The weather finally gave fans and competitors a break as a warm afternoon and evening greeted all at Riverhead Raceway. It was a welcome change after 3 cool weeks of being bundled up, and the racing was hot too, as 4 regular divisions, plus a School Bus Fig 8 and 4 cylinder Demolition Derby, wrapped up the night of racing.

The first feature of the night was the 20 lap Blunderbust feature, with a full field of 25 (27 cars were signed in). Scott Sepe’s Sponsors Wanted #6 sat on the pole, with Bill Schwarz’s Sponsors wanted #15 outside. At the drop of the green, Schwarz bolted into the lead, as Scott Pederson and Ralph Vignera’ Power Express Mortgage Bankers #04 battled for 2^nd spot. Yellow flew on lap 2 as Don Doherty’s #65 had a flat, and fluid was spilled on the track. As racing resumed, Schwarz again held the lead, as Vignera and Neal Feola’s Hammerhead Promotions #16 now battled for 2^nd as Wayne Okula’s Artisan Appraisals #67 came to 4^th spot. On lap 7, yellow flew once again as Dale Arnold’s Custom Vinyl Graphics #53 spun in turn 4 after contact with Okula, who was forced to pit to fix a fender rubbing on his front tire. When green flew again, Feola powered into the lead, as Scott Maliszewski’s Victory Junction Camp #22 moved into 2^nd, with Schwarz falling to 3^rd, while Scott Pederson and Tommy Walkowiak’s Unique Golf Shop #00 battled for 4^th. Walkowiak won that battle 3 laps later, also getting by Schwarz to take 3^rd spot, while Feola and Maliszewski contended for the lead far ahead as the laps clicked off. Maliszewski finally caught up to Feola, running side by side for one lap before gaining the advantage coming off turn 4, and settling into the lead. Maliszewski held on, stretching his lead to about 5 car lengths as the Checkered flag waved, with Feola 2^nd, and Walkowiak finishing 3^rd.

A post race on track incident involving Wayne Okula, Tom Sullivan and Dale Arnold resulted in Okula and Sullivan being placed at the rear of the finishing order.

The 2^nd feature of the night was the Chargers, with Brad Van Houten’s Riverhead building Supply #10 on the pole, and Daryn Miller’s Sponsors Wanted #30 to his outside. Van Houten grabbed the lead as Miller’s car faltered, with Brian Doyle’s National Pest Control #73 moving into 2^nd, as Chris McGuire’s Gershow Recycling #89x took 3^rd. Suddenly, Miller’s car got loose going into turn 2, and causing others to scatter behind him, and multiple tangles took place, with the final result being the #01 Tuckahoe Sales & Service of Rob Tribuzio and #27 Sponsors Wanted of Jim Donnelly sitting locked together in turn 4, with minor damage to numerous others and the yellow flag out. Tribuzio, injured the previous week, seemed okay, and pitted to change drivers, with Modified standout Mike Andrews taking over the driving chores. When green flew again, Van Houten and Doyle went at it side by side, with Van Houten eventually gaining a slight advantage, while McGuire now challenged Doyle and passed him to move up to 2^nd. Watching all this was Chris Turbush in his Ideal Cesspool #81, and he passed Doyle one lap later to move to 3^rd. The top 4 now ran in a line, nose to tail, but on lap 14, Charlie Rittenhouse’s #25 King Bear-Brentwood hit the wall off turn 4, and came to a stop on the front stretch, bringing out another caution. On the single file restart, Van Houten pulled away, and 2 laps later, Turbush got under McGuire to take 2^nd away, as Tom Anderson’s #23 Sponsors Wanted went under Doyle in turn 3 to take 4^th spot. On the final lap, in an effort to unseat Van Houten from the lead, Turbush spun into the infield going into turn 4, with Van Houten holding on for the victory, as McGuire finished 2^nd, Anderson 3^rd, and Doyle 4^th.

