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Week 4 Produces First Time Winners Interspersed With Yellow Flag Fever
May 25, Brentwood, NY--- Better weather greeted a larger crowd of race enthusiasts at Riverhead Raceway this Saturday night, as 5 divisions of racing took to the track on a mostly clear evening. Before the evening ended, some competitors confused racing with the demo derby scheduled to end the evening, and got an early start, resulting in more damaged equipment in one night than all the 3 previous weeks combined. The modifieds suffered the worst of it, with two caution periods before the 1st lap was completed, which ended up with two drivers being sent to the hospital to be checked for wrist injuries.
But we start with better news, as the Blunderbusts started the night with their 20 lap feature, 21 cars strong. Tom Pickerell and Joe Pingitore sat on the front row for the start, and Pickerell took off at the drop of the green, only to have the caution wave for 2 separate crashes off turn 2. With the field lined up once more, Pickerell again jumped out front, with Pingitore, Scott Sepe and Chris Busick in tow. On lap 2, Tommy Walkowiak suffered his 2nd flat of the race, and ended up against the 3rd turn wall, with the caution out once more. On the restart, Pickerell took the point again, with Pingitore and Busick following closely. Busick quickly got around Pingitore to takeover 2nd on lap 4, with Pingitore being challenged next by Bill Wegmann, who got by him for 3rd on lap 7. Busick by that point was looking for a way to pass Pickerell, and on lap 8, they were racing side by side until Busick pulled out in front on lap 9. After that, Busick built about a 4 car length lead over Pickerell, as the action picked up behind them. Wegmann was being challenged by Scott Maliszewski for 3rd by lap 15, and Wegmann did a great job of holding his spot against the challenges of Maliszewski. Pingitore, now back to 5th, was about to be challenged by a closing Ed Mistretta, but the checkered flag fell on the contest with Busick’s Service Master Clean #61 taking the victory, while Pickerell, Wegmann, Maliszewski, and Pingitore rounded out the top 5.
The Super Pro Trucks, moved onto the Saturday night card from their originally scheduled Sunday appearance, out next to run their feature, with P.J. Vecchio and Mike Power on the front row. Vecchio took off too soon on the original start, so officials threw the caution and on the next attempt, Vecchio edged out front, but Power fought back, taking the lead on lap 2, giving John Denniston the opportunity to challenge Vecchio for 2nd, and Denniston made the pass on lap 3, but caution flew on lap 4 as Frank Dumicich, Jr., in Tom Kraft’s 09 truck, skidded to a stop against the wall in turn 1. On the restart, Power motored out front once more, as Denniston followed, and Roger Turbush brought his truck to 3rd spot, but on lap 6, Dave Koenig side swiped the back stretch wall, blowing a tire and coming to a stop in turn 3, with caution flying once more. On the next restart, Power edged out front as Denniston fought to pass on the high side, but a debris caution slowed the race once more, just as Keith Rotzi’s motor blew a line and suffered a brief fire under the hood of his truck off turn 2. On the restart, Power pulled out front as Denniston and Turbush battled side by side for 2nd, and Lou Maestri and Erin Dumicich followed closely behind them. Denniston tried the outside to get by Power on lap 14, but that opened the door for Turbush to go low, as he and Power pulled away, leaving Denniston hung on the outside, while Maestri got under him to take 3rd spot. On lap 17, Denniston and Erin Dumicich spun together coming off turn 2, and Dumicich tried to keep her momentum up, pulling back onto the track, and getting in a tangle with Mike Albasini and Shaun Gouldsbury, bringing out yet another caution. On the last restart, Power took off once more, protecting his lead as Turbush challenged, but now Wayne Meyer, last week’s winner, was pressuring Turbush from 3rd spot, and nipped Turbush for 2nd at the line, as did Maestri, moving by to take 3rd, as Power, in his Long Island Fiber Exchange #65 took his first ever win in the Super Pro Trucks, while Meyer, Maestri, Turbush, and Denniston rounded out the top 5.
