Restart Prowess Drives John Fortin to Winner's Circle
John Fortin of Holtsville used an 11th lap
double file restart to his
advantage Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway to score the
victory in the
35-lap NASCAR Modified feature event for the Whelen All-American
Series. The
victory was worth $1,450 to the former three time track champion
and his
24th career visit to victory lane.
Bill Park jumped from the outside pole to
the race lead on the initial start
of the race over pole sitter Ken Darch who settled into second
for the four
laps. Lap 5 saw Timmy Solomito, the opening night winner, slide
under Darch
for second behind Park. The duo soon would find themselves side
by side on a
double file restart on the 10th lap and when the green waved
Park took off,
while Solomito appeared to have spun the tires allowing third
place John
Fortin to slip by for second. Just a lap later another quick
yellow flag
waved for a minor incident setting-up yet another two by two
restart, this
time with Park being joined on the front row by Fortin and this
would turn
out to be the turning point of the race.
When the green light blinked back on John
Fortin once again got a great
restart and was able to ride the outside line into the first
corner for the
race lead over Bill Park. Once out front Fortin, steering the
SGS Stone
Works Chevy was able to open up a comfortable gap on Park, who
now had
Justin Bonsignore breathing down his neck from third position.
This all
played right into the hands of John Fortin who was now able to
build his
lead, lap after lap, right up until the final checker flag waved
over his
flawless racecar.
"We were able to get the lead on that
double file restart from Bill because
of our Performance Technology motor" Fortin boasted afterwards,
"I feel we
have the best engine program here and it showed tonight". John
also praised
his small, but dedicated team members, "we're short some people
this year,
but my team just keeps working harder and harder to win races".
Bill Park of Manorville in his JAD Carpet
Showcase Chevy was able to thwart
the advances of Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville to claim
runner-up money,
while Bonsignore crossed the line third in the M3 Technology
machine. Timmy
Solomito of Islip and Howie Brode of E. Islip completed the top
five in the
23-car field.
Arne Pedersen of Mastic Beach claimed his
second consecutive Cromarty Cup in honor of Barbara Cromarty's
birthday, when he won the special race for the
Figure Eight class in a 20-lap contest. Arne at the keyboards of
the BNR
Construction Dodge broke to the race lead at the throw of the
green flag and
never looked back, despite the race long presence of Mike Mujsce
of
Westhampton Beach in his mirror. Mujsce was able to shadow the
eventual race
winner over the entire distance before he posted a second place
finish in
the Bill Beener Tree Service racer. The surprise of the night
came when
Justin Bonsignore, the 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rookie
of the Year,
was first announced as the driver of the Ralph Tasso owned
Chevy, which he
promptly drove to a third place finish, subbing for opening
night winner Tom
Rogers Jr. who was at a family wedding. Justin later admitted if
he had some
more laps in the car, he might very well have put the Island
Wide Garage
Doors entry into victory lane.
For the second straight week Chris McGuire
of Shirley drove his Long Island
Fiber Exchange Ford to victory in the 20-lap Charger feature
event with his
week two victory not as easy or perhaps as pretty as the opening
night
triumph. Derek Stachecki did a solid job leading the race over
the first 8
laps holding off the advances of Erin Dumicich, Chris McGuire
and CJ Lehmann
in the process. Lap 7 found Lehmann moving by for the lead with
McGuire
quickly coming to second and this tandem then went toe-to-toe in
a side by
side slugfest for the lead. McGuire would prevail after some
close
encounters with Lehmann soon racing Jeremy McDermott for second
in another
hotly contested race. They'd eventually get together off turn
two allowing
"Radiant" Ray Minieri to come to second. At the finish it was
Chris McGuire
racing under the checkers first with Ray Minieri of Bay Shore
second in the
Albin Avenue Auto Salvage Pontiac. Erin Dumicich of E. Quogue
had another
stellar run with a third place tally in her Edible Arrangements
Toyota.
"The Wildchild" Tommy Walkowiak of Ridge is
on a three race win streak in
the Blunderbusts as he won his second straight race of the 2011
campaign to
go along with his victory on the final night of racing in 2010.
"Turbo" Tom
Sullivan raced out front early with Gary Caldwell tucking into
second for
the first two laps. Lap 3 found Scott Maliszewski passing
Caldwell for
second with Tommy Walkowiak moving to third. A 6th lap, double
file restart
would change the look of the race as Walkowiak snuck under
Maliszewski for
second on lap 7 and just one lap later he'd set race leader Tom
Sullivan up
for the race lead. Over his now 45 career wins Walkowiak has
mastered a
crossover move, faking a pass to the outside before diving to
the inside
either entering or exiting a turn and on lap 8 he used that
maneuver on Tom
Sullivan to take the lead and eventual race win in his Blaze
Fuel Oil Chevy.
Tom Pickerell and Rob Bader moved to second and third in the
second half of
the race, with Bader first taking a run at Walkowiak in his
MoMo's Sports
Bar entry, before Tom Pickerell slipped by in his Premier
Utility Equipment
Chevy. Pickerell of Huntington would be runner-up, while Bader
of Holtsville
placed third.
At first it seemed as though defending
Super Pro Truck champion Roger
Turbush of Riverhead had scored a clean sweep in the 20-lap,
double point
main event. Roger set fast time with a lap 13.697, then led all
20-laps of
the feature event for an apparent week two victory. However in
post race
technical inspection the Allied Air Conditioning Chevy was found
with an
unapproved clutch assembly and what seemed like a perfect night
at the track
now became a nightmare for the third generation driver.
