QUALIFYING: Pitkat Earns First Tour Pole
Captures Coors Light Pole For Sunday’s Thompson Icebreaker
THOMPSON, Conn. – It was a run eight years in the making that saw Woody Pitkat capture his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Coors Light Pole Award as he topped the field in qualifying for Icebreaker 150 presented by Town Fair Tire Saturday at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
Pitkat, from Stafford, Conn., posted a fast lap of 18.724 seconds (120.167 mph) to take the Icebreaker pole in his first race with the Buzz Chew Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet team.
For Pitkat, who has run a mix of part- and full-time schedules since 2007, Saturday’s pole was earned for what will be his 79th career Whelen Modified Tour race.
[Photo Gallery] by Paul Fohlin
Justin Bonsignore posted a fast lap of 18.796 (119.706) to earn a front row starting position alongside Pitkat for Sunday’s season opener.
Both Pitkat’s and Bonsignore’s race cars are powered by the NASCAR-approved spec engine.
Donny Lia, reigning tour champion Ryan Preece and Rowan Pennink rounded out the top five qualifiers. Patrick Emerling, Matt Hirschman, Keith Rocco, Eric Goodale and Bobby Santos completed the top 10.
Feature racing in Thompson’s season-opening weekend will begin on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The Whelen Modified Tour Icebreaker 150 presented by Town Fair Tire will go green at approximately 3:45 p.m.
STARTING LINEUP
NWMT Thompson 4/6/14 Qualifying
STARTING LINEUP (PDF)
Pos No. Name Sponsor Time Speed
1 88 Woody Pitkat Buzz Chew Chevrolet Inc. 18.724 120.167
2 51 Justin Bonsignore chem3.com 18.796 119.706
3 4 Donny Lia Mystic Missile Racing 18.802 119.668
4 16 Ryan Preece East West Marine/Diversified Metals 18.844 119.401
5 93 Rowan Pennink Monk Mechanics Hand Cleaner 18.919 118.928
6 07 Patrick Emerling Emerling Chevrolet Inc 18.926 118.884
7 52 Matt Hirschman B.C. Brennenstohl/LI Mod Maniac 18.955 118.702
8 48 Keith Rocco Wheelers Auto/Mr. Rooter 18.979 118.552
9 58 Eric Goodale GAF Roofing/RBSCorp. 18.984 118.521
10 44 Bobby Santos Tinio Racing/Imperialcars.com 18.984 118.521
11 13 Ted Christopher J&R Pre-Cast/Cape Cod Aggregates 19.014 118.334
12 89 Timmy Solomito* Eastport Feeds/Axel Anderson Inc. 19.016 118.321
13 64 Ron Yuhas Jr. Fast Track Electric/Hughes Motors 19.032 118.222
14 2 Doug Coby Dunleavy’s Repair/A&J Romano Const. 19.034 118.21
15 3 Jimmy Zacharias* Cape Cod Copper/Central States 19.075 117.955
16 15 Rob Fuller 15-40 Connection 19.079 117.931
17 6 Ron Silk TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm 19.09 117.863
18 1 Mike Stefanik Cady’s Tavern 19.167 117.389
19 8 Glen Reen Sypher Construction 19.247 116.901
20 99 Jamie Tomaino Dunleavy’s Repair/Atlantic Sprinkler 19.268 116.774
21 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood 19.431 115.794
22 33 Wade Cole Perf Engines/Kendall Oil 19.842 113.396
23 71 T.J. Zacharias* Central States Used Clothing 20.069 112.113
24 01 Melissa Fifield* Allstate Insurance 20.376 110.424
Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR