Cody Gneiting Wins Reliable Welding And Speed Sk Light Modified Rookie Of The Year Honors At Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — The 2011 SK Light season at Stafford Motor Speedway saw Cody Gneiting outlast Tony Membrino, Jr. in a fight for the Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie of the Year award that came down to the final race of the 2011 season. Gneiting began his racing career in the quarter midget ranks, where he scored 6 championships before moving into the Allison Legacy Series. From there Gneiting made the move into the SK Light division, and he posted 3 top-5 and 10 top-10 finishes this season in the #89 MTV Solutions Pontiac to take home the Rookie of the Year honors.
“It was a pretty good season, but we wanted to do better,” said Gneiting. “It didn’t take too long to get used to driving the car, I think the biggest challenge was learning the other drivers since everyone has a different driving style.”
Gneiting came out of the box strong, with three top-10 finishes in his first four starts. By the halfway point of the 2011 season, Gneiting was cracking into the top-5 and challenging for wins.
“I think we could have won this season,” said Gneiting. “The car was fast enough to win and if we could have stayed out of trouble, I think we would have had a good chance at winning a race.”
As strong as Gneiting and the #89 team were this season, their rookie campaign was a season that was filled with uncertainty as to whether they would finish the season or not.
“At the beginning of the year, we didn’t have much of a budget, so we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to do a full season,” said Gneiting. “I have to thank our sponsors MTV Solutions, MT Electric, and Reliable Welding and Speed as well as my family for helping out a lot. I really have to thank Todd Owen for his help. Todd helped us out a lot when we wrecked the car and his help is what got us through the season. Todd was like another sponsor on the car and we couldn’t have done this without his help.”
While Gneiting was eager to capture his first victory this year, he says that he took a conservative approach in the final race of the year to secure the Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie of the Year title.
“Winning the Rookie of the Year was a big deal for everyone on the team and I didn’t want to let them down, so we took it easy at the Fall Final,” said Gneiting. “I’d like to be able to come back next season and hopefully we can find a sponsor to help things go a little bit easier for us next year.”
Gneiting will officially be crowned the 2011 Reliable Welding and Speed Limited SK Light Rookie of the Year at the 42nd Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony on Friday, November 18 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor.
Tickets to the 42nd Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony are $45 per person and can be ordered by calling the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (860) 684-2783, or by downloading an order form by CLICKING HERE and mailing the form to the track office.