by Jay | Sep 18, 2011 | Connecticut, NASCAR, Stafford
(Stafford Springs, CT)—When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour visits
Stafford Motor Speedway, Todd Szegedy is normally among the pre-race
favorites to contend for victory. Szegedy was a regular SK Modified®
competitor at Stafford before moving onto the Whelen Modified Tour and he
has 4 career WMT wins at Stafford. But the 2011 season has been unkind to
Szegedy and the #2 Wisk team in the three races held at Stafford this
season. A crash in the Spring Sizzler in April left him with a 24th place
finish and two spins in the August race left him with a 14th place finish to
go along with a 6th place finish in the May event at Stafford. Szegedy
hopes to have his bad luck at Stafford put behind him when the green flag
falls for the CARQUEST Fall Final 150. (more…)
by Jay | Sep 17, 2011 | Connecticut, New England, Stafford
(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Speedway took to the track for the Final
Friday Night Shoot-Out on September 16th. In NASCAR Whelen All-American
Series action, Woody Pitkat picked up his second win of the 2011 season in
the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event and Ryan Preece clinched the 2011 SK
Modified® track champion with a 4th place finish, Woody Pitakt picked up his
second consecutive and fifth overall win of the 2011 season in the 30-lap
Late Model feature, Kyle Spencer picked up his second win of the 2011 season
with a green white checkered pass for the lead in the 20-lap SK Light
Modified feature, George Nocera, Jr. picked up his fifth win of the 2011
season in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Cliff Saunders picked
up his second win of the 2011 season in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Glen Reen took the lead from the
pole ahead of Tom Bolles, Brian Sullivan, and the side by side duo of
Nichole Morgillo and Sean Foster. Morgillo was able to get clear of Foster
and the top-5 were now single file. Woody Pitkat got around Curt Brainard
for sixth place and he moved by Foster for fifth on lap-6. The caution came
out with 7 laps complete for a spin by Matt Gallo in turn 3.
(more…)
by Jay | Sep 15, 2011 | Connecticut, Modified, New England, Stafford
(Stafford Springs, CT)—Heading into the Final Friday Night Shoot-Out
program at Stafford Speedway, Ryan Preece leads Keith Rocco by 82 points in
the track’s SK Modified® points standings. If Preece can finish in 16th
place or higher tomorrow night, he will clinch the 2011 SK Modified® track
championship. While Preece acknowledges that he is aware of the fact, he
will not allow that fact to alter his approach to the race.
“For sure it’s in the back of my mind, but we’re going to try to win the
race and do what we’ve been doing and hope things go our way,” said Preece.
“When you try to change things, that’s usually when things go bad, so we’re
going to try to win the race, and if we can’t win, then we’ll go for the
best finish we can get.”
While Rocco was busy winning 7 of the first 11 races of the season, Preece
won twice and was never more than a handful of points behind Rocco. With
Rocco being the dominant car during the first half of the season, Preece and
his #40 Sullivan and Sons team have become the dominant car in the second
half of the season. Preece has recorded three wins, a second, and a fourth
in the previous five races leading into tomorrow night’s Final Friday Night
Shoot-Out. Preece says that his recent good fortunes can be traced back to
a practice session that he wasn’t even a part of.
“I was in Loudon qualifying for the Modified Tour race and we had Donny
Travaglin practicing our car that night,” said Preece. “Mike [Paquette]
made a change to the car and Donny said it was a good change and to leave it
on the car. I don’t want to give too much away, but the change that Mike
made gave the car a better entry into the corner, it rolled through the
center better, and it had a ton of forward bite getting off the corner. The
car was already good and that change made it that much better, so I was
pretty confident we were going to win some more races before the season was
over. That change has made a really big difference and it’s been a total
team effort this season. Between Bob Hitchcock, Kelly Iverson, Mike
Paquette, and everyone on my team and the 89 team, we’ve really clicked and
we all get along really well. Even though my car and the 89 car are out of
separate shops, we operate like we’re all out of the same shop.”
While the team had expectations to be among the championship contenders
prior to the start of the season, they now have to finish 16th or better on
Friday night to clinch their first SK Modified® championship.
“Our expectations at the beginning of the season were to run for the
championship, there’s a lot of tough competition at Stafford,” said Preece.
“You are racing against guys like Keith Rocco, Ted Christopher, Woody
Pitkat, and Frank Ruocco, and you can’t make a mistake if you want to win
the championship at Stafford. If we can clinch the championship, it would
mean a lot to me, Bob, Kelly, Mike, the Poulins, and all my sponsors. The
team has done an awesome job and I’m sure that we’ll have a great car again
like we have all season long.”
Tickets for the Final Friday Night Shoot-Out are priced at $15.00 for Adult
General Admission, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 & under
are free. Reserved seating is $18.00 for all ages. Tickets can be ordered
by calling the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783, or they
will be available at the admission gates.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com
.
by Jay | Sep 15, 2011 | Connecticut, Stafford
(Stafford Springs, CT)—The CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party is a Stafford
Motor Speedway tradition that is entering into its third decade of
existence, with the very first Pit Party taking place during CARQUEST Fall
Final Weekend on September 30, 1990. The CARQUEST Belts and Hose Pit Party
tradition will continue at Stafford on Sunday, October 2nd as part of the
39th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend pre-race festivities.
(more…)
by Jay | Sep 11, 2011 | Connecticut, New England, Stafford
(Stafford Springs, CT)—Stafford Speedway was back in action on September
9th with the Shark Cycle 80 program. In the NASCAR Whelen All-American
Series portion of the race card, Ryan Preece scored his fifth win of the
2011 season in a thrilling finish with Keith Rocco in the 40-lap SK
Modified® feature event, Woody Pitkat scored his fourth win of the 2011
season in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Joey Cipriano scored his sixth win
of 2011 in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Dan Flannery picked up his
first win of the 2011 season in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and
Josh Wood scored his fifth win of 2011 with a last lap pass in the 15-lap
DARE Stock feature. (more…)
by Jay | Sep 11, 2011 | Connecticut, Modified, Stafford
Stafford Springs (CT) — For 35 years, the Pasteryak family has been trying to get to victory lane at the famed Stafford Springs (CT) Motor Speedway. Friday night, September 9, it finally happened.
With his Father Charlie, and Uncle Carl, watching from pit road, Chris Pasteryak, of Lisbon, CT., started third in a 25-car field, took the lead on lap two, and went on to win the Valenti Modified Racing Series “Shark Cycle 80” for his third victory of the 2011 season.
(more…)
