WOODY PITKAT LOOKING FOR FIRST WIN OF 2011 SEASON IN CARQUEST SK 150 AT STAFFORD SPEEDWAY
(Stafford Springs, CT)—When it comes to winning SK Modified® races at
Stafford Speedway, Woody Pitkat certainly knows his way to CARQUEST Victory
Lane with 17 SK Modified wins to his credit since the 2007 season. After
switching to a new car for the 2011 season, Pitkat has yet to find his way
to victory lane this year, although he has posted 7 top-5 finishes in the 9
SK Modified® features run so far this season. Pitkat won the CARQUEST SK
150 in 2008 and he will look to repeat his winning ways and capture his
first victory of the 2011 season in tomorrow night’s 8th Annual CARQUEST SK
150.
“I think we’re going to have a good shot,” said Pitkat. “We’ve been good
this season, it just seems like we’re missing that one small piece to get us
over the hump and into victory lane. We had a bad Sizzler and we had
another night that we finished 14th, but other than those two races, we’ve
been consistent this year, so that’s been good. I like the longer races,
they seem to suit me where you can set your own pace during the race. Keith
Rocco has been fast, Ryan Preece has been fast, Frank Ruocco is always good
in this race, and then there’s guys like Eric Berndt and Todd Owen that are
good in the longer races. There’s 8 to 10 cars that can win on any night
and hopefully we can be one of those cars contending for the win in the
150.”
Pitkat has extra distance feature wins in both the SK Modified® and Late
Model divisions at Stafford on his resume. Pitkat won the CARQUEST SK 150
in 2008 and the SK 100 lap event in 2007, and he won the Late Model 100 last
season and he won the Late Model 150 win in 2001. In addition to his 100
and 150-lap feature victories, his first ever Late Model win was in a
special 50-lap extra distance feature in 2000.
“I think the key to the longer races is that you can go out and set your own
pace depending on where you start,” said Pitkat. “If you start towards the
front, you can try to get to the lead quick and then set a pace, or if you
start towards the back, you can try to work your way into the top-5 and ride
around a bit to try to save the car for the end of the race. In the
100-lapper this year, we got out front pretty quick, but we ended up having
an issue with the clutch and we finished third. The car was good for the
first 10 or 15 laps and then it tightened up a bit. We won’t be riding
around at the back, that’s for sure.”
Pitkat enters the CARQUEST SK 150 in 3rd place in the points standings,
trailing Ryan Preece by 36 points. Should Pitkat and his team find the key
that will unlock the door to victory lane for them in the CARQUEST SK 150,
Pitkat says that will be a big boost for his team in the second half of the
2011 season.
“A win in the 150 would be a big plus for the team,” said Pitkat. “Any
finish in the top-5 would be big, but I think a win would definitely give us
that much more momentum and motivation for the rest of the season, not that
we’re not motivated now. Everyone on the team has been real happy with how
we’ve run so far and if we can find that small piece that we’ve been
missing to get to victory lane, it will give us some nice momentum for the
rest of the year.”
The 8th annual CARQUEST SK 150 is scheduled for July 22nd. Tickets are
priced at $25.00 for adult general admission, $5.00 for children ages 6-14
general admission, and Free for Children ages 5 & under. Reserved seating
is available for $28.00 for all ages. Stafford Motor Speedway offers free
parking, with overnight parking available.
For more information, or to order tickets to the 8th Annual CARQUEST SK 150,
contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at 860-684-2783 or visit us
on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.