LI LEGENDS VISIT BETHEL
By Tracy Chirico
With the Riverhead season officially over,
six Riverhead Legends teams made their way to Bethel Motor
Speedway this past Saturday to tackle the relatively flat ¼-mile
oval. When all was said and done, Riverhead cars occupied three
of the top five – and five of the top ten – finishing positions.
Paul Dodorico, a former three-time champion at the speedway, was
the highest-finishing Riverhead regular, as he collected a
runner-up finish. Chris Young, who started on the pole, led
early before being passed by Mike Alcaro on lap five.
Young sat on the pole for the start of the 20-lap feature, and
he shot out front at the drop of the green. Raven Schrantz
settled into second, and JD Abrahams grabbed third. Alcaro, the
current points leader at Bethel , started the event fifth and
worked his way past Abrahams for third on lap two, coming to
second one lap later. Dodorico, who started the race from
seventh, passed Abrahams to take fourth on lap four. Alcaro took
the lead from Young on lap five. Johnny Demarmels spun on lap
six, bringing out the first caution of the race.
For the restart, Young was on the outside pole. Dodorico was
fourth, with Abrahams fifth. Jeffrey Goodale was in 11th, while
Jay Sendlewski was 12th. Justin Strumpf, in his first-ever
feature race start in a Legends car, sat in 15th.
When racing resumed, Alcaro took the lead and Young held second.
Dodorico used an inside pass to grab third from Schrantz on lap
eight. Demarmels went around again on lap ten, and the caution
was back out. Young was still in second, with Dodorico third,
Abrahams fifth, and Goodale ninth. Sendlewski was in tenth, and
Strumpf was 14th.
Alcaro again jumped out front, but the caution was back out
almost immediately after Goodale made contact with Rob Rafferty
in a frontstretch tangle that ended up involving Joe Fresco and
resulted in Goodale needing to be towed off the track. Young,
Dodorico, and Abrahams remained in the same positions, while
Sendlewski moved up to eighth and Strumpf was bumped up to 11th.
Alcaro and Young took off from the front row, with Alcaro
quickly getting out front. Dodorico worked his way to the inside
of Young, and Dodorico was able to take second on lap 11.
Caution came out just two laps later when Schrantz spun.
Dodorico, Young, and Abrahams occupied the second, third, and
fourth positions, respectively, for the restart. Sendlewski was
seventh, and Strumpf had broken into the top ten.
The single-file restart saw Dodorico chase Alcaro, but Alcaro
was unstoppable as he went on to collect his ninth win of the
2009 season at Bethel . Dodorico walked away with a runner-up
finish. Young, Abrahams, and Joe DeGracia rounded out the top
five.
Legends are slated to run at Bethel next Saturday, September
26th. They will also be included as part of the “Bethel Motor
Madness” weekend on October 3rd and 4th, with features both
days. That weekend will mark the end of the 2009 season at
Bethel .
In other action at Bethel, former Riverhead Blunderbust champion
Chris Chirico competed in two Street Stock features, as the
division ran its regular feature in addition to a holdover
feature that drivers qualified for on August 22nd prior to
rain.. Chirico finished sixth in the holdover feature, while he
collected his first top five at Bethel in the night’s regular
event.
Legends Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. Mike Alcaro, 2. Paul
Dodorico, 3. Chris Young, 4. JD Abrahams, 5. Joe DeGracia, 6.
Johnny Demarmels, 7. Jay Sendlewski, 8. John Hugate, 9. Rich
Sennett, 10. Justin Strumpf, 11. Raven Schrantz, 12. John Lotti,
13. Matt Evans, 14. Rob Rafferty, 15. Jeffrey Goodale, 16. Joe
Fresco.
Holdover Street Stock Feature Finish (15 laps): 1. Gary VanOrden,
2. Brent Shaddock, 3. Tommy Johnson, 4. Rich Wheeler, 5. Charlie
Houghtaling, 6. Chris Chirico, 7. Shawn Maloney.
Street Stock Feature Finish (15 laps): 1. Gary VanOrden, 2.
Tommy Johnson, 3. Kevin Skelly, 4. Charlie Houghtaling, 5. Chris
Chirico, 6. Shawn Maloney, 7. Rich Wheeler, 8. Vinny Stanton
Sr., 9. Jason Chevalier, 10. Brent Shaddock.. DNS – Matt Curry.
Source: Tracy Chirico /
Bethel Motor Speedway
Posted: September
20, 2009
