Woody Pitkat (42) in action with the Valenti Modified Racing Series earlier this year at Stafford Speedway (Photo: Stafford Speedway/Driscoll MotorSports Photography)
A second place finish overall at the Valenti Modified Racing Series Lee Oktobertfest event Sunday saw Woody Pitkat go from the hunter to the hunted.
Pitkat’s second place finish overall, coupled with Chris Pasteryak’s 16th place overall in the segmented event meant Pitkat went from trailing Pasteryak by 21 points to leading him by seven points going to the series finale at Thompson Speedway’s Sunoco World Series on Saturday.
The event at Lee on Sunday saw the Valenti Modified Racing Series run twin 50-lap features with combined results from the events determining overall results and points.
Les Hinckley of Windsor Locks used a third place in the first event and a win in the second to capture the overall victory. Pitkat, of Stafford, had a victory in the first event and a fourth place in the second to finish second overall. Mike Willis Jr. of Grantham, N.H. finished fourth in the first feature and second in the second feature to finish third overall.
Pasteryak fought to a 14th place finish in the first feature and a 13th place finish in the second feature to earn a 16th place finish overall for the event.
Pitkat earned 46 points on the day and Pasteryak earned 18.
“It was a huge day,” Pitkat said. “It just went really well.”
Pasteryak, of Lisbon, said tire troubles were an issue all weekend for him.
“They actually went back to the tire combination they used there last year and I sucked there last year,” Pasteryak said. “I didn’t want to change what I had the first two races there this year. I probably should have changed a little. Before you know it you’re in the consi and then you go to the feature just throwing stuff at it.”
Pitkat goes to Thompson looking for three championships in two days. He’s sits in third place in the Whelen Modified Tour standings, four points behind Doug Coby and Ryan Preece, who are tied for the lead. The Whelen Modified Tour’s season finale Sunoco World Series 150 is Sunday at Thompson. Pitkat leads the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified division standings by 14 points over second place Keith Rocco. Preece is third, 18 points behind.
Pitkat is looking for his first Valenti Modified Racing Series and Whelen Modified Tour titles.
“I really have a chance to win three championships,” Pitkat said. “That’s pretty impressive. That’s a pretty big deal.”
Pasteryak is looking for third third Valenti Modified Racing Series title. He won championships with the division in 2008 and 2011.
“You try to go and do the best you can there,” Pasteryak said. “Definitey, in a weird way – it sucks, it’s not good – but its almost a little liberating because we can just go do the best we can and if he wins they definitely earned it. You’ve got to try to think positives. You can’t be so down on yourself.”
Ho Hum just another win for Les. Let’s see. Last six races, 2 fifths, a third, a second and 2 wins. How the hell he doesn’t get multiple calls to drive someones car is astounding, while these other “drivers” get a call. Shaking my head. And not one mentions of Les’s quotes, and no picture of him, instead of an old photo of woody is completely disrespectful.
Go get’em woody
bateman’s mrs circus will not let woody win the championship …..
Knuckles is on the wrong site if he is looking for informed racing insight….
knuckles mahoney,
This story was posted as a preview to the championship event at Thompson, not as coverage of the Lee event. Nobody from this website was at the Lee event to cover it. Maybe if there’s not enough publicity out there of the win you might want to take your issues up with the management of the Valenti Modified Racing Series for not putting out any information on the event. They have not even posted the “overall” finishing results for the event yet. If your driver thinks he’s getting shunned, maybe he should take it up with the series management for not making any effort to distribute information. The best I can find, RaceDayCT.com is the ONLY website covering New England Racing that has posted any information about the Lee event or even mentions that Les Hinckley won the event as of noon Monday. Even the self proclaimed #1 Short Track Racing Website in America, which regularly covers events at Lee and Valenti Modified Racing Series events, has not mentioned Hinckley’s win or anything else about the event on their website, their Twitter feed or their Facebook page a day later. I’m sure you’ve contacted and left comments on all the other sites also, correct?
