Joey Braun of Manorville put a $12,000 bow on his freshman season as a tour type Modified driver Saturday evening by winning the 9th annual Islip 300 at Riverhead Raceway Saturday evening. Braun broke onto the tour type Modified scene on the SMART tour this year, with he and sponsor Rich Gerbe through his HighMark Building Efficiency securing the Hillbilly Racing ride. Gerbe became a car owner over the summer with he and Braun winning their only other Riverhead start on Wednesday August 27th during a 50-lapper.Right from qualifying Joey Braun made his presence known with second quick time of 11.816 to pole winner and defending Islip 300 champion Chase Grennan who went 11.748. Chase broke to the lead at the throw of the green with Braun tucking into second. The two budding stars ran the first 24-laps frst and second until 2025 race winner Matt Hirschman slipped by Braun for second on lap 25. Braun meanwhile had his hands full fighting for third with Owen Grennan, older brother to the race leader who got by Braun for third. As a competition caution on lap 75 for refueling neared Braun slipped as far back as fifth.
When the race resumed after the fuel stop Chase Grennan continued to show Matt Hirschman the way around the historic quarter mile oval, while Owen Grennan kept Matt honest from third. At one point on lap 122 Owen slipped by Hirschman for second, but the 16-time winner in 2025 was quick to reclaim second on lap 131. Once back to second Hirschman knew it was time to turn up the heat on the 18-year-old race leader Grennan who remained unnerved with Matt working over his back bumper and peaking to the inside for a run to the inside off the corners.
After two-thirds of the race was in the books the different pit strategies started to yield results as Mark Stewart, who pitted for tires was on the march through the filed. On lap 216 Stewart working the outside lane passed Hirschman for second and before long, on lap 221 worked his way to the outside of Chase Grennan for the lead, as tire wear became evident for the now former race leader. On lap 222 Joey Braun caught his second win moving to second behind Stewart.
As Islip 300 race procedure has dictated over its 9-year history, once 75 laps of continuous green flag racing have been completed, a competition caution flag would wave, such was the case on lap 233, with a big sigh of relief from many drivers who were still on the tires they started with. One driver, Max Zachem remained out on track having taken his tires after he spun from contact earlier in the contest. Those who pitted under the controlled pit stop returned in the order they were running at the time of caution meaning Zachem was joined on the front row for the restart by Mark Stewart.
When the race resumed on lap 249 Zachem, despite being on older tires held serve as the race leader, while Joey Braun ducked under Stewart for second. Realizing it was go time with early pacesetters Grennan and Hirschman nipping at his heels, Braun moved by Zachem for the lead on lap 251 as they exited the fourth corner, with Hirschman quickly moving to second behind Braun. On lap 253 Mark Stewart had his hopes for victory go south when he and Kyle Ellwood came together off the fourth corner on lap 253, setting up a double file restart between Braun and Hirschman.
When the green waved Braun was able to keep Hirschman at bay, with Dylan Slepian making a late race charge to third. Another yellow flag waved on lap 266 for Ken Heagy who slowed off turn four, with Braun facing another restart with Hirschman and now Slepian. Again, Joey was equal to the task but there’d be one more caution and subsequent restart for Braun to conquer. A spin by Matt Brode on lap 288 slowed the race and lined-up Hirschman and Braun side-by-side one last time.
When the race went green for the final time, Braun continued to master the restarts with Hirschman now under attack for second from Slepian, who passed Matt to the inside for second on lap 289. Over the final ten lap run to the checker Bruan remained the leader with Slepian a few car lengths behind in second. Over the final five laps all eyes turned to Chris Rogers who made an outside pass of Kyle Ellwood for fourth, setting his sight for Matt Hirschman in third. With just over a lap to go, Rogers again threw his car to the outside of Matt to move to third.
When the checker flag waved the 9th annual Islip 300 glory belonged to Joey Braun, who could hardly contain his enthusiasm upon exiting the car to the winner’s trophy and custom cake. When asked if he thought he could be an Islip 300 when he signed in this morning, Braun, not one to lack confidence boasted, “honestly, I knew we had a good car, Kenny (Matlach) brought us a good piece that showed no fall off during long runs”. While he’s living a dream with the huge win, Joey was quick to credit the man who believed in him, “Rich Gerbe, I owe you my life for all you have done and continue to do for me” Braun proclaimed, “HighMark Building Efficiency, Rich’s firm enabled us to get the David Hill ride with the SMART Tour, and then during the summer Rich made the deal with Kenny to buy his car for up here, with Kenny staying on as crew chief, I am truly living the dream”.
For the second consecutive year the second through fourth place finishers, Dylan Slepian of Dix Hills and Chris Rogers of Patchogue were second and third. On his runner-up tally Slepian reflected, “the race played out pretty much the way we thought it would, Rob Pelis had a great set-up for us, we just couldn’t fire off like we would have liked: the driver of the Eastport Feeds driver reviewed.
Looking back on his third-place effort Rogers was upbeat, “great run for our Coors Light team. My owner Dave Briagti, and crew chief Brian Schwarz made the right call for our late race set-up, with my father back on the radios we were able to send it outside late in the race to make those passes to get to third”.
Matt Hirschman of Northampton was fourth in the Elite Towing Chevy, Kyle Ellwood of Riverhead fifth in the Millennium Limited Contracting racer.
Chase Grennan of Glen Cove, who led the most laps in the Islip 300 leading 220 circuits came home 7th in the final tally, enough to secure the 2025 Crown Jewel Series championship earning the Ted Christopher Cup. The TC Cup will be presented to Chase, along with the 2025 Modified Rookie of the Year honors at the Riverhead Raceway awards celebration in late January.
