Dan Avery Riding High in Stafford’s SK Modified® Division in 2011
Stafford Springs, CT — After taking a hiatus from racing, Dan Avery returned to SK Modified® competition last year at Stafford and he finished the season in 7th place in points. The 2011 season has seen Avery and the #10 Budweiser team establish themselves as one of the division front runners with top-3 finishes in each of the first three races. Avery is currently sitting third in the SK Modified® points standings, only 8 points behind leader Ryan Preece.
“We’re happy with the consistency we’ve showed so far this year,” said Avery. “We still need to step our game up a little to beat the guys like Ryan Preece, Keith Rocco, and Ted Christopher, but we’re getting the car a little better every week. We’ve been a little tight in the turns, so each week we’re getting the car a little bit looser, but we don’t want to make the car too loose. Right now we’re real close, it’s a fine line. I think that if we can get another tenth of a second out of the car, we’ll be right there with those guys racing for wins. We’ve made a couple more changes to the car for this week, so we’ll see how that works out for us.”
In addition to sponsorship from Budweiser through Hartford Distributors, Avery also carries sponsorship from Trantolo & Trantolo, Picci Plumbing & Heating, and National Industrial Supply. While Avery has won in the SK Modified® division at Stafford previously, it has been nearly 20 years since he visited victory lane behind the wheel of an SK Modified® car. Avery was part of the driver crop during the inaugural season of SK Modified® competition all the way back in 1982 and he won 2 of the first three races the division ever ran at Stafford. With how the team is running this year, Avery feels like his third career SK Modified® victory is just around the corner.
“We’re knocking on the door and I feel with confidence that we can get a couple of wins this year,” said Avery. “Last year was a kind of getting back in the saddle kind of year to get used to things again. The cars in the SK Modified® division are so equal that when you start getting into the top-5 runners, the cars are only separated by a tenth of a second. If we can find that extra tenth in our car, we can be right there contending for wins. Ryan, Keith, and Teddy have all showed that they’re real fast this year, and those are the guys we have to catch up to. We don’t want to back into a win, we want to be able to go out there and take a win. The competition at Stafford is really tough, it’s not a cakewalk by any means.”
With another tenth of a second or two, combined with a little racing luck, Avery just may find his way back to CARQUEST Victory Lane for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Avery’s quest to return to victory lane continues Friday, May 20th as Stafford Speedway hosts Whelen Event Night. Tickets for the May 20th Whelen Event Night program are priced at $15.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and free for children ages 5 & under. Reserved seating is priced at $18.00 for all ages.
For more information, please contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR