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06/12/2014 |
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ROWAN PENNINK
SEEKS FIRST STAFFORD VMRS VICTORY
IN TOWN FAIR TIRE 80 ON JUNE 20th |
When
the Valenti Modified Racing Series makes its first
of three appearances of the 2014 season at Stafford
Motor Speedway on June 20th for the Town Fair Tire
VMRS 80, Rowan Pennink will be in search of his
first Stafford victory. Pennink has run well at
Stafford in the past with the #25 Monk’s Hand
Cleaner machine, recording 4 top-5 finishes in 8
career VMRS starts at Stafford. Among those top-5
finishes is two second place finishes and a third
place finish, but Pennink is still in search of his
first Stafford victory. Pennink has already scored a
win in 2014 at Monadnock and he is looking to make
the Town Fair Tire 80 his second win of the 2014
season.
“We’ve had some strong runs so far and we’re right
up there in the points again,” said Pennink. “We
just have to keep on plugging away and hopefully we
can get some more wins and see where we end up at
the end of the season. We’ve definitely been close
and we’ve always had fast cars at Stafford. We just
need to do our homework and get the car to go a
little better. It’s real close, we just need to find
a little bit and I think we’ll be in contention for
a win at Stafford this year for sure.”
The VMRS race format presents a unique challenge for
drivers. They must qualify on the tires that they
will race on and with no tire changes allowed this
season, teams have to devise a strategy that will
strike a balance between having the car not only be
fast, but be consistent on a long run.
“We run 80 green flag laps, so the actual distance
will probably be pretty close to the Whelen Modified
Tour 125-lap race we just ran at Stafford,” said
Pennink. “The VMRS races also allow for some
different strategy. On the WMT, you can change tires
or you can go the whole race without pitting like
Doug [Coby] did. We can’t pit and change tires in
the VMRS this season so you have to watch how you
race in the first part of the race to make sure you
have something left at the end of the race. With the
WMT car, we might set it up a little looser, which
is faster, while with the VMRS car we’ll probably go
a little on the tighter side with the setup to help
make the car good for a long run since we can’t
change tires during the race.”
In addition to looking for his first VMRS win in the
Town Fair Tire 80, Pennink will be looking to get
his 2014 season back on track with his #99 SK
Modified ride, which is owned by Bob Hitchcock and
Kelly Iverson. Pennink has had a fast car all season
long, but luck hasn’t been on his side and his best
finish thusfar has been a 19th place finish. Pennink
is confident it’s only a matter of time before he
starts seeing good results with his SK Modified®
ride.
“We definitely need to get the SK Modified® going,
we just haven’t had any luck this season,” said
Pennink. “The first race we finished 3rd and got
disqualified, the second race we flipped, and with
the race we were trying to finish for the past 3
weeks, we came from starting almost dead last up to
7th in the 8-laps we got in originally and then
before we could resume the race, the transmission
broke. Things haven’t been going our way, but the
car is among the fastest every practice session and
we just need to get some luck on our side. The team
with Jimmy Fuller and Bob Hitchcock has been really
good and I expect we’ll be running up front again.”
Tickets for the June 20th Town Fair Tire Valenti
Modified Racing Series 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 kids ages 6-14, and kids 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. Stafford Speedway offers free parking with free
overnight parking for self-contained RV’s available.
For more information on the Town Fair Tire VMRS 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:
June 12, 2014 |
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