OWEN GRENNAN POWERS TO SECOND RIVERHEAD RACEWAY NASCAR MODIFIED VICTORY OF 2025 SATURDAY

Coming into the Newsday Salutes First Responders NASCAR Modified feature Saturday at Riverhead Raceway, Owen Grennan of Glen Cove formulated a game plan upon finding out he'd start outside of the front row. Grennan, a schoolteacher by day executed his plan to perfection winning the 50-lap main event, his second of 2025 and third of his career. Prior to racing Connie Partridge & Tom Gatz in conjunction with Newsday presented a moving salute to all 1st responders during opening ceremonies, complete with a flyover by the Suffolk County Police Department.

Kyle Ellwood and Owen Grennan made up the front row of the NASCAR Modified starting grid with Ellwood quickly bolting out front. Grennan, sticking to his pre-race game plan quickly ducked in behind Ellwood for the first segment of the race. Owen, who returns to teaching this week after the summer break was content riding behind Kyle, saving his tires for later in the race. Then the old saying sooner than later came into play on lap 18 when the caution waved for an incident involving Tom Rogers Jr. slowing with front end damage drawing the only yellow flag of the race. 

Lined up alongside Ellwood for the resumption of the race, Grennan saw the opportunity to speed up his game plan when the green reappeared and was able to gain a run on Ellwood as the two raced nerf bar to nerf bar, each giving the other plenty of room to work with as Grennan took the lead officially on lap 19. Over the remainder of the contest Ellwood stayed right with Grennan hoping to catch him by surprise with an inside pass off the corners. After the halfway signal was given, Chase Grennan joined the party racing his way to third making, altering Ellwood's plans slightly.

After the lap 18 stoppage, the race would finish with a 32-lap green flag run which was just fine with Owen Grennan and his Eastport Feeds team as he was first under the checker flag without any further double file restarts. After exiting his car Grennan waved the flag and pumped his first extra hard after his misfortunes during the Wednesday night event, "can't thank my guys enough, we had work to do in a short amount of time to be on top of our game tonight" Grennan shared. "Early on I just wanted to stay with Kyle but not burn my stuff up, once I had that chance on the outside I went for it" Grennan offered, "hats off to Kyle Ellwood, he raced me the way we should all race each other, gave me plenty of room, he's one of the best here". 

Kyle Ellwood of Riverhead was second in the Millennium Limited Contracting Chevy after holding the race winners younger brother Chase Grennan of Glen Cove in his Black Forest Auto entry who completed the podium. Mark Stewart of Riverhead was fourth, Timmy Solomito of Islip fifth in the final rundown. 

The 40-lap Late Model feature may have been a rough and tumble affair for everyone except the eventual race winner Dave Brigati of Calverton. "The Fancy Farmer" was able to avoid the numerous missteps that unfolded during the extra distance tilt to earn a milestone 10th career LM win tying him for 17th on the track win list with Jim Malone Jr., Ed Densieski and Greg Kleila. Brandon Turbush raced out front early with Ryan Zukowski, CJ Lehmann and Brigati among his challengers prior to halfway. Brigati chased Turbush for 20-laps after moving to second on lap 13. Just after a restart on the 33rd lap, Ed Cheslak made a bold move to come to second on lap 34. Two laps later Turbush and Cheslak would bounce off each other exiting the fourth corner with the tangle lasting until they reached the first turn. The incident moved Dave Brigati to the race lead from third with CJ Lehmann now second. When the race resumed Brigati, steering the Coors Light entry was smart to pull away as things remained contentious behind him over the final four circuits. Keith Rotzi of Islip was runner-up in the Rudi's Bar & Grill Chevy; championship leader Gerard Giordano of Freeport was third with his Venture Auto Body racer. 

Vinny Delaney of Islip Terrace ended a three-year winless spell when he topped the 25-lap Eagle Chevrolet feature earning his 6th career victory in the process. Delaney and Sean Glennon brought the field to green with Delaney gaining the early advantage. AJ DeSantis entered the conversation when he worked his way under Glennon exiting the fourth corner to start the 3rd lap, AJ then settling in behind Delaney. DeSantis would show his nose to the race leader from time to time, but he soon has challengers of his own. Richie Davidowitz, Michael Berner and Eric Hersey were all within striking distance. Late race cautions would ramp up the intensity among the top five, on one such occasion DeSantis tried to hang to the outside of Delaney, allowing Davidowitz to duck under for second on lap 20, but DeSantis wasn't going to go away quietly hanging to the right of Davidowitz, which was just fine with leader Delaney. When the race concluded and the dust settled a relieved Vinny Delaney withstood all challengers to park the Stakey's Pumpkin Farm Chevy in victory lane. Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches survived the frantic last lap pushing and shoving match for second in the Rosemar Paving machine, Eric Hersey of Commack came home third with his Peterson Irrigation Chevy. 

