In spite of questionable forecasts, Mother
Nature decided to hold off on precipitation long enough for the
opening night program at Riverhead. Temperatures were quite cool
and skies looked threatening throughout the day, but even the
mist that fell later in the evening didn't stop the action.
The Modified division, with a total of 19
cars on hand, was the only one to have heat races. The top 5
finishers in each of the three heats was handicapped normally,
with the remainder starting at the rear of the field. Dave Sapienza, Wayne Anderson, and J.R. Bertuccio were the heat race
winners.
The Super Pro Trucks had the first feature
of the night. Prior to the drop of the green flag, pole-sitter
Bobby Jones pulled his #43 to the infield. The Redneck Racing
Enterprise #32 of Matt Odwazny suffered a mechanical failure and
was pushed to the pits prior to the start of the race. This set
the stage for a start with Frank Dumicich Sr. in the Wesemann's
Sand & Mason Supply #5 on the pole and his daughter Erin Dumicich on
the outside pole in the Edible Arrangements #95. The
younger Dumicich grabbed the lead. Wayne Meyer came to second in
the AAA Firewood & Mulch #41. On lap 7, the Long Island Fiber
Exchange #65 of Mike Power spun into the infield, bringing out
the caution. Erin Dumicich held on to her lead on the restart.
On lap 9, the #1 of Lou Maestri took the second spot away from
Meyer. On lap 18, the caution waved again as the Nelson's Auto
Salvage #97 of "Dangerous" Dave Koenig and the Stephanie
McCormick Fund #42 of Frank Dumicich Jr. came together at the
entrance to turn 1. Dumicich Jr. stayed out on the track, but
Koenig had to be towed off. With a green-white-checker finish on
tap, Erin Dumicich took off, with Maestri, Meyer, and the Hollis
Court Collision #66 of Mike "King of Queens" Albasini in tow. On
the white flag lap, Erin Dumicich spun, and Maestri assumed the
lead. Maestri claimed victory, with Meyer and Albasini finishing
second and third, respectively.
Next up was the Blunderbust 20-lap feature.
Tom Sullivan started on the pole in the Custom Exteriors #7,
with Mike Rommeney on the outside in the C&A Auto Parts #11.
Coming across the line on lap 1, Sullivan had the lead, but
Tommy "The Wild Child" Walkowiak was already up to
fourth in the
Unique Golf Shop #00. On lap 1, Rommeney took the lead, while
Walkowiak moved up to the second spot. Walkowiak grabbed the lead
by a nose coming under the flag stand on lap 3. Caution came out
when the Service Master Clean #61 of Chris Busick and the
Centereach Transmissions #64 of Ray Shannon went around. "The Pistol" Paul Parisi pulled his #69x into the pits. Rommeney regained his lead
by virtue of the caution, and Busick had to rejoin the field at
the rear. Rommeney jumped out to the lead, but Walkowiak passed
him and "Krazy" Eddie Mistretta took second in the BAM's Auto Body
#32. On lap 7, Rob Bader moved into third in the Robert's Express
Fuel Oil #19. On lap 10, the Over the Hill Racing #3 of Doug
Watson and the Robert's Express Fuel Oil #14 of "DownTown" Brian
Brown came together, with Watson ending up sideways across the
front stretch. By lap 12, Busick had already worked his way back
to the third position. Walkowiak won the race, followed by
Mistretta and Busick. Joe Pingitore, who crossed the line fourth in
the J&C Auto Salvage #76, was penalized one position for passing
below the white line during the feature, moving the #22 of Scott Maliszewski to
fourth.
The Charger feature rolled to the track
next. The P&M Door #96 of Frank Scimeca Jr. took the lead on the
start. By lap 3, the Spano Floors #81 of "The Cranberry Kid"
Chris Turbush had moved from his fifth place starting spot to
third,
and Chris McGuire was up to fourth in the Gershow Recycling #89x.
