RPW Column: Looking Back A Bit: Fifth Week Of May
Column Compiled By: PHIL SMITH / RPW – WESTERLY, RI – Seventy five years ago in 1946 D. Anthony Venditti saw the fruits of his labor come to life as he opened his Seekonk Speedway on Route 6 in Seekonk, Mass. Oscar Ridlon was the winner in the Midgets.
Seventy years ago in 1951 Ed “Spinner” Smith, who in later years would become a Pit Steward at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, won the 25 lap Modified feature at the shoreline oval. Leo Boudreau was the Stock car winner at Seekonk.
Sixty five years ago in 1956, Vern Chevalier was the winner at Old Bridge in New Jersey. Freddie Luchesi and Bobby Sprague shared victory lane at Seekonk.
Sixty years ago in 1961, rain washed out the Modified programs planned for Saturday night and Memorial Day Monday at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. The Bombers and the non-Fords were able to get their events in on Monday. Ed Moody won what ended up being six in a row in the Bombers. Arnie Harris was the non-Ford winner. Roy Durfee and Joe Rosenfield shared victory lane at Seekonk.At Old Bridge it was Elton Hildreth taking the win and at South Boston, Ray Hendrick added to his win list. Charlie Trombley was the winner at Catamount.
Fifty five years ago in 1966 the Albany Saratoga Speedway ran a 30 lapper. Eddie Flemke, fresh off his Memorial Day win, made it two in a row at the 4/10 mile speedway. Elton Hill finished second and was followed by Jerry Cook, Dennis Zimmerman and Don MacTavish. MacTavish stayed close to home on Saturday night as he took the feature win at Norwood. Rain prevailed at the Waterford Speedbowl. Ernie Gahan was the Friday night winner at Stafford on the dirt. George Murray was the Class A winner at Seekonk. At the Fonda Speedway Bill Wimble recorded his second victory of the year. Kenny Shoemaker and Pete Corey rounded out the top three. At Utica-Rome on Sunday night Don MacTavish took a 100 lap win over Wimble, Flemke, Cook and Frank Mathalia.
Fifty years ago in 1971, Thompson switched over to Friday nights. In the twin 25 lap features Ray Hendrick made a surprise visit and walked off with the opener. Fred DeSarro, now in the Len Boehler Ole Blu, finished second and was followed by Leo Cleary, Bob Santos and Win Barrows. Cleary, in the Garbarino Mystic Missile, won the nightcap. DeSarro was again second and was followed by Santos, Billy Harman and Hop Harrington. Hendrick didn’t finish as he went into the dirt bank after a tangle with Bugsy Stevens. At the Albany Saratoga Speedway, Eddie Flemke, in a Richie Evans team car, took the win over Robbie Kotary, Ken Canestrari and Eddie Pieniezak. Evans was under suspension from NASCAR for running non-sanctioned events. While Flemke was taking top honors at Malta, Evans was at the Fulton Raceway where he finished fourth behind Merv Treichler, Lou Lazzaro and Roger Treichler. Geoff Bodine rounded out the top five. Stafford ran a 50 lapper on Saturday, which saw Fred DeSarro take the win over Lou Austin, Bob Santos and Leo Cleary. Donnie Bunnell made it two in a row at the Waterford Speedbowl as he copped a 50 lap Modified win. Bill Sweet was the Sportsman Sedan winner. Deke Astle won a 50 lap Modified event at Seekonk. At Fonda, Harry Peek beat out Maynard Forette, Lou Lazzaro and Rene Charland. Mousie Kempster won at Islip and at Utica-Rome; Fred DeSarro made the long trip from Rhode Island pay off as he beat the best to take the win. Dave Lape finished second with Lou Lazzaro, third. Stafford planned a 100 lap event for Monday but it rained and the event was rescheduled.
Forty five years ago in 1976, New Egypt ran on Thursday night with Fred Harbach taking the win. Friday night at Riverhead, Harbach played second fiddle to Charlie Jarzombek. Wayne Anderson finished third and was followed by Greg Sacks and Jerry Cook. Islip ran a 50 lap double point event on Saturday night and it was Anderson taking the win over Sacks, Jim Tyler and Bob Park. Bugsy Stevens added to his win total at Stafford on Saturday night as he beat out Ronnie Bouchard, John Rosati, Fred DeSarro and Jim Spencer and at Riverside, veteran Lou Tabone held off Bob Polverari and Pete Fiandacca. Dick Dunn, driving the Mighty No. 3 Budda’s Bullet of Al and Peg Gaudreau, scored a convincing 100 lap Modified win at the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. Rick “Sleepy” Knapp was the Grand American winner. Billy Clarke was the Modified winner at Seekonk. Sunday night racing at Thompson rained out.
Forty years ago in 1981, despite suffering with a case of chicken pox, Richie Evans didn’t let that slow him down as he won a 100 lapper at Stafford on Friday night. Ray Miller finished second and was followed by John Blewett Jr and Bob Fuller. Other Friday night winners were Tony Siscone at New Egypt and George Kent at Spencer. Saturday night at Riverside saw Evans carry his winning streak as he beat out Marty Radwick for the win. At Waterford, Rick Donnelly survived a heated battle with Don Bunnell to take the win. At Westboro, it was Ronnie Bouchard over Roland LaPierre Jr, George Savory and Leo Cleary. Seekonk had only nine Modifieds but it was a good show just the same as Bugsy Stevens came home the winner over George Summers and John Rosati. Bouchard made it two for two as he took Monadnock on Sunday. Punky Caron finished second with Bugsy Stevens, third. On the Island at Islip, Charlie Jarzombek took the win over Bob Park and Fred Harbach. At Danbury Rit Patchen took the win over Bones Stevens in the Modifieds as Randy LaJoie ruled in the Sportsman.
Thirty five years ago in 1986, Mike Stefanik led the charge at Stafford where he beat out Reggie Ruggiero, Mike Mclaughlin and Corky Cookman. On Saturday night at Riverside it was a crash fest as only six of the original 22 starters survived to finish the 50 lap modified main event. Jack LeCuyer took the win over John Rosati and Bob Polverari. John Blewett Jr won a 75 lapper at Riverhead over Wayne Anderson and Fred Harbach and at Seekonk; Leo Cleary got his third Pro Stock win. Other weekend action saw Tom Baldwin victorious at New Egypt, Tony Jankowiac at Spencer and Jan Leaty at Tioga. The Winston Cup cars were in Riverside, Cal where Darrell Waltrip took the pole and the win. Bobby Rahal won the Indy 500.
Thirty years ago in 1991, It was the Teddy and Mikey Christopher show at Stafford as the twin brothers finished one-two on Friday night. Ricky Young did the deed at Waterford on Saturday night and at Riverhead it was Tom Tillotson over Wayne Anderson and Bob Park. Ricky Fuller beat out Jerry Marquis at Riverside and on Sunday, the Modified Tour was at Thompson for a 150 lapper. Jeff Fuller took the win and was followed by Mike Stefanik, Steve Park and Doug Hevron. It was also on this weekend that Todd Bodine got his first Busch Grandnational win, that coming at Dover Downs.
Twenty five years ago in 1996, Ted Christopher recorded his 36th career win at Stafford on Friday night as he beat Lloyd Agor and Ken Barry to the stripe. Jim Broderick got his second of the season at Waterford on Saturday night. Jerry Pearl finished second with Dennis Gada, third. At Riverside, Reggie Ruggerio fought long and hard as he avoided a big crash with five to go and passed Richard Savory on the last lap to take the 50 lap win. Riverhead saw Tom McCann in victory lane. The Featherlite Modifieds and the Busch North Series were at Loudon. Steve Park led the final 51 laps of the BNS event and beat Jerry Marquis by ½ second. Jan Leaty dominated the Modified event until getting a flat under green which opened the door for Tony Hirschman who ended up with the win. Reggie Ruggiero finished second and was followed by Steve Park. Chris Aman and Jerry Marquis who rounded out the top five.
