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Photo Tom Morris Racing Photography
(Stafford Springs, CT)—After winning the NAPA Spring Sizzler® in April and the GAF Mod Masters in July at Stafford, Ron Silk and the #16 Blue Mountain Machine / Future Homes team owned by Tyler Haydt and Joe Yannone will head into Saturday, September 28 NAPA Fall Final looking for their third consecutive 2024 victory at the Connecticut half-mile. Silk has been the hottest Open/Monaco Modified driver at Stafford, not named Woody Pitkat, as he has 4 wins and 6 podium finishes in his last 7 starts at Stafford dating back to the 2022 NAPA Spring Sizzler®. Despite Silk not being a regular weekly racer at Stafford, he has a high level of confidence each time he comes through the Stafford gates to race and he is eager to continue his winning ways when he takes to the track on Sept. 28.
“We feel pretty good about it,” said Silk. “We’ve had quite a bit of success at Stafford over the last couple of years and we always like coming there whenever we can, so we’re definitely excited to get back there. You always want to go where you’ve had success in the past and as long as we don’t do anything stupid or have some sort of problem that is out of our control, we should be in contention but there’s going to be a lot of good cars at Stafford who will be hard to beat.”
The field for the NAPA Fall Final is shaping up to be one of the biggest and best modified fields of the 2024 season. Of the 28 cars that have currently submitted a Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series entry, 20 drivers have previously won a race at Stafford and 8 of the 28 drivers have been track champions at Stafford.
“It’s going to be very tough for sure,” said Silk. “The obvious guys who stick out that have had success recently at Stafford are Woody and Matt Hirschman. But it’s not fair to just mention those two guys, there’s quite a few cars behind them that can win a race at any given time.”
Not racing weekly at a track can certainly be a hindrance to teams as there are several variables to take into consideration when setting up a car, but Silk says that it can also lessen the burden on crew members when you’re not chasing points.
“It’s difficult to keep that level of success up but it’s a nice change of pace for us as a team where we can come to the track and not really be concerned about points,” said Silk. “Racing can be funny sometimes where you can get on a streak and things go your way, but it’s also hard to keep that kind of success up. We’re just focused on winning whatever race we’re running on that particular day and that kind of helps make things easier. We certainly want to win and we’re going to do everything that we can to win, but if we don’t win, it’s not the end of the world for us. We’re going to continue working hard and obviously not change too much from what we’ve been doing, but you have to constantly try to improve whenever you can.”
In addition to the prestige of winning another race at Stafford, Silk is also hoping to continue his money grab from the Speedway. In the last 7 races that Silk has run at Stafford, he and the #16 team have banked over $107,000 in purse and contingency bonuses, with nearly $67,000 of that total coming from his back to back NAPA Spring Sizzler® victories in 2023 and this season.
“That’s always nice,” said Silk. “We’ve made a lot of money racing at Stafford over the last couple years between the Open Modified and Monaco Modified Tri-Track races and if you want to keep having success, that kind of money can help any team keep on going.”
The NAPA Fall Final is set for Saturday, September 28th and tickets are available now online at StaffordSpeedway.com/tickets and tickets will also be available for purchase at the admission gates. Tickets for the NAPA Fall Final are priced at $35.00 for adult general admission, $10.00 for kids ages 6-14, kids 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult, reserved seating is priced at $40.00 for all ages and pit passes are $50.00. If you are unable to attend the event, tune into the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.com, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