The TK Figure Eights had a rough outing as their schedules 15-lap feature was trimmed to 10-laps due to time constraints. When the caution waved for a two-car incident on lap 10, the race was deemed official with Ryan Warren of Ridge earning his second career win. Despite the race falling five laps short it was no walk in the ark for Ryan Warren who raced to the lead at the throw of the green over Will Farrell. Defending champion Scott Pedersen out for another win made his way to second on lap 2, joined quickly in third by his nephew Allan. Entering Saturday, either Scott (4) or Allan (3) had won in the seven events run in 2025, so Warren knew he had to run the race of his career if he were to become the first 2025 winner not named Pedersen. Armed with motivation to win one for his mentor TK Tommy Kraft, Warren was able to keep both Scott & Allan Pedersen at bay over numerous restarts to take the emotional win in the Advanced Waterworks machine, "this means so much to me to win for TK, Kathy and Tommy mean so much to my career, without them I don't have one in Figure Eights". Allan Pedersen of Center Moriches was second in the Elite Towing Camaro, Scott Pedersen of Shirley third with the Land, Air, Water Environmental Chevy.

Anytime the Super Pro Trucks take to the track in 2025, more often than not the race boils down to an intense battle between Sean Glennon of Northport and Jack Handley Jr. of Medford, the defending champion. Saturday's 30-lapper was no exception as the two rivals again took each other to slide job city, swapping the lead numerous times over the final half of the race before Glennon prevailed for his fifth win of the season. Early on Frank Dumicich Jr. paced Lou Maestri over the first four trips around the oval, Sean Glennon moved to second on lap 5 while Handley was still making his way towards the front. Glennon pursued Dumicich for eight laps before jumping to the outside to take the lead on lap 13. Before Sean could get comfortable his nemesis Handley came to second during a double file restart on lap 17 and the slide jobs, swapping paint and intense racing was about to commence, again. Each driver took turns leading before the checker flag dropped and when t did Sean Glennon in the Glennon Construction Chevy came out on top. The win is the 15th of Sean's career, tying him for 7th all time with Frank Dumicich Jr., who crossed the line third in the Okpetroluemmarketplace.com Toyota. Jack Handley Jr. of Medford was third with the Andre Vega owned Cohen's Fashion Optical of Riverhead Toyota. 

In what was clearly the smoothest race of the night Brian Brown of Calverton notched his second win of the 2025 campaign winning a non-stop 20-lap Street Stock event. Brown and Tom Sullivan made up the front row with Brown jumping out front while Sullivan faded to third as Danny Pizzo slid under him at the drop of the green. Brown, who won the May Meltdown season opener the first weekend of May was very content with a caution free race driving the Eastport Feeds Chevelle to his 12th career win, second on the all-time win list. Danny Pizzo of Holbrook, back after missing a race due to a surgical procedure brought his sponsor wanted Chevy home second, Jarrod Hayes of Calverton completed the podium in third with the North Fork Sanitation entry. 

In the annual 1st Responders 40-lap race, retired NYPD officer Fred Grover of Huntington would drive to victory in the popular race. Grover was chased by Suffolk County Corrections Officer Kevin Feeney of Quogue with Pat Collins Sr. & Pat Collins Jr. of the Southampton Volunteer Fire Department third and fourth in their PC Truck & Equipment machines. Danny Southard of Centereach completed the top five.  

NASCAR Modifieds: 1. Owen Grennan 2. Kyle Ellwood 3. Chase Grennan 4. Mark Stewart 5. Timmy Solomito 6. John Beatty Jr. 7. Roger Turbush 8. Dylan Slepian 9. CJ Lehmann 10. JR Bertuccio 11. Chris Young 12. Howie Brode 13. Ken Darch DQ-, Tom Rogers Jr., Chris Rogers

Late Models: 1. Dave Brigati 2. Keith Rotzi 3. Gerard Giordano 4. CJ Lehmann 5. Ryan Zukowski 6. Russ Jansen 7. Brandon Turbush 8. Ed Cheslak 9. Kevin Metzger 10. Ray Minieri

Crate Modifieds: 1. Vinny Delaney 2. Richie Davidowitz 3. Eric Hersey 4. Michael Berner 5. Andrew Farnham 6. Sean Glennon 7. Thomas Grattan DQ- Tom Sekulski, AJ DeSantis

Figure Eights: 1. Ryan Warren 2. Allan Pedersen 3. Scott Pedersen 4. Will Farrell 5. David White 6. Tyler Farrell 7. Kim Hyde 8. Bobby Dalke

Super Pro Trucks: 1. Sean Glennon 2. Jack Handley Jr. 3. Frank Dumicich Jr. 4. Dave Koenig 6. Tony Naglieri 6. Frank Dumicich Sr. 7. Erin Solomito 8. Charles Sudano 9. Lou Maestri 10. Liam Patrick

Street Stocks: 1. Brian Brown 2. Danny Pizzo 3. Jarrod Hayes 4. Dave Antos 5. Alyssa Paprocky 6. Brandon Turbush 7. Ricky Carman 8. Kyle Halpin 9. Dennis Kurras 10. PJ McGay 11. Rich Braun 12. Bobby Dalke 13. Luke Foerster 14. Scott Pedersen 15. Chris McGuire DNS- John Harley DQ- Tom Sullivan

1st Responders Race: 1. Fred Grover 2. Kevin Feeney 3. Pat Collins Sr. 4. Pat Collins Jr. 5. Danny Southard 6. Joe Carroll 7. Donovan Kilas 8. Robert Corwin 9, Matt Galeazzi 10, Willie Burns