Michael Gervais, Jr. Looks to Build On Breakout 2012 Season in Stafford’s SK Modified® Division this Year
Stafford Springs, CT — For Southbury native Michael Gervais, Jr., the 2013 SK Modified® season at Stafford Motor Speedway will be an opportunity to continue his upward trend in the track’s premier racing division. Gervais was the 2009 SK Light track champion at SMS and he moved into the SK Modified® ranks in 2010, posting three top-10 finishes on his way to a 21st place finish in the points standings. Gervais followed that up with two top-5 and 8 top-10 finishes in 2011 to claim 10th place in the points. Although he was a track champion, Gervais had yet to win a race at Stafford. But that all changed last year as Gervais won twice and posted 7 top-5 and 13 top-10 finishes to end the season third in the points. With the 2013 season just over the horizon, Gervais is hoping to continue his climb up the standings and be a championship contender.
“We’re coming back with the same equipment as last year, but it’s freshened up,” said Gervais. “Going into last year, we had been pretty close to winning a race and we were fortunate enough to get two wins. We worked on improving our finishes and we managed to finish up front a lot last year and hopefully we can do the same thing again this year. We’ve gradually improved our finish every year since we started SK racing, so we’re hoping we can continue that positive trend and maybe even improve two more spots at the end of the year. We learned a few things with the setup last year and I don’t see why we can’t continue from last year. I’d like to say we’re going to win the championship, but we’re just going to try to do the best we can week by week and see how things go.”
Gervais entered the 2012 season without a feature victory to his name, but he and his #22 Gervais Brothers Roofing / NJK Automotive team served notice right away that they were among the fastest cars at Stafford. Gervais finished 7th in the season opening CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler feature and then recorded two podium finishes before capturing his first victory on May 25th with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in the house for the TSI Harley-Davidson 125. The podiums and victory saw Gervais as the early season points leader, but a blown engine in the Coors Light 100 derailed the team’s momentum for the next several weeks as they waited for their primary engine to be rebuilt.
“We lost our spec motor in the 100-lapper last year, and our old motor just wasn’t as strong as our spec engine,” said Gervais. “I feel like if that hadn’t happened to us, we would have had an even better season than we did. But hopefully that’s behind us and we’re real happy with T/A Engines, we’ve been with them since we started racing at Stafford. Winning like we did early in the year definitely gave us a lot of confidence for the rest of the year knowing that we could get to victory lane.”
Helping Gervais on his quest to carry over the momentum of his 2012 season into the 2013 season will be his father Mike, Sr., Uncle Gary, Nick and Steve Kopcik, Ray Griffen, and Zack Zeno with sponsorship from NJK Automotive, Arbitell Convenience Stores, Hocon Industrial Gas, Dave Smith, Ribbe Construction, Newtown Fair Auto, and Mark Edwards Siding and Roofing. With a good crew and a healthy list of sponsors, Gervais is confident that he can again be one of the front runners this season.
“Last year we learned a few things with the setup, and a lot of things really came together for us,” said Gervais. “The start of the season can’t come soon enough and we’re all excited to see what the new year will bring for us.”
The 2013 SK Modified® season will kick 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