Woody Pitkat spent this past weekend competing on the longest track that the NACSAR Whelen Modified Tour visits.  He notched an eighth place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a race where survival was a tall task.  Three red flag periods and numerous wrecks took its toll on competitors, but Pitkat stayed out of trouble and posted a solid finish.

“I was pretty happy," said Pitkat.  "With all of the wrecks that we had to miss, that was really good.  I was sixth at the end and I would have liked to finish there, but the car was tight.  I had to be lower in the track to make up for that and I couldn't get down there.”

Pitkat is currently sharing the seat of the Don King-owned Modified on the NASCAR Tour.  At NHMS, King fielded entries for both drivers.

“A lot of it is seat time here and Don's main reason to want to race here with Doug was because he had experience here.  So I asked him if we could do a two-car team for me to just get some more laps here.  He said without a doubt.”

After Coby retired as a result of a first lap wreck, having Pitkat still on the track was a boost to the King team.

“After Doug got wrecked, I told everyone not to get down.  It was too bad that

Woody Pitkat   (Jim Dupont Photo)

Woody Ends Up in Top 10 at NHMS

Finishes Eighth in Don King's #88 Modified

car got wrecked, but I told the team that I wasn't going to give up on them.  My goal was to finish in the top 10 and that's what happened, so I'm happy.”

In addition to racing at NHMS, Pitkat also finished ninth in Thursday night's Sunoco Modified feature at Thompson International Speedway.  He started from the back of the pack and made his way halfway through the field before time ran out.

“It was in someone else's car too,” said Pitkat.  “When I got there, Kerry

Malone wanted to drive my car because he couldn't get his to handle.  The

year when I won the championship, he let me borrow a motor for the last

races, so I wanted to help him.  I was starting in the back and not running

for points, so I got in the car and tried to dissect it a little bit.  I think we made

some strides on that.”

The Thompson race ran clean the whole way and Pitkat wasn't able to use

attrition or a caution period to advance through the pack.

“If a caution came out, it would have helped us a little bit.  But a top 10 from

the back was good.”

Pitkat was also scheduled to race in the SK Modified and Late Model

divisions on Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway (CT), but weather wiped out that event.

“We had nothing on Friday but rain.”