Matt Galko Captures Second Consecutive SK Light Championship at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — After winning the SK Light Modified championship at Stafford Motor Speedway as a rookie driver last year, Matt Galko and the #20 Davidson Company team followed up that performance by becoming the first back to back champions in the SK Light division’s history at Stafford. In addition to becoming the first repeat champions in the division’s history, Galko is also the first driver to win multiple championships in the SK Light division.
“It feels good to win the championship, there’s really no words for it, I’m speechless,” said Galko. “It was amazing to win the championship once, and it’s that much better to do it two years in a row. It means so much with all the effort that my Dad and my family have put into the car. I really have to thank everyone, my Dad Dave, my Mom Debbie, my Grandfather Dave, Sr., my sister Tara, Tim Rowe, Jason Roy, Jeff Malave, and my girlfriend Jackie. I couldn’t have done this without all their help and support.”
While Galko was the champion of the SK Light division for the second consecutive season, his path to the championship was totally different from one year ago. Galko had led much of the 2010 standings before a crash left him trailing Tommy Barrett heading into the CARQUEST Fall Final feature, which he won to claim the championship. This season saw Galko in control of the championship fight for most of the year, and all he needed in this year’s CARQUEST Fall Final feature was a finish of 18th or better to be crowned champion.
“It was a lot different this year compared to last year,” said Galko. “Last year we had nothing to lose, so we took some chances and went for the win. This year, we led for most of the season and there was a lot more pressure going into the last race. I felt like it was our championship to lose this time, so we didn’t take as many risks and we just tried to finish the race because that’s all we needed to do. I think we were a little better this year, we had the same number of wins as last year, but we got our wins a lot earlier in the year than we did last year. We only had 2 DNF’s this year where last year we had some mechanical failures that took us out of races. It was a more consistent season for us and we didn’t have as many bad races as we did last year, which I think was the key to us winning the championship again.”
The SK Light championship wasn’t the only thing that Galko had to celebrate during the 2011 CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend. After winning the championship on Saturday, Galko made his SK Modified® debut on Sunday and he drove to a 10th place finish.
“The SK race was amazing,” said Galko. “I never thought we could do that well. There are some guys that can go an entire season without a top-10 finish, so it was great to be able to get a top-10 our first time out. It seemed like all the wrecks were happening right around us, so we had to dodge a few things. I can’t thank my Dad and Jeff Malave enough for putting the car together for me. We were worried on Saturday because the car wasn’t that good in the heat and we weren’t sure how many cars were going to be starting the race. It was really special for me to just be able to start the race, never mind finish in the top-10. And to be able to race alongside guys like Ted Christopher, Woody Pitkat, Keith Rocco, Doug Coby, James Civali, those are the guys that you come to see every Friday night and it was great to be racing with those guys, just an awesome experience for me.”
Galko will officially be crowned the 2011 SK Light Modified 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