Twenty years ago, in 2001, the Thompson Speedway held a private race on Thursday night to entertain those in the area for a Harley Davidson event. HD bought 10,000 tickets to give away but only about 300 showed up. Todd Ceravolo started fourth and took the lead on lap five and survived numerous wrecks to record the win. Dennis Boticello finished second and was followed by Kerry Malone, Scott Quinn and Zach Sylvester. Jim Williams with his donut car took the 50 lap SK-Modified feature at Stafford on Friday night with Eric Berndt, second and Kerry Malone, third. Rain washed out action at Waterford for the second week in a row but at Riverhead, JR Bertuccio made it two in a row. In Winston Cup action at Dover Downs, Jeff Gordon led 380 of the 400 lap distance as he took the win. Steve Park was closing at the end but had to settle for second. Jim Spencer was the Grandnational winner.
Fifteen years ago in 2006, rain blanketed the New England area wiping out action at the Stafford Speedway for the fourth week in a row. Rain also washed out racing at Waterford, Seekonk and at the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island. The Nextel Cup and Busch Series events got to run in Dover. Matt Kenseth passed teammate Jamie McMurray with four laps to go at the Dover International Speedway and went on to win the Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America for his second win of the season. This was Kenseth’s 12th career victory and #92 for Roush Racing. It was worth $323,591 from the over $5.6M in posted awards. Early rain washed out the afternoon qualifying session and forced Burton to start 36th in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo. But the 38-year-old veteran battled his way to the front and held off Nextel Cup star Carl Edwards to register the best come-from-behind victory ever at Dover.
Ten years ago in 2011 The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour ventured to the Stafford for the TSI Harley-Davidson 125. Ron Silk ended a long dry spell as he returned to Victory Lane for the first time in a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event since 2009 and he did it in dominating fashion as he went pole to pole. Driving for Eddie Partridge, Silk led all 125 laps to collect his fifth career win in his 25th start at Stafford. Once the race began, he was rarely challenged, and at one point had nearly two seconds on the field. Points leader Rowan Pennink followed in second with defending Whelen Modified Tour Champion Bobby Santos third. Ted Christopher and Erick Rudolph completed the top five. Rounding out the top ten were Todd Szegedy, Chuck Hossfeld, Doug Coby, James Civali and Matt Hirschman.
The race was slowed just three times by caution with the red flag displayed during the second yellow on Lap 53 to clean up a multi-car incident after Kevin Goodale hit the front stretch wall. There were 31 cars on hand. Seventeen of them were on the lead lap at the finish.
The Thompson Speedway celebrated its 71st Anniversary. Ryan Preece scored his first career Sunoco Modified victory. Chris “Moose” Douton took a borrowed ride to victory lane in the extra-distance Limited Sportsman event. Larry Gelinas posted his first victory of the season in Super Late Model action. John Materas continued his early season success with his second win of the year in the Late Models. Cam McDermott earned his first win of the year in the TIS Modifieds. Danny Field notched his third win on the season in the Mini Stocks. On the 71st anniversary of its first race, Thompson International Speedway hosted 95 race cars in the 6 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions.
Ryan Preece led pole to pole to score his first victory of the season in the caution-free 30-lap Sunoco Modified feature. Danny Cates and Ryan Preece were on the front row for the green flag, Preece controlled the event from when he took the lead off turn 2 and was never headed. Keith Rocco tried to advance on the low line past Todd Ceravolo but was kept at bay. Ted Christopher, whose car was repaired after a broken tie rod in the heat race, was up to fifth by lap 12. At the halfway juncture, Ryan Preece was still in command with Danny Cates in second. Ceravolo, Rocco and Christopher rounded out the top-5. Preece’s advantage over the field was some seven car lengths in his favor. On lap 18, Rocco found his opportunity to overtake Ceravolo. Ceravolo would have no part in it and used a crossover move to go back by Rocco on the next circuit. Ted Christopher was now in the mix as he got under Rocco to gain the fourth position. Christopher continued his advance past Ceravolo on lap 21 off of turn 4. With 7 circuits to go, Preece led the remainder of the event to score the win. Danny Cates was second, followed by Christopher, Ceravolo and Rocco.
