Valenti Modified Racing Series Points Leader Jon Mckennedy Looking to Continue Good Fortunes at Stafford in Lincon Tech 80
Stafford Springs, CT — For current Valenti Modified Racing Series points leader Jon McKennedy, Stafford Motor Speedway hasn’t always had the best results for the Chelmsford, MA native. But the 2012 season has seen turn of fortunes for McKennedy at Stafford. After finishing 18th in the May Whelen Modified Tour event at SMS, McKennedy finished fourth in the ISMA Supermodified feature in June and seventh in the August WMT event before finishing third two weeks ago in the Shark Cycle 80 VMRS race. McKennedy hopes to continue his good fortunes at Stafford when he takes the green flag for this Friday night’s Lincoln Tech 80.
“The last few years, Stafford has been a struggle for me,” said McKennedy. “This year, we’ve run a lot better there with the Super as well as the Tour races, and the MRS race a couple weeks ago. I definitely feel a lot better there and a lot more confident. We’re looking forward to the race this Friday and I think we can run a little bit better.”
McKennedy started the Shark Cycle 80 from 9th and he ran as high as second in the race before finishing third behind Tommy Barrett, Jr. and his closest VMRS championship rival, Rowan Pennink. With only two weeks between that race and the Lincoln Tech 80, McKennedy is feeling confident that he and his team can build on what they learned in the last race and apply that towards an even better finish this Friday night.
“The third place certainly helped things, it gave everyone some hope going into Friday, and it gave us a lot of good notes to work on and adjust,” said McKennedy. “There’s a lot of tough competition, but we know what we need to do differently with the car, it was a little tight the last race. We took good notes as far as what we did for adjustments and what the car was doing. When we go back, we can certainly apply all that and I don’t see why we can’t run good and have a good chance at winning the race. I think the biggest thing will be to stay out of trouble and at this point of the year, we’re basically racing [Pennink], so we’ll see what happens. I would love to win at Stafford, I’ve won at just about every track on the MRS schedule, so if we could get a win at Stafford, that would be good for the team and give us some momentum for the rest of the year.”
The old racing adage that the more laps a driver can get around a track, the better they run at that track certainly applies to McKennedy’s Stafford efforts this year. He credits a great crew along with more track time and some help from a former Stafford weekly competitor as the reasons for his Stafford turnaround.
“I have good people helping me out and Kenny Barry has been helping me with the groove,” said McKennedy. “Kenny has always run pretty well at Stafford. That’s been a big help and this year I’ve been able to get a lot of laps at Stafford with the two Whelen Modified Tour races, the Supermodified race, and the last VMRS race. It definitely helps to have a lot of laps at Stafford this year, where in the past it seemed like I was only racing once a year at Stafford. So I’ve had a lot of laps and good people helping me out and that’s made a big difference.”
Tickets for the September 14th Lincoln Tech 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 is 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 Lincoln Tech 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