Charrier and Gregor Among Sunday Enduro Winners
The Labor Day weekend racing concluded
Sunday at Riverhead Raceway where James Charrier of Shirley won
his first Grand Enduro of 2011 while Ben Gregor of Bridgehampton
continues to dominate the 4/6-Cylinder Truck class scoring
another victory, both wins came in 50-lap feature events.
Bob Engelfried broke out front in the
Grand race at the drop of the green with his teammate James
Charrier overtaking Walter Stroud for second on the second lap
of the contest. The two Clear Beer Draft Chevy's ran one-two
over the following 22 laps before Charrier used lapped traffic
to his advantage taking the lead going into the third turn on
lap 24 when Engelfried made the wrong lane choice while lapping
slower cars. Once in front there was no stopping James Charrier,
a championship driver in the class as he sped to victory. Bob
Engelfried of Stony Brook was runner-up, while newcomer Steve
Mastro of Port Jefferson was third in his Dave Kunzler Tire
Chevy.
The 4/6-Cylinder Truck race found Greg
Harris taking command of the race early on and not only did he
move out front he also built up a very comfortable lead in the
process over Kevin Orlando who ran second to Harris over the
first half of the race. Later in the going Ben Gregor raced his
way to second and with just under 20-laps remaining the question
was did he have enough time to reel in leader Harris. Indeed the
answer would be yes as Gregor in his Gregor Well Drilling Chevy
S-10 caught and passed Harris on lap 44 to drive away to
victory. Harris of Riverhead was runner-up in the SGS Stone
Works machine while Robin Vollmoeller of Riverhead completed the
top three in his Spit's Speed Shop racer.
Two 8-Cylinder Enduro races were
presented and in the first, a 75-lap affair Anthony Pizzo of
Lake Ronkonkoma led green to checker to take what appeared to be
an easy win. However in post race tech Pizzo was found to have
unapproved camber in his front end and was disqualified handing
the win over to tested tough Enduro veteran Dominic Ranieri of
E. Northport in his Local Cesspool Chevy. Dege Russell of Rocky
Point was runner-up, while Kris "Kruchy" Dane of Hicksville was
third.
In the 50-lap nightcap Dege Russell
completed a successful day as he won in a 50-lap contest in his
Kelly Russell Realty Chevy, with this time Dominic Ranieri
crossing the line second. Michael Wahl of E. Islip was third in
his Krazy Kars mount.
Gene Burbol of Brookhaven continues to
dominate the 6-Cylinder class as he once again prevailed in
their 50-lap feature. Burbol passed Jeffrey Gregor for the race
lead on lap 8 and once out front drove away to a convincing win
in his Atlantic Auto Glass entry. Christian Conklin of Flanders
was runner-up in his Spit's Speed Shop machine, while Richard
Galante of E. Patchogue was third.
The most competitive race on the day
would turn out to be the 4-Cylinder Enduro as eventual race
winner Dennis Nelson of Coram and Anthony Pizzo swapped the lead
5 times from lap 17 until the 46th circuit. The see-saw duel was
both very skilled and entertaining and in the end it would be
Dennis Nelson scoring his second win in a row in the Repo Joe
backed racer. Pizzo was runner-up in the STS Tires entry, with
Steve "The Pitbull" Trimboli of Freeport third in the Pitbull
Motors Mercedes.
Grand Enduro 50-laps (top five): 1.
James Charrier 2. Bob Engelfried 3. Steve Mastro 4. Walter
Stroud 5. David Antos
4/6-Cylinder Truck Enduro (top five) 1.
Ben Gregor 2. Greg Harris 3. Robin Vollmoeller 4. Kevin Orlando
5. Andy Owen
1st 8-Cylinder Enduro 75-laps: 1.
Dominic Ranieri 2. Dege Russell 3. Kris Dane 4. Chris Burns 5.
Bob Baker
2nd 8-Cylinder Enduro 50-laps: (top
five) 1. Dege Russell 2. Dominic Ranieri 3. Michael Wahl 4.
Steve Fabb 5. Justin Wahl
6-Cylinder Enduro 50-laps: (top five) 1.
Gene Burbol 2. Christian Conklin 3. Richard Galante 4. Bob
Haeger 5. Peter Rabaglia
4-Cylinder Enduro 50-laps: (top five) 1.
Dennis Nelson 2. Anthony Pizzo 3. Steve Trimboli 4. Don Nelson
Jr. 5. Robert Endlekofer
Source:
Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR
Posted: September 6, 2011