Although the bottom line looks good as far as the car counts go the Sunoco (SK type) Modifieds drew a scant 11 cars and the Super Late Models only totaled 7.
The Stafford Motor Speedway hosted a 5-division NASCAR Whelen All-American Series along with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event as part of the 21st Annual TSI Harley-Davidson 125 on Friday, May 27th. Keith Rocco scored his second victory of the season one week after destroying his car in a heat race accident in the 40-lap SK Modified® feature event, Woody Pitkat picked up his first win of the 2011 season after starting shotgun on the field in the 30-lap Late Model feature, Matt Galko picked up his second feature win of the season in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, George Nocera, Jr. picked up his third win of the 2011 season in the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Cliff Saunders picked up his first win of 2011 in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
Pitkat had won two previous Late Model events but had them taken away because of technical issues.
In action at the Waterford Speedbowl, three of five scheduled events got in the record book before heavy fog rolled in, forcing the end of the ISMA Supermodified race three laps shy of its scheduled distance, and the postponement of the remaining two feature events. In racing action, Rich Staskowski of Hope Valley, RI picked up the victory in the Bob Valenti Auto Mall Late Model feature, his first on the season. Defending Mini Stock champion Ken Cassidy raced to his 27th career division win, his second victory on the year. In ISMA Supermodified action Russ Wood of Pelham, NH was the winner in a crash marred race, shortened to 47 laps. The final three laps were halted after the fog was too thick to continue.
In the Southland, Saturday was a historic event for Burt Myers at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC. He claimed his 46th win, tying him for sixth on the all-time featured event list. It was also a memorable night for Joseph “Bobo” Brown, who became the 119th driver on that list of featured event winners. Brown took the checkered in the second race for the GMAC Insurance Modified Series, his first Modified win ever at Bowman Gray. Burt Myers qualified on the pole for the first 25-lapper for the Modifieds. Right beside of him on the outside front row was Jonathan Brown. As the green flag fell, Brown pushed hard on the outside, riding side-by-side with Myers for several laps. Myers claimed victory in the first race. Brown finished second, and Brian Loftin.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts “Madhouse Scramble” sent Joseph Brown, the brother of Jonathan Brown, to the pole for the start of the race. Joseph “Bobo” Brown had to fight to hold his position in the initial start, but he emerged victorious 25 laps later, his first Modified win ever. Myers finished a distant 12th.
At the Riverhead Raceway on Long Island, Tim Solomito made it two in a row in Modified competition.
In Modified Racing Series action Rowan Pennink survived six caution periods and three red flags to win the 100-lap Valenti Modified Racing Series event, Saturday night, at the Twin State Speedway in Claremont, NH. The victory was Pennink’s third with the VMRS and his first of the 2011 season.
Chris Pasteryakand Jon McKennedy brought the field to green with McKennedy jumping into the lead until Pasteryak took over the top spot on lap four. Pasteryak then set the pace before turning over the lead to Pennink on lap 39. Pennink led the remaining 60 laps to secure the win. Todd Patnode ended up second with Chris Pasteryak third, Dwight Jarvis, fourth, and Ken Barry, fifth. Sixth through tenth were Rob Goodenough, Les Hinckley, Aaron Fellows, Joe Doucette, and Kirk Alexander.
The race program was marred by several crashes with many competitors receiving heavy damage. Sean Bodreau, flipped end-over-end in the first qualifying race forcing the second generation driver out of the event. Bodreau was not injured. There were 27 cars on hand.
In addition to leading the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series point standings Pennink led the Valenti Modified Racing Series point standings.
Get well wishes were sent out to longtime motorsports writer Al Robinson, who was recovering from a stroke. Al, who was the former Public Relations Director at the Dover Downs Speedway and the defunct Busch North Series had a stroke at his home.
