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Keith Rocco in victory lane at Stafford Motor Speedway. (SMS photo)
Northeast

Rocco Conquers Stafford SK Field

August 12, 2022

FORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Keith Rocco Collected his second SK Modified victory of the season as racing returned to Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday night.

Troy Talman took the lead at the green flag while Ronnie Williams had to be pushed to pit road before the race started and Bryan Narducci took one lap at slow speed before pulling behind the wall. Michael Gervais, Jr. was second behind Talman with Tyler Hines, Keith Rocco, and David Arute lined up behind him. 

Just behind Arute, Cory DiMatteo and Mikey Flynn were wheel to wheel for sixth place.  

Hines took second on lap five and his move brought Rocco up to third and dropped Gervais from second back to fourth with Talman still out front. 

DiMatteo got around Arute to move into fifth on lap-7 and Flynn followed him by as did Todd Owen to drop Arute back to eighth place.  Up front, Rocco took second from Hines and he took the lead with a pass coming out of turn two on lap 11. 

Hines took second from Talman on lap 14 and that move brought DiMatteo into third as Talman slid back to fourth while Rocco was staring to very slowly stretch out his advantage in the lead. 

DiMatteo’s great run came to an end as he took his car to pit road with an overheating issue just as the field hit the halfway point of the race. This moved Talman back into third with Gervais fourth and Owen in fifth with Rocco and Hines still occupying the top two spots.

With 10 laps to go, Rocco was in the lead followed by Hines, Talman, Gervais, Owen, Flynn, Arute, Anthony Flannery, Noah Korner, and Jon Puleo. 

Rocco led Hines to the checkered flag to pick up his second win of the 2022 season.  Talman finished third with Owen and Gervais rounding out the top five.

Tom Fearn scored his second consecutive and third overall win of the season in the Late Model feature, George Bessette, Jr. notched his third win of 2022 in the SK Light feature, Kevin Cormier became a first time Stafford winner in the Limited Late Model feature, and Bobby Stirk, III racked up his fourth win of 2022 in the Street Stock feature.