Enduros
Return to their Regular Sunday Format
by
Walter
Johnston
On a very warm and humid afternoon, a good sized crowd enjoyed an
afternoon at the races at Riverhead Raceway, even if they consumed more
water than on most race days, due to the intense sunshine. Many fans brought
and used umbrellas for shade, but all had a good time watching some very
exciting racing in all divisions. Only air-conditioned grandstands could
have made the day any better.
Spectator drags were up first, with a rematch of the night before
inevitable. Tommy Walkowiak, who suffered a tire mishap on Saturday night,
would eventually end up racing Don Carasiti, winner of all but one previous
Spectator Drag events, and with his tires all holding up this time,
Walkowiak won a very exciting race against Carasiti to advance to the final
2 lap feature running against Mike Mujsce Jr. Walkowiak would prevail here
also, beating Mujsce Jr. by 5 car lengths, and winning the trophy for his
car owner, his son, Blaise.
Next on the program came the Super Pro Trucks, 16 strong, with Bobby
Jones South Shore Truck Repair #43 on the pole, and Frank Dumicich, Sr.’s
Wesemann’s Sand & Mason Supply #5 to his outside. Dumicich jumped into the
lead at the green, as Jones hung on in 2nd, while Erin Dumicich’s Teddy Bear
Racing #95 held 3rd, and Frank Dumicich, Jr.’s The Stephanie McCormick Fund
#42 ran 4th. Dave Koenig’s Nelson’s Auto Salvage #97 moved quickly to 5th by
lap 2, but by them, Dumicich Sr. had built a 10 truck length lead, leaving
the next 4 positions to battle it out among themselves. On lap 5, Danny
Grennan’s PCHS Racing Engines #38 was passing trucks so quickly that he took
over 3rd, then 2nd, as Koenig followed for 3rd, but on lap 7 yellow flew for
a disabled truck in turn 3, Kathleen Hallock’s Sponsors Wanted #94, and the
field was bunched up. On the restart, Grennan took the lead away from
Dumicich Sr. quickly in turn 3 after they had raced side by side for half a
lap, and Grennan immediately build a 5 truck length lead for himself, as
Dumicich Sr. and Koenig battled for 2nd. Koenig won that dual on lap 14,
while Dumicich Jr. also got by to take 3rd, and Lou Maestri, in the Schwing
Electric #1 took 4th spot. By now, Grennan was way ahead of the whole field,
and sailed on to take his 5th victory in 7 races so far this season.
The Grand Enduros were next, with 20 cars on hand for their 50 lap
contest, which had Thaddeus Lattanzio on the pole, and Pete ‘Liberty”
Cherouvis to his outside. Lattanzio took the early lead, but washed up going
through turn 4, and Ray Fitzgerald, who started 3rd, took the lead, as Frank
Martines moved into 3rd, while Kevin McCarthy and Bobby Pease filled out the
top 5. Fitzgerald was leaving the field behind, all but Pease that is, as he
got by Lattanzio and Martines to quickly take 2nd spot. Pease closed the gap
on Fitzgerald lap after lap, but then lapped cars started coming into play,
and Fitzgerald had better luck getting by than Pease did, which helped
Fitzgerald stretch his lead once more. By lap 25, both were running in the
clear, and Pease closed to within 6 car lengths. Further back, Donny
Oliver’s Flanders Automotive #58 ran 3rd, while Greg Zaleski and John Cozza
rounded out the top 5, but they were almost a ˝ lap behind. A few laps
later, Fitzgerald caught up to Cozza and Zaleski, and had difficulty finding
a way by, giving Pease the chance to catch up once more, but only to within
4 car lengths before Fitzgerald found an opening. Stuck in lapped traffic
once more, Fitzgerald found Pease knocking on his bumper quickly, but
managed to hold the lead, even as they ran side by side for a few laps.
Fitzgerald found an opening in traffic once more, and pulled ahead of Pease,
as Pease got stuck behind Zaleski while Fitzgerald pulled away. Fitzgerald
pulled away by about 5 car lengths by the time the 2 to go signal was given,
and sailed on to victory as Pease settled for 2nd, Cozza 3rd, Oliver 4th,
and Zaleski 5th.
