Stafford Late Model Championship to be Decided between Ryan Posocco & Woody Pitkat
Stafford Springs, CT — As the 2010 season comes to a close at Stafford Motor Speedway with the 38th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, scheduled for October 1st thru October 3rd, the Late Model championship race comes down to two hometown drivers, Ryan Posocco and Woody Pitkat. When it comes to racing at Stafford, Posocco and Pitkat share a lot in common. Posocco leads Pitkat by 6 points heading into the final race of the season, and both drivers recently won their 50th career feature event at Stafford after beginning their Stafford careers in the DARE Stock division.
Pitkat reached the 50-win milestone two weeks ago by winning both the SK Modified® and Late Model feature events in the same night while Posocco reached the plateau one week ago by winning the Late Model feature.
“That’s a pretty big accomplishment,” said Pitkat. “Growing up at the racetrack, that’s a pretty cool number to reach. I remember when Teddy won 100 races it was a big deal. I have 10 wins this year and if I can be like Teddy and race for another 20 years and average 5 wins a year, I’ll have 150 wins.”
“Growing up in the turn 4 grandstands at Stafford, I always wanted to race here and win a race and possibly a championship,” said Posocco. “If someone had told me back when I started racing that I would have 50 career wins and four championships, I would have told them that they were crazy. Watching the races as a kid, I always wanted to be a Late Model driver and to have won races and championships in the Late Model division has been a huge thing for me. We’ve had a lot of fun and we’re going to keep on having fun.”
With both drivers sitting on 50 career victories at Stafford, they both are hoping to increase that total as they are neck and neck for the Late Model track championship. Posocco currently drives for Marci Kretschman’s #48 Davidson Company sponsored team, which is the team that Pitkat won the 2006 Late Model track championship with. Pitkat has since moved onto Billy Snow’s #88 New Haven Truck and Autobody team and they will square off at the CARQUEST Fall Final with the track championship up for grabs.
“It’s going to be hard for us,” said Pitkat. “I’m looking at it like I have to win the race. We can’t do anything more than win the race to help ourselves out. I think the pressure is all on Ryan since he is leading. We’re not going to put any extra pressure on ourselves and we know that we have to finish ahead of Ryan, which is what we’ve been trying to do for the last couple of weeks. We’ve both had a couple of bad races this year and it comes down to who is going to have a bad race or is it going to be like last week when we finished 1-2. Ryan knows what he needs to do, he’s won 4 championships and I’ve only won once. I think it’s pretty cool that it’s coming down to the two of us. Ryan is the Ted Christopher of the Late Model division and we have to beat the best if we want to be champions this year. We were second at Thompson and we’re second in the SK’s and Late Models here at Stafford, so not to sound greedy, but it will be a little disheartening if we don’t win one championship this year.”
“Last week, we went from 7th to the lead in about 5 laps, which usually never happens,” said Posocco. “That was a huge run for us since we had wrecked the car pretty good the week before. Last week in practice, the car wasn’t good at all. We made some changes and it was better in the heat race and we made some more changes and it was good for the feature. Some guys were pretty crazy at the start of the race, and we were able to get to the lead pretty quick. Hopefully we will have the car as good as it was last week for the Fall Final. Woody certainly knows the routine, but if we were to win the championship this year, it would definitely be icing on the cake with winning our 40th Late Model race and our 50th race at Stafford.”
While Posocco will have only the Late Model race to focus on, Pitkat will be pulling triple duty on CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend, participating in the SK Modified®, Late Model, and Whelen Modified Tour events.
“It’s going to make for a long day on Sunday,” said Pitkat. “First there is the Pit Party, where you want to be able to meet people and talk with them, but at the same time, you’re trying to think about what you have to do in the races. But racing is what we love to do. It would be really nice to be able to win for Mr. Snow with everything he’s put into the team to get it to where we are today. It’s a total 180 from where the team was when I started driving for them.”
While Posocco won’t be joining Pitkat in this year’s CARQUEST Fall Final SK Modified® or the Whelen Modified Tour races, he might one day in the future join Pitkat as a double duty driver.
“Right now I’m committed to Marci and Pat’s team, but if the opportunity ever arose, I would jump at it,” said Posocco. “I’ve always wanted to try a modified out, I’ve just never had an opportunity present itself. I love the Late Models at Stafford and as long as Marci and Pat [Kretschman] will have me, I’ll be driving their car.”
The 2010 CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend gets underway Friday, October 1st with a practice session for Stafford’s weekly divisions. The general admission grandstands will be will be open to the public at no charge for the practice session. Action continues on Saturday, October 2nd with Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Whelen Modified Tour cars, along with heat and consolation races for Stafford’s weekly divisions. Saturday will conclude with feature events for the SK Light, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions, including the All-Star Paradiso-Muska DARE Stock Shoot Out event. The Fall Final continues on Sunday, October 3rd with the CARQUEST Belts & Hose Pit Party followed by Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and Late Models joining the Whelen Modified Tour in feature action. Posocco and Pitkat will be just two of the over 100 drivers on hand during the CARQUEST Belts and Hose Pit Party that will take place from 11am-12pm.
Tickets for the 38th Annual CARQUEST Fall Final Weekend are now on sale at the Stafford Motor Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, $38.00 for reserved seats, and free for children ages 5 & under. Tickets are good for admission to the Saturday, October 2nd, and Sunday, October 3rd portions of the Fall Final. As always, Stafford Motor Speedway offers plenty of free parking with overnight weekend parking available.
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