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05/17/2012 |
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RYAN PREECE
LOOKS TO CONTINUE 2012 HOT STREAK IN
TSI HARLEY-DAVIDSON 125 AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY |
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Ryan Preece and the #16 Diversified Metals NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour team, the 2012 season couldn’t
have gotten off to a much better start than it has.
In the first three races of the 2012 season, Preece
and his team have won the pole position for all
three events, giving them four consecutive pole
positions dating back to the final race of 2011, and
they have led 361 of the 534 laps that have been
completed thus far. With Preece securing his first
victory since joining the #16 team for the last race
of the 2011 season last week at Monadnock, he is
looking to continue his hot streak when the Whelen
Modified Tour returns to Stafford next Friday night
for the 22nd Annual TSI Harley-Davidson 125.
“We’ve run pretty good, it’s a good season right
now, but there’s plenty of races left,” said Preece.
“I honestly couldn’t say why we’re running so well.
Sly [Szaban] knows what he’s doing, and whatever he
is doing is working for me and it’s definitely going
the way we dreamed so far. You don’t really get this
very often, so we’re kind of riding the wave right
now and see how long it lasts. 4 poles in a row is
an accomplishment in itself, I just read where Mario
Fiore was saying that only two other people have
done that, Mike Stefanik and Mike McLaughlin, so
that’s pretty cool.”
Preece enters the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 sitting
third in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points
standings, only 4 points behind defending champion
Ronnie Silk and three points behind CARQUEST
Tech-Net Spring Sizzler winner Doug Coby. With how
well the team has run in the first three races of
the 2012 season, combined with Preece’s experience
and track knowledge at Stafford, confidence is
running high for next Friday night’s TSI
Harley-Davidson 125.
“I feel that every track we go to, we go to do as
well as we can,” said Preece. “Did we expect to go
to Stafford and Monadnock and win the pole, no, but
right after practice we knew we had a car capable of
doing it. I know the team is more capable of winning
poles and races, I think that’s already been showed,
all we have to do is be in the right places and keep
doing what we’ve been doing and we should be pretty
good for the rest of the season. Everyone gets along
really well on the team, and when you go to the
races, you want to have fun. That’s what we’re
doing, we’re having a good time and things seem to
be going our way right now. Obviously at some point
we have to come down from cloud nine, but right now
we’re trying to stay up there.”
In each of the last two years on the Whelen Modified
Tour, the winner of the TSI Harley-Davison 125 has
gone on to win the championship that year. In
addition to Ronnie Silk last year and Bobby Santos,
III in 2010, Donny Lia in 2007 and Tony Hirschman in
2004 have also won the TSI Harley-Davidson 125 and
the championship in the same year. While Preece
would like to join that list of drivers, he cautions
it is still too early in the season to begin
thinking about points.
“It’s way too early, I won’t even start looking at
points until October,” said Preece. “To be where we
are this early in the season after what happened to
us at Thompson, it feels pretty good, but there’s
still a lot of racing between now and the end of the
year and a lot of things can happen. We’ll see how
it goes and hopefully things will go our way.”
Tickets for the 22nd Annual TSI Harley-Davidson 125
are available and on sale now at the Speedway Box
Office. Tickets 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 will be priced at $35.00 for all
ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission
Tax. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers free
parking with overnight parking available.
For more information on the 22nd Annual TSI
Harley-Davidson 125, 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: May
17, 2012 |
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