(Stafford Springs, CT)—For Stafford SK Light competitor Tommy Membrino,
Jr., the 2011 season has been a resurgence of sorts for himself and the #00
Membrino Electric team. After winning twice and finishing 6th in the points
standings in 2009, the team only raced 9 times in 2010 and finished 22nd in
the points standings. But that has all turned around this season as
Membrino collected his first win of the 2011 season in grand style last
Friday night, taking home a $600 bonus from the Gunsmoke Stables Front
Runner Challenge. Combined with his race purse and further contingency
bonuses from The Davidson Company and New England Racing Fuel, Membrino took
home $1,000 for his winning efforts, a big boost for a team that almost wasn
’t going to make it to the track this year.
“Confidence wise that win really helped out,” said Membrino. “August would
have been 2 years since our last win and there was a lot of pressure to get
that win out of the way. We weren’t even sure that we would be racing this
season. We shook the car down during the off-season, but 3 weeks before the
Sizzler the car was just a powder coated chassis with the seat in it. We
really didn’t have much for sponsors and my dad’s cousin Joe called us up
and told us that we were good and to start putting the car together. With
out his help from Membrino Electric, we probably wouldn’t be racing this
season, so the extra money will help us out. After the year we had last
year and not winning since 2009, it really felt good and it was a relief to
win. We’re working hard as a team and the car is slowly coming around.
Things are starting to come together and we can hopefully win some more
races this year.”
Membrino currently sits second in the SK Light points standings, 36 points
behind defending track champion Matt Galko. As well as Membrino has run
this season, he says that he and his team are still searching to find the
right setup combination on his #00 Pontiac.
“We’ve really struggled with the car setup until last week,” said Membrino.
“Most of the races we’ve been good in practice and the heat races during the
day, but we’ve been struggling with a tight car for the feature when the
weather cools down. Last Friday night we figured we’d leave the car where
it was and hope it came around for the feature and it did. A lot of the
guys right now are good right away where our car seems to take about 10 laps
to come in, so we are losing out on the start of the race and if there’s a
lot of cautions during the race, it was hurting us. We’re working on the
car to where we not lose too many spots on the start. If we would start 6th
for example, we would fall back to 8th or 9th on the start and have to work
hard to gain those spots back. We’re going over our notes to try to get the
car to get going sooner.”
Fresh off their first victory of the season, Membrino and his team are
looking to build upon that win in the second half of the season and be
championship contenders.
“The championship is there on my mind, but it’s not going to affect how we
race each week,” said Membrino. “2 weeks ago, we were 14 points behind and
we got caught up in a wreck, which left us 44 points behind and now we’re
30-something points behind Matt. That’s a lot of points to have to make up,
but after wrecking two weeks ago, it was nice to gather everything back
together and come back and win the very next week. I’m really thankful to
be racing this year and I have to thank my dad and my uncle for setting the
car up and Ed Flemke has also been a big help to us when we need a second
opinion on the car. We’d like to win some more races this season and be
consistent to try to chip away at Matt’s point lead.”
In racing, momentum can often be a powerful ally and after Membrino’s big
win last Friday night, the #00 team may just ride the momentum of that
victory all the way to contending for and possibly winning a championship.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com