Woody Pitkat emerged as the winner of the 44th Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut on Sunday afternoon.
Ryan Preece and Woody Pitkat led the field to the green at the start of the race. Preece would get a good start and Rowan Pennink would jump into second and Justin Bonsignore would follow into third place. Pitkat would try to get on the inside of Bonsignore but Bonsignore would shut the door. Pitkat would get by Bonsignore for third on lap 9. Pitkat would then work his back into second on lap 10 by passing Rowan Pennink. Bonsignore would pass Pennink in turn 3 on lap 13 for 3rd. Pitkat would catch up to Preece and make a charge for the lead. Brandon Oltera would stop on turn 4 as first caution would come out on lap 18. Preece and Doug Coby would come onto pit road at lap 21. Preece would take fuel on the pit stop.
The green flag would come back on lap 23 as Pitkat would lead into turn one. Justin Bonsingore would get second and Pennink would be third. Dave Sazarulo would go for a spin as the first caution would come out on lap 28. Woody Pitkat would come in for fuel at lap 30. The green flag would come back out on lap 33. Justin Bonsignore would lead the field into turn one as Donny Lia would get second. The second caution would come out for Spencer Davis on lap 34 as he would hit the wall hard in turn 3. Troy Talman also had damage. The green flag would come back out on lap 40. Bonsignore would get the lead. Donny Lia would get into second. Ted Christopher would try to get Donny Lia for second.
Preece would get back into the top 5 on lap 49. Preece would then pass Pennink for fourth on lap 52. Pitkat would pass Rowan Pennink for fifth in turn 1 on lap 61. Gary MacDonald would spin as the third place car of Ted Christopher got into Gary MacDonald while he was on the back stretch on lap 65 when the third caution would come out. Christopher had some right rear damage to his car. Christopher would receive a one lap penalty for pulling up to pit. The green flag came out on lap 71. Preece got a good start and Pitkat would get into second. Todd Szegedy would pass Rowan Pennink for third on the outside. Pitkat would start to catch up to Preece. Pitkat would try to use lap traffic to get around Preece on lap 95. The yellow came out on lap 96 for Ted Christopher and Patrick Emerling as they spun in turn 4. A bunch of the field came in on lap 99 to get tires on their pit stops. Todd Szegedy would win the race off of pit road. The new leader on the restart would be Ryan Preece. The green flag would come back out on lap 103. Preece would get a good lead on that restart. Todd Szegedy would pass Max Zachem on the inside for second at lap 105. The sixth caution would come out on lap 111 as Timmy Solomito would spin in turn 1.
The green flag would come back out on lap 116. Szegedy would get the lead on the high side in turn 4 on lap 117. Doug Coby would get into second place but not for long as Keith Rocco took second from Doug Coby. Pitkat would pass Coby for third on the inside on lap 122. Coby got sideways in turn 1 and made a save on lap 123. Keith Rocco would try to make a bid for the lead as he would try to get around lap traffic but Szegedy would still have the lead.
Dave Sazarulo would go for another spin as the 7th caution would come on lap 136. Ryan Preece would come and get tires at lap 139. The green flag would come back on lap 143. Szegedy would remain with the lead but the 8th caution would come out on lap 144 as Gary MacDonald would spin. The green flag would come back out on lap 148. Szegedy would get the lead in turn 1. Pitkat would get a second place. Eric Goodale would make it into fourth on lap 149. Pitkat was putting the pressure on Szegedy for the lead. Preece would make his into the top 5 after taking tires on lap 156.
Pitkat and Szegedy would battle for the lead and Pitkat would get the lead on lap 161. Preece would pass Rocco for third on the inside on lap 168. Pitkat would have a comfortable lead on lap 174. Preece would get back up to third. Woody Pitkat would never give up the lead for the remainder of the race as he would win his first Spring Sizzler. Todd Szegedy would finish second and Ryan Preece would finish third.
For Woody Pitkat it was a big win at his home track. Pitkat has raced at Stafford for many years. He would rank this win on the top of his list. Buzz Chew Racing ran in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and wanted to try modified racing. Buzz Chew’s son Bryon ran in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for a couple seasons. Then they put Woody Pitkat in the car. Pitkat would get his first career win at Stafford last August and the win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last fall.
“To me I look more at Spot (Crew Chief Ron St. Marie) and Buzz,” Pitkat said. “I obviously love to win and its great but I love to see it for Spot Ron (St. Marie) the crew chief. He has worked so hard and like you said he has been with those guys since day one like you said. Going through the ups and downs with the Busch (K&N) car and with the modified and trucks and everything else that he has done. It means so much to win for him. He’s unbelievable guy. He’s an awesome guy.”
Pitkat and St. Marie would go to Old Forge and snowmobile during the winter. For Pitkat to get the win for Buzz Chew and Buzz’s son Bryon and Ron St. Marie, it meant a lot to Pitkat.
For car owner Buzz Chew, he has been coming to most of the Spring Sizzler races since the first one in 1972.
“I’m happy were winning the Sizzler than at New Hampshire last year I think because the Sizzler means so much to every modified person in the world,” Chew said. “I was here for the first one in 72. It’s a big race for me. I am really so happy. I just wanted this win.”
Ron St. Marie has been with Buzz Chew Racing for 20 years. Bryon Chew and St. Marie are best friends and they trust each other. The team has been running the new Troyer TA2 Chassis.
“I have the car that we won twice with up in the trailer,” Bryon Chew said. “We have not taken that car out. This is a brand new car. I am interested with that other piece that we have in there because it’s so fast to bring it out but these guys have confidence in there and I double guess them. I wanted to run the other car the first race but you know what we came in second and now we won this race. This is a nostalgic race to win. This is our third time in victory lane for this race. We were on Greg Sacks car twice. We use to sponsor him a little bit and now it’s good we finally got my father the win here.”
