THOMPSON – Last week Keith Rocco looked across the spectrum of his racing efforts in 2019 and realized something wasn’t quite right.
“It seemed like we were way off the pace of where we normally are this time of the season for the amount of wins,” Rocco said. “We needed to step up our game.”
And that mission searching out wins got a splendid boost this weekend.
Friday Rocco returned to victory lane in the SK Modified feature at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Sunday Rocco, of Wallingford, completed the weekend double.
Rocco held off the charges of Woody Pitkat and Todd Owen to win the 30-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature Sunday at Thompson.
“I don’t know what it was, but toward the end of last week I’ve kind of been on a mission,” Rocco said. “… Maybe it’s just mindset. The last week my mindset has just been nothing but wins.”
Pitkat, of Stafford, was second and Owen, of Somers, third.
It was the second win of the season in six starts this year at Thompson and first since April 7 at the season opening Icebreaker. Rocco became the first repeat winner in the division in 2019.
“This might be the biggest dry spell we’ve had here in about 10 years,” Rocco said.
Owen went by Kyle James for the lead on lap five with Pitkat following to second and Rocco third.
On lap seven Pitkat moved by Owen for the lead off turn two. Three laps later Rocco got by Owen to take over second place.
On lap 11 Rocco used a diving move low into turn three to overtake Pitkat for the lead, a position he wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way.
“It’s great to race against veterans like Woody Pitkat and Todd Owen,” Rocco said. “They’ve raced here for longer than I have. To be able to get up front and race with them and not have to worry about the slide job and dooring each other, it was very great and respectful racing between the three of us. I wish we could do that every week.”
Is Bear C. working for Rocco this season? I haven’t hear Keith mention Bear this year.
Rafter Fan,
No, Bear Callicchio is not working with Keith Rocco this year.
Rocco wins at Stafford and Thompson and the SK modified world as we’re used to seeing it returns to normal for the time being.
So where do we stand at the tail end of the dog days of summer?
In this forum Ronnie Williams gets all the buzz mostly on the strength of epic dollar value winnings in big races in the SK’s and VMRS series. Get him a NWMT ride many say because this kid can drive the wheels off any car they say.
The reality is on average Owen and Rocco are enjoying greater success. Before this weekends results the NWAAS Division I standings for 2019 show Owen 6th nationally, Rocco 8th and Williams 14th. Rocco is tops in points at Thompson and steady Eddie Todd Owen 1st at Stafford. The guy getting the constant buzz Williams proving the driver can’t overcome a less then perfect car looking very beatable at Stafford, Beech Ridge and Thompson over the weekend.
At the top of the charts in the SK’s especially there are a few cars that are just so consistently good the winner ends up being who was more perfect in a given race. The division is so competitive we see pop up winners outside the Rocco, Owen, William circle of excellence that hit all the right notes in a given race and lead the three cars to the podium.
Bottom line, no one can predict what the late summer and fall will produce in terms of results and that’s the way it should be.