Constantino Very Appreciative After Third Straight Win At Glen Ridge

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – FULTONVILLE, NY – It was a great night at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park Sunday.

The fans were treated with all the drivers on the front stretch and having a “Meet and Greet” session with there favorites. Its is always a special thing as the young fans to get up close and personal with the drivers. You never know. The kid that’s getting a signed photo may have a dream of one day being a racecar driver himself and keeping this sport going.

Now, on to the racing, The track conditions are heading into the right direction as the surface was much better, but management is looking to improve as always. This was the night where management honored the spectators from opening day due to the dusty conditions. Many of them did come back to watch some exciting side-by-side racing.

The Crate Modified feature had Jim Introne Jr. take the lead in the 30-lap feature event. As the #9 tried to run away and hide, the battle for second was a good one with Tim Hartman Jr. looking to overtake Joe Orlando on the inside. By lap 9, the Parillo-sponsored machine got underneath the 818 of Orlando and started his march for the leader.

Meanwhile Orlando drifted back to fifth on the high side. David Constantino was now into third after starting fifth with Andrew Buff, Friday night’s Malta winner, in fourth.

The battle was heating up as the trio was hungry for the top spot which would soon belong to Constantino as he would put his West End Auto #7 on the outside of turns three and four and went from third to first. Hartman held was relegated back to second followed by Buff and Introne.

Contact would be made between the Buff and Introne, bringing out a yellow and ending Buff’s good run as he went pitside with a flat tire.

On the restart, Hartman tried to use the high side but the #7 showed him he was not giving the lead away. The yellow flew on lap 26 as the 35 of Chris Curtis tried to squeezed under Introne but to no avail. Contact was made as the two fought for position.

With a last ditch effort by Hartman to give the leader a challenge, it was all David Constantino claiming his third victory in a row. Bridesmaid again was Hartman followed by Kevin Ward, Orlando and Dubois.

“It feels great to be here in victory lane even more,” Constantino said. “The crew had to put a front clip on the car from Friday and they did a awesome job getting it ready for tonight.”

Limited Sportsman saw the pole sitter Bill August set the early pace as the battle was Derrick McGrew Jr. proving that he could play with the big boys as he was digging on the low side in turns three and four for the 2nd position with Greg Perron.

Caution came out on lap 14 for fourth place runner David Boisclair as he spun in turn two.

On the restart, McGrew Jr. looked to make the pass for the lead but contact was made with leader August that sent the 26 machine of McCrew riding the wall in turns one and two. Caution flew and he returned in the rear of the field.

August went on to get the victory. Second after a solid run was Ryan Heath with third being David Boisclair. McGrew Jr. got back to fourth with the 28 of Dylan Eldred fifth.

The Pro Stock feature had a new visitor to victory lane as Ivan Joslin would shake the monkey off his back and claim the win, ending “Cousin Luke’s” domination in the class thus far in 2018.

It was a great battle for the lead point as the 8E and the 110 of outsider Devon Camenga had an epic battle. The two ran side-by-side for many laps with Joslin finally taking over the point.

Meanwhile, Horning was coming from his tenth starting spot as the 2H was now in the third spot.

On lap 11, “Cuz” looked on the inside of Justin Knight in turns one and two and was able to take the runner-up position. Joslin was in heavy traffic which let Horning and Knight catch up to him, but there was no denying the hungry driver as he was able to take the win.

Horning had to settle for second followed by Knight, Richie Crane and Camenga.

Joslin was happy to finally get to victory lane.

“I’ve been struggling this year and I want to thank Todd Hoffman for giving me this opportunity to drive his car,” he said.

Street Stocks were ran with the Pro Stocks and it was Stevie Cosselman doing a great job to take the victory.

Cruisers this week went with the two classes of Dual and Single cams. It was Andy Graves denying his car owner Chris Andrew the victory on his birthday as he out battles him across the finish in the Dual cam. Single cam winner was Robert Garney.

Sr. Slingshots had a great race between Bryce Cherko and the top gun of Mike Hill. The two swapped positions for the lead in the later stages but it was Cherko claiming the victory. Hill was second, Jim Mudge third, Brett Putnam fourth and Tyler Vadney fifth.

Jr. Slingshots had the outside pole sitter, Matthew Backus, take the lead and lead wire-to-wire as he was followed by Mason Trautschold, Garrett Poland, Darryn Fallis.

Rains came in as the modified crate feature was coming to a close. Track management hurried the races along and held victory lane picture until the end. That paid off as Mother Nature came up a little to short on this night.

Well, I can say I had my share of racing this weekend. Between Malta, 5-Mile Point and then to the Ridge, I definitely saw a lot of race cars. Had a great weekend with Family and Friends and will be right back at it this Friday to do it all over again.

God Bless our troops and keep them safe. “Take care and see you all at the races.”

Crate Modified Feature – Dave Constantino (18th career Glen Ridge win), Tim Hartman Jr, Kevin Ward, Joe Orlando, Colin Dubois, Jim Introne Jr, Chris Curtis, Michael Sabia, Andrew Buff.

Limited Sportsman Feature – Bill August (8th career Glen Ridge win), Ryan Heath, David Boisclair, Derrick McGrew Jr, Dylan Eldred, Shane Lorman, Greg Perron.