ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL NIGHT OF RACING AT RIVERHEAD RACEWAY

    After a brief shower interrupted racing activity, a partly cloudy afternoon and evening turned out to be a great improvement over the previous week’s miserably chilly weather. Combined with some really great racing, it was a very enjoyable evening at Riverhead Raceway. Throw in a go-kart exhibition, and you had a complete evening of racing styles to pleas every fan in some way or another.

    The Blunderbust 30 Lap double point feature led off the program, with P.J. Vecchio's Raceway Auto Sales #19 on the pole, with Ray Shannon’s Sponsors Wanted #64 to his outside. Vecchio took the advantage right at the start, but Matt Pepitone’s #17 Professional Carpet System machine had a handling problem and spun on lap 2, bringing out a caution. Vecchio got a good jump on the next restart, but yellow flew immediately after contact between Joe Pingatore and Don Doherty resulted in Pingatore spinning into the turn 1 concrete, and Doherty being sent to the rear for rough riding. On the next restart, Vecchio jumped out front, and Tom Sullivan’s Lakewood Used Auto Parts #7 moved up to 2^nd, while Shannon slid back to 3^rd spot. Vecchio started to stretch out a comfortable lead, but from their rear of the field starting spots, some heavy hitters were now beginning to move forward, among them Tommy Walkowiak’s Unique Golf Shop #00, Tom Pickerell’s Pickerell Clam #4, and Scott Maliszewski's Victory Junction Camp #22. With Vecchio in a comfortable leading position, on lap 12 Dale Arnold’s CustomVinylGraphics.com #53 lost a right front tire and hit the 3^rd turn wall, bringing out the yellow. On the restart, Vecchio held his lead over Sullivan, but Pickerell was now up to 3^rd spot, and soon passed Sullivan for 2^nd. Pickerell now set his sights on Vecchio, looking high and low for a way to get past, and finally found it off turn 2 on lap 19 and took the lead completely as the cars crossed the line completing the 20^th lap. Meanwhile, Neil Feola Jr.‘s Hammerhead Promotions #16 is up to 3^rd spot, with Walkowiak in 4^th, and Maliszewski up to 5^th. Pickerell is now stretching out his lead, as Walkowiak gets around Feola to gain 3^rd spot with 5 laps to go. Pickerell, however, has checked out, and sails on to victory, with Vecchio, Walkowiak, Feola and Maliszewski rounding out the top 5.

    Next, the Charger 30 lap double point event was run, with Eric Lutz’s Marjam Supply #36 on the pole, and Chris Butler’s “Advertise Here”” #21 on the outside. From the drop of the green, Lutz and Beutler put on a tremendous contest, with neither giving an inch as they went at it side by side for the lead, but Lutz won out in the end as he took sole possession of the lead after lap 2, with Steve Ratti, who’d set fast time in time trials earlier, coming through to take 2^nd a lap later, while Beutler settled into 3^rd. On lap 6, 4^th place runner Chris McGuire’s Gershow Recycling 89x got past Beutler to take over 3^rd, and Jon Ellwood’s Lolly's’ Hut 17x also got past Beutler to move to 4^th. Meanwhile, Beutler continued to lose ground as Chris Turbush’s Ideal Cesspool #81 moved past to take 5^th spot. Meanwhile up front, Ratti continues to look for a way around Lutz, who’s holding his line as Ratti pressures him as they now begin to encounter lapped cars. On lap 18, yellow flies as Henry Cataldo’s Irish Coffee Pub #44 spins after contact from Ralph Beaver’s Cavalier Modular Homes #47, with Beaver being put to the rear for rough riding. Green comes out on the single file restart, and Lutz again has Ratti right on his bumper, but manages to hold the top spot despite Ratti’s pressure from behind. On lap 24, Tom Anderson suffers a flat tire, and collects Eric Goodale’s Riverhead Building Supply #05 as they hit the turn 1 wall, bringing out the caution once more. During the cleanup, Ratti’s car stalls in the backstretch, and can’t be refired, moving McGuire up to 2^nd spot for the restart. At the drop of the green, McGuire gets under Lutz as Lutz goes high in turn 2, and takes the lead from Lutz as they enter turn 3. Lutz recovers to maintain 2^nd spot, but McGuire holds on to take the hard fought victory, with Lutz, Ellwood, Turbush and Jeremy McDermott rounding out the top 5.

