Joey Ferrigno
STAFFORD – It’s an old cliché in racing that held true perfectly for Joey Ferrigno Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway.
To finish first you must first finish.
In an event that it seemed just finishing was a challenge for most of the field, Ferrigno came out on top of the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature Friday at Stafford Motor Speedway.
It was the second victory in five events this year for Ferrigno, of East Hartford, who got his first win of the season on May 1.
“It was about survival out there tonight,” Ferrigno said. “I had old tires. Didn’t have enough money to put [new ones] on this week. My car is always great when the [Valenti Modified Racing Series] is here. Something about the setup, it just hooks. Everyone was being real rough out there tonight. It was just about staying clean and staying out of trouble. I just laid back for the first 8-10 laps and it all worked out good.”
D.J. Burnham of East Hartford was second and Glenn Griswold of Vernon third.
The race was marred by a number of big wrecks, including one that set up Ferrigno’s move to the lead.
Tony Membrino Jr., looking for his third consecutive victory, went by Jay Goff for the lead, with Nick Salva following to second. On lap 18, Salva got under Membrino for the lead off turn two. But Membrino made a diving move under Salva in turn four that ended with both of them in the wall.
“I backed off a little bit because I saw it coming,” Ferrigno said. “The second they got together and started hitting eachother, I just wanted to make sure that if I was far enough away that if they went up the track or down the track I could drive around it.”
Goff held the lead with Ferrigno second on the ensuing restart and Ferrigno went to the lead on the green. The caution came back out once again on lap 19, but Ferrigno was able to drive away from Burnham on the final restart.
“My car was pretty banged up,” Ferrigno said. “Whatever happened on lap eight coming out of turn two, I hopped wheels with someone and landed hard and something bent because I had an evil vibration the rest of the race. But it was survival tonight.”
Said Burnham: “They seem to really like to tear up some racecars here lately. My car was really good getting [into the corners] and through the center, I just didn’t have the drive off [the corners] tonight. Every caution I tried to warm up the tires to get some more bite, I just couldn’t get it.”
Ferrigno took over the points lead with the victory, but chasing points was nothing he wanted to talk about. Ferrigno, in his fourth season in an SK Light Modified at Stafford, won the track’s DARE Stock division championship in 2005.
“I don’t like thinking points,” Ferrigno said. “I come here on Friday nights to win. If it turns out at the end of the year in my favor that’s a bonus. It’s been 10 years since I won [a championship]. It’s nice for the all the sponsors to be able to say I was a track champion and all, but I like those little $5 trophies [for winning]. They look great on the wall.”
$300 to win and a $5 trophy… It just don’t seem right to me.
425 with the bonus money from Mr Dunleavy
Sad that a sponsor pays almost half as much as the track. It would be more economical for the teams if there was no purse and the drivers and crews where let in for nothing. U figure 5 guys x $28 adds up to more than the average payout of $100
Can you imagine if saliva took out membrino,the cave men would have gone threw the fence after him but instead they just got up from there seats and walked back t o there pit
I was surprised that salva took it so well since it was the second wreck for him in two races. Not sure if you can determine what happened in the video