(Stafford Springs, CT)—For Stafford Motor Speedway Limited Late Model
driver Kevin Gambacorta, the 2011 season played out like déją vu all over
again. After winning the DARE Stock track championship in 2004, Gambacorta
claimed his first Ltd. Late Model track title in 2006 by the narrowest of
margins, 2 points ahead of George Nocera. When the final checkered flag of
the 2011 season fell on the Ltd. Late Model cars at the CARQUEST Fall Final
Weekend, Gambacorta was again the champion, but by a 4 point margin over
Nocera and a 6 point margin over Shawn Thibeault.
“It feels pretty good to be champion again,” said Gambacorta. “It feels
just as good or even a little better than the last two championships. This
was the best year I’ve ever had, our worst finish all year long was 7th
place and the fact that we only won by a couple of points just shows how
tough George and Shawn were this season. They had 4 or 5 wins each and we
only had one win, but I figured they were both due for a bad race or two and
as long as I didn’t have a bad race, we were going to be ok. This
championship is more special because it’s the first championship I’ve won
with a sponsor on the car who puts money and time into the car. I can’t
thank Kurt and Rhonda Rafferty enough for their support and I’m really happy
we were able to win this championship for them. We won the first DARE Stock
championship and to be the first one to win two Limited Late Model
championships is pretty neat.”
While Gambacorta was in the thick of the championship race all season long,
he didn’t spend much time at the head of the standings. Gambacorta took the
points lead for the first time at the midway point of the 2011 season
following the July 1st feature event, and from there to the end of the
season, it was a see-saw duel between himself and Thibeault with each driver
taking turns at the front of the standings. Nocera put himself in the thick
of the championship race with five top-2 finishes in the final 6 races of
the season, but he came up just short of Gambacorta at season’s end.
“It seemed like it was between me and Shawn for most of the season and no
one was talking about George, but once the track started impounding tires,
it seemed like George was the car to beat instead of Shawn,” said
Gambacorta. “It was back and forth between us for most of the season, but I
wasn’t really nervous about it at all. I remember in 2006, I was nervous
every week and that experience probably helped me stay calm this time
around. We felt pretty good going into the last race, we had a 14 point
lead, which is 7 spots on the track and we hadn’t finished worse than 7th
all year long.”
As consistent as Gambacorta was all season long, he points to the Friday
night of May 13th as a key to his championship effort.
“I have to thank Bill Davis and Marshall Usher for letting me use their
car,” said Gambacorta. “It was real early in the season and we had broke
the rear end in our car and we didn’t have a spare or enough time to fix the
car if we did have a spare. They let me drive their car in the feature and
without them giving me their car, we wouldn’t have won the championship.”
Gambacorta will officially be crowned the 2011 Limited Late Model track
champion at the 42nd Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards
Ceremony on Friday, November 18, 2011 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility
in East Windsor.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.