Next up, the Chargers rolled out, all 14 of them, to run their feature. Garret Frabrizio and Timmy Solomito made up the front row, with Frabrizio nosing out front at the drop of the green, as Solomito battled with Daryn Miller for 2nd, which Miller took by lap 2, and Thore Foss moved by Solomito to take 3rd by lap 3, with Steve Ratti also getting by Solomito into 4th, just as Chris Frabrizio spun in turn 4, bringing out the 1st caution of the race. On the restart, Frabrizio took off, but went high in turn 2, and Foss took the opportunity to challenge for the lead, but caution flew as Miller spun in turn 1. On the restart, Foss took off into the lead, as Ratti passed Frabrizio to take over 2nd, while Frank Dumicich, Jr. and Chris Turbush followed. Moments later, Turbush spun in turn 2, bringing out yet another caution. On the restart, Foss and Ratti battled side by side for a lap, until Foss pulled ahead, just as Frabrizio and Ratti collided in turn 2, with Wes Zaleski and Peter Cataldo also coming together, as caution flew yet again. On the next restart, single file this time, Foss sprinted away as Solomito, now 2nd, followed, but Chris McGuire quickly got by Solomito and set his sights on Foss by lap 11, as a lap later, Miller came to a halt in turn 1 with mechanical trouble, and caution was out again. With track officials ruling that this would be the final restart, Foss took off at the drop of the green, but McGuire was all over his bumper, and Foss built a bit of breathing room over the next few laps, but as McGuire started closing in again, and tried to pass Foss going low through turns 3 & 4, resulting in McGuire losing the handle on his car and doing a complete spin. He rejoined the race before Foss came by again, but McGuire spun the next time he came through turn 4, with the caution flying for that one, effectively ending the race at lap 18, with Foss’ Biltmore /welding and Erection #57 becoming the 2nd first time winner of the evening, as Turbush, Solomito, Ratti, and Dumicich, Jr. rounded out the top 5.
15 Late Models rolled out next for that feature, with Peter ‘Buzzy’ Eriksen on the pole, and Jarrod Hayes to his outside. Eriksen took the early lead, as teammates Hayes and John Gloor IV followed, but Mike Coll passed Gloor IV to take 3rd, and Gloor IV and Mike Bologna came together entering turn 1, with the caution coming out for the 1st time. On the restart, Eriksen again assumed the lead, but Scott Kulesa spun off turn 2 after contact with Kevin Metzger, and caution flew once more, as officials put Metzger to the rear on a rough riding call. On the next restart, Eriksen and Hayes battled side by side, as Mike Coll, Chris LaSpisa and Roger Oxee followed. Oxee moved up to 3rd behind Coll as he got by Hayes by lap 7, and Coll now challenged Eriksen for the lead, but Coll was having trouble finding the opening he needed to get by the crafty driver. Coll finally got his chance on lap 15, as he got his nose under Eriksen coming out of turn 2, with Oxee glued to Coll’s bumper as they both got by Eriksen. Coll and Oxee then pulled away as Eriksen held 3rd, as Oxee and Coll battled to settle the race amongst themselves, while Tommy Rogers battled his up to 4th spot, getting by Hayes with just a handful of laps to go, but up front, although Oxee took one look to the outside, there was no beating Coll as he took the victory in his Sponsors Wanted #61, with Oxee, Eriksen, Rogers and Hayes rounding out the top 5.
