Shawn Solomito Sweeps Opening Night Twin-30s

On Opening Night 2013 Shawn Solomito won both 30-lap NASCAR Modified Features. Well, on Opening Night one year later he did it again.

Solomito battled hard early on from his second place starting position to the outside of Vinny Biondolillo. Both drivers ran door to door for a few laps before Solomito finally got the upper hand and took control of the lead on the fourth lap.

From there it was smooth sailing until the end of the first race for Solomito. He never had to worry about who was behind him and never had to deal with any restarts as the race went caution-free.

Solomito, Tom Rogers Jr., Timmy Solomito, Eric Goodale, and Ryan Preece completed the top five for the first race.

However the second race didn’t go as smooth. There were three cautions, including one on just the second lap for a four-car crash in turn two.

But the result was the same. Shawn Solomito ran mostly unchallenged and took down the win.

Last year’s champion, Howie Brode, finished second followed by Dave Sapienza, Preece, and Goodale.

“Any time you can get a win early in the year it jump-starts your season,” said Solomito. “Hopefully things just keep rolling from here.”

A Solomito has now won on Opening Night for the last four years in a row. Timmy Solomito won in 2011 and 2012, followed by Shawn in 2013 and again this season.

Two Wins For Turbush Squared

The 2014 Riverhead season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Both Chris and Roger scored wins in their respective divisions on Opening Night with Chris taking down the victory in the Charger division and Roger scoring the win in the Super Pro Trucks race.

In the Charger race Chris made his way forward from his fifth starting position fast and by the eighth lap he was up three spots to second. After that he was all over the back of defending champion Eric Zeh for the lead.

With two laps to go, Turbush bumped the back of Zeh who managed to keep control of his No. 34 but made him forfeit the lead.

Turbush drove off to score the victory with Zeh taking second.

“When you start getting older every win is a great win,” said Chris Turbush. “I try to cherish every win that I get. This could be my last win, because this might be my last year racing.”

In the Super Pro Truck feature Roger Turbush also got to the front quickly. He started fourth, but was in the lead by the sixth lap. He took the lead on the outside of Frank Dumicich Sr. on a restart and drove away to finally score an opening night win that has eluded him for so long.

“I’ve been trying to win Opening Night for six years,” said Roger. “I never ran good on Opening Night. It’s a good start to the season and hopefully everything stays together.”

For Chris Turbush seeing his brother, Roger get into victory lane on the same night as him actually meant more than his own win.

“I enjoy when he wins or Mark (Stewart, his nephew) wins more than when I win,” said Chris. “So to see him win really puts a spotlight on the night. Even if I lost as long as they win I’m good with it.”

Nowak Goes Wire-To-Wire

Kevin Nowak was as dominant as it gets in the Legends division on Opening Night. Nowak led all 20 laps to score the victory.

Even as dominant as Nowak’s performance was, it wasn’t as easy as it may appear. Nowak had to hold off challenges from Kyle Soper as well as Richie Davidowitz.

And he had to deal with multiple restarts as the race saw five cautions.

“Waiting that long over that long winter,” said Nowak, “there’s nothing better than that.”

Nowak credited the win to all the hard work that his team put in over the winter.

Vullo Puts In “Electric” Performance

Johnny “Electric” Vullo led just about every lap in the 15-lap feature for the “World Famous” Figure 8 Stock Cars. When you hear that you probably think that he started on the pole. But no, he actually started fifth.

The initial start was a bit slow and that enabled Vullo to come flying up the outside and to have the lead by the second time the cars shot through the intersection.

Vullo did come under fire a few times, but each time it appeared that he lost the lead the caution would come out putting him back in control of the event.

“It feels good,” said Vullo. “I didn’t know what to expect with the car. It wasn’t handling too well in practice, but hey, we took it and we battled it and we got it.”

This One Counts

In 2013 Jack Handley Jr. put in a stellar performance to win the Opening Night Blunderbust feature but he was penalized for rough riding for his last-lap pass and had the win taken away from him.

In 2014 there was no last-lap pass. There was no penalty. And this time the win counted for Handley.

Handley started third, but quickly got caught on the outside lane. He maintained his position over the course of a couple of restarts before finally starting to move forward.

On lap eight, Handley finally took the lead. He made his way into first going down the backstretch using the outside lane to his advantage.

Handley just had to survive one last restart and a hard charge from Tom Pickerell with two laps to go to secure his first win of 2014.

La Spisa Dominates Late Models

Chris La Spisa started in first and ended in first and it was never really in doubt. On every restart La Spisa would drive off and leave his competitors behind.

Really the only competition was to see who would finish in second. That honor went to Shawn Patrick who rallied back after spinning on the backstretch to bring out the caution on the first lap of the race.