On a sad note, noted photographer Howie Hodge sent word that Charles Kepley of the C&C Promotions family that was responsible for the annual North-South Shootout died suddenly.
In Sprint Cup racing at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Dale Earnhardt Jr. was out front on the final lap for the first time in 105 races, and the only thing standing in the way of a victory was the gas, or lack of it, in his tank. The crowd roared as he took the white flag, the fans stomping in the stands in near hysteria over the almost certain ending of Earnhardt’s nearly three-year losing streak. In a blink of an eye, it was over.
The gas tank in his Chevrolet ran dry along the backstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and as Earnhardt tried to coast his way through the final turn, Kevin Harvick zipped past him to steal the Coca-Cola 600. It was a heartbreaking end for the victory-starved JR Nation, and somewhat mimicked the final lap of the Indianapolis 500.
Earlier Sunday, rookie JR Hildebrand crashed coming out of the final turn to lose the Indianapolis 500. Both Earnhardt and Hildebrand are sponsored by the National Guard, and the sudden turns in the two big races spoiled what would have been a celebratory Memorial Day for the military, which makes sponsorship of auto racing its top marketing tool.
JR Hildebrand lost $1.5 million in the last mile of the Indianapolis 500. He was leading the race heading into the final turn on the final lap when he went high to pass a slower car and slammed into the safety wall, allowing Dan Wheldon to win the 100-year anniversary race. Wheldon received $2,567,255 for the victory while Hildebrand earned $1,064,895 for his second-place finish. The total purse was $13,509,485.
Matt Kenseth passed teammate Carl Edwards with two laps to go and hung on to win the 300-mile Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Five years ago in 2016, Woody Pitkat started the Memorial Day weekend at the Stafford Motor Speedway with a bang as he won both the SK Modified® and Late Model feature events, Daniel Wesson came out the winner of the SK Light feature event after a 3-wide photo finish, Paul Arute won for the second consecutive week in the Limited Late Model feature, Johnny Walker won the DARE Stock feature, and Noah Korner was the Legend Cars feature winner.
In the closing laps of the 40 lap SK Modified feature Keith Rocco was working the outside lane and on lap-39 he was able to pull even with Pitkat as they took the white flag. Rocco made one final effort on the final lap, but he wasn’t able to make the pass stick in the outside groove as Pitkat picked up his first win of the 2016 season. Ron Williams finished third, with Mike Christopher, Jr. and Danny Cates rounding out the top-5. Ted Christopher finished sixth and was followed by Tom Bolles, Frank Ruocco, Jeff Baral and Rowan Pennink.
In Saturday night action at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl Tyler Chadwick ended a dry spell that dated back to August 8, 2015 as led every lap of the 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature for his first victory of the year.
Joe Arena won the 35-lap North East Street Stock Tour feature. Bruce Thomas Jr. won the 30-lap Late Model feature. In the 25-lap Mini Stock feature it was Chris Ivory winning. Dana DiMatteo won the 25-lap Legends feature.
Chadwick led every lap on the way to victory in the SK Modified feature. Dylan Izzo, coming off his first career victory, was second. Joey Gada was third. A caution flew on the final lap to set up a green-white-checkered showdown, but Izzo couldn’t find the way around Chadwick over the final two circuits.
Ted Christopher finished fourth with Dennis Perry rounding out the top five. Sixth thru tenth were Ryan Morgan, Rob Janovic Jr., Keith Rocco, Tim Jordan and Tom Abele Jr.
Thomas scored his 59th career Late Model victory at the track in dominating fashion, leading every lap. Jason Palmer was second and Keith Rocco, third.
Twin 25’s were run at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC. Taking the victory in the first 25-lapper for the Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series was Tim Brown. One of the strengths of Tim Brown’s team has been their 2016 qualifying performance, and Brown was able to continue his dominance in time trials. He started on the pole after turning the fastest lap. Burt Myers used the chrome horn numerous times to no avail. Myers finished right on his bumper in second, with Brandon Ward, third.