Shawn: So in other words because the MRS hasn’t posted anything yet on their website so that you can copy and paste and then claim as journailsm, we all are supposed to do the work for you. I thought journalism was getting out there at the events and reporting what actually happened. Oh you mean like Les’s run from 17th to the lead in 24 laps and left the field in the dust. Had you actually been there and seen it for yourself that would have been the story instead of waiting for a copy and paste article. And I thought this site was New England racing when lately 50% of your posts relate to the sprint cup, which again are copy and paste, nobody really gives a crap about sprint cup, but hey they pay the bills better than VRMS I guess. And by the way Les isn’t “my driver”, has not and will not say a word because he has more dignity than that, i’m just “reporting” what I see, and maybe you should do some reporting instead of relying on everyone else.
Les can drive just as good as anybody out there today in a mosified but his talent cant get him a top ride because his checkbook dosent have the talent you dont have to be a great driver today money buys your way in not saying this is right but it is what goes on in racing today
knuckles mahoney,
I’m not even sure what you mean by copying and pasting anything and referring to it as “journalism” as you say. Are there are press releases posted here on this site that are very specifically and clearly noted to be press releases? Yes there are. Are there stories from the NASCAR News Wire here that are very specifically and clearly noted to be from the NASCAR News Wire? Yes there are. Show me a media outlet that doesn’t use wire stories and news releases as a portion of their content. It’s why those items exist. For you to infer that somehow that is plagiarism shows just how ignorant you really are. My name is not on any of those items and nowhere do I claim in any way to have written or produced them.
And no, 50 percent of the content here is not about the Sprint Cup series. I’d say your exaggeration is off by about 45 percent there.
Who was I relying on to report what I did yesterday? I wasn’t relying on the Valenti Modified Racing Series. I’ve never relied on them for anything to be released in a timely manner. They did not release any information on the event beyond who the overall winner was. I figured out the final overall results myself through my own work and I figured out the updated point standings myself through my own work. I didn’t use anybody else’s work because not a single other media outlet reported anything on this event Sunday besides this website. I guess I missed where you left any public comments for the other sites that regularly cover Valenti Modified Racing Series events that fully ignored what took place yesterday at Lee. Again, this was the only racing news site that even reported yesterday that Les Hinckley won the event at Lee, but this was also the place you chastised for not reporting enough from the event for your liking.
And I’m not saying Les is “your driver” or anything like that. I will say though that you have personally left 25 comments here in the last year under that particular fake name that you use, and of those 25 comments, 11 were directly about Les Hinckley. Seems to be a pattern there I would say.
And yes, I do love when people who use fake names and don’t actually possess the courage to put their name behind what they say, make accusations like calling me a plagiarist. Have you always been such a gutless coward Bruce?
I guess Bruce must have hurt his typing finger,keep up the good work Shawn ,you were the only place I could find info on Lee .and Woody your going to need all the luck in the world to win in Jacks house ,but best of luck anyway
It continues to blow my mind how people that appear to have issues with this site and Shawn’s reporting take the time to read and post negative posts. If you don’t like or agree with what is being reported and/or how it’s reported why do they constantly visit the site.
Shawn,
Sorry if it sounds as if I’m promoting others to not visit the site but I can’t stand the constant complaining and criticism of others efforts.
Sounds to me like Knuckles, Bruce or whoever he is needs to get a life.
By the way, the race summary and results are posted on the chrome horn. So quit your bitchin’.
Knuckles does need a life and yes vmrs needs a lot of things.at the end of the day a lot of racers are lucky to have that series otherwise its sk racing
Knuckles and others that hate Shawn and this site are probably on here every day reading the articles to get their racing info. I’m sure knuckles and his buddies are going crazy because their attempt to ban Shawn from the 3 CT tracks is failing miserably. What gets me is they seem to think that Shawn is suppose to be some kind of track promoter. But what he does do is tell it like it is. He gives his opinions good or bad. They just can’t seem to grasp what this site is all about. Oh well, let them hate. RacedayCT is alive and well and I look forward to see what Shawn has to say week to week.
