{"id":6974,"date":"2011-08-26T06:47:31","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T10:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-08-25T21:48:20","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T01:48:20","slug":"young-guns-matt-galko-joey-cipriano-thick-sk-light-championship-fight-stafford-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/young-guns-matt-galko-joey-cipriano-thick-sk-light-championship-fight-stafford-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"YOUNG GUNS MATT GALKO AND JOEY CIPRIANO AGAIN IN THE THICK OF SK LIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stafford\"
\nYOUNG GUNS MATT GALKO AND JOEY CIPRIANO AGAIN IN THE THICK OF SK LIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—In Stafford\u2019s SK Light Modified division this
\nseason, the fight for the track championship is once again all about the
\nyoung guns. 17-year-old Matt Galko is the defending track champion in the
\nSK Light division and he currently holds the points lead this season, but he
\nis currently only 18 points, or 9 positions on the track ahead of
\n16-year-old Joey Cipriano. After dueling for the championship last season
\nalong with Tommy Barrett, Jr., Galko and Cipriano are right back at it,
\nfighting for the 2011 SK Light Modified championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the experience we gained last year can\u2019t hurt,\u201d said Galko, driver
\nof the #20 Davidson Company Chevrolet. \u201cWe know how to race for a
\nchampionship and how to close out a season, but it\u2019s still going to be very
\nclose because Joey is very good. I think it\u2019s better to be where we are
\nleading and have a cushion, we can set our own pace and we can do our own
\nthing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have the easier job than Matt,\u201d said Cipriano, driver of the #84
\nUnited Roll-Off Services Chevrolet. \u201cWe\u2019re chasing him while he has to
\nprotect a lead. I wish it was a little closer than 18 points, but If we can
\ngain 4 or 6 points a week on him, we\u2019ll be all right. As long as after the
\nlast race we\u2019re first and Matt is second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galko and Cipriano have posted nearly identical numbers through the first 14
\nraces of the 2011 season. They served notice at the beginning of the season
\nthey were going to be championship contenders as they finished 1-2 in each
\nof the first 2 races of the season. They each have posted 4 wins this
\nseason, with Galko having 10 top-5\u2019s to Cipriano\u2019s 9 and Galko has 12 top-10
\nfinishes to Cipriano\u2019s 10. Galko\u2019s slightly better consistency has given
\nhim an 18-point margin over Cipriano heading into the final 5 races of the
\n2011 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to try anything drastic,\u201d said Galko. \u201cWe have setups that
\nwork, so we want to stay with what works. You have to finish races and a
\n5th place finish is better than trying to make a pass for 4th place and you
\nend up wrecking and finishing 19th or something like that. We\u2019ve been fast
\nall season long, but lately we\u2019ve been off just a little. Last week, we
\nwere a little too tight to make a pass and two weeks ago the car was off in
\npractice and the heat, but we made the right adjustment for the feature and
\nwe went from fourth to first on a green white checkered. Our goal was to
\nwin as many races as we did last year and we\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past few weeks, we\u2019ve changed some things on the car and we\u2019ve been
\npretty good,\u201d said Cipriano. \u201cWe\u2019ve led in the last 5 races, it\u2019s just the
\nlate cautions have been killing us. We know what we have to do to beat Matt
\nand Matt knows what he has to do to beat us. We can run side by side with
\nMatt for 20 laps and we\u2019re not going to touch. We started out good and then
\nit seemed like we were either winning, close to winning, or wrecking.
\nLately we\u2019ve been getting some good top-5 finishes and we have to race smart
\nand be there at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the 2011 season enters into the homestretch, both Galko and Cipriano have
\ntheir eyes on the prize and hope they can be called champion when the
\ncheckered flag falls on the final SK Light race at the CARQUEST Fall Final.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been there all season long and now we want to win another
\nchampionship,\u201d said Galko. \u201cHopefully we can stay where we are. I have to
\nthank the Davidson Company, Tim Rowe, NAPA of Wallingford, and my Dad for
\nall their support this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always a little bit of pressure racing for the championship,\u201d said
\nCipriano. \u201cYou work hard all year long to try to win the championship. We
\njust have to keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing and however it comes out it
\nwill come out in the end. I have to thank United Roll-Off Services,
\nGunsmoke Stables Racing and Steve and Diana Greer, AVI Pumps, Prospect
\nStreet Auto, New Age Designs, New Haven Industrial, Chassis Dynamics, T\/A
\nEngines, and everyone on the crew.\u201d<\/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":"

YOUNG GUNS MATT GALKO AND JOEY CIPRIANO AGAIN IN THE THICK OF SK LIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY (Stafford Springs, CT)—In Stafford\u2019s SK Light Modified division this season, the fight for the track championship is once again all about the young guns. 17-year-old Matt Galko is the defending track champion in the SK Light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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-6974","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\/6974","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=6974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}