At the races: Sept. 14

It was a cool crisp night in Riverhead Saturday, with only three races on the menu, this buffet was going to be hot and furious, on this, the Buzz Chew Chevrolet/Cadillac “Green Earth Technologies 200” night. So grab a plate, and lets get to it…….

First Race, 23 Car, #0 Lap Blunderbust Feature – With Tom Pickerell, in the #4 car, starting on the pole, and Jack Handley Jr. in the #49 car to his outside, the race would be a long and hard fought battle between the two from the throw of the green. These two zipped in and out of lapped traffic the entire race. In lap 15, Handley took a lot of damage to the left rear of his car, thanks to Rob Bader, in the #27 car and Tommy “Wild Child” Walkowiak, in the #00 car in a turn 2 crash. This opened the door for Handley to zip into the lead, and grab the win. New race results show that Jack Handley Jr. was disqualified for “illegal engine modifications”, and the win was given to Jimmy White Jr. in the #32 car, who was second. Nice job Jimmy !!

Second Race, 28 Car, 30 Lap INEX Legends Race – Kyle Soper, in the #4 car, started on the pole, and at the throw of the green, would lead the every single lap for the entire race. Any sort of challenge came from Brad Van Houton, in the #09 car midway through the race. Soper would cruise to the checkers for his second victory of the season. Great race, Kyle!!

Third Race, 28 Car, 200 Lap “Green Earth Technologies 200” Modified Feature – On this , the second Whelen Modified Tour to hit Riverhead this season, the first five cars on the field were manned by Riverhead “Locals.” This race would also be marred by 13 cautions, which slowed down the pace of the race to a snails crawl. At the wink of the green, Timmy “The Natural” Solomito, in the #15 car jumped out front quickly, and led for the majority of the race, until Ryan Preece, in the #16 car, grabbed the lead with 23 laps remaining, and held on for the last 20 laps with a bit of distance between him and Justin Bonsignore, in the #51 car, in second, and Solomito now in third. Preece would get his third straight Whelen Modified tour victory at Riverhead Raceway, only the second driver to do so in 53 tour races. The only other driver to accomplish this was Mike Ewanitsko. Great Job Ryan !!, Keep your eye on this driver boys and girls, he is going to be a star someday in the NASCAR circuit.

Well guys and gals, it was a great night of racing, big shout out to Wendy in the VIP ticket booth, track services, the best All NASCAR officials on hand, and excellent job keeping things in order. Kevin from “Need For Speed” video, he’s got all the races on DVD, give him a call @ (631) 592-2995 for all the great old races. Mike the photog, keep up the good work! Brigandi Brothers towing, my wife, and Teddy the cat. Well I’m gonna light a cigar, have a brew, and make sure the fluids are topped off. God Bless America, and be safe. I will see you all next time… “At the Races!”

Be Well,
George

RiverheadLOCAL photos by George Faella
To order a print, please email the photographer faella59@gmail.com
Click thumbnails to enlarge images
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