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First Riverhead Raceway Practice Finds Packed Pit Area
April 20, Brentwood, NY--- Under bright, sunny skies and with the temperature in the 70’s, Riverhead Raceway opened its gates to just about a capacity crowd of race teams as the first scheduled practice of the 2008 season took place. Modifieds, Late Models, Chargers, Figure-8s, Super Pro Trucks, Legends, and all kinds of Enduro cars filled the pit area, causing parking dilemmas for some late arriving teams, who had to search for a place to park their vehicles. Oddly, when you consider how many teams didn’t come to this practice, it could have been worse.
Rotating practice sessions took place amongst the various divisions, and the fans in attendance got a great preview of what’s to come for 2008. Some cars still lacked graphics, numbers, and finished paint jobs, while others were in full race trim, ready to go for the season. A few teams suffered mechanical woes during the test and tune sessions, with Erin Dumicich among the worst, blowing the motor on her Super Pro Truck, and Artie Pedersen, Jr. suffered a stuck throttle and a hard, backward trip into the 4th turn wall, causing major damage to his #51 Late Model as he shook it down for the new season. Artie was later transported to the hospital to be checked out after complaining of a severe headache. No further information on him is available as of now, but we certainly hope he is going to be okay.
Those with new rides include Jon Ellwood, who bought Chuck Steuer’s 2007 Modified, and Roger Oxee, shaking down his new car that replaces the one destroyed in the last race of last year. Carl Baxter had a sharp looking new #74 Figure-8 coupe on hand, while Frank Dumicich, Jr. also tested his nicely painted #42 green and white Charger, which sports a paint scheme with the opposite of new colors of his Super Pro Truck. Rookie Late Model driver John Gloor IV was checking that ride out in addition to his Legends ride, while Dave Brigati had both his WMT and Riverhead Modifieds on hand for testing. Jessica Larsen’s #37 Figure-8 was also on hand, with father Joe taking it out for a few laps of testing. Also in a ‘new’ ride was Ken Heagy, now driving the TS Haulers #12, while JR Bertuccio will be driving Bear’s #14 WMT Modified weekly at Riverhead, and Mike Andrews was shaking down his new ride in the Ambrose #3.
News and Notes: A reminder to all who plan to be in attendance in the pits this year; no shorts or open toed shoes will be allowed under new safety standards that are in place… .Ed Partridge had the TS Haulers tire trailers set up and ready to go…. Bob Finan and Jeff Bressler are already in form for the season, giving a great play by play identifying ‘unmarked’ race cars as best anyone could while they took their practice laps…
I'm ready to go for a new season, reporting from a new website for me, but ready to give you the all important weekly run down on the happenings at Riverhead Raceway as the season progresses. I hope you’ll all join me here each week to keep up on your favorite drivers and teams…. until next time, live well, and be safe.
Walter Johnston may be contacted at wizgrand@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by columnists and all others on this website are strictly their own, and may not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of the management of Long Island Motorsports News.
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