Bob Benison & Tom Kilkenny Share Riverhead Raceway National
Demolition Derby Honors
The Miller Lite night of racing Saturday
at Riverhead Raceway was both intense and dramatic as no less
than four divisional titles were decided in 160-laps of feature
event racing and at the end of the night even more drama
unfolded when brothers-in-laws Tom Kilkenny of Babylon and Bob
Benison of Lindenhurst wound up co-winner of the National
Demolition Derby Championship. Jarrod Hayes of Calverton led the
NASCAR stock car winners with his second straight Late Model win
in the Miller Lite 50.
Action was plentiful in the early going
of the 50-lap Late Model contest as Rob McCormick and Ken Alfano
tussled for the lead for the first 9 laps before Alfano moved to
the point on lap 10. On an 11th lap restart Alfano sat to the
inside of the double file restart. When the green flag flew he
spun off turn four after contact thus handing the lead over to
championship contender Peter "Buzzy" Eriksen, who for a time
during the early going of the race seemed as though he had
enough positions between him and point leader Scott Kulesa to
make a run at the title. Dennis Krupski chased Eriksen for the
12th & 13th laps before the high flying Jarrod Hayes burst upon
the scene to take second on lap 14. Once to second Hayes wasted
little time in making his bid with an inside pass of Eriksen off
turn four on lap 19. Once out front Hayes went to work on
building a big lead on, at first Eriksen and then later Roger
Oxee, who moved to second on lap 26. Oxee's night would end
however on lap 41 with electrical issues moving Eriksen back to
second.
At the checker it was Jarrod Hayes
posting his third win of the year in the Apple Auto Parts Chevy,
the 10th of his career. Peter "Buzzy" Eriksen of Baldwin was
runner-up in the Harley Davidson of Nassau County Chevy, but his
title hopes had been dashed laps earlier when his nearest rivals
made their way to the top five.
Mike Bologna of Melville made what
appeared to be a very quiet pass of Scott Kulesa of Georgetown,
Ma for third with just over ten laps remaining in the race, but
indeed with the pass he and Scott would be tied in points for
the title, with Bologna holding the tie-breaker with two wins on
the season. In the closing laps Kulesa realized if he could pass
Mike back he'd be the champion by four points as he came to the
race with a 2-point margin. However Bologna, in the Schlaugies
Fuel Oil Chevy held on for third and earned his first ever track
championship. Scott Kulesa in the Ranco Sand & Stone Pontiac
threw all he could at Bologna in the final laps and was 4th at
the line, defending LM champion Kevin Metzger of Massapequa
completed the top five.
Roger Maynor's 103rd career Figure Eight
win in the Miller Lite 20 was not enough for the 8-time track
champion to wrestle the 2011 championship away from Arne
Pedersen of Mastic Beach who sewed-up his first ever title by
finishing fourth. Pedersen came to the race with a 10-point lead
on Maynor. Steve Stadler led Mike Mujsce for the first lap of
the race before Mujsce powered his way to the lead and joining
him soon in second would be teammate Tom Ferrara The duo ran in
that order until lap 14 when Mujsce's right front failed him
allowing Ferrara and Roger Maynor to pass him, Maynor, of Bay
Shore tested Ferrara for four laps before pulling out front with
just two laps to go in his Barrasso & Sons Mason Supplies Toyota
and Roger would lead the field to the checkers. Tom Ferrara of
Patchogue and Mike Mujsce of Westhampton Beach were second and
third in the Bill Beener Tree Service entries, while Arne
Pedersen drove the BNR Home Improvement Dodge to a championship
by placing fourth. Bryan Sescila of Baldwin was 5th in the
Inravio.com Hornet.
The 2011 Charger championship came down
to two good friends off the track, Chris Turbush and Chris
McGuire being separated by two points with Turbush who was
seeking his fourth straight championship up by a mere two
markers. Jeremy McDermott paced the race for the first 13 laps
of the 30-lap distance with John Baker, CJ Lehmann and later
Chris McGuire all giving chase. McGuire would power his way to
second on lap 10 and when a yellow flag waved on lap 13 the
restart put leader McDermott and challenger McGuire side by side
for the restart. When the green light winked back on McGuire
powered his way to the race lead with CJ Lehmann racing his way
to second, but not for long as the hard charging Chris Turbush
quickly made his way to second. If McGuire could ward off
Turbush he'd win the 2011 by virtue of having five wins to
Turbush's four and over the final 10-laps of the Miller Lite 30
the intensity level was peaked. Turbush, wheeling his East-West
Marine Pontiac, found an opening and was able to muscle his way
by McGuire late in the race to go on to win his 30th career
Charger event, a mark that ties him with Robin Vollmoeller for
second on the all-time win list and of course earned him his
fourth consecutive championship. Chris McGuire of Shirley did
all he could to grab that elusive first championship but was
runner-up in the M3 Technologies Ford, while early leader Jeremy
McDermott of E. Stroudsburg, pa was third in the JDP Mechanical
Pontiac.
With Tommy "The Wildchild" Walkowiak
clinching his 5th championship a week earlier, the Miller Lite
30 for the Blunderbusts didn't have the championship drama
attached to it but none the less provided plenty of fireworks.
