A sunny day and
warm temperatures greeted racers and fans for the second round
of Sunday Enduros at Riverhead. A large crowd was on hand to
enjoy the day, which included a Legends feature, Enduros,
Spectator Drags, and a Blindfolded Taxi Cab race.
The day's events
started with two heats for the Legends cars. The heats were won
by Michael Gervais Jr. and Timmy Solomito.
Next to the track
was the Grand Enduro. The Jim's Busy Bee Pest Control #17 of
Jimmy White Jr. started on the pole, with the #63 of Bob
Englefried on the outside. White got a good jump on the start,
and the Flanders Automotive #58 of Donny "Boom Boom" Oliver
quickly moved into the second position. Ray Fitzgerald moved the
#16 into the third spot on the initial lap. On lap 2, Fitzgerald
nosed the car to the inside of Oliver and took the second
position. The leaders began to encounter lapped traffic by lap
4. Fitzgerald had his sights set on White, however, and moved to
the inside of the leader on lap 7. On lap 8, Fitzgerald took
over the top spot. On lap 10, Oliver overtook White for the
second position. Farther back in the field, however, Robin
Vollmoeller Sr. was on the move in the Flanders Automotive #56.
Vollmoeller was up to fifth by lap 13. By lap 15, Fitzgerald had
built up a half a straightaway lead over Oliver. On lap 22,
White reclaimed second from Oliver. On lap 30, Vollmoeller went
to the inside of Oliver and grabbed third, and then overtook
White for second. Oliver also passed White, but then the Mi-Ro
Printwear #51 of Mike Retus passed Oliver. Moving through the
field, the #59 of John Cozza moved into the third position,
making the top three Fitzgerald, Vollmoeller, and Cozza. On lap
39, the #28 of Joe Parcelluzzi took over third. Up front,
Vollmoeller was closing the gap between himself and Fitzgerald
while several swaps continued to take place for the third
through fifth place spots. With the "two to go" signal, there
were two lapped cars separating Fitzgerald and Vollmoeller.
Vollmoeller simply ran out of time, and Fitzgerald came across
the line first, followed by Vollmoeller and Parcelluzzi.
Fitzgerald was disqualified in post-race inspection, however,
and the win went to Vollmoeller. This moved Parcelluzzi into
second and Cozza to third.
The Legends feature
took to the track next, with 23 cars starting the event. By
virtue of his heat race win, the #31 of Connecticut's Michael
Gervais Jr. should have started on the pole; however, as a
feature winner he can not start any higher than fifth. As a
result, the pole belonged to the Snap-On #15NY of rookie Timmy
Solomito, with veteran Tom Sherman on the outside in the Sherman
Racing #27. The #76 of North Carolina driver Tom Endres went
around on the start and caution was displayed. Endres was sent
to the rear, and the rest of the field was relined for a
complete restart. Solomito had a nose in the lead right from the
start, but Sherman applied pressure from the outside, as the
veteran held on to the upper groove. Caution came out again
relatively quickly, for an incident involving the #4 of Mark
Esposito, the Nowak Racing #53 of Kevin Nowak, the Plycon Van
Lines/Plycar #18 of James Pape Jr., and the #76 of Endres.
Solomito had another good restart, but Esposito spun and the
caution was displayed again. Solomito continued to hold the lead
on the restart, but caution came out again for an incident
between turns 1 and 2 involving Pape and the #45 of Ben Gregor.
The officials sent Nowak to the rear of the field for failing to
line up properly for the restart. Sherman was again shuffled to
second by Solomito on the restart, but the First Class Video
Productions #39 of Jim Byrne was sideways on the frontstretch,
drawing another caution. By this time, the race had reached the
lap 4 mark and officials had already started using single-file
restarts. Solomito again had a good restart. Byrne again came to
a stop on the frontstretch and caution came out. The field was
then relined and the checkered flag was displayed for Solomito.
Sherman was awarded second place, and third went to the
Automatic Printing & Mailing Machines #88 of John Beatty.
The Spectator Drags
were up next, with more than 15 cars participating. When the
final checkered flag flew, the event was won by John Cozza.
The 4/6 Cylinder
Truck Enduro was next on the schedule. The pole was occupied by
the Gregor Racing #45 of Ben Gregor, while the Rapid Repair
Service #38 of Don Nelson Jr. was on the outside pole. Nelson
jumped to the lead on the start, and the #7 of Rich Onorato
moved into third on lap 1. By lap 6, Onorato was challenging
Nelson for the lead, and Onorato came across the line to begin
lap 7 as the new leader. On lap 12, Onorato was the leader, with
Gregor second, the Phoenix Used Auto Parts #53 of Kevin Nowak
third, and the Hampton Fleet Service #9 of Tommy Walkowiak
fourth. Two laps later, Nowak moved into second and Walkowiak
followed to take third. On the same lap, Walkowiak passed Nowak
for second. On lap 20, Walkowiak got next to Onorato, and used
lapped traffic to cross the line for lap 21 in the lead. By lap
30, Walkowiak had a straightaway lead, and positions two through
four were running nose to tail. By lap 37, Nowak was back in
second, and Russ Jansen moved the Chapel Auto Wrecking #0 to
third. While heated battles went on farther back in the field,
Walkowiak took down the win, with Nowak second and Jansen third.
