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7/26/2010 |
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EXCITEMENT
BUILDS FOR NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR
RIVERHEAD 200 SATURDAY NIGHT |
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 Ever
since the first visit of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour back in
1985 at Barbara & Jim Cromarty's Riverhead Raceway, Long Island race
fans have looked forward to when the cars and stars of the traveling
circuit visit the historic quarter mile oval. The excitement is
again building towards this Saturday evening when the Riverhead 200
will be contested with $5,000 awaiting the winner. Jimmy Spencer of
Berwick, Pa won the very first NASCAR WMT event at Riverhead some
26-years ago, and everyone wonders who will be the latest driver to
write their name into the record books?
Ryan Preece of Berlin, Ct is the defending race winner of the
Riverhead 200 and is part of a youth movement of sorts on the 2010
version of the NASCAR WMT. Aside from Preece another of the young
talents to watch will be current WMT points leader Bobby Santos III
of Franklin, Ma. as well the leading Rookie driver on the tour, Long
Island's own Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville, who comes to the
Riverhead 200 seventh in the series point rankings. Richie Pallai
Jr. of Yorktown Heights, NY is another young lion on the WMT and
made two visits to Riverhead in May to get aquatinted with the
tricky quarter mile. Rowan Pennink of Huntington Valley, Pa. and
Ronnie Silk of Norwalk, CT, who won the NASCAR Hall of Fame 100 in
May, also have logged laps at Riverhead in 2010 and may have a leg
up for the 200. Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, NY will drive a car
owned in part by Tommy Baldwin Jr. for the 200 and recently had a
runner-up finish at the Monadnock, NH quarter mile.
The trusty core of WMT veterans await the youngsters to do battle in
the Riverhead 200 Saturday as Ted Christopher of Plainville, Ct
looks to grab another Riverhead 200 trophy for his Long Island based
car owner Ed Whalen. Joining Ted are Mike Stefanik of Coventry, RI,
Todd Szegedy of Ridgefield, Ct., Jimmy Blewett of Howell, NJ, Ed
Flemke Jr. of Southington, Ct., Jamie Tomaino of Howell, NJ., Eric
Beers of Northampton, Pa., Woody Pitkat of Stafford, Ct and Wade
Cole of Riverton, Ct.
Aside from impressive freshman driver Justin Bonsignore the roster
of drivers who call the WMT home during the race season always look
forward to this exciting event coming to Riverhead Raceway. Glenn
Tyler of Hampton Bays, Johnny Bush of Huntington, Kevin & Eric
Goodale of Riverhead, Ken Heagy of Calverton, Gary McDonald of
Ronkonkoma and Joe Hartmann of Riverhead all ran Riverhead on a
weekly basis at one time or another.
The regulars of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series that compete
weekly at the Route 58 oval are gearing-up for the Riverhead 200 as
well as Chuck Steuer of Bohemia, Howie Brode of East Islip, John
Fortin of Holtsville, Tom Rogers Jr. of Patchogue and Bill Park of
Manorville all hope to make a splash Saturday evening.
Time trial qualifying to determine the first 16 starters for the 200
will take place at 4:30 pm, while a 25-lap qualifying race, if
needed, will be contested at 6:00 pm. The Riverhead 200 is scheduled
to go green at 8:30 pm.
Time trials for the Blunderbust and Charger divisions of Riverhead
Raceway will follow the WMT time trials while their 30-lap feature
events will be run after the 25-lap WMT qualifying race.
For additional information call 631-842-RACE or visit
www.riverheadraceway.com. |
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Source: Bob Finan / Riverhead Raceway
Posted: July
26, 2010 |
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