Thompson World Series a Racing Success
by Walter
Johnston
Thompson held their annual World Series of
Auto Racing weekend on Oct. 13th, 14th, and 15th, and Long Island Jam
was there to cover the action of Long Islanders participating in the
various events scheduled in multiple classes. While driver attendance
was lower than in the past, those who participated showed why Long
Island has produced some of the best racers in the sport, and not just
based on performance.
In Sunday’s action in the Pro Stock Division,
four of our own, Dave Macomber‘s Sponsor Wanted #42, Dennis Krupski‘s
Sky Materials #12, Jarrod Hayes Complete Landscaping #07, and Peter
’Buzzy’ Eriksen’s Nassau Harley-Davidson #68 took to the track to
challenge the New England Pro Stocks. In a race marred by the
unfortunate involvement of Dennis Krupski, Krupski’s car got his right
side wheels on top of the front stretch wall after contact with another
car, and the #41 of Scott Rotherforth flipped onto his roof in the
ensuing melee, sliding backwards on the roof into the 1st turn wall
backwards, then slid down the track and caught fire. Ben Dodge, race
director at Thompson, happened to be standing nearby, and raced to
Rotherforth’s burning Pro Stock to pull him from the inferno before he
suffered any major injuries. Rotherforth was able to walk away with
assisitance, but his car was a total loss. The race was delayed by a red
flag due to the incident, but continued afterwards, with more than the
usual number of yellows, but a good battle for the lead took place all
race long between Dave Bergmann, Fred Astle Jr., and Todd Owen, with
Bergmann holding off the tough challenges of the other two for the
victory. Buzzy finished 9th, with Macomber coming home 11th in this
tough division, while Hayes was the first of our guys out, finishing
26th, and Krupski was credited with a 22nd place finish after being
involved in the lap 29 incident.
In the Thompson Late Model race, only 2 charger
type cars from Riverhead were entered, with James Becht‘s Newsday #10,
and Garrett Frabizio’s T.R. Whitney Masonry #13 set to run with 19
others at the green. Unfortunately, Becht had suffered a blown
transmission in his mount the day before in qualifying, and damaged the
car beyond the teams ability to fix it at Thompson, and the beautiful
#10 was scratched before the race began. Frabizio, who’d experienced a
drive line vibration since arriving at Thompson, worked with his team
throughout the weekend to find the problem, without any success, but he
was able to run in the race, falling out with 2 laps to go after
whatever caused the problem finally just broke, but not until he‘d
gained 4 spots to finish officially in 13th spot, his favorite number!.
Another Long Islander, Rob Visconti, also was entered, and came home
11th in the race, which was won by Marc Palmisano.
The Sunoco Modifieds ran next, with a 33 car
starting field, including our own Tom Rogers Jr.#03, Eric Goodale
Riverhead Building Supply #05, Rich Carman‘s Flowrite Exhaust #30, and
Russell Savoy‘s Flowrite Exhaust #17. Rogers looked to be having the
best day of all of them, until he found himself with nowhere to go
during a lap 18 pile-up in turn 3 while he was running a strong 6th and
advancing a few positions per lap. With minor sheet metal damage, he was
able to continue, and finish 11th in the end, while Savoy took 15th,
Carman 16th, and Eric Goodale finished 24th, having been involved in the
same tangle as Rogers, but unable to continue due to the damage suffered
in the wreck. Todd Ceravolo won the race after a hard fought batttle
with Jimmy Blewett, who finished 2nd, and Jeff Malave ran a strong race
to come in 3rd.
In Saturday’s action, the Outlaw Late Models had
Steve Ratti‘s James M. Becht Builders #5, Joe Aronica #21, Joe Oliver‘s
Oliver Racing #24, Rusty Turbush‘s Complete Landscaping #08, and Brian
Doyle’s Leading Edge Fabrications #73 entered. Doyle, who’d suffered a
blown motor in qualifying the day before, had to send back to L.I. for
his other motor, and his Rick Herold led crew worked very hard in the
‘Thompson Swamp’ back stretch pit area to get the new motor installed in
time for his untested run in the feature. Rusty Turbush, who’d run
nicely in his qualifying heat, suffered a right rear flat in the feature
and was done early. Steve Ratti, in the James M. Becht Builders #5,
started 14th in the feature, and brought the car home in 6th, making him
the highest finishing L.I.er in a fine run, while Joe Aronica of Stony
Brook, who started 22nd, finished in 8th. Joe Oliver, working with
little help at Thompson, managed a fine 10th place finish. Even with his
involvement in 2 incidents, Turbush managed to finish 13th on the day,
while Brian Doyle’s trouble continued as he looped the car in turn 4,
hitting the wall and ending his day after having been as high as 14th,
after starting 23rd. He was credited with an 18th place finish, ending a
tough weekend for the Leading Edge Fabrication team.
The Whelen Modified Tour race capped the day,
and was a very exciting race right up until lap 148, but we’ll leave
that story for the NASCAR press release, and tell you that what will be
talked about most is the controversial crash, with only two laps
remaining, between John Blewett III and Ted Christopher. While there
will be two (or more!) sides to this story, as it was the talk of the
pits, even after Reggie Ruggiero showed that staying out of trouble can
lead to victory. At least he scored a good victory for the veterans, and
it was his first in 4 years of running part time on the Tour. Jimmy
Blewett, Jerry Marquis, Donny Lia, and Mike Stefanik rounded out the top
5.
In other weekend action, the ISMA Super Modified
race saw ageless Bentley Warren, an over 60 standout even today, come up
short in his effort to win, as Nokie Fornoro, who’d built a commanding
lead once he took it over, couldn’t be caught by a hard charging
Warren…The ARTS truck race was won by Bernie Singer, while L.I.s Tony
Naglieri finished 13th after brushing the wall early in the race…as
anyone who witnessed it might tell you, a little more training and
practice might be in order for the fire-fighting squad of the Thompson
track crew, who took breath-takingly long to extinguish the fire that
occurred during the Pro Stock feature. Their initial effort seemed to
intensify the flames, rather than extinguish them, though they did get
it out quickly after that.
News and Notes: Clear skies, with chilly late in
the day temperatures was the weather throughout the 3 day event, but was
much better than last year’s multi-weekend rainouts. I know it was cold,
but that’s why I and many others brought gloves, hats and Winter
jackets…Camping space is still at a premium, as more and more choose to
stay at the track. It may be time for Thompson to consider putting
powdered chalk lines down to organize the parking of the campers a
little more…Thompson’s World Series Steak Dinner, with music and dancing
afterwards, was it’s usual success, according to those I spoke to
anyway…As usual, many race fans and drivers up from our area to enjoy
the “if you can’t find a race you like, you’re not a race fan” weekend.
With 14 different divisions and features, this is always the place to be
for racing in the latter part of racing season…Next up for LI Jam crew
and fans is the NELMA race at Mountain on Oct 20th-21st, which will also
include Super Pro Trucks, maybe some ARTS trucks, and any other trucks
from comparable divisions in the area, and Mountains Street Stock
divisions running support races. Practice takes place on Friday evening,
followed by a party NELMA wants to have for participants, and the
qualifying and features will all be run in a one day event on Saturday,
so make plans now to attend this very special event. We will have the
full story and results around this time next Sunday, so stay with
us…until then, live well and be safe, whatever you’re doing!
Source: Walter
Johnston/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
October 16, 2006