SHAWN THIBEAULT AND KEVIN GAMBACORTA LOCKED IN ULTRA TIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP RACE IN STAFFORD’S LIMITED LATE MODEL DIVISION
(Stafford Springs, CT)—Along with their SK Modified® division, Stafford’s
Limited Late Model division features a championship battle that currently
has Shawn Thibeault leading Kevin Gambacorta by only 8 points, or 4
positions on the track. While Gambacorta has won track championships at
Stafford in the DARE Stock division in 2004 and the Limited Late Model
division in 2006, Thibeault is experiencing a championship chase for the
first time in his racing career.
“I like being ahead, but I wish we had a little bigger lead,” said Thibeault
driver of the #58 Enterprise Rent A Car Chevrolet. “Kevin has won a
championship in the DARE Stocks and the Limiteds, so he knows what it takes
and what to do and what not to do in these last 5 races. We’ve both been
pretty consistent this year, we usually start right around one another, and
our focus is to keep Kevin in sight and try to finish ahead of him. If we
can get a couple more wins, the points will take care of themselves.”
“I’d like to think I have a bit of an advantage,” said Gambacorta, driver of
the #23 Rafferty Fine Grading Dodge. “This year I feel more relaxed than in
previous years. Usually we’re in the lead of the championship at this point
of the season, and now we’re behind, so it’s a different feeling. I always
figured that when I was leading the points I could control my own destiny.
I’d rather be leading, but there is a lot less stress where were are right
now.”
Both Thibeault and Gambacorta have been a model of consistency this season.
While Thibeault holds the edge over Gambacorta in feature wins by a 4 to 1
count, Gambacorta has finished in the top-5 in 13 of 14 races this year with
his worst finish being a 7th place finish on August 5th. While Thibeault
has 2 less top-5 and top-10 finishes than Gambacorta, his 4 wins have made
the difference so far this season in the points standings as Thibeault’s
average finish for the season is 3.3 while Gambacorta’s average finish
stands at 3.6.
“Our plan is to keep the same strategy and try to let the races come to me
and try to keep the 23 in sight,” said Thibeault. “We want to win races,
but it all depends on how the car is and how I’m feeling behind the wheel.
We already had one incident earlier this year where we were going for a win
and we were put to the back and we lost some points, so we should have a
bigger lead than we do. I don’t want to jeopardize myself anymore this
year. We usually start behind Kevin, so our focus is to keep him in sight
and if we can get by him, we can try to win the race. Last week Kevin
finished one spot ahead of us, and as much as I hated doing it, I stayed
behind him. We loosened the car up for the feature and we might have gone a
tick too far, I didn’t have the forward bite I needed to get by him.”
“In all honesty, I think I’m going to go points racing these last 5 races,”
said Gambacorta. “We still have to keep an eye on George [Nocera] because
he’s close, but we got a couple of points on Shawn last week and if we can
do that the rest of the year, we’ll be ahead. I would say that this is the
best season I’ve ever had. We only have one finish outside the top-5 all
year long, so we’ve had a strong season, but that just shows how tough Shawn
has been to beat this year. Some guys can go out and blast off a fast lap
pretty quick, but then their car falls off by 4 or 5 tenths at the end of
the race. Our car seems to stay pretty consistent throughout the race from
start to finish.”
With only 8 points separating them from each other in the standings,
anything can happen over the final 5 races and both Thibeault and Gambacorta
feel good about their chances of taking home the championship this season.
“We feel pretty good,” said Thibeault. “I feel like the car has been good
and I feel like I’ve gotten better behind then wheel in relaying information
to the crew about what the car is doing and what kind of adjustments we need
to make. It would mean the world to everyone if we are able to win this
championship. As the season has gone on, more of my family has been coming
out to the track and helping out in the pits, so I’ve had great support this
season and winning a championship would really be icing on the cake for me.”
“I feel pretty confident and everyone on the team feels confident,” said
Gambacorta. “I don’t want to jinx myself by saying this, but this season
has felt like years past when we’ve won the championship. We’ve had little
things, I guess you’d call it luck, that have happened this year that haven
’t been happening for the past few years. Last week I was checking my air
pressures in the tires and I noticed that one of the spokes on my wheels was
broken all the way through and one night at the shop I was underneath the
car doing some routine stuff and it was just right that I noticed my clutch
was broken. I’ve always said that to win a championship, you have to win a
race. We’ve won a race this year and I like winning championships and
getting to come out on stage at the banquet at the end of the year.”
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com