Justin Bonsignore Tops Riverhead Raceway Modified Field
Justin Bonsignore of Holtsville saw an
opening under Tom Rogers Jr. with
just over ten laps remaining in the NASCAR Modified feature
Saturday night
and he took full advantage to score the victory in the 35-lap
Whelen
Engineering Night event at Riverhead Raceway. The triumph was
Justin's 4th
career win and was worth $1,450 to him and his car owner Ken
Massa.
Over the first five circuits of the race
Ken Darch and rookie Jason
Agugliaro swapped the lead back and forth before the defending
NASCAR
Modified champion Tom Rogers Jr. burst upon the scene on lap 6
to take
control of the top spot, with Shawn Solomito quickly moving to
second. On
lap 8 Bonsignore slipped under Solomito for second and he then
quickly set
sail for race leader Rogers. The duo ran nose to tail over the
next 16
circuits with Bonsignore closing in on the rear bumper of Rogers
numerous
times.
Sensing that Tom was using up his right
rear tire Justin stayed with his
game plan to wait for an opening under the leader and indeed on
lap 23
Rogers got into the turn a bit too hot, opening the inside lane
just enough
to allow Bonsignore to slide underneath. By the time the tandem
hit the
start/finish line Justin Bonsignore was the new race leader but
Tom Rogers
wasn't throwing in the towel. Rogers quickly tried a crossover
move on the
lap after Justin took the lead and in a series of late race
restarts tried
to catch him off guard off the fourth corner.
No matter what was thrown his way Justin
Bonsignore in the M3 Technology
Chevy was ready for it and he drove under the checkers first for
the popular
win. "I can't say enough about this team and my owner Ken Massa"
Justin
boasted afterwards, "we've had a rough start on the WMT, but all
he wants to
do is go racing, heck we're going racing at Stafford on Friday
before we go
to Monadnock for the WMT race Saturday, he's that dedicated".
Tom Rogers Jr. of Patchogue was
runner-up in the Joe & Debbie Ambrose Chevy, while Shawn
Solomito of Islip, fresh off an 11th place finish at Thompson
Speedway in a Modified Racing Series events, was third which
completed a
successful weekend in his Acme Sanitary Service Chevy. Dave
Brigati of
Calverton and point leader John Fortin of Holtsville were fourth
and fifth.
The 15-lap Figure Eight main event was a
matter of survival and the driver
who survived the best was Tom Ferrara of Holbrook who drove to
his 4th
career win. Before the race had hit the halfway point Tom Rogers
Jr. and
Roger Maynor both fell from the race while in contention for the
win with
broken rear suspensions, Maynor was actually leading the race
when he
suffered his part failure. That moved Mike Mujsce into the lead
for the
restart but when he hit the throttle in his machine it simply
shut off and
his teammate Tom Ferrara did all he could not to run over him.
On the
restart Tom Ferrara raced his way to the lead, chased first by
Dennis Scott
and later by Tim Farrell for the win. In the end however it was
the Bill
Beener Tree Service entry of Tom Ferrara winning the survival of
the fittest
for the win. Tim Farrell of Mastic was runner-up in the Willmart
Painting
Chevy, a career best with 2010 Rookie of the Year Dennis Scott
third in the
Cheesebox Racing Monte Carlo.
For his 27th career Charger win
three-time defending champion Chris Turbush
of Riverhead was in the right place at the right time to post
his second win
of the 2011 campaign. Allen Reeves set the pace over the first
three laps of
the race before Brian Doyle raced his way by for the lead. Doyle
would be
tested by Reeves and later Eric Zeh for the top spot before his
stiffest
challenger in the form of Ray Minieri moved to second on lap 9.
Doyle and
Minieri waged a fantastic side by side race for the lead that
would only be
interrupted by a yellow flag, much to the disappointment of the
fans on
hand. With just five laps to go exiting turn four Doyle and
Minieri touched
sending them into a semi-spin off the turn and Chris Turbush
seized the
moment and drove his Meadowbrook Sweeping Pontiac into the race
lead and
eventual win. Once in the lead there would be no stopping Chris
who ranks
third and the all-time win list for the class. "Radiant" Ray
Minieri of Bay
Shore made a nice recovery for runner-up in the Mr. Beery's Pub
Pontiac,
with points leader Chris McGuire of Shirley third in the Gershow
Recycling
Ford.
Tom Pickerell of Huntington did
something Saturday that not many have done
before, pass Tommy "The Wildchild" Walkowiak for the race lead
and victory
in a 30-lap Blunderbust feature event. Walkowiak set a new track
record in
time trials with a circuit of 14.968 and actually drew the pole
in the
redraw. Tommy earned $50 from Brigandi Brothers Automotive for
the fast time
award. At the drop of the green Walkowiak out ran Scott Sepe,
the outside
pole sitter, to turn one and the race lead with Rob Bader racing
to second.
On the second cycle Tom Pickerell was able to slip past Bader
for second and
he then quickly turned his attention to leader Walkowiak.
Entering the third
turn on lap 9 Pickerell saw an opening under the race leader and
he quickly
"shot the gap" racing his way by Walkowiak for the lead. Tommy
tried to make
a quick re-pass of Pickerell to reclaim the lead but that move
didn't pan
out and as the race wore on the second place driver had to
contend with
Scott Maliszewski for position. All of this was just music to
the ears of
Tom Pickerell who drove his Premium Utility Service Chevy to his
7th career
victory. Tommy Walkowiak of Ridge was runner-up in the Blaze
Fuel Oil Chevy,
while Scott Maliszewski of Deer Park was third in the Thomas
Stock Attorney
At Law Chevy.
Teenage driver Kyle Ellwood gave his
father John, a former Charger champion
at Riverhead Raceway an early Father's Day gift when he topped
the Legend
Race Car main event in a race that was shortened from 20-lap to
16 due to
the time limit expiring. Anthony Cacioppo jumped to the race
lead at the
drop of the green and was pursued first by Michael Rommeney for
five laps
before he was overtaken by Chris Young. Over the next five laps
Young
hounded Cacioppo and on lap 10 in turn four the duo got together
and spun in
tandem, collecting third place Rommeney along the way as well.
That moved
Kyle Ellwood into the race lead, Kyle who lost a right front
fender on the
initial start of the race was able to overcome that close
encounter to now
lead the race with Mike Malone second. The race was then marred
by numerous
yellow flags and on lap 16 Jay Sendlewski did a slow roll on the
backstretch
drawing a red flag at which point the race had hit its time
limit. Kyle
Ellwood, who appeared as though he was going to hold off all
challengers
even if the race went its full 20-lap, was an elated first time
winner in
his Ellwood Motorsports sedan. Mike Malone of Mastic Beach was
second in the
Malone Racing entry, while points leader Justin Strumpf of
Selden was third
in the Monster's Recycling machine.
When the 50-lap Grand Enduro concluded
it appeared that newcomer Steve
Mastro had won his first career race in just his third start,
but upon
further review that would not be the case. After two audits of
the score
cards it was determined that Mastro did not make a stunning
recovery from an
earlier spin with Ray Fitzgerald while racing for the lead, but
instead was
indeed the third place car in his Dave Kunzler Tire Chevy. David
Antos, a
hard working driver from Lindenhurst indeed would post the win
in his CR
Customs Monte Carlo, waiting three years to do so. Veteran Phil
LaManna of
Smithtown was runner-up in his K-Mac Electric Chevy.
Former World and National Demolition
Derby champion Bob "The Killer Bee"
Benison outlasted the field for the win in a hard hitting
8-Cylinder
Demolition Derby. That field included his brother-in-law, nephew
and an
employee from his Albin Avenue Auto Wreckers yard! Bobby would
have to
finally eliminate his employee Jason Savoy of Lake Panamoka to
post the win,
Savoy was named Judge's Choice. James Kilkenny of Howard Beach,
Bobby's
nephew won the Fan's Choice balloting.
WHELEN Engineering NASCAR Modifieds
35-laps: 1. Justin Bonsignore 2. Tom
Rogers Jr. 3. Shawn Solomito 4. Dave Brigati 5. John Fortin 6.
Chris Young
7. John Beatty Jr. 8. Wayne Anderson 9. Don Howe 10. Kevin
Orlando 11. Kyle
Ellwood 12. Jason Agugliaro 13. Ed Brunnhoelzl Jr. 14. Gary
McDonald 15.
Jerry Solomito 16. Frank Saladino 17. John Fortin Jr. 18. Ken
Darch 19.
Robin Vollmoeller 20. Sean McDonald 21. Amber Fortin 22. Mike
Watson 23.
Terry Stiles
Figure Eights 15-laps: 1. Tom Ferrara 2.
Tim Farrell 3. Dennis Scott 4.
Bryan Sescila 5. Mike Mujsce 6. Roger Maynor 7. Arne Pedersen 8.
Scott
Pedersen 9. Tom Rogers Jr. 10. Steve Stadler DQ- Mike Herbst
Chargers 20-laps: 1. Chris Turbush 2.
Ray Minieri 3. Chris McGuire 4. Jeremy
McDermott 5. Erin Dumicich 6. John Baker 7. Eric Zeh 8. Allen
Reeves 9. CJ
Lehmann 10. Kevin Orlando 11. Brian Doyle 12. Frank Dumicich Jr.
13. Derek
Stachecki 14. Tom Sullivan
Blunderbusts 30-laps: 1. Tom Pickerell
2. Tommy Walkowiak 3. Scott
Maliszewski 4. Bill Wegmann Sr. 5. Rob Bader 6. Paul Parisi 7.
Ran Langdon
8. Bill Wegmann Jr. 9. Jack Handley Jr. 10. Tom Sullivan 11. Joe
Seeger 12.
Michael Rommeney 13. Fred Nolan 14. Brandon Hubbard 15. Sean
Byrne 16. Bill Portney Sr. 17. Scott Sepe 18. Thomas Puccia 19.
Bryan Quilliam 20. Eddie
Mistretta 21. Tim Mulqueen 22. Gary Caldwell 23. Jessica Cohan
24. Lexy
Sweeney
Legend Race Cars 16-laps (time limit) 1.
Kyle Ellwood 2. Mike Malone 3.
Justin Strumpf 4. Kyle Soper 5. Paul Dodorico 6. Chris Young 7.
Buddy
Commerdinger 8. Vincent Biondolillo 9. Tony Naglieri 10. John
Harley 11. Jim
Sylvester 12. Kevin Nowak 13. Bryan Kelly 14. Eric Goodale 15.
Tom Marsh 16.
Anthony Cacioppo 17. Alex Urbina 18. Jay Sendlewski 19. Tom
Sherman 20.
Brendon Bock 21. Cody Triola 22. Chris Rogers 23. Michael
Rommeney 24.
Jeffery Goodale
Grand Enduro 50-laps (top five) 1. David
Antos 2. Phil LaManna 3. Steve
Mastro 4. Joe Parcelluzzi 5. Don Carasiti
8-Cylinder Demolition Derby: Winner- Bob
Benison
Source:
Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR
Posted: June 20, 2011
