Woody Starts Off Season With Second at Thompson

Young Driver Kicks Off Thompson Title Hunt With Strong Run

Everyone at Thompson International Speedway had their eyes on two things during opening day activities on April 14th - the skies and Woody Pitkat's #99 Sunoco Modified.  Weather issues that plagued the Northeast all weekend only caused a problem for Sunday's Sunoco Mod feature, which has been pushed to next Sunday, but Saturday, Pitkat's Modified beat everything, including the rain, with the exception of Todd Ceravolo.

Pitkat got his Sunoco Modified title defense off to a strong start with a second-place finish to Ceravolo after starting third in Saturday's 25-lap feature.

Woody's second-place earning #99 (Howie Hodge photo)

"I think I was getting better and he was getting worse and I caught him," said Pitkat of his late-race battle with Ceravolo.  "We caught a caution with about five to go and I think that kind of calmed him down and got him his wind back.  He got a pretty good restart, so I lost a little bit.  I got back to him with three to go and tried to do a crossover move to use the hill to my advantage, but everytime I tried to come across he used a brake check.  He did what he had to do.  I think we had the better car.  The best car doesn’t always win, though."

Even though Pitkat came up short with a car that was good enough to win the season-opener, the young racer is confident that he and his team will rebound when the makeup 25-lap Sunoco Modified feature is held on April 22.

"The thing was just a little free off, so if we can tighten it up, we’ll be good.  We’ll play with the motor a little bit too.   It seemed like it had good power off, but at the end of the straightaways it was losing a little bit.  I talked with the motor guy and we’ve got some ideas that we’re going to work on.  We’ll be good when we come back next weekend."

The 25-lap Sunoco Modified feature next Sunday shares the stage with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and other NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions.