THOMPSON – Before he hit the track for the ACT Late Model Open feature Saturday at Thompson Speedway Woody Pitkat had it in his mind that he wanted to lead the first lap to grab the $100 bonus up for grabs.
And then the cash register just keep ringing and ringing and ringing for the Stafford driver.
The 50-lap feature included a $100 bonus for leading lap one, a $300 bonus for leading lap 50 and an additional $50 for each lap led from lap two to 49.
And Pitkat took every cent of it, leading every lap on the way to victory.
“For this division, that’s unheard of,” Pitkat said. “I was trying to not to think about that before the race started. I was just thinking ‘Alright let’s just lead the first lap and get the $100 and try to do whatever. But yeah, that’s awesome. … They did an outstanding job raising the money for this. Hats off to them.”
Tom Carey III of Salem, Mass. was second and Nick Johnson of Rehoboth, Mass. third.
It was sweet Sunoco World Series weekend redemption for Pitkat and his Jeff Hartwell owned team. Pitkat came into the final Late Model event of the 2019 season leading the division standings before getting wrecked in the feature, costing him the title. Pitkat also won the only other Late Model event at Thompson in 2020 on Sept. 3.
“This is just awesome,” Pitkat said. “These guys, Jeff Hartwell, I’ve been racing with him forever it seems like. We should have won the championship here last year. We had a really good car and had some bad luck in the last race. To be able to come back here this year and win both races and we’ve been the class of the field, it’s just awesome.”
John Zych of Mendon, Mass. was victorious in the 25-lap NEMA Midget feature. Chase Dowling of Roxbury was second and Todd Bertrand of Danielson third.
Doug Meservey Jr. of Harwich, Mass. won the 22-lap Harry Kourafas Memorial for the Pro Four Modifieds. Brett Meservey of Brewster, Mass. was second and Rob Richardi Jr. of Easton, Mass. third.
Desmond Skillings of Antrim, N.H. won the 20-lap North East Mini Stock Tour feature. Bobby Timmons III of Windham, Me. won the 350 SuperModified feature. Ryan Vanasse of Warwick, R.I. topped the field in the 35-lap Exit Realty Pro Truck Series feature.
ACT-TYPE LATE MODEL OPEN Pos., Start Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown, Laps 1. ( 1 ) Woody Pitkat ( 91CT ) Bellingham , MA , 50 Laps 2. ( 8 ) Tom Carey III ( 5 ) Salem , MA , 50 Laps 3. ( 6 ) Jake Johnson ( 15MA ) Rehoboth , MA , 50 Laps 4. ( 3 ) Derek Gluchacki ( 03 ) No. Dartmouth , MA , 50 Laps 5. ( 7 ) Matthew Lowinski-Loh ( 17 ) Milford , MA , 50 Laps 6. ( 11 ) Ryan Morgan ( 31CT ) North Franklin , CT , 50 Laps 7. ( 5 ) Mark D. Jenison ( 22RI ) Warwick , RI , 50 Laps 8. ( 2 ) Ryan Lineham ( 10 ) Hope Valley , RI , 50 Laps 9. ( 12 ) Michael Mitchell ( 40 ) Cumberland , RI , 50 Laps 10. ( 15 ) Travis Jurcik ( 33 ) Moosup , CT , 50 Laps 11. ( 19 ) Rick Gentes ( 70 ) Harrisville , RI , 50 Laps 12. ( 14 ) Michael Linddquist ( 71 ) Sandy Hook , CT , 50 Laps 13. ( 4 ) Nicholas Johnson ( 6 ) Rehoboth , MA , 50 Laps 14. ( 21 ) Michael Benevides ( 50RI ) Westerly , RI , 50 Laps 15. ( 20 ) Paul Lallier ( 70X ) Warwick , RI , 49 Laps 16. ( 18 ) Dennis Dumas ( 15 ) Raymond , NH , 49 Laps 17. ( 16 ) Jason Larivee Jr. ( 70RI ) West Greenwich , RI , 48 Laps 18. ( 10 ) Alby Ovitt ( 35NH ) Somersworth , NH , 29 Laps 19. ( 13 ) Kevin Bowe ( 28 ) Smithfield , RI , 22 Laps 20. ( 9 ) Jimmy Renfrew Jr. ( 00NH ) Candia , NH , 17 Laps DNS Brian Tagg ( 9MA ) Oxford , MA
