Zach Aszklar Wins 2012 Stafford Speedway SK Light Championship In Dramatic Fashion
Stafford Springs, CT — In one of the most improbable scenes in Stafford Motor Speedway history, Zach Aszklar was crowned the 2012 SK Light champion with a racecar that was damaged and bent on all four sides.
Aszklar entered the CARQUEST Fall Final with a 20-point lead over Tony Membrino, Jr. in the chase for the championship. A crash on a lap-14 restart saw Aszklar’s car get climbed up and over by the car of Dylan Kopec, which left Aszklar’s championship hopes seemingly doomed. Several laps later, Membrino got into the wall while trying to avoid a wreck in front of him, which ended his night early. Membrino’s crash transformed a disappointing night back into a promising night with Aszklar finishing high enough in the running order to make him the 2012 SK Light champion.
“I would say we got extremely lucky,” said Aszklar. “When I walked off the racetrack, I gave [Membrino] a thumbs up and said ‘oh well’. Five minutes later, I was in the pits, and no disrespect to Tony, I was jumping up and down for joy. Everyone I knew was up in the grandstands, and as soon as I went up to the grandstands, we all started going nuts. They thought they weren’t going to be able to get the car into victory lane, but we said tow it. I tried playing it safe and I guess some people’s goal was to have me not finish. We didn’t finish and we had the biggest pile of junk, but for once I was glad to have a wrecked racecar I guess. I couldn’t have done this without all my help, I have to thank Beecher and Bennett Funeral Services, Brothers Pool, New Generation Salon, Apollo Refrigeration, winning the championship is awesome.”
While Dylan Kopec was dominating the SK Light headlines early in the 2012 season with 4 wins in the first 5 races, Aszklar was steadily collecting top-5 finishes and quietly working his way into contention for the championship. While Kopec continued to win races throughout the year (his 8 wins were a division high), he also had 4 finishes of 15th or worse, which helped open the door for not only Aszklar, but Membrino to jump into championship contention.
The points lead see-sawed back and forth between Aszklar, Kopec, and Membrino, but Aszklar took control of the championship picture with a win and a second place finish in the last 2 races before the season ending CARQUEST Fall Final feature event. Aszklar’s strong finish helped him to become champion despite finishing 19th in the Fall Final feature.
With the SK Light division closing out only its seventh season of competition, every previous SK Light champion has gone on to the SK Modified® division and Aszklar is looking to follow that path as well for the 2013 season.
“We’re planning on moving up to the SK’s,” said Aszklar. “We’re not sure yet where we’re going to be racing next year, but we hope it’s at Stafford in the SK Modified® division.”
For the season, Aszklar posted 2 wins, a division leading 12 top-5 finishes, and 16 top-10 finishes for an average finish of 5.8 for the 19 race SK Light schedule.
Aszklar will officially be crowned the 2012 SK Light Modified track champion at the 43rd Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony on Friday, November 16, 2012 at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor.
For more information, 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