Sports

Riverhead Raceway: Rogers speeds to 60th career win

Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead played both the role of a riverboat gambler and conservative race car driver perfectly and parlayed it into his 60th career NASCAR Modified victory in The Bubba 150 NASCAR Modified event Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway.

Rogers, who nailed down his third win of the season, was followed by second-place Dylan Slepian of Dix Hills. John Beatty of Merrick made a late-race charge from his Lap 100 pit stop to finish third. Michael Rutkoski of Mattituck and Roger Turbush of Riverhead completed the top five.

The 150-lap race featured green-flag laps, meaning teams would not lose laps under caution in the pits and were allotted two tire changes, bringing pit strategy into the mix for the race as well.

Taking advantage of a late-race restart, Chris Rogers of Patchogue scored his first Crate Modified win of the year in a 25-lap event. It was his fourth career win. A.J. DeSantis of Yaphank was second, and Owen Grennan of Glen Cove came in third.

Max Handley of Medford won a 20-lap Blunderbust race, his first win of the year and second of his young career. Tom Sullivan of Massapequa was second and defending champion Tom Pickerell of Huntington third.

Kevin Nowak of Medford picked up his first win of 2020, a 20-lap Legend Race Car feature. He posted six wins last year. Eric Hersey of Commack and George Tomko Jr. of Aquebogue were the next two finishers.

After mechanical woes took him out of a recent Street Stock event, Chris Lescenski of Riverhead rebounded in a big way Saturday, winning his first 20-lap race of the year in a non-stop affair. Runner-up Brian Brown of Riverhead was immediately followed by Rhett Fogg of Westhampton.

In a competitive 50-lap Eight-Cylinder Enduro, former Figure Eight champion Ken Hyde Jr. of Yaphank scored his first ever win in the class after a spirited battle with early-race leader Brian Halsey of Southampton. Halsey finished second. His son, and defending champion, Jared Halsey of Southampton placed third.