Bock Captures 2013 Legends Championship at 16 Years Old

The 2013 INEX Legends championship at Riverhead came down to the 16-year-old Brendon Bock, and the 21-year-old Timmy Solomito. Bock led Solomito by eight points coming into the race.

Solomito finished third in the first heat race and Bock finished third in the third heat race. The heat results put Solomito in seventh and Bock in ninth to start the feature. Kyle Soper started the race from the pole with Jeffrey Goodale to his outside.

A scary incident happened on just the fourth lap of the race. A four car crash in turn one saw Greg Harris’ No. 65 get upside-down and slide across the track on its roof. Almost all of the body panels came off the car except the doors and the right-front fender. Harris walked away from the accident but was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Solomito and Bock both raced to the front of the field. Solomito needed to finish five spots ahead of Bock to win the title, but Bock made sure that wouldn’t happen by staying right on Solomito’s back bumper.

Solomito made his way to second and then made his move on Kevin Nowak for the win on the final lap. He dove underneath Nowak going into turn one. The two ran side-by-side down the backstretch, but Solomito cleared Nowak coming out of turn four as the checkered flag flew.

Bock finished third and won the championship by four points over Solomito.

“It’s amazing,” said Bock. “I came into this season hoping for the best, but I didn’t think this was gonna happen. I thought I had a realistic chance when I saw Kyle (Ellwood) blow up. I only started thinking about it the last month. I was definitely nervous. Timmy is a great racecar driver. But we kept it together and we did it.”

“We had a strong car all year,” said Solomito. “I don’t think we finished outside the top five but one time. We ran great. We won, and did all we could but came up a little short. Congratulations to Brendon Bock. He’s a class act.”

Zeh Wins Tight Chargers Battle

The tightest championship battle heading into the night was in the Chargers division where Chris Turbush held a two-point lead over Eric Zeh and a 12-point lead over Ray Minieri.

Zeh had the early advantage over Turbush as he started third and Turbush was back in eighth. The first caution came out on just the second lap when Turbush got into the back of Cj Lehmann and Lehmann went around in front of the rest of the field. John Baker had nowhere to go and drove right into the left-front corner of Lehmann’s machine. Turbush was sent to the rear of the field for rough riding by track officials.

While Turbush was trying to come back through the field, Zeh made his way into the lead on the fourth lap. Meanwhile, Turbush made his way up to fifth before the caution came out on lap eight. Turbush encountered more trouble and had to pit for a tire that was going down. He returned and restarted in 11th.

Turbush worked his way back up through the field once more, but never had another shot at Zeh. Zeh won the race and the championship. Turbush made his way back to fourth. Zeh won by just four points over Turbush.

“We just had to go out there and win the race,” said Zeh. “That’s what the game plan was. No matter what the 81 was doing I just had to go out and win. It didn’t matter where he finished as long as I won the race.”

Turbush had a tumultuous night and after his contact with Lehmann the front of his car was “messed up.” Turbush said after the race “I tip my hat to Eric Zeh. He had a great year. He didn’t mess with anybody all year. He drove great and he’s a good champion.”

McDermott Wins Second Straight Championship in Different Divisions

Jeremy McDermott won the 2012 Charger championship and was looking to win his second straight championship at Riverhead on Saturday night, but this year it was in the Late Model division.

Roger Oxee was McDermott’s main competition as he was nine points back entering the race. Oxee started the race from fifth, with McDermott in 10th. McDermott quickly made his way up through the field and got to fifth before an incident that almost cost him the championship.

McDermott and Oxee were battling with Chris La Spisa in turn four. La Spisa and McDermott made a lot of contact and McDermott’s right front fender crumpled. Oxee moved to avoid the other two, but he dropped back to seventh in the process.

Oxee started to come back up through the field and finished fifth, one spot behind McDermott. McDermott won the championship over Oxee by 11 points.

“It feels awesome,” said McDermott. “It was a little bit of a tough race, but we made it through. We weren’t even expecting to be in contention for the championship, but everything went our way and we pulled it off.”

Hyde Jr. Holds Off Maynor and Pedersen

The point’s battle for the “World Famous” Figure Eight stock cars was about as close as possible. Kenny Hyde Jr. came in with a four-point lead over Roger Maynor, and six points over Arne Pedersen.

Maynor quickly moved to second from his fifth place starting spot. But Pedersen and Hyde were on the march as well. Pedersen moved into third on the third lap of the race and Hyde made his way to fifth by lap six.