Next, the first 8
Cylinder Enduro took to the track for a 75-lap event. The #1 of
Jeffree Boeckel took the early lead. The #3 of Dege Russell came
to the inside quickly, and took the lead coming across the line
to begin lap 4. The Westhampton Auto Salvage #6 of Dominic
Ranieri Jr. moved into second. The two made contact, but would
continue, losing several spots. The STS Tire & Auto #10 of
Anthony Pizzo was leading with the #11 of Ed Brown Jr. in
second, but Brown pulled into the infield on lap 18, minus a
right front wheel. This moved Ranieri back to second, but he
made contact with the wall and a lapped car trying to avoid an
incident on the track hit the front of Ranieri's car. Ranieri
pulled into the infield on lap 20. The front of Pizzo's car got
crunched on lap 21, and there was serious front end damage,
including damage to the radiator. Pizzo retired to the infield
on lap 22. At lap 38, Russell was again being shown on the
scoreboard as the race leader. Russell went on to win the event,
followed by the Inline Auto Body #13 of Dave Allen and the #4 of
Dwayne Sipala.
Fans were then
treated to an eight-lap Blindfolded Taxi Cab race, which three
teams took the green flag for. The race included a few hits in
the wall, one car pulling up to the rollover ramp, and even
contact between two cars. When the checkered flag flew, the
uncle-nephew team of Robert and Jared Fasciana won the race.
The 6 Cylinder
Enduro was next on the track. The #2 of Donald Laskey got the
jump on the start. On lap 1, the #9 of Bob Haeger moved into
second. On lap 5, the #10 of Mike Mujsce Jr. took the third
spot. The cars would go three-wide for the lead on lap 7, with
Mujsce coming out in front. Laskey, Haeger, and the #8 of Shawn
Wanat had a battle for second, allowing Mujsce to build up a
lead. On lap 12, Wanat used lapped traffic to his advantage, and
moved into second and then began closing the gap to the leader.
On lap 17, Wanat again used lapped traffic and took the lead
from Mujsce. On lap 37, Mujsce got stuck sideways on the track
coming out of turn 2. Wanat went on to win the event, with
Haeger second and the Schenck Trebel #13 of Greg Finlan third.
A total of 33 4
Cylinder cars took to the track for a 60-lap race. The #1 of
Dave "Wookiee" Walters took the lead off the start, with the #3
of Matt Brown coming to second. Before the race hit the 12 lap
mark, the #2 of Bob Haeger moved into the lead. Walters took a
hard hit into the wall entering turn 1 on lap 17, but righted
it. The car had a steering issue, however, and it tracked to the
wall coming out of turn 4, collecting Haeger in the process and
sending both into the pit entrance gate on lap 18. Haeger was
able to pull away, but the red flag was displayed on lap 19 for
Walters, whose drivers' side was against the wall in turn 3. On
lap 39, the STS Tire & Auto #17 of Anthony Pizzo was being
displayed on the scoreboard as the unofficial race leader. Pizzo
continued on to win the event. Haeger came back from his earlier
incident to finish second, while the #22 of Ed Brown Jr. was
third.
The final event of
the day was the second 8 Cylinder Enduro. On the start, the #1
of Dege Russell shot out to the lead, with the Westhampton Auto
Salvage #4 of Dominic Ranieri Jr. in second and the #3 of
Anthony Pizzo third. By lap 30, however, the #6 of Ed Brown Jr.
was right on the bumper of Russell, and Brown took the lead on
lap 33. Brown went on to win the event, followed by Russell and
Ranieri.
And the Word
Around the Pits...
Plenty of Legends
cars were on hand for today's race. A total of 23 were signed
into the pits. Two-time 2008 feature winner Silas Hiscock, Jr.,
however, suffered damage to his #37 during his heat race, so he
moved into the #7NY for the feature. Tom Sherman brought both of
his cars with him, and it turned out to be a good move, as he
had motor issues with one of the cars in practice. Tony Naglieri,
driver of the #94, was on hand with his second car, as he
suffered damage to his other car in the last race that was not
repaired in time for this week's event.
A number of out-of-staters
took part in the race. One such driver was Pattenburg, New
Jersey's David Polenz. Polenz is running for national INEX
points, and is racking up races wherever possible. He spent
Friday night racing at Old Dominion in Virginia, where he won
the feature. He left Riverhead almost immediately after the
feature was completed, as he was heading to Shenandoah for a
race on Monday. Missing in action, however, was Joe Sole, who
has flown up from Florida for the last two races. His #17 was
being driven by Vinny DeLucia.
The driver of the
#53 Legends car, Kevin Nowak, ran Waterford again this past
week. He was running in sixth when he was forced out of the
groove by another competitor. With no more cautions in the race,
he ended up with an 18th place finish. Nowak hit the wall while
taking some practice laps at Riverhead yesterday, and he and his
crew spent several hours yesterday and this morning getting the
car back into shape for today's race.
The Legend cars now
have a few weeks off. They return to action on Sunday, June 15
for their fifth event of the season. With half of their
scheduled races completed, Tom Sherman holds the points lead
with 108 points. Rookie Timmy Solomito sits in second, 16 points
behind.
In the Grand Enduro
ranks, Richard Petey again made the trek through the toll
curtain for today's events, complete with his "DQ" shirt-wearing
crew. Petey plans to run the full Grand Enduro schedule at
Riverhead this season.
Just as a reminder,
there will be a 4/6 Cylinder Truck Enduro as part of the
Saturday night program this coming Saturday, May 31.
It was announced
that the Super Pro Truck race originally scheduled for Sunday,
June 15, has been taken off of the schedule. The division is
already slated to run on Saturday, June 14, and that will be
their only race of the weekend.
Source: Tracy
Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
May 25, 2008
