It was a breezy, damp night of racing at Riverhead Raceway,
but what a great night of racing it was. On hand for the 2nd
official week of racing were the Modifieds, the first race for
the Late Models who would go 50 laps for double points in a
time-trialed race, Legends, Super Pro Trucks, the Cromarty Cup
25 lap Figure-8’s as well as 8 cyl. Enduros.
Out on the track first were the time trials for the Late Models.
The Ranco Sand & Stone #10 of Scott Kulesa would set fast time
with an amazing 12.855. Second would go to Harley Davidson of
Nassau Co. #68 of Buzzy Eriksen, third to the Patrick Racing #88
of Shawn Patrick, fourth spot would go to the sponsor wanted #61
of Mike Coll. Rounding out the top five would be the Metzger
Racing #23 of Mike Metzger.
The Legends were next out for two heat races. The first heat was
led every lap by the Nowak Racing #53 of Kevin Nowak. The second
heat was won by the Oval Speed Unlimited #27 of Tom Sherman.
The Legends would then return for their 20 lap feature. #77
“Wild Bill” Hiscock would start on the pole for the second week
in a row with the Plycon Van Lines/Plycar #18 of James Pape Jr.
on the outside. At the drop of the green Hiscock would jump out
to the lead with side by side racing behind him. The first
caution would come out on lap two for Pape Jr. as he went
spinning collecting the #37 of Silas Hiscock Jr., the #6 of Tom
Rogers Jr. and the earfuze.com #74 of John Visconti. Hiscock Jr.
and Visconti would need a tow into the pits with heavy damage
done to their cars. Rogers would also pit under the caution and
make it out before the restart. On that restart Wild Bill would
grab the lead with the Nowak Racing #53 of Kevin Nowak coming to
second. The Oval Speed Unlimited #27 of Tom Sherman would follow
Nowak getting to third under the #3 of Dan Pace on lap three.
Nowak would come to the lead on lap four getting inside Wild
Bill. Four laps later on lap eight, Sherman would get by Wild
Bill for 2nd coming off turn two. “Speedy” John Beatty in the
Automatic Printing & Mailing Services #88 would follow Sherman
to take third on lap nine. Nowak would have a big lead over
Sherman when on lap 16 a caution waved for debris. The restart
would show the finish, with Nowak taking the dominating win
followed by Sherman in 2nd, the Snap-On #15 of Timmy Solomito
3rd and the Eveready Motorsports #94 of Tony Naglieri coming in
4th.
Next out onto the track were the Super Pro Trucks who would be
going 20 laps with 17 trucks. On the pole would be the Tonino's
Pizza #95 of Erin Dumicich with the Eddy's Long Island RV Center
#30 of Shawn Gouldsbury on the outside. At the drop of the
green, Dumicich would take the lead with brother Frank Dumicich
Jr. in the Teddy Bear Graphics T-Shirts & Novelties #42 coming
to second. Three-wide racing between the Marcello Masonry #88 of
Roger Turbush, the Nelson's Auto Salvage #97 of “Dangerous” Dave
Koenig and the #30 of Shaun Gouldsbury resulted in minor contact
between the trucks, sending Gouldsbury spinning on lap ten. The
caution was waving not for the spin but for debris in turn two,
allowing Gouldsbury to pit and make it back out before the
restart. The lap ten restart would see the Erin Dumicich again
shooting out to the lead. On lap twelve, Erin slid high off turn
two allowing Frank Dumicich Jr. to get underneath and after a
battle take the lead. Koenig would follow for 3rd as Erin
Dumicich fell off the pace. On the final lap Turbush would get
inside on Koenig off turn four after laps of great racing and
take 2nd by a few feet. Frank Dumicich Jr. would hang on for win
followed by Turbush in second, Koenig in third, the Gershow
Recycling #1 of Lou Maestri in fourth with the JYD Enterprises
#2x of John Denniston rounding out the top five.
