Silk and Brigati Split Twin-30s on Wall of Fame Night

It was a great night for racing on Wall of Fame night at Riverhead Raceway. Bill Park, Wayne Anderson and the late Joe Biondolillo Jr. were put on Riverhead’s Wall of Fame, solidifying their places as three of the greats in the track’s history. The night saw a lot of racing with all of the classes in attendance with the exception of the Chargers. The NASCAR Modifieds ran twin-30 lap features, the Late Models ran their longest race of the season with 50 laps as the scheduled distance, and the INEX Legends also had an extra length feature as they ran 30 laps for their national qualifier event.

The evening started off with time-trials for the Legends and it was the defending track champion Kyle Ellwood who ran the fastest lap. He posted a time of 13.791 seconds. Timmy Solomito’s lap of 13.905 was good enough for second fastest. Justin Strumpf, Kyle Soper, and Vinny Delaney completed the top five fastest qualifiers.

The top eight starting positions for the 30-lap main event was determined via the redraw.  Solomito moved up one spot to the pole position. Delaney drew the outside of the front row. Strumpf, Soper, Artie Pedersen III, Brad Van Houten, Ellwood and Richie Davidowitz completed the top eight starting spots.

Time-trials for the 50-lap Late Model feature followed the Legends. Jarrod Hayes set the fastest time with a lap of 12.567 seconds. Roger Oxee was the second fastest qualifier with a time that was just one one-hundreth of a second slower than Hayes. Jeremy McDermott, Mike Bologna, and Kevin Metzger completed the top five.

After the redraw it would be Hayes that would start the race from the pole position. McDermott drew the outside of the front row. Ken Alfano, Bologna, Oxee, Shawn Patrick, Chris La Spisa, and Metzger were the top eight starters for the feature.

The final class to time-trial for the evening were the NASCAR Modifieds and it was Ryan Preece in Bill Park’s No. 20 who had the fastest lap. Preece was the only driver to clock in at under 11.8 seconds with a time of 11.771 seconds. Timmy Solomito had the second fastest lap with a time of 11.818 seconds. Vinny Biondolillo, Dave Brigati, and Howie Brode were the five fastest qualifiers.

Biondolillo would start the race from the pole position courtesy of the redraw, and he would have Brigati to his outside. Brode, Timmy Solomito, Ron Silk, David Roys, Shawn Solomito, and Preece completed the top eight starting positions.

The Super Pro Trucks were the first feature event of the night. Anthony Vecchio started on the pole with Frank Dumicich Sr. to his outside and it would be Dumicich by a nose who would lead the first lap. Dumicich cleared Vecchio from the outside going into turn three to take the lead. The first caution of the race came out on just the second lap for a spin by Mark Stewart after he and Frank Dumicich Jr. made contact in turn two. Dumicich Sr. got the jump on Vecchio on the restart from the bottom lane and cleared him going into turn three again. One lap later Erin Dumicich-Solomito followed her father by Vecchio to move into second. As Vecchio continued to slide backwards through the field he made contact with the outside wall on the exit of turn four and then made contact with the No. 99 of Brian McElearney. The contact resulted in a cut tire for McElearney who spun in turn one to bring out the race’s second caution. The father-daughter Dumicich combination held the front row on the next restart and it was the father who would hold the lead. Dumicich-Solomito fell back to third two laps after the restart as Mike Albasini got by her to take second. The yellow flag flew one more time with two laps remaining when last week’s winner Roger Turbush suffered a cut right-front tire after contact with Bobby Gardner’s truck. Turbush hit the wall and came to a stop in turn one. Dumicich Sr. was able to hold off Albasini on a single-file restart with two laps to go to secure the victory. Albasini finished second, Lou Maestri got ahead of Dumicich-Solomito to take third and she had to settle for fourth. Gardner completed the top five.

“Albasini ran me clean,” said Dumicich Sr. “I gotta say that. He really did. He ran me clean. Never touched me. It was a good race.”

