Sunday Action Caps Off a
Busy Labor Day Weekend of Racing
by Ryan McGrellis
On a beautiful Memorial Sunday afternoon fans packed the
stands to watch the last Legends race of the year as well as the
cars and stars of the Enduro series.
The Legends were first out on the track for their heats which
saw 2 races and the top ten from each race qualifying for the 20
lap feature. The first heat was won by the 16-year-old point
leader of the Legends, the Snap-On tools #15 of Timmy Solomito.
The second heat saw the #77 of Wild Bill Hiscock spin in turn 3
bringing out the yellow. Wild Bill couldn’t re-fire in the
infield causing him to fail to qualify for the feature. The heat
race was won by the Bridal Suite of Centereach #55 of Paul
Dodorico.
Before the Legends feature took the track, ten cars were on
hand for the Spectator Drags. The blue cavalier of Donny “Boom
Boom” Oliver made contact in turn 4 with a black Malibu causing
the rear quarter panel to hang off, and it needed to be tied
down to prevent from falling off. In the finale, Marty Johnson
took his Jeep around the track twice almost in his first attempt
at competition this year before his opponent in a black 1991
Firebird took his car around once.
The Legends were next with 20 cars ready for their 20 lap
season finale, capping off a successful comeback to Riverhead
Raceway. On the pole to start the race was the Bridal Suite of
Centereach #55 of Paul Dodorico, on the outside was the #20 of
Max Zachem of Connecticut. The point leader, Timmy “The Natural”
Solomito had his Snap-On tools #15 starting 5th. The green flag
was thrown, but before a lap could get completed the Crossfire
Telecom #74 of John Visconti and the Col Security and Management
#43 of Joe Sedotto rubbed tires, causing Sedotto to hit the
backstretch wall hard and require a tow into the pits. On the
restart, Dodorico and Zachem were side by side until lap 2 when
Dodorico edged out Zachem for first. The yellow followed shortly
though, with the Plycon Van Lines/Plycar #18 of James Pape Jr.
going for a spin in turn four. The restart from lap 2 would see
the same #18 of Pape spinning right off the restart off turn 4.
Pape received the black flag and was sent into the pits. On the
following restart, Dodorico and Zachem would continue their side
by side battle with Dodorico emerging as the leader on lap 5.
Also on lap 5, the Automatic Printing & Mailing Services #88 of
John Beatty got on the inside of Zachem for second. Beatty was
all over Dodorico and got beside him on lap 9. Dodorico hung
tough as side by side racing would continue until lap 10 when a
caution came out for the Nowak Racing #53 of Kevin Nowak as he
was placed up against the wall in turn 3. Under caution the #3
of Dan Pace was sent to the rear of the field for rough riding.
On the restart Beatty shot out to the lead and was gaining a lot
of ground on Dodorico until another caution came out for the
Bryan Johnson Motorsports #92NY of “Flying” Bryan Johnson, who
landed in the backstretch wall after contact with Visconti. The
final restart from lap 16 saw Beatty take off and not look back
as he would hold on for the win with Dodorico holding on for
second and Zachem finishing third. The main attention, though,
was for 16-year-old rookie Timmy Solomito, who can now add a
Legends championship to his accomplishments after finishing 7th.
Next out were the Grand Enduros, who would see 27 cars take
the green for a 60 lap race. The #24 of Kevin McCarthy strated
on the pole with the #37 of Joe Staskowski on the outside. On
the start, McCarthy took the lead but wouldn’t hold it as the
#01 of Jimmy “The Kid” White passed Staskowski for second and
then passed McCarthy for first soon after. Following “The Kid”
was the #58 of Donny "Boom Boom" Oliver, who would go inside to
take second. The #17 of “Krazy” Ed Mistretta would pass Oliver
for the second spot. Mistretta then passed White for the first,
position bringing Oliver and the #92 of James Denis with him,
dropping “The Kid” back to fourth. The #20 of Bobby Pease had a
hard hit with the #49 of Gene Burbol, causing Pease to park in
the infield. Burbol then got a hard bump from Mistretta allowing
Jimmy Denis to make up ground and eventually pass Mistretta on
lap 20. Oliver then passed Mistretta to take away the second
position. Oliver then passed the leading car of Denis on lap 23.
