Lia Threepeats at Riverhead
by
Walter Johnston
Donny Lia, in the Huntington
Honda #18, won his third August Whelen Modified Tour race in as
many years, dominating once he got the lead. In a race marked by
many cautions, and as Lia himself said in Victory Lane, not
enough waving of the passing flag, he held off a strong and
continuous challenge from #48 Tony Hirschman to lead the most
laps and win the race. In the companion features, #00 Tommy
Walkowiak dominated the Blunderbusts with another win, and #99
Kevin Orlando was awarded the Charger win after original winner
#27 Jimmy Donnelly was DQed for being too light after the race.
The Blunderbusts started the
night’s features, running a 30-lap, double point feature on
TimothyHalpin.com night, with #09 Joe Fischett and #20 Mike
Rommeney on the front row. Fischett bolted out to the early
lead, as #69x Paul Parisi and #3 Doug Watson ran third and
fourth. Rommeney faded after Parisi got under him, and Watson
followed through, with #42 Wayne Meyer getting through for
fourth as Rommeney fading further back. By lap 10, Parisi caught
up to Fischett, with Watson breathing down their necks.
Suddenly, Fischett spins off turn 4 into the infield as Parisi
flies past. Officials determined it was a racing incident, as
contact also occurred at the same time, as Watson got into
Parisi's rear, the trio were running so close. Fischett
recovered to rejoin the race, but things were now happening in
rapid order, as Watson's car started smoking and he was black
flagged. That moved #53 Dale Arnold up to secnd, and Walkowiak
up to third. As the 3 leaders battled, Parisi ran away with the
lead, but Arnold now spins out in turn 2, moving Walkowiak up to
second spot at the 20-lap mark of the race, with #67 Wayne Okula
in third, as #90 Ron Langdon and Wayne Meyer struggle for fifth.
Arnold now stalls in the backstretch, bringing out a yellow and
closing the field up. On the restart, Walkowiak looked inside
and outside of Parisi, finally making his move inside a lap
later and taking the lead, just as the yellow flew again for oil
on the track. When that was cleaned up, Walkowiak remained in
the lead, with Parisi, Okula, Langdon and #22 Scott Maliszewski
making up the top 5. On lap 25, #79 Bill Wegmann lost his right
rear wheel, and yellow flew once more. Walkowiak keeps the lead
on the restart, but behind him, things are heating up as Parisi,
Langdon, and Okula are running 3 wide down the backstretch with
2 to go, and as Parisi finally breaks away, Langdon spins, Okula
slows to avoid him and Maliszewski moves through to take third,
with Okula recovering for fourth as Tommy Walkowiak in the #00
Unique Golf Shop Chevrolet won his sixth feature of the season
and Paul Parisi held on for a secnd place finish.
Next up was the
TimothyHalpin.com night 20 lap Charger Race. #27 Jimmy Donnelly
started on the pole, with #25 Charlie Rittenhouse to his
outside. Donnelly got a good jump at the start, and took a
comfortable lead, with Rittenhouse falling back as #13 Garret
Frabizio and #99 Kevin Orlando moved by to second and third.
Frabizio suddenly faded, as Orlando took over second, #21 Chris
Beutler moved up into thirrd spot, #81 Chris Turbush in fourth
and #61 Mike Coll fifth. Donnelly moved way out into a very
commanding lead, with Orlando about 8 car lengths back in
second, but Beutler and Turbush wee running very close battling
for third, and Turbush bumped Beutler going into turn 1,
spinning Beutler into the infield as the yellow flew. Officials
put Turbush to the rear for rough riding, and after he very
vocally protested it, put him out for the rest of the night. On
the restart, Donnelly again pulled out into a comfortable lead,
with Orlando, Coll and #2 Robin Vollmoeller rounding out the top
4. Donnelly cruised through the last 8 laps of the race without
a hitch, as his car seemed to be on rails, as he sailed home to
what would be his first career Charger win. It was not to be,
however, because a post race tech inspection found Donnelly's
car under weight, and the win was awarded to Kevin Orlando in
the #99 Dodge, giving him his second win of the season and his
very young career.
Now we come to the event of the
night, the Whelen Modified Tour race. In time trials, #00 John
Blewett III of Howell, N.J. set fast time with a lap of 11.752.
The top 9 from time trails redrew for position, with #18 Donny
Lia on the pole and #84 John Fortin to his outside. At the drop
of the green, Fortin assumed the lead, with Lia in tow, followed
by #96 Howie Brode and #31 Tony Ferrante, Jr. A few laps into
the race, Brode fishtailed going down the backstretch, and after
contact with Ferrante, Ferrante ended up hard into the wall,
damaging the right front suspension, and making for an early end
to his night. On the restart, Brode passed Lia for second, with
#58 Kevin Goodale following along, as Lia slid back to fourth
momentarily before Lia got back up to third spot. Just then, #00
John Blewett III came to a stop in turn 1 and yellow was out
once more. On the next restart, Fortin once again flew into the
lead, but yellow was out again as #12 Jimmy Blewett, #23 Gregg
Shivers, and #79 Mike Christopher came together in turn 1,
bringing out yet another yellow.
