STAFFORD – The show for the SK Modified division the past couple weeks at Stafford Motor Speedway has been all about Keith Rocco vs. Ronnie Williams.
It was Williams and Rocco dueling to the finish with Williams coming out on top of the prestigious NAPA SK 5K at Stafford on June 28. Last week the two returned to battle with Rocco coming out on top in the SK Modified feature at Stafford.
Friday Stephen Kopcik stepped in between the Rocco/Williams battle and stole the show.
Kopcik held off the charges of Williams and Rocco over the final 10 laps to win the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Friday at Stafford.
It was the first victory in the division for Kopcik since he got his first SK Modified win at the track on Aug. 4, 2017.
“It feels unbelievable,” Kopcik said. “I’m standing here because of the guys behind me. We’ve been winless since 2017 and these guys never gave up on me.”
Rocco, of Wallingford, was second and Williams, of Tolland, third.
After a side-by-side battle at the front, Kopcik got by Williams for the lead on lap 33. Williams made a diving move under Kopcik in turn three on lap 37, but Kopcik was able to fend off the attack.
On lap 39 Rocco found a line under Williams to take over second place off of turn two, but Rocco didn’t have enough to find a lane around Kopcik on the final lap.
The top-13 finishers of the feature went advanced to the exhibition TC 13 SK Modified Shootout, which was won by Rocco.
A good race, lots of action. Congrats to Kopcik on the win.
Congrats to Stephen, Nick and the entire 21 team. Well deserved – hard work and perseverence results in a great victory!
Was Kopcik in a Fury or LFR? Enquiring minds need to know!
darealgoodfella,
Well he thanked LFR after the race so …
and ROB FULLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kopcik build this new LFR over the winter
Here we go again. The car was referred to as an LFR, but was built last year. May be a Fury Chassis, but if it is Kopcik ain’t acnowledging that fact. So for the sake of sanity, it’s an LFR according to the owner, and driver.
Maybe JB should call him and explain that when a company invests in your team and turns it into a championship winning combination that you should thank another company. Wait……..that would be a scumbag move that Stephen would not do. Only guys like Dareal would do something like that. oh yea…..and JB obviously. It’s more than peaking off a sticker and replacing it AFTER the success happened but Dareal would not know about that. Button tapping loser.
Not enquiring mine, more like a fool enquiring, and for the rest of you LFR had the track for the day Fri so maybe that helped, sounds like good business practice to me but I’m sure not to Dareal
dareal why don’t you go to a race and find out? Oh yes, its easier sitting behind a keybord reading blurbs about racing. Shouldn’t you be bringing President Trump and politics up on a racing forum again soon?
Fury will never be able to compete with Fuller in modifieds. Especially now that Troyer is manufacturing. Huge mistake by Fury. Just let the man call them what he wants and take the money. You know…..like what happened for 2 years until he finally got tired of your crap and got another manufacturer. Literally. Troyer will gladly manufacture LFR chassis. I bet they won’t make Fuller call them a Troyer! Stupid.
Dareal,
3 cars MISSED the race at Riverhead last week. 2 of them had Fury decals on them. What do you say about that? OOOPS! Here’s the kicker…..one one them peeled the Fury decals off and is on its way to LFR as I type this. They got fed up with the “tech support” from NC that led them to missing a race at their home track! Hahahahahaha! Good luck Fury. It’s going to take more than stickers and free shirts and hats to get the Modified business you will need. After dealing with them personally I now know who was behind the success of these cars. Just ask Jimmy Blewitt who he feels was the brain child at LFR after he drove one yesterday. I hope Massa still has a contact at Spafco. Probably burnt that bridge too. We have a new LFR Chassis on order. According to Fuller we are the sixth LFR chassis coming from Troyer. It will be double that in 3 months. I know 2 teams here on the island that are making the swap. Oh yea….so much for LFR struggling in the SK market! Congrats Steve Copcik! Your a great kid! Keep up the great work at LFR!! See you in Louden!
PLEASE MOMMY MAKE IT STOP! How did a story about an SK win at Stafford turn into a discussion about LFR and Fury at Riverhead. Please Please Please let it die. At the end of the day it’s really not worth discussing.
I’m coming in on the side that the Kopcik win is bigger then him coming in first place.
What Kopcik did is take an LFR chassis that may have been originally manufactured by Fury, add the Kopick, his dad, Chase Dowling and who knows who else’s work ethic and handling smarts with a dash of Rob Fuller and beat the established Troyer teams at the top of their game. That;s the old Troyer teams, KRR and Skowyra that in the future are Fuller customers.
Under the radar is the dust up when Chase Dowling went to Fuller after driving for Skowyra. Skowyra said he would not use an LFR chassis at the time so that relationship will be changing. Troyer owns the SK’s mostly so what will the future hold. Will it be Troyer the same as usual or a bit of Fuller design magic added to the equation?
I rooted for Fuller as the upstart and now I’m a Spafco, CD or Chassis Pro fan or anyone else that can can rock the boat in the world Fuller is now master of.
No offense to Fuller. He’s the best.
Only crew chiefs can make cars go fast. Not the latest technology and the people that put the effort in to it. Heck, you can have a wooden go cart, and be competitive in modifieds with the right crew chiefs, according to some. Nothing to do with chassis.
To me, i think it takes the whole package. Appears lfr has the package at this date and time, that good crew chiefs can dial in. tomorrow, maybe somebody or something different, latest and greatest. As long as modifieds keep racing, i dont care what it says on the side of the car. May the best team win. Best racing there is. No matter who’s chassis it is.
Well Doug, let’s analyze this. Basically you’ve got 4 types of modified, NWMT, Tour Type, SK & SK Lite. As far as chassis’ go NWMT mainly LFR and TROYER a few SPAFCO & CD. Tour Type (VMRS) mainly SPAFCO and Troyer a few CD. SK’S mainly Troyer, a few of the others. SK Lite mainly CD a few of the others. The thing you need to ask, are the builders happy where their at? The upstart Chassis Pro has only 2 or 3 SK’S, and 1 SK Lite, but really don’t seem to be pushing their product. Todd Owen’s performance in the SK, and the opens at Stafford gives me the feeling they may get some calls for cars. If Ryan Preece does well at New Hampshire may see an uptick in CD cars. And with the recent events, both CD and SPAFCO may sell a few more cars in the future. Basically what I’m saying is people seem happy where their at, the ” wealth” seems to be pretty evenly spread in the big picture
Bob made a statement that’s partially right in saying only crew chiefs can make cars go fast. Partially right. Team preparation makes cars go fast. Granted the 2 and 51 have great crew chiefs, as do the 50 and 88 in SK’s. But it’s the countless hours of preparation put in by the whole TEAM that make those cars fast. The drivers also play a big part in the equation, because you can have the best of the best, but if the guy ( or girl) can’t drive, your not going to win
Dafella seems to have gone missing. Hold on let me try to get him back. Trump Trump Trump. Ok, he’ll be back in a jiffy.
A couple pretty good comments you strung together there Rob.
Rob p- most of that post was “sarcasm” A point made about individuals that think only the crew chiefs on a team makes a difference. In fact I have aways known, it takes a complete effort. A daunting task by all on a team to have top runs race in and race out. From the owner all the way down to the guys in the garage every night, away from their families, turning wrenches for free. Labor of love. Great sport.
Yes it is Bob. Was in the game 25 years, been out 5. Do I miss it? Hell ya