Ronnie Silk Hoping to Regain Championship Momentum at Stafford In CARQUEST Fall Final
Stafford Springs, CT — When defending Whelen Modified Tour champion Ronnie Silk won at Bristol, he was second in the points standings, 27 points behind Doug Coby. After finishes of 18th and 9th in the next two races following his Bristol victory, Silk has fallen to third in the standings, but he has picked up another 8 points on Coby, and he is now 19 points behind Coby. While Silk thought the Bristol victory would be the gateway to bigger and better things for him and the #6 T.S. Haulers team, he says things quite haven’t gone to plan, but that he plans to rectify that situation over the final races of the season.
“I really thought the Bristol win was going to give us some momentum, but we didn’t run as good as we wanted to at Thompson or Riverhead,” said Silk. “Bristol is an awesome place to win a race at, it’s such a spectacle. I really thought that was going to get us going and get us on the right foot to start the end of the year, but it didn’t so we’re going to start that this weekend. If you look at the points, a couple weeks ago Doug was 40 something points ahead and now it’s down to 9. With us being third, we just want to fight for wins and win races. If we can do that, the points will take care of themselves.”
For Silk, the Stafford races have been both good and bad. He has finishes of 4th and 3rd in the April and May races, and he was running in the top-5 in the August race before a broken fuel pump helped relegate them to a 22nd place finish. But despite the up and down nature of his Stafford season thusfar, Silk is confident of his chances in the CARQUEST Fall Final on Sept. 29 & 30.
“We feel pretty confident coming to Stafford,” said Silk. “The last race I felt like we had a car capable of winning the race and we broke the fuel pump early. We got back out and we ran some really fast laps and the car drove really well. So I’m looking forward to going back to Stafford and if we can run like we did last time we’ll be in the middle of it as long as we don’t break another fuel pump. Doug [Coby] has been really strong at Stafford winning all three races, so I would say the odds are against him winning again, but we’ll see. Stafford is where I started racing and cut my teeth, so I’m looking forward to going back there.”
In preparation for the CARQUEST Fall Final, Silk says the track conditions should be somewhat similar to the CARQUEST Spring Sizzler in April, rather than the two races in May and August.
“I don’t think the race will be too much different,” said Silk. “The guys who are fast will qualify up front and whoever doesn’t have problems and makes the best changes throughout the race is going to win. It’s not a different format than what we’re used to running, so I think it’s going to be a typical Fall Final race. Normally at the beginning and the end of the year, the track has a lot of speed and grip in it, while the two summer races are a bit more challenging with the track being hot and having a lot of rubber on it. We know what it takes and what we need to do to the car to win. We just have to go out and do it and stay out of trouble. If you put yourself into position enough times, you’ll eventually win some of these races. The first step is to be up front and be in contention and then do what it takes at the end to win the race. And we also have to beat the 52 [Coby}.”
While Silk currently sits third in the standings, he has the experience of last season where he outdueled Todd Szegedy for the championship to fall back on. Silk also knows that he and his team have a tall order if they want to win a second consecutive championship.
“I dealt with all the championship stuff last year and we were able to win it, so I think that takes a little of the pressure off,” said Silk. “Winning one championship was a goal that everyone on the team had and it was great to achieve that. If we are able to do it two years in a row, that would make it all the more special with how good of a run we’ve had the last two years. But we have some work to do if we’re going to do that.”
Tickets for the September 29th & Sept. 30th 40th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend 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. All CARQUEST Fall Final tickets are good for admission on both Saturday and Sunday. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax and Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available.
For more information on the 40th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, 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