RGeeProductions
05-26-2011, 11:36 PM
KEITH ROCCO READY TO RETURN TO STAFFORD SK MODIFIED®
COMPETITION WITH REPAIRED #88 CAR
After a hard crash during his heat race last Friday
night at Stafford, Keith Rocco’s #88 Wheeler’s Auto team has had his car
repaired and it will be back on track this Friday night with Rocco behind
the wheel. Rocco and his crew will take the car to Thompson tonight to
practice and make sure that there are no further issues before they hit the
track tomorrow night for the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 program.
“We brought the car to Northeast Racecars, they really know how to fix stuff
over there,” said Rocco. “We’re going to take the car to Thompson tonight
to practice and make sure everything is good. A lot of the bolt on stuff on
the front of the car was bent, we put a new front clip and suspension on the
front of the car, we changed the oil pan, the starter was bad, the motor
plates were bent, and the rear was a little bent. It took us a little while
on the scales to get the car back, but we have all morning tomorrow to work
on it if we find something wrong tonight and we should be good for tomorrow
night.”
With the heat race crash eliminating his car from racing in the feature last
Friday night, Rocco was able to borrow Frank Ruocco’s back up car to race in
the feature event. Rocco took Ruocco’s #97 to an 8th place finish, keeping
him in second place in the SK Modified® points standings, only 8 points
behind Ryan Preece in the chase for the championship.
“I can’t say enough about Frank,” said Rocco. “There’s not a lot of guys
that would let you just take their stuff out and race it. I can’t thank him
enough for letting me drive his car, he’s a real class act.”
While Rocco is currently sitting in second place in the SK Modified®
championship standings with one victory to his credit thusfar, the 2011
season has been far from a smooth ride for him. An early race pitstop in
the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler put him to the rear of
the field and he had to fight his way through traffic to record a sixth
place finish. After a win and a fourth in his next two starts, his crash in
the heat and moving to Frank Ruocco’s back-up car meant he had to start
shotgun on the field and he raced his way to an 8th place finish.
“We’ve been running good and we’re up there in the points, but for us, it
seems like we’re in a slump right now,” said Rocco. “We’re running well,
but we just haven’t had a lot of luck on our side so far. But that’s all
part of the game.”
With the turmoil of last Friday night behind them, Rocco and the #88 Wheeler
’s Auto team are ready to put their bad luck behind them and return to their
winning ways of last season, when they won 10 feature events at Stafford.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Scott Running
COMPETITION WITH REPAIRED #88 CAR
After a hard crash during his heat race last Friday
night at Stafford, Keith Rocco’s #88 Wheeler’s Auto team has had his car
repaired and it will be back on track this Friday night with Rocco behind
the wheel. Rocco and his crew will take the car to Thompson tonight to
practice and make sure that there are no further issues before they hit the
track tomorrow night for the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 program.
“We brought the car to Northeast Racecars, they really know how to fix stuff
over there,” said Rocco. “We’re going to take the car to Thompson tonight
to practice and make sure everything is good. A lot of the bolt on stuff on
the front of the car was bent, we put a new front clip and suspension on the
front of the car, we changed the oil pan, the starter was bad, the motor
plates were bent, and the rear was a little bent. It took us a little while
on the scales to get the car back, but we have all morning tomorrow to work
on it if we find something wrong tonight and we should be good for tomorrow
night.”
With the heat race crash eliminating his car from racing in the feature last
Friday night, Rocco was able to borrow Frank Ruocco’s back up car to race in
the feature event. Rocco took Ruocco’s #97 to an 8th place finish, keeping
him in second place in the SK Modified® points standings, only 8 points
behind Ryan Preece in the chase for the championship.
“I can’t say enough about Frank,” said Rocco. “There’s not a lot of guys
that would let you just take their stuff out and race it. I can’t thank him
enough for letting me drive his car, he’s a real class act.”
While Rocco is currently sitting in second place in the SK Modified®
championship standings with one victory to his credit thusfar, the 2011
season has been far from a smooth ride for him. An early race pitstop in
the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler put him to the rear of
the field and he had to fight his way through traffic to record a sixth
place finish. After a win and a fourth in his next two starts, his crash in
the heat and moving to Frank Ruocco’s back-up car meant he had to start
shotgun on the field and he raced his way to an 8th place finish.
“We’ve been running good and we’re up there in the points, but for us, it
seems like we’re in a slump right now,” said Rocco. “We’re running well,
but we just haven’t had a lot of luck on our side so far. But that’s all
part of the game.”
With the turmoil of last Friday night behind them, Rocco and the #88 Wheeler
’s Auto team are ready to put their bad luck behind them and return to their
winning ways of last season, when they won 10 feature events at Stafford.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Scott Running