Several Repeat Winners in Front of a Full House at Riverhead
by Tracy Chirico
The stands were full for "I Love America" night at Riverhead
Raceway, with many fans taking in the fireworks show that
accompanied the night's racing events. The crowd was treated to
Blunderbust, Figure 8, and Modified features; as well as a Grand
Enduro, One-on-One Spectator Drags, a Car Rollover Contest, and
a Mini School Bus demo.
The day's qualifying consisted of two heats races for the
Blunderbusts, followed by three Modified heats. All cars were
qualified for their respective features, and the heat races were
used to determine handicapping for the feature lineups.
The Blunderbust division took to the track first, with 19
cars taking the green for the 20-lap feature. The C&A Auto Parts
#11x of Kevin Rommeney was on the pole, with the Crackerjack
Auto Supply #79 of Bill Wegmann on the outside pole. The two
came across the line side-by-side, but Wegmann nosed out front
on the initial lap. Rommeney fell into second, with the #77 of
Timmy Mulqueen third. On lap 2, the Lakewood Used Auto Parts #7
of Tom Sullivan passed Mulqueen on the outside for third. The
#38 of Brian Hansen, making his first-ever Blunderbust start,
spun on the backstretch on lap 4, but he was able to maneuver to
the infield and no caution was thrown, as he was able to rejoin
the rear of the field. Mulqueen then spun in turn 4 on lap 5,
but did not require a caution either. On lap 8, the Gibson's
Auto Center #69x of Paul Parisi came to a stop against the wall
coming out of turn 2 with a left front flat, and the caution was
thrown. For the restart, Wegmann was on the pole with Rommeney
on the outside. Wegmann got the advantage on the restart as
Rommeney hung on in the outside line, and Sullivan looked to
make a pass under Rommeney for second. Sullivan grabbed the
position on lap 8, and the Service Master Clean #61 of Chris
Busick followed to take third on the same lap. The Robert's
Express Fuel Oil #19 of Rob Bader Jr. looked to get underneath
Busick on lap 9, but could not get the line, and Bader fell
back. Busick moved to the inside of Sullivan to take second on
lap 11. The R.K. Contracting Corp. #99 of Russ Kohler spun to
the infield off of the backstretch, but no caution was thrown.
Bader passed Sullivan to move comfortably into third on lap 11,
but the Unique Golf Shop #00 of Tommy Walkowiak passed Bader to
take third on lap 12. On that lap, Busick began to look to get
around Wegmann for the lead, but the caution came out on lap 14
for an incident between turns 1 and 2 involving the Centereach
Transmissions #64 of Ray Shannon that resulted in damage to a
number of cars, including the Constant Performance #29 of
Jessica Larsen and Parisi. Larsen was sent to the pits to remove
a hanging right front fender, and Parisi had to pit because his
hood had become dislodged and was sitting across his windshield.
Wegmann was on the pole for the restart, followed by Busick and
Walkowiak. Wegmann led the field through turns 1 and 2, and then
abruptly pulled to the infield, apparently suffering some
mechanical problem. That put Busick in the lead, with Walkowiak
second and Bader third. Over the final six laps of the race,
Walkowiak looked to both the inside and outside of Busick, but
was unable to make a pass for the lead. Busick collected his
third win of 2008, with Walkowiak second and Bader third.
Next out were the One-on-One Spectator Drags, with 14 cars -
and the unique T-Rex motorcycle/car - going to the line in the
single elimination event that was kicked off by two B. Sexton
Site Development dump trucks taking a lap. The final two-lap
reverse shootout featured two enduro veterans, John Cozza and Ed
Primavera. Cozza took the final checkered flag.
The Figure 8 feature was up next, with 14 cars set to run the
20-lap event. The Anthony's Custom Carpets #16 of Will Farrell
started on the pole, with the #27 of Scott Pedersen on the
outside. Farrell got out front on the start, with Scott Pedersen
second and the Mike's Auto Service #13 of Mike Mujsce Sr. third.
Arne Pedersen came to third in the #34 on lap 1. On lap 8, Arne
Pedersen began to challenge his brother Scott for second, and
Arne Pedersen took the spot on lap 10, but Scott Pedersen fought
back and regained the position. The Barrasso & Sons Mason
Supplies #28 pf Roger Maynor then pulled up alongside Arne
Pedersen for third, and Maynor took the spot on lap 11. On lap
12, Scott Pedersen pulled up next to Farrell to challenge for
the lead. This set the stage for a three-way battle for the lead
between Farrell, Scott Pedersen, and Maynor. Maynor took over
second on lap 13, and pulled alongside Farrell on lap 14, taking
over the lead. The PS Racing #63 of Paul Specht moved into
third, and he and Scott Pedersen swapped the position several
times before Scott Pedersen suffered a broken suspension part
and hit the wall in the Figure 8 turn 1 on lap 16. Scott
Pedersen was able to limp the car off of the racing surface
without drawing a caution, and Specht took over third. Specht
moved into second, and the #8 of Tom Kraft had come to third by
lap 17. Maynor went on to grab his 92nd career Figure 8 win,
with Specht second and Kraft third.
