Doug Coby Looks to Continue Hot Streak at Stafford Speedway in CARQUEST Fall Final
Stafford Springs, CT — Since the beginning of September, perhaps no driver has been hotter in the Whelen Modified Tour ranks than Doug Coby. Coby finished second at Delaware Speedway in Canada, and then won both portions of the North-South Shootout at Thompson Speedway before crashing out of the Lime Rock race while in the lead. After the Tour stops in New Hampshire, Coby will return to Stafford for the CARQUEST Fall Final 150, where Coby has been fast, but doesn’t have the race finishes that reflect that speed.
“We’re looking forward to coming back to Stafford,” said Coby. “We’ve won two out of the three poles at Stafford this year and we’ve run really well. We had a part break at the Sizzler when we were running third, we were a little off in the May race, and we were leading the August race until we spun in traffic and we had to fight our way back up to ninth. Usually the track changes in the fall and gets a little faster. We’re coming back with the car we ran in the Sizzler and the May race, so we’re looking forward to another good run. It helps that we won both shows at Thompson and we had a top-5 car at Lime Rock, but I screwed up and crashed while leading.”
Coby won the pole and led 72 of 150 laps in the Whelen Modified Tour’s last stop to Stafford in August, and he has two third place finishes in two Modified Racing Series starts at Stafford to go along with his pole position in the April CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler. Coby says that he will have to lean on that qualifying experience, as a good starting position will be a key to winning the CARQUEST Fall Final.
“I think that qualifying well at Stafford is equally as important as the short tracks we run on to have track position for the start of the race,” said Coby. “The Sizzler is 200-laps so qualifying isn’t that important for that race, but for the 150-lap races it’s very important. I think that the experience I have at Stafford will help with having to lay down a good qualifying lap. With Stafford, you usually see one of three things, you either short pit, pit with the leaders, or you don’t pit at all, and sometimes strategy doesn’t allow any one of those three things to happen. But I think we’ll be a contender among the top-5 cars and if things go our way, we can be up front and contending for the win. We’re a little far out of championship contention right now and there’s three races left and we’re going to try to win all three of them.”
The 39th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend kicks off on Friday, Sept. 30 with pit gates opening at 12:00pm with a practice session running from 2:00pm to 6:30pm for Stafford’s weekly divisions. The General Admission grandstands will be open to the public at no charge for the practice session. The G.A. Grandstands will open at 2pm.
Action continues on Saturday, Oct. 1 with Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour cars at 2:15pm, followed by heat and consolation races for Stafford’s weekly divisions. Saturday’s events wrap up with feature events for Stafford’s SK Light Modified, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions.
The CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend continues on Sunday, Oct. 2 with the famous Stafford CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party kicking off the day’s activities from 11:00am to 12:00pm, with the final SK Modified® and Late Model feature events of 2011 being accompanied by the Whelen Modified Tour 150-lap CARQUEST Fall Final. Tickets for the CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are available and on sale now at the Stafford Motor Speedway Box Office.
Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult General Admission, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 & under are free. Reserved seating is $38.00 for all ages. All tickets cover both Saturday and Sunday admission to the Fall Final. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking available. Tickets can be ordered by calling the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783.
For more information, 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