CLEAR NIGHT WITH CLEAN YELLOW FREE RACES AND FUN!
by
Walter Johnston
One of the most comfortable nights of weather greeted a large crowd
at Riverhead for Buzz Chew Chevrolet and Cadillac Night at Riverhead
Raceway. Best of all, two of the four regular main features ran green to
checkered, speeding up the show, and pleasing the crowd. We saw repeat
winners, and one that visited victory lane for the first time in quite a
while. There was even a "10 Minute" intermission before the Mod feature,
something that hasn't happened in quite a while.
The Blunderbusts got the night started first with their 20-lap
feature. #6 Scott Sepe and #19 P.J. Vecchio started on the front row,
but Vecchio grabbed the lead upon the green, with Sepe quickly fading
back. On lap 6, the caution flew for debris. On the restart, Vecchio and
#69x Paul Parisi were side by side, but #00 Tommy Walkowiak, running
third, shot by both and grabbed the lead just as the yellow came out for
a tangle between #72 Tom Stock and #64 Carl Voelker Jr. With a complete
restart, Vecchio and Parisi again took off, with Vecchio getting the
edge. Walkowiak worked his way through to the lead a lap later, with
point leader #22 Scott Maliszewski getting through to second, with #27
Scott Pedersen moving into third place. The front three remained in
order as #90 Ron Langdon moved to fourth, and #79 Bill Wegmann to fifth
by half way. Walkowiak and Maliszewski pulled away from the others as
Pedersen and Langdon battled for third. Langdon eventually grabbed
third, with Pedersen now trying to keep Wegmann at bay for 4th, as #67
Wayne Okula was trying to get by Wegmann for 5th. On lap 18, yellow was
out once more as #3 Doug Watson's left rear axle broke, sending him
spinning to the infield in turn 3, and his wheel around into turn 4. Now
faced with a two lap shootout, Walkowiak held on to his lead in the #00
Unique Golf Chevrolet and won his fourth Blunderbust feature of the
season, with Maliszewski, Langdon, Pedersen and Wegmann rounding out the
top five.
Next, the Figure 8 cars ran 14 cars in their feature, one of the few
times recently they've run early enough to do it in the sunlight. #47
“Slim” Jim Donaldson jumped out into the lead at the green, with #16 Tom
Ferrara, #29 Will Farrell, and #22 Bill Batsche following closely
behind. A few laps later, #29 Farrell spun out of a top spot as #74 Carl
Baxter moved to third, with #10 George Sprague getting past Batsche into
4th. Donaldson now had built a big lead, and was encountering lapped
traffic at the X, including #28 Roger Maynor, whom was not having a good
night after having spun earlier in the race. Meanwhile, Sprague got by
Baxter, and was closing on Donaldson. With an inside-outside move,
Sprague got by Donaldson and took the lead. On lap 15, Baxter suddenly
pulled in and Ferrara was now third. Sprague now had a huge lead over
Donaldson, who was battling with Ferrara for second spot, as #85 Arne
Pedersen and #13 Mike Mujsce, Sr. chased them in fourth and fifth spots.
Sprague and all the others held on through the last five laps, with
Sprague and the #10 Pavco Industries Chevrolet winning the caution free
race by a wide margin.
The Late Models were next, with #23 Kevin Metzger and #98 Doug Wholey
on the front row. At the start, Metzger pulled out in front of Wholey,
with #88 Shan Patrick following through to take second spot as Wholey
hung on for third, with #9 Joe Cerabino fourth and #01 Rob Tribuzio
fifth. Tribuzio got around Cerabino to take fourth, and then got by
Wholey for third. Now running fourth, Wholey was next challenged by #72
Greg Kleila, but Wholey blocked every attempt Kleila made to get around
him. #39 Roger Oxee, who just gotten around #99 Jack Orlando for sixth,
took over the attempt to get past Wholey after Kleila suffered front
suspension trouble from trying to get past Wholey, and brushing the
wall. Oxee worked over Wholey high and low, looking for a way past
Wholey, but he continued to block any attempt by Oxee to get by him. The
top 5 remained the same right up to the finish of this caution free
feature, the second week in a row for the Late Model competitors, as #23
Kevin Metzger held on for the win, with Patrick, Tribuzio, Wholey and
Oxee rounding out the top 5.