AJ DeSantis of Yaphank scored his second win of 2025 Saturday when he won a non-stop 40 lap Eagle Chevrolet Crate Modified 40-lap feature. Michael Berner rolled to the race lead at the throw of the green from the outside pole, while pole sitter Richie Davidowitz tucked in for second. It didn’t take DeSantis long to find grip in the outside lane as he worked by Davidowitz for second on lap 2 and just three laps later ducked under Berner for the race lead in the third and fourth turn on lap 5. Since the Eagle Chevrolet Crate Modifieds have been part of the Islip 300 program, DeSantis has wanted to win on this date in honor of his grandfather Tom Tillotson. Saturday, steering the Tiana Shores Lawn & Tree Service Chevy to perfection AJ came home the winner for his 4th career win. Michael Berner of Patchogue was second in the Pro Diesel Chevy, while Andrew Farnham of Baldwin was third in the LA Technology Group Chevy.
Riely O’Keefe of Manorville kept his magical 2025 INEX Legend Race Car season going right up until the final race winning his fifth event of the season Saturday. The race, marred by numerous cautions with weather moving in from the west, hit it’s time limit with 34 of the schedules 40-laps in the books. O’Keefe and Jacob “Rowdy” Burns made up the front row for the 36-car grid, O’Keefe raced to the lead at the throw of the green, a lead he’d never surrender. Jeff Farruggia chased O’Keefe for the first five laps before Rodney Dowless got by Jeff for second on lap 6. Two laps later Anthony Marsh slipped by Dowless for second and it was his turn to see if he could catch the high-flying leader O’Keefe. an unusual number of spins and minor tangles slowed the race, setting up many double file restarts, all of which O’Keefe mastered. The final straw was a caution on lap 34 ending the race with Riely O’Keefe in the Joe Ryan Race Cars entry taking the win, his 9th career victory tying him for 8th all-time with Ray Fitzgerald. Anthony Marsh of Riverhead was runner-up in the Riverhead Trailer entry, PJ Evans of Uncasville, Ct was third in the Evans Carpentry Services coupe.
The Street Stocks saw their scheduled 40-lap feature cut short to 11-laps as a brief, but heavy rain shower moved over the track, catching many drivers off-guard sending them spinning. With temperatures dropping through the 40’s, track drying would have lasted too long, and the race was called official. Dave Antos and Cody Triola made up the front row and would run one-two over the first 7 laps of the contest. A stuck throttle sent Frank Dumicich Jr hard into the cement wall in the third and fourth turns, he was sore but okay. When the race resumed Antos, the all-time leading Street Stock winner continued to pace the race, with Jarrod Hayes slipping by Triola on the restart for second. However, before Hayes could make a challenge, the rains came and Dave Antos was a winner in his EP Milling & Sweeping Chevy for the 18th time in his career, third of 2025. Jarrod Hayes of Calverton was runner-up in the North Fork Sanitation Chevy, Cody Triola of Bay Shore was third in the Long Island Debris Monte Carlo.
John Jasinski of Flanders collected his second consecutive 15-lap Eddie Partridge Vintage All Star victory, leading wire to wire in the Gary Cretty tribute Vega. Sal Accardi of Deer Park was second in the A-Plus Auto Salvage racer, Don Howe of Water Mill came home third in the Corwith’s Auto Body Cavalier.
Islip 300: 1. Joey Braun 2. Dylan Slepian 3. Chris Rogers 4. Matt Hirschman 5. Kyle Ellwood 6. Owen Grennan 7. Chase Grennan 8. Chris Young 9. Matt Brode 10. Mark Stewart 11. Andy Jankowiak 12. Max Zachem 13. Ken Heagy 14. Paulie Hartwig III 15. Roger Turbush DNS- Walter Suttcliffe
Crate Modifieds: 1. AJ DeSantis 2. Michael Berner 3. Andrew Farnham 4. Vinny Delaney 5. Richie Davidowitz 6. Tom Sekulski 7. Thomas Grattan
Legend Race Cars: 1. Riely O’Keefe 2. Anthony Marsh 3. PJ Evans 4. Luke LeBrun 5. Rodney Dowless 6. Ray Fitzgerald 7. Richie Davidowitz 8. Jayden Glennerster 9. Marissa Stewart 10. Dylan Calabro 11. Wade Oemeke 12. Jim Sylvester 13. Michael Metcalf 14. Mike Van Houten Jr. 15. Charlie Hodge 16. Jeff Farruggia 17. Robert Henninger 18. Alex Halinar 19. Cillian Tennant 20. Ed Stadtlander 21. Jacob Burns 22. Chris Sinatro 23. Will Sipala 24. Brad Van Houten 25. Phillip Alaimo 26. Colin Volpe
Street Stocks: 1. Dave Antos 2. Jarrod Hayes 3. Cody Triola 4. Chris McGuire 5. Danny Pizzo 6. Alyssa Paprocky 7. Jack Handley Jr. 8. Chris Lescenski 9. Dennis Kurras 10. PJ McGay 11. Tom Sullivan 12. Kyle Halpin 13. Brandon Hubbard 14. Nick Bilello 15. Rich Braun 16. Luke Foerster 17. Jim Laird Jr. 18. Ricky Carman 19. Frank Dumicich Jr.
Vintage All Stars: 1. John Jasinski 2. Sal Accardi Jr. 3. Don Howe 4. Tom Pickerell 5. Mark Marino 6. John Cote 7. Frank Saladino 8. Paul Dodorico 9. Mike Siraco 10. Don Conradis 11. Jimmy Reed Jr. 12. Tim Daly 13. Pat Hughes 14. Michael Rutkoski