The 4/6-cylinder Truck race was next, and Woot Lawrence jumped right
out into the lead over Russ Jansen, but Jansen battled back and retook the
point on lap 3. The two battled side by side for a few laps, until a red
flag was thrown to check on Anthony Vecchio, who’d been involved in a
serious wreck on the backstretch. Vecchhio checked out okay, and green was
out once more, with Jansen taking the lead, as Lawrence held 2nd, and Terry
Stiles had come up to 3rd. Lawrence started closing on Jansen, with Stiles
running right with Lawrence, and on lap 14, Lawrence shot by Jansen for the
lead, with Stiles staying right with him, while Jansen fell back to 3rd.
Lawrence and Stiles battled side by side for the top spot, with Stiles
getting it as Lawrence hung on closely in 2nd. On lap 32, lapped cars came
into play, and Lawrence was able to retake the lead, and just afterwards,
Stiles spun briefly in turn 2 to avoid contact, but recovered, giving
Lawrence a ˝ lap advantage and a comfortable lead. From there, Lawrence
easily took the victory, as Stiles came in 2nd, Russ Jansen 3rd, Rich
Onorato 4th, and Andy ’Daddy Cool ’ Owen 5th.
The first 8-cylinder race was next, with the mayhem that 58 starters
brings, and when the dust settled, Ed Brown Jr. emerged victorious, with Joe
Warren 2nd, Steve ‘The Breeze’ Collins 3rd, Mike Nesbitt 4th, and Dwayne
Sipila 5th. Notable in the race was Dannie Southard, whose hood popped open
on lap 3, but Southard managed to finish the race without further incident
with the hood in the full upright position, finishing 7th in the race.
Next came the 6-cylinder race, with 32 starters, and the same
difficult to follow mayhem. Jimmy ‘The Kid’ White, who started on the pole,
managed to avoid the pitfalls of the race in general, and held on to take
the victory over 2nd finishing Shawn Wanat, who’d started 23rd, and Gene
Burbol in 3rd, Bob Haeger in 4th, and Jason Boeklen in 5th.
The 4-cylinder race came next, with 37 cars entered, and pole sitter
Johnny ‘Turn-1-Cowboy’ Thompson jumped into a big lead, but contact with the
wall in turn 4 early in the race resulted in an overheating condition, which
slowed him and allowed Kyle Wright, who was in the process of overtaking
Thompson at that point anyway, to get the lead then, and was never really
challenged thereafter, as Thompson later left with a flat, and Bob Haeger,
running well in 3rd from the start, moved up to 2nd, but couldn’t overtake
Wright, who went on to take the win. Finishing 8th, notably, was former Late
Model competitor Keith Rotzi, trying his hand at enduros.
The 2nd 8-cylinder race closed out the day, with 27 cars running the
50 lap event, and Robin Schewire grabbed the lead at the beginning, and
stretching it out lap after lap as Walter Stroud chased him, while Anthony
Pizzo ran a close 3rd, while giving Stroud a run for 2nd. As Stroud and
Pizzo battled, Schewire built his lead, only to have it disappear as a car
spun in turn 1, collecting Schewire and costing him the lead. Walter Stroud
then hung on to take the victory in the final even of the day, as Pizzo
finished 2nd, Gene Burbol 3rd, Kory Comiskey 4th, and Dege Russell 5th.
News and notes; Wayne Meyer, after making some very expensive
‘refinements’ to his truck, and working long hours, was eliminated from
racing before the start of the SPT race by a $25 part. Oh well, there’s
always next time…Anthony Vecchio was reported to be having fuel problems,
which scratched him from the SPT race before the green…Good day for Bob
Haeger, garnering a 4th in 6cyl race, and 2nd in 4cyl race…two red flags
during the events, but no one hurt in either…I’m still personally troubled
by the lack of required window nets on enduro cars. Required or not, racing
without one is taking a big risk with your own personal safety…a lot quieter
in the pits than it was reported as being the night before…only 4 cars in
the Rollover Contest. Results are on the site…the next enduro event is part
of the Labor Day Weekend Double header at Riverhead, so get those racers
ready…until next week, live well and be safe.
Source: Walter
Johnston/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
August 13, 2007
