Late Checkout: Keith Rocco Tops Sunoco Modified Feature At Thompson Icebreaker

THOMPSON – There are some things you just simply can count on. The sun rises in the east. The tides of the ocean rise and fall. 

And if it’s Icebreaker weekend at Thompson Speedway, it probably means at some point during the weekend Keith Rocco will be celebrating a victory. 

And that was the case Saturday at Thompson Speedway. 

Rocco, of Wallingford, survived a wild battle with Todd Owen for the lead for much of the event before pulling away late to win the 30-lap Thompson Sunoco Modified feature Saturday at Thompson Speedway. 

“That was a dogfight man,” Rocco said. 

Said Owen: “That guy is the master here man. He knows how to get it done.” 

Owen, of Somers, held on for second and Jon Puleo of Branford was third. 

On lap four Owen got under Rocco for the lead coming off of turn two. A lap later Rocco used the high lane off of turn four to grab the top spot back. 

The dicing continued on lap six with Owen once again using a drive off of turn two to go back to the lead. Rocco fought back on lap seven go overtake Owen in turn three. 

On lap 11 Owen got by Rocco to regain the lead in turn three, but Rocco crossed him over off of turn four to take the top spot back. 

On lap 12 Owen used a drive off of turn two to go back out front. A lap later Rocco once again used a diving move into turn three to go back to the lead. 

On lap 18 Owen used a diving move into turn three to get to the front and then defended Rocco’s attempt at a cross over off of turn four. 

On lap 19 Rocco used the low line off of turn two to go back tot eh lead. On lap 20 Owen used the low lane through turns one and two to grab the lead back. Rocco fought back off of turn four, but Owen led to complete the lap. On lap 21 Rocco found the drive off of turn two to get the lead back. 

On lap 22 Danny Cates had joined the mix for the battle the front. Cates moved Owen up the track through turns one and two on lap 24, to move to second. In the process, Rocco was able to get away from both of them. Owen fought back by Cates for second on lap 27, but by then Rocco had opened up more than a half second lead on the field. 

“That was going to come down to the last lap if we stuck together,” Rocco said. “Luckily, them two started battling and I was able to put a little gap on them and that was the difference. Once I got some clean air we were able to maintain and not get the pressure from him.” 

Owen: “If you’re a race fan and you watch two guys like that go back and forth, it’s got to be fun. Obviously I wanted to be on the other end of where we ended up. I thought we had a great car. It’s a tight top-five guys here and Danny is just trying to dig too. I had to race him.” 

Puleo overtook Cates for third in the closing laps. 

“It was a great show they put on,” Puleo said of Rocco and Owen. “I wish I could have been more a part of it, but we just over adjusted way too bad.”