Ten Drivers Enjoy
First Career Championships
If you wanted to put a label on the 2011
season at Barbara & Jim
Cromarty's Riverhead Raceway then you may simply want to call it
the year
of the first career champion. No less that 10 drivers enjoyed
their first
championship season in their career at the historic quarter
mile. Justin
Bonsignore of Holtsville showed the way in winning his first
career NASCAR
Modified championship for the Whelen All-American Series.
Bonsignore's path to that championship indeed was a long one as
he
balanced a full schedule on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour as
well as at
Riverhead Raceway thanks to the the travel effort and expenses
incurred by
car owner Ken Massa. No less than three times did Justin have to
commute
back to Riverhead from either qualifying for a WMT race or
actually racing
in a Saturday afternoon event. All that commuting didn't effect
the driver
of the M3 Technologies Chevrolet as he took the title on the
final night
of racing over John Fortin. Aside from the Riverhead Raceway
championship,
the highlight to Justin's 2011 energetic season was his first
career
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory in late July in the
Lighthouse Mission
200 by Baldwin Automotive in front of family and friends at his
home
track.
Late Model veteran Mike Bologna of Melville had the closest
margin of
victory when he scored the 2011 crown in a tiebreaker over Scott
Kulesa.
After the final checkered flag waved in mid-September Bologna
and Kulesa
each had earned 392 points but the championship would go to
Bologna on the
virtue of his two feature event wins in his Schlaugies Fuel Oil
Chevy.
Kulesa didn't score a feature event win in his effort to secure
his second
career championship.
Just one year after losing the Figure Eight title to younger
brother Scott
on the final night of racing, Arne Pedersen of Mastic Beach won
the 2011
Figure Eight championship proving the old adage in sports that
sometimes
you have to lose the big one before you can win the big one. All
Pedersen
had to do to score the championship in his BNR Home Improvement
Dodge on
the final night of racing was keep Roger Maynor at bay, Maynor
was seeking
his 9th track championship. Arne was able to keep Roger one spot
behind
him to score the championship.
In another down to the wire fight for the championship, Super
Pro truck
veteran "Dangerous" Dave Koenig of Freeport after years of
sniffing around
the front of the points race finally took home his first career
title in
his Nelson's Auto Salvage Chevy. Koenig and Frank Dumicich Jr.
were the
main players in the final 30-lap race of the season with Koenig
prevailing.
"The Young One' Chris Young of Calverton rode his way to the
2011
championship on the strength of five feature event wins in 2011
in his Ray
The Plumber racer but yet the championship battle still came
down to the
final race. Another up and coming talent Justin Strumpf still
had a chance
to overtake Young for the title but early race misfortune bit
Justin while
Chris took home the 2011 championship.
Second generation Demolition Derby driver James "The Killa"
Kilkenny of
Howard Beach won the 2011 Demolition Derby championship as he
bested Jason
Savoy for the title. James is the son of noted former World and
National
Demolition Derby champion Tom "The Madhatter" Kilkenny.
Only two drivers that earned 2011 Riverhead Raceway
championships had done
so in the career prior and in fact both repeated their 2010
championship
season. Chris Turbush of Riverhead made Charger history when he
won his
fourth straight championship, a championship he'd have to race
good friend
Chris McGuire for in the final 30-lap race of 2011. Turbush won
not just
that race but the championship in his CWC Motorsports Pontiac.
The only 2011 champion that went to his final race with the
crown in his
pocket would be Tommy "The Wildchild" Walkowiak of Ridge who had
clinched
his fifth Blunderbust championship in the past six years in the
second to
last race in the Blaze Fuel Oil Chevy. Only Scott Maliszewski in
2008 has
interrupted the Walkowiak's stranglehold on the Blunderbust
title.
The Enduro racing at Riverhead Raceway produced 4 first time
Enduro
champions with one of those first time champions having won a
stock car
championship previously.
Soft spoken David Antos of Lindenhurst used the formula that
practice
makes perfect on his way to his first Grand Enduro championship.
Antos and
his CR Customs team would take full advantage of Riverhead's
open door
practice policy when your class isn't racing to drive to a
popular
championship win.
Robin Vollmoeller of Riverhead won the 4/6-Cylinder Truck Enduro
championship, his first in the class but not at Riverhead
Raceway. Robin,
who has authored 30 Charger wins over the years when he raced in
that
class, had not won a championship at Riverhead Raceway since
going back to
back in 1975 and 1976 in what was then known as the Street Stock
division
Despite the fact he has won countless 8-Cylinder Enduro events
at
Riverhead Raceway since 1986, Dominic Ranieri of East Northport
won his
first career championship in the class that started the Enduro
craze at
Riverhead Raceway back in May of 1986.
Dennis Nelson of Coram wheeled his Repo Joe entry to the 2011
4-Cylinder
championship, he too having to do so in the final race of the
year and the
title almost didn't pan out for Dennis. A broken axle found him
limping
over the line on the final lap to secure the title, if the race
had been
any longer the championship would have slipped through his
fingers.
Only veteran Gene Burbol of Brookhaven was a repeat champion in
the Enduro
ranks as he again took home the 6-Cylinder Enduro championship.
Burbol too
nearly didn't win the title as he was the victim of several last
race
incidents, but the veteran driver never panicked and scored
another title.
Will the 2012 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and Enduro
racing at
Riverhead Raceway produce another roster of first time champions
or will
it be the year of the repeat? We'll all find out on Saturday May
5th when
the chase for the 2012 championship will begin!
Source:
Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR
Posted: November 9, 2011
