{"id":7053,"date":"2011-09-06T12:11:28","date_gmt":"2011-09-06T16:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-09-02T07:12:18","modified_gmt":"2011-09-02T11:12:18","slug":"dave-etheridge-shark-cycle-80-race-stafford-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/dave-etheridge-shark-cycle-80-race-stafford-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"DAVE ETHERIDGE LOOKING FORWARD TO SHARK CYCLE 80 MRS RACE AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stafford\"
\nDAVE ETHERIDGE LOOKING FORWARD TO SHARK CYCLE 80 MRS RACE AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Stafford Springs, CT)—When the Modified Racing Series made their first
\nvisit of the 2011 season to Stafford in June, Dave Etheridge had one of the
\nstrongest cars and looked to be a contender for victory. Then the rain
\nforced the race to be resumed in August and Etheridge fought his way to a
\n10th place finish. When the MRS comes back to Stafford next Friday night,
\nSept. 9 for the Shark Cycle 80, Etheridge will be looking to repeat his June
\nperformance and be a contender for the checkered flag.
\n
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know if it was the weather difference or what,\u201d said Etheridge.
\n\u201cThat first time around in June, it seemed like it was going to be our
\nnight. Then when we came back the second time and it seemed like everyone
\npicked up a little bit and we didn\u2019t pick up. That first night was a bit
\ncloudy and overcast with cooler temperatures, and the second time around it
\nwas a nice hot night, and Stafford is a temperature sensitive track. I
\nhonestly believe we can win the race, I have a lot of laps at Stafford and
\nit\u2019s a bit of an advantage to have laps at Stafford.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key to performing well in the Shark Cycle 80 will be a good starting
\nposition. The Modified Racing Series has a unique qualifying format where
\nthe driver who passes the most cars and finishes in a qualified position in
\nthe heat race will start on the pole, and Etheridge says that makes the race
\nmore interesting for the drivers and the fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be you wanted to draw a low number so you could start up front,\u201d
\nsaid Etheridge. \u201cThe way the format is now, you want to draw a higher
\nnumber and then pass as many cars as you can in the heat to start the
\nfeature up front. Last time we were here, Keith [Rocco] started the race
\nfrom the pole and he was able to dictate the pace for most of the race. It
\ndefinitely makes the racing more exciting and our plan is to start off where
\nwe were with the car setup and see how the weather is and go from there.\u201d
\nEtheridge had a very strong car in the MRS\u2019 first visit to Stafford.<\/p>\n

Etheridge passed three cars in his heat race, which put him on the front row
\nnext to Keith Rocco for the 80-lap feature. Etheridge led several laps in
\nthe June segment before falling back to a 10th place finish in the August
\nsegment. With the experience he gained in those two visits to Stafford,
\nplus a new SPAFCO car, Etheridge likes his chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working on a new SPAFCO car with Ken Barry and we\u2019re slowly getting
\nthere with the car,\u201d said Etheridge. \u201cWe\u2019re still a little shy of making
\nbig changes for the feature, but we have a good baseline to come back to
\nStafford with. Our main concern the first race was having the car fast
\nenough to qualify for the feature. Kenny has been great to work with and
\nnow we just have to work on fine-tuning the car so it is good on the long
\nrun because you want the car to be the best from lap-40 to lap-80. We aren\u2019
\nt able to put new tires on the car until we go out for the heat race, so
\nduring practice we\u2019ll try to dial the car in the best we can because that
\nwill be what the car feels like at the end of 80 laps on older tires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Shark Cycle MRS 80 event at Stafford Motor Speedway are on
\nsale now and are priced at $25.00 for Adult General Admission, $5.00 for
\nChildren Ages 6-14 General Admission, and $28.00 for Reserved Seating.
\nTickets can be ordered by calling the Stafford Motor Speedway track office
\nat 860-684-2783, or tickets can be purchased the night of the show at the
\ngate.<\/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":"

DAVE ETHERIDGE LOOKING FORWARD TO SHARK CYCLE 80 MRS RACE AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY (Stafford Springs, CT)—When the Modified Racing Series made their first visit of the 2011 season to Stafford in June, Dave Etheridge had one of the strongest cars and looked to be a contender for victory. Then the rain forced the race to […]<\/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-7053","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\/7053","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=7053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}