Beech Ridge PR (June 15, 2003)
Contact: Penny Degre
(508) 234-8684
Scarborough, ME (June 15, 2003): Mike Stefanik, driver of the No. 55 Burnham Boilers Chevrolet on the Grand National Division, Busch North Series, took the checkers with a solid fourth place finish in Saturday night’s Beech Ridge 150 presented by Forest City Chevrolet at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
Stefanik started the race third after posting a speed of 75.529 mph (15.888 seconds) in qualifying procedures.
“It was good a lap in qualifying,” Stefanik said. “I was happy to get on the inside (lane). I didn’t want to get beat and have to start on the outside groove because it’s very difficult to pass out there.”
When the green flag dropped on the Beech Ridge 150, one week later than its originally scheduled date, Stefanik immediately started applying pressure to the pole-sitter Mike Johnson. Andy Santerre, who also started on the front row, was hung up on the outside groove as Stefanik filled Johnson’s rear view mirror in the second position.
At lap 13, Johnson went off the pace and Stefanik took full advantage by moving the Burnham Boilers Chevrolet out to the lead, where he remained until lap 30 when Eddie MacDonald got by on the outside.
“We were leading because the 96 broke,” Stefanik admitted. “Mike Johnson had a little bit better car and he was starting to stretch it out. I don’t know what happened to him, but I was happy to get the 5 extra bonus points. We weren’t bad at that time, but it was kinda loose and it just kept getting looser. We were never able to really tighten the car up. It was like that in practice.”
A caution came out at lap 31 for a spin in turn two setting the field up for a restart at lap 36. Stefanik’s ill-handling was becoming apparent as Santerre was able to maneuver by for the second position leaving the Coventry, RI-native to battle with young Ryan Moore for the third position – a battle he eventually lost.
A caution waved at lap 56 setting up the first round of pit stops. Stefanik didn’t hesitate to come in.
“The boys had a great stop and we put a serious adjustment to it,” Stefanik explained. “That tightened it up. We’re on one side of the fence or the other. We’re either loose or tight. We’ve got some work to do and we know that, but I have the utmost confidence that we’re going to get this figured out and start winning races.”
Racing resumed at lap 60 with Stefanik determined to get back into the top-five. His hard work and determination paid off, and by lap 113, the Burnham Boilers’ driver had gotten back into the top-three.
One more caution period followed and Stefanik eventually surrendered to the challenges of local favorite Ryan Moore. A fourth place finish secured his second place position in the 2003 championship point standings.
“You’ve got to keep finishing in the top-five, but you can’t keep watching Andy (Santerre) win all the races because you’re never going to gain on him,” Stefanik said. “Andy just really has his act together right now. He’s got a great handling racecar and he’s showing it at every race. I know what that’s like, this team has been there before, and we just need to get there again. We want to be like Andy.”
Stefanik and the Burnham Boilers race team now shifts their focus to this Friday night’s 150-lap event at Stafford Motor Speedway.