Cliff Saunders Rides Consistent Season All The Way To The 2012 Dare Stock Championship At Stafford
Stafford Springs, CT — For Cliff Saunders, the 2012 season at Stafford Motor Speedway was a dream ride that concluded with Saunders celebrating his very first track championship. Saunders’s chief championship rival, Austin Bessette was the winner of the CARQUEST Fall Final feature, but just as he had done all season long, Saunders rode his #4 American Sleeve Bearing Chevrolet to a third place finish to win the championship.
Saunders served notice early in the year that he was going to be a championship contender with second place finishes in three of the first four races of the season. Saunders was only able to win twice during the 2012 season, but his worst finish of the entire year was an 8th place finish on August 17th and he finished in the top-5 in 15 of the 19 DARE Stock races held this season.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Saunders. “I really have to thank Barry Fluckiger for working with me this year, that’s what really made the difference. I’ve been close before, I’ve been second in points twice, and this year I was really hoping we could get the championship. Everything just really worked out, every week we might not have had the best car, but we had a really consistent top-5 car. The last race, I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t get caught up in anyone else’s mistakes and get to the finish. I have to thank Barry Fluckiger, American Sleeve Bearing, Fusick Automotive Products, RAD Automachine, Alltech Specialty Fasteners, my mom, John Berardi has helped me the last couple weeks, and Jon and Tom Butler have helped me a lot, it just really means a lot to have so many people helping me out.”
For the season, Saunders won twice and he led the division with 15 top-5 and 19 top-10 finishes for an average finish of 3.6 in the 19 race DARE Stock schedule.
Stafford’s DARE Stock drivers were well represented in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division 5 national standings with three drivers in the top-10. Kyle Casagrande finished 7th, Austin Bessette finished 8th, and Saunders finished 9th.
Saunders will officially be crowned the 2012 DARE Stock track champion at the 43rd Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony on Friday, November 16, 2012 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor.
For more information, 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