BANGOR – Denny Rasku has learned a few things in his three years of playing in the $50,000 Greater Bangor Open Golf Tournament.

“Just be patient,” said the 30-year-old pro from Deerfield Beach, Fla. “You can get on a little run here if you play well. It just depends on the kind of opportunities you leave yourself.”

Rasku’s patience paid off as he posted a 4-under-par 65 Friday at Bangor Municipal Golf Course for a two-day total of 6-under-par 132.

That gives Rasku a two-stroke lead over Jared Lamothe of Portsmouth, N.H., Ramon Franco of Asuncion, Paraguay, Jim Becker of Bloomfield, Conn., Kyle Gallo of Kensington, Conn., first-round leader Jim Salinetti of South Lee, Mass., and Jerry Wood of Ridgeway, Va. Lamothe shot 67, Franco and Wood 69, Becker 65, Gallo 68, and Salinetti 71.

Defending champion Billy Downes heads another group of five players at 135.

Mike Worroll, the pro at Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth, and Thomas Blankvoort of Curacao of the Netherlands Antilles lead the Maine pro and the amateur categories, respectively. Worroll recorded a 69 Friday for 136, and Blankvoort had a 70 for 140.

The pro cut was 144, Maine pro cut was 155, and amateur cut was 159.

Rasku played in the afternoon when scores tend to be higher because of a little stiffer breeze, but that is where experience paid off for him.

“I was expecting that,” he said. “I tried to play smart. If you try attacking this course, you’re going to find yourself in a lot of trouble. The course’ll jump up and bite you.”

Rasku, who started on No. 10, did admit to taking a risk early on.

“I tried to get aggressive on 11 and hit it in the back bunker,” he said of the long par-3. He was able to get up and down for par and saved par on the next hole as well.

He nailed back-to-back 4-foot birdie putts on 14 and 15 to turn in 33, then made uphill birdie putts on Nos. 2 and 5 for a 32 on the front.

“I played solid all the way in,” he said. “I hit just about every fairway, and when you do that, it makes the course play a lot easier.”

As for today’s round, the 30-year-old Rasku said, “If I play as solid as today, I like my chances.”

While he’s in command, though, he knows winning won’t be easy.

“I’m worried about those guys right there,” he said with a little laugh, pointing at a group which included Salinetti and Gallo. “The lead’s not big enough.”

Gallo, meanwhile, hopes the wind blows, and blows hard.

“You have to use your imagination,” said Gallo. “It takes a different style of play, different clubs.

“It’s not that smooth 8[-iron] from 150 [yards]. You might have to use a 6 and punch it.”

That suits Gallo fine.

“I like hitting little knockdown shots,” he said.

Eric Crouse of Windham, who played with Gallo for two days, is a believer.

“If the wind blows hard, he’ll win by 10 shots,” said Crouse.

Gallo feels like he’s getting his game back together after a rough June.

“I went to the Cape [Cod] for five or six days. Since then, I’ve been scoring better,” he said. “I’m getting more into it, and I’m getting more out of my rounds.”

Salinetti, who won the New England Amateur at Waterville Country Club in Oakland last year, was disappointed Friday. Especially after hitting his tee shot on No. 9, his final hole, into the lateral hazard on the left.

“It was a pull hook,” he said. “Now and then I have a tendency to do that. It was the wrong time and the wrong [tee] box.”

It didn’t bother him so much that he wasn’t going to be in the lead, it bothered him that he gave the field back two strokes.

“You want to go as low as you can go,” he said. “You don’t want to throw shots away.”

He knows he’s still in position to win.

“It’s a new day tomorrow,” he said.

Franco, playing in his first GBO, found that trying to figure out the wind wasn’t easy.

“The greens were very hard yesterday,” said Franco, brother of PGA Tour star Carlos Franco. He tried to compensate Friday morning.

“Today, I played short and left the ball short, 10 yards short,” he said. He had been expecting the ball to bounce on and roll as it did Thursday afternoon.

“The ball came back [spun back] today,” he said. That left a number of long putts, and of his 69 strokes, 36 were putts.

Still, he tried to keep it in perspective.

“I am very content,” said Franco, whose brother Angel is also playing in the GBO. “This is another step to the PGA Tour.”