La Spisa, Patrick, Jeremy McDermott, Ken Alfano, and Scott Kulesa were the top five finishers.

 

Super Pro Truck Results: 

1. Roger Turbush (4)

2. Lou Maestri (5)

3. David Koenig (9)

4. Frank Dumicich Sr. (2)

5. Erin Dumicich-Solomito (3)

6. Mark Stewart (8)

7. Michael Albasini (6)

8. Frank Dumicich Jr. (7)

9. Jimmy Rennick Jr. (12)

10. Rich Campo (1)

11. Amanda Anderson Mujsce (10)

12. Kevin Scharfenberg (11)

 

Legend Results:

1. Kevin Nowak (1)

2. Richie Davidowitz (3)

3. Brad Van Houten (8)

4. Brendon Bock (10)

5. Timmy Solomito (6)

6. Kyle Soper (2)

7. Bryan Kelly (15)

8. Justin Strumpf (9)

9. Chris Rogers (13)

10. George Tomko Jr. (17)

11. Vinny Delaney (11)

12. Allan Pedersen (25)

13. Vincent Colletti (22)

14. Greg Harris (7)

15. Mike Van Houten (21)

16. John Harley (24)

17. Joe Sedotto (16)

18. Eric Hersey (23)

19. Dave Koenig Jr. (19)

20. Johnnie Gloor (14)

21. Steve Hersey (26)

22. Steve Smith (27)

23. Paul Dodorico (12)

24. Ray Fitzgerald (4)

25. Shawn Wanat (20)

26. Dylan Slepian (5)

27. Anthony Marsh (18)

 

Blunderbust Results: 

1. Jack Handley Jr. (5)

2. Tom Pickerell (9)

3. Johnny Cricchio (15)

4. Tom Sullivan (8)

5. William A. Wegmann (4)

6. Brian Brown (10)

7. Gary Caldwell (14)

8. Tommy Walkowiak (21)

9. Bryan Sescila (20)

10. Scott Maliszewski (11)

11. Paul Parisi (1)

12. Tom Puccia (2)

13. Bob Muller (16)

14. Brandon Hubbard (13)

15. Tim Mulqueen (6)

16. Jessica Cohen (12)

17. Michael Rommeney (19)

18. Frank Scimeca (17)

19. Bill Wegmann (7)

20. Terry Stiles (18)

 

Charger Results: 

1. Chris Turbush (5)

2. Eric Zeh (3)

3. Cory Midgett (1)

4. CJ Lehmann (4)

5. Ray Minieri (6)

6. Jayson White (2)

7. Daryn Miller (7)

8. Greg Immerman (9)

9. Owen Grennan (10)

10. Daniel Lynch (8)

 

Late Model Results: 

1. Chris La Spisa (1)

2. Shawn Patrick (8)

3. Jeremy McDermott (9)

4. Ken Alfano (4)

5. Scott Kulesa (2)

6. Kevin Metzger (3)

7. Chris Lescenski (11)

8. Mike Bologna (6)

9. Roger Oxee (7)

10. Jarrod Hayes (10)

11. Buzzy Eriksen (5)

 

Modified Race #1: 

1. Shawn Solomito (2)

2. Tom Rogers Jr. (5)

3. Timmy Solomito (7)

4. Eric Goodale (3)

5. Ryan Preece (9)

6. Howie Brode (4)

7. Dave Sapienza (6)

8. John Fortin (8)

9. Jason Agugliaro (10)

10. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III (13)

11. Kyle Ellwood (15)

12. Jerry Solomito (14)

13. Vincent Biondolillo (1)

14. John Fortin Jr. (12)

15. Amber Fortin (11)

16. Ken Darch (16)

17. Jeff Goodale (17)

 

Modified Race #2: 

1. Shawn Solomito

2. Howie Brode

3. Dave Sapienza

4. Ryan Preece

5. Eric Goodale

6. Tom Rogers Jr.

7. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III

8. Jerry Solomito

9. Jason Agugliaro

10. Kyle Ellwood

11. Amber Fortin

12. Jeff Goodale

13. John Fortin Jr.

14. Vincent Biondolillo

15. John Fortin

16. Timmy Solomito

17. Ken Darch

 

Figure 8 Results: 

1. John Vullo (5)

2. Roger Maynor (6)

3. Tom Rogers Jr. (8)

4. Scott Pedersen (2)

5. Gary Fritz Jr. (1)

6. Vincent Biondolillo (9)

7. Ken Hyde Jr. (7)

8. Mike Mujsce (3)

9. CJ Lehmann (4)

10. Bryan Quilliam (10)

 

 

Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2248

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam.com