Long Island’s Nowak
Scores Runner-Up Finish at Bethel
By Tracy Chirico
Kevin Nowak, the INEX 2008 New York State
Semi-Pro asphalt Legends champion and a regular at Riverhead
Raceway, once again made the trip to Bethel Motor Speedway in an
attempt to walk away with a $500 payout guaranteed to the race
winner. While Nowak had a good showing and improved on his
fourth-place finish from the week before, he had to be content
with a runner-up finish as Mike Alcaro was first across the line
for the second week in a row.
Nowak started his heat race on the outside
of John Hugate, and quickly put his Gregor Well
Drilling-sponsored car out front. He went on to win the 12-lap
event, finishing ahead of Matt Maring and the 2008 Sundance
Vacations Speedway Legends division champion Roger Coss.
By virtue of his heat race win, Nowak
started the 30-lap feature from the pole, with Alcaro on his
outside. He was able to hold the lead until Alcaro used an
inside pass to get by on lap 4. The leaders began to encounter
lapped traffic on lap 8, as Alcaro slowly pulled away from the
rest of the field. A caution on lap 18 for Steve Gaul wiped out
Alcaro’s lead, putting Nowak back on Alcaro’s rear bumper for
the restart. Alcaro once again began to distance himself from
the competition on the restart. On lap 20, Coss was able to move
to the inside of Nowak, and Coss took over the second spot
coming off of turn two. While Alcaro ran by himself out front,
Coss, Nowak and Matt Priscott ran nose-to-tail. Nowak looked to
the inside of Coss on lap 28 in an attempt to regain the second
spot, but Coss was able to hold on to the position. On the white
flag lap, contact between Coss and Nowak resulted in Coss
spinning, and Nowak was credited with a second-place finish as
Alcaro once again claimed victory.
Feature finish (30 laps): Mike Alcaro,
Kevin Nowak, Mark Tischler, Matt Maring, John Hugate, Roger Coss,
Matt Priscott, John Lotti, Steve Gaul, Joe Fresco.
Source: Tracy Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted: April 26, 2009