The 30-lap feature for the INEX Legends followed the Super Pro Trucks. This race was a qualifier race for the 22nd Annual Legends Asphalt Nationals at Lake Erie Speedway in Pennsylvania. Timmy Solomito started from the pole and Vinny Delaney was to his outside. Solomito got the jump on Delaney and cleared him coming off of turn two. Solomito’s teammate Justin Strumpf then moved under Delaney to take second one lap later. Then Kyle Soper moved by Delaney and into third three laps later. The first of many cautions in this race came out on the eighth lap of the race when Greg Harris and Brad Van Houten spun in turn two. The race restarted but was immediately back under caution when Shawn Wanat made contact with Raven Schrantz. The contact spun Wanat and sent him hard into the turn one wall. The left side of his car was destroyed and the left-front tire broke away from the car. Wanat was okay and walked away from the accident. On the next restart Solomito had the lead with Strumpf to his outside and Soper in third. Solomito got a great start and quickly cleared his teammate. Soper got underneath Strumpf and took second on lap nine. The yellow flag was back out again on lap 12 for a single car spin by Eric Hersey in turn two. The race finally saw a decent amount of green-flag racing two restarts later. Soper made a charge on Solomito on multiple occasions but wasn’t able to get under him to make the pass. There would be two more cautions in this race, one for a single car spin by Richie Coy, and another for a big crash in turn one that saw Schrantz, Johnnie Gloor, Hersey, and Anthony Marsh all involved. The race would end under caution and it was Solomito who picked up his second win of the season. Soper, Kyle Ellwood, Strumpf, and Brendon Bock completed the top five. In total the race saw seven caution periods.

“On the long run I felt like I was better than he (Soper) was,” said Solomito. “I really didn’t want to see that caution with two to go, but we prevailed which was good. We’ll take it. It wasn’t our strongest win, but it was a good win.”

The Blunderbusts followed with their 20-lap feature event. Bill Wegmann Jr. started from the pole position with Paul Parisi on the outside of the front row. Wegmann and Parisi ran side-by-side for the first lap before Wegmann cleared Parisi entering turn one on the second lap. Jack Handley Jr. made his way by Parisi on the fifth lap to take second place and then set his sights on Wegmann for the lead. Eventually on lap 16 he made his way by Wegmann after they made slight contact in turn four. Handley would go on to win the caution-free race. Wegmann, Jimmy White Jr., Tommy Walkowiak, and Tom Pickerell completed the top five.

“I got to second and I thought it was going to be easy to pass the 76,” said Handley. “He’s been getting better and better each week, so I just waited for him to make a mistake and the opportunity was there.”

After the Blunderbusts it was 50 laps of Late Model thunder. Jarrod Hayes was supposed to start from the pole after he had the fastest time in time-trials and drew the pole position from the redraw, but that would not be the case after he blew his motor during hot laps. Due to Hayes’ blown motor the inside lane got to move up one spot so that put the No. 35 of Ken Alfano at the point with Jeremy McDermott to his outside. Alfano cleared McDermott for the lead entering turn three on the first lap, and then three laps later Roger Oxee completed a pass on McDermott to move into second. On the seventh lap of the race Shawn Patrick made an attempt to take fourth from Chris La Spisa but spun out on the exit of turn four. The race stayed green and Alfano, Oxee, and McDermott started to pull away from the rest of the field. The battle for the lead was heated between Alfano, Oxee, and McDermott. Oxee put the bumper to Alfano on a couple of occasions, but he let Alfano gather the car up and continue. The battle came to a sudden end when Alfano blew a right-front tire entering turn one on lap 35, surrendering the lead to Oxee. Oxee would line up ahead of McDermott, Mike Bologna, La Spisa, and Kevin Metzger for the single-file restart. Oxee pulled away from McDermott quickly on the restart, but McDermott started to chase him down in just a few laps’ time. As McDermott looked to make his move the caution came out for the stopped car of Metzger in turn four after he blew out his right-front tire. Oxee was able to hold off McDermott on the restart and hold on to score the victory. McDermott, Patrick, Bologna, and Alfano rounded out the top five.

