Joey Cipriano Looking For First SK Modified® Victory in NAPA SK 5k
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(Stafford Springs, CT)—After winning 7 races in 2 seasons of SK Light competition at Stafford Speedway, Waterbury native Joey Cipriano is still in search of his first victory in the track’s premier SK Modified® division. Cipriano has had several other close calls, such as last Friday night when he was dueling with Ryan Preece for the win before the two cars ended up in the turn 4 wall coming to the white flag. Cipriano and his #84 AVI International team have been busy at their shop this week, putting their car back together and Cipriano says that a win this Friday night would be huge for his team on so many levels.
“We just got the car back yesterday and we’re getting the engine back today,” said Cipriano. “A win in the SK 5k would be huge. It would be amazing for our first win to come in the biggest race of the year. Everyone comes to the track to win every Friday night, but everyone really brings their A-game for this race. It would really show how hard everyone on this teams works, especially after the week we’ve had putting the car back together. I can’t say enough about all of my crew guys, Cliff Burrell, Ryan Plourde, Joe Cipriano, Tim Plourde, Andy Brockway, Billy Mordenti, Billy Walcott, Sylvia Crunden, and Dana Jannetty. They all work 8 hour jobs during the day and then to come work at the shop for nothing; it means the world to me that they’re helping me out and I’d love to be able to win the race for them. Winning that race and taking home the $5,000 winner’s check would be a great way for us to bounce back from last week. We haven’t had any luck yet in the extra distance races. Two years ago the car broke and then last year we got caught up in a wreck, so maybe this year will be the race to get our luck turned around. We haven’t finished a race for the past 4 weeks so it would really be nice to be the first car to finish the 100 laps this Friday night.”
In his first two and a half seasons of SK Modified® competition, Cipriano has come agonizingly close to winning a race. Cipriano has finished second three times and he has two more podium finishes during his time in the SK Modified® division. Cipriano knows how to win at Stafford and he feels like his team has the equipment to win, it’s just a matter of putting everything together.
“It’s been frustrating because we had success in the SK Lights and won a lot of races,” said Cipriano. “We moved up to the SK’s and we’ve run well and come so close but we haven’t been able to put a whole race together yet. We have the equipment to win and everyone is working their hardest to get everything right. I’ve never had to work this hard to win a race before, it’s such a competitive field in the SK Modified® division. Last week was disappointing because we were so close, but it also was good for my confidence to know that we were running right with Ryan and Rowan when their cars were really good. We’ve shown before we can run with those guys and we showed it again we just came up a little short. Everyone has been putting everything they have into the car and if we keep running the way we have been, I think we’ll have a good shot at getting that first win sometime this year.”
Joining the SK Modified® division in feature action will be the Late Models, SK Lights, Limited Late Models, DARE Stocks and U.S. Legend Cars. Stafford Speedway will also host the Savage Brothers Band for a prerace concert and the 4now Band for a post-race concert. In addition, there will be a barbeque taking place on the midway behind the turn 4 grandstands with some great food available to race fans for just $10.
Tickets for the July 10th NAPA SK 5K are available and on sale now at the Speedway Box Office or discount tickets are available at participating NAPA Auto Parts Stores. Tickets purchased through NAPA Auto Parts also include the barbeque dinner and a NAPA goodie bag. As part of the festivities, NAPA Auto Parts will also be raffling some fantastic prizes all to benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
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 is 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 July 10th NAPA SK 5K, 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.
