STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Stafford Speedway hosted the biggest and richest SK Modified race of the season on Friday with the 11th Annual NAPA Auto Parts SK 5k.
Keith Rocco was the big winner of the night as he notched his first career victory in the NAPA SK 5K after trying to win the race for 11 years and the $5,000 winner’s prize that goes along with it.
In victory lane Rocco spun the Gambler’s Challenge wheel and it landed on sixth through tenth, meaning Jon Puleo, Anthony Flannery, Andrew Molleur, Michael Christopher Jr., and Teddy Hodgdon will split the Gambler’s Challenge prize of $6,200 between them, giving each driver a $1,240 bonus.
Other feature winners on the night were Gary Patnode in the Limited Late Model feature and Travis Hydar in the Street Stock feature.
Rain brought a premature end to the end of the night with 69 laps complete in the NAPA SK 5k and the Late Model and SK Light features that were scheduled to run Friday night will be made up as double features at a future date to be determined.
In the 111-lap NAPA Auto Parts SK 5K feature event, R.J. Marcotte took the early lead with Todd Owen and Michael Gervais Jr. wheel-to-wheel for second. Rocco and Steven Chapman were wheel-to-wheel for fourth behind Owen and Gervais. Owen took second on lap three with Rocco taking third. Troy Talman nearly took fourth from Gervais but settled into fifth behind him with Marcotte still leading the pack.
With 20 laps complete, the order was still Marcotte in the lead followed by Owen, Rocco, Gervais and Talman. Andrew Molleur was sixth and he was followed in line by Flynn, Flannery, Bessette and Christopher. The order was still the same on lap-30 with the only exception being Christopher was now ninth and Bessette tenth. Glen Reen spun coming out of turn two to bring the caution flag out with 45 laps complete.
Marcotte took the lead back under green with Rocco moving to the inside of Owen for second. Rocco took second on lap 47 while Dylan Kopec spun at the entrance of turn three and Wesley Prucker spun coming out of turn four to bring the caution flag back out with 47 laps complete.
Rocco and Marcotte went wheel-to-wheel on the restart with Rocco taking the lead by inches to complete lap 48. Rocco cleared Marcotte into the race lead on lap 49 with Gervais taking second from Marcotte on lap 50. Owen was fourth in line with Talman still holding down the fifth position. The caution came back out with 53 laps complete for a spin in turn two by Reen. Under the caution period, Marcotte was shown the black flag for not maintaining a lane on the track under green.
Rocco took the lead back under green with Gervais fending off a challenge from Owen for second. Flynn and Talman were racing wheel-to-wheel behind Owen for fourth place when the caution came back out with 55 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Prucker.
Gervais took the lead by a nose at the line on the lap 56 restart before Rocco went back to the front on lap 57. Flynn made a move to the inside of Owen on lap 58 for third and he took the spot on lap 59. Flannery was up to fifth behind Rocco, Gervais, Flynn and Owen.
With 65 laps complete it was Rocco in the lead with Gervais, Flynn, Owen, Talman, Flannery, Puleo, Molleur, Marcello Rufrano and Christopher making up the top 10.
Reen spun in turn two to bring the caution back out with 69 laps complete. Under the caution period, rain began to fall and with the race past the halfway point of 56 laps the caution/checkered flag was displayed, making Rocco the winner of the NAPA SK 5k for the first time in his career and also his first win of the season.
Gervais finished second with Flynn, Owen and Talman rounding out the top five.