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 SOLID
SIZZLER PERFORMANCE PUTS PITKAT IN VICTORY LANE
by
Polly Reid |
 The
NWMT 44th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler at
Stafford Motor Speedway is in the books. The
traditional blanket of flowers went to hometown
driver Woody Pitkat of Stafford who soaked in a
victory he could have only imagined nearly 20 years
ago when driving a DARE Stock.
Passing Todd Szegedy on lap 161, Pitkat of Stafford,
CT never looked back as he wheeled the Buzz Chew
owned Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Elbow East sponsored
Chevrolet across the line in the extra distance 200
lap NWMT event. His name joins a prestigious list of
winners of what has been tagged the ‘Greatest race
in the history of spring.’
Szegedy of Ridgefield, CT stayed the course to
finish second, pole winner Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT
was third with Eric Goodale of Riverhead, NY fourth
and Donny Lia of Jericho, NY fifth.
“It’s unreal,” admitted Pitkat. “To have a car
that’s that good- been good ever since I got with
these guys, it’s just unreal. Never thinking at 16
years old running a DARE car that one day you’d come
here and win a Tour race, especially the Spring
Sizzler.”
 His
third career NWMT win, Pitkat’s first career win
came here at Stafford last August, a heartfelt
victory for the hometown driver, followed by a win
at Loudon in September. “Loudon was a big win, that
was awesome to win but I think today was bigger than
that. It’s the biggest race at Stafford, 200 laps,
it really is a dream come true.” Pitkat is the first
driver from Stafford to win the Sizzler.
Preece led the thirty- three car field to green with
Pitkat on the outside, Rowan Pennink third, Lia
fourth and Justin Bonsignore fifth. Preece in the
Eddie Partridge owned, TS Haulers/East West Marine
sponsored Chevrolet made it clear why he was the
pole winner stepping securely out front while the
rest of the field decide where they wanted to be.
The first caution waved on lap 18 and using planned
strategy, Preece headed down pit row for his fuel
stop surrendering the lead to Pitkat. The next
caution ten laps later, Pitkat followed suit making
his fuel stop surrendering the lead now to
Bonsignore.
A caution on the restart cut short the day for
Spencer Davis, a tangle that was a close call for
Doug Coby who began a series of brief pit stops to
adjust the handling on the MSR III machine. Coby
continued to make strong gains with the calculated
adjustments on pit row and would end his day a solid
sixth.
Bonsignore continued to lead while Pitkat who
restarted 14th on lap 40, marched forward to fifth
by the next caution on lap 65. Bonsignore pitted
under this yellow along with several other teams for
fuel while up front, Preece inherited the lead with
Pitkat, Pennink, Szegedy and Goodale the top five.
 The
green flag run was reigned in for a caution just
before the half way mark that brought the majority
of the field down pit row for fresh Hoosiers. The
Mystic Missile team had Szegedy off pit row first
with Pitkat and Coby following but all lined up
behind Preece and Max Zachem who stayed out, ready
for the lap 103 restart.
Preece, Szegedy, Pitkat, Coby and Goodale led the
way on the next restart with Szegedy getting by
Preece to become the new leader on lap 117. Keith
Rocco in Canto Paving/Milton Caterpillar Chevrolet
made his move from sixth to second by lap 119. Rocco
held second settling in behind Szegedy until just
after a restart on lap 148, was passed by Pitkat as
a sudden fade began- a battery failing, Rocco held
on but his car struggled. The Wallingford, CT driver
managed to end his day 12th.
Ted Christopher had been as high as third but an
incident earlier involving a lap car that went
around in front of the leaders caused enough damage
to keep Christopher out of Sizzler winning
contention.
Up front, Szegedy was hitting his marks with Pitkat
shadowing. Pitkat made his move to pass through
turns three and four and on lap 161, became the new
and final leader.
 A
green run to the checkers, Pitkat brought the 88
home for a deep heartfelt victory.
