MANY SHAKE OFF BAD LUCK TO CREATE A GREAT NIGHT
by
Walter Johnston
Many places on Long Island had bad weather late
Saturday afternoon, but it passed south of Riverhead Raceway as a fun
night of racing took place under mostly clear, blue skies. This was
Dodge night, and Dodge celebrated with Bryan Sescila's (crew wanted)
Victory Fleet Maintenance truck's win in the Super Pro Truck division.
There were no other Dodge victories on this night, but let's talk about
the other victories in other divisions, too.
#34 Bryan Sescila started the on the pole,
alongside #97 “Dangerous” Dave Koenig. At the drop of the green, Bryan
grabbed the lead, as Koenig slipped back, and #44 Jason Agugliaro took
over second, while Koenig slipped back to 3rd, and #98x Dave Brigati
moved into 4th. The trucks ran a steady 10 laps, until yellow came out
for debris in turn 1. On the restart, Sescila led a tight pack of
trucks, with Agugliaro, Brigati, Koenig, Dumicich, Jr., and Ferdinando
nose to tail right behind. Dave Brigati slipped into second, and on lap
16, Koenig spun in turn 4, bringing out caution. On the next restart,
Sescila had all he could do to hold off a hard charging Dave Brigati,
who looked high and low for a way around, but Sescila hung on in the #34
Victory Fleet Maintenance Dodge for the popular win for Dodge.
Next was an unusual treat for the fans, a Saturday
night Grand Enduro race. #21 Caesar Cunaccia started on the pole, with
#5 Jess Martines outside. Cunaccia grabbed the early lead, with #20
Bobby Pease moving into second quickly, with #1 Racin' Rich Johnson
moving to third as Martines faded. Pease got around Cunaccia for the
lead, leaving Cunaccia and Johnson to battle for second spot. Closing in
on this duo was #0 Tommy Walkowiak, making it a 3 car battle for the
spot. Walkowiak got around Johnson on lap 14, but Johnson fought right
back, as Walkowiak was concentrating on getting by Cunaccia. This battle
ran into a problem of it's own, as the three came up on lapped cars, and
had to go high and low to pass them, resulting in position swapping
amongst the three of them over the latter stages of the race. This
served Bobby Pease well, as he built a formidable lead for himself. This
held up, as the battle behind him went on, with Walkowiak slipping in
turn 4 late in the race, resulting in Cunaccia regaining second spot,
while Walkowiak and Johnson battled for 3rd. Bobby Pease and his #20 BV
Sprinklers Chevrolet held his huge lead right to the 40th and final lap,
with Cunaccia second, Walkowiak third, and Johnson fourth.
The Blunderbusts saw #42 Wayne Meyer on the pole,
with #79 Bill Wegmann outside, and when the green dropped, Wegmann
grabbed the lead from Meyer, who was dropping back quickly. A few laps
later, #3 Doug Watson and #19 P.J. Vecchio were both Black Flagged for
leaking from the right rear of their cars. On lap 9, #69x Paul Parisi
spun, bringing out the caution, and #42 Wayne Meyer had to leave with a
leak coming from his car. On the restart, Wegmann outran #27 Scott
Pedersen, and #0 Tommy Walkowiak moved up into second, while Pedersen
and #53 Dale Arnold battled for third. Wegmann held onto the lead,
despite Walkowiak's persistent tries to get around him. Walkowiak made
one last try coming off trun 4, but Bill Wegmann held on for the win in
the #79 Oldsmobile.
The Late Models ran the Safelite Auto Glass 25 with
#23 Kevin Metzger and #8 Sean Patterson starting up front. Metzger
grabbed the early lead, but Patterson stuck with him as the two pulled
away from #12 Dennis Krupski and #88 Shawn Patrick, running 3rd & 4th.
