Story By: SCOTT RUNNING / STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY – STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – Open Modified cars returned to Stafford Motor Speedway for the Lincoln Tech Open 80 on Friday, August 16th.
Woody Pitkat took control of the race early and then took advantage of a later pit stop than most of the lead cars and charged back to the front to win the Lincoln Tech 80 at Stafford Speedway for the third consecutive season.
The Lincoln Tech 80 took the green flag with Ronnie Williams leading the pack from pole position. Teddy Hodgdon settled into second with George Bessette, Jr., Kyle Ellwood, and Woody Pitkat making up the top-5. The caution came out with 1 lap complete for a multi-car incident on the backstretch that involved the cars of Tommy Barrett, Jr., Kevin Iannarelli, RJ Marcotte, and Ed Flemke, Jr.
Williams took the lead back under green with Hodgdon all over his back bumper in second. Bessette was third with Ellwood fourth and Pitkat fifth. The caution came back out with 5 laps complete for debris on the track in turn 1.
Williams and Hodgdon ran wheel to wheel for a lap before Williams got clear into the lead. Bessette took second from Hodgdon on lap-8 with Pitkat now wheel to wheel with Hodgdon for third with Ellwood in fifth. Pitkat took third on lap-9 and he went by Bessette to take second place on lap-10. Ellwood went by Bessette to move into fourth place on lap-15 while Williams was still holding the race lead with Pitkat right behind him in second.
Pitkat completed his charge to the front of the field on lap-24 by getting around Williams. Hodgdon was still third with Ellwood in fourth and Michael Christopher, Jr. was on the move and up to fifth behind Ellwood. Jacob Perry was sixth followed by Bessette, Chris Pasteryak, Joey Cipriano, and Les Hinckley. The caution flag came out with 34 laps complete for spins in turn 2 by J.R. Bertuccio and Nick Halkowicz.
Under the caution, Williams, Ellwood, Bessette, Cipriano, and several other cars came to pit road for 2 tires and adjustments to their cars. The pit road takers shuffled the order for the restart with Pitkat in the lead, Hodgdon second, Christopher third, Perry fourth, Pasteryak fifth, and Hinckley sixth.
Pitkat was the leader back under green with Christopher moving up to second. Hodgdon was third with Perry fourth and Beers took fifth from Pasteryak on lap-41. Perry was starting to apply heavy pressure to Hodgdon for third place but Hodgdon was able to maintain third for the time being.
With 55 laps complete, the running order was Pitkat, Christopher, Perry, Williams, Beers, Bessette, Hodgdon, Cipriano, Ellwood, and Pasteryak. The caution came back out with 57 laps complete for a spin in turn 4 by Tyler Barry. Under the caution period, the cars of Pitkat, Christopher, Beers, Hodgdon, Cipriano, Pasteryak, Hinckley, Eric Goodale, Perry, and sever others all came to pit road. This put Williams back into the lead with Bessette, Ellwood, and Noah Korner up front for the restart. Pitkat was the first car off of pit road and he would restart in fifth behind Korner with Cipriano restarting from sixth.
The restart saw contact midpack that involved the cars of Goodale, Beers, Hodgdon, Bessette, and several others to bring the yellow flag right back out.
Williams and Ellwood went wheel to wheel on the restart with Pitkat right behind them in third. Korner was fourth in line with Christopher fifth. Williams got clear of Ellwood on lap-60 and Pitkat moved into second to drop Ellwood back to third. Pitkat took the lead from Williams on lap-61 while Christopher took third from Ellwood on lap-62.
With 65 laps complete the running order was Pitkat, Williams, Christopher, Ellwood, Pasteryak, Cipriano, Anthony Bello, Perry, Hinckley, and Goodale. Christopher took second from Williams on lap-66 while Bello cracked his way into the top-5 on lap-67. Christopher was able to close to within several car lengths of Pitkat, but he couldn’t get close enough to make a bid for the lead as Pitkat won the Lincoln Tech 80 for the third consecutive year. Williams finished third with Ellwood and Perry rounding out the top-5.
LINCOLN TECH 80 (80)
1) Woody Pitkat, Bellingham, MA
2) Michael Christopher, Jr., Wolcott
3) Ronnie Williams, Ellington, CT
4) Kyle Ellwood, Riverhead, NY
5) Jacob Perry, Kannapolis, NC
6) Eric Goodale, Riverhead, NY
7) Anthony Bello, Newtown
8) Joey Cipriano, Plymouth
9) Les Hinckley, Windsor Locks
10) Teddy Hodgdon, Danbury
11) Tyler Barry, Griswold
12) Noah Korner, Canton
13) J.R. Bertuccio, Medford, NY
14) Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon
15) Nick Halkowicz, Shelton
16) Ed Flemke, Jr., Southington
17) Marcello Rufrano, North Haven
18) Tommy Barrett, Jr., Millis, MA
19) George Bessette, Jr., Danbury
20) Austin Beers, Northampton, PA
21) Kevin Iannarelli, Shirley, MA
22) RJ Marcotte, Millville, MA