Caution came out when the Sandy Shore Building #51 of Alan
Reeves came to rest in turn 4 with the Riverhead Building Supply
#66 of Timmy Solomito underneath the back of the car. On the
restart, Daryn Miller jumped out front in the Tarr Home
Improvements+ #30. The next caution came for the #42 of Frank Dumicich Jr., who then headed to the pits. This time, Scimeca
Jr. got the jump on the restart. Turbush, however, took the lead coming into turn 1 on lap 5. McGuire moved into
second, and Turbush and McGuire broke away from the rest of the
field by lap 9. On lap 17, Steve Ratti moved into third in the
#37. When the checkered flag flew, Turbush was the victor,
followed by McGuire and Ratti.
Next, the Late Models took to the track for
their feature. Doug Wholey was on the pole in the #98, with the
Helman Group #39 of Roger Oxee to the outside. Heading into turn
1, Kevin Metzger started to go around in the Metzger Racing #23
and every car from third position back was stopped on the track,
either involved in the incident or caught behind the bottleneck.
Many of the cars pitted for repairs and returned. Oxee took the
lead on the restart, and he built a sizeable lead as the laps
passed caution-free. In the final 5 laps, however, Metzger
closed the gap, close enough to challenge Oxee for the lead.
Oxee wouldn't surrender the lead, however. Metzger finished second,
while Scott Kulesa was third in the Ranco Sand & Stone #10.
The Modifieds rolled onto the track as a
light mist began falling over the raceway. There were several
issues as the division attempted to get their feature underway.
On hot laps, the #26 of David Roys suffered front end damage
after making contact with the wall between turns 1 and 2, and
had to be towed off. On the initial start, it was speculated by
the announcers that a stuck throttle caused Wayne Anderson to
make hard contact with the wall in the Eastport Feeds #15. Rusty
Turbush hit the wall in his #17x. John Fortin took the lead on
the start in the SGS Stoneworks #84, followed by the Savin #11x
of Chuck Steuer. Justin Bonsignore's Double Diamond Realty #23
came to a stop in turn 2 and had to be towed off. The next
caution came out on lap 13 for an incident that resulted in the
#3 of Mike Andrews Jr. coming to a rest on top of Fortin's car.
This moved Steuer into the lead. Steuer would be challenged
several times over the remainder of the race by the Smithtown
Nissan #20 of Bill Park, but Steuer held on to win the
race. Park crossed the line second, followed by the #96 of Howie
Brode. In post-race tech inspection, however, Steuer came up
light, and the victory was given to Bill Park.
The final feature of the night was the
Figure 8 race. Kenny Hyde started on the pole in the Long Island
DEUTZ #58. Before the first lap was completed, Jessica Larsen
spun in the "X" in the JTL Enterprises Motorsports, LLC #37,
bringing out the caution. Hyde again grabbed the lead on the
restart. On lap 6, Mike Mujsce made a daring run through
the "X" and all of the leaders checked up. On lap 12, Roger Maynor moved into second in the Barasso & Sons Mason Supply #28,
but he then went around and the Blast-It Sandblasting #74 of
Carl Baxter suffered the brunt of damage in the aftermath.
Again, Hyde led the field on the restart. By lap 16,
Tommy Kraft was in second in the Four Seasons Sunrooms #8. while Maynor, who had to go the rear of the field during the caution,
had moved back up to third. Hyde won the race, with Kraft
finishing second and Maynor coming across the line third.
And the Word Around the
Pits...
The Super Pro Truck division had a total of
19 trucks on hand. Only 17 started the feature, as two others
had unfortunate problems during practice. Rich Giordano informed
us that he had motor problems in his #7, while it was reported
that Anthony Daleo put a connecting rod through the side of his
motor. Anthony Daleo's Super Pro Truck has been renumbered to #28, and bears
a paint scheme reminiscent of the late Davey Allison's rookie
car. Shaun Gouldsbury's #30 was sporting a new paint job for
opening night, and we are told that it is more handiwork of Rich
Giordano's G Force Collision. Giordano's work was a hot topic of
discussion for the night, as it was also brought up during Lou Maestri's Victory Lane interview when it was noted that
Maestri's paint scheme is somewhat different this year.