After a previously unscheduled 10 minute intermission, the Modifieds rolled out for their feature, led by a very special pace car, Maynard Troyer’s last Pinto Modified that he ever raced, which was provided by Steve Basik, and driven by Sal Accardi, Jr. The car paced the field for 3 laps before pulling off, and after 3 hot laps to warm up their tires, they were ready to go. With Ken Heagy on the pole, and Rusty Turbush to his outside, the Mods took the green, with Heagy edging into the lead, and disaster striking down the backstretch as Turbush got turned sideways, and collected a few others in the process, which ended the night early for Sean Paterson, Howie Brode, and sent Bill Park to the pits for major repairs, and brought out the caution. Without a lap complete, the field was realigned, with Mike Andrews now on the outside, and as they came off turn 4, Andrews leapt out front, but race officials threw the yellow for Andrews jumping the start, just as JR Bertuccio suffered a blowout and spun in turn 2. With the field lined up once more, green came out, and Heagy led Andrews into turn 1, where Andrews seemed to cut down toward Heagy, with the result being Heagy’s car wheel hopped over Andrews’ mount, as both headed for the turn 1 wall, and that collected all but the last 5 cars on the track in one horrendous wreck, with the red being thrown while the track crew separated the cars. Heagy, Andrews, Jimmy Blewett and Turbush were done for the night, while others patched their cars up after the caution flew again, and even Bill Park rejoined the race. (It was reported later that two of the drivers may have suffered wrist injuries.)
When the mess was cleaned up and racing resumed, single file, as the officials had seen enough, Tommy Rogers, Jr. was the new leader, with John Fortin and Wayne Anderson in 2nd and 3rd. Rogers built a nice lead at the start, but Fortin started catching up by lap 5, and Rogers poured on a little more power, and began to stretch his lead over Fortin once more by lap 5. By lap 9, Bill Park had worked his way to 6th as he passed Bobby Gardner for the spot, bringing Chris Young and Dave Sapienza with him, dropping Gardner to 9th. Rogers has maintained a 3 car length lead over Fortin, but on lap 15, officials throw the caution for fluid on the track, and send Mike Andrews to the pits (Andrews is now driving the #8 that Kevin Orlando started in). Andrews makes quick repairs as the track is cleaned up and rejoins the race for the restart, as Rogers jumps out front again, while Fortin and Anderson continue to follow, with Dan Jivanelli in 4th, and Justin Bonsignore in 5th. They continued on in that order until the end of the race, with Rogers stretching his margin over Fortin to about 10 car lengths before it was over.
The annual Figure-8 School bus race followed, with Mike Rommeney taking the victory, and then jumping into his 4-cyl Demolition Derby car, and going on to win that event also.
*****
News and Notes: One of the best Late Model races in recent times tonight, once they got started, with plenty of side by side racing, making it quite enjoyable, and it was undoubtedly the best race of the night, proving once more why this under-sung division deserves more support… ‘Slim’ Jim Donaldson returned to Riverhead to run in the School bus race, his first appearance this year. A little sponsor help may help him change that, but as of now, it’s all he can afford to do… I had a chat with Dan Turbush, and he’s comfortable with not racing this season after his recent surgery (Doctor‘s Orders!), contenting himself instead with watching his sons Chris (Chargers) and Roger (Super Pro Trucks) advance their careers… I didn’t see one unbent Modified in the pits after the feature, as even the winner, Tommy Rogers, Jr. had more than just minor damage to his car. Let’s hope for better results the rest of the season… Many at Riverhead walking around bleary eyed after having attend the WMT race the night before at Stafford Motor Speedway, with most reporting they didn’t get ‘home’ until around sunrise or thereabouts… Thore Foss and Mike Power both walking on air after collecting their first ever victories. Foss’ son convinced him to keep his driver’s suit on as he made his way to watch the rest of the night’s festivities from the stands, and Thore was only able to travel a little bit at a time, as many fans came out of the stands to congratulate him. It was a long trip to his seat on the front stretch… We have to send Congratulations to Donny Lia on his first Craftsman Truck Series win. It didn’t take the talented Lia long to let his fellow competitors know he is a serious contender, and we say good for him… Lastly, Dennis Freeze from Oval Speed Unlimited will likely have a very busy week, ordering the ton of parts needed to fix all the Modifieds wrecked last night…
That’s our effort for this week. We’ll be back next week with more from Riverhead Raceway, and until then, as always, live well and be safe.
Walter Johnston may be contacted at wizgrand@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by columnists and all others on this website are strictly their own, and may not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of the management of Long Island Motorsports News.
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