The Late Models were next up, with Sean Patrick’s Sponsors Wanted #88 on the pole, and Ken Alfano’s Habberstad BMW/Mini Cooper #35 to his outside. Patrick grabbed the lead immediately, with Greg Kleila’s #72 J&R Steak House moving up into 2^nd, and RJ Oxee’s #39 Helman Group taking the 3^rd spot, and Dan Tarbush’s #98 Ideal Cesspool moving into 4^th as Alfano dropped back. The top 4 moved away from the rest of the field, with Patrick continuing in the lead as Turbush tried a little short track ‘bump drafting’ with Oxee, as Turbush tried to move up to 3^rd. Kleila meanwhile had caught Patrick, and was looking for a way around him for the lead. He finally got under Patrick in turn 4, and the two raced side by side until exiting turn 2, with Kleila taking the top spot. Patrick now ran 2^nd, as Turbush finally found a way around Oxee to move into 3^rd spot with 2 laps to go. Kleila held on through last 2 laps of the caution free feature to take the win, with Patrick 2^nd. Turbush 3^rd, and Oxee 4^th in the 15 car field.

The last regular feature was the Modifieds, with ken Heagy’s Buoy One Restaurant #33 on the pole, and Wayne Anderson’s Eastport Feeds #15 on the outside. Heagy grabbed the lead by a nose at the start, and pulled into a solid lead by lap 2. Meanwhile, Frank Vigliarolo’s Nicolock Stones of Distinction # 5 battled Rusty Turbush’s S.N. Blydenburgh custom Interiors #17x for 3^rd, while J.R. Bertuccio’s Gershow Recycling #2 and Chuck Steuer’s Savin #11x watch for an opportunity to gain some ground. On lap 4, Anderson got past Heagy to take the lead, as Turbush also got by for 2^nd, while Bertuccio went high and moved into 3^rd spot. 1 lap later, Heagy and Vigliarolo collided going into turn 4, and yellow was out. On the restart, Anderson held the lead over Turbush, but Bertuccio, from his inside row 2 starting spot, muscled through to take over 2^nd with Dan Jivanelli’s YES Network #12 moving up to 3^rd, with Turbush and Justin Bonsignore’s L.I. Fiber Exchange #28 hanging on the outside groove. Suddenly, Turbush and Bonsignore spun going into turn 4, with a caution flag coming out, and officials deemed that Jivanelli was responsible, and placed him at the rear as a penalty on the restart. When the green flew, Bertuccio took advantage immediately and passed Anderson to take the lead. Bertuccio and Anderson then took off from the others in their own little race, as Dave Sapienza, in the Sponsors Wanted #36 battled with Steuer, trying to get by for 3^rd. Bertuccio, seemingly on rails, started lapping cars on the 28^th lap, and sailed on to his 1^st victory of the season, and 25^th overall at Riverhead, as Anderson hung on for 2^nd, Steuer 3^rd,and Sapienza 4^th.

Next came the School Bus Fig 8 race, the usual near miss (mostly affair) which was won by Tim Farrell in a show of skilful and daring driving to outpace the rest of the 8 bus field. After this, 9 4cylinder cars took to the track for a Demolition Derby, and put on a great show for the crowd, with the final two slugging it out until their cars were just about looking like they’d already gone into a compacter. But in the end, Mike O’Keefe outlasted Bob ‘Whiplash’ Genovese to take the win, while a very determined Mike Rommeney finished third in the contest after a very aggressive effort on his part to destroy every other car out there.

News and Notes: Out of curiosity, I met the Turn One Cowboys, a very nice group of ladies and gentlemen (NOT idiots at all), who are a really die-hard group of race fans, the kind we like best. They have more signs coming, but they best not get too carried away, or they’ll need a pit cart to haul them in and out of the stands each week…Only Blunderbusts had more than a full field this week (27 entries), with the Mods at 18, LM’s at 15, Chargers at 21. Hope all the recent non-participants get their budgets and cars together soon and fill all divisions back to capacity plus…Great night for racing, never needed a jacket all night, after 3 too many weeks of feeling like winter never ended…Early end to the well run show, with Demo ending just after 9PM, giving fans a great opportunity to visit the pits and get autographs, etc…That’s it for this week, I’ll be in Dover for the Cup race next week, but back the following week for a full Summer of coverage. Until next time, live well and be safe.

THE END