In the Blunderbust division, Tom Sullivan
continued to carry a monkey around on his back, as he pulled off
the track early with mechanical failure. Sullivan had renumbered
the #10 of Tom Slee and had it on hand to use, but opted to
start the race in his own car. Including both cars that Sullivan
had brought with him, there were 20 Blunderbust cars signed into
the pits. Terry Stiles ran practice in the TS Motorsports #41,
but reportedly had a bad U-joint and therefore did not start the
feature. Artie Pedersen Jr. ran his #1 Blunderbust in practice
and was very happy with the car. Twenty minutes before the
feature was scheduled to start, someone showed up with a flatbed
and purchased the car from Pedersen Jr. The new owner is Timmy Mulqueen, a driver who has run demos at Freeport and both demos
and Enduros at Riverhead. His brother-in-law is Chris LaSpisa.
Mulqueen drove the car in tonight's feature. It was brought to
our attention that there may be a milestone of sorts in the Blunderbust division next year. Bill Wegmann's grandson, who
currently races EEKR go-karts, will be old enough to drive in
the division in 2009. Wegmann and his stepson Ray Shannon both
currently compete in the class. It may very well mark the first
time three generations of a family have all run in the same race
at Riverhead.
The Charger division was represented with
13 cars. One of those cars was the #74, driven by Doug Renalds.
It was announced by Bob Finan and Jeff Bressler that Renalds
moved to Long Island from Chico, California, and that tonight's
laps were the first he had ever turned in an oval track race
car.
There were also 13 Late Models on hand.
Jarrod Hayes had issues with his #08 during practice and was
unable to start the race. Also, when the feature pulled out on
the track, Buzzy Eriksen was among the missing. It was announced
that Doug Wholey would return to the division in 2008, while Dan
Turbush will not be defending his championship. Dan had a kidney
removed this past week at Stony Brook hospital. It is our
understanding that his recovery is going well, and we wish him a
speedy one. Roger Oxee startled a few people during his victory
lane interview. When asked about being a new Dad, Roger
commented that he now has a 3-week-old son at home, to go with
his 20-year-old son and his 16-year-old son.
There were 19 Modifieds in the pits for
tonight's events. Dave Brigati originally planned to run his
#98x, while putting Mike Watson in the #0x. Brigati had problems
earlier in the day, though, and ended up driving the #0x in the
feature event. John Ellwood was unable to start the feature, as
his car suffered heavy damage after hitting the wall earlier in
the day. Bob Finan announced that Charlie Steuer works with DAV
vans that transport people to veteran's hospitals. They are
looking for volunteers to do some driving, and anyone who is
interested should see Charlie at Chuck Steuer's pit area.
There were opening night mechanical
problems in the Figure 8 division as well. A total of 12 cars
started the feature. "The Altar Boy" Tom Ferrara ended up taking
the green flag in the #69 of John Delavergne after having
problems with his own car. When Kenny Hyde was interviewed as
part of the Figure 8 2007 Season Review, he said that he was
hoping that by going back to his purple paint scheme and
Flintstones theme, he would score some wins. Now that he's
gotten the first one out of the way, he's looking for more.
Scott Pedersen, who has opted to take the leap from the
Blunderbust division into the Figure 8's, had some issues with
his car in its debut. Ralph Tasso also seemed to have issues
with his car, as he pulled the #3 on to the back stretch during
the race.
Things They Say in
Victory Lane...
"It was a hell of a race." - Lou Maestri
"These are the first laps we're turning on this thing and it was
pretty good right out of the box." - Tommy Walkowiak
"He (Dan Turbush) said he was gonna do about 25 laps tonight,
but not at the track - around the hospital bed." - Chris Turbush
"If I didn't have family behind me, I know I would have just
cashed it in a while ago." - Kenny Hyde
Source:
Tracy Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
May 3, 2008