The “Madhouse Scramble” draw put Jason Myers on the pole for the start of the second race. The younger of the Myers brothers dominated Victory Lane last season, and a little luck from the draw helped him get in position to take the win on Saturday.
Starting on the pole for the second race, he led every lap to take the checkered flag.
Bobby Measmer, Jr. grabbed the lead from Ryan Preece with less than five laps to go and held on to claim his first career Southern Modified Racing Series (SMRS) Presented By PASS win in the Charles Kepley Memorial 125 Friday night at Concord Speedway in North Carolina. As Preece and Myers battled for second, the two made contact in turn three allowing Measmer to pull away and go on to a popular win at his home track. Burt Myers just beat out Preece at the line for second, while John Smith and Jason Myers rounded out the top five.
The stars and cars of the Valenti Modified Series ran their first ever event at Groveton, NH’s Speedway 51 on Saturday night Jon McKennedy played his usual waiting game making tire maintenance a top priority, battled through a failed power steering pump on lap-30, then took the lead from race leader Russ Hersey on lap-79, to go on and win the 100-lap event.
Seventeen cars took the green flag from Chief Starter Tim Bennett with Mike Willis Jr leading the opening lap with reigning series champion Woody Pitkat taking the lead on lap-2 and holding it until the 23rd circuit when a hard charging Hersey drew the interest of fans. Hersey looked to be checking out as he opened a sizeable lead over second place driver McKennedy and the rest of the field. A lap-43 caution flag brought Hersey back to the rest of the field with McKennedy, cruising in second place saving his tires and arm strength for the late stages of the event. McKennedy led laps 44- through 47.
Todd Patnode made his presence known as he took the lead on lap-48 and held it until lap 53. Hersey suddenly blasted into the lead on lap 54 and appeared to be the car to beat as he again took off on the field but McKennedy reached Hersey and went by leading lap-80 through 100.
Patnode, still getting accustomed to the Troyer chassis he purchased off season, was solid and finished second followed by Mike Holdridgewho made it up to third, slipped back to sixth and at the checkered flag got the podium finish. Pitkat and Rob Richardi Jr, rounded out the top five.
Riverhead Raceway on Long Island ran a 40 lap Modified feature with Shawn Solomito taking the win over Ron Silk.
In NASCAR Sprint Cup action at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Martin Truex, driving the No. 78 Bass Pro Shops Toyota for Furniture Row Racing, led a record breaking 392 of 400 laps as he rolled to a dominant victory in the Coca-Cola 600. Denny Hamlin took advantage of a late-race caution flag and four fresh tires to come from sixth to first during an overtime restart to win Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Hisense 300.
Alexander Rossi was able to stretch his final tank of fuel for an astounding 36 laps to claim his first Indianapolis 500 victory in stunning fashion. It was a dramatic finish to a race that was held under sunny, hot and very humid conditions in front of the first announced sellout crowd in more than 20 years estimated at 350,000 fans. Every grandstand seat was sold.
Last year, 2020, NASCAR announced Friday, May 29, that it had rescheduled the 2020 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season-opening race, the Wade Cole Memorial 133 presented by Dunleavy’s Truck & Trailer Repair, to Sunday, June 21. The championship points event has been moved to Pennsylvania’s Jennerstown Speedway.
The race, which was postponed by rain generated by Hurricane Bertha, had been scheduled for Saturday, May 30 at South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach Speedway.
The event will be held without fans in attendance in line with the current NASCAR policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Jennerstown’s original Whelen Modified Tour event slated for May 23 has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 22. Event procedures for June 21 will be significantly modified in accordance with CDC, OSHA and state and local government recommendations – teams will be limited to eight people per car number. That will include all members of the team, from driver to crew members to car owners. The event will include practice and qualifying, and the race will not have pit stops. In addition, NASCAR and the track will be maintaining social distancing protocols throughout the event.
