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09/15/2012 |
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RIVERHEAD
RACEWAY 200
Riverhead Raceway
by
Polly Reid |
 The
Riverhead 200 originally scheduled to run in July,
postponed because of rain is finally in the books
two months later. One would have to agree the wait
was worth it for Ryan Preece. The Berlin, CT driver
set fast time earlier in the day at Riverhead
Raceway in the Eric Sanderson owned, East West
Marine sponsored Ford earning his 6th pole of the
season and ended his day with a trip to victory lane
in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Riverhead 200.
“It’s awesome,” smiled Preece. “Sly, Jerry,
everybody in the shop, Fred, Jack everyone that
works on this car, they do a phenomenal job, they
work their tails off and to get this win for them it
means a lot to me. And to get our sixth pole of the
year, that’s pretty cool. We’re clicking away, we’re
getting better and better every week- I’m very
fortunate to be with the car owner I have, Eric
Sanderson, he’s a great guy and car owner- he has
all the confidence in the world in me. I’m proud of
these guys and I can’t thank them enough.”
 Justin
Bonsignore was second with Todd Szegedy third, Howie
Brode fourth and Ted Christopher fifth.
It is Preece's second win of the season, the first
coming at Monadnock Speedway in May.
The night was not without controversy. It might be
categorized as hard short track racing when the
seventh and final caution of the night waved as four
cars tangled in turn two with only four circuits
remaining on the board. After the track was clear,
the night was going to come down to a green white
checker finish. Preece leading came around turn four
for the final restart of the night with Jimmy
Blewett on the outside. With the green flagin the
air, Blewett got the edge on the restart and passed
Preece too soon. Blewett was immediately penalized
by NASCAR for jumping the restart, the win scored to
Preece as the Riverhead 200 was extended to lap 203.
Preece awarded the victory, Blewett scored 12th, the
last car on the lead lap.
“Jimmy Blewett on the outside,” said Preece about
the final restart. “He always runs me clean. There’s
nothing wrong with a little bumping and banging. I
respect Jimmy a lot, I’ve always looked up to him as
an idol figure- he’s one of the guys as when I
started racing, he would always come over to me, he
gave me a lot of advice when I was younger and
tearing up race cars, I got thank him a lot- Mike
Herman, Ken Bouchard- my family, all those people
played a big role in my racing career and
development.”
Preece earned his season 6th Coors Light Pole Award
earlier in the day and led the first 77 circuits.
Hometown driver Eric Goodale in the Riverhead
Building Supply Chevrolet lined up on the outside of
Preece and tucked in for second becoming the shadow
of the 16 car. Doug Coby however had other plans and
took over second from Goodaleby lap 50, suddenly a
threat to Preece until the next caution came out on
lap 58. Coby was forced to pit with engine issues,
leaving the track under his own power, however, he
would not return, the Reynolds Auto Wrecking/Furnace
& Duct Chevrolet was unexpectedly done for the
night. Goodale lined up second again and finally
made his move becoming the new leader over Preece on
lap 78.
At the half, 100 down, 100 to go, the longest green
run of the night underway, the top ten were Goodale,
Preece, Szegedy, Donny Lia, Bonsignore, Ron Silk,
Tom Rogers, Howie Brode, Blewett and Jon McKennedy.
As the green continued, Preece made his move out of
turn four, going low to capture the lead back on lap
113, Szegedy followed with Bonsignore third.
“As soon as he got by me he definitely looked a
little free off so I knew with a little bit of
patience we’d have it back and we did,” said Preece.
“He ran a good race, he was fast, he definitely
worked me over and it seems with me saving my tires
at the beginning, being patient it kind of paid off
for me.”
The trio of Preece, Szegedy and Bonsignore remained
in that running order until Szegedy in the Mike
Smeriglio III owned, Delicacies Gourmet/Dunleavy
Repair sponsored Ford took over second on a restart
with 25 to go. Blewett became part of the top three
by lap 177 and on the next restart, took over second
with 12 to go in the Riverhead 200. Starting 13th
after qualifying, Blewett was suddenly a contender
to take it all as the final restart lined up double
file for the green white checker dash. Preece on the
point with Blewett on the outside, Szegedy,
Bonsignore and Tom Rogers made up the top five.
Blewett crossed the line first at the checkers but
the call had already been made by officials- the win
to Preece, Bonsignore second, Szegedy third. In the
end, Blewett 12th.
“This one of those moments I wish it was a 175 lap
race,” said Preece referring to the original
distance. “We won, it is what it is- it was a race
that’s for sure I was up on the edge. We were really
good (on the long green run). Todd was good but we
were a little bit better- I didn’t know if he was
saving or not. I love Riverhead, it’s awesome, it
really is a driver’s track, you have to get up on
the wheel but you have to be smart at the same
time.”
