Just Enough: Keith Rocco Hangs On To Win Sunoco Mod Feature At Thompson 

THOMPSON – Keith Rocco put on a lesson Wednesday night at Thompson Speedway in showing how getting the best out of a good car can pay off handsomely when that car goes bad. 

Rocco saw a massive lead disappear over the closing laps, but was able to nurse a slowing car to victory in the 50-lap Sunoco Modified feature Wednesday at Thompson Speedway. 

Rocco had built more than a two second lead over second place Derek Ramstrom with five laps remaining, but Rocco’s car slowed noticeably over the final three laps, allowing Ramstrom to close to under half a second at the checkered flag. 

“Just a matter of getting out front,” Rocco said. “This thing, the last two laps, I don’t know if it lost a cylinder or broke a rocker, but it flattened out. And that’s why you’ve got to go hard every lap. We had enough of a lead where we were able to hang on. I was getting nervous. I figured Ramstrom was coming, this thing was dead. He definitely closed up.” 

It was the second victory in three starts in the division this year for Rocco, from Wallingford. 

Ramstrom, of West Boylston, Mass. was second. 

“It’s been a very long time [since I’ve been on the podium] here,” Ramstrom said. “I love this place. This is where I cut my teeth. I’ve got to thank [my crew], they’ve been thrashing every weekend and all week and I’m here trying to raise four kids so I’m not much help. I’ve got thank everyone.” 

Todd Owen of Somers was third. 

“Thanks to Thompson Speedway, [Tom] Mayberry and [Cris] Michaud for putting this thing on,” Owen said. “We were just off today, there’s no if’s, and’s or but’s about it. We just weren’t right. Congratulations to everybody in front of me. We can go home and do some homework.” 

Danny Cates controlled out front from the outside pole in the early laps. Rocco made his way from the third starting spot to second on lap two. 

Caution flew for the first time on lap five when the third place running car of Zack Sangermano ended up in the turn two wall. Jon Puleo was penalized for making contact with Sangermano.

The race restarted with Cates out front and Rocco in second, On the restart Cates took control in the outside lane off of turn two. Ramstrom made the jump from fifth to second with Owen following to third past Rocco.

On lap nine Owen stepped out from the single-file line of the top four and got under Ramstrom for second through turns one and two with Rocco following to third. 

On lap 10 Rocco got under Owen off of turn four led in the side-by-side battle to complete the lap at the line. Rocco cleared Owen for second place on lap 11 in turns one and two. 

On lap 13 Cates slowed under green while leading and went to pit road, handing the lead to Rocco. By lap 18 Rocco had opened up a little more than a half second lead over Owen with Ramstrom running a distant third and Puleo fourth. 

Caution flew on lap 23 for the spinning car of Zach Leone on the frontstretch. Under caution Owen (second place) and Puleo (fourth place) pulled out of line and headed back to the pits, moving Ramstrom to second and Mike Mayberry to third. 

On the restart Rocco controlled and quickly got away from Ramstrom. Owen made the jump from sixth to third with Puleo following him to fourth from seventh place. 

With Rocco checked out in the lead and Ramstrom in second, on lap 25, Owen and Puleo were embroiled in a tight battle for third. On lap 26 Puleo, who came into the race as the division points leader, began smoking in the corners. After two laps of showing smoke he was black flagged and sent to pit road.