John Fortin of Holtsville does not want to see the month of
May end at Riverhead Raceway as he batted .500 winning his
second NASCAR Modified feature event Saturday night in a 50-lap
contest, the fourth race of 2009. The victory was the 19th in
John's career win and padded his early season point advantage to
20 over Chuck Steuer.
In pre-race time trials two 60-plus year old drivers set the
standard with Bill Park (12.045) edging out Wayne Anderson
(12.113) for fast time, Park earned $100 from Brigandi Brothers
Automotive. After the redraw Dave Brigati raced to the lead from
the pole with Chuck Steuer in tow, but a quick yellow for a
multi car tangle off the fourth corner set up an early race
double file restart. On that restart Bill Park with a bold move
rode from third to the lead in the first corner when Brigati and
Steuer went up the hill slightly, brining John Fortin to second
with him.
However another quick yellow two laps later found John Fortin
getting a good run on the outside on Park taking the lead of the
race on lap 6 and once out front the former two-time NASCAR
Modified champion poured it on. In the mean time Park found
himself racing with Dave Brigati for second, with Mike Andrews
Jr. soon to join that battle as the race wore on. Not even a
late race restart could slow down John Fortin as all it allowed
was for the three-car fight for second draw a tad closer to him
in the closing laps.
Upon exiting his car in victory lane John Fortin could hardly
contain his jubilation, "my crew chief Butch Capuano made some
changes this week and I really feel this is the best car I've
ever had" Fortin boldly claimed. As for the winning move" Billy
is a great racer, I think he might have spun the wheels on that
restart and I was able to get the jump and he gave me plenty of
room".
Bill Park of Manorville in the Smithtown Nissan Chevy would
prevail for runner-up money, while Dave Brigati of Calverton
crossed the line third in the WPW Rentals Chevy. Mike Andrews
Jr. of Ridge and Chuck Steuer of Bohemia completed the top five.
As the old adage states Chris Turbush of Riverhead was in the
right place at the right time to claim his second Charger win of
2009, 15th overall in his career. Over the first five laps the
top two positions changed hands no less than three times with
Tom Anderson leading the first two circuits before Daryn Miller
took the top spot on lap 3. After Frank Dumicich Jr. chased
Miller for two laps, Chris McGuire came to second looking to
loop around Miller for his second straight win. However contact
was made between the duo when McGuire moved alongside Miller,
with Chris spinning on lap 6 and Miller sent to the rear of the
field with him for rough riding. That moved Chris Turbush who
had raced his way from 7th to 3rd into the race lead and when
the race resumed Chris, steering the Chris Mohr Landscaping
Pontiac, ran away from the rest of the field for the triumph. It
was a good night for two of the underdogs in the class as Garret
Frabizio of Patchogue came home second in the No Regrets
Clothing entry, with Wes Zaleski of Southold grabbing a fine
third place tally in the Burt's Reliable Oil Pontiac.
Tommy "The Wildchild" Walkowiak of Ridge took full advantage of
a rare 5th place-starting berth to drive to his 35th career
Blunderbust victory in a 20-lap contest. The race went non-stop
and over the first three laps Scott Sepe and Ray Shannon raced
for the lead with Shannon sneaking by on lap 4. "Racing" Ray
would then show Sepe the way for three laps before Walkowiak
riding the outside lane had a ton of momentum that found him
passing both Sepe and Shannon on the high side on the home
stretch. Once in command of the race Tommy Walkowiak put the
Unique Golf Chevy on cruise control and drove to victory. "Slick
Pick" Tom Pickerell of Huntington made some late race noise
racing into second in the closing laps where he would finish in
the G-Force Collision Buick. Ray Shannon of Centereach was third
in the Premier Chimney & Masonry Chevy.
The 20-lap Super Pro truck main event produced a first career
victory for popular Rob "The Racer" McCormick of Calverton.
Shaun Gouldsbury moved out front at the throw of the green
chased for the first cycle by Erin Dumicich before Chris Turbush
slipped by for second on lap 2. The Gouldsbury and Turbush race
for the lead would intensify as the laps clicked off and just as
the field got the halfway signal they touched slowing both for a
moment and that allowed Rob McCormick in one clean sweep to race
from third to the lead on lap 10. With McCormick now leading,
Gouldsbury and Turbush went at it for second before Gouldsbury
spun after some hard racing on lap 15. With less that five laps
to go Mike Albasini roared into second spot on lap 17 with an
inside move on Turbush in turn two, but it would prove to be too
little too late for "The King of Queens". At the finish it was
the Pete's Landscaping Dodge of Rob McCormick enjoying his first
trip to victory lane, with Mike Albasini of Flushing runner-up
in the HCC Collision entry. John Denniston of Westbury rode a
late race surge to claim third in the North Fork Sanitation
Chevy.
