RPW Exclusive: Another Win For Dave Constantino Sunday Night At Glen Ridge Motorsports Park

Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – FULTONVILLE, NY – It was another hot summer night once again at the fastest 1/4 mile on dirt, the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, as the competitors were looking to do battle. The headliner of the night was the Crate Modifieds and it was Dave Constantino running away with yet another victory.

In addition to that, track management had a special race for the Limited Sportsman. These drivers were given the opportunity to race for big cash all while running extra laps. Even better than that? There was an added bonus for any Limited driver that wanted to run with the Modifieds, they could start in the back of the field for this week. Two drivers took advantage of that…Derrick McGrew Jr. who was the Limited Sportsman winner and Ryan Heath.

The start of the Crate Modified main event saw Jim Introne Jr. and Joe Orlando bring the field down to the green’ with Introne taking the point. However, the #7 of Constantino grabbed third after starting in the number five spot.

Caution flew on the first lap and Constantion went from third to first, making a three-wide pass going down the backstretch to get by the two leaders.

Another caution flew and put the #22 of Tim Hartman Jr. right on the back bumper of the #7 as he had moved into the runner-up spot.

As the green flew, Hartman followed the leader with the hitman” would follow the “lil bear” taking over 2nd. and falling into 3rd was the rookie sensation the Limited Sportsman winner McGrew charging to third.

The rest of the race would remain green and Hartman wasn’t able to make any ground as Constantino had his car on cruise control, going on to grab yet another victory.

“It seems like it’s all about who gets to the front first,” Constantino said. “I had to use my bumper a little bit, but, then again, that’s why they are there.”

Constantino displayed his old colors of last year, and also went with his old firesuit. Settling in second was Hartman Jr. with McGrew Jr. impressing many in the stands to come home tird. Introne and Bill August rounded out the top five.

As stated before, with the extra cash on the line, Shane Larman and Ryan Heath started on the front row for the Limited Sportsman feature with Larmen jumping out to the early lead.

The front row cars would battle side-by-side as eventually the 6 of Heath went high wide and ‘not so’ handsome as Malta invader David Boisclair went by, sliding Heath back to third.

An early caution saw the 26 of McGrew head to the pits with a flat tire, but he would return.

Larman was looking strong as he had the car to beat as around the halfway point, Greg Perron made his way to the second position. However, the car that was on the move was the #26 of McGrew as he had worked his way back to the third spot, putting pressure on Perron.

Lap 15 saw McGrew take second and set his sights on the leader who was having his best run of the season. The young gun in the Parillo Services entry caught the leader on lap 18, made the pass, and went on to take yet another win and the big money.

“I’m glad we got the win after the flat tire and then hitting the frontstretch wall,” a tuckered out McGrew said.

This kid is the real deal. Coming home in second was Larman with Boisclair, Heath, and Perron the rest of the top five. Perron faded near the end after looking very strong due to a broken right rear shock.

The Pro Stock feature had Ron Delease jump out to the early lead. The caution flew early and this wasn’t good for the leader as it gave Luke Horning what he needed as it was only a matter of time before the driver of the #2H would pounce.

On the restart, Horning moved into the top spot. Contact between Justin Knight and Buck Gasner would bring out another caution as Gasner got in the back of Knight, spinning out the Hoffman-owned machine. Gasner was sent to the rear for the contact.

Ivan Joslin was on the outside of Horning for the restart but didn’t fire very well, sliding all the way back to fourth.

Horning went unchallenged the rest of the race and went on to take the victory.

“The restarts were killing me,” Horning said. “I’m not one to stay calm in the car and with many cautions, I tried to change up my starting points so I wouldn’t give the other guys any advantage on restarts.”

Horning was followed across the line by eighth-place starter Jim Normoyle, who had an adventurous feature of his own, coming back from a spin. Justin Knight also rebounded for third.

The Street Stock feature was won by Cliff Haslin. The win was extra special because he went from wreckers to checkers in a 24-hour span, having a round night at Fonda on Saturday. He and his crew worked hard to repair the damage from the night before and he was able to park it in victory lane.

The 4-Cylinders saw high-flying Josh Samrov get the win in the Dual Cam class. It was a good weekend for the Samrov family as his brother, Jason, won the Street Stock feature at Fonda the night before.

Wayne Russell Jr picked up his second of the year in the Single Cam.

A member of the “grand gorge gang,” Danny Ballard grabbed his first victory of the season in slingshots with Mike Hill hot on his tail at the checkers.

“It feels good,” Ballard said. “The car felt good. Caution came out on lap 12 and I was hoping they would throw the checkers as I knew Hill was lurking. I’m just happy I got the win.”

Brock Pinkerous would claim the victory in the Jr. Slingshots.

Stay tuned as their will be BIG news coming out of the The Glen Ridge Motorsports Park very soon. You won’t want to miss it and it will be hot of the press right here at Race Pro Weekly.

God Bless our troops fighting to let us live free and safe. I am grateful for my “racing monster” as he was my racing companion. Three races in three days and he was by my side for them all. It’s great to see his excitement in the sport of racing and wish their was more out their with the younger kids.

“Safe travel to you all and see you all at the races”

July 22nd, 2018 Feature Results

Crate Modified Feature – Dave Constantino, Tim Hartman Jr, Derrick McGrew Jr, Jim Introne Jr, Bill August, Joe Orlando, Ryan Heath, Vinny Visconti.

Limited Sportsman Feature – Derrick McGrew Jr, Shane Larman, David Boisclair, Ryan Heath, Greg Perron, Jeff Proctor.