With 27 Blunderbusts signed-in for the race a last minute
decision by promoters Barbara & Jim Cromarty saw the class take
time trials where Rob Bader of Holtsville in his MoMo's Sports
Bar Chevy shattered the track record with a lap of 14.919,
earning $50 from Brigandi Brothers Automotive. After the top six
redrew Scott Maliszewski broke out front early in this race and
was chased early on by Gary Caldwell before Gary was over taken
for second on lap 7 by Tom Pickerell, who in turn lost second to
Tommy Walkowiak on lap 19. Walkowiak, using the Terry Stiles #41
so that his mentor Ron Langdon could race Tommy's car, ran
second to Maliszewski until lap 20 when he veered into the
infield with mechanical woes, which moved Caldwell back to
second. Later in the race Caldwell again would lose second as
both Jack Handley Jr. and Brandon Hubbard made their way by. It
didn't matter to Scott Maliszewski who was running second as he
drove his Thomas J Stock Attorney At Law Chevy to his 15th
career victory moving him past Ron Harrison for fourth on the
all-time Blunderbust win list. Jack Handley Jr. of Medford was
runner-up in the Kudrick's Auto Body Chevy, while Brandon
Hubbard of Mastic was third in his sponsor wanted Buick.
The Super Pro Truck Miller Lite 30 found
"Dangerous" Dave Koenig of Freeport and Frank Dumicich Jr. of E.
Quogue the main two combatants for the 2011 championship and
despite all that went with this race the Golden Auto Body night
feature went green to checker without even a hint of a caution
flag. Roger Turbush of Riverhead moved out front at the throw of
the green and never looked back to post his second consecutive
win, his division leading fifth of the season in his Allied Air
Conditioning Chevy, with brother Chris Turbush of Riverhead
runner-up in his East West Marine Chevy, Chris had passed Peter
Rotzi for second on lap 4 to claim the position. In the intense
championship fight Frank Dumicich Jr. had the positions he
needed for nearly the entire distance of the race to win the
crown on the final night of racing as he ran third, which is
where he'd finish in the Teddy Bear Graphics Chevy. However Dave
Koenig was all over Lou Maestri for fourth and if he could just
get by the former two-time champion the 2011 title would be his,
but Lou wasn't making it easy on Dave. Suddenly Koenig threw his
Nelson's Auto Salvage Chevy to the outside of Maestri and he'd
indeed cross the line fourth to win the 2011 SPT championship by
2 over Frank Dumicich Jr. It would be Dumicich first over to
"high-five" Koenig on a job well done once the race was
completed.
For the first time in its history there
were co-winners of the Miller Lite night National Demolition
Derby Championship as brother-in-laws Tom Kilkenny and Bob
Benison were the only two left standing. After a bone-jarring
head-to-head hit, the two former World Demolition Derby
champions could not re-fire their Albin Avenue Auto Salvage
machines and for the first time since 1963 the duo were declared
co-winners and split the $1,500 first place money. James
Kilkenny of Howard Beach was right in there slugging it out with
his father and uncle and was named Judge's Choice, thus earning
the 2011 Riverhead Raceway Demolition Derby title. His nearest
rival for the crown coming into the event Jason Savoy stalled
early in the contest and could not restart his Misery Machine.
"Jumping" Joey Palmeri of Lindenhurst was voted Fan's Choice
over the likes of "The Maniac" Matt Mulqueen, "Pistol" Pete
Mikos, "The 911" George Astacio and many others.
Miller Lite Late Models 50-laps: 1.
Jarrod Hayes 2. Peter Eriksen 3. Mike Bologna 4. Scott Kulesa 5.
Kevin Metzger 6. Shawn Patrick 7. Roger Oxee 8. Dennis Krupski
9. Bob Baker 10. Dan Turbush 11. Ken Alfano 12. Rob McCormick
13. Chris LaSpisa 14. Craig Lutz
Miller Lite Figure Eights 20-laps: 1.
Roger Maynor 2. Tom Ferrara 3. Mike Mujsce 4. Arne Pedersen 5.
Bryan Sescila 6. Steve Stadler 7. George Brown 8. Dennis Scott
9. Tim Mulqueen 10. Ken Hyde Jr. 11. Tom Kraft 12. Gary Fritz
Jr. DNS- Marissa Niederauer
Miller Lite Chargers 30-laps: 1. Chris
Turbush 2. Chris McGuire 3. Jeremy McDermott 4. John Baker 5.
Frank Dumicich Jr. 6. Brian Brown 7. Eric Lutz 8. Anthony Pizzo
9. Ray Minieri 10. CJ Lehmann 11. Frank Scimeca Jr.
Miller Lite Blunderbusts 30-laps: 1.
Scott Maliszewski 2. Jack Handley Jr. 3. Brandon Hubbard 4. Bill
Wegmann Jr. 5. Fred Nolan 6. Ed Mistretta 7. Tom Sullivan 8.
Paul Parisi 9. Tom Pickerell 10. Kevin Rommeney 11. Thomas
Puccia Jr. 12. Joe Seeger 13. Tim Mulqueen 14. Bill Portney Sr.
15. Bryan Quilliam 16. Jessica Cohan 17. Bob Muller 18. Kerri
Herbst 19. Gary Caldwell 20. Tommy Walkowiak 21. Scott Sepe 22.
Bill Wegmann Sr. 23. Jimmy White Jr. 24. Ron Langdon 25. Rob
Bader DNQ- Brian Hansen, Frank LoPocca Jr.
Miller Lite Super Pro Trucks 30-laps: 1.
Roger Turbush 2. Chris Turbush 3. Frank Dumicich Jr. 4. Dave
Koenig 5. Lou Maestri 6. Peter Rotzi 7. Mike Albasini 8. Keith
Rotzi 9. Frank Dumicich Sr. 10. Anthony Vecchio 11. Erin
Dumicich
Miller Lite National Demolition Derby
Championship: Co-winners: Bob Benison & Tom Kilkenny Judge's
Choice: James Kilkenny Fan's Choice: Joey Palmeri
Source:
Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR
Posted: September 19, 2011
