Riverhead, NY PR (August 7, 2006)
Contact: Penny Aicardi
(508) 234-8684
Riverhead, NY (August 7, 2006): Mike Stefanik piloted the #16 Diversified Metals Chevrolet to a solid fourth place finish despite having to use a provisional Saturday night when the Whelen Modified Tour made a stop at Riverhead Raceway for the Miller Lite 200. The Flamingo Motorsports team experienced problems from the get-go, but the determination and dedication of the all-volunteer crew widened the team’s lead in the point standings
.
“We had problems with the battery, the radio’s, the brakes, the right front caliber, the master cylinder, and even the truck we had to get us here,” Stefanik explained. “The crew worked extremely hard and it never got any easier – but they just kept plugging. We were definitely happy with fourth tonight.”
In practice, Stefanik began experiencing a brake problem and the team quickly went to work on replacing the master cylinder. Practice was over, however, by the time they went to set the brake bias – how the total braking force is distributed between the front and rear
tires.
“We had a discrepancy of setting the bias. I made the call where to put it, and it was a bad call,” admitted Stefanik. “The brakes and chassis work hand-in-hand so when your bias is off your handling is going to be off.”
Stefanik’s qualifying effort was not fast enough to advance into the feature by time, so the eight-time NASCAR Champion was forced to take a provisional starting spot.
Once the green flag dropped, Stefanik rallied from his 24th starting position and advanced through the field in each lap of the caution-marred race. Twelve cautions slowed the pace, but during double-file restarts in the first 100 laps, Stefanik was able to gain his ground.
“We had a very capable car. We just haven’t ever unloaded and been like ‘Wow, we have a good car and let’s put it away’. Our race is always a work in progress,” Stefanik said. “On the double-file restarts, you could get on the outside and just go. But it was really slippery on the single file restarts and there wasn’t much passing.”
In the closing laps, Stefanik came upon Jerry Marquis, but felt that being aggressive with the driver for the third spot would be chancing it.
“Jerry was being held up by the 79 car, and I was being held up by Jerry,” Stefanik explained. “Over the radio, the team talked about how aggressive we should be with him, but the general consensus was that we should be happy with what we had done and live with it. As a racer, you always like to do better, unless of course you’re the winner, but sometimes you have to know when you’ve pushed your car to the limit. I used everything up getting to the top-five.”
Stefanik took home the Powerade Power Move of the Race Award for his 20-position gain during the 200-lap event, and extended his point lead to 43 points over Ted Christopher.
“All-in-all, it was a pretty good night for us. Our point lead has grown. I’m still racing for wins rather than points, but at the end of the night you have to add those points up and decide whether or not you’ve had a good night. Growing our point lead is a good indicator that we did.”
The Whelen Modified Tour makes its next stop at Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday, August 11th. Stefanik is optimistic for a strong run at the half-mile oval.
“We’ve been going there a long time. It’s a good track for us, but it’s a good track for a lot of guys. This series is so wicked competitive right now that no one has an edge,” Stefanik said about Stafford. “I’m glad that we have a pit stop race because it puts the whole team back in the equation, and it shuffles up the deck. I’m looking forward to it.”