Then it was time for the 35-lap Modified feature, with a
19-car field set for competition. The House of Cool #74 of
Marisa Niederauer was on the pole, and the outside pole was
occupied by the Brunnhoelzl Motorsports #8x of Eddie Brunnhoelzl
III. Brunnhoelzl grabbed the lead on the start, and the
Freightliner Turcks #96 of Howie Brode came to second. The
Riverhead Building Supply #49 of Chris Young took third, as
Niederauer appeared to be off the pace. The first caution of the
race came on lap 9, as the SGS Stoneworks #84 of John Fortin had
a problem and came to a stop in turn 2. Brunnhoelzl was on the
pole for the restart, with Brode on the outside. The two ran
side-by-side through turns 1 and 2, but Brunnhoelzl pulled out
front on the backstretch and Young attempted to follow through
for second. Young took second, but Brode continued to fight on
the outside. The two made contact, and Brode hit the the wall in
turn 1, bringing the caution out again, as Brode's car had to be
removed with a double hook. Several cars pitted under caution,
including Fortin, the Double Diamond Realty #23 of Justin
Bonsignore, and the #3 of Mike Andrews Jr. The SGS Stoneworks
#04 of Shawn Solomito had to be towed off. The restart pitted
Brunnhoelzl on the inside against Young on the outside.
Brunnhoelzl took the lead, and the #6 of Tom Rogers Jr. worked
his way into second on lap 10. At lap 20, the leaders began to
encounter lapped traffic. Rogers Jr. got a nose underneath
Brunnhoelzl to take the lead on lap 22, but the caution came out
as the WPW Growers #98x of Dave Brigati went around in turn 2.
Under caution, the Savin #11x of Chuck Steuer pitted with a
flat. Brunnhoelzl had spun in turn 4 after the caution came out,
and was unable to get the car refired, forcing him to the pits
and out of the lead. Young also took his car to the pits under
caution, giving up his third place position. For the single-file
restart, the top three were Rogers Jr., the Eastport Feeds #15
of Wayne Anderson, and the Smithtown Nissan #20 of defending
champion Bill Park. Rogers Jr. held the lead, and he and
Anderson had a two-car breakaway by lap 30. The next three-car
pack behind them was led by Park, and included the Russell H.
Nill Roofing & Copper #44 of Dan Jivanelli and Bonsignore, who
had worked his way back through the field after pitting on lap
9. Caution flew again on lap 31, as Niederauer and the S.N.
Blydenburgh Custom Interiors #17x of Rusty Turbush went around
in turn 1. Rogers Jr. continued to lead the field for the
four-lap shootout, taking down his second win of 2008. Anderson
was second, with Park third.
Fans then enjoyed the fireworks presented by Bay Fireworks,
complete with patriotic-themed background music.
After the fireworks show, a total of 24 Grand Enduro cars hit
the raceway for a 50-lap, non-points feature event. The Liberty
Auto Repair #14 of Pete Cherouvis drew the pole, with the #37 of
Joe Staskowski on the outside. Cherouvis grabbed the lead on the
start, while the #8 of Fred Nolan came to second and the Blue
Point Auto Body #28 of Joe Parcelluzzi took third on the initial
lap. In the first four laps of the race, the Flanders Automotive
#56 of Robin Vollmoeller Sr. moved right through the field from
his eight place starting spot, and put himself out front. On lap
5, Parcelluzzi came to second. On lap 10, the #24 of Kevin
McCarthy took third, but by this time, Vollmoeller and
Parcelluzzi had a two-car breakaway and were nearly half a track
ahead of McCarthy. The leaders were running in heavy lapped
traffic when Vollmoeller pulled in with an overheating issue on
lap 19, giving Parcelluzzi the lead. Parcelluzzi had roughly a
half a straightaway lead over McCarthy at that time, as McCarthy
had been closing the gap between himself and the leaders. The
Peconic Sign Co. #12 of Greg Zaleski Jr. was running third.
