John Fortin Pockets
Riverhead Raceway Opening Night Laurels
John Fortin of Holtsville made a busy off
season payoff this past Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway when
he went wire to wire to win the opening night 35-lap NASCAR
Modified feature event for the Whelen All-American Series. The
triumph was the 18th of Fortin's career and worth $1,435.
Taking full advantage of a rare pole position start Fortin
quickly put his SGS Stone Works Chevy into the lead at the drop
of the green with Eddie Brunnhoelzl III trying to ride the
highline for a pass on Fortin. That would not pan out for the
third generation driver as he was soon overtaken for second by
Chris Young who after making the pass set sail for race leader
Fortin. The two former Figure Eight standouts raced in close
quarters for an extended period of time and were later joined by
Chuck Steuer, but as the race hit its stride Fortin was able to
keep just enough of a cushion between them.
At the checker it was John Fortin armed with a new Precision
Technology engine under the hood scoring the victory. "We had a
good race with Chris, he ran me clean and I'm just thrilled we
came out on top" Fortin noted. "Aside from SGS I want to thank
CLM Realty, Triangle Pub and G&R Gourmet Deli for all their
support and Happy Mother's Day to my wife Nicole".
Chris Young of Calverton was second in the Riverhead Building
Supply Chevy, while Chuck Steuer of Bohemia completed the top
three in the Northeastern Office Equipment Chevy. Bill Park of
Manorville and Dave Brigati of Calverton were fourth and fifth.
In order to collect his 94th career Figure Eight victory Roger
Maynor of Bay Shore would have to make a late race power move
payoff to beat out a high flying Mike Mujsce in their 20-lap
main event. Mujsce, racing for a new sponsor in Top Ladder
General Contracting, was indeed the man to beat in this race as
he led right from the throw of the green. Will "The Thrill"
Farrell gave Mujsce all he could handle early before he fell
victim to a Maynor pass on lap 8. Right from the time he moved
into second Maynor threw everything at Mujsce and with just over
two laps to go made a daring outside pass of the race leader
entering turns three and four. Once in front Maynor in the
Barrasso & Sons Mason Supplies Ford never looked back to take
the victory. Mike Mujsce of Westhampton Beach would have to
settle for second, while Arne Pedersen of Moriches crossed the
stripe third in his un-sponsored machine.
The 30-lap Charger contest quickly became a family affair among
the Turbush clan in a hotly contested race that found Chris
Turbush of Riverhead scoring his 14th career victory. Chris and
his father "Dynamite" Dan who set fast time with a lap of 13.397
broke to the front right at the outset and later were joined by
Dan's younger brother Rusty. As the race wore on Chris and Dan,
who slowed the pace of the race to their liking staged an
intense side-by-side duel for the lead with drivers like Rusty,
Chris McGuire, Daryn Miller and Jeremy McDermott all racing in
tight quarters. Rusty would later spin with a right rear flat
and that left the father and son tandem to fight it out for the
race win. After taking the lead from Chris on lap 18, Dan would
then remain out front until lap 26 when Chris powered back out
front and in the closing laps was able to sneak away as Dan had
to ward off Chris McGuire in the final laps. At the finish it
was Chris Turbush starting off his 2008 title defense with a win
in the Jet Sanitation Pontiac, with father Dan fighting off
Chris McGuire for second, and McGuire of Shirley third in the
Gershow Recycling Ford.
In order for Rob Bader to lay claim to his second career
Blunderbust victory, he almost had to endure what appeared to be
an episode of Survivor. First off in a failed attempt to start
the 20-lap tilt Bader's front bumper was knocked askew, but was
intact enough to continue. When the race did go green Bader
raced off into the lead chased by Scott Sepe for a lap and then
Kevin Rommeney for the next 9 circuits. It was at the halfway
mark however when all-time leading divisional winner Tommy
Walkowiak raced his way to second and with Bader having to work
lapped traffic Tommy was able to close in fast. With a handful
of laps to go a lapped car got into Bader knocking that front
bumper off and in an ironic twist Walkowiak ran it over getting
two left side flats forcing him to the pits under yellow. Now
all Rob had to do with just laps to go was fight off defending
champion Scott Maliszewski for the race win, which he was able
to do when Scott got caught-up in a battle for position. When
the race concluded it left Rob Bader in the Pizza Gone Wildwood
entry one relieved race winner, with Scott Maliszewski of Deer
Park hanging on for runner-up money in his Blaze Fuel Oil Chevy.
"Krazy" Ed Mistretta tested Scott for second in the final laps,
but would wind-up third in the Bams Auto Body Chevy.
It was a very emotional victory for Super Pro Truck winner John
Denniston of Westbury who went wire-to-wire to top the 20-lap
feature event. A man on a mission Denniston quickly raced his
North Fork Sanitation Chevy from third to the race lead before
the field exited turn two chased at first by Anthony Daleo for
the first lap before he was overtaken by former champion Frank
Dumicich Sr. Over the final 18-laps Dumicich as first was able
to keep John in his sights but the longer the race stayed green
the bigger advantage Denniston would build up. Not even a late
race caution could stop John Denniston from achieving his goal
on this night as he went on to score the win. Afterwards John
dedicated the win to the late Fred Bobb of Sunoco Race Fuels and
Roy Schelin of North Fork Sanitation, both of whom passed away
in the off-season. Frank Dumicich of E. Quogue was runner-up in
the Wesemann's Sand & Mason Supply Ford, while Mike "The King Of
Queens" Albasini of Flushing was third in the HC Collision
entry.
