(Press Release from the New London-Waterford Speedbowl)
Diego Monahan celebrates victory in his SK Modified earlier this season at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl
All throughout 2015, New London Waterford Speedbowl SK Modified driver Diego Monahan has been successful taking one race at a time.
So what will happen on a night where there are two races scheduled?
Monahan says his game plan for the Laps for Lupus Twin SK 30s Saturday at the Speedbowl will be the same as it always is.
“We’re going to go all out and take chances to win the first race,” Monahan said. “When you have someone like Keith Rocco behind you playing catch-up — and he’s really playing catch-up — I figure I need to win almost every race to win the title. So we’re going all out in Race 1 and we’ll worry about the second race after the first race is over.”
Monahan will start the night with an 8 point lead over Rocco in the standings. Tyler Chadwick is 14 points behind, Rob Janovic Jr. is 19 points off the lead and Ted Christopher is 28 points behind with four races left, making for the closest Modified points battle in recent Speedbowl history.
The Modified will be joined Saturday by the second and final appearance of the Year by the Northeast Midget Association (NEMA) and the NEMA Lights.
The X-Cars and Super X-Cars of Thursday Night Thunder will have 40-lap features.
The main focus, however, will be on the Modifieds and a point battle that could go down to the wire.
“I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing,” Monahan said. “And if a title is in the cards, we’ll win it. As long as we finish races and go hard for every lap, I think we’ve got the best shot of anyone.”
Monahan knows, however, he’ll have to deal with Rocco, the three-time Modified champ, who was a winner in last week’s 35-lap feature. He seems to be recovered from a badly-sprained right wrist that slowed him down in the middle of the season.
“I like to race as often as I can, so two races in one night is a great opportunity,” Rocco said. “Most people try to survive in the first race and make sure they have a car for the second race. But I’m not really sure what my strategy is. At the end of the night, it will be either my might or Diego’s night. It will be good for one of us.”
Monahan, going for his first SK title, is hoping the good night will belong to him.
“To be in this position this late in the season is something I’ve never gone through before,” Monahan said, “so I want to go as fast as I can. And that means driving hard and driving aggressively. We talk about it in the shop every day and my crew is on board with it. We’re not going to sit back.
“If we can stay within a spot or two with Rocco in every race, we should be in good shape. And I think we can do it because we have equal cars.”
There are two sides, however, to an aggressive style, and the other side could be at the end of a wrecker.
“If something bad happens to me in the first race, I’m in trouble, but I don’t believe in jinxing myself,” Monahan said. “If we can come out of Saturday night with the point lead, I think we’ll have a showdown for the final weekend.”
And he might have to fine-tune his strategy even more — one lap at a time.
The NEMA Midgets and NEMA Lights will be competing in the Jim O’Brien Memorial races.
Last week at Monadnock. Joey “The Jersey Jet” Payne became the ninth winner in 12 races in the NEMA main event while Megan Cugini won her first NEMA Light race of the year.
As they get ready for Saturday’s 25-lap features, John Zych has a 66 point lead over defending champ Randy Cabral in the NEMA standings. Seth Carlson, who won on Aug. 8 at the Speedbowl, 114 points out of the lead.
Anthony Payne leads the Lights standings by 73 points..
The X-Cars and Super-X cars have wrapped up their regular season. Dave Gargaro Jr. was a winner in the X-cars and Brian Norman won the Super-X Car feature.
Registration for the Laps for Lupas Fundraising Walk starts at 3 p.m. with the walk taking place at 4:15 p.m. The walk will be followed by a barbecue. Merchandise raffles and a 50/50 raffles will be held during the barbecue. The public is invited to participate. For more information, contact speedbowlct.com or call 860-4427223.
Grandstand adult admission is $30. Juniors 13-16 are priced at $8 and children 12-and-under are always free.
I know that Diego’s taking this very seriously, he ordered two new mirrors for the car just this week. Even if he wins the title, how can he possibly feel good about a championship over a guy who missed two races? I mean, that’s gotta be like a punch in the gut to win that way.
If your going to talk about someone , you shouldn’t hide behind your screen name..30 something guys that signed in to race this year at Waterford, have had the same opportunity..Nobody work’s harder and has more passion than him…Obviously you’ve never raced more than shopping carts..If you would like to talk I’ll give you my number..
Mr. Banta,
Your statement about nobody working harder is obviously a biased one. I remember reading an article on this same site a couple months back that definitively determined that Sean Foster worked harder than everyone plus he wanted it the most. Please get your facts straight.
What are you saying, Super wide? That the championship should go to Kid Rocco just because he missed a couple of races??? It goes to the guy who earns the most points, and a win is a win. PERIOD.
Good point David. I like the fact that there are 5 guys with a shot at the title with 3 race weekend left.
Call me a hider if you want heck I don’t care but dude is right…while that race 2 weeks ago was exiting to watch if #78 had raced rather than blocked beyond what should be tolerated it would have been a tc and Keith show for the win. I really don’t think anyone can argue that. I personally give more credit to Keith and teddy for having the discipline to not just drop kick him out of the way. But hey he knew he couldn’t beat them so he did what he had to do and won the race. He will not be the champion thought unless Keith has a crash or mechanical failure he is right there and just too fast. Had he not missed 2 races it would already be over
Here is some Interesting comparison for the Top 2 guys:
Keith Rocco has only started 15 races this year. He has 6 wins and 12 Top 3 finishes. 14 Top 5’s and 14 Top 10’s. His average finish to date is 3.2. That means with the exception on 1 DNF he as finished in the Top 3 a staggering 80% of the time. Also 93% of the year he finished in the Top 5. Those are insane numbers.
It should be noted that 4 of the Rocco starts he had a cast covering his right hand….
Diego Has started 17 Races to Roccos 15. He has 2 wins and 5 top 3 finishes. 8 top 5’s and 16 top 10’s. His average finish is 6.4. Compared to Rocco he finished in the top 3 29% and in the top 5 47% of the time.
Not to take anything away from anybody, But with Rocco winning 75% of all his late model starts and a worse finish of 2nd in that division. If Rocco doesn’t miss 2 races, He runs away with both Titles…By a Landslide. Again
rocco will win the title again. I said it earlier in the eseason even knowing he would miss some events …late model and mod .there are 4 weekends left I think. diego`s wide load ,cant run one lane ,blocking style wont be tolerated any longer . if teddy or kid roc move him as they should at this point perhaps the door opens for chadwick or janovic.. as rocco and teddy will be penalized .equal cars?? give me a break. someone should put that bumper sticker “I may be slow but I am ahead of you” on diegos ride..I cant recall how many times diego has actually passed teddy or rocco this season during a race LOL
Wow. Maybe that’s how championships should be determined.
It’s nice to dream isn’t it . we all know who is going to win this title . Like I said it’s nice to dream .
Super wide load,
Thank you for setting Mr. Banta straight. I’m sure he was just being hasty on the keyboard.