Roberts Grabs 1st Pro Mod Win in only 2nd Outing with New Ride
Courtesy of WCOPMA
Sacramento, CA – The West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association rolled into Sacramento Raceway Park last weekend for the first time in 
nearly two years and put on an excellent show for the local fans. Nine of the baddest pro mod cars from California came to support the series and it came down to two first time finalist in the final round Saturday night.
There was supposed to be a qualifying session Friday evening but after a bad oil down in the right lane from another class and the track’s curfew closing in the WCOPMA racers decided as a group to call it quits and the track finessed Saturday’s run schedule to allow an early qualifier to make up for the missed opportunity Friday night.
When the cars finally hit the track on Saturday morning it would be none other but Mike Maggio atop the qualifying order with an early lifting 6.093 at only 206.46. Right behind him was Rod Burbage with a 6.140/234.56 pass followed by Rob Cacioppo in third with a 6.319/207.89. Dan Myers, Scott Bailey, Sean Renteria, Rich Roberts, Jeremy Hanger and Monty Berney filled the bottom half.
The second qualifying session saw many improvements. Burbage grabbed the top spot away from Maggio with a 6.031/236.18, Maggio had to lift during the second session but his 6.093 held for the number two spot. Cacioppo ran another low 6.30 pass but he couldn’t better his 6.319 so he stayed third, Rich Roberts finally got a complete pass in his new 1937 Chevy which landed him fourth in qualifying with a 6.378/215.59. Jeremy Hanger was running his first WCOPMA event and grabbed the fifth qualifying spot with a 6.633/211.13 while Dan Myers finished sixth at 6.717/204.02. Monty Berney and Sean Renteria peddled to get qualified with a 7.105/168.09 and 7.682/149.34, respectively. Scott Bailey was the lone non-qualifier with a best of 8.652/96.20 but would be placed into eliminations for the Maggio Motorsports team who found a cracked rear end housing that could not be repaired at the track.
In the first round of eliminations Burbage peddled his way to a win over Renteria with a 6.585/220.51, Roberts got the best of Hanger with a peddling 6.889/205.05, Berney beat Bailey who was in as the alternate for Maggio with a 6.580/186.94 and Cacioppo set low ET of the round during his matchup with Myers with another consistent 6.313/217.01, which also would be the first round of eliminations won with Cacioppo in the seat of Steve Gomez’ Corvette.
The biggest surprise of the weekend came in the semi final round when Roberts ran a career best ET of 6.175/220.53 to beat Burbage’s 6.326/241.00. Cacioppo would also find his spot in the final round when he got past Berney with a slowing 6.576/172.18 to a 6.832/160.34, setting up the final round with two first time finalist between Rich Roberts and Rob Cacioppo.
The final round shaped up to be an awesome matchup and Rich Roberts and Rob Cacioppo held up to the expectations. The two drivers left the line within 2-tenths of each other and Cacioppo held the lead for the majority of the race until Roberts’ big screw blower power edged Cacioppo in the lights with a 6.227/223.45 to a career best 6.232/218.23 for the Gomez/Cacioppo team; a total margin of victory of .023-seconds, or 7 feet, at the stripe.
