Timmy Solomito Holds Off Justin Bonsignore in NASCAR Hall of
Fame 100
Two of the brightest young NASCAR
Modified stars in the game waged a classic
battle Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway in the NASCAR Hall of
Fame 100
with "The Natural" Timmy Solomito of Islip holding off a hard
charging
Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville in a battle that race fans will
be talking
about for years to come. The victory, Solomito's second in three
races in
2011, was worth $3,550 which included a $1,000 winner's bonus as
well as a
$500 first Riverhead Raceway driver across the line from ardent
race fan,
Jim Schaefer.
Justin Bonsignore set fast time among
the 32-cars to take to the clock with
a lap of 11.832 earning $100 from Brigandi Brothers Automotive
of Nesconset.
In the redraw, among the top six Bonsignore, as he feared drew
6th, while
Ronnie Silk and Timmy Solomito who were second and third in time
drew the
front row. Silk raced his way into the early race lead with
Solomito and Tom
Rogers Jr. in tow and the field ran green for the first 12 laps
before a
series of caution flags would slow the race. The cautions
periods did set-up
some great double file restarts that saw Solomito try and rim
ride the
outside lane around Silk, but with Rogers looming in third Timmy
would have
to tuck into line behind the defending race winner.
After several attempts at passing Silk
on the outside during those intense
restarts, Solomito finally hit pay dirt on lap 27 when he was
able to stay
to Silk's outside racing through the first and second corner.
Then with
some great forward momentum going into turn three Timmy became
the new race leader on lap 27 with Silk now second and a fast
closing Justin Bonsignore
third. Just two laps after Solomito took the race lead, another
of many
yellow flags waved for a hard hit by Ryan Preece off turn four.
It was at
that time that NASCAR Officials had seen enough of the yellow in
the period
in and around the quarter race mark and the call was made to go
to single
file restarts.
The move didn't hamper the excitement of
the race and, in fact, may have
added to the drama as a nice long green flag period ensued with
Solomito
showing the way while Ronnie Silk and Justin Bonsignore got
after each other
for second. Right at the halfway mark Bonsignore dove under Silk
to move to
second and set his sights on the race leader. What transpired
over the final
50-laps of the race was purely high speed art as Bonsignore
caught and
started to test Solomito for the lead in every turn of the
event. At time
late in the race Timmy would get loose exiting the corners as
Bonsignore
applied the pressure, but each and every time Justin backed off
the throttle
rather than drive through the leader to take the win, all the
while the
crowd on hand were on their collective feet cheering them on.
At the checker it was Timmy Solomito
wheeling the 2B Brothers Inc Chevy to
victory, his sixth career win. After receiving the NASCAR Hall
of Fame 100
Cup and jacket from Barbara & Jim Cromarty Timmy paused and
looked back on
the fierce battle with Justin Bonsignore, "first I have to thank
Justin for
running me really hard and super clean" Timmy reflected. "Early
on the
double file restarts with Ronnie, our Steve Mehner Engine pulled
us out
front finally and even though our car might not have been the
best tonight
we were able score what to date is the biggest win of my
career".
Justin Bonsignore, who tweaked his wrist
on lap 10 of the century grind
toughed it out for a stellar runner-up finish earning the $1,000
bonus for
the first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regular across the line in
his M3
Technology Chevy. Zane Zeiner of Bath, Pa., who never laid eyes
on the
demanding Riverhead oval, did a masterful job of bringing the
JDL
Environmental Chevy of Dave & Cindy Brigati home third, turning
many heads
in the process. Howie Brode of E. Islip and John Fortin of
Holtsville
completed the top five.
Mike Bologna of Melville enjoyed the
best season of his Late Model career in
2010 and picked-up where he left off with a wire to wire win in
the 25-lap
Late Model main event. Mike wasted no time roaring into the race
lead from
his outside pole starting berth, out racing Artie Pedersen to
turn one.
After Pedersen chased Bologna for the first lap, Shawn Patrick
had the chore
from laps two through eight before Roger Oxee and Scott Kulesa
moved to
second and third on lap 9. The lead Bologna had built up early
on was being
erased by the combination of Oxee and Kulesa when suddenly Oxee
spun off on
the 18th circuit leaving Kulesa to take up the chase. He too
however would
later be met with his own spin off turn two on lap 21 and that
chain of
events led to Peter Eriksen now sitting second behind Mike
Bologna. It
mattered not to Mike in his Schlaugies Fuel Oil Chevy who was
running second
as he drove off to his 6th career LM triumph at Riverhead
Raceway. Peter
"Buzzy" Eriksen of Baldwin was runner-up in the Harley Davidson
of Nassau
Chevy, while opening night winner Chris LaSpisa of Shirley
placed third in
his McBetts racing Engines Chevy.
