OK , so as one of my friends calls it Christmas is over. Ryan Preece came to Long Island and swept the entire day. The teenage Nascar driver got is first "official" win on the WMT.
That is now 2 races in a row with teenage winners. I not sure if that has ever been done before. There were many younger drivers in the race which bodes well for the future of the tour.
As many people commented Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny and warm with bright blue sky's. Steve Lombardo claimed he brought the weather from his California home. Steve had the honor of driving the Charlie J coupe before the feature.
32 Nascar modified cars filled the pits. Teams from about 5 states converged on the tight 1/4 mile track. Long Island was well represented with 13 of the 28 starters based on Long Island.
Practice was uneventful except a small incident between Wade Cole and Erick Rudolph.
Qualifying was a surprise with the #3 of Ryan Preece taking his first pole at Riverhead. The 25 lap heat was pretty uneventful with most cars finishing where they started. The one surprise was the 59 of Erick Rudolph who could not get the car to handle all day, so the Spencer winner went home early.
The race itself was decent except for the 3 red flags that were thrown for incidents on the track, the lap 2 pile up in turn 2 being the biggest incident involving 6 or 7cars.
Several drivers did not fare well. They included Ted Christopher who got a flat on a restart. TC tried to stay out to draw a caution but touched the 79 of Ronnie Silk and pounded the wall. Ronnie was also in and out of the pits all night finishing 27th. Several cars had engine problems including Donnie Lia, and John Fortin who overheated and dropped out.
Other drivers having a less than enjoyable race were Ken Heagy who dropped out with front end damage, as did Frank Vigliarolo. Kevin Goodale had a top 3 run going and was strong all night. The 51 of Justin Bonsignore touched the 33 when lapping him and spun the 50 of Kevin to the infield. It would have been his best finish on the tour, Kevin finished 13. Kevin's brother Eric got caught up in a lap 2 pile up and finished 17th.
Several drivers had very good runs,Jamie Tomanio started 27th and finished 7th, quite a turn around from the blown engine at Spencer. Glen Reen started 22nd and finished 5th, one of his best runs on the tour. Eric Beers started 26th and finished
6th and Todd Szegedy started 24th and finished 8th. Long Islanders Howie Browdie, Dave Brigati and Justin Bonsignore came home 2,3 and 4.
But in the end it was all Ryan Preece, Ryan had his best day on the tour since his Martnsville win. Ryan, his crew and family could not stop smiling after the win. In a short time Ryan has shown he can run well at any track where the tour visits.
The points have now changed a bit. TC is now second with Todd Szegedy leading and Ryan is now 3rd.
Even with 3 reds, the race was run in a reasonable 52 minutes 49 seconds.
See all the action from Riverhead here: http://jaws17.zenfolio.com/p56556202
Up next Stafford Speedway Friday night August 7th which is the second of 5 races in the busy month of August.
See you there.
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