Sports

Riverhead Raceway: Rogers double dips with pair of victories

While six NASCAR Whelen All American Series events were run Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway the biggest race of the evening was the one waged against Mother Nature to beat the impending rain. It was a race the raceway won, and Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead was sure glad it did. Rogers triumphed in both a 35-lap NASCAR Modified feature as well as the annual Cromarty Cup 20 for the Figure Eights.

Rogers scored his 34th career NASCAR Modified win, moving him into sole possession of third place on the all-time Riverhead Raceway win list behind Charlie Jarzombek (63) and Jim Malone Sr. (50).

“The guys gave me a great car tonight,” Rogers said. “There are no easy wins here and having Ryan to beat was a challenge, but we got the job done.”

Ryan Preece of Berlin, Conn., was second while Howie Brode of East Islip grabbed a third-place finish. Shawn Solomito of East Moriches and John Fortin Sr. of Holtsville were fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the 20-lap Cromarty Cup Figure Eight event, Rogers Jr. had Maynor drove off to his 21st career Figure Eight triumph, ranking him seventh on that all-time win list. Roger Maynor of Bay Shore was second and Tom Ferrara of Patchogue came back from a flat tire and spin to claim third.

Chris Turbush of Wading River made it two Charger wins in a row, taking first in a 20-lap main event for career win No. 41. Eric Zeh of Centereach was the runner-up. Owen Greenan of Glen Cove roared back from an early-race mishap to finish third.

While no hats were thrown onto the track at the conclusion of the 20-lap Blunderbust feature event, Jack Handley Jr. of Medford scored a hat trick with his third consecutive Blunderbust win to start the season. Tom Pickerell of Huntington grabbed second, with Joe Warren of Ridge coming in third.

The closest race and finish of the night truly belonged to the Super Pro Trucks. Roger Turbush of Riverhead, in a photo finish, beat out Brian McElearney of North Babylon by mere inches for his 22nd career win. Lou Maestri of Deer Park was third.

Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches scored his second Legend Race Car victory of 2015, and this time he got an assist from some lapped traffic. George Tomko Jr. of Aquebogue was second and Dylan Slepian of Dix Hills placed third.