Great Turnout for Second Practice Session
If the action on the track during the second round of practice at Riverhead Raceway was any indication of what Opening Night is going to be like, the fans are in for one amazing night of racing.
Many would expect the drivers to take it easy and just log laps to shake down the car during a test session, but most drivers were really aggressive on the track. Many spun out, and there was some contact made between a few drivers with only minor results. During a Blunderbust practice, Tom Pickerell and Paul Parisi got into a tangle. Pickerell drove into turn three too deep and locked up his left front tire, he went up the track right into the left rear quarter panel of Parisi and turned him around. Thankfully Parisi didn’t hit anything and was able to drive away. Richard Wilson spun out early in the day in his No. 12 Charger. Allan Pedersen spun out his No. 52 Legend car on two different occasions, and Anthony Marsh also spun his No. 11 Legend car. Late Model driver Kenny Alfano also spun out his car exiting turn two. Modified driver Jason Agugliaro had issues before he even completed a lap. He drove onto the track for the first Modified practice of the day and his left rear tire went flat causing him to drive right off the track to change it. Charger driver Jayson White also had a tire issue; he blew a right front tire during his third session of the day.
Besides the drivers having issues on the track, the weather throughout practice was beautiful and there was a remarkable turnout. The pits were full of cars from all divisions, and the backstretch grandstands were mostly full of fans. Riverhead Raceway’s Chief Steward Mike Cappiello was incredibly happy with the car turnout. He said it looked as if it was a normal Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway. Co-Chief Steward, Steve Tooker also said, “this is the best turnout they have had for a practice session in over five years.”
The speeds were up on Saturday compared to last week. Artie Pedersen Jr. said his son Allan picked up almost three seconds from last week. Pedersen said his son was running laps at about 17 seconds during last week’s sessions but today he dropped down to a 14.9 second lap. Howie Brode set the fastest lap in the Modifieds on Saturday. He was the first driver to run a sub-12 second lap with an 11.969 set in the final modified session of the afternoon. Tom Rogers Jr. also took control of Vincent Biondolillo’s No. 06 Modified for the second practice session of the day in order to see if he could get more speed out of it. During that session, Rogers posted the fastest time in Biondolillo’s modified.
Next Saturday night, May 4th is opening night for the 2013 racing season at Riverhead Raceway. The general admission gates open for fans at 3 p.m. Time trials for the Modifieds and Legends will begin at 5 p.m. and features will begin approximately at 5:30 p.m. All divisions will be in action and will include twin-30 lap features for the Modifieds.
Photos from the 2nd Practice Day available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2110
Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam.com