Young Ken Hyde Jr. has chance to win figure-eight title

When he first started racing in the figure-eight class five years ago, Ken Hyde Jr. didn't believe he'd be on the cusp of a track championship at Riverhead Raceway any time soon.

Yet the 21-year-old from Medford leads the figure-eight points standings going into the final points race of the year Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway. He just turned 21 on Sept. 7, which was the same night he won his second figure-eight race. He won his first race the week before.

In a very tight points race, Hyde, who leads with 408 points, will be seeking his first track championship in a tight battle with eight-time champion Roger Maynor of Bay Shore (404 points) and 2011 champion Arne Pedersen of Mastic Beach (402 points).

"I'm nervous, I'm confident and I'm feeling everything in-between," Hyde said. "Anything can happen. But once I get started, I'll be concentrating more on driving than on what could happen."

Hyde said he put in a lot more work over the winter on the car. But it wasn't until his birthday, when he won his second straight race, that he believed he had a good shot at the championship.

"That's because figure-eights is not a normal race," Hyde said. "You have all the other cars on the track that you have to watch out for and then you have the intersection, where guys are crossing and you have to make decisions on whether you're going to stop, go behind them or go in front of them."

Hyde learned "basically everything," he said, from his father, Ken Hyde Sr., who competed for more than three decades in the figure-eight class yet never won a track championship.

Together they operate K & K Towing, located in Patchogue, a company that buys junk cars from consumers for scrap and also performs general towing.

"It would mean more than words can describe to be champion," Hyde said. "My dad never won one and I think he wants it even more than I want it for myself. It would be such a great accomplishment to get it done Saturday night."