72nd Season of Racing to Open at Riverhead Raceway Saturday May 7th, New Web Site Launched
Riverhead, NY Jan 31st. — The curtain will rise on the 72nd season of stock car racing and family entertainment at Riverhead Raceway Saturday evening May 7th it was announced by track owners Connie Partridge and Tom Gatz. Several popular events return for the 2022 campaign at the historic quarter-mile facility, with some new and exciting events joining the race calendar. The complete 2022 schedule is available on our new website recently launched at, www.riverheadraceway.com.
Riverhead Raceway will again be part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series in 2022 with the popular NASCAR Modifieds continuing headline the weekly program. The class will again go 50-laps in regular feature event distance. However, the Crown Jewel Series for the Ted Christopher Cup has been increased to six races in 2022 with these six races extra distance contests. The first event of the Crown Jewel Series is The Flying Dutchman 90, a race run to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the late Fred Harbach’s 1992 championship season. Entering the 1992 season Harbach had announced he would call it a career. Fred not only won the title over Brian Miller in his final race, he also won the 35-lap feature for his 21st career Riverhead triumph.
The 72nd Year Celebration program on July 2nd has the NASCAR Modifieds going 72-laps while later in the month the annual Baldwin, Evans & Jarzombek 77 go to post on July 30th. The fourth Crown Jewel Series contest comes on August 20th with The Bubba 150. Another special new event for the NASCAR Modifieds will be presented on Saturday evening September 10th when the Cecil Palm Tree 160 is presented in memory of Eddie Partridge near the one-year anniversary of his sudden passing. The sixth and final race for the TC Cup falls on Saturday, November 12th with the running of the 6th annual Islip 300.
Three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events have been inked for 2022 starting with a 200-lap affair on Saturday, May 14th, followed up by a 206-lap race on Saturday, June 25th and another 200-lapper on Saturday, September 17th, the third to final race for the 2022 WMT championship.
Competing on a regular basis during the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series in 2022 are the Late Models, Crate Modifieds, Figure Eights, Blunderbusts, Super Pro Trucks, INEX Legend Race Cars, Street Stocks, and Mini Stocks. The three Enduro classes will find themselves part of the Saturday night action from time to time and also enjoy two stand-alone programs on Sunday, May 22nd and Sunday, September 25th. The Street Stocks and Mini Stocks will join both Sunday shows.Each of the eight support classes will compete for the Miller Lite Triple Crown Series title this season, a three-race series that crowns its own champion.
Aside from the two new NASCAR Modified events set for the new season of racing, GM John Ellwood recently disclosed the Crate Modifieds will run in their first-ever 100-lap main event Saturday, July 16th. With the NASCAR Modifieds on summer break on July 16th as well July 23rd, the 100-lapper showcases the Crate Modified class on the 16th.
The Vintage All Stars have been renamed the Eddie Partridge All Stars for 2022 and their season has been increased to five races, once a month May through September. Fireworks will light up the horizon over Riverhead Raceway on July 2nd and again August 13th, with two Monster Truck extravaganzas set for Saturday, July 23rd, and Wednesday, August 24th as part of the annual Back To School event. Four Demolition Derby contests are lined up for June 18th, July 2nd, August 13th and culminating with the National Stock Demo Championship on September 3rd.
The popular Bandolero division returns for their second season for an eight-race series that opens on Sunday, May 22nd, and concludes Sunday, September 25th. In between the Bandolero class runs select Saturday night programs. The Kids Big Wheel races return in 2022 on June 18th, July 16th, August 13th, and August 27th.
School Bus events will kickoff with Figure Eight races on June 11th and July 9th, while hard-hitting School Bus Demolition Derby events are slated for July 16th and August 27th.
Two practice days previewing the 2022 race season will take to the track Saturday afternoon April 23rd and again April 30th with free grandstand admission available for spectators.
The 2022 competitor car registration is underway through the new website, www.riverheadraceway.com. The only avenue to register and pay $50 for your 2022 car number is via the website and by credit card only.
E-mails continue to reach the track at Riverheadraceway1@gmail.com, the phone number remains 631-842-RACE.
Sources: Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR