Riverhead Packs the Stands for Saturday Show
by Tracy Chirico
Race fans enjoyed sunny skies and mild temperatures for much
of the day, as a full house was on hand for the day's racing
events. The schedule was jam-packed, with Chargers, Late Models,
Modifieds and Figure 8s being joined by a Blindfolded Taxi Cab
race, a Car Rollover contest, and a School Bus Demo.
The day's qualifying consisted of three heats for the
Modifieds. With 18 cars on hand, the heats were used solely to
determine handicapping for the feature.
When it was time for features to take to the track, the
Chargers were out first, with 15 cars taking the green for the
20-lap race. The #42 of Frank Dumicich Jr. started on the pole.
Peter Cataldo was slated to start on the outside pole, but opted
to start in the rear, moving the James Becht Builders #37 of
Steve Ratti to the outside pole for the start. Dumicich Jr.
nosed out to the lead, but Ratti battled on the outside and came
across the line first by a narrow margin to complete the initial
lap. Ratti grabbed the lead, with Dumicich Jr. falling into
second while the P&M Door #88 of Frank Scimeca and the LMR #56
of Jay Henschel battled for third. Ratti, meanwhile, was
building up a comfortable lead over the rest of the field. On
lap 7, Henschel moved to the inside of Dumicich Jr., looking to
take second, but Henschel went around and the first caution of
the race came out. For the restart, Ratti was on the pole with
Dumicich Jr. on the outside pole. Ratti jumped out front on the
restart, but the officials were not happy with the restart, and
the caution came out again. On the next attempt at a restart,
Ratti and Dumicich Jr. came across the line side-by-side, but
Ratti edged ahead coming through turns 1 and 2. The Biltor
Welding & Erection #57 of Thore Foss looked to the inside of
Dumicich Jr., taking second on lap 8. Dumicich Jr. fell back to
third, with the Gershow Recycling #89x of Chris McGuire and
Scimeca Jr. side-by-side behind him. McGuire moved to the inside
of Dumicich Jr. for third, but the two made contact and McGuire
spun between turns 1 and 2, bringing the caution out on lap 12.
McGuire was forced t pit with a right front flat tire. Ratti was
out front for the restart, with Foss and Dumicich Jr. behind
him. The Chris Mohr Landscaping #81 of Chris Turbush took third
by going to the inside of Dumicich Jr., and Dumicich Jr. spun
and made contact with Scimeca Jr. on lap 18, but no caution was
thrown. There was contact on the white flag lap between McGuire
and Dumicich Jr., but Ratti powered on to take his first win of
2008. Foss finished second, with Turbush taking third.
Next out was the Blindfolded Taxi Cab race, with 8 cars
taking to the track. The race was filled with plenty of
excitement that included cars making contact with each other and
the walls. One car hit and toppled a cement block in the
infield, getting lodged on top of the block. When the checkered
flag flew, Mike and Kevin Rommeney were the winners.
The Late Model feature was up next, with 14 cars on hand for
the 25-lap event. The Sherwin-Williams Paints #51 of Artie
Pedersen Jr. was on the pole, with the Denelex #35 of Ken Alfano
to the outside. Pedersen Jr. shot out front on the start, and
the LaSpisa Racing #7 of Chris LaSpisa followed to take second
on the initial lap. The Helman Group #39 of Roger Oxee moved to
the inside of Alfano to take third on lap 1. LaSpisa spun, but
no caution was thrown. Pedersen Jr. continued to lead, with Oxee
and the Ranco Sand & Stone #10 of Scott Kulesa behind him.
Contact between the Harley-Davidson of Nassau County #68 of
Peter "Buzzy" Eriksen and the Patrick Racing #88 of Shawn
Patrick resulted in a caution on lap 3. The restart pitted
rookie Pedersen Jr. on the inside against seasoned veteran Oxee
on the outside. Pedersen Jr. moved out front on the restart, but
Oxee continued to hold on to the outside line. Kulesa came
underneath Oxee on lap 7 and the two ran side-by-side until
Kulesa looked to the inside of Pedersen, but Oxee grabbed the
lead and then spun after contact with Kulesa. As a result,
Kulesa inherited the lead followed by Pedersen Jr., with Alfano
and the Metzger Racing #23 of Kevin Metzger running side-by-side
for third behind him. Metzger grabbed third and Alfano went
around between turns 1 and 2, but no caution was thrown. Metzger
then looked to the inside of Pedersen Jr. for second on lap 11.
Pedersen Jr. spun into the infield on lap 13, moving Metzger
into second and the Complete Landscaping #08 of Jarrod Hayes
into third. The Federated Auto Parts #4 of Tom Rogers Jr. looked
to make a move on Hayes for third, but the #98 of Doug Wholey
spun on lap 20, bringing the caution out. Kulesa was out front
for the restart, followed by Metzger and Hayes. When the green
flag flew again, Rogers Jr. was able to get past Hayes, taking
over third. Kulesa went on to grab his third win for 2008, with
Metzger second and Rogers Jr. third.
The Car Rollover contest then took to the track. A total of
seven cars took their turns hitting - or missing - the rollover
ramp. When the dust cleared "Slim" Jim Donaldson was the winner
by an overwhelming margin, having completed at least two full
rolls on each of his three attempts at the ramp.
Next up was the 35-lap Modified feature, with 18 cars taking
the green flag. The House of Cool #74 of Marisa Niederauer was
on the pole, with the #03 of Ken Darch on the outside pole.
Niederauer took the early lead, while the Savin #11x of Chuck
Steuer used an inside pass to take over second on lap 1. Steuer
wasted no time getting to the front, as he passed Niederauer for
the lead on lap 2. The cars quickly filed into line at the front
of the field, with Steuer building a comfortable lead. When the
race reached the halfway point, Steuer was roughly half a
straightaway ahead of second-place Niederauer. On lap 18, the
S.N. Blydenburgh Custom Interiors #17x of Rusty Turbush took
over the third spot. On lap 19, Darch spun, coming to a rest
backwards against the turn 4 wall, bringing out the caution.
Steuer had the pole for the single-file restart, and continued
to lead the field. On lap 20, the Eastport Feeds #15 of Wayne
Anderson passed Turbush for third. Anderson continued to move
through the field, looking to the inside of Niederauer for
second on lap 24. His pass was negated, however, as the
Freightliner Trucks #96 of Howie Brode spun, and the caution
flag flew, putting the field back to the last completed lap.
Steuer continued to lead on the restart, and Anderson once again
went to work to pass Niederauer. Anderson took over the second
spot on lap 30. The SGS Stoneworks #84 of John Fortin followed
through to take third. The #71 of Jeremy
McDermott spun in turn 4, bringing out the caution. On the
restart, Anderson made contact with the back of Steuer's car,
resulting in a caution after Anderson's car hopped up towards
the wall and came to a stop. Steuer continued to hold the top
spot for the restart, followed by Fortin and Niederauer. Before
the green flag flew, Turbush's car came to a stop in turn 2 with
a left front flat. When the green flag did fly, the #6 of Tom Rogers Jr.
passed Niederauer for third. Steuer grabbed his first win of the
season, with Fortin finishing second. Rogers Jr. crossed the
finish line third, but was penalized one spot for passing on the
inside before the start/finish line on the restart, and the
Smithtown Nissan #20 of Bill Park was credited with third.
The double point Figure 8 race was up next, with 15 cars
hitting the track for the scheduled 25-lap feature. The #27 of
Scott Pedersen was on the pole for the start. The Anthony's
Custom Carpets #16 of Will Farrell was slated to start on the
outside pole, but experienced problems during hot laps. This
moved the #3 of Ralph Tasso to the outside pole. Scott Pedersen
shot out to the lead on the start, as the #34 of Arne Pedersen
challenged Tasso for second. Tasso held on to the spot, however,
and was looking for a way past Scott Pedersen when the caution
came out on lap 9 for the Mike Auto Service #13 of Mike Mujsce.
Scott Pedersen and Tasso again made up the front row, with Scott
Pedersen again putting his car out front on the restart as Tasso
and Arne Pedersen battled for second side-by-side behind him.
Arne Pedersen nosed out ahead of Tasso but spun, and nearly the
entire field came to a stop, with only three cars coming through
without stopping. The DeMartino Enterprises #0x of Tom Ferrara,
the Blast-It Sandblasting #74 of Carl Baxter, and the Air
National Guard 106th Rescue #6 of Stephen Stadler were among
those that pitted under caution, while Tasso's car was towed off
with heavy damage to the right front. The lap 9 restart pitted
Scott Pedersen on the inside against the Long Island DEUTZ #58
of Kenny Hyde on the outside. Hyde jumped out front on the
restart, and Arne Pedersen followed to take second. The Barrasso
& Sons Mason Supply #28 of Roger Maynor moved into third on lap
11. Caution flew again on lap 14 for Baxter. Hyde held the lead
on the restart, and Maynor quickly got alongside Arne Pedersen
to take second. On lap 15, Maynor pulled up next to Hyde, but
Hyde was able to pull away. On lap 17, Ferrara and Mujsce made
contact, and the two cars slid off of the racing surface, stuck
together. Caution flew on lap 20, and the race was ended due to
the expiration of the time limit. Hyde was the winner for the
second time in 2008. Maynor finished second, followed by Arne
Pedersen.
The final event of the night was the school bus demo, with
six buses taking part. The crowd loved the hard-hitting action,
and one of the most unique sights of the night was the bus of
Rusty Turbush, the body of which appeared to have separated from
the frame. Defending demo champion Mike Rommeney's bus was the
last one running, and Rommeney was declared the winner.
And the Word Around the Pits...
LongIslandJam.com has been informed that a group of 4C
Supermodifieds will be on hand for an exhibition at Riverhead on
September 20th. The cars are presently running primarily at
Mahoning Valley Speedway, and they had been running at Wall
Stadium. They measure roughly 12 feet from nose to tail and 6
feet wide, and they run a stock 600cc motorcycle engine.
John Fortin finished second in the 35-lap Modified feature,
and announced that it was only the second race on the new car.
Fortin currently sits only 8 points behind Bill Park in the
standings.
Charger competitor Jeremy McDermott did double-duty tonight,
racing his Charger car and also making his Modified debut.
McDermott finished 15th in his first-ever Modified feature.
It has been announced that next week's 30-lap double point
Blunderbust race will be a time trial show. This marks the first
time the division has had time trials for a double point race.
Pit news is a bit light this week, as I was busy during the
first half of the day running practice in the Enduro truck that
I will be racing this weekend. I owe a special thanks to
Blunderbust competitor Tom Sullivan, who gave some much-needed
help when things started to go wrong early in the day.
Things They Say in Victory Lane...
"It's been a rough year. We were making this our last night, but
we'll see what happens." -Steve Ratti
"It's my first 'married man' win, so I've got to call her
tonight and let her know." -Scott Kulesa
"I'll be picking dirt out of my mouth for at least a week, my
ears for two weeks...but everybody loved it, right?" -"Slim"
Jim Donaldson
"We lost a few this year that we shouldn't have, but it's good
to be back." -Chuck Steuer
"It just feels really good to be back up there...we really could
use it." -Kenny Hyde
"You give it to me, I'll wreck it." -Mike Rommeney
Source: Tracy
Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
August 9, 2008