It had been quite sometime since former Legend Race Car champion
Tony Naglieri of Lindenhurst took home a victory lane trophy,
but that streak came to an end Saturday evening. Steering an
all-new Eveready Racing Legend Naglieri drove past "Wild" Bill
Hiscock for the lead of the 20-lap main event on the 5th lap
with an inside pass exiting turn two. One lap later Tom Sherman
also looped around Hiscock for second and from that point
forward the race would be on! Sherman threw everything but the
kitchen sink at Naglieri in an attempt to work his way by for
the opening night victory. On the final lap Sherman took a long
hard look to the inside of the race leader but backed off not
wanting to take him out and that left Tony Naglieri free to
visit victory lane. Tom Sherman of Farmingdale was runner-up in
the Oval Speed Unlimited entry, while Kevin Nowak of Medford was
right in the mix placing third in his NAPA Auto Parts racer.
Nowak would have been in the catbird seat if the two leaders got
together.
It was indeed a milestone Enduro victory for Ray Fitzgerald of
Manorville Saturday as he scored his 50th career win in the
50-lap Grand Enduro. Prior to the formation of the Grand class
Ray won many an 8-Cylinder Enduro at the historic quarter mile.
Tom "Slippery" Slee was setting the tone of the race on lap 22
when Ray Fitzgerald roared from deep in the field to take the
lead and once out front you could color Ray gone as he would
then dominate the race. At the checker it was the Constant
Performance Chevy of Ray Fitzgerald sitting in the winner's
circle followed by Tom Slee of Smithtown in the Aarco
Environmental Camaro, with Jimmy "The Kid" White Jr. of
Southampton third in the Busy Bee Exterminating Chevy. The top
three all took home CARQUEST Auto Parts hardware.
NASCAR Modifieds 35-laps: 1. John Fortin 2. Chris Young
3. Chuck Steuer 4. Bill Park 5. Dave Brigati 6. Rusty Turbush 7.
Ed Brunnhoelzl III 8. Wayne Anderson 9. Justin Bonsignore 10.
Timmy Solomito 11. Sean McDonald 12. Amber Fortin 13. Mike
Andrews Jr. 14. Tom Rogers Jr. 15. Howie Brode
Figure Eights 20-laps: 1. Roger Maynor 2. Mike Mujsce 3.
Arne Pedersen 4. Jim Donaldson 5. Ken Hyde Sr. 6. Tom Kraft 7.
Will Farrell 8. Scott Pedersen 9. Tom Ferrara 10. Ken Hyde Jr.
11. Michael Rommeney 12. Bob Dalke 13. John Vullo
Chargers 30-laps: 1. Chris Turbush
2. Dan Turbush 3. Chris McGuire 4. Jeremy McDermott 5. Daryn
Miller 6. Frank Dumicich Jr. 7. Brad Van Houten 8. Garret
Frabizio 9. Tom Anderson 10. Jay Henschel 11. Jerry Solomito 12.
Chris Frabizio 13. Kory Comiskey 14. Rusty Turbush 15. Wes
Zaleski 16. Frank Scimeca Jr. 17. Erin Dumicich 18. Allen Reeves
Blunderbusts 20-laps: 1. Rob Bader 2. Scott Maliszewski
3. Ed Mistretta 4. Tom Sullivan 5. Kevin Rommeney 6. Terry
Stiles 7. Tommy Walkowiak 8. Bill Wegmann Jr. 9. Paul Parisi 10.
Bill Wegmann Sr. 11. Ray Shannon 12. Bill Portney Sr. 13. Caesar
Cunaccia 14. Randy Johnson 15. Matt Pepitone 16. Scott Sepe 17.
Joe Pingitore 18. Tim Mulqueen
Super Pro trucks 20-laps: 1. John Denniston 2. Frank
Dumicich Sr. 3. Mike Albasini 4. Roger Turbush 5. Dave Koenig 6.
Danny Grennan 7. Rob McCormick 8. Lou Maestri 9. Chris Turbush
10. Greg Podlaski 11. Frank Dumicich Jr. 12. Bryan Quilliam 13.
Erin Dumicich 14. Anthony Daleo 15. Shaun Gouldsbury 16.
Kathleen Hallock 17. Anthony Vecchio
Legend Race Cars 20-laps: 1. Tony Naglieri 2. Tom Sherman
3. Kevin Nowak 4. Tom Rogers Jr. 5. John Beatty 6. Timmy
Solomito 7. Johnny Gloor IV 8. Bill Hiscock 9. Silas Hiscock Sr.
10. Paul Dodorico 11. Fred Card 12. JD Abrahams 13. Christopher
A. Young 14. Anthony Cacioppo 15. Glenn Maningo 16. Joe Sedotto
17. Jim Sylvester 18. Bryan Johnson 19. Dan Pace 20. Silas
Hiscock Jr. 21. James Pape 22. Johnny Brand
Grand Enduro 50-laps (top five): 1. Ray Fitzgerald 2. Tom
Slee 3. Jimmy White Jr. 4. Walter Stroud 5. James Charrier
Source: Bob
Finan / Riverhead Raceway
Posted: May
11, 2009