“I tried to save the tires until after the fuel stop
then tried to drive it hard to get track position
back to put yourself in a good position so that when
you pit at about half way for tires, you got all
your spots back. We came in, the guys had an awesome
pit stop again, they’ve been spot on, everybody’s
upped their game – got back up to the top five, I
got to third when Todd was leading and Rocco was
second. I was thinking that was a good spot to ride.
Then with about 40 to 50 laps to go we had that
restart and I was on the bottom, I knew it was time
to get on the wheel, try and get by Keith then work
on Todd. Todd was really good, I knew those guys
were going to be tough to beat, they’re always good.
I tried to work on him, work on him, we started
getting a little bit free trying to pass him so I
took a couple laps off, cooled off the right rear
then tried to get back at him and get the pass done.
I knew Ryan had pitted late and I figured he was
going to be coming. Then I got to about ten car
lengths and tried to take it easy in case there was
a late restart. Every lap I was saying ‘please no
caution, please stay green’ and that was it. I can’t
thank Buzz and Bryon for giving me this
opportunity.”
 “We
were extremely good after that pit stop,” said
Szegedy who crossed second and led two different
times for a total of 41 laps. “We just needed to
tighten the car up a little bit more after that
restart where Woody got back by me- we lost a little
bit of the drive on exit. If we were able to
maintain that drive we would have been in pretty
good shape. Woody’s strong- it’s a new car, spec
motor, they seem to get through the corners really
well. I’m happy to be in a competitive car and have
a good finish. I’m very happy for the team- this is
what we all need. It was amazing how the team got me
out of the pits the way they did. It’s a good
feeling going by guys on pit road. The restarts went
our way, at Thompson they didn’t. A good pit stop,
restarts going your way, being patient and we got a
second place finish out of it,” explained Szegedy. “
Woody winning this race was probably the race of his
life. We all have our tracks we want to win at and
Stafford is obviously on all our lists because this
is one of the toughest tracks to race, to win, to
master. I would say Woody has mastered this track,
no question about it.”
“Pit strategy,” said Preece, “basically anything
after 20 laps we were going to come in, pit for fuel
then ride it out. I felt like the car was really
good, I talked to Tommy (Grasso) and he agreed,
let’s wait, anything from 60 to 30 to go and we got
what we needed. We got what we needed then when we
got to where we needed to be, we just didn’t get the
cautions we needed. We had a great car. I don’t know
if we could have beat Woody or not, his car was on
and Todd was really good too. It was a lot of fun to
drive up through the pack like that twice. I’m
really happy.”
 “We’re
very happy, my Dad really wanted to win this race,”
said Bryon Chew speaking for car owner Buzz Chew.
“It’s very nostalgic to win this race. I think we
have a great chemistry going now with Woody. We came
here with the new chassis and it’s been really good.
The car we won with last year we haven’t taken out
yet. This is a new chassis and we can’t say enough
about Troyer and how much they’ve helped us out with
this win. The crew, everybody, they just put
everything together and of course my crew chief
whose worked so hard to put this car where it is. No
issues, no problems, the car’s been solid just
because of the hard work he’s put in.”
Chew and winning crew chief Ron ‘Spot’ Ste-Marie
have been together for 20 years, a relationship that
continues to thrive with mutual trust and respect.
“We have kind of struck our groove now,” said
Ste-Marie. “We’ve got last year under our belt and
I’m starting to really know Woody’s tone on what the
car’s doing and read through it. It’s really good.”
The work with Billy Colton from Troyer is paying off
with the new car that made its debut at the
Icebreaker.
Sixth went to Doug Coby, seventh to Rowan Pennink,
eighth to Patrick Emerling, Jamie Tomaino starting
his 32nd Spring Sizzler crossed ninth with rookie
Brandon Bock tenth.
The NWMT schedule settles to a whisper until May
30thfor the Mr. Rooter 161 at Waterford Speedbowl.
See you then.
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Source:
Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
April 26, 2015 |
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