Joey Cipriano Hoping For First Top-10 Finish In Shark Cycle 80 At Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — After 2 seasons in Stafford Speedway’s SK Light Modified division, Joey Cipriano made the move into the Valenti Modified Racing Series for the 2012 season. Cipriano has only made 2 starts thusfar this season, and he has had dreadful luck as an oil leak and a crash have left him with finishes of 34th and 24th. But with the VMRS heading to Stafford, Cipriano is hopeful of turning his luck around securing his first career VMRS top-10 finish in the 3rd Annual Shark Cycle 80 on Friday, August 31st.
“We’ve ran 2 MRS shows so far and we ran one weekly show at Star,” said Cipriano. “We’ve had a really good car, we just haven’t had a lot of luck. At Thompson, we only made 15 laps before we started leaking oil and then at Monadnock we were really good. We started 5th and we were up to 6th place by halfway, and someone from behind drove over my left front and broke the rack. A top-10 would be awesome for us. We want to run all 80 laps and be able to load the car on the trailer at the end of the night. That series is so tough, especially with the car count they have. It’s tough to qualify for the race, we just want to get through the night and not have to worry about doing too much to the car for the next race.”
With 7 feature wins and finishes of second and third in the points in his two seasons of SK Light competition, Cipriano is hoping that his track knowledge will give him an added boost for the Shark Cycle 80. Cipriano is hoping for both his first top-10 finish as well as his first finish of the 2012 season with the #84 AVI Pumps machine.
“Having 3 years experience at Stafford will definitely help,” said Cipriano. “I like going to tracks I’ve been to before, I know the people there and how to get around the track, but I also like going to new tracks. You get to see different things and you meet different people. We just want to qualify in the heat race and then have a solid run and finish the race. A top-10 would be awesome for us. We want to run all 80 laps and be able to load the car on the trailer at the end of the night. This series is so tough, especially with the car count they have. It’s tough to qualify for the race, we just want to get through the night and not have to worry about doing too much to the car for the next race.”
In addition to his VMRS ride, Cipriano will sit behind the wheel of a Late Model at Stafford for the very first time this Friday night. Cipriano will drive the #33 Siemon Company Chevrolet that is usually driven by Peter Thickett.
“This will be the first time for me in a full fendered car,” said Cipriano. “From the Legends to the SK Lights and now the MRS, everything has been an open wheeled car. When I got out of Legends cars, I wanted to get into a Late Model or an ACT or PASS car, but we ended up going the modified way. But I’m looking forward to it. The first thing will be learning how to get around. I came up last week to watch the Late Models to see if I could pick anything up from guys like Woody [Pitakt]. I could see they were driving them a lot differently than the SK’s or SK Lights but I think once I get out there I’ll figure it out. I’ll try to get behind someone in practice to learn.”
Tickets for the August 31st Shark Cycle 80 are available and on sale now at the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $27.50 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 $30.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information on the Shark Cycle 80, 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