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09/14/2012 |
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VALENTI MODIFIED RACING SERIES POINTS LEADER JON McKENNEDY
LOOKING TO CONTINUE GOOD FORTUNES AT STAFFORD IN LINCOLN
TECH 80 |
For
current Valenti Modified Racing Series points leader Jon McKennedy, Stafford
Motor Speedway hasn't always had the best results for the Chelmsford, MA
native. But the 2012 season has seen turn of fortunes for McKennedy at
Stafford. After finishing 18th in the May Whelen Modified Tour event at SMS,
McKennedy finished fourth in the ISMA Supermodified feature in June and
seventh in the August WMT event before finishing third two weeks ago in the
Shark Cycle 80 VMRS race. McKennedy hopes to continue his good fortunes at
Stafford when he takes the green flag for this Friday night's Lincoln Tech
80.
"The last few years, Stafford has been a struggle for me," said McKennedy.
"This year, we've run a lot better there with the Super as well as the Tour
races, and the MRS race a couple weeks ago. I definitely feel a lot better
there and a lot more confident. We're looking forward to the race this
Friday and I think we can run a little bit better."
McKennedy started the Shark Cycle 80 from 9th and he ran as high as second
in the race before finishing third behind Tommy Barrett, Jr. and his closest
VMRS championship rival, Rowan Pennink. With only two weeks between that
race and the Lincoln Tech 80, McKennedy is feeling confident that he and his
team can build on what they learned in the last race and apply that towards
an even better finish this Friday night.
"The third place certainly helped things, it gave everyone some hope going
into Friday, and it gave us a lot of good notes to work on and adjust," said
McKennedy. "There's a lot of tough competition, but we know what we need to
do differently with the car, it was a little tight the last race. We took
good notes as far as what we did for adjustments and what the car was doing.
When we go back, we can certainly apply all that and I don't see why we
can't run good and have a good chance at winning the race. I think the
biggest thing will be to stay out of trouble and at this point of the year,
we're basically racing [Pennink], so we'll see what happens. I would love to
win at Stafford, I've won at just about every track on the MRS schedule, so
if we could get a win at Stafford, that would be good for the team and give
us some momentum for the rest of the year."
The old racing adage that the more laps a driver can get around a track, the
better they run at that track certainly applies to McKennedy's Stafford
efforts this year. He credits a great crew along with more track time and
some help from a former Stafford weekly competitor as the reasons for his
Stafford turnaround.
"I have good people helping me out and Kenny Barry has been helping me with
the groove," said McKennedy. "Kenny has always run pretty well at Stafford.
That's been a big help and this year I've been able to get a lot of laps at
Stafford with the two Whelen Modified Tour races, the Supermodified race,
and the last VMRS race. It definitely helps to have a lot of laps at
Stafford this year, where in the past it seemed like I was only racing once
a year at Stafford. So I've had a lot of laps and good people helping me out
and that's made a big difference."
Tickets for the September 14th Lincoln Tech 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 is priced at $30.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT
Admission Tax. Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with overnight
parking available.
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. |
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Source: Scott Running / Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted: September
14, 2012 |
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