Ryan Posocco Locks Up Record Sixth Late Model Track Title at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — Since Ryan Posocco joined the #48 Davidson Company sponsored Kretschman Motorsports team prior to the 2008 season, that combination has been the team to beat when it comes to Late Model competition at Stafford Motor Speedway. This past Sunday at Stafford, Posocco and the Kretschman team locked up their third championship in the past four seasons, which was Posocco’s record sixth Late Model championship at the track. The championship run brought to a possible end one of the dominant driver/team combinations that has been seen at Stafford in any division.
“This is bittersweet, this is the last ride in the 48,” said Posocco. “I have to thank the crew, Pat and Marci Kretschman, 4 years of awesome racing, my Dad, everyone on the crew. We’re happy to be here, number 6, I would have never guessed it being a little kid sitting in turn 4 that I would have 6 championships. I’m not 100% sure what the deal is, but I believe it’s the last ride in the 48. We wanted to go out on a high note and I think we accomplished that. It’s been a great four years with those guys, they’ve done a lot for me, and I can’t thank them enough and this was the best way to end it.”
Posocco took the points lead for the first time after the second race of the 2011 season, but he would lose that points lead several weeks later with a 15th place finish. It wasn’t until Posocco recorded his first feature win of the season on July 15th that he retook the points lead, and once he was in the points lead, he held that spot for the remainder of the 2011 season. Woody Pitkat applied pressure to Posocco and the Kretschman team in the championship chase by posting 14 consecutive top-4 finishes after a slow start to the year, but it was not enough to overtake Posocco in the championship fight.
“We had our normal pattern to the season, we started slow, then we picked it up in the summer, and then we weren’t quite as good as Woody was the last couple weeks of the season,” said Posocco. “We knew if we kept finishing where we were finishing that we would be ok, but just like last year, anything can happen in those last couple of races. I would rather have been in Ryan Preece’s position and had the points race wrapped up with one race to go. Anything can happen and you can never be comfortable until it’s over.”
The 2011 championship puts a cap on one of the most dominant runs in Stafford’s history. In 4 seasons together, Posocco and the #48 Kretschman team posted 17 wins, 53 top-5, and 67 top-10 finishes in 72 races and they won the championship in 3 of those 4 seasons. Posocco’s 6 championships and 45 victories currently stand as Stafford Motor Speedway records for the Late Model division.
“For sure the numbers speak for themselves,” said Posocco. “It’s going to be tough to walk away, we’ve had some really good times in 4 years together. When you spend that much time together, you become more than racers, you become really good friends. Records were made to be broken and I’m sure that someday all my records will be broken.”
Posocco will officially be crowned the 2011 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