On any level of racing winning consecutive championships is a difficult task, earning three in a row while not impossible is as impressive as it is rare. During the 75th Anniversary season at Riverhead Raceway in 2025, John Beatty Jr. of Merrick accomplished something that had not been done in thirty years, and just twice over 75-years when he earned his third straight NASCAR Modified championship. Beatty will be feted along with eleven other Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series divisional champions at the Riverhead Raceway awards celebration Friday January 23rd at Giorgio’s Premier Caterers of Baiting Hollow.
During the 2025 campaign John Beatty Jr. driving the always immaculate Mark S. Mina owned, MSM Elite Motorsports/Elite Sound Studios machines was again the model of consistency week in and week out posting 9 top five and 11 top ten finishes in 13 starts. Beatty completed all but five laps contested. The potent Beatty/Mina tandem found victory lane once over the season July 12th, the 14th win of John’s career tying him with Johnny Rambo for 30th on the all-time win list. In addition to the championship hardware John Beatty Jr. will be receive January 23rd, he and his team will be presented a handsome point fund check and the prestigious Eddie Partridge Drivers Cup by track owners Connie Partridge and Tom Gatz.
Before Beatty, only “Charging” Charlie Jarzombek of Baiting Hollow, 1976-1978 and Don Howe of Water Mill, 1995-1995 had won three consecutive Modified championships at Riverhead Raceway, both iconic drivers enshrined on the Cromarty Wall of Champions at the track.
Chase Grennan of Glen Cove will be feted with the 2025 Ted Christopher Cup at the awards ceremony as the Crown Jewel Series champion. Chase won three of the five Crown Jewel Series events, the “Flying Dutchman” 75, the Bubba 150 and the Cecil Pam Tree 66 to become the youngest recipient of the Ted Christopher Cup. Dylan Slepian of Dix Hills won the Baldwin, Evans & Jarzombek 77 and most recently Joey Braun of Manorville won the Islip 300 Crown Jewel events.
Gerard Giordano of Freeport has won three championships earlier in his career with the traveling New England Truck Series, three NETS titles to be exact. However, when he clinched his first career Late Model championship the final night of racing “G-Rod” was able to enjoy this championship celebration with all his family and friends present. Giordano in the K-1 Logistics entry visited victory lane twice, June 21st and September 20th in route to the championship.
Eric Hersey of Commack came to the Eagle Chevrolet Crate Modified season motivated right out of the gate for the title, a championship that would join his 2022 INEX Legend Race Car championship. Hersey scored two wins along the way on May 24th and August 23rd, but the title fight, the closest of all going into the final night came down to the final laps of the ’25 season. When the race ended, Hersey, Vinny Delaney of Islip Terrace and Michael Berner of Patchogue were in a three-way tie points wise. Hersey, on the strength of that second win in August would win the tiebreaker with his Peterson Irrigation team.
For the fourth time over the past five seasons, Scott Pedersen of Shirley collected his fifth career Figure Eight championship and did so in convincing fashion. Scott and his Bobby’s One Stop Custom Exhaust & Auto team won five of the ten Figure Eight events contested in 2025. Pedersen’s five trips to victory lane pushed his career win total to 22, tying him with George Sprague of Patchogue for 7th all-time.
Joe Densieski of Riverhead rewrote the track history books in his own right as he became the oldest driver to win a track championship at Riverhead Raceway. When Densieski in the Hydro Action Caprice out if the Handley Race Shops clinched the 2025 Blunderbust championship when the final race concluded, he, at 59 1/2 years old became the oldest champion over 75-years of racing. Bill Park of Manorville held that distinction since 2008 when he won his fourth Modified title at 58 1/2 years old. Densieski also won his first Blunderbust feature over the summer on July 26th.
Jack Handley Jr. of Medford continued his stranglehold on Super Pro Truck championships over the past six seasons winning his fifth title since teaming up with owner Andre Vega in 2020. For Vega of East Side Building, it’s his seventh truck championship over the past eight seasons with Mark Stewart of Riverhead getting the balling rolling in 2018 & 2019. Handley won two Super Pro Truck events on his way to another title, June 1st and August 16th, with that second win, Jack’s 26th, he passed Stewart for third on the win all-time win list.
Second generation talent Kyle Ellwood of Riverhead earned his second INEX Legend Race Car championship in 2025 driving for former Charger standout Eric Lutz of Miller Place, with Chance Lutz serving as crew chief. Ellwood and the Millennium Limited Contracting team spread three victories over the 2025 season, opening night May 3rd, July 26th and August 9th. Despite entering the final night with a comfortable, but not insurmountable lead Kyle was able to overcome some last race obstacles to earn his second Legend championship, his first came back in 2012 at 18-years old. Ellwood sits second on the all-time win list with 28, one back of Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches who tops the list at 29.
Entering the 2025 Street Stock season, Brian Brown of Calverton promised his wife Jamie that the season would be his last as a driver, she replied “‘if that’s the case go win the championship”. Brown, lived by the happy wife, happy life mantra when he won his second career Street Stock title on the final afternoon of racing with his Eastport Feeds team. Brian notched two wins along the way, the first on the May Meltdown opening day, the second coming on August 30th setting up his championship title run late in the season. Brown won the Street Stock title in 2021 driving for Rob Bader in a tribute car to Rob’s uncle, the late Jay Hulse.
CJ Zukowski of Riverhead drove to his second career Mini Stock championship winning two feature events in the Walls of Fane Cavalier. CJ scored wins on June 1st and again on August 23rd to clinch the title that compliments his 2020 championship. CJ and his younger brother Ryan, who joined the Mini Stock field late in 2025 and was an immediate threat to CJ, literally grew-up at the track with their father Charlie, longtime Riverhead Raceway facilities expert.
The three INEX Bandolero champions were all first-time champions led by Bandolero Outlaw champion Thomas Grattan of Southold. Thomas in the Reeve Farm Stand Outlaw won three times over the course of the season, opening day May 4th, May 24th and the finale September 28th. Cousin Emmett Grattan also from Southold notched the 2025 Bandolero Bandit title on the formula of consistency, while Emmett did not win with the Southold PBA Bandit, he was rock steady all year. Over in the Bandolero Bandit paddock, Mason Dickerson, he also from Southold used the same formula as Emmett Grattan to secure the 2025 championship with his Sea-Tow Services entry.
Aside from the 2025 champion, the top five on each class will be recognized at the 2025 Riverhead Raceway awards ceremony, with the years Rookie of the Year drivers, where applicable will be officially celebrated.
Ticket availability and prices for the awards ceremony will be announced via email direct to race teams as well media releases. To keep up with all the news and off-season information visit http://www.riverheadraceway.com, emails reach the track at office@riverheadraceway.com, the phone number remains 631-842-RACE.