When Buzz Chew Racing ran in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East back in 2006 Bryon Chew had 13 top 5’s in a row. When the team made the transition from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East to the modifieds ” It was a quite a humbling experience first couple of years. Really had to buckle down and go back to work and reengineer the car and figured out what we wanted. We got a good package right now with Woody. I think it’s just working out great.” Crew Chief Ron St. Marie Said
Szegedy talked about his second place finish. He lost a little bit of the drive on exit. Szegedy felt if he could maintain his drive that he would of been in pretty good shape but also knew Woody Pitkat was strong. For Szegedy, he feels it’s an honor to drive for car owner Bob Garbarino. Szegedy lost his ride after the 2013 season. He did get to run some races last season on the Valenti Modified Racing Series and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
“It’s just nice to know that someone like Bob considered me as a driver to be out of all these drivers out here, Szegedy said. “He picked me and that’s pretty special. What comes along with that is I gotta go out and perform and go out and win races.”
Ryan Preece talked about his third place run. After 20 laps the plan was to come in and get fuel and ride it out and play it by how it was. The plan was to come back in with 30 to 60 to go to take tires. For Preece, it was a lot of fun to come up back through the field twice. He knew he had a really good car but figured why not to have fresher tires. Preece was hoping for a lot of yellows and there so that he could conserve fuel and it worked for Preece.
The SK Modifieds held their 40 lap feature. Todd Owen and Eric Berndt led the field to the green. There were 25 cars in the field. Todd Owen would get the lead in turn 1 and Preece would get secon. Preece would pressure Owen. Preece would pass Owen down on the inside on lap 2. Keith Rpcco would pass Glen Reen on the high side to work into the top 5 on lap 5. Cipriano would pressure Owen and pass him on the inside on lap 7 for second. Keith Rocco would pass Owen for fourth. Keith Rocco would pass Dan Avery for third on lap 11. The first caution would come out on lap 14 for John Cantania and Brandon Dion up in turn 3. Dion would continue in the event. Cantania would not return in the race. It would be Preece and Cipriano on the restart. Preece would get the lead in turn one and Keith Rocco would follow his line. Keith Rocco would pass Preece on the inside on lap 15. Rowan Pennink would move into second. Ted Christopher would make his way into the top 5 on lap 17.
Pennink would put the pressure on Rocco. Chris Jones would spin in turn two for the second caution on lap 19. It would be Rocco and Pennink leading the field to the green on the restart. Another caution would come out involving a bunch of cars. David Webb had front end damage and Jeff Baral would have right side damage and Keith Rocco would be sent to the rear for aggressive driving. It would be Pennink and Preece on the restart. Pennink and Preece would battle for the lead as Pennink would lead at the halfway. Preece would put the pressure on Pennink as Glen Reen would try to get the lead. Reen would attempt to pass Peeece on the inside for second and would complete the pass on lap 24. A third caution would come out on lap 26 for a crash in turn one involving Todd Owen. On the restart, it would be Pennink, Reen, Preece, Avery and Ted Christopher. On the restart, Ronnie Williams would hit the wall hard. Also involved was Brandon Dion. Both cars would not return to the event. On the restart, Reen would get the lead on the outside. Pennink would try to put pressure on Reen.
With 10 to go, it was Reen, Pennink, Preece, and Ted Christopher with Justin Bonsingore pressuring him for fifth. Pennink would make the pass on the inside of turn 4 with 8 laps remaining. Rocco would bump into Cipriano and pass him for seventh. At the finish, it would be Rowan Pennink. Glen Reen finished second. Ryan Preece finished third. Dan Avery finished fourth and Ted Christopher would complete the top 5. Keith Rocco would finish 6th. Justin Bonsignore would finish in 7th in his SK Modified debut. Woody Ptikat would finish 8th.
The Late Models held their 30 lap feature. Michael Scorzeli and and Cory Casagrande led the field to the green as a crash in turn one involved Kyle Casagrande and Rick Lanagan. On the restart, Scorzelli would get the lead. Josh Wood would pass Tom Fearn for third. Cory Casagrande would start to pressure Scorzelli. Fearn would pass Josh Wood for third place. Casagrande would pass Scorzelli for the lead and Tom Fearn would move into second lap 16. Fearn and Casagrande would get together.
Casagrande would still be in second but Fearn would lose many positions. The caution would come out on lap 19 for debris. Fearn and Casagrande would come down on to pit road during the caution. It will be Scorzelli and Gray on the restart. Gray would try to get the lead on the high side but didn’t work as ichael Bennett and Kevin Gambacorta would work into the top 3. Bennett would try to put the pressure on Scorzelli and get the lead with 7 laps to go. Gray would move into third with 5 laps to go. Michael Bennett would go on to win the 30 lap Late Model feature. Adam Gray would finish second and Kevin Gambacorta would finish third. Bennett talked about his win.
“First it’s a great way to start off the season,” Bennett said. “But there is a lot of history. Every division we all work hard all winter to come out and win races and have a good season but the Spring Sizzler has so much history. Coming here since I was born and watching all of this stuff and to finally to be apart of it and to win it and get the big trophy. It means a lot. I really can’t describe the feeling. I have been emotional winning but that there was the whole winter’s work.”
For Bennett, it was nice to get the win early in the season. Bennett will be a dad for the second time in July. He and his wife are planning to their name daughter Tenley.
The first Friday night race of the season will be held this Friday night May 1st. The next event for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be held at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday May 30th.