After the "10 minute intermission", the Modifieds came out for their
35 lap feature. On the pole was #3 John Denniston, with #17x Rusty
Turbush to his outside, as 24 Modifieds took the green. Denniston took
the lead at the drop of the green, as Turbush tried to hold onto second.
#85 Lenny Fischer, running third, got by Turbush, as did #93 Sal Accardi,
Jr.. As Turbush came off turn 2, he made contact with #20 Bill Park,
spinning into the infield and scattering the field behind them, bringing
out the yellow. Officials judged that only Turbush was the cause of the
crash, so everyone moved back to where they were on the last lap, with
the exception of anyone pitting. When the green came out again,
Denniston held the lead, but Lenny Fischer was running right along side,
sometimes just getting a nose ahead of Denniston. Four laps later, #07
Lew Hallock spun in turn 1, collecting #68x Johnny Bush, #03 Ken Darch,
and #77 Ken Vogel, Jr., bringing out another caution. On the restart,
Denniston and Fischer were right back at it, but a multi-car crash out
of turn 4, started by a spinning #2 of J.R Bertuccio, brought the yellow
right back out, and sent numerous cars to the pits. #96 Howie Brode and
#15 Wayne Anderson were affected by the accident, and were still in the
pits when green came back out. Once again, Denniston and Fischer battled
side by side, touching at times, but running cleanly, as third place #3
Ken Heagy watched for a chance to move up if either made a mistake. 3
laps later, Fischer would finally get by Denniston to take sole
possession of the top spot at the halfway point of the race, while #05
Joe Hartmann had now worked his way to fourth spot, dropping Sal Accardi,
Jr to fifth. Heagy was black flagged for leaking fluid after Hartmann
complained to the officials through his spotter, and Heagy pulled into
the infield. Hartmann was now looking to pass Denniston, as Fischer
built a huge lead over the field. On lap 26, #12 Dan Jivanelli spun in
turn 3, bringing out another caution and wiping out Fischer's lead.
Under the yellow, Anderson, Vogel Jr, and #10x Andrews returned to
rejoin the race. Though many laps down at that point, they all wanted to
increase their points position by getting better finishes than if they'd
stayed in the pits.
On the restart, Fischer held his lead, as Denniston and Hartmann
continued the battle for second. Right behind them, #36 Dave Sapienza
and #11x Chuck Steuer were waging a battle for fourth spot, with Steuer
trying everything he could to get by, but to no avail. Up front Fischer
again held a commanding lead, and kept it right to the checkered flag,
as Denniston, Hartmann, Sapienza, and Steuer rounded out the top 5.
Fischer, collecting his first win since July of 1993, was ecstatic in
victory lane.
Pit notes and news: Many Cub Scouts in attendance tonight, and they
were thrilled by what they saw. A great number visited the pits after
the races, giving those drivers who were prepared the opportunity to
pass out autographed pictures to the eager young fans. It's a credit to
the drivers, who spend their own money on these photos, to have had them
on hand when so many youngsters were looking for them...Glenn Tyler
shook down his Modified for next week’s Tom Baldwin Memorial 77, but it
was not run in the feature... Peggy Smith made a rare visit to showcase
her car, which is for sale, "to the best offer". She made the feature
through the consi at the last minute and put on a fine showing. Anybody
want to buy a Modified??? Mike Andrews, Jr. borrowed Chuck Steuer’s
backup car as his car’s engine had issues after last week… Peter Rotzi
was out in his Late Model for the first time this season, but did not
make the feature event... Still need donations of new light bulbs to fix
the turn 2 scoreboard... Next week's show starts with Time Trials for
the Modifieds at 4 PM, and the regular show right after that, with no
break, so be on time if you don't want to miss the action. Until next
week, be safe, and be happy...WJ
Source: Walter Johnston/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
July 24, 2005