Zaleski grabbed second, and there was only one lapped car
between Zaleski and Parcelluzzi, who was still leading at lap
30. At lap 33, the #7 of Tom Sullivan was overheating and
pouring water out of the car. The Flanders Automotive #0 of Kyle
Curtis went around behind Sullivan between turns 3 and 4 on lap
34, and a number of cars made contact with him, including
McCarthy and the CJ Motorsports #92 of Jimmy Denis. McCarthy
pulled in with a flat on lap 34, and Sullivan retired to the
infield on lap 35. Curtis also ended up taking his car to the
infield. With ten laps to go, Parcelluzzi was still out front,
with Zaleski literally right on his rear bumper. Zaleski tried
to make a pass for the lead, and the two made some contact, but
Parcelluzzi held on to the lead and Zaleski fell back into
second. The Carasiti Magic #39 of Don Carasiti spun in front of
the leaders in turn 4 on lap 37, but neither hit him as
Carasiti's car went towards the infield.
The Car Rollover Contest was next, with five cars competing.
The packed house took delight in watching the competitors each
take their turns at the ramp. The final car to roll was "Slim"
Jim Donaldson, who had been pushed to the pits prior to rolling,
as Donaldson seemed to be having an ignition problem that he was
able to repair, returning just in time to roll. On his first
attempt, Donaldson rolled an impressive four times, collecting
20 points. Donaldson had already secured the win at that point,
which was fortunate because he was unable to take his final two
attempts.
The final event of the evening was the Mini School Bus demo.
Twelve buses and passenger vans competed in the event, with
defending demo champ Mike "Cheesebox" Rommeney walking away with
the trophy when the dust settled.
And the Word Around the Pits...
It was announced by the track office last week that the Car
Rollover Contest that had been added to the September 7th
schedule of events to be held in conjunction with the Motorcycle
Fair has been cancelled.
The 30-lap time trial Super Pro Truck race to be held on
September 16th will be run in the memory of two crew chiefs in
the division who passed away this year, Carl Rackoff and Joe
DiGangi. Laps for the race are being sold by Betsi Rackoff and
Matt Greenan and are $10 each.
Anyone who wishes to make a submission for the tribute page
being put together in Joe DiGangi's memory are urged to do so as
soon as possible, as it is expected to be posted during this
coming week, prior to the Super Pro Truck race being run on
August 30th. Anyone who would like to share a memory, a story
about Joe, or anything else can email them to me at
tchirico@longislandjam.com. There is plenty of space, and so
far the number of responses has been lighter than expected.
Laps are also being sold for the 30-lap time trial
Blunderbust race on September 13th. Laps for that race are also
$10 each, and can be purhcased at the pit sign-in window.
Leah Maynor and SAFER have put a new twist on their
successful 50/50 raffle. To thank those in all of the divisions
who have purchased tickets during the season, each week for the
rest of the season, 25% of the total will be donated to the top
finishers in a particular division, dependent on the total
amount of sales. This week, the top four Blunderbust finishers
received bonuses out of the SAFER 50/50. A total of $130 was
split amongst the four drivers.
Championship battles are coming down to the wire as the
season winds down. Tom Rogers Jr. has virtually clinched the
Late Model championship for 2008. In fact, based on car counts
this season, all Rogers Jr. has to do is take the green flag in
the single remaining race the division has on September 6th in
order to guarantee the title.
Part-time Blunderbust driver Doug Watson was behind the wheel
of the Tom Sullivan-owned #71 this week. As mentioned last week,
Watson had problems with his own car, and he was unable to have
the car ready for the race this week.
Congratulations are in order for LongIslandJam.com's junior
reporter Danielle McCormack, who has been brought on board as a
staff writer for Full Throttle Hot Rod magazine. In this
month's issue, Danielle has an article about Gater Racing
News columnist Ricky Miller, who will be retiring at the end
of the 2008 season. To the best of my knowledge, a replacement
for Miller has not yet been secured. Anyone who is interested
should see Ricky Miller in the pits.
My apologies go out to the winners of the Car Rollover
Contest, the Grand Enduro, and the demo for the lack of quotes
from Victory Lane. I was battling technical difficulties with my
recorder all day, and was lucky just to be able to salvage the
race report. If anyone wishes to send me a quote, I will include
it in my next race report.
Things They Say in Victory Lane...
"We just came back to have a little fun, that was all." -Chris
Busick
"I'm thinking about retiring from Spectator Drags." -John
Cozza
"There was a little bit of knocking and banging, but that's
Figure 8 racing. It's exciting" -Roger Maynor
"I shouldn't have burned them (the tires) off doing my
donuts, but it was well worth it." -Tom Rogers Jr.
Source: Tracy
Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
August 23, 2008