Bonsignore in the Kenneth Massa owned M3 Technology
Chevrolet with crew chief John Sanford, the winner
of this event one year ago, somehow made it despite
being under the weather. “I guess I’ve been fighting
the flu it seems since we left Thompson- we got in
the truck to come home that night and I felt like
heck ever since then. There may not have been a lot
of cars today but the field is so close, so
competitive. We missed the pole by 9 one-hundredths
of a second and started 10th. We just had to race
really hard to get to second – I had a good long-run
car. We caught Ryan- if it had gone green we
probably could have caught him, it would have been
awesome but our car just wasn’t good on the short
runs. I had a wheel on Ryan coming to the white, it
was a good run. We’re starting to turn the season
around, we wanted to win at home but you can’t win
every year. We’re trying to finish off strong, get a
win or two, we’d like to win every week but
obviously you’re not going to. I’m looking forward
to next week, it’s when you start stringing these
weeks together like this you want to keep going, you
don’t want the season to end.”
Another podium finish at the quarter mile NY
bullring for the Ridgefield, CT driver- Szegedy has
developed a new attitude over the years about his
approach to running at Riverhead. “I like it here
now, we finished second here last year, we finished
second for the 77, this year we finished third at
the 77 and now another third. You’re nothing without
the equipment underneath you,” said Szegedy
referring to the MSR Team headed up by crew chief
Phil Moran. “They give me a car I can drive.”
2012 marks the 17th year as a Tour car owner for
Eric Sanderson. “I’m beginning to be one of the old
guys on the Tour,” said Sanderson who actually made
his start in racing when Stafford went from dirt to
asphalt. “They started what’s called the All
American Sportsman division- I put my first car in
that in the late sixties. I drove a few years
myself, the All American Sportsman, I drove a
modified for a couple of years but decided to quit
because I felt I was getting in the way- which I
was,” smiled Sanderson. Racing stopped when the
money stopped and Sanderson took up golf, “until I
got involved with Chris Kopec in ’94 when he was
running for the track championship at Riverside.
Then we went Tour racing and the rest is
history.”Sanderson is more than appreciative of the
efforts of his Flamingo Motorsports team. “This is
the first time we’ve won two races in one season.
It’s been an incredible season. These guys work
their butts off- it’s a great bunch of guys and
we’re having fun- that’s what it’s all about, having
fun.” Sanderson confirmed that Preece will return as
the driver of the 16 for the 2013 season.
From his point of view, the day became an immediate
challenge for crew chief of the Flamingo Motorsports
team- Stan ‘Sly’ Szaban admittedthe car was not
where they thought it would be when practice
started. “It didn’t start out too good, we went out
in practice and the car was surprisingly terrible,
we didn’t expect that, we thought we’d come here
with a pretty good car, but the first half was
terrible. We made some changes-different shock
package, different spring package and it kind of
woke the car up. I said to the team, at that point,
practice starts now, just forget what happened- I
was like this is where our day is starting now-
start fresh. We went from there, made our
adjustments and with Ryan’s help on the chassis, we
got him what we needed.” Preece ended up second
fastest by the end of the practice session and went
on to set fast time to earn his sixth pole of the
season. “I mean, without a doubt it’s a team effort,
every piece of the puzzle is just as important as
the other piece- Ryan happens to be a big piece of
it. If you just get it close, he does the rest, he
is an amazing driver. I’d like to take credit for
it, but I just can’t. Our car owner gives us
everything we need to get our job done- Eric has
given us all the tools.”
The season has come a long way for the Flamingo
Motorsports team that has risen from their 16th
place finish at the Icebreaker. Szaban continued,“If
someone told me at the beginning of the season that
we would have two wins, six poles, a track record, I
would not have believed it. I don’t know why we’re
having a season like this, I don’t feel like we’re
doing anything different, I mean we’ve had seasons
like this with Mike where you could do no wrong-
call it luck, whatever, they just happen.”
The remaining top ten include Tom Rogers, Jr.
crossing for sixth with Eric Goodale seventh, Donny
Lia seventh, Ron Silk eighth and Eric Berndt tenth.
Three events remain on the 2012 NWMT schedule.
Finishing the night 22nd, Coby remains the point
leader by nine over Preece who moves up a spot to
second with Silk in third only 19 behind Coby. The
NWMT heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway this
Saturday September 22nd for the F.W. Webb 100.
A big thank you to all the people at Riverhead that
helped Denise DuPont and I with the live updates for
The Chrome Horn- from getting us situated so we
could report the race to spotting when the action
was at its most heated- it was all much appreciated. |
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Source: Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: September
15, 2012 |
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