Mistretta made up ground and passed Denis for the second spot on
lap 25. On lap 33, the #14 of Pete "Liberty" Cherouvis went hard
into the turn 3 wall and two laps later the #43 of Richard Petey
got together with the #16 of Ray Fitzgerald and took a hard hit
into turn 3. The trouble for Petey didn’t stop there as he then
backed up into the leading car of Oliver, allowing Mistretta to
go on the inside and grab the lead. Oliver quickly got back on
pace and soon was all over Mistretta’s rear bumper as they
weaved their way through lapped traffic. On lap 56, Mistretta
went high on the outside around a lapped car while Oliver saw
this as an opportunity and dove low and took the lead. When it
was all said and done, after 7 lead changes and 11 changes for
the second position, the winner was Oliver, followed by the #17
of Mistretta. Mistretta was disqualified in post-race tech,
giving second to the #56 of Robin Vollmoeller Sr., and the #59
of points leader John Cozza was credited with third.
The 4/6 cyl. Truck enduro was next to take the track, with 24
trucks set to go 50 laps. The #0 of Russ Jansen would start on
the pole with the #23 of Matt Brown on the outside. On the
start, Jansen jumped out to the lead but the red flag would stop
action because of two trucks who got together in and on the wall
in the front stretch. The #85 of Chester Vonatski landed on its
driver's side with the #28 of James Badalato attached to it and
up on the wall with the right front wheel. Both drivers were ok
and got out of their trucks. The #85 truck snapped in half as
the track crew attempted to get it off of the wall,
disconnecting the bed from the cab. After the track crew
cleaned up the track and got the two-pieced truck off the track,
action resumed with Jansen still in the lead and Badalato able
to continue the race. The #17x of Rob "The Kid" McCormick got
around Jansen on lap 19 for the lead. The #43 of Jeffrey Gregor
got around Jansen for second. The #9 of Tommy “The Wild Child”
Walkowiak got around Jansen for the third spot on lap 27. On the
last lap, Walkowiak went high and took second and then tried to
get around McCormick. McCormick held off Walkowiak for the win.
Walkowiak was then disqualified in post-race tech, with second
place going to the #34 of Donald "Woot" Lawrence. Jansen was
credited with third.
The Monster Trucks were out next, taking the course with
Bigfoot, Viper, and Thrasher. After the Monster Trucks got
height and did some wheelies, the daredevil monkey “King Kong
Kenevil” came out and broke his Saturday night record of 48,
jumping 50 bananas on his motorcycle.
The 8 cylinder enduro was then set to go 50 laps with 54
strong on hand to take the green. For most of the early going of
the race turn 2 and eventually the whole track was covered in
dirt from the donuts of the monster trucks. The whole field
faced the predicament of navigating through turn two with two
big collisions involving many cars on lap 13 and 14. The car of
Phil LaManna was in a precarious position with his back towards
oncoming traffic parked on the backstretch. Many cars nearly hit
him before he got some help from another enduro competitor who
pushed him to the infield when it was safe to do so. When all
the dust cleared, literally, only 16 cars were running but it
was the story of the year with Jimmy “The Kid” White taking his
first ever win in the 8 cylinder division. David Antos finished
second, and Matt Senatore came across the line third.
The 6 cylinder enduro was up next, ready to go 50 laps with
22 cars taking the green. Bob Haeger grabbed the lead off the
green with Scott Brown in second. By lap 3, Shawn Wanat, who had
started 8th, got up to third. By lap 10, Wanat passed Brown for
second. Haeger dropped low into the infield to avoid a spinning
car, and Wanat took the lead on lap 13. The red flag would come
out as Jason Judy spun in turn 3 and tried to turn back around
and made contact with Jonathan VanHouten. Judy quickly got out
of the car as the inside of the car caught fire and was sprayed
down by the track crew quickly before anyone could get hurt. On
the restart Wanat would take off and never look back, taking the
win. Haeger finished second, with Brown third.
The 4 cylinder enduro was next up, with 30 cars ready to go
60 laps of fast, hard racing. On the start, Mike Schwarz would
take the lead, with Dennis Nelson coming to second and Robert
Endlekofer in third. Nelson would pass Schwarz for the lead and
then Endlekofer would use the inside to get around Schwarz for
the second position. Endlekofer grabbed the lead away from
Nelson and held on for a first place finish. Bryan Gregor was
second, with Bob Haeger third.
The second 8 cylinder enduro was the final event to take the
track, with 26 cars scheduled to go 50 laps. On lap 12, Jeffrey
Gilbert hit the wall in turn 3 and wouldn’t be the last as
Michael Wahl took a vicious hit in turn 3 with the front of his
car on lap 31. Dege Russell won the nightcap, followed by Frank
Martines and Robin Schewire.
Source: Ryan
McGrellis/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
August 31, 2008
