STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Keith Rocco scored his fifth victory of the season in the SK Modified division Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway.
Andrew Molleur took the early lead from the outside pole with Tony Membrino Jr. in second. Mikey Flynn was third with Troy Talman in fourth when the caution flew with one lap complete for a spin in turn two by Marcello Rufrano.
Molleur took the lead back under green with Membrino and Talman behind him. Membrino pulled alongside Molleur for the lead on lap three but Matt Vassar spun coming out of turn four to bring the caution back out.
Molleur took the lead on the restart while behind him there was a three-wide scramble for second with Talman taking second. Membrino and Flynn were side by side for third with Flynn taking the position on lap six. Teddy Hodgdon was up to fourth in line with Todd Owen right behind him in fifth place. Owen made a move to the inside of Hodgdon for fourth on lap-8 but Hodgdon was able to hold him off.
Owen came back to the inside of Hodgdon and he made ht pass stick on lap-10 as he got by both Hodgdon and Flynn to move from fifth up to third. Owen continued his charge to the front by taking second from Talman on lap 11. Behind the top-three of Molleur, Owen and Talman, Stephen Kopcik was up to fourth with Flynn holding off Michael Christopher Jr. for fifth.
Owen took the lead from Molleur on lap 13 while Christopher took fifth from Flynn. Kopcik went by Talman to move up to third on lap 17 with Owen continuing to set the pace with Molleur and Kopcik behind him. Christopher made a move to the inside of Talman on lap 22 to move into fourth with Kopcik getting around Molleur to move into second place behind Owen.
Kopcik began to work Owen over and he dove to the inside of Owen in turn three on lap 27 and he took the lead by a nose at the line. Kopcik completed the pass on lap 28 but Owen was glued to his back bumper. Owen almost made a move to the inside of Kopcik on lap 29 but fall back into second. The caution came back out with 29 laps complete for spins in turn three by Rufrano and Jeff Malave.
Owen took the lead on the restart with Kopcik right behind him in second. Christopher was third in line with Chase Dowling charging up to fourth before the caution came back out with 31 laps complete for a spin on the backstretch by Flynn.
The caution came right back out on the restart as John Catania spun in turn two. The next restart saw Owen take the lead but Christopher locked up his brakes going into turn three and he and Dowling drifted up the track, allowing Keith Rocco to power his way into second. Christopher recovered in third with Michael Gervais Jr. up to fourth and Ronnie Williams fifth. Dowling slid back to eighth in line. The caution came back out with 35 laps complete as Vassar and Dan Avery got into the turn three wall.
Owen was fully sideways on the restart going into turn one and he fell all the way back to 14th place as Rocco took over the lead. Kopcik was second followed by Dowling, Hodgdon, Williams, Christopher, Gervais, Glen Reen, Talman, and Molleur. Rocco led the field to the checkered flag to pick up his fifth win of the 2020 season. Kopcik finished second with Dowling, Hodgdon, and Williams rounding out the top-five.
In other action Friday night, Adam Gray earned his fifth late model victory of the season, Alexander Pearl notched his third SK Light victory of the year, Andrew Durand claimed his sixth triumph of the season in the limited late model class and Meghan Fuller claimed her second street stock triumph of the year.