Woody Pitkat Moving to Steve Greer Owned #27 Team for 2013 SK Modified® Season at Stafford Motor Speedway
Stafford Springs, CT — When the green flag falls on the 2013 SK Modified® season at Stafford Motor Speedway, hometown driver Woody Pitkat will be behind the wheel of a new car. After running the past two seasons in the #89 car owned by Kelly Iverson and Bob Hitchcock, Pitkat will move to the #27 team owned by Steve Greer and be teammates with SPAFCO Rookie of the Year contender Joey Cipriano, who will be piloting Greer’s #19 SK Modified®.
“We mutually decided to go in different directions for this season and this will be a new chapter in my racing book,” said Pitkat. “I was talking with Steve Greer about his MRS car and mentioned that I didn’t have an SK ride. Steve said he was more comfortable doing a full SK Modified® schedule than the MRS so we talked about what we could put together for the SK® season. James Paige, my Thompson owner, is letting me bring a motor and Steve has the car. I’m excited about the new opportunity and I have nothing but the utmost respect for Bob and Kelly. I appreciate everything that they’ve done for me both at Stafford and Thompson and I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without the help and support they gave me.”
Pitkat won 4 races and finished third and second in the SK Modified® points standings in his two seasons in the #89 and he hopes he can pick up in the #27 where he left off in the #89.
“I know Steve has top notch stuff and he wants to give me the best car he can,” said Pitkat. “I know that we might not have the knowledge that I’ve had with other teams right away, but that will come with time. Who knows what will happen, it might click right away, or it might take a half season to get going. I ran with those guys at Waterford last year and we started last and ended up finishing second, so I don’t see why we can’t be a contender. There might be a few times when I’m wondering what did I do, but I think we should be pretty good this year.”
Pitkat is also looking forward to working with Cipriano as his new teammate. Cipriano has won a total of 7 races and he finished second and third in his two full seasons of SK Light competition at Stafford, and he made his SK Modified® debut at last year’s CARQUEST Fall Final, earning a top-10 finish. Pitkat is looking forward to the opportunity to be a mentor, but he says that he might become the student in the new teammate relationship.
“I’m looking forward to working with Joey, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Pitkat. “Joey is younger than me and he wants to learn about the SK®. Joey is a great person and he has a great family, they helped me out with the MRS car at Thompson last year. I think Joey will run well and we’ll do the best we can to get both cars up front. If Joey starts beating me, we’ll have to take his setup and put it into my car.”
Along with making his SK Modified® debut for the Greer team at the 42nd Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler, Pitkat is chomping at the bit to get on the track in the #79 Hillbilly Racing car for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 200-lap Sizzler. Pitkat and the #79 team led 128 of the 150 laps during the CARQUEST Fall Final at Stafford last year before finishing second behind Bobby Santos. Pitkat and the #79 team just returned from Florida where they had a top-5 run going in the Battle at the Beach at Daytona before getting caught up in a wreck and they won the championship at New Smyrna with 3 wins in 6 nights of racing.
“Winning the championship at New Smyrna was a huge confidence booster for me and the whole team,” said Pitkat. “I knew we were going to have a good car, but I didn’t think we were going to win the championship. I have to thank Sandra Hill for letting us take the car down there for 6 days and with the good runs we had, it just makes us all want to work harder to show everyone that we’re contenders and we can be at or near the top of the time sheets every week. We really hit on something with the car at the North/South Shootout and we took that to Florida and it worked. The key for the Sizzler is to get a good qualifying lap to start towards the front and you can set your own pace. We have a good team and a good crew and I feel pretty confident about going back to Stafford with the #79.”
The 2013 Stafford Motor Speedway season kicks off with the 42nd Annual CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on April 26-28. Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” may be ordered by calling the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are priced at $38.50 for adult general admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating is $42.00 for all ages. All ticket prices include 10% CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the 42nd Annual CARQUEST TECH-NET Spring Sizzler®, or to order tickets, 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