Rowan Pennink Looks to Keep Strong 2013 Season Going in Modified Racing Series 80 at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — When the Valenti Modified Racing Series makes its first of three appearances of the 2013 season at Stafford Motor Speedway on June 21st for the MRS 80, Rowan Pennink will look to keep his stellar season going and come away with a good finish to maintain his points lead. In the first three races of the 2013 season, Pennink has a win at Monadnock and he is the only driver to have recorded top-5 finishes in each of the first three races. Pennink is currently tied with Louie Mechalides for the points lead and he will be looking for another top-5 finish at Stafford to extend his points lead over the rest of the MRS field.
“We’ve been running pretty good with the MRS car this year,” said Pennink. “We finished fifth at Seekonk so hopefully we can come to Stafford in a couple of weeks and finish in the top-5 there and maybe get a win. I think we have a good shot at winning. Gary’s [Cretty] car always runs well at Stafford and we’ve come close a couple of times before. A couple times we got beat out at the end of the race and we finished second, and a couple other times we were running up front and we had motor issues, so I think we’ll have a good shot at it. I think our two strongest tracks with the MRS car are Stafford and Thompson and we have 2 more shots at Thompson and 3 races at Stafford, so hopefully we can put some distance between us and the rest of the guys and get a good point lead.”
In addition to leading the MRS standings, Pennink is currently third in the SK Modified® standings at Stafford driving the #89 car for Kelly Iverson and Bob Hitchcock. Pennink says that the extra track time he has had this season will be a great benefit to him as he seeks his first MRS victory at Stafford.
“Driving 18-20 races a year at a track will always help your driving skills and staying on top of your game,” said Pennink. “Most of the guys who race as many times as they can every year seem to be the guys who run up front every week. Any time you can race it helps you and the guys on the 89 team have put together a good car and we have a good time at Stafford.”
For Pennink and the rest of the MRS field, the challenge to fight for victory will begin in the qualifying heats. The MRS has a new qualifying procedure where the starting field is set heads up by where drivers finish in their heat race with a small twist. The winner of the first heat race draws a number to invert the top 3, 6, 9, or 12 cars for the feature. With the unique qualifying system, drivers have to find a balance between finishing as high up in the field as they can in the heat race while trying to be easy enough on the tires to have a car they race for the win with in the feature.
“You really have to go as hard as you can without hurting the tires in the heat,” said Pennink. “You have to pass cars to get a good starting spot for the feature, but that’s tough to do because everyone in the heat is on brand new tires. We’ll have to see how hard everyone else is going in our heat. If I have to push the car too hard in the heat, then we’ll probably lay back a bit and wait until they start wearing their stuff out in the feature and then we’ll have an easier time getting by them in the race.”
Tickets for the June 21st MRS 80 are available and on sale now at the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $27.50 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 $30.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the MRS 80, 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