Woody Pitkat Doubles Up On Victories at Stafford
Stafford, CT — Woody Pitkat’s home is only a few minutes down the road from Stafford Motor Speedway in
So far in 2007, however, Pitkat has found a new home. The best part is, he knows the way there quite well. He has found that home in Stafford Motor Speedway’s victory lane.
On Friday night, Pitkat continued his triumphant run at
The Late Model victory was impressive enough, but to follow it up with the victory in the crown jewel of the SK Modified division, the young driver who has made a career of visiting victory lane at
“I cannot believe it,” said Pitkat of the SK Modified 100 victory. “That is the hardest that I ever drove. I just wanted to get up to the lead as fast as I could. I wanted to win it bad, real bad. I just cannot believe it. I have the number one crew chief in the Northeast, Jimmy Fuller. The guy is the man.”
Pitkat paced himself in the 100-lap SK feature, eventually working up to second behind all-time SK Modified win leader at Stafford Ted Christopher. Pitkat moved around Christopher for the lead on lap 35, but Christopher took the lead back on lap 52.
When Pitkat lost the lead to the all-time winner in the SK Modified division, he could’ve accepted defeat to Christopher and been happy with a top-five finish. But he, nor the TSI Harley-Davidson #52 were going to settle for anything less than victory, even if it meant coming to pit road on lap 78 for fresh tires for the stretch run to the checkers.
“I did not know what to think when they told me to come in for tires,” said Pitkat. “There were only about twenty-laps to go and I was thinking that we were going to run out of time. We just came in, and when I went out, I tried to heat the new tires up the best that I could. Then at the end I knew that I had a fast car. I started to get frustrated because the cautions kept coming out. I knew if I got in front of TC that I would be alright.”
Pitkat rejoined the field after his stop and restarted at the rear of the field. With the fresh rubber, he rocketed to the front. The crowd was on their feet as Pitkat made sling shot moves to the top and then the bottom. He rocketed his way to a battle with Christopher for the lead, the lead that he would take for good on lap 95.
“We put in the motor on Wednesday night after 1in the morning and then scaled it early on Thursday morning before we went to Thompson. Then Thompson was rained out, so we were all set and we double checked everything. I cannot thank the crew, crew chief and TSI Harley-Davidson enough.”
Earlier in the night, Pitkat took the lead on lap four of the 30-lap Late Model feature in the #48 TSI Harley-Davidson machine and dominated the rest of the event for his first Late Model win of the year. The 2006 Stafford Late Model Track Champion finally broke into victory lane in that division Friday night, but combining the elation of winning his first Late Model race of the year with winning the biggest SK Modified feature this season, Pitkat solidified his place as the new tenant of victory lane at
“I cannot believe it. Two-for-two. It was an unbelievable night.”
Pitkat will be back in action with a full weekend of racing ahead of him. With an off-weekend for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, where Pitkat competes for Hillbilly Racing in the #79 machine, Pitkat will compete in the Sunoco Modified feature at Thompson International Speedway Thursday night, followed by what he hopes will be another stellar race event in the SK Modified and Late Model features at Stafford Friday night.
For more information on Woody Pitkat, contact Matt Kentfield at (704) 788-2134 and check out the official online home for the 2006 NASCAR Weekly Series Division IV Champion, www.woodypitkatracing.com
Sources: Matt Kentfield/Woody Pitkat PR