Island Insight
by Greg
Berkowitz
This past Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway was a night of
firsts, with three drivers earning their first career feature
wins of their respective divisions.
The evening began with Anthony Cacioppo, a former go-kart
champion, taking his first career victory in Riverhead’s Legends
Cars division. He battled with Michael Malone for the lead all
race long. At one point, Malone had passed Cacioppo, but a
caution came out before the entire field completed the lap and,
as per track rules, the field was reset to running order of the
prior lap, giving Cacioppo the lead on the next restart.
However, cautions once again plagued the Legends Cars and the
race was called after completing only 12 of 20 laps, and
Cacioppo took the win under yellow.
The trend of first-time winners continued in the following
Blunderbust feature, when Bill Wegmann Jr. won. Wegmann, who
like Cacioppo started racing with go-karts, started from the
pole and led every lap. Wegmann is the son of the “Racing
Grandpa” Bill Wegmann Sr., who is well known for his signature
No. 79 Blunderbust that he has campaigned for many years.
The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series program closed out the
night with rookie Modified driver John Beatty Jr. earning his
first career feature victory. Beatty, a former winner Legends
Car victor as well as go-kart competitor, started from the front
row after second-place Amber Fortin was black flagged for
jumping the start. Beatty used this to his advantage to jump out
to an early lead. Beatty further cemented his hold on the
Modified Rookie of the Year standings by holding off a
hard-charging Wayne Anderson, who also has a feel-good story.
Anderson recently returned to his No. 15 after missing most of
the season recovering from a cardiac episode following the
Riverhead Hall of Fame 100 earlier this year. Anderson appears
to have returned to the same form as prior to the incident as he
stuck to Beatty’s rear bumper like glue during the closing laps.
All Weekly Divisions to Return in 2011
Riverhead Late Model fans and teams received great news.
Contrary to the rumors of the division’s demise, Riverhead
Raceway announced that all of their weekly divisions will be
returning for 2011. Plagued by low car counts, Late Models have
been rumored to be nixed or be absorbed into the Charger
division. To the casual observer, the Chargers and Late Models
appear to be almost identical, both running typical “stock car”
bodies. However, beneath the skin they are two completely
different animals, with the Late Models having far less
restrictions than their more-stock Charger brethren. Combining
the two would bode difficult and ultimately would require teams
to spend more money to adjust for the differences, which would
place a bigger burden on their already cash-strapped budgets.
However, fortunately, those concerns were unfounded, and the
Late Models will be returning in 2011. It was fitting as
Saturday had a few Late Model competitors return after extended
absences. In fact, the eventual race winner, Chris LaSpisa,
spent a few weeks away this season after losing a motor.
Championship Battles Heat Up
As Riverhead enters the final weeks of 2010, the
championship battles across its divisions are being to take
shape. Last Saturday, it was feast or famine for various
divisions’ points leaders.
The Late Models’ Kevin Metzger and Legends Cars’ Kevin Nowak
earned top-five finishes to maintain their respective points
leads. Roger Turbush did the best one can do to keep his points
lead, by winning his fourth Super Pro Truck feature of what
Turbush is calling a “dream season.”
However, other points leaders didn’t fare so well. The
Blunderbusts’ Tommy Walkowiak started deep in the 21-car field,
which is fairly typical for Walkowiak. However, as the race
progressed, Walkowiak uncharacteristically struggled to move
through the field. Late race contact with another car led to a
spin for Walkowiak, which ultimately resulted in a 17th-place
finish. The low finish took a sizable chunk out Walkowiak’s
point lead over Tom Pickerell (who finished 4th). However,
thanks to Walkowiak’s impeccable 2010 performance otherwise,
which includes nine top-fives and three wins, he still holds a
46-point lead over Pickerell.
Tommy Rogers Jr. entered the night’s Modified feature with a
20-point lead over second-place Chuck Steuer. The race seemed to
be going in Rogers favor when both Steuer and John Fortin (who
was third-place in points) were involved in a wreck and headed
to the pits for repairs. At this point, the track announcers
announced that Fortin’s hopes of defending his 2009 modified
title were all but over. Fortin and Steuer eventually returned
to the track to make up whatever spots they could but then fates
suddenly reversed. A driveline issue developed in Rogers’ No. 6,
causing him to spin and subsequently retire from the race.
Fortin made the most of the opportunity by finishing third and
proving that his title hopes are still alive. Fortin moved into
second-place in points, eight points behind Rogers, proving once
again it isn’t over until it’s over. Steuer fell to third in
points, but he's now only 10 points behind first.
Source: Greg Berkowitz/LongIslandJam.com
Posted: August
15, 2010