The Late Models were next out for their first race of the 2009
season, a 50 lap double point race. After a redraw for starting
position, the AMC Technology #39 of Roger Oxee would start on
the pole with the Ranco Sand & Stone #10 of fast time setter
Scott Kulesa on the outside. At the drop of the green Kulesa
would grab the lead with Oxee coming to second. On lap five the
Patrick Racing #88 of Shawn Patrick would spin and pull into the
infield with a flat. The field would be spread out with Kulesa
building a big lead. The Unique Golf Shop #4 of Tom Rogers Jr.
would come to fourth getting inside the Harley Davidson of
Nassau Co. #68 of Buzzy Eriksen on lap thirteen. After minor
contact with the Metzger Racing #23 of Kevin Metzger, Buzzy
would fall to sixth as Metzger would use the inside on lap 16.
The first caution of the race would come out on lap 22 as the
WPW Growers #3 of Douglas Renalds would spin in turn two. The
restart would be yellow flagged after a car went spinning off
turn four as well the sponsor wanted #61 of Mike Coll getting
sideways after contact with Metzger. On the restart Oxee grabbed
the lead with Rogers Jr. getting inside Kulesa and taking 2nd.
Kulesa would fall off the pace as Rogers Jr. would be all over
the bumper of Oxee. The Sherwin-Williams Paints #51 of Artie
Pedersen Jr. would spin on the backstretch on lap 34, but no
yellow was thrown until Pedersen spun again on lap 35 in turn
two. During the caution Kulesa would pit and come back as well
as Buzzy Eriksen, and Metzger would get black flagged for rough
riding and sent to the rear of the field. The restart would
immediately get yellow flagged after racing resumed for the
P.C.H.S. Racing Engines #00 of Mike Bologna as he went spinning
in turn one, collecting Mike Coll. After being separated Coll
would pit and but not be able to return. The red flag would then
be shown to clean up oil around the track, which apparently
caused the abbreviated restart. On the next restart Oxee would
jump out to the lead with Rogers Jr. suffering from mechanical
problems and falling off the pace. Kulesa would get by Rogers
and set his sights on Oxee, and would catch him on lap 43.
Kulesa would get on the outside and then get by Oxee coming off
turn four for the lead. Pedersen would come to third getting
inside Eriksen off turn two on lap 48. Eriksen and Bologna would
both go spinning while battling for the fourth spot on the last
lap. Kulesa would drive to victory with Oxee holding on for
second, Pedersen finishing third, Metzger coming to fourth and
rounding out the top five was the LaSpisa Racing #7 of Chris
LaSpisa also having a strong race.
The Modifieds were next to hit the track for their 35 lap
feature. On the pole would be the Savin #11x of Chuck Steuer, on
the outside would be the Riverhead Building Supply #49 of Chris
Young. The green would fly and immediately be followed by the
yellow flag as a big wreck on the front stretch would send
numerous cars spinning and colliding. Many involved would have
to pit, among them were the WPW Growers #98x of Dave Brigati,
the Brunnhoelzl Motorsports #8x of Eddie Brunnhoelzl III and the
Eastport Feeds #15 of Wayne Anderson who were able to make it on
their own. Cars that needed a tow into the pits were the
Smithtown Nissan #20 of Bill Park and the Lakeland Landscaping
Supply #26 of Gary McDonald who both collided after Park went
spinning. Brunnhoelzl would come back out before the restart. On
that restart Steuer shot out to the lead but another caution
would wave as the WPW Growers #99 of Timmy Solomito would wind
up stalled high in turn one, requiring a push to get re-fired,
which opened the door for Brigati to make his way back on to the
track. The restart would see Steuer grabbing the lead once
again. A caution was brought out on lap five by the sponsor
wanted #04 of Amber Fortin, racing in her second race, after a
spin in the backstretch. The restart would once again see Steuer
taking the lead and the SGS Stoneworks #84 of John Fortin coming
to second getting to the inside of Young on lap five. The
caution would wave again on lap fifteen as Brunnhoelzl would
spin in the frontstretch. The restart would yet again see Steuer
taking the lead and Fortin all over him in the second spot. The
final caution would come on lap 22 as the #3 of Mike Andrews Jr.
would go spinning on the frontstretch. The restart would be the
way they finished with Steuer coming to victory lane, Fortin
coming in a strong second, Chris Young taking third, the Double
Diamond Realty #51 of Justin Bonsignore coming to fourth and
rounding out the top five would be Dave Brigati.
