![\"Stafford\"](\"http:\/\/maineracer.com\/images\/stafford.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
(Stafford Springs, CT)—For Stafford SK Light competitor Tommy Membrino,
\nJr., the 2011 season has been a resurgence of sorts for himself and the #00
\nMembrino Electric team. After winning twice and finishing 6th in the points
\nstandings in 2009, the team only raced 9 times in 2010 and finished 22nd in
\nthe points standings. But that has all turned around this season as
\nMembrino collected his first win of the 2011 season in grand style last
\nFriday night, taking home a $600 bonus from the Gunsmoke Stables Front
\nRunner Challenge. Combined with his race purse and further contingency
\nbonuses from The Davidson Company and New England Racing Fuel, Membrino took
\nhome $1,000 for his winning efforts, a big boost for a team that almost wasn
\n\u2019t going to make it to the track this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cConfidence wise that win really helped out,\u201d said Membrino. \u201cAugust would
\nhave been 2 years since our last win and there was a lot of pressure to get
\nthat win out of the way. We weren\u2019t even sure that we would be racing this
\nseason. We shook the car down during the off-season, but 3 weeks before the
\nSizzler the car was just a powder coated chassis with the seat in it. We
\nreally didn\u2019t have much for sponsors and my dad\u2019s cousin Joe called us up
\nand told us that we were good and to start putting the car together. With
\nout his help from Membrino Electric, we probably wouldn\u2019t be racing this
\nseason, so the extra money will help us out. After the year we had last
\nyear and not winning since 2009, it really felt good and it was a relief to
\nwin. We\u2019re working hard as a team and the car is slowly coming around.
\nThings are starting to come together and we can hopefully win some more
\nraces this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Membrino currently sits second in the SK Light points standings, 36 points
\nbehind defending track champion Matt Galko. As well as Membrino has run
\nthis season, he says that he and his team are still searching to find the
\nright setup combination on his #00 Pontiac.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve really struggled with the car setup until last week,\u201d said Membrino.
\n\u201cMost of the races we\u2019ve been good in practice and the heat races during the
\nday, but we\u2019ve been struggling with a tight car for the feature when the
\nweather cools down. Last Friday night we figured we\u2019d leave the car where
\nit was and hope it came around for the feature and it did. A lot of the
\nguys right now are good right away where our car seems to take about 10 laps
\nto come in, so we are losing out on the start of the race and if there\u2019s a
\nlot of cautions during the race, it was hurting us. We\u2019re working on the
\ncar to where we not lose too many spots on the start. If we would start 6th
\nfor example, we would fall back to 8th or 9th on the start and have to work
\nhard to gain those spots back. We\u2019re going over our notes to try to get the
\ncar to get going sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresh off their first victory of the season, Membrino and his team are
\nlooking to build upon that win in the second half of the season and be
\nchampionship contenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe championship is there on my mind, but it\u2019s not going to affect how we
\nrace each week,\u201d said Membrino. \u201c2 weeks ago, we were 14 points behind and
\nwe got caught up in a wreck, which left us 44 points behind and now we\u2019re
\n30-something points behind Matt. That\u2019s a lot of points to have to make up,
\nbut after wrecking two weeks ago, it was nice to gather everything back
\ntogether and come back and win the very next week. I\u2019m really thankful to
\nbe racing this year and I have to thank my dad and my uncle for setting the
\ncar up and Ed Flemke has also been a big help to us when we need a second
\nopinion on the car. We\u2019d like to win some more races this season and be
\nconsistent to try to chip away at Matt\u2019s point lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
In racing, momentum can often be a powerful ally and after Membrino\u2019s big
\nwin last Friday night, the #00 team may just ride the momentum of that
\nvictory all the way to contending for and possibly winning a championship.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (Stafford Springs, CT)—For Stafford SK Light competitor Tommy Membrino, Jr., the 2011 season has been a resurgence of sorts for himself and the #00 Membrino Electric team. After winning twice and finishing 6th in the points standings in 2009, the team only raced 9 times in 2010 and finished 22nd in the points standings. But […]<\/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-5940","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\/5940","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=5940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com
\n