Thrilling Start to a Double-Header Father’s Day Weekend

The Saturday portion of a Father’s Day double-header at Riverhead Raceway featured Figure 8s, Super Pro Trucks, Blunderbusts, a 30 lap Charger event, and a 35 lap NASCAR Modified feature as well as an eight-cylinder demolition derby.

The Chargers kicked off the action with time-trials for their 30-lap race. Jayson White laid down the fastest lap with a time of 13.350 seconds. Eric Zeh was second quickest with a lap of 13.422 seconds. The top eight qualifiers for the Chargers did a redraw for their starting position and White and Zeh switched positions with Zeh drawing the pole and White drawing second.

The NASCAR Modifieds followed the Chargers time-trials with time-trials for their 35-lap feature event. Tom Rogers Jr. posted the quickest time with a lap of 11.831 seconds. Vinny Biondolillo laid down the second fastest lap at 11.888 seconds. The starting position was set via the redraw and it was Biondolillo who drew the top spot. Timmy Solomito drew the outside pole, Howie Brode drew third, Shawn Solomito drew fourth, Dave Sapienza drew fifth, Rogers drew sixth, Kevin Orlando drew seventh, and David Roys drew the eighth starting position.

The first feature race of the evening was a 20-lap event for the Super Pro Trucks. Mark Stewart was supposed to start the race from the pole position with “Dangerous” Dave Koenig to his outside but Stewart chose to go to the rear of the eleven-truck field. That moved Roger Turbush up to first starting position. The caution came out immediately when smoke started billowing out of the engine of Rob Bader’s 19 machine in turn one, as did a lot of fluid. Bader’s truck was towed the pits where it stayed for the rest of the evening. A complete restart was performed with Turbush to the inside of Koenig and it was Turbush who jumped out to the early lead. Koenig was all over the back tailgate of Turbush for the first half of the race, but Turbush was able to hold him off and put some distance between himself and Koenig in the second half. Turbush led all 20 laps for his first win of the season. The races second caution came out on the final lap of the race when Erin Dumicich-Solomito’s 95 truck blew a motor, spun, and went on fire in turn two. Thankfully she was okay and was able to walk away. She was running third at the time.

A 20-lap race for the Blunderbusts followed and it was Bob Muller starting from the top spot with Bill Wegmann Jr. to his outside. Wegmann went to the lead from the outside on the start of the race and led early. Brian Brown quickly made his way from fourth to second and he and Wegmann started to pull away from the rest of the field. By lap 14 the 49 of Jack Handley Jr. started to close in on the top two drivers. Handley, who started 11th, quickly made his way into second and set his sights on the leader. On lap 18, he drove underneath Wegmann on the exit of turn two and both made contact. Both drivers started to spin towards the infield. They both saved their cars from spinning, but the race was lost. Brown drove by both of them and went on to score the victory.

The 30-lap feature for the Chargers was next on the schedule. The winner of the last two Charger races was Eric Zeh who started on the pole with Jayson White to his outside. Zeh jumped out to the early lead and Jeremy McDermott took second from White on the second lap. White faded to fifth by the fourth lap when Ray Minieri and Chris Turbush both went by. The first caution of the race came out on the tenth lap when Chad Churilla spun out Scott Lehmann in turn one. The caution erased a half-straightaway lead that Zeh had stretched out over McDermott. The restart on lap 10 saw Zeh leading over McDermott, Minieri, Turbush and White. Zeh once again jumped out to the lead, but Minieri made his way past McDermott for second after a two-lap battle. The caution was out again on lap 13 when Churilla spun out entering turn one. Richard Wilson in the 12 car had nowhere to go but into Churilla and into the wall. Wilson was towed to the pits, but quickly returned after his team changed a tire. The next restart saw Zeh leading Minieri, Turbush, McDermott and White. This time Minieri lost second place to Turbush who quickly made his way underneath Zeh in turn four on lap 13. Turbush and Zeh got together exiting turn two one lap later. Zeh spun out, Turbush had heavy damage to his right-front fender, and Daryn Miller and McDermott were also involved. Turbush held the lead but was forced to pit to take the fender off. Before heading to the pits Turbush tried to pull his fender off by scraping the car against the wall. That plan failed, so he headed to the pits and gave up the lead.

“Zeh and I got a good restart,” said Turbush after. “I got a good run through three and four and got underneath him. And going into one I sent it in there, I thought I had a good spot, and he came down. It was kind of a racing deal. I went for the win and it didn’t work out. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”

The incident gave the lead to Minieri who restarted with White along side. Minieri held the lead on the restart and White dropped a spot to CJ Lehmann, but the caution was out one lap later when Cory Midgett had his left-rear tire go flat and he spun around in turn two. The next restart was single file with Minieri in the lead, Lehmann right behind him followed by White, Churilla, and Wilson. The race went green to the finish from there and it was Minieri who picked up the win. CJ Lehmann, Churilla, McDermott and Zeh rounded out the top five.

