Waterford — Keith Rocco of Cromwell was so dominant in his Valenti Modified Racing Series win at New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night, he might have won the race before it even started.

Rocco had the fastest car in the second practice session. When qualifying heat races were canceled because of potential bad weather, the practice times were used to establish the starting lineup.

That meant Rocco started the race on the pole. He took advantage of his starting position, leading all 100 laps, to wrap up an overwhelming victory to highlight a rain-reduced night of action.

Three other races were able to be completed after a four-hour rain delay. Waterford's Rob Janovic Jr. thundered past Matt Gallo with 16 laps remaining en route to his second SK Modified win of the season while Waterford's Jordan Haley came from behind to win the 25-lap Mini Stock race, and Uncasville's Aaron Plemons led every lap in the 14-lap Super X-Car event.

Features for the Late Models, SK Lite Modifieds, Mini Stocks and CT Pro 4 Modifieds were unable to be run because of the lengthy rain delay and will be rescheduled.

Not even the rain could slow down Rocco, who was at his best for 100 laps in the Valenti feature.

"We definitely had an awesome car," Rocco said. "The credit goes to may engine builder Mike Petit and my crew chief, Billy "Bear" Calicchio. They gave me a great car."

Calicchio kept providing Rocco with his lap times during the race to make sure he preserved his tires, and the strategy paid off. Rocco ran consistent times throughout the race and no one could make a serious threat against him.

Dylan Izzo, making his first Valenti series start, finished second. He was close enough to the leader to make an occasional inside move against Rocco. He could not get past him, however.

It was Rocco's 150th career win at Waterford, his seventh Valenti Tour win and his fourth Valenti win at the Speedbowl.

In the SK Modified feature, Janovoic was presented with an opportunity with 16 laps remaining that he couldn't pass up. Matt Gallo had the lead for most of the race, when a caution flag forced a double-file restart, Gallo vs. Janovic. Janovic got a huge jump, blistering his way into the lead one lap later and held on for his second win of the year.

"I knew Gallo's car took a couple of laps to get up to speed on the restart," Janovic said. "My only chance to win was to make my move in the first two laps. And that's what I was able to do."

Gallo was second and Diego Monahan, in his first start of the year, was third.

Hadley started 10th in his first Mini Stock race of the year. He quickly surged through the field, however, and rumbled past Sean Caron with 11 laps remaining.

Plemons started on the pole and led every lap of the Super X-Car feature.

Ironbirds sweep Tigers

• Bryndan Arredondo's second-inning grand slam lifted the Aberdeen IronBirds to a 5-4 victory over the Connecticut Tigers and a sweep of their New York-Penn League doubleheader on Sunday at Dodd Stadium. Aberdeen won the opener 1-0 behind the three-hit pitching of Gray Fenter.

Ex-St. Bernard star Willie Rios started and pitched four innings in the second game for the IronBirds, but did not figure in the decision. He allowed five hits, three runs (all earned) with two walks and four strikeouts. Jose Vasquez scored the loss in the second game for the Tigers (25-32), but lowered his earned run average to 1.81 after allowing one earned run over six innings.