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05/24/06
MIKE
STEFANIK LOOKS TO RE-CAPTURE
STAFFORD
MAGIC IN CONNECTICUT CLASSIC 150 ON
FRIDAY, MAY 26
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Stafford
Springs, CT — Mike
Stefanik enters this Friday night's 16th
Annual Connecticut Classic 150 at
Stafford Motor Speedway in a most
enviable position. Stefanik holds the
Whelen Modified Tour points lead
entering the event, and he is the Tour's
all-time winningest driver at Stafford
with 18 career victories. Along with his
18 career Whelen Modified Tour
victories, Stefanik has 11 Limited
Sportsman feature wins and two Busch
East Series feature wins at the
Connecticut half-mile. After a fourth
place finish at the Tech-Net Spring
Sizzler, Stefanik and the #16 Flamingo
Motorsports team tested recently at
Stafford, which makes them one of the
favorites to take the checkered flag.
"We tested last Wednesday, and I feel pretty good about the
fact that I'm coming back to Stafford
with a better piece than we had at the
Sizzler," said Stefanik. "I must have a
million laps around Stafford, and the
groove has moved lower on the track. We
worked on getting the car better for
that."
While no driver has ever won four Whelen Modified Tour events
at Stafford in a single season, Stefanik
has won three of four events three
times, a feat matched only by Tony
Hirschman last season, Ted Christopher
in 2002, and Reggie Ruggiero in 1987
when there were five Tour events at
Stafford. But as prolific as Stefanik
has been at reaching victory lane at
Stafford, he says that the track is
still one of the toughest tracks to
master.
"With all the laps I have around Stafford and all the wins,
we're still testing there, so it's
definitely a tough track," said
Stefanik. "I think that Stafford is a
track that is the crown jewel of
handling. If you can get your car
rocking and rolling at Stafford, I think
you can take your basic setup from
Stafford and go win anywhere we race on
the Tour. You look at a guy like Tony
Hirschman. He's talked for years about
how tough Stafford was to win at, and he
seems to have really hit on something
the last couple years at Stafford, and
he's been winning Stafford races. At the
beginning of each season, everyone wants
to run well and be a contender for the
championship. Then we get to Stafford
for the Sizzler and the reality sets in
of how tough it is to be a contender. We
race four times a year at Stafford, and
you definitely have to have your best
game to win at Stafford, it's just a
tough track to master." Perhaps the best
example of Stefanik's words comes from
taking a look at the current Whelen
Modified Tour points standings. The
top-4 drivers all have raced full time
either currently or previously at
Stafford on a weekly basis.
As important as track knowledge may be, race strategy
has also become a prevalent factor in
determining who will win a Tour race at
Stafford. The last several Spring
Sizzlers have been won using pit
strategy and Ted Christopher used a late
race pit stop last year to blaze through
the field on fresh tires to win the
Connecticut Classic. Stefanik says that
the correct strategy is important, while
he also feels that he holds an advantage
over the rest of the Whelen Modified
Tour field.
"Strategy is becoming more and more important," said
Stefanik. "There are three ways to win a
tour race. The first is to pit early and
then ride around waiting for the rest of
the field to pit; the second is to pit
around half-way and try to be the first
car off pit-road, which is the most
logical strategy; and the third is if
you have a wicked-fast car, you can pit
later than everyone and blow the field
away with fresh tires, which Teddy did
last year. Normally, I think you need
between 40 and 50-laps to driver through
the field on fresh tires. Most of the
time, you do what the leaders do because
you can't afford to get off sync with
them, unless you are the leader, then
you can make the call to pit or not to
pit. You can also win a race by not
pitting at all, but I don't think you'll
be seeing anyone trying that strategy.
We'll probably use the half-way
strategy, which is fine with me because
I have all the confidence in the world
in my pit crew. Eric Sanderson gives us
everything we need, and my guys usually
give me at least a couple spots on pit
road every time we come in, which works
for me because passing in the pits is a
whole lot easier than passing on the
track. My guys can put three tires on in
the time it takes some guys to put two
on, so I have a ton of confidence when I
come down pit road for fresh tires.
We've been using the Hoosier stock from
last season, and I think when we come
back to Stafford we'll be on the new
2006 Hoosier tires, which will be a
little softer and will wear a little
quicker than the tires we ran at the
Sizzler, so it should be an interesting
race."
Stefanik and the Whelen Modified Tour will take to the track
for time trials beginning at 5:30 to set
the 31-car field for the Connecticut
Classic 150, with the race scheduled to
get underway around 9:15pm. Tickets for
the 16th annual Connecticut Classic 150
are available and on sale now at the
Stafford Motor Speedway box office.
Tickets are priced at $30.00 for adult
general admission, $5.00 for children
6-14, and children 5 & under are free.
Reserved seating is available for
$32.00. Stafford Motor Speedway offers
plenty of free parking with overnight
parking available. The race is also part
of Youth Organization Month at SMS,
which means that any child age 6-14
wearing a youth organization team shirt
or uniform gets free general admission
when accompanied by an adult.
For more information, or to order tickets to the 16th Annual
Connecticut Classic 150, 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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THE END
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Source: Scott
Running/Stafford PR
Posted:
May 24, 2006 |
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