Shawn: Where in any of my posts did I accuse you of plagiarism? That’s a pretty hefty accusation that you said, not me. I said you copy and paste, you said it’s taking press releases and posting them here. If that’s the industry norm, that’s ok by me. And all i’m saying is that if you’re a sports journailist, for whatever sport you’re into, then you go to the events and report what happens. Maybe in todays digital age that’s not the norm, so be it. As far as a Shawn hater, far from it, I really like this site, and is the only site i go to, so the other sites shawn talks about, I don’t know what they are. That’s the liberal mind set, if you don’t agree with someone, then you’re a hater. I see it my way, shawn does it his way, so it is what it is. I am not asociated with Les at all, don’t know who the hell bruce is, just a fan. I just see a guy with great results get passed up for IMO crappy drivers because they have some money. That right there tells me the car owners are not serious about winning, just getting someone to help pay the bills, and that seems to be the norm these days, Ed was absolutely right. And rich, ban shawn from 3 tracks, I have no idea what you’re talking about, i’m just a fan who goes to almost all tour mod races, except for Bristol, and the florida winter stuff.
And those who think the fix is in for CP, yeah right. Woody has the points lead, and going to a track where he has 50 times the experience that CP does, with good results. I don’t see any way that Woody doesn’t win this, unless something bad happens.
Knuckles… take your deflated ball and go home. Shawn is doing us all a favor. He posts local racing news that is an interest to the New England racing community in one central location for all of us to read and catch up on. Whether it’s a press release from Stafford, Riverhead or Star, he posts the news in the most non-biased way possible. Shawn does not press his own views on the site nor does he alter these releases to appease his own ego. If you don’t like the news he posts, then take a hike to some other racing site. There doesn’t need to be a comments section but there is and biting the hand that feeds you has never had good results. Keep up the good work Shawn. Haters gonna hate because they have nothing better to do.
I called this guy out for plagiarism before……then he started putting the press release note at the top of his articles…Guess I was way off….LOL
….And I did put my real name and email on it….But then he sees the name and email and wont post the comment…..which is why people don’t use real names and email….I am guessing people in North Korea have to do the same.
LOL,
Every story that’s ever been posted on this site is archived. So show me where I ever posted a press release that wasn’t clearly marked as such, or posted anything that wasn’t my work that was made to look as if I produced it. I won’t hold my breath waiting for that list from you.
Maybe a bit over a year ago?…..You used a Nascar press release for a story and used it word for word and there was no note at the top of the article….I called you out on it and you replied that press releases were used in articles Blah blah blah……..clearly I am not the only one that has noticed it as you are having trouble keeping them straight….This site is good for opinions not informative north east racing articles……and in America nobody should be banned from anyplace just because of opinions or a lack of real knowledge, How else will this Blogger ever know anything about racing if you keep him out of the track.He clearly needs to be at the track more.
Afraid of the facts????……LMAO………..DA BLOGGER!!!!
Love it when you wont post my comment…….You and I both know what you are really about……Fake racing reporter…….Blogger.
LOL,
Again, let’s see it. Everything that’s ever been posted on this site since it was created in 2012 is archived right here. So let’s see it.
LOL,
All your comments got posted, again. Same old stuff you always say about your comments not getting posted when they all get posted. You’re like a broken record.
Does anyone remember when the only way to get racing results was to call Paul tremains checkered flag announcer and hope you got through to hear a recording ? Thanks Shawn for all you do especially when you don’t print some of my comments …LOL
Sorry about that Knuckles, there’s a group of people that were trying to get all three tracks to ban Shawn and I assumed you were part of the group. My bad. Jim, I’ve heard stories about that guy Paul. I can’t imagine that being the only way to get results. Amazing how times have changed. What I do remember though is having to call the track when rain was in the forecast and you could never get through because so many people were calling for the same reason. Or even calling Thompson and listening to Ben Dodge’s recording of the schedule for the world series. Those were the days.
Shawn, don’t encourage these idiots. You’re better than that.
Rich, no problem. I guess my point was that this was the only race in NE last weekend and I thought if you’re a racing journalist, you would be at the race obviously realizing you can’t be at two places at once. I was wrong, Les started the second race in 19th, not 17th and was in the lead by lap 24. It was amazing to see, I mean truly amazing. Outside, inside, he went by everyone like they were tied to trees, and left them behind until there was a caution on lap 46. The other driver who had a great run was Mike Willis, he came from the back of the pack twice, he did real good, I was happy for him. I am not a fan of the split 50 lap deal at all, to me it’s totally stupid, as the leaders of the first race can get screwed by being caught up in garbage on their way through. It totally sucks IMO.