In spite of a forecast that called for scattered showers with
a potential for severe storms, Riverhead Raceway attempted to
get today's show in. There were numerous cars on hand for the
scheduled feature races, as well as several cars and trucks that
had come solely to run practice. The gates were not opened until
roughly 1 p.m., as radar was being watched. Shortly after the
gates were opened and competitors began unloading their cars,
the first batch of rain hit the raceway. The announcement was
made by Bob Finan that every attempt would be made to get the
show in, as long as further storms did not plague the area. Once
the initial burst was done, the track drying process began. Tow
trucks took to the raceway, as did several Blunderbust cars,
including the #00 of Tommy Walkowiak, the #64 of Ray Shannon,
the #69x of Paul Parisi, the #11x of Kevin Rommeney, the #79 of
Bill Wegmann, and the #19 of Rob Bader. Once a second shower
hit, however, the call was made to cancel the show. While the
skies looked promising at the time, there was another batch of
rain showing up on the radar, and it was determined that the
show would just continue to fall further behind with each
passing shower.
As a result, the Riverhead Raceway schedule has been amended
as follows: the extra-distance races scheduled for the Modified
and Charger classes for May 31 will instead be run next
Saturday, June 7th. The extra-distance races originally slated
to be run on June 7th for the Late Model and Figure 8 classes
will be postponed until the following Saturday, June 14th. The
4/6 cylinder truck Enduro that was supposed to be run May 31st
will be added to the schedule for June 7th.
And the Word Around the Pits...
As mentioned in Bob Finan's "Eye on Riverhead" this past
week, Riverhead Raceway officials were faced with the task of
handing down their first penalty for tire soaking. According to
officials, the tires on the #37 Late Model of Bob Baker were
found to be below tolerances during a durometer check. After the
feature, Baker's tires were pulled and checked more closely, and
they were found to be in violation of the rules. It was
announced that Baker has been penalized with a $200 fine and a
two-week suspension. It is expected that the levying of this
penalty will make it apparent to all competitors how serious the
officiating staff is about the tire issue, and that it is being
policed heavily.
On hand for today's scheduled extra-distance double point
Modified race was Donny Lia, who was planning to run the #12 in
place of the injured Jimmy Blewett. While the rain did not hold
off long enough for Lia to turn any laps in the car, he was
there long enough to receive congratulations from many for his
impressive win in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Mansfield.
As mentioned, several competitors were on hand today to run
practice laps. Among them were several drivers from the Super
Pro Truck division. They included the Dumicich family and
several members of the Vecchio racing stable. Also present was
the #28 of Anthony Daleo, which has been among the missing since
suffering two consecutive weeks of mechanical woes early in the
season.
Kevin Nowak was on hand with his #53 Legends car. It turned
out to be a week of little racing for Nowak, who ventured to the
Waterford Speedbowl on Wednesday, only to have the races
cancelled there.
There were a number of 4/6 cylinder trucks ready to take to
the track for the Saturday night show. They included the #83 of
Legends driver Greg DiCanio, the #5 of John Cozza, the #28 of
James Badalato, and the #46 of Kevin King. The #53 of Kevin
Nowak was in the parking lot when the decision was made to
cancel the races, and it was reported that Grand Enduro driver
Bobby Pease was also in the parking lot with a 4/6 cylinder
truck at that time.
In the article from last weekend, there was an oversight
regarding the 50/50 that is being held to benefit the Grand
Enduro class. The winner from the May 4th event was Don Nelson,
who drives the #38 4/6 cylinder truck, while Vicki Curtis won
the pot for the Memorial Day weekend event. Congratulations go
out to both winners.
Congratulations go out to former LongIslandJam.com reporter
Walter Johnston, whose daughter was married yesterday. Walter
had decided to wait out the weather a bit, and therefore did not
have to leave a gathering held today in order to make his way to
the track.
Hopefully next week's weather forecast will be better, and
everyone will be able to get their racing "fix". Kudos go out to
all of the track staff and officials, who got wet and waited it
out in an attempt to accomplish that task today. Unfortunately,
as more potential storms popped up on the radar, the outlook
became progressively bleak, leading to management's ultimate
decision to cancel the show.
Source:
Tracy Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
May 31, 2008
