Rookie Racer Michael Gervais Jr Wins Honors

STAFFORD SPRINGS — In the Stafford Motor Speedway SK Light Modified division, Michael Gervais, Jr won the Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie of the Year title as well as the track championship this season.

Gervais, of Southbury, whose racing team’s shop is in Newtown, never sat behind the steering wheel of an open-wheeled modified car before this year.

“At the beginning of the year, our main goal was to keep the car clean, learn about the car and the track, and win Rookie of the Year,” Gervais said of his racing team. “We never really changed all that much from week to week, we just kept doing what we were doing, and that strategy worked out for us.”

Gervais’ season got off to a rough start with a seventh-place finish in the season opening Spring Sizzler event and a placement of 21st in the second event of the year.

But top-5 finishes in the next four events vaulted Gervais to the head of the 2009 rookie class as well as the lead in the championship standings, a position that Gervais would not relinquish for the remainder of the 2009 season.

“We expected to have highs and lows like any rookie season, but we were strong right from the start and I felt really comfortable in the car,” Gervais said.

“About halfway through the season we were finishing in the top-10 every week and we started thinking that we had a real shot at the Rookie of the Year and the championship,” he added.

 “We never let points get in our way. We figured that what we were doing was working for us, so we just kept on doing what we had been doing every week for the rest of the season and we figured whatever would happen would happen. We definitely had a lot of luck on our side this year, we didn’t get caught up in any wrecks this year.”

With a Rookie of the Year title and a track championship under his belt, Gervias and his team are looking to make the next move up the Stafford open wheel ladder to the SK Modified division to try win another Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie of the Year title.

"Our plan for this year was to get our feet wet in the SK Lights and go for Rookie of the Year and then make the move up to the SK Modifieds®," said Gervais. "Right now, we're looking at some different things and we're trying to make that move up for next season."

For the 2009 season, Gervais tied Jay Goff for the most top-5 finishes with 9 and he led the division with 15 top-10 finishes in 16 starts to outpoint Erica Santos by 202 points in the chase for the Reliable Welding and Speed Rookie title. Gervais received his 2009 SK Light Modified Rookie of the Year award at the 40th Annual Stafford Motor Speedway Champions Awards Ceremony at the La Renaissance Banquet Facility in East Windsor in November.

Gervais’ racing team sponsors are Fair Auto Supply, N.J.K Automotive, Mark Edwards Roofing & Siding, E Mackey & Sons, Gervais Brothers Roofing, and A Sign Depot, all of Newtown, along with Pro-System.

For more information visit www.staffordspeedway.com.