Saturday night the annual New York State Fraternal Order of
Police night was staged at Riverhead Raceway and the NASCAR
Whelen All-American Series program was run between the raindrops
Dave Brigati of Calverton topped the 35-lap NASCAR Modified
feature event making it Dave's first of 2009 and fifth overall
career victory.
Five-time champion Wayne Anderson jumped out front at the drop
of the green with Dave Brigati making a bold early race move to
come from third to second under outside pole sitter Justin
Bonsignore. Over the ensuing 26-laps Anderson, author of 31 wins
at Riverhead, and Brigati played a high-speed game of cat and
mouse while intermittent raindrops fell. Brigati looked low and
looked high lap after lap trying to find a lane past Wayne for
the lead, but Anderson was able to ward him off as they dealt
with lapped traffic along the way.
The entire complexion of the race changed as the field started
the 27th lap when Anderson and Brigati went for the same opening
while lapping a slower car with contact resulting. Anderson spun
and also collected in the incident were Justin Bonsignore, Bill
Park, Chris Young and Timmy Solomito, with Bonsignore and
Solomito done for the event. On the ensuing restart Dave Brigati
was now the race leader and over the final 9-laps he'd have to
deal with Chuck Steuer who was seeking his second win of the
year. Chuck put the heat on Dave over those final nine circuits
riding his rear spoiler, but that was as close as he'd end up to
the eventual winner.
At the finish it was the WPW Growers Chevy of Dave Brigati
scoring the win that he celebrated by doing one of the wildest
burnouts seen at the quarter mile. "My engine builder Richie of
McBetts might not be happy right now," Dave noted after the
burnout. "Wayne and I came up on a lapped car and we both shot
for the same opening, we got together and I feel bad about it,
but neither one of us was lifting".
Chuck Steuer of Bohemia was a close second in the Tennessee
Jed's Barbeque Restaurant Chevy, while David Roys of Coram with
no practice time on his ATC Chevy crossed the line next after
starting the race 11th. Rusty Turbush of Manorville and Eddie
Brunnhoelzl III completed the top five.
Late race contact also played a role in the 25-lap Late Model
feature event where Scott Kulesa of Georgetown, Ma, notched his
second win of the season. After Doug Renalds set the pace for
the first lap veteran Shawn Patrick moved by for the lead on the
second lap. Mike Coll zipped by Renalds for second on lap 3 with
Tom Rogers Jr. also moving to third while Patrick pulled away
slightly as Coll and Rogers battled. That duel got too close on
lap 5 with contact drawing a yellow moving Scott Kulesa from
fourth to second. Right from the restart Kulesa served notice to
Patrick he was hot on his heels as Scott looked low and high for
a groove by Shawn. Every offensive move Kulesa made was met with
a defensive response by Patrick and with just a handful of laps
remaining Shawn spun off turn four making Scott Kulesa the new
race leader. At the finish Scott Kulesa steering the Ranco Sand
& Stone Pontiac scored his 15th career victory and afterwards he
said, "I tried him high and low, he blocked me pretty hard and
here you have to pick a groove." Kevin Metzger of Massapequa was
runner-up in the Axel Anderson Inc. entry while Roger Oxee of
Peconic recovered nicely from an early race spin for third in
the North Fork Sanitation Pontiac.
Timing is everything in life and Saturday that was especially
true for "Dynamite" Dan Turbush of Riverhead who won his 51st
career Charger main event. After Erin Dumicich led the first lap
of the tilt, Garret Frabizio raced by for the lead on lap two
and was the race leader when a rain delay slowed the race on lap
4. After the track was dried, racing resumed with Frabizio
leading Erin Dumicich until lap 7 when Dan Turbush overtook her
for second to the inside off turn four. Right from that point
Turbush went to work testing Frabizio for the lead in a caution
flag marred event. On lap 12 Turbush was able to get by Frabizio
for the lead and just after the field completed the 13th lap
with Turbush out front a yellow flag waved and the time limit
expired just a quarter mile too late for Frabizio who was
seeking his first career victory. At the finish it was the
Tuscany Gourmet Foods Pontiac of Dan Turbush sitting in victory
lane, while Garret Frabizio of E. Patchogue scored his second
runner-up finish of '09 in the No Regrets Clothing racer. Chris
McGuire of Shirley crossed the line third in the Gershow
Recycling Ford.
