A Full
Racing Car at Riverhead Beats the Rain
by Walter
Johnston
Greeting all, and Happy Mother’s Day to all you
Moms. With showers in the forecast, Riverhead managed to get he full show
run and over by a little after 9 PM. What started off as a smooth running
show, with green to checkered features in the beginning, ended with too many
bangs in the latter part of the evening, but it still provided great racing
action for the fans who sat in the chilly breeze of the early season.
The Super Pro Trucks began the evening, 13 trucks
strong, with Mike Albasini’s NY Metro Peterbilt #66 on the pole and Frank
Dumicich Sr’s Wesemann’s Sand & Mason Supply # 5 to his outside. Albasini
got a good start and immediately took the point, with Dumicich Sr., Frank
Dumicich Jr’s Stephanie McCormick Fund #42, and Lou Maestri’s Schwing
Electrical #1 following. Albasini held his lead well, as the Dumicich’s
battled for 2nd spot, while Maestri tried to hold off a challenge by Danny
Grennan’s PCHS Race Engines #38. Grennan, making all the right moves, was
able to get by Maestri on lap 10, and began his challenge of Dumicich Jr.,
taking 3rd on lap 18. Up front, Albasini was distancing himself from
Dumicich Sr. and went on to a convincing victory in the 20 lap contest,
which ran green to checkered to the delight of the crowd and competitors.
Next up was the
Blunderbust feature, with Scott Sepe’s Sponsor’s Wanted #6 on the pole, and
Tom Stock’s Stock & Carr, Esq. #72 to the outside. Sepe got a good jump to
hold the lead at the start, but by lap 3, Ray Shannon’s Centereach
Transmissions #64 moved up to take the lead, with Scott Maliszewski’s Blaze
Fuel Oil #22 coming to 2nd. On lap 6, Maliszewski got by Shannon
to take over the lead, as Shannon hung onto 2nd, while Wayne
Okula’s Atrisan Appraisers #67 ran 3rd, and Crazy Eddie
Mistretta’s BAM Auto Body #32 held 4th spot. On lap 11, Okula
passed Shannon to take 2nd and quickly tried to move in on
Maliszewski, but lapped traffic caused both to drive defensively. Once they
cleared the heavier lapped traffic, Maliszewski pulled ahead of Okula a bit
more, and hung on to take the victory in another green to checkered event.
The Chargers were next on the raceway, having
qualified through time trials for their 30 lap, double point event, with
Chris McGuire’s #89x Gershow Recycling setting fast time in qualifying, but
McGuire started 5th after the top 6 redrew for starting positions. Jeremey
McDermott’s Sandy Shore Building #5 sat on the pole, with Eric Lutz’s MarJam
Supply #36 on the outside. McDermott and Lutz ran side by side at the start,
but Lutz took the lead on lap 2, with Jon Ellwood’s Lolly’s Hut #17x
followed Lutz’s move, taking 2nd as McDermott dropped to 3rd. Ellwood was
looking low to pass Lutz when Shawn Solomito’s Riverhead Building Supply #20
spun, bringing out the caution. With the green out once more, Ellwood and
Lutz battled side by side, but Ellwood took over the lead as McGuire moved
up to 3rd. Lutz now fought his way back past Ellwood, but 2 separate cars
spun in turns 3 and 4, bringing out the caution again, and negating Lutz’s
pass. On the next restart, Ellwood took off, as Lutz and McGuire ran side by
side for 2nd spot, while the battle for 4th between Chris Turbush’s Ideal
Cesspool #81 and Kevin Orlando’s Sponsors’ Wanted #99 raged behind them.
Lutz and McGuire battled fiercely for positon, with the tow banging together
side by side down the front stretch, and the battle settled only when Lutz
suffered a flat as a result, with Lutz pulling into the infield, as McGuire
continued his pursuit of Ellwood, with Chris Turbush now firmly in 3rd
pursuing them both.
The Riverhead Late Models ran next, with Shawn
Patrick’s Sponsor’s Wanted #88 on the pole, and Kevin Metzger’s Sponsor’s
Wanted #23 to his outside. Patrick got a great jump at the start, but Scott
Kulesa’s Ranco Sand & Stone #10 spun going into turn 3, and yellow came out
immediately. On the complete restart, Patrick was only able to get just in
front of Metzger, and Jarrod Hayes’ Big Brothers & Sisters of LI #08 cut
under them both to grab the lead, as Patrick and Metzger came together in
their battle for position, with Metzger hitting the wall, and Patrick
spinning out, and caution flew once again. On the restart, Hayes held off
Dynamite Dan Turbush’s Ideal Cesspool #81 to keep the lead, while Roger
Oxee’s Suffolk Water Connection #39 and Ken Matlach’s NY metro Peterbilt #34
battled behind them for 3rd spot. Oxee got the position quickly, but Matlach
fought back to take over 3rd again one lap later, and Greg Kleila’s J&R’s
Steakhouse #72 moved by Oxee to take 4th, as Kulesa also advanced to 5th.
Hayes and Turbush had checked out from the rest by now, as Matlach ran a
distant 3rd, as on lap 11, Mike Bologna’s PCHS Racing Engines #00 stopped in
turn 4, with yellow out once more. On the restart, Hayes and Turbush ran
side by side, but Hayes pulled out front coming off turn 4, as Kulesa,
taking advantage of the close in restart, passed Matlach for 3rd spot. On
lap 20, while trying to get by Turbush for 2nd, Kulesa spun going into turn
1, with Matlach and Mike Mortimer’s Unique Golf #14 also spinning to avoid
wrecking with him, bringing out the caution again. Hayes almost lost the
lead on the restart as he spun his tires at the start, with Turbush ready to
pounce, but J-Rod collected his mount back up quickly, holding onto the
lead, as 3rd place Buzzy Eriksen’s Harley Davidson of Nassau #68 and Kleila
watched it from close behind. Hayes hung on thereafter to take the victory,
which was sweet after an unintentional carburetor infraction negated his win
the week before.
