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DOUG COBY
LOOKING FOR REPEAT OF SIZZLER PERFORMANCE
IN TSI HARLEY-DAVIDSON 125 AT STAFFORD |
When
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was last at Stafford
Speedway in April for the NAPA Spring Sizzler®, the
weekend was dominated by Doug Coby and the #2
Dunleavy’s Truck and Trailer Repair team. The Mike
Smeriglio owned team backed up a Saturday pole run
with a dominating Sizzler® victory, leading 193 of
200 laps on Sunday. When the Tour returns to
Stafford on June 3rd for the TSI Harley-Davidson
125, Coby is hoping to have a car that as good as
the the Sizzler® car.
“The Sizzler® was comparable to some of the best
cars I’ve ever had,” said Coby. “There’s been a
couple of races at Stafford, even when I was driving
the 52 car that have been that good but it’s rare. I
don’t know if the car would have come from like 15th
to win the Sizzler®, but it was really good to be
out front. We don’t necessarily show up with the
fastest car right out of the box. I think we were
like fourth and seventh in the two Sizzler®
practices. We worked at the car all day and when the
car is a little off, I have enough laps at Stafford
to know exactly what I want in each corner at
Stafford and we tweak on the car. The only worry is
if we end up making the car slower with some of our
adjustments. We’ll take things one step at a time
depending on how our practice session goes.”
Whether Coby and the #2 team can replicate the
dominance they displayed during the NAPA Spring
Sizzler® is yet to be determined, but the car that
the team will be bringing to Stafford has an
impeccable pedigree.
“The car we’ll be bringing to Stafford has only
raced Loudon and the Fall Final last year and the
Sizzler® this year, so it has a pretty good track
record with 3 poles and 3 wins,” said Coby. “This
will be the first time we’ve raced this car at
night, so it’ll be interesting because we don’t
necessarily know what the car will want for a night
race. I think the car will be fast and if we can
qualify in the top-4 that will be a good start for
the shorter 125-lap race.”
Coby and the #2 team have won the pole and the race
for the last 2 NWMT races at Stafford and 3 of the
last 5. While they’ve been the team to beat in
qualifying at Stafford, Coby says that a combination
of things need to happen in order to have a fast lap
during qualifying and that the one hour of practice
that the NWMT teams will have for the TSI
Harley-Davidson 125 will go a long ways towards
determining if the #2 car will once again be a pole
candidate.
“A lot of qualifying on the pole has to do with
where you go out in the order and then how much do
you screw up one of your laps,” said Coby. “We
always joke with each other after qualifying that we
screw up one of our two laps just about every time.
It’s hard to put together two perfect laps and
sometimes the car will not do the right thing on the
first lap and you overdrive the second lap and you
go slower. The list can go on and on. I just have to
give good feedback to the guys and let them know
what the car wants for that day. I think we’ll be
close and hopefully we can either be on pole again
or be close because that makes things easier during
the race that you can set a pace out front.”
A major difference for teams will be the race
distance coming from 200 laps down to 125 laps. With
75 fewer laps for the race distance, Coby says that
the strategy options for this race can go several
different ways and that each option could be a
winning option.
“I think this race is one where someone might be
able to pit and come through the field, or depending
on how things fall, you might see no one on pit road
during the race,” said Coby. “This race is a huge
strategy change from the Sizzler® coming from a
pitting standpoint. We won’t need to pit for fuel.
If the car isn’t handling, you’re going to pit and
make some changes but I kind of like my option of
not pitting the best.”
The June 3rd TSI Harley-Davidson 125 will be the
second of four Whelen Modified Tour events to be
held at Stafford during the 2016 season. The NWMT
returns to Stafford August 5th for the Stafford 150
and then October 1-2 for the NAPA Fall Final.
Tickets for all three NWMT events are available and
on sale now. Tickets for the June 3 TSI
Harley-Davidson 125 are priced at $33.00 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 $35.00 for all ages. All ticket
prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information, 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 Speedway
Posted:
May 27, 2016 |
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