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TODD PATNODE
LOOKING FOR REPEAT PERFORMANCE
IN VMRS 80 AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY |
 With
the Valenti Modified Racing Series set to make its
second of three 2015 appearances at Stafford Motor
Speedway, one driver who is looking forward to the
race is Richmond, NH native Todd Patnode. In what
was his first VMRS start at Stafford back in May,
Patnode started 13th and he methodically drove his
way through the field to end up fifth at the end of
the 80-lap feature in his #05 Allstate Asphalt
machine. With such a great result on his Stafford
debut, Patnode is excited about his chances for his
second visit to Stafford and a repeat of his top-5
effort.
“Yes, that’s what we’re hoping for,” said Patnode.
“We weren’t’ really expecting that our first time
out with the MRS at Stafford, but we were real happy
with the result. We ran Stafford once last year in
the SK’s but we had a Sportsman motor in the car so
basically I rode around and watched the field drive
away. It was a good surprise for us. We were
figuring to get a 10th place finish if we were
lucky. We hit the setup right out of the box and we
never made a change on the car all day long. I
thought the track drove fairly easily and the car
was stable throughout the whole race. We weren’t
close to the top-3 cars but we had some space
between us and Kirk [Alexander] to the guys who were
running behind us, so we were in a pretty
comfortable space during the race.”
As good as Patnode’s car was to come from 13th and
finish 5th, he thinks there is even more speed for
him and his #05 team to find this Friday night.
“We’re looking to repeat and get back into the
top-5” said Patnode. “I think the car was a twitch
off the last race and I think we can fix it and make
it even better than it was. We didn’t make any
changes to the car last time we were there, but I
think some of that was down to me getting
comfortable with the track. Once I was comfortable
with the track during the feature, I would have
changed one or two things on the setup.”
As Patnode will look to repeat or improve upon his
5th place finish this Friday, his lack of experience
at Stafford could throw a wrench into his plans. In
the prior 12 VMRS races held at Stafford, 9 races
have been won by drivers who were either current or
former weekly competitors at Stafford. Tommy
Barrett, Jr. leads the way with 3 wins, Keith Rocco
has 2 wins, and Ted Christopher, Ryan Preece, Todd
Szegedy, and Woody Pitakt have each won once.
Despite his lack of experience, Patnode is looking
forward to the challenge.
“It’s always hard to overcome experience on the
racetrack,” said Patnode. “Those guys know all the
weak spots on the track while I’m still learning the
track. I think we were off the pace just a bit
during the warmups but once I got out there and
started racing people during the feature, we found
speed pretty quickly. Once you figure out where the
lift points are and all that stuff, the rest of it
comes in pretty quick. Stafford is a super clean
facility, I think it’s the cleanest track we go to
during the year, and we love the track. Everyone
treats you real nice, there’s plenty of room in the
pits, and we’re looking forward to the race.”
The June 26 VMRS 80 will be the second of three
Valenti Modified Racing Series events to be held at
Stafford during 2015, with the third and final VMRS
race to be held on September 4th. Tickets for both
races are on sale now and 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. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission
Tax. Stafford Motor Speedway offers plenty of free
parking along with overnight parking for self
contained Recreational Vehicles.
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 Motor Speedway
Posted:
June 24, 2015 |
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