Riverhead Regulars Look to Defend Home Turf

The stars of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour are looking to score a win on the Long Island bullring that is Riverhead Raceway on Saturday night, but they will have to contend with some track regulars looking to defend their home turf.

Riverhead is one of the few tracks left that still run NASCAR tour-type modifieds over the SK class that is now run at tracks like Stafford (Conn.) Speedway, Thompson (Conn.) Speedway, and the Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl. Quite a few drivers who race at Riverhead weekly usually try to make the show because of that.

Some of the drivers from Riverhead’s weekly Modified division attempting to race in Saturday night’s Hoosier Tire 200 include the defending track champion Shawn Solomito, his brother Timmy Solomito, Howie Brode, David Roys, John Beatty Jr., and Frank Vigliarolo.

“It’s cool, because when we go to Thompson or Stafford,” said Timmy Solomito, “those are the home tracks of most of those guys, but now they’re on our turf.”

Solomito, who is making his first ever NWMT start at his home track on Saturday said that the main differences between the Tour event and a weekly show at Riverhead is the length of the race and the tires.

“The tires are a bit different because they run a different compound than we do, so we have to learn that a bit,” said Solomito. “But we don’t have to learn the track in practice because we are there every week so it’s like a home-field advantage in football almost.”

Shawn, the older Solomito agreed.

“Running against the tour guys is always tough,” said Shawn Solomito, “but with them coming to our home track we should have the upper hand. We should be able to run better than them since we have the experience.”

As the defending track champion in the Modified division, Solomito said he feels some added pressure.

“We always want to run up front at our home track,” said Solomito who will be attempting his fourth ever Tour show and second at Riverhead. “Being the champion we want to show that we earned it and that I’m not a pushover. There’s a little added pressure, but I’ll really be happy with a top-seven finish.

David Roys said that the key to being successful in a long race at Riverhead is being passive-aggressive.

“In a 30-lap race at Riverhead you may end up being the bad guy and make some contact with a few drivers,” said Roys. “For a long race you have to take care of your car for the last 30 laps. You may pass a car here and there, but you don’t want to knock the wheels off of it for the last 30.”

Saturday night will be Roys third attempt at racing the NWMT event at Riverhead. He crashed early in one race and failed to qualify in his other attempt.

Howie Brode currently leads the weekly points standings in the Modified division by four points over Tom Rogers Jr. Brode’s best finish in a Tour race at Riverhead is second, and he won the pole in 2011.

“You’re racing against the best when they come,” said Brode. “It would be pretty good to win that race because you’re racing against the best.”

Tour drivers have a different perspective. Woody Pitkat said that the toughest part about racing against the Riverhead regulars is that he doesn’t know what to expect from them.

“Obviously you think they have an advantage because they race there weekly,” said Pitkat. “You’re not exactly holding your breath, but you don’t exactly know what you’re getting from them.”

Pitkat said that for him it isn’t just about beating the Riverhead regulars. It’s just about winning.

“I don’t know how they look at us, but when I go there I don’t just want to beat them,” said Pitkat. “I just want to win.”

In 68 NWMT starts Pitkat has yet to score a win, although he does have four top-fives and 26 top-10 finishes.

“I know a lot of people don’t like going to Riverhead,” said Pitkat, “but I feel like if you go there with the attitude that you’ll run poorly, then that is how you will run.”

Pitkat said he’s been plagued by bad luck this season, like a blown motor, breaking a rear end at Stafford while running fifth, and “being the only one out of 27 cars to run over something on the track and hit the wall while running third.” He feels that Riverhead could be the place that his luck changes, although, as he noted, he’s yet to run all that well there.

“Out of every track we go to you need the luck there, so hopefully my bad luck will turn into good luck,” said Pitkat. “I’ve been telling everyone that the way my luck has been I’ll probably get my first win on a short track like Monadnock or Riverhead.”

But for the Riverhead regulars there is no pressure for points like usual.

“It’s a no-pressure deal,” said Solomito. “No points. Just go and do the best you can and have fun.”

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam