Stafford Speedway SK Modified® Rookie Contender John Montesanto Looks to Build Upon First Top-10 Finish
Stafford Springs, CT — Being a rookie in any sport, whether it be baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, or auto racing, can be a trying time as there are adjustments to make and nuances to pick up. Such is the case for SK Modified® rookie John Montesanto at Stafford Motor Speedway this season. Montesanto made the move up the ranks from the SK Light Modified division to the SK Modified® division and has found the road to success to be a bit bumpy in first several races of the 2010 season. But things seem to be headed in the right direction for Montesanto and his #43 J.M. Montesanto Autobody / Dairy Queen team as they finished 7th after starting 23rd in last Friday night’s SK Modified® feature event for their first ever top-10 finish.
“We finally got a decent finish,” said Montesanto. “It’s been a tough start to the season so far for us with mechanical problems and crashes. One of our goals coming into the season was to get a top-10 finish, and now that we have that, it would be really great if we could get into the top-5, but a top-5 finish in the SK Modified® division at Stafford is going to be tough to do.”
Montesanto enjoyed a great deal of success in the SK Light Modified division last season, scoring a victory along with 2 second and 2 third place finishes, which helped him to a 5th place finish in the points standings. But the move up the Stafford ladder to the SK Modified® division has brought a new car and new competition for Montesanto.
“This is a totally new car from what we ran last year,” said Montesanto. “We tried some new things with the setup on the car and we’ve found that as we’ve gone back to some of what we ran last year, we’re gaining on the setup. Every week we try to make small changes that will help us go faster, and we’ve been able to do that each week so far. We’re still a couple tenths off of where we need to be, but we’re picking up speed each week and we’re headed in the right direction with where we need to be with the car setup.”
Another factor that Montesanto and his team face is the step up in the level of competition that is found in Stafford’s SK Modified® division.
“I think the competition side is a key factor that we have to deal with,” said Montesanto. “On any given week, if you look at the time sheets, there is only a couple tenths of a second from the front runners down to the mid-pack cars. This top-10 finish will definitely help us out and we’re going to keep on moving forward. Hopefully we can get a few more top-10 finishes this year and being able to consistently finish the races would be good for us.”
Montesanto’s first career SK Modified® top-10 finish has vaulted him into second place in the race for the 2010 Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie of the Year chase, 36 points behind current rookie leader Brit Andersen, who is also a graduate of Stafford’s SK Light Modified division. If the team can put together a few more top-10 runs like last Friday night, they will be sure to fight with Andersen for the Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie of the Year title all year long.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.