The 25 lap Cromarty Cup Figure-8 race was next out with the Long
Island DEUTZ #58 of Kenny Hyde Sr. on the pole and the Mike's
Auto Service #13 of Mike Mujsce Sr. on the outside. The green
flag would fly with Hyde taking the lead. The first of many
cautions would come out on lap 2 with the Long Island DEUTZ #85
of Kenny Hyde Jr. and the Cheesebox Racing #11 of Mike Rommeney
getting together in turn one. Both cars would pit and both would
come back. The Anthony's Custom Carpets #16 of Will Farrell
would would also return after going in before the start of the
race. The green flag would come out and be yellow flagged for
the #21 of Arthur Dalke as he went spinning and wound up in the
X with the field miraculously be able to avoid him. The green
would come out again with Tom Kraft taking the lead and Hyde
coming to second. Scott Pedersen would come to third getting to
the inside of Mujsce followed by Ralph Tasso in his first race
of the year. The caution would come out on lap seven as the
sponsor wanted #66 of John Vullo Jr., coming back in a different
car after his hard hit with the turn one wall last week, went
spinning in turn three. The yellow flag immediately followed the
green after a poor restart. The ensuing restart would see Kraft
taking the lead for two laps until the yellow flag would wave
yet again on lap nine. Dalke, Vullo, and Arne Pedersen would get
together in turn four with Dalke and Vullo staying out and
Pedersen pitting. The restart would see Kraft once again coming
to the lead, but yellow flag was out again on lap eleven as
Vullo went spinning and got stuck near the X. The restart would
now be single file and see Kraft shooting out to the lead with
the Barrasso & Sons Mason Supply #28 of Roger Maynor coming to
second. Maynor would try the outside on Kraft and Kraft would be
able to hold him off. Maynor would be all over Kraft and Kraft
doing a great job of holding him off. After contact off turn
four with Kraft, Maynor would take the lead as the caution would
come back out. The caution was for Vullo and Will Ferrell as
both would spin in turn two, and Kraft would pit and not return.
The restart would see Maynor grabbing the lead battling with
Scott Pedersen for the position. The caution would come out on
lap 17 as Rommeney and the Loebs & Gordon Poolcraft #47 of Slim
Jim Donaldson got together in turn three. The restart would see
Maynor grabbing the lead with Pedersen all over him, finishing
with Maynor with his second win of the season. Scott Pedersen
would come to second having a very strong race, Ralph Tasso
would have a very strong race as well as he would finish 3rd in
his first race of the season, fourth would go to Kenny Hyde Sr.
and Mike Mujsce would round out the top five.
The final race of the night would be the 41 car 8 cyl. Enduro.
Six laps into the race the red flag would fly after a problem
with the scoring system. After some time to fix the clock,
officials had little choice but to restart the race in fairness
to all the competitors. So, the green would fly once again and
the race would start from the beginning. Shortly after the start
the #4 would lose a tire that wound up caught under the #7
sending them both to the infield. The #29 would spin in turn
four and get plowed into by the #47, but both would continue.
The #33 would soon get stuck against the frontstretch wall. He
would find out it was a bad spot is was shortly after as the #38
hit him hard coming off turn four. The #12 would have an
interesting view of the race as his hood was stuck upwards for
most of it, although that didn‘t slow him down. By lap 25,
thirteen cars were parked on the infield. On lap 34, the #37 and
#11 would get together and make contact with the backstretch
wall into turn three. The #18 would make contact with the #11
and spin coming off turn four and also get stuck in a bad spot.
After many spins and near collisions, when it was all over
Anthony Pizzo in the #2 walked away the winner with the #14
coming to second, #10 in third, #3 in fourth and rounding out
the top 5 of an exciting race was the #15.
EXTRA:
Amber Fortin got her first top 10 of her career with a 9th place
finish in her sponsor wanted #04 Modified. Timmy Solomito also
finished in the top 10 in his second Modified race, finishing
8th.
Source: Ryan McGrellis/LongIslandJam.com
Posted: May
16, 2009
