{"id":5724,"date":"2011-06-17T23:52:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T03:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-06-17T19:52:44","modified_gmt":"2011-06-17T23:52:44","slug":"2-time-defending-modified-racing-series-champion-jon-mckennedy-turn-season-lincoln-tech-80-sms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/2-time-defending-modified-racing-series-champion-jon-mckennedy-turn-season-lincoln-tech-80-sms\/","title":{"rendered":"2-TIME DEFENDING MODIFIED RACING SERIES CHAMPION JON McKENNEDY LOOKS TO TURN SEASON AROUND IN LINCOLN TECH 80 AT SMS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stafford\"2-TIME DEFENDING MODIFIED RACING SERIES CHAMPION JON McKENNEDY LOOKS TO TURN SEASON AROUND IN LINCOLN TECH 80 AT SMS<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—For 2-time defending Modified Racing Series
\nChampion Jon McKennedy, the 2011 season hasn\u2019t gotten off to the best of
\nstarts. Aside from a third place finish at Monadnock, McKennedy has
\nencountered some mechanical issues that leave him sitting in 12th place in
\nthe points standings thusfar after three races. McKennedy will look to get
\nhis season turned around when the MRS hits Stafford for the first of two
\nvisits in the Inaugural Lincoln Tech 80 on June 24th.
\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had an up and down season so far,\u201d said McKennedy. \u201cWe had a
\nsuspension failure in the first race at Waterford and we blew an engine in
\nthe last race at Twin State. We went to Star for a big 125 lap race and we
\nled the last 60 laps and won the race, so hopefully that can help us get
\nthings turned around.\u201d<\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s debut MRS event at Stafford, McKennedy was fast in practice
\nand in his heat race, but he struggled to a 12th place finish in the feature
\nevent. McKennedy says that his team took will use that experience to have a
\nbetter finish when the MRS returns to Stafford.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we had a really good car in practice and in the heat, but when
\nthe sun went down, we didn\u2019t do enough with the car for the feature,\u201d said
\nMcKennedy. \u201cWe made sure to take real good notes on what we did to the car
\nso I think we should be much better for the next time around at Stafford. I
\n\u2019m really looking forward to going back to Stafford. We were decent last
\nyear and hopefully we can have a much better finish at Stafford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s inaugural visit for the MRS at Stafford was dominated by drivers
\nwith Whelen Modified Tour and SK Modified\u00ae experience. 9 of the top-10
\nfinishers had either WMT or SK Modified\u00ae experience at Stafford. Only Bryon
\nChew\u2019s 7th place finish broke the stranglehold on the top-10 spots by
\ndrivers with experience at Stafford.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you see that at any track,\u201d said McKennedy. \u201cSome of the guys have
\na lot more laps at Stafford and having seat time has to help. Guys have a
\nbigger notebook to work off of, and they know what the track does at night
\nand how the car will react. I grew up racing at Star and I think my
\nexperience there helped us win that 125 lapper. But I think most of the
\nguys will have a better idea of what they need to do with their cars when we
\ncome back to Stafford.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the two-time defending MRS champion, if there is one team that knows how
\nto get things turned around and headed in the right direction, it\u2019s
\nMcKennedy\u2019s #73 crew.<\/p>\n

Grandstand gates will open at 4:15pm for the Inaugural Lincoln Tech 80. MRS
\nheat races begin at 6:15pm and the feature events will begin at
\napproximately 7:15 following the conclusion of the MRS heat races.
\nTickets for the Inaugural Lincoln Tech MRS 80 event at Stafford Motor
\nSpeedway are on sale now and are priced at $25.00 for Adult General
\nAdmission, $5.00 for Children Ages 6-14 General Admission, $28.00 for
\nReserved Seating, and $40.00 for Pit Passes. Tickets can be ordered by
\ncalling the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
\n860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com
\n.<\/http:><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2-TIME DEFENDING MODIFIED RACING SERIES CHAMPION JON McKENNEDY LOOKS TO TURN SEASON AROUND IN LINCOLN TECH 80 AT SMS (Stafford Springs, CT)—For 2-time defending Modified Racing Series Champion Jon McKennedy, the 2011 season hasn\u2019t gotten off to the best of starts. Aside from a third place finish at Monadnock, McKennedy has encountered some mechanical issues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,126,197],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-5724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-new-england","category-stafford-connecticut","tag-stafford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5724","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}