“He (McDermott) would have gotten me at the end,” said Oxee, “because my right-rear tire went about lap 42. I couldn’t get off the turns anymore. It was going to get interesting.”

The NASCAR Modifieds were up next for their twin-30 lap features. 15-year-old Vinny Biondolillo started on the pole with Dave Brigati to his outside. It was Brigati who led the first lap from the outside. Timmy Solomito followed Brigati on the high side and went from fourth to second on the second lap. Biondolillo started to slide down the running order and then he brought out the first caution when he spun in turn four. Brigati had the lead on the restart with Solomito to his outside. The top six drivers ran side-by-side for the next four laps after the restart until the next caution came out for a crash involving Glenn Logan and Biondolillo at the start/finish line. Timmy Solomito tried over and over again to make a move on Brigati for the lead, but just couldn’t make it happen. Brigati was able to hold him off and score the victory. It was Brigati’s second win of the season, and the first win in his own car. His first victory came in Dave Sapienza’s No. 36 car. Brigati, Solomito, Ryan Preece, Ron Silk, and Howie Brode completed the top five for the first race.

“My guys worked hard on the car all week this week,” said Brigati. “They deserve it. I tore up two racecars this year. We won in Dave Sapienza’s 36, but to come back and win two weeks later with my car is great.”

The starting lineup for the second 30-lap race was determined by the finishing order of the first race so it was Brigati up front with Solomito to his outside once again. The two ran side-by-side down the backstretch until they made contact entering turn three. Both drivers spun, as well as Preece, but all three were able to get going quickly so the race stayed green. Silk took advantage of the mayhem in turn three and went to the lead. David Roys moved to second and Frank Vigliarolo moved to third. Silk, driving the Joe Ambrose-owned No. 3 in a one-off deal, defended the lead on two restarts and was able to score the victory by almost a full straightaway over Roys. Roys, Brode, Preece, and Vigliarolo rounded out the top five for the second race.

“We caught a lucky break when Preece and Brigati and Timmy got taken out,” said Silk. “Everything worked out. That’s the way racing is.”

Brigati said of the incident with Solomito that it was just a racing deal.

“I was tight on the bottom so I was trying to hold it down, but I was getting into him a little bit,” said Brigati. “Timmy used to drive for me. He’s a great driver. He’s gonna win a lot more races. He’s getting better and better every year and that’s proved by who he’s driving for.”

The final event of the night was a 15-lap race for the “World Famous” Figure Eight stock cars. Arne Pedersen started on the pole. Pedersen held off charges from his brother, Scott, and Kenny Hyde Jr., and was able to lead all 15 laps to score the win. The race was slowed for one caution when John Vullo and Mike Mujsce got together in turn four of the figure eight course. Scott Pedersen finished second, followed by Roger Maynor, Hyde, and Vullo.

“We lost power steering on lap two,” said Pedersen. “I just couldn’t get into the corners really good so I didn’t want the pace to get moving really good. But once we started going I got used to the feeling on the wheel.”

Pedersen had to fight through a back injury suffered this week in addition to the power steering issue on the racetrack.

“I also broke a vertebrae last week in my neck,” said Pedersen. “It was a tough ride out there.”

Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2170

Super Pro Truck Results:

1. (2) Frank Dumicich Sr.

2. (5) Michael Albasini

3. (8) Lou Maestri

4. (3) Erin Dumicich-Solomito

5. (12) Bobby Gardner

6. (10) Frank Dumicich Jr.

