|
WOODY PITKAT
WINS THE ALL STAR SHOOTOUT AT THE "MAGIC MILE"
Now With Two Consecutive Wins Can He Make It Three For
Three?
by
Denise DuPont |
NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) drivers came to New
Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) to participate in a
thirty-five lap chase for the coveted All-Star
trophy. The field was capped at twenty drivers for
the non-points event. Selection of the driver that
would compete was based on current and past
champions, 2013 rookies, drivers with the most wins
from 2005 through June 20th, 2014 and any other
tiebreakers were outlined on the entry form until
the field was filled.
The starting field was then based on a random draw
and no pit stops were allowed during the race. The
first segment was 20 laps after which a competition
yellow was thrown. The field was then inverted based
on a spin of a wheel with 4 to 10 positions defined
for the starting positions. After the re-alignment
of the field, it was back to racing with only 15
laps left for a shootout.
Eric
Goodale started on the pole with Woody Pitkat on his
outside. Pitkat quickly took the lead but the
field’s hard charge to the front was stopped when a
caution was thrown on lap 3. Defending champion Doug
Coby made contact with the front stretch wall just
after four. His car continued to scrape the outside
wall until it came to rest in turn one. It appeared
that the accident began when Rowan Pennink made a
move on the bottom to pass on the inside. His run
was a little high on the track which brought Coby up
into the marbles. The incident sidelined Coby out of
the competition early in the race.
The race continued with Pitkat and Bobby Santos
swapping the lead back and forth until their forward
momentum was stopped with the planned competition
caution on lap 20. Pitkat crossed the line first
holding Santos in second to take the yellow flag.
The position wheel was then spun. The number six now
determined the invert order and potential fate of
the field. So the top six drivers were inverted for
the final 15 lap run for the win. Pitkat dropped
back to sixth while Eric Goodale took the lead
followed by Donny Lia, Ryan Preece, Rowan Pennink,
Bobby Santos, Woody Pitkat, Justin Bonsignore, Ted
Christopher, and Ryan Newman for the top ten on the
restart.
Starting
in the third row, Pitkat wasted no time getting back
to the front. He quickly moved his way back into
lead contention. With three laps to go a three-way
battle developed between Preece, Lia and Pitkat.
Preece definitely had the top position at the white
flag. But on the final circuit, Pitkat was the
NWMT’s All-Star Shootout victor. Preece crossed the
finish line second and Lia took third. Justin
Bonsignore followed in fourth with Bobby Santos
fifth. Ted Christopher, Eric Goodale, Ron Silk, Ryan
Newman and Andy Seuss rounded off the top 10.
This is the second victory in a row the NHMS “Magic
Mile” for Pitkat. He took home the win last
September at the tour’s F.W. Webb 100 event.
With only 35 laps in the shootout, teams went into
the race with a short track weekly race strategy.
Pitkat has a lot of experience with weekly at local
tracks so he planned with his crew how to approach
the race. “We talked about how we were going to run
before the race and we took the adjustments that we
would do for a 100 lap and cut it in half,”
explained Pitkat after the race. “Because it was 35
laps and you are going to drive it as hard as you
can.”
The pressure was really on the competitors because
of the dash like format of the All-Star Shootout.
There were fourteen official lead changes in just 35
laps.
The All-Star Shootout will premiere on NBCSN on July
23 at 4:30 p.m.
Notes from New
Hampshire Motor Speedway:
Woody Pitkat
Competing weekly at Stafford Motor Speedway in an SK
Modified, Pitkat is used to the hard charging get to
the front to win format. “It was basically like a 35
lap SK modified race with the mentality that you
drive it for what it is worth. For the first 20 laps
I cruised a little bit and there was more give and
take especially because it was Bobby (Santos). We
were just having fun racing.” And fun the two
drivers did as they drafted and swapped the top
position several times. Then after the competition
yellow the mindset of driver’s changes. They were
now going for the win “After the caution it was
different,” confessed Pitkat. “It got a little
aggressive with Ryan as he tried to protect the lead
on the front straightaway at the end. I went to the
outside and I thought that he would give some room.
He gave me the room and I thank him for that. He was
then right there with me until it was three wide. I
tried to get away from them (Preece and Lia) just in
case they collected. I just wanted to bring it home.
I went down to protect Ryan on the bottom and when I
saw Donnie down there but it was too late. I
apologize to Donnie for coming into him there.” On
the last lap Lia made a charge on the bottom hoping
to slide to the lead while Pitkat and Preece were
busy running one-two. Not realizing Lia moved into
position, Pitkat tried to protect his space on the
bottom to prevent Preece from a sling shot move to
the front. He came down into Lia making contact but
the three were able to
In the All-Star Shootout
NWMT drivers drove hard for the win, tomorrow what
is the plan?
Woody Pitkat
Depending on where you start you may have to drive
as hard. We need to come out of qualifying with a
good top five finish so you can put yourself up
there without racing hard. Usually if you start in
the top five or top ten you do not have to race
hard. But if you put yourself in fifteen or worst
you have to race hard to go forward before the half
way break. Then you have to come in and make
adjustments to position yourself you have to
definitely go out there and qualify. Looking at the
weather if we have to go out based on points we will
being doing good. But if it does come to qualifying
I am going to give it all that it is worth. Then we
will see what happens in the first fifty laps. To
give feedback to make the right adjustments to be
there after the last fifty laps. So depending on
where you put yourself during qualifying you will
not have to run as hard as we did today.
|
Source:
Denise DuPont / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted:
July 17, 2015 |
|
|