YOUNG GUNS MATT GALKO AND JOEY CIPRIANO AGAIN IN THE THICK OF SK LIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY
(Stafford Springs, CT)—In Stafford’s SK Light Modified division this
season, the fight for the track championship is once again all about the
young guns. 17-year-old Matt Galko is the defending track champion in the
SK Light division and he currently holds the points lead this season, but he
is currently only 18 points, or 9 positions on the track ahead of
16-year-old Joey Cipriano. After dueling for the championship last season
along with Tommy Barrett, Jr., Galko and Cipriano are right back at it,
fighting for the 2011 SK Light Modified championship.
“I think the experience we gained last year can’t hurt,” said Galko, driver
of the #20 Davidson Company Chevrolet. “We know how to race for a
championship and how to close out a season, but it’s still going to be very
close because Joey is very good. I think it’s better to be where we are
leading and have a cushion, we can set our own pace and we can do our own
thing.”
“I think we have the easier job than Matt,” said Cipriano, driver of the #84
United Roll-Off Services Chevrolet. “We’re chasing him while he has to
protect a lead. I wish it was a little closer than 18 points, but If we can
gain 4 or 6 points a week on him, we’ll be all right. As long as after the
last race we’re first and Matt is second.”
Galko and Cipriano have posted nearly identical numbers through the first 14
races of the 2011 season. They served notice at the beginning of the season
they were going to be championship contenders as they finished 1-2 in each
of the first 2 races of the season. They each have posted 4 wins this
season, with Galko having 10 top-5’s to Cipriano’s 9 and Galko has 12 top-10
finishes to Cipriano’s 10. Galko’s slightly better consistency has given
him an 18-point margin over Cipriano heading into the final 5 races of the
2011 season.
“We’re not going to try anything drastic,” said Galko. “We have setups that
work, so we want to stay with what works. You have to finish races and a
5th place finish is better than trying to make a pass for 4th place and you
end up wrecking and finishing 19th or something like that. We’ve been fast
all season long, but lately we’ve been off just a little. Last week, we
were a little too tight to make a pass and two weeks ago the car was off in
practice and the heat, but we made the right adjustment for the feature and
we went from fourth to first on a green white checkered. Our goal was to
win as many races as we did last year and we’ve done that.”
“The past few weeks, we’ve changed some things on the car and we’ve been
pretty good,” said Cipriano. “We’ve led in the last 5 races, it’s just the
late cautions have been killing us. We know what we have to do to beat Matt
and Matt knows what he has to do to beat us. We can run side by side with
Matt for 20 laps and we’re not going to touch. We started out good and then
it seemed like we were either winning, close to winning, or wrecking.
Lately we’ve been getting some good top-5 finishes and we have to race smart
and be there at the end.”
As the 2011 season enters into the homestretch, both Galko and Cipriano have
their eyes on the prize and hope they can be called champion when the
checkered flag falls on the final SK Light race at the CARQUEST Fall Final.
“We’ve been there all season long and now we want to win another
championship,” said Galko. “Hopefully we can stay where we are. I have to
thank the Davidson Company, Tim Rowe, NAPA of Wallingford, and my Dad for
all their support this season.”
“There’s always a little bit of pressure racing for the championship,” said
Cipriano. “You work hard all year long to try to win the championship. We
just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing and however it comes out it
will come out in the end. I have to thank United Roll-Off Services,
Gunsmoke Stables Racing and Steve and Diana Greer, AVI Pumps, Prospect
Street Auto, New Age Designs, New Haven Industrial, Chassis Dynamics, T/A
Engines, and everyone on the crew.”
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com