8 Event Night Enjoyed By
Many At Riverhead Raceway
by Walter Johnston
On a warm Summer evening, with eight different events on the
schedule, a good sized crowd was treated to a variety of racing events. When
the night wrapped up, they had been treated to great oval track racing,
spectator drags, a figure 8 full sized school bus race, and a demolition
derby. The night even included a first time winner in the Chargers, as Shawn
Solomito took his first ever Charger win.
The Super Pro Trucks began the evening’s festivities, with Gil
Smith’s Unique Golf Shop #6 on the pole, and P.J. Vecchio’s Raceway Auto
Sales #19 to the outside. Smith grabbed the lead at the green as Vecchio
followed, and Mike Albasini, in the NY Metro Peterbilt #66 ran 3rd, but
Frank Dumicich Jr.’s #42 Stephanie McCormick Fund spun in turn 2, collecting
Matt Odwazny’s Sponsors Wanted #32, and the caution flag was out early. On
the restart, Smith held the lead once again, with Albasini moving to 2nd,
while Lou Maestri’s Schwing Electrical Supply #1 came to 3rd, while Danny
Grennan, who started 10th in his P.C.H.S. Racing Engines #38, had moved to
4th by lap 3. Grennan, always looking to move forward, passed Maestri and
Albasini in one swift move, while Maestri also got by Albasini to maintain
3rd. Grennan was now digging to catch Smith, who had a 6 truck length lead
on the field, and by lap 12, Grennan caught Smith and used the high side to
pass him for the lead, as Maestri followed, and the two of them took off
from the rest of the field. On lap 17, Peter Rotzi’s Sponsors Wanted #3 blew
a tire and collected Bobby Jones’ Robert Jones Racing #43, kicking up sand
and rocks into turn 1, and the caution came out so the debris could be
removed from the racing surface. On the restart, Grennan shot away from
Maestri, as Albasini, Dave Koenig’s Nelson’s Auto Salvage #97, and Vecchio
followed in a single line to the finish, as Grennan took his 4th victory of
the season to maintain his points lead in the division.
The Blunderbusts, 24 cars strong, were next on the program. Caesar
Cunaccia’s #20 TTB Construction sat on the pole, with Bill Wegmann’s
Crackerjack Auto Supply #79 on the outside. Cunaccia took the lead going
into turn 1, as Scott Maliszewski, in the Blaze Fuel Oil #22 battled Mike
Rommeney’s C&A Auto Parts #11 for 3rd, with Scott Pedersen’s Generation
Renovation #27 running 4th. Cunaccia by now was long gone out front, holding
a 10 car length advantage over 2nd place Maliszewski, while Rommeney had
taken 3rd in his battle with Wegmann, and Pedersen managed to hold onto 4th
spot. On lap 8, “Krazy” Ed Mistretta’s BAM’s Auto Body #32 spun going into
turn 3, bringing out the caution, wiping out Cunaccia’s 15 car length lead
at the same time. On the restart, Cunaccia picked up where he left off, with
Rommeney coming to 2nd, and Pedersen to 3rd. Pedersen, looking strong on
this night, passed Rommeney to take 2nd on lap 10, but right behind him was
the ‘Wild Child‘, Tommy Walkowiak, who’d come from 15th starting position to
3rd in just 10 laps. Walkowiak passed Pedersen on lap 12, while Maliszewski
got by Rommeney to take 4th, but Walkowiak was on a mission once more,
closing the gap on Cunaccia by lap 15, and passing to take the lead one lap
later. After that, Walkowiak took off, as Cunaccia had his hands full with
Pedersen, who was looking to get back up to 2nd. Cunaccia did a great job
as Pedersen tried every angle to get by, but it was all for naught, as
Cunaccia held onto 2nd as Walkowiak sailed to his 5th victory of the season,
his 2nd in a row.
The Chargers ran next, with Frank Scimeca Jr.’s P&M Door #96 on the
pole, and “Slim” Jim Donaldson’s Mike’s Place Too #48 to his outside.
Scimeca grabbed the lead from the start, as Donaldson, Shawn Solomito’s
Riverhead Building Supply #66, and Chris McGuire’s Gershow Recycling #89x
followed. Yellow flew quickly as Chris Turbush’s Spano Floors #81 and Alan
Reeves’ #51 Sandy Shore Building entry came together in turn 3, ending up
against the wall. After a lengthy clean-up, Scimeca took off at the drop of
the green, as Donaldson and Solomito ran side by side for 2nd, but Scimeca
went high going into turn 2, and Solomito, seeing his chance, shot by
Donaldson and Scimeca to take the lead. One lap later, John Ellwood’s
Lolly’s Hut #17x moved up to 2nd, with Tom Anderson’s Mike’s Place #23
coming to 3rd and Eric Lutz’s Marjam Supply #36 taking over 4th. With the
lead pack running in a line back through 7th place, McGuire, running 6th,
was black flagged for leaking fluid, and he pulled into the infield as the
race continued. Solomito, Ellwood, and Anderson were running in their own 3
car group, and by lap 15, Ellwood started looking for an opening to pass
Solomito, but couldn’t quite get one, as Solomito held on to take his first
ever Charger win.
The spectator drags ran next, starting off with an exhibition race
between the flatbed wreckers of Mike ’I’ll race anything’ Rommeney and Scott
Maliszewski, with Rommeney winning. Getting down to the street car portion
of the event, elimination races left Don Carasiti and Brian Schwarz as the
final competitors. Carasiti took of like a rocket in the tow lap affair, and
though Schwarz tried valiantly to catch him, Carasiti held on for the trophy
and the win.