With five laps remaining Hyde moved into third as Pedersen spun out in turn one. Hyde did what he had to do and finished one spot behind Maynor. Hyde beat Maynor in the final standings by four points.

Last year’s Figure Eight champion Mike Mujsce Sr. won the race.

“It’s more than words can describe,” said Hyde. “We work hard every week, and we wouldn’t have gotten this far without them and me working this hard.”

Dumicich Jr. Finishes Third to Win Super Pro Truck Championship

Frank Dumicich Jr. entered Saturday night with one of the largest leads in any of the divisions. His gap over Mike Albasini was 10 points, so Albasini needed to finish six spots ahead of Dumicich. The two drivers started almost right next to each other with Albasini in eighth and Dumcich in ninth.

Dumicich knew he had to go right to the front as quickly as possible and wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way. He was being held up a bit by the No. 19 of Rob Bader so he moved Bader out of the way going down the backstretch which resulted in Bader going for a spin in the infield on lap seven.

By lap 15 Dumicich made his way up to third behind Roger Turbush and Dave Koenig, and that is where he would stay. Nobody had anything for Turbush who won the caution-free race by more than a straightaway over Koenig.

Dumicich’s third place finish won him the championship by 14 points over Albasini.

“It’s awesome. It really is. To run with your father and your sister and to win the championship is awesome,” said Dumicich Jr. “It’s always nerve-wracking starting in the back, deep in the field, because you never know what could happen in front of you. We didn’t start paying attention to the points until the last two weeks, but we led it all year.”

Maliszewski Comes Out on Top of Wild Blunderbust Title Race

Tommy Walkowiak entered the final points race at Riverhead Raceway with an eight-point advantage over Scott Maliszewski. Both drivers have shown how important consistency is throughout a season. Walkowiak won just one race this season, and Maliszewski never visited victory lane at all. A couple of drivers won numerous times throughout the year, but the championship came down to just Walkowiak and Maliszewski.

Maliszewski had the advantage at the start of the race, but only by one spot as he started 12th and Walkowiak started 13th. They raced bumper-to-bumper as they moved their way up the field until Walkowiak spun in turn two on lap ten, but the race stayed under green conditions.  Meanwhile Maliszewski made his way up to third.

The field bunched back together a few laps later when the caution came out for a spin by Ron Langdon in turn two on lap 15. After two more cautions Walkowiak had made his way back up to seventh and Maliszewski was now in second.

Walkowiak was charging through the field, making passes anywhere possible. With two laps to go he went three-wide, but his quest for the championship ended when he tangled with Jimmy White Jr. going into turn one.

Maliszewski finished second in the race to Bill Wegmann Jr. to win the 2013 Blunderbust championship. Walkowiak crossed the line in 16th.

After the race ended Walkowiak came across the track and nailed Tom Pickerell on the driver’s door. That action resulted in a disqualification from the track officials. All points from the race were taken away.

Maliszewski beat Pickerell in the standings by 24 points. Walkowiak finished the 2013 season third in points, 30 points behind.

Jason Agugliaro Scores First Modified Win in Thrilling 50-Lap Race

Jason Agugliaro has been seeking his first Modified win at Riverhead Raceway for some time now. He came close a few times throughout the month of August, but the start of September was a struggle. The low point of the month came last week when he failed to qualify for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Green Earth Technologies 200.

But his bid for his first victory got off to a good start after he picked the pole position in the redraw after time-trials. He led the first 32 laps of the race before Timmy Solomito got by in turn four as the top four drivers battled side-by-side.

A few laps earlier the lead battle was tight and a lot of contact was made by everybody in the top four. All of the contact saw Tom Rogers Jr. get spun out off the front bumper of Solomito’s No. 15.

As Solomito caught Rogers to put him a lap down, Rogers went up the racetrack and held up Solomito. Agugliaro took the lead back and Solomito fell all the way back to sixth.

“We fought back to take the lead, but unfortunately we had a car wait on us and spin us out,” said Solomito. “They never should have let him back in the first place after the stunts he’s pulled but it is what it is.”

Rogers’ take on the incident was “Some people just want to drive through you instead of around you. I’m not the guy that that’s gonna happen to and I let him know it.”

