PURCHASE, NY :: As the teams and drivers of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour get ready to fire up the engines for the first points race of the season, a few drivers in particular look to start the season off with a bang.
Woody Pitkat is with a new team for this season as he takes over the Buzz-Chew racing no. 88 for team owner Bryon Chew. Eric Goodale had a solid Speedweeks at Daytona and New Smyrna in February, and is looking to keep the good times rolling right into the start of the Tour season. And Justin Bonsignore is still looking for that breakout season that many have expected out of him.
It’s all about communication when it comes to starting with a new team. Learning how to communicate and work well with each other is one thing that Pitkat said the team was able to achieve when they went up to Thompson speedway Motorsports Park to test about a week ago.
“We practiced last week over there and we were pretty good,” said Pitkat. “Everybody seemed to work together really good.”
Pitkat said one of the best things about his new team is the location of their shop. The Buzz Chew team being based out of New York enables Pitkat to get to the shop on occasion from his home in Connecticut and get to know his team members. That wasn’t the case when he drove the Hillbilly Racing no. 79 which was based out of Westfield, N.C.
“I spent some time up there over the winter,” said Pitkat. “Between seeing how the crew chief preps the car and maintains the car to going out snowmobiling and going out to dinner and having fun that way too, so just getting to know them and getting on the same page with him.”
Justin Bonsignore is with the same race team, but they do have a new chassis that they’ll be using for the Icebreaker on Sunday. Since Bonsignore has teamed up with SPAFCO Race Chassis owner Art Barry on the Valenti Modified Racing Series, his Ken Massa-owned M3 Tech team decided to use a SPAFCO chassis for the NASCAR Tour. The team debuted the chassis in Florida and Bonsignore piloted it to two wins at New Smyrna Speedway, and he was in the top five at the UNOH Battle at the Beach at Daytona before the motor started to let go.
“We were really impressed with how it ran in Florida,” said Bonsignore. “We feel it earned it’s right to try and go for the Icebreaker.”
Bonsignore knows what it takes to win at Thompson. He’s done it once before in August of 2012. He said he’s confident heading into the Icebreaker, and that hopefully this weekend can be the start of a breakout year for him that many people have been expecting for a while now.
“We go into every year thinking we are going to have a great year, but this year more than in years past,” he said. “I’m really confident with everything that’s going on. I know our motor program is definitely ten times better than it has been over the last few years. I’m really confident about that. I think if we just minimize all of our mistakes and keep ourselves in position each week. We’ve shown that we can be fast. We just now have to put it together and do that for 14 races.”
Meanwhile for Eric Goodale it’s all about getting that elusive first victory on the Tour. He’s come close on a couple of occasions, finishing second at Riverhead and third at Thompson last year. And with Todd Szegedy and Ed Flemke Jr. both not expected to start the Icebreaker this weekend, Goodale’s 71 straight races now is the most consecutive of any active Tour driver. Which makes not having that win so much more frustrating for Goodale.
“It makes me even more frustrated because I know we’ve had our opportunities to win in the past,” said Goodale. ” Our time is definitely coming. So hopefully that streak won’t go to waste and we’ll be able to back that stat up with some wins this year.”