The Blunderbust division lived up to their reputation of
exciting finishes over the final few laps of their feature event
with Tommy "The Wildchild" Walkowiak of Ridge emerging with his
36 career win. Two unlikely names sat up front over the first
quarter of the race as Bill Portney led the first two laps
before Caesar Cunaccia moved by on lap three and led the race
until lap 7 when "The Pistol" Paul Parisi raced by with an
inside pass off turn two. Once out front Parisi looked to be the
man to beat and just after the halfway mark he was joined out
front by Scott Maliszewski in a fight for the lead. The tandem
would slug it out lap after lap until the start of the 17th lap
when they both spun after contact that resulted in Tommy
Walkowiak racing from third to the lead, as no caution was
needed for the leaders spin. With just over two laps to go Tommy
Walkowiak driving the Unique Golf Chevy was off to the races for
his second win of 2009. "Krazy" Ed Mistretta of New Hyde Park
was runner-up in the Bams Auto Body mount, while "Turbo" Tom
Sullivan of Massapequa crossed the line third in the Custom
Exteriors Lincoln.
The only casualty to the intermittent rain would be the Figure
Eight division. Just after the NASCAR Modified event the class
pulled onto the track and as they did the rain picked-up in
intensity. With it already being nearly 10:30 pm and the radar
showing no let up the race was postponed until August 15th.
06/13/09 - Riverhead Raceway Finishes
NASCAR Modifieds 35-laps: 1. Dave Brigati 2. Chuck Steuer 3.
David Roys 4. Rusty Turbush 5. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 6. Chris
Young 7. Bill Park 8. Ken Darch 9. John Fortin 10. Wayne
Anderson 11. Amber Fortin 12. John Beatty 13. Sean McDonald 14.
J.R. Bertuccio 15. Justin Bonsignore 16. Timmy Solomito 17.
Kevin Orlando 18. Shawn Solomito 19. Mike Power 20. Tony Anello
Late Models 25-laps: 1. Scott Kulesa 2. Kevin Metzger 3. Roger
Oxee 4. Peter Eriksen 5. Jarrod Hayes 6. Chris LaSpisa 7. Doug
Renalds 8. Ralph Stanzione 9. Artie Pedersen 10. Chuck Deon 11.
Mike Coll 12. Tom Rogers Jr. 13. Shawn Patrick 14. Mike Bologna
Chargers 13-laps (time limit) 1. Dan Turbush 2. Garret Frabizio
3. Chris McGuire 4. Erin Dumicich 5. Tom Anderson 6. Bryan Doyle
7. Allen Reeves 8. Jerry Solomito 9. Frank Scimeca Jr. 10. Dave
O'Connell 11. Jeremy McDermott 12. Jay Henschel 13. Kory
Comiskey 14. Chris Turbush 15. Frank Dumicich Jr. 16. Joe Oliver
17. Daryn Miller
Blunderbusts 20-laps: 1. Tommy Walkowiak 2. Ed Mistretta 3. Tom
Sullivan 4. Rob Bader 5. Kevin Rommeney 6. Tom Pickerell 7. Ray
Shannon 8. Bill Wegmann Sr. 9. Paul Parisi 10. Tim Mulqueen 11.
Matt Pepitone 12. Terry Stiles 13. Caesar Cunaccia 14. Randy
Johnson 15. Scott Sepe 16. Bill Portney Sr. 17. Scott
Maliszewski 18. Jarrod Hayes 19. Bill Wegmann Jr.
Source: Bob Finan /
Riverhead Raceway
Posted: June 13, 2009