    For the 2^nd week in a row, the Figure 8’s were next, running in the daylight once more, with Slim Jim Donaldson’s Napa Auto Parts #47 on the pole, and Mike Brigandi’s Sponsors Wanted 78 to his outside. As the 12 car field took the green, Brigandi and Donaldson smacked into the first turn wall, bringing out an immediate yellow. With heavy damage, Brigandi was unable to continue, but Donaldson returned to join the 11 car restart, which now had Carl Baxter's Blast-it Sandblasting #74 on the pole, with Mike Mujsce’s Pro-Tech Automotive 13 outside. On the complete restart, Baxter moved in front, but spun after contact with Mujsce a lap later, and Tom Kraft’s Sponsor’s Wanted #8 moved to 2^nd. From behind them, George Sprague, in the Pavco Industries #10, shot past Kraft to takeover 2^nd, and sets his sight on Mujsce, disposing of him quickly and grabbing the lead in spectacular fashion, as Kraft got by Mujsce to takeover 2^nd. Sprague simply started to run away with the event, as Kraft followed 8 cars lengths back, and behind him, Mujsce had his hands full with Roger Maynor’s Barrasso & Sons Mason Supply #28 as they contended for 3^rd, with Paul Specht in the Sponsors Wanted #63 a solid 5^th. On lap 12, Maynor finally found a way around Mujsce to take 3^rd, but Sprague has such a commanding lead everyone can see the only race left is for 2^nd spot. On lap 15, yellow came out for water on the track, and after a quick clean-up, green flew again, and George Sprague sprinted off into the lead once more, and collected a fine victory, his 2^nd of the season, as Kraft, Maynor, Mujsce and Specht round out the top 5.

    After a brief demonstration by the go-karts was presented, the Late Models brought 16 of their best out for their James M Becht Builders 25 lap feature. On the pole was Ken Alfano’s Habberstad BMW/MINI #35, with Shawn Patrick's Sponsors Wanted #88 to his outside. At the drop of the green, Patrick jumped in front, with Alfano slipping back as Jarrod Hayes, in the Complete Landscaping #08 took over 2^nd, with Kevin Metzger’s Sponsors Wanted #23 moving to 3^rd, and Dave Brigati’s WPW Growers 1x and Jack Orlando's #99 rounding out the top 5. Patrick held a steady lead over Hayes, who followed 3 car lengths back. Suddenly Hayes closed up on Patrick, and on lap 11, shot by Patrick going low in turn 2, with Metzger following to get under Patrick, but Patrick with a burst of speed, held Metzger off to keep 2^nd. On lap 18, Patrick spun coming out of turn 4, bringing out the caution. On the restart, Hayes took off, with Metzger, now 2^nd, trying to find a way by on the low side, but Hayes holds him off, as the rest of the field settled into single file right to the finish, with Hayes triumphant, and Metzger, Brigati, Orlando and Dan Turbush rounding out the top 5.

     The last event of the night, was the Modified 35 lap feature, which saw Rusty Turbush’s S.N. Blydenburgh Custom Interiors #17x on the pole, and Tom Roger's Riverhead Auto Mall #6 to his outside. At the start, Turbush and Rogers put on a show for the fans, as they ran side by side, lap after lap, giving the crowd a really good show, until a spin on lap 6 brought out a yellow. Rogers was scored as the leader by a nose, so he lined up on the inside for the restart, and grabbed the lead when green came out, but Chris Young’s Riverhead Building Supply #49 made a bid for the lead down low, but Rogers held him off coming out of turn 2, as J.R. Bertuccio came through past Young and took over 2^nd. Bertuccio now hounded Rogers for the lead, getting under Rogers at one point, but Rogers fought back, and held Bertuccio at bay for 2 more laps of side by side excitement, with Bertuccio finally getting past him, and Young making the pass also, dropping Rogers to 3^rd, with Frank Vigliarolo’s MicoLock Pavers #5 running a solid 4^th, with Turbush hanging onto 5^th spot. Bertuccio slowly stretched his lead to 3 car lengths, as the next 4 ran closely to each other. The whole field now was separated into 3 packs of cars, as only 13 were still on the track, but Bertuccio continued to stretch his lead out to 6 car lengths, taking the well earned victory, with Young, Rogers, Vigliarolo and Turbush rounding out the top 5 at the finish.

    News and Notes: As noted earlier, the weather was much better than the previous week, and it was reflected in the size of the crowd…the Turn One Cowboys were their usual boisterous selves, but didn’t have to sing the National Anthem tonight as the PA System finished okay on it’s own…Wall Schweitzer out with his 44N Hooter’s Cup North Car for a demonstration run, as was Kyle Bonsignore with his #22 Midget car…James M. Becht paced the Late Model field in his beautiful #10 ProStock, along with one of his companies trucks, and Steve Ratti tossed T-shirts and key chains to the crowd before the start of the race…We would like to wish all the fathers reading this a very Happy Father’s Day, and apologize in advance for not being able to provide better coverage of today’s events at Riverhead, but health issues (mine) and personal commitments have us elsewhere today. Our good friend Kim Watson will do her best to at least get us the results in a timely fashion, so stay with us for that……next week is the Ernie Maynor Memorial race for the Figure 8’s,a long with a Mini-School bus race…Coming up August 27^th is the nostalgia race weekend, and will feature some of Long Island’s Fire Department Drill Teams, so mark your calendars and be there for this always entertaining event…until next week, live well and be safe.