Agugliaro and 2013 champion Howie Brode battled hard all race long and the win came down to those two drivers in the last corner. Agugliaro gave Brode the outside line in turn three. They got side-by-side and Agugliaro ran Brode high and almost into the wall coming out of turn four. He just barely beat Brode to the line to score his first win.

“I’m riding on a cloud to be honest,” said Agugliaro. “Going into three I tried protecting the bottom and the car came up a little bit and at that time Howie was outside of me and I just held my ground, he held his ground and we came off with the win.”

Brode, who saw the incident a bit differently said, “I was passing him on the outside and he just stuffed me into the fence coming off of four.”

Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2203

Blunderbust Results:

1. (9) William J. Wegmann

2. (13) Scott Maliszewski

3. (10) Brian Brown

4. (6) Tom Sullivan

5. (12) Tom Pickerell

6.     Justin Wahl

7. (20) Johnny  Cricchio

8. (7) Tim Mulqueen

9. (19) Gary Caldwell

10. (3) Bryan Quilliam

11. (2) Bob Muller

12. (8) Jimmy White Jr.

13. (18) Jessica Cohan

14. (16) Robert Duffus Jr

15. Michael Rommeney

16. (5) Thomas Puccia

17. (1) Rob Bader

18. (11) William A. Wegmann

19. (4) Paul Parisi

20. (14) Jack Handley Jr.

21. (17) Rich Hubbard

Chargers:

1. (3) Eric Zeh

2. (5) Ray Minieri

3. (6) Carl Lehmann Jr

4. (9) Chris Turbush

5. (10) John Baker

6. (2) Richard Wilson

7. (1) Cory Osland

8. (8)Jayson White

9. (4) Chad Churilla

10 (7) Jay Henschel

11 (12) Brad  Van Houten

12 (10) Derek Stachecki

Figure 8’s:

1. (1) Mike Mujsce Sr.

2. (5) Roger Maynor

3. (8) Kenneth Hyde Jr.

4. (2) Scott Pedersen

5. (10) Cj Lehmann

6. (7) John Vullo

7. (6) Arne Pedersen

8. (3) Gary Fritz Jr.

9. (10) Brian Hansen

10. (9)Tom Ferrara

Legends:

1. (7)Timmy Solomito

2. (6) Kevin  Nowak

3. (9) Brendon Bock

4. (13) Vinny Delaney

5. (15) Dylan Slepian

6. (20) Justin Strumpf

7. (3) Brad Van Houten

8. (27) Artie Pedersen III

9. (1) Kyle Soper

10. (12) Vincent Colletti

11. (26) George Tomko Jr.

12. (11) Eric Hersey

13. (10) Kyle Ellwood

14. (2) Jeffrey Goodale

15. (22) Shawn Wanat

16. (17) Jim Sylvester

17. (18) Mike Van Houten

18. (23) Steve Smith

19. (25) Steve Hersey

20. (16) Allan Pedersen

21. (8) Richard Davidowitz

22. (5) Christian Conklin

23. (4) Bryan Kelly

24. (22) Ed Cheslak

25. (14) Anthony Marsh

26. (19) Gregory Harris

27. (21) Nick Harnage

Late Models:

1. (2) Kevin Metzger

2. (8) Shawn Patrick

3. (6) Mike Bologna

4. (10) Jeremy McDermott

5. (5) Roger Oxee

6. (4) Kenneth Alfano

7. (9) Buzzy Eriksen

8. Dave Brigati

9. (3) Scott Kulesa

10. (7) Chris La Spisa

11  (1) Kevin Orlando

12  (11) Chris Mangels

13 (12) Scott Lehman

Super Pro Trucks:

1. (1) Roger Turbush

2. (5) David Koenig

3. (9) Frank Dumicich Jr.

4. (2) Brian Mc Elearney

5. (10) Michael Albasini

6. (3) Erin Solomito

7. (7) Mark Stewart

8. (13) Bobby Gardner

9. (8) Lou Maestri

10. (6) Frank N. Dumicich

11. (11) Rich Campo

12. (12) Amanda Anderson

13. (4) Rob Bader

Modifieds:

1. (1) Jason Agugliaro

2. (5) David H. Brigati

3. (3)Howie Brode

4. (6) David Sapienza

5. (4) Timmy Solomito

6. (8) David Roys

7. (2) Vinny Biondolillo

8. (9) Brad Van Houten

9. (10) Ken Darch

10. (7) Tom Rogers Jr.

11. (11) Jeff Andrade

 

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam