Pitkat, Barrett, Nocera & Hayes Take Sept. 10th Shark Cycle 100 Feature Victories at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — After a week away from racing, Stafford Speedway was back in action on Friday, September 10th with the Inaugural Shark Cycle 100. It was a banner night for Stafford’s own Woody Pitkat, who bagged a double by winning both the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, and the 30-lap Late Model feature. The SK Modified® victory was the third of 2010 for Pitkat and the Late Model win was his second consecutive and seventh overall win of 2010. Other feature winners were Tommy Barrett, Jr., who scored his ninth win of 2010 in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, George Nocera, Jr., who won his second feature of 2010 in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Andrew Hayes scored his third win of the 2010 season in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Sean Foster took the lead at the drop of the green with Chris Jones behind him. Dan Avery held third with Zach Sylvester fourth and Ryan Preece in fifth. Sylvester made a move to the inside of Avery for third on lap-4 and their side by side fight allowed Woody Pitkat to close in.
Jones took the lead from Foster on lap-7 and Foster continued to slide backwards as Pitkat, Preece, and Sylvester all moved by. Preece made a run to the outside of Pitkat for second on lap-15, but he was not able to take the position. Mark Bakaj spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow flag with 18 laps complete.
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Pitkat charged to the outside of Jones on the restart, but he was not able to muster up enough momentum to make the pass. Pitkat got loose in turn 4, which allowed Preece to move into second. Preece was then applying heavy pressure to Jones for the lead when Nichole Morgillo spun in turn 3 to bring the caution out with 18 laps complete.
Preece again made a run to the outside of Jones for the lead but contact in turn 4 sent Preece around and Jones came to a stop with damage to his right front suspension and the caution came back out. Jeff Baral and Pitakt were the new front row for the restart.
Pitkat took the lead on the restart with Baral settling into second. Sylvester and Curt Brainard were side by side for third place with Jeff Malave and Frank Ruocco side by side for fifth behind Sylvester and Brainard. After several laps of side by side action, the order was Pitkat in the lead with Baral, Sylvester, Malave, and Brainard making up the top-5. Ruocco, Christopher, and Preece were behind Brainard, but Preece got by Christopher on lap-29. Todd Owen, Josh Sylvester, and Adam Skowyra spun in turn 1 to bring the caution out.
Pitkat again was the leader back under green with Baral in second. Malave got around Sylvester for third with Brainard in fifth. Ruocco and Skowyra went around in turn 3 to bring the yellow back out with 32 laps complete.
Pitkat again took the lead with Malave getting by Baral for second. Preece was all over the back of Baral for third, but Lou Cicconi spun in turn 1 and Raymond Grassetti was spun in turn 3 to bring the caution out with 34 laps complete.
Pitkat and Malave were side by side for the lead on the restart with Preece looking to pass both cars, but there was a multicar incident in turn 3 that involved nearly half the field as there was fluid on the track and cars slid up the track and into the wall to bring the caution and red flags out.
It was a 4-car train at the front of the field on the restart as Pitkat and Malave were wheel to wheel as were Preece and Dan Avery behind them. Pitkat moved to the lead and Preece was able to get into second with Malave and Avery behind them in single file. Preece got up to the outside of Pitkat for the final lap and pulled even with him down the backstretch, but Pitkat got the better run in 3+4 and was able to hold off Preece at the line for his third win of the 2010 season.
Keith Rocco’s 9th place finish was enough to clinch the 2010 Stafford Motor Speedway SK Modified® track championship.
In the 30-lap Late Model feature event, Jim Peterson used a 3-wide move at the drop of the green to take the lead ahead of Keith Rocco and Tom Fearn. Corey Hutchings was fourth behind Fearn and Jim Mavlouganes held down the fifth spot.
At the lap-10 mark of the race, Peterson was pulling away from the pack as Fearn was now into second with Hutchings, Mavlouganes, Rocco, Woody Pitkat, Michael Bennett, and Tom Butler behind him. On lap-11 Pitkat moved by Rocco and he brought Bennett with him as Rocco fell back from fifth to seventh. The cars of Tracy Brouillette and Mark St. Hilaire came together in turn 3 to bring the caution out with 11 laps complete.
Peterson powered back into the lead back under green with Hutchings, Pitkat, Bennett, and Mavlouganes making up the top-5. The top-5 ran in line until lap-16 when Pitkat, Bennett, Mavlouganes, and Wayne Coury, Jr. all got past Hutchings as Hutchings fell back from second to sixth.
Bennett’s car lost its brakes and he began to slide backwards through the field. Peterson was still out front, with Pitkat slowly closing the gap. Mavlouganes was third, with Coury and Hutchings rounding out the top-5 with 23 laps complete.
Pitkat closed the gap to Peterson’s bumper and he made a pass for the lead on lap-24. With 26 laps complete, Scott Cook and Ryan Posocco got into the turn 2 wall which brought out the caution and red flags. As the race resumed, Pitkat charged to the lead with Peterson in second. Mavlouganes was third, with Hutchings and Coury behind him. Pitkat led the final 4 laps to take down his his second consecutive and seventh overall feature victory of the 2010 season. Peterson finished second, with Mavlouganes, Hutchings, and Coury rounding out the top-5.
In the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature event, Erica Santos took the early race lead ahead of Victoria Bergenty. Joey Cipriano, III and Heather DesRochers were side by side for the first several laps for third with Cipriano eventually able to take the spot. Cipriano continued his charge to the front as he took second from Bergenty on lap-6. Cipriano was closing in on Santos for the lead when Bergenty spun in turn 2 and Jay Goff scraped the wall as he tried to avoid Bergenty which resulted in fire erupting from his engine compartment, which brought out the red flag with 7 laps complete.
Cipriano charged into the lead on the restart as Santos didn’t come up to speed. Ted Cain moved into second as Santos fell from the lead back to third, but the field only completed one lap before Zach Aszklar and Kyle Spencer spun and hit the turn 3 wall to bring the yellow back out.
Cipriano took the lead back under green with Cain and Santos behind him. Tommy Barrett, Jr. and Matt Galko were locked in a side by side duel for fourth place, but they both were able to move by Santos. Cain got loose and nearly spun on lap-15, kicking up enough debris onto the track to bring out the caution. Cipriano took the lead back under green, but it only lasted one lap as Barrett moved to the front of the field on lap-17. Galko was in third behind Cipriano, with Santos and Earl Pelletier making up the top-5. Cipriano gave it one last try to take the lead on the final lap, but he came up a car length short as Barrett took down his ninth win of the season. Rounding out the top-5 behind Barrett and Cipriano was Galko, Santos, and Pelletier.
In the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature event, Jesse Hinze took the lead at the green with Duane Provost behind him in second. Shawn Thibeault quickly navigated his way by Brian Clement for third place, with George Nocera, Jr., Andrew Durand, and Dave Yardley all following Thibeault by Clement.
The order remained the same until lap-5 when Thibeault made a move to the inside of Provost to take over second. Thibeault’s move opened the door for Nocera, Durand, and Yardley to all get by Provost, dropping him from second back to sixth place while Hinze continued to lead the field.
At the halfway point of the race, it was still Hinze in command with Nocera and Durand in second and third as Thibeault was fading backwards to fourth place. Carla Botticello spun around in turns 1+2 with 10 laps complete to bring out the first caution of the race.
On the restart, Nocera moved to the front of the pack with Hinze settling into line in second. Durand was third with Yardley fourth and Dan Flannery was locked in a side by side duel with Thibeault for fifth. Thibeault kept the spot and Rob Dow snuck by Flannery while Flannery was in the outside groove to drop him back to seventh in the running order.
Nocera was opening up the lead while out front, but that lead was erased with 18 laps complete as Botticello spun in turns 3+4 to bring out the caution and set up a green white checkered finish.
Nocera took the lead as the race went back to green and Hinze and Durand were side by side for second. Hinze got loose and fell back to sixth place, but it was all Nocera at the front as he locked down his second feature victory of the 2010 season. Durand finished second, with Yardley, Flannery, and Rob Dow rounding out the top-5.
In the 15-lap DARE Stock feature event, the race started with a crash that involved Jim Brice, Joe McAllister, and Cory Casagrande. Vince Gambacorta powered his way into the lead on the restart ahead of Jeff Jolly, Cliff Saunders, Andrew Hayes, and Tony Membrino, Jr.
The caution came back out with 6 laps complete for a spin by Kelsey Rottino. Back under green Gambacorta continued to hold down the lead with Hayes moving into second. Barry Fluckiger moved into third, with Josh Wood moving into fourth and Jolly fell back from second to fifth in line.
Gambacorta held the lead until lap-9 when Hayes moved his car to the front of the field. Fluckiger was backsliding as Wood, Jolly, and Membrino all got by, dropping him from third back to sixth. Wood got by Gambacorta for second on lap-11 as Hayes continued to lead the race. Wood got close to Hayes, but he couldn’t get close enough as Hayes took his third win of the 2010 season. Wood finished second, with Gambacorta, Jolly, and Membrino rounding out the top-5.
For more information contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (860) 684-2783, or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.
Sources: Scott Running/Stafford Motor Speedway PR