Now moving on to the Modifieds, 21 cars were set to
run, with Dan Jivanelli’s YES Network #44 on the pole, and Gary McDonald’s
Sponsor’s Wanted #26 to his outside. Jivanelli took command coming out of
turn 2 at the start, but Chris Young’s Riverhead Building Supply #49 quickly
got by McDonald for 2nd, as Chuck Steuer’s Savin Copiers #11x came up to 4th
spot. On the restart, Jivanelli pulled away, with Young in tow, as Steuer
battled with Bill Park‘s Smithtown Nissan #20 for 3rd. On lap 8, Chris
Beutler‘s Spabco Racing #21 spun, causing a brief caution. On the next
restart, Park sped past Jivanelli and Young to takeover the lead, but one
lap later, on lap 10, a big crash occurred in turn 3 & 4, involving Sal
Accardi’s Checker’s Hamburger #93, Wayne Anderson’s Eastport Feeds #15, Dave
Brigati’s WPW Growers #3, Steuer and McDonald, bringing out a yellow,
followed by a red flag for cleanup, as Accardi’s car was atop Steuer’s right
near the wall. After carefully separating the cars, (all except Accardi were
able to drive away) the cars involved pitted briefly, and to the surprise of
everyone, 2nd place JR Bertuccio pitted his Gershow Recycling #2 briefly
before returning to the rear of the pack. With Park and Jivanelli on the
front row, green flew again, with Park taking off like a rocket into the
lead, but yellow flew quickly as Justin Bonsignore’s Double Diamond Realty
collided with a spinning Howie Brode’s Petro Fuel #96, and Eddie
Brunnhoelzl’s Sponsor’s Wanted #8 in turn 2. Bonsignore needed assisitance
from the ambulance crew for an apparent wrist injury suffered from the
contact. The extent of his injuries were not known as of this writing. On
what turned out to be the final restart of the race, Park shot into the
lead, as Jivanelli faltered, appearing to have spun his tires on the
restart, as Tom Rogers’ Riverhead Auto Mall #6 moved up to 2nd, while
Jivanelli now had his hands full with Ken Heagy’s Buoy 1 Restaurant #38 in a
battle for 3rd. Park just kept building a bigger and bigger lead over
Rogers, as all the Modifieds found a rhythm, and Park built a 1/3 lap
advantage over Rogers, who himself had a ¼ lap lead over Jivanelli. The car
on the move was JR Bertuccio, who with 2 laps to go, caught and passed Heagy
for 4th, and then getting by Jivanelli to take 3rd as the cars took the
checkered flag at the end.
The last event of the night was the Cromarty Cup 25
lap Figure-8 feature, a double point, 25 lap affair. Due to tire inspection
issues, only 10 cars took the green, with Carl Voelker Jr’s Sponsor’s Wanted
64 on the pole, and Paul Specht’s newly added sponsor Mike’s Auto Service
#63 on the outside. An immediate crash at the start eliminated Specht and
sent Tom Ferrara’s DeMartino Enterprises #0x to the pits for repairs, as
Will Farrell’s Caccavale Building Corp. #29 and John Delavergne’s Delavergne
Towing joined the field before the complete restart. On the restart, Kenny
Hyde’s Maples Bar #58 took the lead, as Roger Maynor’s Barrasso & Sons Mason
Supply 28 took over 2nd spot, but on lap 9, Delaverrgne spun and stopped at
the X, and yellow came out. On the next restart, Maynor grabbed the lead
with an inside move on Hyde, and Hyde has Mike Mujsce’s Mike’s Auto Service
#13 right on his bumper, while last week’s winner, Carl Baxter’s Blast-it
Sandblasting #74 runs 4th. Maynor was running away with the vent, but
Baxter’s car came to a stop in tunr 1, bringing out a caution and closing up
the field once more. On the restart, Maynor took off once more, while on lap
16, Hyde spun at the X, losing 2nd (no yellow), and Maynor continues to
dominate the race until the very end, winning his 2nd Cromarty Cup in a row,
as Voelker Jr. finished 2nd and Tom Graff 3rd.
News and Notes: a nice
afternoon quickly became a very chilly evening as a steady breeze blew
Northerly all night…it looked for a while like the show would be over as
fast as the previous week’s, but after 3 fairly smoothly run events, ‘yellow
fever’ slowed things a bit, with the show ending a little after 9 PM, giving
fans a chance to rush home to find Darlington rained out until today,
causing a rare Mother’s Day running of a NEXTEL Cup event…good to see al the
driver’s okay in the Modified ‘big one, with Justin Bonsignore not so lucky
in a later tangle. Keep an eye on the message board for more info later on
his condition, as we wish him well and a speedy recovery from his injury…two
weeks left for Blunderbust rookies to declare themselves eligible for the
JTL Rookie of the Year award in that division. See Joe or Linda Larsen at
the #29 BB trailer for info…Kevin Bacik and Rick Miller getting signatures
in hopes of getting a Vintage Stock Car event on the schedule later this
season.. We wish a very Happy Mother’s day to all our Mom’s out there, hope
you’ve been treated to nice things on your day. That’s one thing that
delayed this writing by a few hours, and we apologize for it’s
lateness…Until next week, live well, and be safe.
Source: Walter
Johnston/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
May 13, 2007