The NASCAR Modifieds followed the Chargers for their 35-lap feature event. Vinny Biondolillo started the race on the pole with Timmy Solomito to his outside. Solomito jumped out to the lead on the first lap of the race from the outside. The yellow flag flew early when Biondolillo spun exiting the front straight on lap one collecting the whole field behind him. Dave Sapienza, Kevin Orlando, Marisa Niederauer, and Eddie Brunnhoelzl III were all involved and towed off the track with only Orlando, Logan, Brunnhoelzl and Sapienza returning after repairs. However Sapienza returned in the number five instead of his own 36 machine. The restart on lap one had Solomito leading with Howie Brode, Shawn Solomito, Tom Rogers Jr., and David Roys in the top five. The caution came out again when Dave Brigati made hard contact with wall on the front stretch going into lap two. Brigati hit so hard that the whole right-front wheel was ripped off of the car. Brigati was okay, but the car was not so he was done for the night. Considering they had yet to complete the second lap, the next restart was for lap one and had Timmy Solomito leading Brode, Shawn Solomito, Rogers and Jerry Solomito. The caution came out on the very next lap when Brode spun in turn two. Brode dove underneath Timmy Solomito for the lead in turn one. They made contact and Brode spun around. The lap three restart featured an all-Solomito front row with Timmy on the inside and his brother, Shawn on the outside. Timmy held the lead from the inside and Rogers made his way past Shawn to take second. Rogers took the lead on the seventh lap when Timmy slowed drastically exiting turn two. Timmy said that they broke the rear end and that ended their night. The caution was out again on the 14th lap when Logan spun out in turn two. He made slight contact with the right side of Biondolillo’s car as he slid down the track. Rogers had the lead on the next restart with Shawn Solomito in second followed by Jerry Solomito, Brunnhoelzl and Orlando. The race went green to the finish and it was Rogers who held on for the win on his birthday weekend. Shawn Solomito, Eddie Brunnhoelzl III, Jerry Solomito and Howie Brode rounded out the top five. “The car was pretty good early on,” said Rogers. “It started to free up later on but by that point we were already in the lead. Timmy broke so we kind of lucked out on that one.”

The final racing event was a 15-lap race for the “World Famous” Figure 8s. Mike Mujsce Sr. started on the pole and jumped out to the early lead. Roger Maynor quickly jumped to second place and Arne Pedersen followed him to third. The race’s only caution came out on the fourth lap when Brian Hansen’s 88 machine came to a halt in the intersection. The race restarted with Mujsce leading Maynor, Pedersen, and Kenny Hyde. Maynor made his way to the lead on lap eight and didn’t look back. Maynor held on to score his 109th career victory. Mujsce, Pedersen, Tom Ferrara and Hyde completed the top five.

The last event of the night was an eight-cylinder demolition derby that was won by “Mad” Mike Smith. The event was taped by the History Channel and will be aired at a later date.

Photos now available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2134

 

Blunderbust

1. (4) Brian Brown

2. (13) Jimmy White Jr.

3. (16) Tom Pickerell

4. (15) Tommy Walkowiak

5. (2) William J. Wegmann

6. (1) Bob Muller

7. (9) Ed Mistretta

8. (18) Ron Langdon

9. (11) Jack Handley Jr.

10. (12) Tim Mulqueen

11. (14) William A. Wegmann

12. (17) Scott Maliszewski

13. (6) Tom Puccia

14. (7) Brandon Hubbard

15. (10) Justin Wahl

16. (8) Tom Sullivan

17. (5) Joe Seeger

18. (19) Paul Parisi

19. (3) Bryan Quilliam

Super Pro Trucks

1. (1) Roger Turbush

2. (2) Dave Koenig

3. (5) Lou Maestri

4. (6) Michael Albasini

5. (7) Frank Dumicich Jr.

6. (9) Frank Dumicich Sr.

7. (8) Brian McElearney

8. (3) Erin Solomito

9. (10) Mark Stewart

10. (4) Rob Bader

Chargers

1. (5) Ray Minieri

2. (8) CJ Lehmann

3. (6) Chad Churilla

4. (3) Jeremy McDermott

5. (1) Eric Zeh

6. (12) Richard Wilson

7. (4) Chris Turbush

8. (9) Scott Lehmann

9. (2) Jayson White

10. (11) Daryn Miller

11. (10) Cory Osland

12. (7) John Baker

Figure Eights

1. (3) Roger Maynor

2. (1) Mike Mujsce Sr.

3. (5) Arne Pedersen

4. (6) Tom Ferrara

5. (4) Ken Hyde Jr.

6. (8) Scott Pedersen

7. (3) George Seus

8. (10) Gary Fritz Jr.

9. (9) Brian Hansen

10. (11) Ed Cheslak

11. (7) John Vullo

Modifieds

1. (6) Tom Rogers Jr.

2. (4) Shawn Solomito

3. (10) Ed Brunnhoelzl III

4. (11) Jerry Solomito

5. (3) Howie Brode

6. (8) David Roys

7. (16) John Beatty Jr.

8. (13) Glenn Logan

9. (14) Kyle Ellwood

10. (7) Kevin Orlando

11. (15) EJ Heim

12. (1) Vinny Biondolillo

13. (2) Timmy Solomito

14. (9) Dave Brigati

15. (5) Dave Sapienza

16. (12) Marisa Niederauer

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam