THOMPSON – It seems like the best time to start a streak when be at the start of the season.
And that’s just what Keith Rocco did with his Icebreaker weekend at Thompson Speedway.
Rocco, of Wallingford, rallied from an early penalty and then held off Todd Owen over the final nine laps to win the 30-lap Sunoco Modified feature Sunday at the Thompson Speedway Icebreaker.
Rocco also won Saturday’s Sunoco Modified feature after battling for much of that feature with Owen.
“Glad to be here two days in a row,” Rocco said in victory lane. “
Owen, of Somers, was second and Jon Puleo of Branford third.
“I just need to be better,” Owen said. “… There’s nobody here … [Rocco] just runs a lane that he just knows with these motors, you just can’t pass him. It’s frustrating, we had a great car. … Fast all weekend … just didn’t get it done. No fault to anybody else. Great job to Keith Rocco and all his guys. It was definitely a fun weekend to race with him for sure.”
With Zach Sangermano leading Chase Cook, and Puleo in third, the first caution flew on lap 8 after contact from Rocco sent Derek Ramstrom into the turn one wall. Rocco was penalized to the rear of the field for the incident.
“It’s so hard to pass here,” Rocco said. “I got in there and I knew … I didn’t think he was going to hang out there. At some point you’ve got to give and take a little bit. I took a little bit and I probably should have settled back in line. Nobody wants to see cars get wrecked.”
Cook went to the front on the restart with Puleo moving to second. But caution was back out just after completion of the lap when Rob Schultz and Andrew Brousseau got together on the front stretch.
On the lap nine restart, Puleo got under Cook for the lead off of turn two with Owen following to second.
Owen made a diving move under Puleo into turn three on lap 12 and came off of turn four with the lead.
By lap 14 Owen and Puleo had checked out from the field with Rocco up to third. Caution flew on lap 15 when Cook got into the wall.
On the ensuing restart, Puleo was able to slide under Owen for the lead off of turn two. Caution returned on lap 16 for the spinning car of Zach Leone in turn four.
On the lap 16 restart Puleo fended off the charges of Owen. Owen found a lane under Puleo in turn two on lap 18 to move to the lead. Puleo ended up grazing the wall, allowing Rocco to move to second.
“Not much you can do when you get stuffed in the fence,” Puleo said of the Owen’s move. “I should have saw it coming, that’s the only way he knows how to race.”
Rocco stalked all over Owen’s bumper before making a low move into turn three on lap 21 to take over the top spot. Owen remained glued to Rocco’s bumper after the pass. Rocco kept Owen at bay for numerous laps. On lap 28 Rocco was able to find just enough breathing room to keep Owen from making any moves for the lead over the final two laps.
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First time as a competitor at Thompson in probably 20 years – Everyone there were so laid back and friendly- from the officials to competitors you made our weekend a memorable one – Thank you so much – see you next month