On lap 7, Patterson finally got under Metzger as #99 Jack Orlando was
spinning in turn 4, bringing out a yellow. On the restart, Metzger once
again got out front, but Patterson kept up his dogged pursuit, and got
under and passed Metzger 2 laps later for the lead. On lap 10, #01 Rob
Tribuzio, now third, collides with Metzger, and yellow is out again, as
Tribuzio leaves with a flat. On the restart, Metzger, still running
second, gets passed by #42 Billy Wheeler, #10 Scott Kulesa, #28 Glenn
Tyler, and #1x Dave Brigati. Metzger's right front suspension breaks,
sending him careening into the first turn wall, and bringing out another
yellow. Now faced with a single file restart, Patterson gets a good
start to maintain his lead over now second place Billy Wheeler, who has
his hands full holding off Tyler and Brigati. Patterson holds on in the
#8 Zoumas Homes Pontiac as the top 8 cars run nose to tail, and wins his
first Riverhead LM feature as Wheeler literally pushes him across the
finish line.
One pit note here: #72 Greg Kleila gratefully
acknowledges the use of Carl and Betsi Rackoff's # 5 Late Model,
normally driven by #5 Bryan Sescila, to keep the third place point
runner in the hunt after Greg experienced problems with his own #72. He
finished 9th.
The Dodge Night Modified feature had #07 Lew
Hallock and #68x John Bush on the front row. Hallock grabbed the early
lead with Bush fading back as #36 Dave Sapienza moved through into
second, #8x Eddie Brunnhoelzl III to third. On lap 4, Sapienza moves
into the lead, as Hallock and Brunnhoelzl fight it out for second.
Fourth running #10x Mike Andrews, Jr. gets into Hallock as they enter
turn 1, with Hallock going around, and the caution coming out. On the
restart, before a lap is completed, #11x Chuck Steuer and #33 Ken Heagy
tangle and spin in turn 4, bringing the yellow back out again. One more
restart, and Sapienza takes the lead as Brunnhoelzl and Andrews battle
for second and third, while #12 Dan Jivanelli and #49 Chris Young battle
for fourth and fifth. Passing Brunnhoelzl quickly, Andrews gets by
Sapienza moments later and takes the lead, as Young and Brunnhoelzl
collide, bringing out the yellow again, and putting Andrews back to
second, and Sapienza back up front. On the next restart, Andrews once
again gets a nose under Sapienza, passing him for the lead one lap
later, and bringing Jivanelli to second, leaving Sapienza third, #5
Jimmy Blewett fourth, and #15 Wayne Anderson fifth. Blewett and Anderson
drop Sapienza to fifth as they get under him. Meanwhile, Andrews and
Jivanelli have gotten away from the rest of the pack, and are running
bumper to bumper as Jivanelli looks for a chance to pass, and Andrews
continues to hold him off. Anderson, meanwhile, is working over Blewett,
looking for a way by, and after a few laps of trying, successfully gets
by Blewett for third, and sets his sights on Jivanelli. As the laps ran
out, Anderson caught up, but would have to settle for third, behind
winner Mike Andrews, Jr. in the #10x Prestigious Properties Chevrolet
and second place Dan Jivanelli.
Pit Notes: Someone needs to donate light bulbs or
the time needed to fix the turn 2 scoreboard. It's hard to tell exactly
what lap the race is on during certain laps that don't light up
properly... Wayne Anderson's #15 Modified (rear) protested by #5 TS
Haulers Modified team, but tech inspectors found it to be legal... Best
wishes to an ailing Debbie Fleming for a quick resolve to her medical
problem. We need her to keep track of the Modified Top 5 points...We
shouldn't brag, but I think our photo team of Jon Keo and photo editor
Richie Grodski have really vamped up the fine photo coverage seen here
each week... The School Bus Figure 8 race was won by Timmy Farrell, of
the racing Farrell family. A few hairy encounters at the X in this race,
fun for the kids, even at the end of the night... Speaking of which, the
program was complete at 9:40 PM, so plenty of time for the young ones to
visit the pits and drivers, and to see their favorite car(s) of the
evening's activities...We'll be back next week, hope you will be too.
