(Stafford Springs, CT)—After winning the 2011 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
championship, Ronnie Silk and the #6 T.S. Haulers, Inc. began the defense of
their title in grand style by winning the season opening race at Thompson.
Stafford was a good track for Silk and crew last season, as he scored a win,
a third, and two seventh place finishes in the four events held at the
Connecticut half-mile. With the momentum of a season opening win on their
side, Silk hopes to carry that momentum with him to Stafford Speedway for
next weekend’s CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler.
“Winning the season opener was obviously great for us,” said Silk.
“Momentum means a lot in racing and it felt great to be able to win the
first race of the season. I think we can win quite a few more races this
year and we hope the next win will be the Sizzler. We feel really good
about coming back to Stafford, we ran well and we were able to win once at
Stafford last year. Everyone wants to win the Sizzler, it’s a very
prestigious race, and I would love to be able to win the Sizzler. I feel
pretty good about our chances and we’re definitely going to give it our best
shot.”
In six career Sizzler starts, Silk’s third place finish in last year’s
Sizzler race represented a career best finish. Had Silk not encountered an
engine issue, he might have finished a step or two higher on the podium.
“We were running second last year, but we had a motor problem and we
finished third,” said Silk. “We’ve run well in the Sizzler before, we just
seem to have some things happen to us that have kept us from winning the
race. If we’re having a good day next Sunday, hopefully we can capitalize
on it.”
With the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler being 200 laps in distance, the
race is 50 laps longer than most Whelen Modified Tour events. The longer
distance can sometimes lead to unusual strategies playing out to put drivers
in position to win the race. While Silk says that they don’t have a
pre-race plan, the distance of the Sizzler opens up a wide variety of
options for himself and the rest of the Whelen Modified Tour field.
“We don’t really come up with a strategy before the race,” said Silk. “It
seems like every time we do, something happens during the race that throws
that strategy out the window. If the car is good, I think we’ll try to stay
out as long as we can before coming in to change the tires. If the car isn’
t good, the race is long enough where you can come to pit road and make a
few adjustments without taking new tires. We’ll probably see how the car is
going and what the race dictates as to what kind of strategy we’ll have for
the Sizzler.”
In addition to having a good handling car, another key aspect will be to
have a good qualifying effort on Saturday to get a starting position towards
the front of the field on Sunday. A good starting position for the Sizzler
can allow a driver to drive a little easier and save the car for the end of
the race as well as being in front of a potential mid pack melee. But
according to Silk, a driver can’t afford to be too easy on the car in the
beginning of the race.
“In qualifying, you can’t afford to have too bad of a lap,” said Silk. “I’
ve never won a race starting from outside the top-10, so it’s important to
have a good lap and start towards the front. The bottom line is better than
the top at Stafford and once we get going, it’s hard to make up spots on
track. If you’re able to start up front, you can go a bit easier on the car
in the beginning of the race. The problem there is when you go easy on the
car, it feels really good and when you come in and take tires, you go back
out and when you really start to get on it, the car can be either tight or
loose because you didn’t make any adjustments since the car felt good. So
you have to go hard from the start to be able to get a feel for the car so
you can make the right changes on your pit stop. I think we’ll have a car
that can win the race, we just have to be there at the end to have a chance
to win the race.”
The 2012 CARQUEST TECH-NET Spring Sizzler gets underway Friday, April 27
with a practice session for Stafford’s weekly divisions. The practice
session will be open to the public at no charge. Action continues on
Saturday, April 28 with Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified
Tour cars, along with heat and consolation races for Stafford’s weekly
divisions. Saturday will wrap up with feature events for the SK Light,
Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions. The Sizzler continues on
Sunday, April 29 with the CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party followed by
Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and Late Models joining the Whelen Modified Tour in
feature action.
Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” are on sale now at
the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 for adult general
admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and
under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved
seating will be priced at $42.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include
10% CT Admission Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free
parking with overnight parking available.
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