MILLER LITE NIGHT PROVIDES THRILLING SHOW FOR ALL

    Riverhead held Miller Lite Night, featuring a 50 lap double point race for the Late Models with time trial qualifying, which was won by Greg Kleila’s J&R Steakhouse #72, setting fast time at 13.005 seconds around the ¼ mile oval. Second through sixth were Sean Patterson’s Zoumas Homes #8 (13.113), Dan Turbush’s Ideal Cesspool #98 (13.126), Jarrod Hayes’ EuroTech Auto Body #08 (13.138) Jeremy McDermott’s B. Sexton Site Development #91 (13.204), and Mike Mortimer’s Unique Golf #14 (13.204). The top 6 re-drew for starting position, and Patterson drew the pole, with Dan Turbush on the outside. Kleila re-drew 6th. Joining the Late Models would be the Blunderbusts, Chargers and Modifieds.

    The Blunderbust feature led off the show, with Scott Sepe’s Sponsors Wanted #6 on the pole, and P.J. Vecchio’s Raceway Auto sales #19 to his outside. Vecchio grabbed the lead from the start, with Paul Parisi’s The Vinyl Answer #69 coming into 2nd, while Sepe ran 3rd and Artie Pedersen’’s Sherwin Williams Paints #1 was 4th. On lap 5, yellow flew for the first time as Dale Arnold’s Custom Vinyl Graphics #53 brushed the backstretch wall and stopped with a flat. On the restart, Vecchio pulled into the lead once more, with Parisi , Sepe, and Pedersen following, but moving up quickly from the back was Tommy Walkowiak’s Unique Golf #00, who got by Sepe, earlier passed for 3rd by Pedersen, to take over 4th spot, but not easily,as Sepe battled back to run side by side with Walkowiak for 2 laps. Walkowiak pulled away from Sepe, now setting his sights on Pedersen, and passing him for 3rd on lap 11. Vecchio and Parisi were running bumper to bumper as Walkowiak closed in, getting under Parisi to take 2nd on lap 16, and running up to Vecchio’s bumper, then using the same move he used to pass Parisi, getting under Vecchio coming off turn 2 on lap 18 for the lead as they took the white flag. Walkowiak held on to take the win, with Vecchio, Parisi, Pedersen and a late closing Bill Wegmann rounding out the top 5. The Victory was Walkowiak’s 3rd of the season, stretching his point lead to 42 points over 2nd place Scott Maliszewski.

     Next on the program were the Chargers, 20 cars strong, with Charlie Rittenhouse’s Applebee’s Restaurant #25 on the pole, and Henry Cataldo’s Irish Coffe Pub 44 on the outside. After a couple of false starts, where yellow flew for incidents in the rear of the field, Rittenhouse, feeling something was amiss in his car, elected to restart in the rear, moving Kevin Orlando’s B. Sexton Site Development #15 to the pole. When the green flew this time, Cataldo jumped into the lead, followed by Jon Ellwood’s Lolly’s Hut #17x moving into 2nd one lap later. Orlando hung onto 3rd, but now had his teammate, Mike Schwarz’s B. Sexton Site Development #14 to battle with for the spot. On lap 4, Sean Byrne’s Sponsors Wanted #65 spun in turn 3, with the caution coming out again. On the side by side restart, Ellwood out raced Cataldo to take the lead coming off turn 4, and Cataldo and Schwarz followed. On lap 7, Rob Tribuzio’s Tuckahoe Sales & Service #01 hit the wall in turn 3 after suffering a flat, and yellow was out yet again. The next restart attempt, single file, was unsuccessful as Chris Turbush’s LePage Millworks #81 and Chris McGuire’s Gershow Recycling #89x locked bumpers on the restart, coming to a stop in turn 1, with yellow flying again. On the next restart, Ellwood took off, but Cataldo stayed right with him, but Ellwood started pulling away 1 lap later, and all Cataldo could do was watch as Schwarz, Orlando and 5th running Brian Doyle’s National Pest Control #73 followed along. On lap 13, Schwarz spun off into the infield in turn 2, but recovered to rejoin the field, and no yellow was shown. Steve Ratti’s Newsday #37 now battled Tom Anderson’s Stonecenter of Riverhead #23 for 4th, with Ratti getting the spot, but Ellwood now had a 4 car length lead, and he holds on to take his first victory of the season, with Cataldo, Orlando, Ratti, and Anderson rounding out the top 5.