NEMA MIDGETS Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown 1. John Zych Jr. ( 9 ) Mendon, MA 2. Chase Dowling ( 47 ) Roxbury, CT 3. Todd Bertrand ( 48 ) Danielson, CT 4. Avery Stoehr ( 39 ) Lakeville, MA 5. Ben Seitz ( 17 ) Bourne, MA 6. Mike Horn ( A1 ) Ashland, MA 7. Jake Trainor ( 8 ) Medway, MA 8. Doug Cleveland ( 87 ) Sudbury, MA 9. Richie Coy ( 19 ) Ringwood, NJ 10. Paul Scally ( 30 ) Raynham, MA 11. Matthew Merry ( 69 ) Kingston, MA 12. Randy Cabral ( 74 ) Kingston, MA 13. Andy Lunt ( 18 ) Marion, MA 14. Jim Santa Maria ( 97 ) Burlington, CT 15. Lanson Fornoro ( 50 ) Brockton, MA 16. Joey Bailey ( 21 ) Monroe, NJ 17. Anthony Payne ( 35 ) Fair Lawn, NJ NORTH EAST MINI STOCK TOUR Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown 1. Desmond Skillings ( 90 ) Antrim, NH 2. Nick Anderson ( 55 ) Oxford, MA 3. Matt Sonnhalter ( 33VT ) East Thetford, VT 4. Emerson Cayer ( 88 ) Contoocook, NH 5. Mike Viens ( 85 ) Seekonk, MA 6. Jake Rheaume ( 18 ) Rochester, NH 7. Roger Ducharme ( 34 ) Foster, RI 8. Kevin Cormier ( 14Z ) Agawam, MA 9. Dave Trudeau Sr. ( 0 ) Mansfield, CT 10. Gordon Farnum ( 46 ) 11. Erin Aiken ( 33NH ) Claremont, NH 12. Dave Trudeau Jr. ( 97 ) Mansfield, CT 13. Justin Faford ( 04 ) Westminster, MA 14. Steve Barrett ( 54 ) Norwich, CT 15. Tim Paquette ( 93 ) Bennington, NH 16. Pat Houle ( 57X ) Vernon, VT 17. Ray Baltic ( 91 ) 18. Jared Roy ( 81CT ) Sterling, CT 19. Eric Banks ( 5 ) 20. Nadine Coates ( 40 ) Newport, NH 21. Cody Leblanc ( 7NH ) Berlin, NH 22. Louis Maher ( 69 ) Spencer, MA 23. Richard Fournier ( 20 ) Warwick, MA 24. Chris Taylor ( 5X ) East Lyme, CT 25. Dylan DeCoster ( 18X ) Waterford, CT PRO 4 MODIFIEDS Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown 1. Doug Meservey Jr. ( 67 ) Harwich, MA 2. Brett Meservey ( 5 ) Brewster, MA 3. Rob Richardi ( 00 ) Easton, MA 4. Randy Cabral ( 0 ) Kingston, MA 5. Doug Meservey Sr. ( 67A ) Harwich, MA 6. Cody Rose ( 62L ) Worcester, MA 7. Ryan McPartland ( 95L ) Northfield, VT 8. Ben Ashford ( 24 ) Randolph, VT 9. Al Rieser ( 37L ) Brimfield, MA 10. Mark Charette ( 68L ) Wolcott, CT 11. Craig Phillips ( 66L ) Oakham, MA 12. Rick Cail ( 7L ) 13. Julian Gorman ( 9VT ) Randolph, VT 14. Douglas Vinor ( 55L ) Harrison, MI EXIT REALTY PRO TRUCK CHALLENGE Pos., Driver, Car # 1. Ryan Vanasse ( 31 ) 2. Randy Burr ( 32 ) 3. Gerard Giordano Jr . ( 15JR ) 4. Connor Souza ( 38 ) 5. Emma Monahan ( 78 ) 6. Brandon Plemons ( 8 ) 7. Lucas Leone ( 1NE ) 8. Jim Boyle ( 2CT ) 9. Jason Ferreira ( 24 ) 10. Rick Ashlaw ( 28 ) 11. Ronald Langdon ( 81 ) 12. Jim Thompson ( 87 ) 13. Andrew Morin ( 10 ) 14. Ariana Jencik ( 71A ) 15. Dave Koenig ( 97 ) 16. Nicholas Cashman ( 18X ) 17. Devon Jencik ( 71 ) 350 SUPERMODIFIED OPEN Pos., Driver, Car #, Hometown 1. Bobby Timmons III ( 13 ) Windham, ME 2. Mike Netishen ( 47 ) Auburn, NH 3. Stephen Duphily ( 11 ) Plainstow, NH 4. Michael Bruce ( 22 ) Oswego, NY 5. Rich Eaton ( 4 ) Seabrook, NH 6. Brad Babb ( 41 ) Windham, ME 7. Cameron Rowe ( 77 ) Sterling, NY
” Big Money Woody” nope, just don’t have that ring. Great job Woody, leading every lap, and bringing home the big bucks. I’ve known Woody since he was, literally, a kid, and I’ve never seen such dominance. A great race by him, and team. Way to make a statement.