went low and was intentionally driven into the grass resulting in damaged equipment for other drivers this could have been worse. this driver is an embarassment to the sport and worse than that brags,gloats and takes pride in how he achieved a victory.I am not a rocco fan but a modified fan.what is it going to take before somebody puts a stop to this kind of “racing”. no respect for either of the monahans on this night .. just terrible/embarrasing.
The race is over Monahan won get over it! There’s been a lot wore racing at that track. So just stop. It’s over.