The Grand Enduros ran next, with Mike Retus’ MI-Ro Printwear #51 on
the pole and Fred Nolan’s Sponsors Wanted #38 to the outside. Retus jumped
out in front of Nolan, as Tom Slee, in the Constant Performance #10, and Tom
Jensen, in the Sponsors Wanted #88a, battled for 3rd, while Donny Oliver, in
the Flanders Automotive #58, watched from 5th. Oliver took to the outside,
passing 3 cars, to get up into 2nd by lap 7, as further back, Ray
Fitzgerald, in the Sponsors Wanted #16, and Bobby Pease, in the BV
Sprinklers #20, were tearing through the field after starting deep in the
pack, to run 5th and 6th. Fitzgerald moved to 3rd a lap later, getting by
Tom Slee for the spot, as Pease was taking 5th . Fitzgerald continued his
march to the front, getting by Oliver for 2nd, as Retus continued to hold
the lead. On lap 20, Fitzgerald caught and passed Retus to take the lead,
while Pease was slowed a bit and moved up to 4th spot by lap 24. On lap 26,
Pease got around Oliver to take 3rd, but Fitzgerald was way out front by
this point. Pease was now looking to get by Retus to take 2nd, but Retus was
about 4 car lengths ahead, as by lap 30, only the top 4 runners were on the
lead lap. Pease caught up to Retus by lap 40, but lapped traffic made it
difficult to pass. On lap 45, Pease finally was able to get along side
Retus, and had almost completed the pass for 2nd, when Pease made contact
with another car in turn 2, blowing a tire and spinning from contention,
which moved Retus back into 2nd, and Donny Oliver up to 3rd once again, but
neither was going to catch Fitzgerald as he cruised onto to victory by a
wide margin.
The Modifieds came out for their feature next, with Marissa
Niederauer’s House of Cool #74 scheduled to start on the pole, but after hot
laps, she elected to start in the rear, which moved John Fortin’s J. Murphy
Cesspool #84 to the pole, while Wayne Anderson’s Eastport Feeds #15 sat on
the outside. Fortin got into the lead off turn 2 at the start, as Anderson
and Dave Sapienza’s Flemington Fur Company #36 battled for 2nd. The field
quickly went to a single file, but on lap 10, Anderson went to the outside
to pass Fortin for the lead, and was just about by when JR Bertuccio’s
Gershow Recycling #2 slammed the backstretch wall after contact with two
other cars, bringing out a caution. Before the field got stopped, Anderson
and Sapienza ended up with damaged racers, as Sapienza slammed the turn 4
wall hard, doing major damage to his #36. Bertuccio also suffered major
right front damage, while Anderson needed to replace a right front tire
before returning to the track. On the restart, Fortin now had his hands full
holding off Bill Park’s Smithtown Nissan #20 and Chuck Steuer’s Savin #11x.
Steuer quickly got by park for 2nd, as Dan Jivanelli’s Long Island Collector
Garage #44 also got by to take 3rd spot. Fortin and Steuer pulled away from
the rest, as Tom Rogers’ Big Brothers Big Sister of LI got by Park to
takeover 4th on lap 18. Rogers now started closing on Jivanelli, who’d
caught back up to Steuer, with the top 4 now running nose to tail. Steuer
was looking high and low for a way around Fortin, but they caught up to
lapped traffic, and had to stay in line. Once clear of the lapped traffic,
Steuer looked once more for a way to pass, and Rogers got by Jivanelli to
take 3rd, just as Mike Coll’s Gershow Recycling #02 spun in turn 4 on lap
34, setting up a one lap shootout to the finish, or so everyone thought. On
the restart, Fortin got a good jump, and Steuer defended his 2nd position as
they came around to take the checkered flag. Problem was, no one ever
changed the lights from green to yellow at the end, and Fortin, Steuer,
Rogers and Jivanelli kept racing for one more lap until the yellow light
came on. It caused a bit of a controversy after the race, but Chief Stewards
Jim Maggio and Mike Cappiello ruled that the race had indeed ended after one
lap, and all was settled.
Finishing off the night was the big school bus race on the Figure-8
course. Mike Rommeney won the 12 lap event after taking the lead early and
never looking back. I did mention earlier that there was nothing Mike
Rommeney wouldn’t race, and he has done well in everything he’s tried. Tim
Farrell provided the real excitement in this event, because almost every
time he entered a turn, it appeared his bus was going to flip over, drawing
gasps from the crowd. Just to add to things, right after the race was over,
Slim Jim Donaldson made an attempt to roll his bus using the rollover ramp,
but he was not successful.
News and Notes: A lower number of modifieds on hand, as a few took the
night off, and one, Sal Accardi Jr., in his Checkers #93, opted to race at
Mountain Speedway’s Big Dog Mod race…Getting a little mod experience, Eric
Lutz drove the Brigati/Ambrose back up #0, while Mike Coll honed his mod
skills driving the Bertuccio back up car… next week, there will be a
mini-school bus demolition derby, and the Late Models return after two weeks
off, but there will be no Chargers or Figure 8’s, as both have the week
off…don’t forget to stop by the #21 Modified in the pits after the races and
make a donation to Young Autism, as Paul & Chris Beutler are helping to
raise money for the organization…Until next time, live well, stay cool in
this oppressive heat, and be safe.
Source: Walter
Johnston/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
July 8, 2007
