Late charge pays off for Pitkat

Aug. 20—STAFFORD — It was billed as an 80-lap race, but for Woody Pitkat, the race really didn't get started until there were nine laps to go.

Pitkat, restarting on the outside against Ronnie Williams, blow-torched his way into the lead and held off a frantic charge from Ryan Preece over the final five laps to win the Lincoln Tech Open 80 at Stafford Motor Speedway.

"Ryan said he made me work for it and he certainly did," Pitkat said in victory lane. "This is the hardest I've ever driven in my life. I'm exhausted."

"We had a fast race car," Preece needed. "Needed that track position. You just can't give it up when you're going against Woody."

Preece had the lead until lap 58, when the elite drivers pitted for tires under a caution. Preece came on to pit road with the lead and left in fifth, trailing both Pitkat and Williams.

"The restarts killed us again," Williams said. But it was a great race. I lost to Woody and Ryan Preece, two of the best who ever ran here."

It was Pitkat's 81st Stafford win. He is second behind Ted Christopher's 131 wins on the all-time list.

Rapid retaliation

When Troy Tallman made a crossover move against Ronnie Williams to take the lead on lap 11 of the 40-lap SK Modified feature, Williams knew exactly what to do.

Fight firepower with firepower.

Williams responded with a crossover move of his own on lap 12 and remained in front the rest of the way for a comfortable win.

It was atonement for Williams, who suffered car troubles one week ago and never made it on the track for the feature.

"We blew up last week, and we made up for it this week," Williams said.

Pearl power

The trademark of a well-handling car is that you can make moves on both the outside groove and the inside groove.

That's what Alexander Pearl did in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature as he nailed down his third win of the season.

His moment of glory came on lap 12 when he was in third place, behind the Chapman brothers, Tyler and Jason of Ellington.

He stomped by Tyler on the outside and then harpooned past Jason on the inside to move into the front for good.

"To be honest, the last two weeks we sucked," Pearl said. "We found some things wrong and we fixed them, and we were very competitive tonight."

Feature fix

Adam Gray was a speed bump during practice for the 30-lap Late Model feature. When the race started, however, the speed bump became a rocket ship.

Fray needed the firepower. He whistled past Andrew Molleur midway through the race to stroll to victory lane.

"We had one of the slowest cars in practice, but the team kept working on it," Gray said. "We threw everything at it but the kitchen sink."

And Molleur's early lead went down the drain.

Accident avoidance

Jeremy Lavoie started Friday's 20-lap Limited Late Model feature in the grass. He ended it in the winner's circle.

Lavoie buzz-sawed his way underneath Alexandra Fearn with two laps to go to nail down the come-from-behind win.

The race's defining moment took place on the first lap, however, when Lavoie slid into the grass in Turn 1 to avoid an altercation between Ari Jencek and Damian Palardy.

Downey domination

Travis Downey's timing was impeccable Friday in the 20-lap Street Stock feature. He took the lead by blowing around Travis Hydar just before a lap 7 caution came out. Because the lap counted, Downey was able to have the inside advantage on the restart and was able to roar past Hydar on this way to his third win of the season.

He made an outside move to take the lead, and an inside move to keep it.

"We were able to make that move on the outside, and then we crossed the line before the yellow came out so the lap counted," Downey said. "It wasn't an easy win."

Hydar finished second and increased his point lead to 54 points over Bert Oullette.

20-lap Street Stocks: 1. Travis Downey, Barkhamstead; 2. Travis Hydar, Woodbury; 3. Bobby Stirk III, Naugatuck; 4. Bert Ouellette, Ellington; 5. Adrien Paradis III, Plainville; 6. Jason Lafayette, Somers; 7. Sam Calvo, Berlin; 8. Chris Danielczuk, Goshen; 9. Pat Grady, Berlin; 10. David Macha Jr., Columbia.

40-lap SK Modifieds: 1. Ronnie Williams, Ellington; 2. Troy Talman, Oxford, Mass.; 3. Bryan Narducci, Colchester; 4. Jon Puleo, Branford; 5. Cory DiMatteto, Farmington; 6. Michael Gervais Jr., Wolcott; 7. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 8. Noah Korner, Canton; 9. Todd Owen, Somers; 10. Marcello Rufrano, North Haven.

20-lap SK Lights: 1. Alexander Pearl, Salem; 2. Tyler Chapman, Ellington; 3. Nick Anglace, Ansonia; 4. Jason Chapman, Ellington; 5. Amanda West, Colchester; 6. George Bessette Jr., Danbury; 7. Bob Charland, Stafford; 8. Meghan Fuller, Auburn, Mass.; 9. Chris Matthews, Stafford; 10. Tyler Alkas, Berlin

30-lap Late Models: 1. Adam Gray, Belchertown, Mass.; 2. Andrew Molleur, Shelton; 3. Kevin Gambacorta, Ellington; 4. Michael Bennett, Stafford; 5. Tom Fearn, East Longmeadow, Mass; 6. Andrew Durand, Chicopee, Mass.; 7. John Blake, North Haven; 8. Darrell Keane, Enfield; 9. Michael Wray, Northford; 10. Paul Varricchio Jr., Berlin

20-lap Limited Late Models: 1. Jeremy Lavoie, Windsor Locks; 2. Rich Hammann, Tolland; 3. Alexandra Fearn, East Longmeadow, Mass.; 4. Kevin Cormier, Agawam, Mass.; 5. Gary Patnode, Barkhamstead; 6. Matt Scappini, Litchfield.