7. (4) Brian McElearney

8. (11) Frank Scimeca

9. (9) Roger Turbush

10. (6) Dave Koenig

11. (1) Anthony Vecchio

12. (12) Rich Campo

13. (7) Mark Stewart

Legends:

1. (1) Timmy Solomito

2. (4) Kyle Soper

3. (7) Kyle Ellwood

4. (3) Justin Strumpf

5. (12) Brendon Bock

6. (8) Richie Davidowitz

7. (9) Kevin Nowak

8. (5) Artie Pedersen III

9. (2) Vinny Delaney

10. (10) Paul Dodorico

11. (11) Jeffrey Goodale

12. (20) Bryan Kelly

13. (14) Greg Harris

14. (6) Brad Van Houten

15. (21) Dylan Slepian

16. (13) Richie Coy

17. (17) Jim Sylvester

18. (23) Steve Hersey

19. (16) Johnnie Gloor

20. (18) Raven Schrantz

21. (22) Anthony Marsh

22. (26) Eric Hersey

23. (19) Chris Rogers

24. (24) George Tomko Jr.

25. (27) Vincent Colletti

26. (25) Collin Hoeffner

27. (15) Shawn Wanat

Did Not Qualify

Ed Cheslak

Allan Pedersen

Mike Van Houten

Joe Sedotto

Steve Smith

Blunderbusts:

1. (4) Jack Handley Jr.

2. (1) William J. Wegmann

3. (6) Jimmy White Jr.

4. (9) Tommy Walkowiak

5. (13) Tom Pickerell

6. (8) Ron Langdon

7. (2) Paul Parisi

8. (14) Scott Maliszewski

9. (7) Justin Wahl

10. (11) Tim Mulqueen

11. (5) William A. Wegmann

12. (16) Brendon Hubbard

13. (10) Brian Brown

14. (12) Tom Sullivan

15. (3) Tom Puccia

16. (15) Bob Muller

17. (19) Rob Bader

18. (17) Bryan Quilliam

19. (18) Joe Seeger

Late Models:

1. (5) Roger Oxee

2. (2) Jeremy McDermott

3. (6) Shawn Patrick

4. (4) Mike Bologna

5. (3) Ken Alfano

6. (9) Buzzy Eriksen

7. (7) Chris La Spisa

8. (11) Scott Kulesa

9. (8) Kevin Metzger

10. (10) Chris McGuire

11. (12) Scott Legmann

12. (13) Chris Mangels

13. (1) Jarrod Hayes

Modified Race 1:

1. (2) Dave Brigati

2. (4) Timmy Solomito

3. (8) Ryan Preece

4. (5) Ron Silk

5. (3) Howie Brode

6. (6) David Roys

7. (10) Frank Vigliarolo

8. (13) Marisa Niederauer

9. (14) Ed Brunnhoelzl III

10. (17) Jerry Solomito Jr.

11. (11) Jason Agugliaro

12. (7) Shawn Solomito

13. (15) Kevin Orlando

14. (16) Ken Darch

15. (19) Glenn Logan

16. (18) Danny Watts

17. (9) Dave Sapienza

18. (12) Kyle Ellwood

19. (1) Vinny Biondolillo

Modified Race 2:

1. (4) Ron Silk

2. (6) David Roys

3. (5) Howie Brode

4. (3) Ryan Preece

5. (7) Frank Vigliarolo

6. (12) Shawn Solomito

7. (13) Kevin Orlando

8. (9) Ed Brunnhoelzl III

9. (2) Timmy Solomito

10. (1) Dave Brigati

11. (18) Kyle Ellwood

12. (17) Dave Sapienza

13. (14) Ken Darch

14. (8) Marisa Niederauer

15. (16) Danny Watts

16. (11) Jason Agugliaro

17. (15) Glenn Logan

18. (10) Jerry Solomito Jr.

19. (19) Vinny Biondolillo

Figure Eights:

1. (1) Arne Pedersen

2. (5) Scott Pedersen

3. (6) Roger Maynor

4. (3) Ken Hyde Jr.

5. (4) John Vullo

6. (7) Gary Fritz Jr.

7. (9) Cj Lehmann

8. (11) Frank Dumicich Jr.

9. (8) Tommy Walkowiak

10. (10) Brian Hansen

11. (2) Mike Mujsce Sr.

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam