Tom Rogers Jr. Overcomes Deflating Tire to Top Riverhead
Modified Field
Defending NASCAR Modified champion Tom
Rogers Jr. of Patchogue didn't let a small obstacle like a
deflating left front tire stop him from winning the 35-lap
feature event at Riverhead Raceway Saturday night. In fact he
did it while pulling away from the pack late in the race.
Rogers, steering the Joe & Debbie Ambrose Chevy, earned $1,450
for his 14th career victory after starting 6th on the grid.
Amber Fortin and Jason Agugliaro sat on
the front row of the 22-car field but when the field exited the
second turn after the green flag, veteran Chris Young roared
from fourth to the race lead when the two young drivers along
with Jerry Solomito Jr. opened up the inside lane in the corner.
Tom Rogers Jr. raced his way to second after Young opened up the
inside lane and a 6th lap yellow pitted the two former Figure
Eight standouts side by side for a double file restart. After
taking the green Young and Rogers rubbed rub rails down the back
stretch and entering turn three Young's car actually hopped the
left front wheel of Rogers who was able to ride the outside lane
to the race lead. Young lost the handle for a moment on his
racer and faded, moving Jerry Solomito to second. Solomito
chased Rogers until the yellow waved again on lap 8 setting up
another double file restart.
During the caution period NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series Officials alerted Tom that his left front
tire looked like it was soft. They also told him the decision
was his to either stay or pit so Tom chose to stay out as the
tire was soft but not flat. On the ensuing restart John Fortin
was able to slip under Solomito for second and the former three
time champion, knowing Rogers had an issue made a run at Tom for
the lead. Amazingly however as the race hit an extended green
flag run Tom Rogers actually began to pull away from not just
John Fortin, but also third place Solomito and the oncoming
Justin Bonsignore. With Rogers out front the attention soon
turned to Bonsignore who carved his way under Solomito for third
and a few circuits later also dove under Fortin for second.
Unfortunately for Justin the laps were running thin and Rogers
was too far out to make a run at the race win.
At the checker it was the Eastern
Concrete Chevy of Tom Rogers Jr. first across the line and after
exiting his car he went directly to the soft left front tire.
Upon seeing the tire Rogers admitted "that's ugly right there, I
really don't know how it held air but it did". The contact with
Young broke the bead that the tire has on the rim and the
opening between the rim and tire bead was nearly an inch or
more. When asked if he ever considered pitting Tom disclosed,
"My brother-in-law Michael is my radio man. I asked what he
thought and he said it was soft but not flat so we went for it".
Point leader Justin Bonsignore of
Holtsville put on a clinic wheeling his M3 Technology Chevy from
10th starting spot to a runner-up finish and in the process
increased his lead over John Fortin of Holtsville to 16, Fortin
was third in the Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center Chevy.
Jerry Solomito Jr. of Islip and John Beatty Jr. of Valley Stream
completed the top five.
Just hours after NY Yankee legend Derek
Jeter notched his 3,000th hit with a home run in the Bronx,
Roger Oxee of Peconic hit his own milestone home run when he won
his 60th career Late Model race in a 25-lap contest. Boosted by
a rare outside pole starting berth Roger quickly wheeled his
Southold IGA Pontiac to the race lead over pole sitter Dennis
Krupski, who like a starting pitcher didn't want to give up the
big hit to Oxee. Krupski who returned to the Late Models in 2011
shadowed Oxee for almost the entire race before he was overtaken
by a hard charging Scott Kulesa for second on lap 23. Scott who
started the race 9th made some bold moves on his way towards the
front but by the time he reached second the laps were down to
just two and Roger Oxee was out of reach. After accepting the
congratulations of his crew and track staff Oxee admitted
getting the 60th win was a chore, "60 wins at Riverhead, that's
not easy" he reflected and also announced his future plans,
"2012 will be my last season racing. I have a young son who
needs his daddy". Scott Kulesa of Georgetown, Ma was runner-up
in the Ranco Sand & Stone Pontiac while Jarrod Hayes of
Riverhead placed third in the Apple Auto Parts Chevy.
The Super Pro Trucks ran a 20-lap
feature event non-stop and when the race concluded it appeared
as though Brian McElearney of N. Babylon had won his second
straight race just two weeks after securing his first career
victory. However in post race technical inspection Brian's truck
came up light and after NASCAR Officials gave the team several
attempts at the scales he was disqualified from the win. That
moved "The King of Queen" Mike Albasini of Flushing in his
Hollis Court Collision Chevy from a runner-up finish to his 8th
career win. Albasini, the 2009 Super Pro Truck champion led the
first three laps of the race before McElearney got by with an
inside pass off turn four as the duo was starting the 4th lap.
With McElearney opening up a comfortable cushion Albasini was
locked in an intense race for second with Chris Turbush of
Riverhead, a battle that would actually turn out to be for the
race win. Chris Turbush was runner-up in the East-West Marine
Chevy while Frank Dumicich Jr. of E. Quogue was third in the
Teddy Bear Graphics Chevy.
Even though the 2011 season is half over
it's safe to say Chris Young of Calverton is enjoying a career
year as he drove to his third Legend Race Car feature event win
of 2011. Jeffrey Goodale and Dylan Slepian battled for the race
lead for the first four laps of the 20-lap distance before Chris
Young made his way to second with a pass of Slepian on lap 5.
After challenging Goodale for two laps Young made his move for
the race lead on lap 7 passing Jeffrey to the inside exiting the
fourth turn as the two started the 8th lap. Over the final dozen
laps Chris in the Ray The Plumber racer was able to pull away
from Jeffrey Goodale who later in the race had his hands full
with third place Justin Strumpf. With Young taking the checker
flag Jeffrey Goodale of Riverhead in the Riverhead Building
Supply entry was able to hold onto second with Justin Strumpf of
Selden finishing third in the Monster's Recycling machine. Young
leads Strumpf by eight points, 320 to 312 in the chase for the
2011 championship.
Tested tough 8-Cylinder Enduro veteran
Dege Russell of Rocky Point won the 75-lap feature event for the
Enduro class that started this form of racing at Riverhead
Raceway back in 1986. Russell took the lead at the start of the
race and appeared to be on cruise control until the final third
of the contest. That is when another Enduro veteran Dominic
Ranieri of E. Northport entered the picture hunting down Russell
and making numerous runs at the lead. However every time Ranieri
got close or for that matter alongside Russell, traffic would
hamper his effort. At the finish it was the Kelly Russell Realty
Chevy of Dege Russell scoring the victory with Dominic Ranieri
second in the Westhampton Auto Salvage Chevy. Anthony Pizzo of
Lake Ronkonkoma made a late race charge to finish third in the
STS Tire Stores Caprice.
James "Killa" Kilkenny of Howard Beach
topped the Minivan Demolition Derby in his Albin Avenue Auto
Wreckers van besting Matt Mulqueen of Levittown in his Timmy's
Towing entry. Mulqueen was named Judge's Choice, while defending
champion Jason Savoy of Lake Panamoka was voted fan's Choice in
his Monster's Recycling van.
NASCAR Modifieds 35-laps: 1. Tom Rogers
Jr. 2. Justin Bonsignore 3. John Fortin 4. Jerry Solomito Jr. 5.
John Beatty Jr. 6. Shawn Solomito 7. Ryan Preece 8. Bill Park 9.
Howie Brode 10. Ronnie Silk 11. Ken Darch 12. Wayne Anderson 13.
Greg Harris 14. Chris Young 15. Amber Fortin 16. Glenn Logan 17.
Kyle Ellwood 18. Mike Ewanitsko 19. Mike Watson 20. Robin
Vollmoeller 21. Jason Agugliaro 22. Kevin Nowak DNS- Don Howe
Late Models 25-laps: 1. Roger Oxee 2.
Scott Kulesa 3. Jarrod Hayes 4. Dennis Krupski 5. Shawn Patrick
6. Rob McCormick 7. Chris LaSpisa 8. Peter Eriksen 9. Mike
Bologna 10. Kevin Metzger 11. Arne Pedersen 12. Tony Anello 13.
Artie Pedersen Jr. DNS- Daryl Baker
Super Pro Trucks 20-laps: 1. Mike
Albasini 2. Chris Turbush 3. Frank Dumicich Jr. 4. Frank
Dumicich Sr. 6. Dave Koenig 7. Erin Dumicich 8. Keith Rotzi 9.
Peter Rotzi 10. Kevin Scharfenberg 11. Matt Odwazny 12. Roger
Turbush DQ- Brian McElearney
Legend Race Cars 20-laps: 1. Chris Young
2. Jeffrey Goodale 3. Justin Strumpf 4. Jim Byrne 5. Kevin Nowak
6. Dylan Slepian 7. Paul Dodorico 8. Chris Rogers 9. Mike Malone
10. Bryan Kelly 11. Jay Sendlewski 12. Kyle Ellwood 13. Tom
Marsh 14. Kyle Soper 15. Alex Urbina 16. Vincent Biondolillo 17.
Jim Sylvester 18. George Baker Jr. 19. Greg DiCanio 20. Vinny
Delaney 21. Cody Triola 22. Artie Pedersen III 23. Tony Naglieri
24. Jim Pape Jr.
8-Cylinder Enduro 75-laps (top five): 1.
Dege Russell 2. Dominic Ranieri 3. Anthony Pizzo 4. Bob Baker 5.
Kris Dane
Minivan Demolition Derby: Winner- James Kilkenny
Source:
Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR
Posted: July 11, 2011
