{"id":18271,"date":"2015-03-20T06:13:05","date_gmt":"2015-03-20T10:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=18271"},"modified":"2015-03-20T05:21:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-20T09:21:42","slug":"michael-scorzelli-ready-to-be-championship-contender-in-stafford-speedways-late-model-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/michael-scorzelli-ready-to-be-championship-contender-in-stafford-speedways-late-model-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Scorzelli Ready to be Championship Contender in Stafford Speedway\u2019s Late Model Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fgdfghd\"<\/a>(Stafford Springs, CT)—As he prepares to enter his third season of Late Model competition at Stafford Speedway, Feura Bush, NY native Michael Scorzelli is ready to mount a bid for the track championship. Scorzelli finished 8th in points during his rookie season and he improved to fourth in the points this past season while scoring his first career Stafford victory.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to be really good this year,\u201d said Scorzelli. \u201cWith all the changes they made to the cars, I think everyone is going to be starting with a new template and we\u2019ve really improved things since our rookie season. I think there is still going to be the standouts like Adam Gray and Tom Fearn, but I feel like we\u2019re ready to run with the best of them. We\u2019re ready to go racing and this is the earliest I\u2019ve ever been ready for a season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scorzelli\u2019s 2014 season was a mixed bag of results. During the first half of the year, Scorzelli\u2019s best finish was fourth in the season opening NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler and he had an average finish of 8.6. The second half of the year went much better as Scorzelli posted an average finish of 6.0 with four podium finishes, including his very first victory on the final Friday night of the season. Scorzelli\u2019s second half results have him eager to return to racing and get the 2015 season started.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very much looking forward to the start of the season,\u201d said Scorzelli. \u201cThat win was bigger than my first win at Thompson and it was the highlight of my racing career. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever done anything that felt as good as that and I don\u2019t think I ever will, it was one of the best feelings I\u2019ve ever had. It was a huge accomplishment and it proved to ourselves that we can run up front and win. It felt really good to look into the rear view mirror and see a guy like Tom Fearn chasing me. He knows how to get around the track and he has a lot of experience at Stafford, so I felt very accomplished. From what we\u2019ve learned and we found some things on the car towards the end of the season last year, we\u2019re going to be quite a bit better. Towards the middle of the year we were going the wrong way on some adjustments and we made the car worse and worse every week. Stafford is a tough track to get a handle on but we got some advice from Bob Fill and we went the opposite way of what we were doing with the car and I really feel like we gained by leaps and bounds the last month of the 2014 season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scorzelli and the rest of the Late Model division will have several new shock and sway bar rules along with a new tire to get to grips with once the 2015 season gets underway. The new rules and tire will make every lap a driver can get on track count and Scorzelli has his eye on the open practice session preceding the NAPA Spring Sizzler to iron out his car setup and and any mechanical gremlins that may present themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the sway bar and spring changes, I was originally a little leery but every car out there is on the same thing and guys are going to have to start with a new notebook,\u201d said Scorzelli. \u201cPractice time is going to be important to get before the first race and I think things are kind of going to be like they were during my first season at Stafford. Because we\u2019re a BFR car and Bob shares all his information among his cars, it won\u2019t take too long for us to get right on track. Bob listens to all of his cars out there and that\u2019s a nice advantage for us to have being a BFR car. After that first practice you\u2019re going to know what you need to do for the race and you\u2019ll make some minor adjustments for the Sizzler. I think anyone who misses that first practice is going to be at a huge disadvantage. You don\u2019t really know how the car is going to react to the rule changes and that\u2019s why nothing beats seat time. I was one of the cars that tested on the new tires and I loved the tires. Any time we can get on the track, I don\u2019t care what I have to do, I\u2019m going to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

After closing out the 2014 season with a win and a third place finish in the NAPA Fall Final, Scorzelli and his Syracuse Utilities team have been busy going through their #18 machine to get it ready to make a run at the track championship. Scorzelli says his goal is to finish on the podium every week, which would make him a contender for the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve freshened up the engine and we\u2019ve gone all through the chassis,\u201d said Scorzelli. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to alleviate any problems before we get to the track so we can come out of the box pretty good. We\u2019d like to be a contender for the championship and we\u2019d like to be on the podium every week. Last year we just wanted to finish in the top-5 in points and we did that and we won a race. We have to set the bar higher every year or there\u2019s no reason to be out there racing. If I can put the car in a position to stay out of trouble I think we can be there. I can\u2019t say I\u2019m confident about winning every race, I\u2019m not Adam Gray, but if you are in position to win, we\u2019ll be ok. This is one of the first seasons where I\u2019m looking forward to getting back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scorzelli\u2019s first opportunity to take a podium finish win will be the running of the 44th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler on April 24-26. Tickets for the \u201cGreatest Race in the History of Spring\u201d 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 is priced at $42.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available. All tickets are good for both Saturday and Sunday admission. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Stafford Springs, CT)—As he prepares to enter his third season of Late Model competition at Stafford Speedway, Feura Bush, NY native Michael Scorzelli is ready to mount a bid for the track championship. Scorzelli finished 8th in points during his rookie season and he improved to fourth in the points this past season while scoring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,197],"tags":[15677],"class_list":["post-18271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-stafford-springs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18273,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18271\/revisions\/18273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}