BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Riverhead Raceway on Route 58 in Riverhead.

The 2012 Riverhead Raceway season kicks off tonight with 180 laps of scheduled feature event racing.

Defending modified points champion Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville will begin his title defense as John Fortin, John Beatty Jr. and Shawn Solomito, among others, look to take the title away.

Saturday night’s lineup includes Figure 8’s, late models, chargers, blunderbusts, super pro trucks and legends.

Sunday there will be enduros and practice for all divisions.

Timmy Solomito of Islip earned the opening night win last year. A wrist injury later slowed his season and he finished the year 12th in the modified points standings.

Chris LaSpisa of Shirley won the 25-lap late model last year and will look to repeat this season, as will Tommy Walkowiak of Ridge in the blunderbust. He went on to win his fifth championship and will be looking for his 50th career win this year. He currently has 48.

Chris Turbush of Riverhead was a winner in the super pro truck feature opener last year and he’ll also look to take on the charger 20-lap feature. Turbush is a four-time defending charger champion.

Kevin Nowak of Medford will look to repeat as the legends race car champion.

A complete schedule is available at riverheadraceway.com.

Be sure to check back for a new weekly feature coming soon called Meet the Drivers, where we’ll profile some of the top performers at Riverhead Raceway.