Over the years Woody Pitkat has found plenty of unique ways to celebrate victories at Stafford Speedway.
Friday the Stafford driver didn’t let the fanbase down in finding a new way to celebrate after his 84th career win at Stafford.
Pitkat held off Mike Christopher Jr. over the closing laps to win the Lincoln Tech Open Modified 80 at Stafford.
In victory lane Pitkat got out of the car and did the Griddy dance to celebrate his third consecutive year of winning the event.
“I’ve got to do a little Griddy for my kids there,” Pitkat said. “I’ve been waiting to do that for a long time.”
Pitkat’s 84 victories puts him second on the track’s all-time win list behind the late Ted Christopher, who had 131 wins at the historic half-mile.
After surrendering the lead to pit under caution on lap 58, Pitkat got by Ronnie Williams to go back to the front on lap 61 and never trailed again.
“This thing was unbelievable,” Pitkat said. “It’s not for a lack of effort. We’ve been struggling this year. New car, Chassis Pro, Todd Owen, thank those guys. We had a little bit of an issue after the heat race and I came back from the autograph session and looked and just went back in the trailer let them do their thing. … Phenomenal car today. It drove like last year and the year before.”
Mike Christopher Jr. of Wolcott was second and Williams, of Tolland, third
“There were moments I’d catch him a little bit and he’d pull away a little bit,” Christopher said of chasing Pitkat over the final 15 laps. “… We were pretty dead nuts even right there. He rotated a little bit better than us [through the corners] and that’s what we struggled with the whole race. But man, I was trying my hardest. I beat the hell out of this thing trying to catch him.”
Said Wiliams: “We’ll take a third after the season we’ve had here, and just move on to the Fall Final.”
Williams, who started on the pole, controlled out front on the opening lap with Teddy Hodgdon IV moving by George Bessette Jr. for second place.
The first caution flew on lap two for a wreck deep in the field involving Ed Flemke Jr., Tommy Barrett Jr., Kevin Iannarelli and R.J. Marcotte.
Williams held the top spot on the ensuing restart, but Hodgdon hounded his bumper. On lap six Hodgdon found the lane to get under Williams and grab the lead, but the pass was negated with caution flying for debris on the track.
Williams held the top spot on the lap six restart. Behind him Bessette was able to overtake Hodgdon for second. On lap 10 Pitkat was able to get by Hogdon for third and Bessette for second.
On lap 14 Hodgdon was able to get under Bessette for third place with Kyle Ellwood following to fourth.
By lap 15 first place Williams and second place Pitkat had checked out by 10 car lengths over Hodgdon in third.
On lap 24 Pitkat got a run off of turn two and made a diving move under Williams into turn three to take over the lead. On lap 32 Christopher got by Ellwood for fourth.
On lap 35 JR Bertuccio and Nick Halkowicz spun together off of turn two. As the caution came out Pitkat had to take evasive action coming out of turn two to miss the wreck.
Under caution second place Williams went to pit lane, along with Ellwood and Bessette.
On the lap 35 restart Pitkat was able to quickly get away from the field. Behind Christopher moved to second past Hodgdon. On lap 48 Jacob Perry went by Hodgdon to move into third.
On lap 51 Williams got by Hodgdon to take over fifth place. Two laps later Williams went by Austin Beers to move into fourth.
Caution flew on lap 58 for the spinning car of Tyler Barry. Under caution the top three of Pitkat, Christopher and Perry headed to pit road along with fifth place Beers. It put Williams back to the front for the restart with Bessette in second, Ellwood in third and Noah Korner in fourth. Pitkat restarted fifth after pitting.
On the restart Williams was in control at the front, behind him Ellwood got a run on Bessette off of turn two. On the backstretch Bessette’s car climbed the outside wall setting off a chain reaction wreck that also collected Hodgdon, Beers and Eric Goodale.
On the lap 58 restart Ellwood challenged Williams on the outside with Pitkat moving to third past Korner. On lap 59 Ellwood got by Williams for the lead. Williams fought back on lap 60 to get under Ellwood for the top spot with Pitkat following to second.
On lap 61 Pitkat got by Williams to move back to the lead. Five laps later Christopher found the lane by Williams to take over second.
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