"Dangerous" Dave
Koenig of Freeport, who chased Roger over the entire 20 laps of
the
contest, was awarded the race win in his Nelson's Auto Salvage
Chevy, his
7th career win. Erin Dumicich of E. Quogue, who is off to her
best start in
both the Super Pro Trucks, as well as Chargers was runner-up in
her
Sea-Level Construction Dodge, while brother Frank also of E.
Quogue was
third in his Teddy Bear Graphics Chevy.
Chris Young of Calverton grew-up in the
shadows of Riverhead Raceway
spending his entire life watching his father Chris slug it out
in the high
speed NASCAR Modifieds hoping like his father had done on 32
occasions, he
too would visit the checker board victory lane on the front
stretch. Well,
Saturday night, the honors student did just that winning his
first career
Legend Race Car feature at his home track. Timmy Solomito led
the first four
laps of the contest and was doing battle with Chris Young when
his night
suddenly went south with a flat front tire forcing him to the
pits. Chris
Young, who was pressuring the race leader hard for the top spot
was the new
race leader with another young hard charger in Johnnie Gloor IV
hot on his
heels. Gloor tried to find both a groove and the momentum to get
around the
race leader but as the race wore on he'd soon find himself
trying to fight
off opening night winner Kevin Nowak for third. That was music
to the ears
of Chris Young in the Ray The Plumber machine as he was able to
gain some
breathing room to the finish of the race. Johnnie Gloor IV of
Flanders was
runner-up in the Young Guns Motorsports Sedan. Late in the race
Kevin Nowak
fell to the infield with a mechanical issue, propelling Tom
Sherman of
Farmingdale to a third place finish in the Oval Speed Unlimited
mount.
Despite starting deep in the 20-car Grand
Enduro field Ray Fitzgerald of
Manorville scored yet another convincing win in their 50-lap
main event.
Fitzgerald worked his way methodically through the pack to take
the race
lead away from David Antos who was seeking his first career win.
Once out
front Fitzgerald in the Oakfield Leasing Chevy never looked back
and by the
time Mike Rickert's final checker flag waved Ray had built a
three quarter
of a lap cushion over Don Carasiti of St. James the runner-up.
NASCAR Modifieds 35-laps: 1. John Fortin 2.
Bill Park 3. Justin Bonsignore
4. Timmy Solomito 5. Howie Brode 6. Shawn Solomito 7. Brad Van
Houten 8.
Wayne Anderson 9. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 10. Jason Agugliaro 11.
Frank
Saladino 12. Jeremy McDermott 13. Eric Goodale 14. Ken Darch 15.
Sean
McDonald 16. Dave Brigati 17. Jerry Solomito 18. Glenn Logan 19.
John Fortin
Jr. 20. Chris Young 21. John Beatty Jr. 22. Kevin Orlando 23.
Mike Watson
Cromarty Cup Figure Eights 20-laps: 1. Arne
Pedersen 2. Mike Mujsce 3.
Justin Bonsignore 4. Tom Ferrara 5. Roger Maynor 6. Mike Herbst
7. Dennis
Scott 8. Ken Hyde Jr. 9. Scott Pedersen 10. Steve Stadler 11.
Tim Farrell
Chargers 20-laps: 1. Chris McGuire 2. Ray
Minieri 3. Erin Dumicich 4. Derek
Stachecki 5. Daryn Miller 6. Tom Sullivan 7. Frank Dumicich Jr.
8. John
Baker 9. CJ Lehmann 10. Chris Turbush 11. Jeremy McDermott 12.
Brian Doyle
13. Eric Zeh 14. Frank Scimeca Jr. 15. Allen Reeves
Blunderbusts 20-laps: 1. Tommy Walkowiak 2.
Tom Pickerell 3. Rob Bader 4.
Bill Wegmann 5. Tom Sullivan 6. Scott Maliszewski 7. Tim
Mulqueen 8. Bill
Portney Sr. 9. Brandon Hubbard 10. Ed Mistretta 11. Michael
Rommeney 12.
Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 13. Scott Sepe 14. Paul Parisi 15. Tom
Puccia 16. Gary
Caldwell 17. Jimmy White Jr. 18. Jack Handley Jr. 19. Fred Nolan
Super Pro Trucks 20-laps: 1. Dave Koenig 2.
Erin Dumicich 3. Frank Dumicich
Jr. 4. Frank Dumicich Sr. 5. Lou Maestri 6. Mike Albasini 7.
Brian
McElearney 8. Kathleen Hallock 9. Keith Rotzi 10. Peter Rotzi
11. Kevin
Scharfenberg 12. Chris Turbush DQ-Roger Turbush
Legend Race Cars 20-laps: 1. Chris Young 2.
Johnnie Gloor Iv 3. Tom Sherman
4. Justin Strumpf 5. Vinny Delaney 6. Tom Marsh 7. Chris Rogers
8. Tony
Naglieri 9. Kyle Soper 10. Paul Dodorico 11. Gelnn Maningo 12.
Jim Sylvester
13. John Harley 14. Jeffery Goodale 15. Michael Rommeney 16.
Mike Malone 17. Kevin Nowak 18. Artie Pedersen III 19. Cody
Triola 20. Timmy Solomito 21.
Kyle Ellwood 22. Dylan Slepian 23. Jim Byrne 24. Jason
Sendlewski
Grand Enduro 50-laps: Winner- Ray Fitzgerald
Source:
Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR
Posted: May
16, 2011
