Timmy Solomito Takes Down Evans Hall of Fame Twin 50’s
To say that the 2014 season at Riverhead Raceway hasn’t gotten off to a great start for Timmy Solomito would be an understatement. But he and his Wayne Anderson-owned No. 15 had a pretty great night after Solomito swept the Richie Evans Hall of Fame twin-50s.
Solomito picked the pole position after time trials for the third straight week. It hadn’t worked too well for him in the two prior races, but this time for it paid off. Solomito led all 100 laps.
Tom Rogers Jr. ran second to Solomito all race long.
After the caution came out for a first lap crash between Ron Silk and Vincent Biondolillo, Rogers had a chance to take the lead from Solomito on the restart. Both drivers ran side-by-side for about three laps, but Solomito edged back ahead.
This is the first year that the track ran the Evans Hall of Fame event as a twin-50. It had been a 100-lap race for many years. Solomito won a couple years ago in the 100-lap event, and now he’s won it again in the twin-50 format.
“It always feels good to get a win,” said Solomito. “Especially after the start we’ve gotten off to. It’s been a little rocky. But we just won one of the biggest races of the year.”
Davidowitz Wins Again
It appeared that the lead was in the last place a driver wanted to be early on in the Legends feature. But once Richie Davidowitz took the lead he held it all the way to the end.
Brendon Bock took the lead on the third lap, but had to give up the spot under caution to fix his rear bumper just one lap later. That handed the lead to Artie Pedersen III, but he only had it for two laps. His hood popped up and out of place on the restart. Pedersen gave up the lead to have the hood removed during the next caution, which handed the lead over to Davidowitz.
That was on lap eight. And from there it was all Davidowitz. Kyle Soper appeared as though he might have had a chance at Davidowitz on a restart with five laps to go, but he wasn’t able to mount a charge.
Davidowitz scored his second win of the season and the third of his career.
“We lost Brendon to a rear bumper and then we lost Pedersen,” said Davidowitz. “That happened to put me in the lead. If the car keeps running like this I think we can get at least a couple more.”
Turbush Dominates Chargers
Chris Turbush started fifth, but by the second lap he’d already passed three cars. It wasn’t much longer until he was in the lead.
Turbush took the lead on the fifth lap of the race on the exit of turn two and quickly started to distance himself from the field. But a caution on lap seven brought everybody right back to him.
However that didn’t matter as Turbush just left everybody on the restart.
Turbush scored his second win of the season beating Scott Pedersen to the checkered by a full straightaway.
“We really got the car dialed in,” said Turbush. “It’s the best it’s been in two years since I wrecked it at Wall Stadium the year of my last championship. Hopefully it stays that way.”
Mujsce Scores Figure 8 Victory
Mujsce started third, but he had the lead by the end of the second lap.
Mujsce had to deal with two restarts, but he handled both of those well. Then he had to deal with a fast Johnny Vullo, but he was able to hold him off to score his first win of the season.
“That race was fun,” said Mujsce. “It was fun to drive. (The car) did what I needed it to do. Just a car that you wanted to drive.”
There was an incident that took place after the checkered between Vincent Biondolillo and Arne Pedersen. Pedersen spun out Biondolillo and Biondolillo retaliated by ramming Pedersen in the door. Pedersen walked away from the incident, but he was taken to an area hospital for further evaluation.
Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2267
Modified Race 1 Results:
1. Timmy Solomito
2. Tom Rogers Jr.
3. Howie Brode
4. Brad Van Houton
5. Ryan Preece
6. Eric W. Goodale
7. David Sapienza
8. Frank Vigliarolo
9. Ron Silk
10. Ed Brunnhoelzl III
11. Vinny Biondolillo
12. Jeffrey Goodale
13. Ken Darch
14. EJ Heim
15. Jason Agugliaro
16. Kyle Ellwood
17. Jack Orlando
Modified Race 2 Results:
1. Timmy Solomito
2. Tom Rogers Jr.
3. Howie Brode
4. Brad Van Houton
5. Eric W. Goodale
6. Ryan Preece
7. Jason Agugliaro
8. Frank Vigliarolo
9. Ron Silk
10. Ed Brunnhoelzl III
11. Jeffrey Goodale
12. Vinny Biondolillo
13. David Sapienza
14. EJ Heim
15. Ken Darch
16. Kyle Ellwood
17. Jack Orlando
Chargers Results:
1. Chris Turbush
2. Scott Pedersen
3. Cory Osland
4. Carl Lehmann Jr
5. Ray Minieri
6. Eric Zeh
7. Greg Immerman
8. Tom Rogers
9. Dan Lynch
10. John Baker
Legends Results:
1. Richard Davidowitz
2. Kyle Soper
3. Brad Van Houten
4. Dylan Slepian
5. John Beatty Jr.
6. Bryan Kelly
7. Justin Strumpf
8. Brendon Bock
9. Vinny Delaney
10. Paul Dodorico
11. Anthony Marsh
12. Chris Rogers
13. Michael Retkoski
14. Joe Sedotto
15. Shawn Wanat
16. Eric Hersey
17. Ed Cheslak
18. Mike Van Houten
19. Artie Pedersen III
20. Kevin Nowak
21. Kurt Krieger
22. Jim Sylvester
23. Allan Pedersen
24. Steve Smith
25. Ray Fitzgerald
26. Gregory Harris
27. Kevin Chew
Figure 8 Results:
1. Mike Mujsce Sr.
2. John Vullo
3. Roger Maynor
4. Arne Pedersen
5. Tom Rogers
6. Cj Lehmann
7. Gary Fritz Jr.
8. Brian Quilliam
9. Chris Elixson
10. Kenneth Hyde Jr.
11. Scott Pedersen
Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam.com