Heather DesRochers Ready to Build Upon Rookie of the Year Winning Season in SK Modified® Division in 2012 at Stafford
Stafford Springs, CT — After several seasons and two victories in Stafford's SK Light division, Granby, MA native Heather DesRochers made a successful transition into Stafford's premier SK Modified® division for the 2011 season. DesRochers posted two top-10 finishes this year to finish in 16th place in the SK Modified® standings and win the Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie of the Year award in a nip and tuck battle with Brian Sullivan. Although her team faced a motor issue throughout the 2011 season, DesRochers was happy with her rookie season and is looking to build upon her rookie season in 2012 at Stafford.
"I think things went really well for us this year," said DesRochers. "We had some issues with the motor that we were sorting through for most of the year, so that hurt us a little with time to work on the car. Once we got the motor issue taken care of, we were able to focus on the car setup and we felt like we had it pretty close to where I could gain some experience. It was a learning year for us, but I felt like we definitely improved as the season went on."
Despite all the progress DesRochers and her team made during the 2011 season, they are in search of sponsorship to compete in 2012. Without a primary sponsor, DesRochers may not be able to get on the track at all during the 2012 season.
"We hope to have some great sponsors returning this year, but we lost a couple of sponsors from last year who will not be returning for 2012, so it will be a challenge for us this year," said DesRochers. "We have to buy fuel every week and tires, so we need a larger primary sponsor to run competitively the whole season."
DesRochers and her team are also searching for associate sponsors as well as a primary sponsor. Any interested parties can contact the DesRochers team through her website, located at www.heatherdesrochers.com.
Moving up a division can be a sometimes daunting prospect for a driver, but DesRochers said that she was able to adapt pretty quickly to the SK Modified® car and that there wasn't much difference between the two cars for any drivers who make the move up the Modified ladder in the future at Stafford.
"The first few laps during the Sizzler practice, I noticed the difference in power, but after a couple of times going out in the car, it felt pretty much the same as the SK Light," said DesRochers. "The longer races were nicer, running 40, 100, or 150 laps instead of the 20 laps was great. The biggest thing was the competition level in the SK division. We had some success in the SK Lights, but the competition level is so high in the SK division, that we kind of went back to the bottom of the food chain and we needed to fight our way back up the chain. The biggest thing for us was getting the motor in check and once we were able to do that, we could focus on the rest of the car. It certainly wasn't how we wanted the season to go with reliability, but the races were able to finish, we stayed out of trouble and got some seat time and experience."
The 2012 SK Modified® season kicks off with the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, scheduled for April 27-29, 2012. Tickets for the CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler are available and on sale now through the SMS Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating will be priced at $42.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information on the 41st Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, or to order tickets, 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