PITKAT TO DUEL WITH CHRISTOPHER AT WHIP CITY
Rivals to battle regular field of 750cc Mini Sprint drivers at Whip City Speedway on August 30
In addition to The Duel on the Dirt by Gillis Bros. Inc, the evening’s jam packed program will include heats and features for Mini Sprints in the 270cc, 600cc, 750 Sportsman and 1200cc classes plus Quad 4 Midgets and Modified Lights.
Warm-up and preliminary events will begin at about 5:00 pm. After the heat races have been completed, “The Duel on the Dirt by Gillis Bro., Inc” will be the second feature to be run.
Woody Pitkat hopes to score a win on the dirt against a familiar rival at Whip City.
Ted Christopher is the winningest driver in the history of Stafford Motor Speedway and has won track championships at Thompson and Waterford. He has competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona Sports Car Race and has won Modified and Late Model Stock Car races at tracks up and down the East Coast. Christopher is expected to drive an entry from the Haskell Motorsports fleet.
Woody Pitkat, who has won Late Model and Modified Stock Car races from Connecticut to North Carolina, is the reigning NASCAR Connecticut State Champion and finished second in the 2007 NASCAR Whelan All American Series National Championship, is expected to drive the car usually driven by Lowbed Johnson, who put together the “Duel on the Dirt by Gillis Bros Inc.
Stock Car racing stars and fierce rivals Ted Christopher and Woody Pitkat will race against each other and the regular field of 750cc Mini Sprint drivers at Whip City Speedway on Saturday August 30. Although Christopher and Pitkat have battled each other hundreds of times in SK Modifieds and on the Whelan Modified Tour, this will be the first time that they have ever faced each other on a dirt track or in Mini Sprints.
“The Duel on the Dirt by Gillis Bros. Inc.” is a 25 lap feature on the quarter mile clay surface at Whip City Speedway and will be preceded by two 10 lap heats. Gillis Bros., Inc is the feature sponsor while the heats are sponsored by Ciammella Construction, Inc. and by J and J Autobody. Associate Sponsors include Hyper Racing, RTS Chassis, Inc., Henchcraft Chassis, Northeast Modified Lites, Inc. and Bailey Products by Haskell Motorsports.
Woody finished 17th in his first start in a second Don King entry at Stafford earlier this year. (Jim DuPont Photo)
“When we do the setups on the #28, Don’s the one that’s doing it with me. He tells me what to put for shocks and springs and when we scale it, it’s me and him doing it together. It’s going to be a big benefit knowing the cars I’m driving. They seemed pretty happy when I practiced their car at Loudon for them and gave them some pretty good feedback with how the car was. I’m really excited.”
In addition to his Whelen Modified Tour events, Pitkat will continue his chase of two track championships in weekly Modified racing for the remainder of the 2008 season. Pitkat currently sits third in SK Modified points at Stafford, just 84 points behind the leader, and 44 points outside the point lead in the Sunoco Modified standings at Thompson.
For the remainder of the season, Pitkat has his sights set on accomplishing all of his goals on the local and the Whelen Tour levels.
“Even though I’m eighth in points at Thompson, it’s only by 44 points, so I think both track championships is still attainable. Obviously it’s going to be hard, but I think it can still be done. I really want to get back to being consistent. This year, I haven’t really had that consistency I want. It’s like I either win or finish 23rd. Even if it’s just two seconds in a row, that’d be fine. I want to finish consistently in the top-five and the wins and the championships will come after that.
“In the #28, I just want to qualify good and run as best I can to prove I can run in the Tour. I didn’t really qualify all that well in the #79 last year, so I want to improve my qualifying efforts and from there the finishes will come. Obviously, I want to win a race and that would be huge, but I’m thinking realistically and just going to go out there and do the best I can to prove I belong on the Tour by being consistent.
Pitkat will pilot the #99 Hitchcock Pool Water Sunoco Modified at Thompson International Speedway this Thursday, August 7th, and the #52 TSI Harley-Davidson/The Davidson Company SK Modified at Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday the 8th before his Whelen Modified Tour return at Thompson August 14th.
