Woody Pitkat celebrates victory in the Whelen Modified Tour F.W. Webb 100 in 2014 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Photo: Getty Images)
LOUDON, N.H. – Stomping on it in practice earned Woody Pitkat a little celebration Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Pitkat, of Stafford, led the way in an abbreviated rescheduled practice for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Friday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
And when rain brought an early halt to that first practice session NASCAR officials decided to scrap the 2:30 p.m. qualifying session for the series.
The rulebooks states that the starting field for Saturday’s Whelen Modified Tour F.W. Webb 100 will be set by the results of the first practice session, putting Pitkat on the pole.
It marks the fifth career Whelen Modified Tour pole for Pitkat and his first at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Pitkat won the F.W. Webb 100 on Sept. 20, 2014, on of his three career Whelen Modified Tour victories.
Pitkat had a fast lap of 129.459 mph during the about 10 minutes of practice the series got before rain came. Pitkat got eight laps in during the abbreviated session.
The rulebook states: “When the Qualifying session is not completed due to weather or adverse conditions, the fastest single lap speed posted from the first practice session prior to Qualifying will be utilized to assign starting positions.”
The Whelen Modified Tour’s originally scheduled 10 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. practice was scrapped because of rain Friday morning and rescheduled for 1 p.m. to 1:25 p.m. A little after 10 minutes into that practice, action stopped on the track for more rain falling.
The series will get another half hour of practice beginning at about 2:30 p.m., weather pending.
Bobby Santos III of Franklin, Mass. will start second Saturday.
Bobby Santos III of Franklin, Mass. was second fastest during practice at 129.164 mph and will start second Saturday. Rowan Pennink of Huntingdon Valley, Pa. was third fastest at 128.863 mph and will start behind Pitkat in third.
Doug Coby of Milford, the series points leader and winner of the last two Whelen Modified Tour events at NHMS, was fourth fastest at 128.863 mph. Coby ran eight laps. Santos and Pennink each ran 10 laps.
Only 8-10 laps to decide the pole at NHMS… and no real qualifying. I bet this is how supporting divisions at places like Stafford and Waterford feel when their schedules get jacked because the tour shows up. It doesn’t help that the tour plays an intermediate division. Not quite full blown NASCAR and not quite local but still the same polluted sandbox.
At least it’s better than setting the field by points. The teams that haven’t run the full tour still have an equal chance to start up front. Although if Sprint Cup teams are such accomplished drivers, do they really need almost two hours of practice tomorrow? It would be nice to see the WMT qualify on Saturday in addition to racing.