Joey Cipriano, III to Challenge for SK Modified® SPAFCO Rookie Honors at Stafford Speedway in 2013
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway’s SK Modified® 2013 rookie class has added SK Light standout and Waterbury native Joey Cipriano, III to its roster for the upcoming season. Cipriano will pilot the Steve Greer owned #19 Gunsmoke Stables entry and will try to win SPAFCO Rookie of the Year honors. Cipriano debuted with the Greer team for the final SK Modified® feature event of 2012 at the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, and he earned a top-10 finish coming home in 7th after starting the race in 18th. With limited practice leading up to his debut SK Modified® effort, Cipriano is looking to build on his Fall Final experience and carry over the momentum of that top-10 finish to his rookie season and the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler.
“I’m really excited about the season,” said Cipriano. “At the Fall Final we had the Friday practice get rained out, so we only had the Saturday practice and heat race to get the car ready for the feature. We lost a couple of spots in the final laps with all the restarts, but we still finished 7th after starting 18th, so I’m really looking forward to it. We have a lot of things that we can try on the car this year.”
After Cipriano’s top-10 finish in the 2012 CARQUEST Fall Final, he had no plans to run in the SK Modified® division for the 2013 season. But after sitting down and talking with his car owner, Steve Greer, a deal was worked out for Cipriano to drive the full 2013 season.
“Our plan is to run for Rookie of the Year with Joey,” said Greer. “We ran the Fall Final with Joey and he didn’t really have any plans after that. We talked with Joey and his family and things fell into place for us to run the full year. We’re very happy to have Joey as our driver and we’re looking forward to returning to Stafford to run full time in the SK Modified® division.”
“After the Fall Final, we talked with Steve and our original plan was to just do some of the bigger races,” said Cipriano. “We ended up working out a deal with Steve to run his car full time and winning Rookie of the Year is my goal. That was our goal for my first season in the SK Lights, but I was racing against Matt Galko and Tommy Barrett, Jr., so that was a real strong rookie class and we came up a little short. If I could win that award this year, that would be awesome for me and to be able to do it for Steve as well. This is his first full season as a car owner in the SK Modified® division so I’d really like to win it for him as well.”
Cipriano broke into Stafford’s SK Light ranks in 2010 with a third place finish in the points standings and one feature win. He followed that rookie campaign up with a 6-win season in 2011 that saw him finish second in the points standings. With an outstanding track record behind him and the run they had together at the Fall Final, Cipriano is confident that he can enjoy the same type of success in the SK Modified® division with the #19 Gunsmoke Stables Racing team.
“Steve has great equipment, I just need to be prepared and be where I need to be,” said Cipriano. “It was a huge confidence boost for me to get into as strong a field as there was for the Fall Final race and to be able to come up through the field and pass cars like we did. I’d like to be able to start the season off strong. If we can start strong, I think we could make a run at some wins later in the year. I know the car will be there and as long as I’m prepared and make as few mistakes as possible, if we can mix those two things together, I think we could have a great season. My MRS season was a bit disappointing last year and I lost a little confidence. We had some good runs, we just didn’t have the finishes to show for it. But I was real excited about how strong we were at the Fall Final last year and hopefully we’ll carry that over to this year.”
For a strong car to be successful, it needs a strong crew, and Cipriano says he has just that.
“We’re going to combine my crew from our MRS car with some guys from Steve’s crew,” said Cipriano. “Steve is the car owner, Earl Pelletier is the crew chief and his brother Kevin is going to help us out along with the guys from my MRS car. I’ve known Earl and Kevin since I was little and I’ve been with my guys since the SK Light days, so I think it will be huge that we are all able to get along and communicate well with each other.”
Cipriano’s car so far only has sponsorship from Gunsmoke Stables Racing, but the team is busy searching for additional sponsorship.
“Right now, we’re working on sponsors for the season,” said Cipriano. “Last year we had some great support from AVI Pumps, he’s been with me for 6 seasons since I was racing Legends cars, Prospect Street Automotive, MAC Tools, Creative Racing Products, Matt’s Vinyl Lettering, and Janetty Racing, so hopefully we can get some of them or even all of them to come back on board, which will really help us out in getting the car to the front.”
The 2013 SK Modified® season kicks off with the 42nd Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on April 26-28. Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” may be ordered by calling the Speedway 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 is $42.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the 42nd 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