Under green once more after a
short cleanup, Fortin and Lia ran side by side for the next 2
laps, until #0 Nevin George brushed the backstretch wall, and
another yellow flew. Another restart, but with different results
this time, as at the drop of the green, Fortin's car wouldn't
go, and Howie Brode appeared hung up with Fortin as Fortin
pulled his car to the infield, with what was later reported to
be a transmission or driveshaft problem. This jumbled up the
inside line behind Fortin as Lia jumped into the lead, bringing
the outside line of cars with him. Lia was now solidly in the
lead, followed by #4 Jerry Marquis, #58 Kevin Goodale, #54 Dave
Etheridge, and #16 Mike Stefanik rounding out the top 5. Yellow
was out again a few laps later as #20 Bill Park looped it in
turn 4, and on the restart, Lia kept the lead, with #48 Tony
Hirschman grabbing second from Marquis, and at the same time,
Goodale pulled to the infield with a problem on his car. It
didn't last long, as #3 Eric Beers suffered a right front flat,
and stopped at the start/finish line, bringing out yet another
yellow. At this point some teams elected to pit for new rubber,
and at the restart, #13 Ted Christopher and Beers just barely
made it back on track as the green came out or the leaders, with
Beers running only a few car lengths in front of leader Lia at
the drop of the green, and Christopher a half lap behind. Lia
now built himself a comfortable lead, with Hirschman content to
keep second as Marquis, Stefanik and #60 Chuck Hossfeld ran
right behind. #45 Wayne Anderson, running 8th, was about to make
a quick move for seventh when he spun into the infield, but
brought the car right back out, only to discover it was
overheating, as he pulled back off the track and was done for
the night. Lia now had an 8 car length lead, and he and the rest
of the top 5 were steadily pulling away from the rest of the
field, as Howie Brode, now a lap down, appeared to not be
heeding the move over flag, bogging down sixth place #15 Zack
Sylvester and those behind him. Lia was now approaching the last
car on the lead lap, Ted Christopher, running thirteenth, but
couldn't find a way around him, which allowed Hirschman,
Marquis, Stefanik and Hossfeld to close right in on Lia. They
ran this way for many, many laps, until Lia finally saw an
opening to get by Christopher, and he and the rest of the top 5
went by. A few laps later, #1 Rick Fuller spun by himself in
turn 1, bringing out another yellow.
On the next restart, with the
lapped cars out of the way, Lia got away for a lap, but
Hirschman caught right back up, along with the rest of the top 6
runners. Lia again stretched his lead to about 3 car lengths,
and the field settled into a rhythm, as the top 6 slowly widened
the gap to seventh on back, in what was now a 21 car field, as
some who were caught in the pits earlier had rejoined the race
after Fuller's spin. But Lia was now setting a blistering pace,
as he again caught the rear of the field, and again had
difficulty finding a way by on the tight 1/4 mile track. Lia
finally found a way around on the high side, with Hirschman,
Marquis, Stefanik and Hossfeld getting by also, but Sylvester
was now stuck trying to negotiate by the slower traffic. Lia had
Hirschman all over his bumper as they weaved their way through
the lapped traffic. Lia got away from Hirschman a bit later,
building a 10 car length lead, but now lapped cars were becoming
a bigger problem, and Hirschman closed back in as Lia was slowed
by that traffic. Marquis also closed back up, but as the laps
wound down, #28 Tyler Haydt and #06 Steve Whitt came together on
the backstretch, with Haydt pulling in and Whitt having trouble
steering his mount, pulling to a stop in turn 4, bringing out
another yellow. Whitt's car was quickly removed, but a debris
cleanup in turn 4 delayed the restart another couple of laps and
with 4 to go, the field once again got the green. Lia hit the
gas, but Hirschman and Marquis stayed right with him, as it was
an all out run to the finish. Hirschman valiantly looked for a
way around, but Lia held on in the #18 Huntington Honda entry
to take his thirrd straight Whelen Modified Tour August race
victory at Riverhead, with Hirschman second and Marquis third.
Pit news and notes: Sorry to not
be able to give lap numbers for various incidents, but being
unable to read the malfunctioning scoreboard, and the size of
the crowd, it made it hard to see what lap it actually was...
Nice to see the Chargers and Blunderbusts run off 3 heats each
without ever once seeing the yellow, which seemed to be out
forever during the early stages of the Tour race… Will anyone be
able to stop Tommy Walkowiak's current streak of winning
Blunderbust races? He seems to have that #00 car dialed in
nicely... A nice large crowd on hand, though not near capacity,
enjoyed a night of good weather, especially after sundown... The
whole show ran rather smoothly, finishing up just before 9:30,
giving everyone a chance to take their time and visit the pits
to get autographs and visit with all the WMT teams, plus all
regular Riverhead teams who'd stuck around...Enduros and Super
Pro Trucks on Sunday at Riverhead, and I'll be there to cover
it, but next 2 weeks effort will be done by someone else as
family plans call me away on those weekends... In closing,
everyone be safe, and be happy, enjoy the racing we've got left
in this quickly commencing season...
Source:
Only on LongIslandJam.com
Posted: July 31, 2005
