55 West Street | Stafford Springs | CT | 06076
Phone: (860) 684-2783 | Fax: (860) 684-6236 | Email: markarute@staffordspeedway.com
GPS COORDINATES: N 41° 57.2526' | W 072° 19.0621'
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AUGUST 4, 2011 ----- NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points leader Ronnie Silk hopes for repeat performance in Town Fair 150 ----- When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour last visited Stafford Motor Speedway back in May, it was a race to remember for Ronnie Silk and the #6 T.S. Haulers, Inc. team. Silk won the pole and then led all 125 laps to take his first win of the 2011 season. Since that race at Stafford, Silk hasn’t finished a race lower than fourth and he has the points lead as the Tour returns to Stafford for the Town Fair Tire 150.
Silk hopes to recreate the level of domination that he exhibited at Stafford in May and come away from the Town Fair Tire 150 with the winner’s trophy. “I hope we can do that again,” said Silk. “We’ll be coming back with the same stuff and we’ll be looking for another win this week. We’ve always seemed to qualify and run well at Stafford, we just never had the finishes. The last four races at Stafford, I don’t think we’ve finished lower than third, so hopefully our luck has turned around at Stafford and we can be there at the end of the race and try to win again.”
After a 23rd place finish in the 2011 season opening event, Silk’s stellar race results have vaulted him to the top of the Whelen Modified Tour points standings heading into the Town Fair Tire 150, 5 points clear of Rowan Pennink, who had been the points leader since the first race of the 2011 season.
“I feel like it’s still to early to worry about points,” said Silk. “In years past, I’ve always been behind in the points at this point of the season, so it’s nice to be where we are. But there’s a lot of racing left to go and we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing this season, and if we can do that, the points will take care of themselves.
We’ve won at Stafford, Thompson, and New Hampshire, but we haven’t run that well at Bristol, and Lime Rock is always a wild card although we managed to get a third there last year. My crew chief, Tom Grasso, has been giving me great cars at every track and hopefully we can keep that going for the rest of the season and go for more wins.”
In order for Silk to replicate his May performance at Stafford, he will face different track conditions and he says that he and his team know what they will need in order to have another stellar race result.
“It’s still the same track, you have to turn left at the end of the straightaway, but I’m sure the track will be a little bit different,” said Silk. “In May we won the pole and led every lap, but that race was 125-laps and this will be a different kind of race. We didn’t pit in May and with 25 more laps, I’m sure that everyone will have to make a pit stop. We’ve really neer set a number on when to pit, the race dictates what your strategy will be. If the car is good, we’ll try to stretch it as long as we can before we pit, but sometimes your hand is forced if the car is off a little and you have to pit early. We’ll see how the race goes and we’ll make a call from there. You need to have a fast car and you need to qualify well because it’s getting harder to pass with the field being so close to each other. Track position is going to be important and hopefully we can have some good track position for when we pit and we can be there at the end of the race to go for the win.”
Tickets for the 21st Annual Town Fair Tire 150 are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office and are price at $30.00 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 $32.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (860) 684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
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