Duane Provost Hoping New Car Can Take Him to New Heights in Stafford Speedway’s Ltd. Late Model Division in 2013
Stafford Springs, CT — For Indian Orchard, MA native Duane Provost, the 2013 season at Stafford Motor Speedway represents a fresh chance to get to victory lane with a new car. Provost was enjoying a great 2012 season with 10-top-10 finishes in the first 13 races, including three second place finishes. But his 2012 season came to a premature end when a crash in the non-points PASS race in late August left his car beyond repair. Provost finished out the 2012 season in the DARE Stock division, but he is ready to get back into Ltd. Late Model competition with a new car.
“Over the winter, I sold my DARE Stock to Gus Coelho and we bought the former 27 car,” said Provost. “The car has a new clip on it where my old car still had a stock front end on it and it had been pulled back together a few times. I’ve been busy making a lot of changes to the car to get it ready and since I’m mostly a one-man crew, my garage time has been limited to mostly weekends. I always give it 100% and do the best I can and I’ll be trying my hardest to get back into victory lane this year. I really have to thank Barry Fluckiger from Fluckiger Race Chassis for helping me out with the car, Donny Wood from R.A.D. Automachine for the great power, and most of all I have to thank my wife Gypsy for allowing me to keep on racing.”
Since making his debut in the Ltd. Late Model division at Stafford in 2010, Provost has gradually improved his position each season. He finished 8th in the points as a rookie, and improved that to a 6th place finish in 2011 with his first career Ltd. Late Model victory. Provost was sixth in points at the time of his wreck in the PASS race last year, only 22 points behind third place. After several close calls last year, Provost is ready to steer his #88 Gus’ Auto Chevrolet back into the winner’s circle in 2013, but he is tempered in his expectations for the season.
“For the most part, we didn’t run too badly last year,” said Provost. “We weren’t going to win the championship last year, that was between Cory [Casgrande] and Josh [Wood], but I think we definitely would have had a top-5 finish. We had a couple of second place finishes last year and I feel like I should have probably had a couple of wins. There were a couple of nights where we were running up front that we kind of got knocked out of the way and we lost out on a couple of late restarts. I’m keeping my expectations for 2013 to a minimum so I’m not putting any additional pressure on myself to go out and meet my goals. A championship would obviously be the ultimate goal, but I think if I can end the season with a top-5 or top-3 finish in the points, that would be great for me. Ultimately, I’d like to have a few wins, keep the car in one piece throughout the year, and have a better finish than we did last year. If we could win a race early in the year, it would definitely give us a lot of momentum and confidence for the remainder of the season. If it doesn’t happen early in the year, then we’ll just push harder to put the car into victory lane.”
Provost will have his first opportunity to drive into CARQUEST Victory Lane during 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