Ken Barry Excited About Lincoln Tech 80 at Stafford Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — After making his 2013 Valenti Modified Racing Series debut two weeks ago at Stafford Speedway, Ken Barry is looking forward to the Lincoln Tech 80 to be run this Friday night, Sept. 13th at Stafford. Although his duties of running the day to day operations at SPAFCO Race Chassis and Parts keeps his racing exploits to a minimum, Barry didn’t show much track rust as he finished a strong fourth after starting 13th. That effort has Barry excited about his chances of another good finish when the green flag waves on the Lincoln Tech 80.
“The last race was a lot of fun, one of the reasons why we picked Stafford is because I have a ton of laps there and I know the place so I don’t have to worry if I’m in the right place or not,” said Barry. “I’m not fighting learning the track all over again so it’s a little easier for me to do. You can make up for a little bit of the rust if you know the track. We thought we had a really good car after practice. The MRS is a tough division, you don’t get to practice on good tires so you kind of have to go by what you think you have until you put the new tires on for the heat race. We started 13th after the heat race and we blasted right up to the front so I knew we had a good car I just had to keep from burning the tires off. The hard part is not getting excited because you have a good car. I don’t race all that often and next thing you know you have a good car and you’re trying to keep yourself calm and time things to go at the right time of the race.”
Barry will be driving the same car that Jon McKennedy drove to CARQUEST Victory Lane in last year’s Lincoln Tech 80. With only two weeks in between the Shark Cycle 80 and the Lincoln Tech 80 at Stafford, Barry says that his #21 team can keep any setup changes to a minimum. That will not only help him, but he says that it will be a boost for other drivers as well.
“The amazing part is we’ve only changed one spring rubber different from the setup Jon used to win this race last year,” said Barry. “It’s pretty amazing since Jon and I are totally different drivers in what we like in the car but that package and that car works really well at Stafford. We’re going to make some small tweaks from the last race. We were still a little tight at the end of the race since the car didn’t free up as much as we thought it would. We’ll probably back it down one notch on the tighten up package and hope the track stays the same as it was 2 weeks ago. The guys who don’t run at Stafford that often will benefit from the 2 events running back to back. It’s almost like having two weeks of practice, everyone can go home and fix the problems they had and come back a little better than they were at the last race.”
Barry’s experience two weeks ago in the Shark Cycle 80 has also left him better prepared as to what he needs to do in order to put his #21 SPAFCO machine back into the winner’s circle.
“The key is to have better tires on the car at the end of the race than everyone else,” said Barry. “These races are all about tire conservation and putting yourself in the right position to race the last 20 laps. Steven [Masse] did a real good job of that last time. He got himself into position and kind of rode around and when it was time to go he had something left to go with. I think a lot will depend on the draw we get for the heat race. Last time we had to start last in our heat race and we had to use the car up to get qualified. There were a lot of cars at Stafford and I really didn’t want to have to go through the consi. We freed the car up a bit in the heat race so we had a shot to get qualified. Then it was a matter of once the race started you had to ride a little and take care of the car to make up for what you used up in the heat race. If you start up front you can kind of hang out in the top-5 or top-6 all night long and try to save your stuff and race with those guys at the end.”
With over 35 cars expected to be on hand in the Stafford paddock area for the Lincoln Tech 80, qualifying spots in the heat races will be at a premium for drivers as they would like to avoid having to qualify for the race through the consolation events.
Tickets for the September 13th Lincoln Tech 80, the last Friday night event of the 2013 season, 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 Lincoln Tech 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
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