Kevin Gambacorta Captures Second Career Limited Late Model Championship at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — For Stafford Motor Speedway Limited Late Model driver Kevin Gambacorta, the 2011 season played out like déjà vu all over again. After winning the DARE Stock track championship in 2004, Gambacorta claimed his first Ltd. Late Model track title in 2006 by the narrowest of margins, 2 points ahead of George Nocera. When the final checkered flag of the 2011 season fell on the Ltd. Late Model cars at the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, Gambacorta was again the champion, but by a 4 point margin over Nocera and a 6 point margin over Shawn Thibeault.
“It feels pretty good to be champion again,” said Gambacorta. “It feels just as good or even a little better than the last two championships. This was the best year I’ve ever had, our worst finish all year long was 7th place and the fact that we only won by a couple of points just shows how tough George and Shawn were this season. They had 4 or 5 wins each and we only had one win, but I figured they were both due for a bad race or two and as long as I didn’t have a bad race, we were going to be ok. This championship is more special because it’s the first championship I’ve won with a sponsor on the car who puts money and time into the car. I can’t thank Kurt and Rhonda Rafferty enough for their support and I’m really happy we were able to win this championship for them. We won the first DARE Stock championship and to be the first one to win two Limited Late Model championships is pretty neat.”
While Gambacorta was in the thick of the championship race all season long, he didn’t spend much time at the head of the standings. Gambacorta took the points lead for the first time at the midway point of the 2011 season following the July 1st feature event, and from there to the end of the season, it was a see-saw duel between himself and Thibeault with each driver taking turns at the front of the standings. Nocera put himself in the thick of the championship race with five top-2 finishes in the final 6 races of the season, but he came up just short of Gambacorta at season’s end.
“It seemed like it was between me and Shawn for most of the season and no one was talking about George, but once the track started impounding tires, it seemed like George was the car to beat instead of Shawn,” said Gambacorta. “It was back and forth between us for most of the season, but I wasn’t really nervous about it at all. I remember in 2006, I was nervous every week and that experience probably helped me stay calm this time around. We felt pretty good going into the last race, we had a 14 point lead, which is 7 spots on the track and we hadn’t finished worse than 7th all year long.”
As consistent as Gambacorta was all season long, he points to the Friday night of May 13th as a key to his championship effort.
“I have to thank Bill Davis and Marshall Usher for letting me use their car,” said Gambacorta. “It was real early in the season and we had broke the rear end in our car and we didn’t have a spare or enough time to fix the car if we did have a spare. They let me drive their car in the feature and without them giving me their car, we wouldn’t have won the championship.”
Gambacorta will officially be crowned the 2011 Limited Late Model track champion at the 42nd Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony on Friday, November 18, 2011 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor.
For more information, 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