Down in North Carolina racing continued at the ACE Speedway. Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, at the request of Governor Roy Cooper, appealed to track owners Robert Turner and Jason Turner on Saturday afternoon to call off the night of racing. But Ace raced on, with increased safety measures, while a smaller yet still ample turnout of fans showed up. Spectators had their temperatures taken and identification information recorded for public health tracing purposes upon entering the speedway. A group of reporters, though, some from national outlets and others from statewide publications, weren’t allowed in.
Twin 50’s for what they call Pro-Modifieds were run. Tim Brown of Tobaccoville supplied a carbon-copy performance of the previous week, leading wire to wire to win the opening event of the night. Burt Myers picked up his first Ace victory of the season in the nightcap, after passing Bradley McCaskill to lead the final 40 laps. Following Brown in the first 50 lapper was Chris Fleming followed by Dennis Holdren, Danny Bohn, Burt Myers, Jason Myers, Brandon Ward, Kevin Orlando, James Civali, Bradley McCaskill, Mike Norman and Chris Williams.In the second 50 lapper, Brown followed Burt Myers. Third was Brandon Ward followed by Bradley McCaskill, James Civali, Jason Myers, Chris Fleming, Danny Bohn, Dennis Holdren, Mike Norman, Chris Williams, Gary Young Jr and Kevin Orlando.
Word comes from Bob Finan on Long Island that due to Federal and Local regulations regarding the Covid-19 virus, Riverhead Raceway regrets to announce that all events in the month of June have been cancelled. They will continue to monitor the regulations set forth by the State and we will be ready to race when those regulations change and allow. The good news is Suffolk County entered Phase 1 of reopening last Wednesday May 27th. Phase 4 is the phase needed for Riverhead Raceway to get back to normal.
The NASCAR Cup series headed for Bristol Tn on Sunday where Brad Keselowski inherited his second win in a week when the leaders crashed in front of him with a lap remaining at the Bristol Motor Speedway. He won the Coca-Cola 600 seven previous at Charlotte Motor Speedway when a caution with two laps remaining helped him get to victory lane.
The victory dropped into Keselowski’s lap when Chase Elliott and Joey Logano collided as they raced for the win. Keselowski was third with a lap and a turn remaining when opportunity opened. Logano cleared Elliott for the lead with three to go, but Elliott stalked him while seeking his second win in three days. Clint Bowyer was second for his best finish in a year. Ryan Preece finished 12th on the lead lap.
Word comes from Stafford – Waterford – Thompson announcer Matt Buckler that Ken Cassidy Jr. is leaving the Mini Stock division to move up to the Pro Truck Series. The mini-stock stats are impressive, five track championships in seven years and 66 wins, putting him 10th on the all-time Waterford win list. But that’s only part of the story. The stats don’t tell you all the side-by-side battles the mighty No. 11 had, especially with Sean Caron, without laying a fender on each other. He was a clean driver and used intelligence, not his bumper, to win a lot of races. It doesn’t tell you his work ethic. In addition to Saturdays, he was at the Bowl every Wednesday night helping someone. In victory lane, he never bad-mouthed anyone. He did what he was supposed to do — thank his sponsors, and it always was a long list. . He came off a sick bed to win races. That’s how tough he is. Just because of the nature of local racing, big winners get booed. Ken Cassidy never got booed. That’s because he was first-class, on and off the track. He was the Master of the Mini Stocks. Because of his work ethic, there’s no question he’ll be a master in the truck series as well.
Chase Elliott’s streak of bitter defeats in NASCAR’s frantic first push of rescheduled races finally ended with his first Cup victory of the season. Elliott won Thursday night in the rain-delayed event at Charlotte Motor Speedway to close a brutal 12 days for NASCAR. The event, postponed Wednesday night, was the fourth Cup race since the series resumed racing May 17.
Denny Hamlin finished second in a Toyota with three crew members sitting at home under suspension for an infraction Sunday night. His crew chief, car chief and engineer earned automatic four-race suspensions when a piece of tungsten fell off Hamlin’s car on a pace lap.