    Now it was time for the Miller Lite 50 for the Late Models, with Sean Patterson’s Zoumas Homes on the pole, and Dan Turbush’s Ideal Cesspool #98 to his outside, leading the 21 car field to the green. After one false start, where Scott Kulesa’s Ranco Sand & Stone #10 spun, the race got under way with Patterson taking the lead, only to be overtaken one lap later by Turbush. Ptterson and Mike Moretimer’s Unique Golf #14 battled for 2nd at this point, while Jarrod Hayes’ EuroTech Auto Body #08 and Greg Kleila’s J&R Steakhouse followed just behind them. The field now ran single file behind Turbush as he led lap after lap, stretching his lead to 3 car lengths by lap 10. As Turbush continued to lead the race, everyone ran conservatively to preserve their tires for later in the race. On lap 20, yellow flew for Peter Rotzi’s Sponsors Wanted #2, who spun a lap earlier in turn 3 and could not refire. On the restart, Turbush pulled away, but Patterson and Mortimer battled side by side for 2nd, with Mortimer taking it, as Kleila followed to take 3rd, and Hayes moved up to 4th, and Buzzy Ericksen’s Nassau Harley-Davidson #68 moved to 5th, as Patterson fell back as the race reached the halfway mark. Mortimer now had Kleila all over his rear bumper, as Turbush maintained a 2 car length lead. By lap 31, lapped cars became a factor, when suddenly, Bob Baker’s Sound Shore Irrigation #37 pulled off with a flat, and Rob Tribuzio’s Prestigious Motors #01 clipped Jack Orlando’s Staria Auto Body #99, causing them to spin in the backstretch, and clippiing Patterson car, tearing off the right rear sheet metal, as the caution came out again. On the restart, with a sparse rain shower in the area, Turbush took off once more, but Kleila got the best of Mortimer, passing him outside to take 2nd away, as Hayes and Eriksen watched. Kleila is now riding Turbush’s bumper, and gets under him to make the pass for the lead on lap 41. Kleila now shows his muscle, pulling away from the rest of the field, as they maintain their positions. Kleila sets a blistering pace over the last 9 laps, taking the checkers with a 7 car lengths lead, as Turbush, Mortimer, Hayes and Eriksen round out the top 5. After picking up the checkered flag for his victory lap, Kleila stoped his car in turn 1, and got out and climbed the fence to high-five some of his fans as a salute to the victory, before getting back in his car and taking his victory lap around the track.

    The last race event of the night was the Modified 35 lap feature. Bill Park’s Smithtown Nissan #20 sat on the pole, with Lew Hallock’s LLKS Construction #07 to his outside. Park took off at the drop of the green, but Hallock got loose coming into turn 2, and John Denniston, with nowhere to go, spun Hallock into the infield, as Denniston himself suffered a flat, which brought him to a halt in turn 4, with caution out for the first time. On the restart, Park stayed in the lead, with Sal Accardi Jr’s Aable Auto Salvage #93 in 2nd, while Wayne Anderson’s Eastport Feeds #15 runs 3rd, followed by Ken Heagy’s Buoy One Restaurant #33 running 4th, after winning the battle with Justin Bonsignore’s Long Island Fiber Exchange #28 for the spot. Park now is running 3 car lengths ahead of Accardi, who himself has a 5 car length lead over Anderson. Chuck Steuer’s Savin Copiers #11x has moved up into 5th, with Dave Sapienza’s Sponsors Wanted #36 up to 6th, putting Bonsignore back further. The top 6 run unchanged, as Tom Roger’s Nicolock Stones of Distinction #5 moves up to 7th spot, just as Gary McDonald’’s Sponsors Wanted #26 spins on lap 24, bringing out the yellow. On the restart, Park maintains his lead, with Accardi trying unsuccessfully to pass him low, but Bonsignore suffers a flat on lap 26, with yellow out again. On the restart, Park, a master at holding a lead, now pulls away from Accardi and Anderson, but Steuer moves low under Heagy to take 4th away, and Sapienza follows Steuer into 5th, dropping Heagy to the sixth position, as Park coasts to the finish and victory. For Park, it is the 23rd victory of his career at Riverhead, and moves him to within 36 points of Steuer for the championship. Accardi, Anderson, Steuer and Sapienza rounded out the top 5.

News and Notes: Sean Patterson’s #8 Late Model is for sale, as he plans to go racing on the WMT next year…Wayne Anderson’s newer car is for sale, but we won’t mention the buyer for now. Let‘s say this one will surprise a few folks…Added to the Mod field in back-up cars, were Dennis Krupski (Dave Sap’s car) Dennis Freese (Ken Heagy’s 38) and Rob Tribuzio (Chuck Steuer’s car) to bring the Mod count up to 19 cars……a very sizeable crowd on hand for the show, which was over before 8:45PM, with the exception of the School Bus Demo, just beating t a constant shower that fell after the end of the mod feature.…Track officials did a nice job of keeping the show moving as intermittent light showers fell a few times during the LM and Mod Features, but not enough to bring either to a halt…Now all we need officials to do is use the black flag a little more, in the Chargers especially, to get the racing angle back into play in that division, and rid it of the ““drive thru ‘em” mentality that seems to have set into a few people’s styles… Next week is the Annual “I Love America” night, with fireworks by Bay Fireworks, so get you seat early as a good sized crowd can always be expected of one of these…I will be off the next few weeks, I have a daughter getting married next weekend, and I will be in Martinsville covering the tour race for LI Jam the following week, so our very capable founder and boss, JA Ackley will be filling you in on all the action during that time…… We should have results form the tour as they happen, as I will get them to JA ASAP so you all will be able to see how your favorite driver’s make out…. Until then, please be safe, and live well, and bring a friend to the races, they’ll thank you for it!