THOMPSON – Jordan Hadley was a first-time winner in the Late Model division Thursday at Thompson Speedway.
And then his celebration got restricted thanks to being unrestricted.
Hadley was disqualified from his victory for not running a restrictor plate on his car.
Woody Pitkat, who finished second on the track in the 25-lap Late Model feature, was declared winner of the event.
“A win is a win nowadays,” Pitkat said. “Especially in anything. Nowadays it’s so hard to win. You never know when your next one is going to be. We had a good car here for years and then they switched tires, and then they put restrictor plates on them. We’ve been definitely struggling. I think tonight was by far the best car I’ve had here in a long time. … We were pretty good. I guess [Hadley] was a little bit better because of what he had. But we’ll take it. A win is a win.”
It was Pitkat’s 50th career victory at Thompson and his first win since his father passed away on July 9.
“This is the first win for me since my dad passed,” Pitkat said. “It’s really cool. It means a lot for me to win for him.”
Ryan Morgan of North Franklin was moved to second place and Tom Carey III of Orange, Mass. was credited with a third place finish.
Corey Fanning of Mapleville, R.I. lost the lead late then rallied later to get it back and win the 20-lap Limited Sportsman feature.
Zach Robinson of Putnam was second and Larry Barnett of Moosup third.
Following a lap 16 restart, Barnett got under Fanning for the lead through turns three and four. But Fanning stayed on his bumper and on lap 18 Fanning returned the favor, getting under Barnett through turns three and four and pushing him up the track to take the lead back off of turn four.
“Larry Barnett probably has the most laps [at Thompson] than anybody here and I have all the respect for him. About two laps prior he kind of washed up more than what he knows is Ok. So I know what’s Ok and what’s not. We just gave back a little Larry Barnett there. He’ll be Ok, we’ll go shake hands. That’s two hard racers right there battling it out. That’s probably as close door to door as you’ll get without wrecking each other.”
Nathan Pytko of Oxford, Mass. went by Meghan Fuller for the lead on lap four and went unchallenged the rest of the way in winning the 30-lap SK Light Modified feature.
Steven Chapman of Ellington was second and Trent Goodrow of Carver, Mass. third.
37 Has been a Cheater or Dirty Driver since he started racing. This is no stretch for him to oh l forgot… His Grandfather is a good influence. Believe the 93 at the Bowl has 1 left for him before end of season . 😀
100% agree, no surprise here. Even in the concession stand line after the disqualification was announced people were commenting how they were not surprised. As for the 93 at the bowl; congrats on eliminating the competition anyway he can by wrecking them; he sucks and when he can’t win he hides in the pits.
CMON MAN.. as good ole grandpa joe would say. pretty obvious the 37 wasn’t even full throttle till about flag stand. After he had checked out. Very cool move to get woody back out to victory lane though.
For those of us who don’t know, who’s Hadley’s grandfather???