Three time and defending Charger
champion Chris Turbush of Riverhead took
full advantage of a rare third starting position to score the
win in the
20-lap feature event. Impressive sophomore driver Eric Zeh raced
out front
at the drop of the green and proceeded to lead the first 5
circuits of the
contest before Chris Turbush who was chasing Eric was able to
slip by on lap
6. Zeh soon found himself under attack from third place CJ
Lehmann and
fourth place Jeremy McDermott when misfortune struck Zeh just 2
laps from
the conclusion of the race. Suddenly his car slowed and came to
a stop in
the infield drawing a late race caution and subsequent restart
that lined up
Lehmann and McDermott right on the back bumper of leader Chris
Turbush. The
green, white and checker was on the horizon but that didn't
bother Chris
Turbush in the Sapienza Racing Chevy as he drove to his 26th
career win,
breaking a tie with his uncle Rusty for third on the all-time
win list. CJ
Lehmann of Mastic Beach was runner-up in the Moriches Bay Diner
entry, while
the JDP Mechanical Chevy of Jeremy McDermott of E. Stroudsburg,
Pa placed
third.
Scott Maliszewski of Deer Park scored an
emotional win in the 20-lap
Blunderbust feature event, just over a month after his mother
Patricia
passed away. Michael "Cheesebox" Rommeney led the first dozen
laps of the
race with Jack Handley Jr., Gary Caldwell and finally Scott
Maliszewski all
giving chase at one point. It was Maliszewski, Michael's friend
off the
track, who really tested him hard and on lap 12 Scott was able
to slide
under Rommeney for the race lead. Rommeney quickly found himself
racing Tom
Pickerell for second, which Tom wrestled away on lap 13 and over
the final
six laps it was Pickerell chasing Maliszewski for the lead and
race win. At
the finish however it was Scott Maliszewski in the Thomas J.
Stock Attorney
At Law Chevy scoring the victory on the day he put his mother's
picture
inside his racecar for inspiration. It was Scott's 14th career
win which
moves him into a tie for fourth on the all-time BB win list with
Ron
Harrison. Tom Pickerell of Huntington was second in the Premier
Utility
Chevy, with Michael Rommeney of Maspeth retaining third in his
un-sponsored
entry.
NASCAR Hall of Fame 100: 1. Timmy
Solomito 2. Justin Bonsignore 3. Zane
Zeiner 4. Howie Brode 5. John Fortin 6. John Beatty Jr. 7.
Richie Pallai Jr.
8. Eric Goodale 9. George Brunnhoelzl III 10. Glenn Tyler 11.
Jerry Solomito
Jr. 12. Bill Park 13. Wayne Anderson 14. Ronnie Silk 15. Brad
Van Houten 16.
Chris Young 17. Dave Brigati 18. Kevin Goodale 19. Eddie
Brunnhoelzl III 20.
Shawn Solomito 21. John Fortin Jr. 22. Tom Rogers Jr. 23. Ryan
Preece 24.
Jason Agugliaro DNQ- Kevin Orlando, Ken Darch, Jeremy McDermott,
Don Howe, Sean McDonald, Terry Stiles
Late Models 25-laps: 1. Mike Bologna 2.
Peter Eriksen 3. Chris LaSpisa 4.
Kevin Metzger 5. Rob McCormick 6. Tony Anello 7. Shawn Patrick
8. Artie
Pedersen 9. Jarrod Hayes 10. Dennis Krupski 11. Scott Kulesa 12.
Roger Oxee
13. Darryl Baker 14. Daryn Miller
Chargers 20-laps: 1. Chris Turbush 2. CJ
Lehmann 3. Jeremy McDermott 4.
Chris McGuire 5. Daryn Miller 6. Frank Dumicich Jr. 7. Erin
Dumicich 8.
Brian Doyle 9. Derek Stachecki 10. John Baker 11. Tom Sullivan
12. Ray
Minieri 13. Allen Reeves 14. Frank Scimeca Jr. 15. Eric Zeh
Blunderbusts 20-laps: 1. Scott
Maliszewski 2. Tom Pickerell 3. Michael
Rommeney 4. Gary Caldwell 5. Tim Mulqueen 6. Jack Handley Jr. 7.
Ed
Mistretta 8. Paul Parisi 9. Brandon Hubbard 10. Tom Sullivan 11.
Thomas
Puccia 12. Bill Wegmann 13. Rob Bader 14. Tommy Walkowiak 15.
Scott Sepe
DNS-Jimmy White Jr., Lexey Sweeney
Source:
Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR
Posted: May
23, 2011