Controversy was abound when the 20-lap Legend Race Car main
event took the checker flag as Kevin Nowak of Medford thought he
had won his second career race. However it was deemed by INEX
Officials that Nowak passed race lead Johnnie Gloor IV to the
inside prior to the start/finish line during a late race restart
and penalized him one position which meant Gloor who crossed the
line second was actually the race winner in his Cronk Burger
Apparel entry. Kevin claimed Johnnie missed a shift and he had
no choice to go under the leader, but track officials who have
made this call consistently for several seasons now stuck to
their guns. That gave Johnnie Gloor of Flanders his first career
win in the division. Meanwhile Kevin Nowak of Medford would see
his night go from bad to worse when he was disqualified in post
race tech for an altered muffler erasing a second place finish.
Early race leader Silas Hiscock Jr. of Bridgehampton was now the
second place finisher in the Bridgehampton Tank Cleaning
machine, while Glenn Maningo of E. Moriches posted a third place
finish in the Jack Anthony Pools racer.
Shawn Wanat of Riverhead made a triumphant return to victory
lane when he won the 50-lap 4/6-Cylinder Truck Enduro after
Kevin Nowak cut a left front tire with just two laps to go.
Nowak had moved out front on lap 14 when he lopped around both
Brian Brown and Wanat for the lead and looked like he'd salvage
his night. But just after the field got the two to go signal
Kevin's left front went down sending him up the track in turn
one. That allowed Shawn Wanat who was running a close second to
move his Spits Speed Shop truck out front for the final lap and
a half. John Cozza of Medford was runner-up in the Blue Point
Auto Body Chevy, while Don Nelson Jr. of Rocky Point had a
strong night with a third in the Nelson Brothers Racing Chevy.
05/30/09 - Riverhead Raceway Finishes
NASCAR Modifieds 50-laps: 1. John Fortin 2. Bill Park 3. Dave
Brigati 4. Mike Andrews Jr. 5. Chuck Steuer 6. Jimmy Blewett 7.
Justin Bonsignore 8. Timmy Solomito 9. Chris Young 10. Brad Van
Houten 11. Larry Altholtz 12. Amber Fortin 13. Frank Saladino
14. Wayne Anderson 15. Dennis Freese 16. Rusty Turbush 17. Tom
Rogers Jr. 18. Tony Anello
Chargers 20-laps: 1. Chris Turbush 2. Garret Frabizio 3. Wes
Zaleski 4. Dan Turbush 5. Jerry Solomito 6. Tom Anderson 7. Brad
Van Houten 8. Frank Dumicich Jr. 9.Chris McGuire 10. Daryn
Miller 11. Kory Comiskey 12. Brian Doyle 13. Chris Frabizio 14.
Erin Dumicich 15. Jay Henschel 16. Frank Scimeca Jr.
Blunderbusts 20-laps: 1. Tommy Walkowiak 2. Tom Pickerell 3. Ray
Shannon 4. Scott Maliszewski 5. Kevin Rommeney 6. Jarrod Hayes
7. Bill Wegmann 8. Rob Bader 9. Tom Sullivan 10. Bill Wegmann
Jr. 11. Ed Mistretta 12. Matt Pepitone 13. Caesar Cunaccia 14.
Paul Parisi 15. Bill Portney Sr. 16. Randy Johnson 17. Tim
Mulqueen 18. Scott Sepe DQ- Terry Stiles (weight)
Super Pro Trucks 20-laps: 1. Rob McCormick 2. Mike Albasini 3.
John Denniston 4. Lou Maestri 5. Chris Turbush 6. Frank Dumicich
Jr. 7. Erin Dumicich 8. Shaun Gouldsbury 9. Frank Dumicich Sr.
10. Anthony Vecchio 11. Dave Koenig 12. Kathleen Hallock 13.
Roger Turbush 14. Greg Podlaski 15. Bryan Quilliam
Legend Race Cars 20-laps: 1. Johnnie Gloor IV 2. Silas Hiscock
Jr. 3. Glenn Maningo 4. Timmy Solomito 5. Tom Rogers Jr. 6. Tom
Sherman 7. Bill Hiscock 8. Tony Naglieri 9. Greg DiCanio 10.
Silas Hiscock Sr. 11. J.D. Abrahams 12. Jim Pape Jr. 13. Fred
Card 14. Mike Malone 15. Max Zachem 16. Chris Young 17. Joe Sole
18. Tommy Barton 19. Joe Sedotto 20. Dan Pace 21. Paul Dodorico
22. Anthony Cacioppo 23. John Beatty DQ- Kevin Nowak (muffler)
4/6-Cylinder Truck Enduro 50-laps (top five): 1. Shawn Wanat 2.
John Cozza 3. Don Nelson Jr. 4. Kevin Nowak 5. Jeff Gregor
Source: Bob Finan /
Riverhead Raceway
Posted: May
30, 2009
