Long Island Riverhead Raceway 

Kyle Soper Extends Legends Points Lead with Second Victory

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Kyle Soper scored his second Legends win of the season on Saturday evening. Soper, a recent high school graduate, took the lead from Richie Davidowitz on lap three and never looked back.

Throughout the race, Soper blocked Davidowitz as he held onto the top position. Entering the corners, Davidowitz began to tap Soper’s No. 4 car. However, Soper continued to drive away. At one point, Davidowitz was being extremely aggressive, and his No. 25 car got extremely loose throughout the entire corner until he got back onto the frontstretch.

On lap eight, Brad Van Houten got together with Vinny Delaney. During the caution, Eric Hersey stopped on the backstretch and ripped off a piece of debris from Delaney’s car. He opened the passenger’s side door in the process. At the time of the incident, track officials were debating whether or not both drivers should be penalized, and they were eventually sent to the tail end of the field.

With a handful of laps to go, Davidowitz got into the rear of Soper’s car. He got into Soper’s right rear tire, but no damage was sustained, and he held off the No. 25 for the win.

After the race, Hersey ran up to the head track official, and began to shout at him – claiming “there’s nothing in the rulebook that says I can’t help a competitor on a caution.” However, track rules state the opposite, which is what led to the penalty. A few minutes later, Hersey came back to the official and politely apologized for his actions.

Soper now leads by 18 markers over Van Houten. With his recent string of solid runs, Davidowitz has worked his way up to third in points – 20 points behind Soper with Brendon Bock and Artie Pedersen III tied for fourth.

Tom Rogers Jr. Rockets to Victory Lane

It’s been a rough start to the 2014 season, but the back luck is over for Patchogue-native, Tom Rogers Jr. Rogers piloted his No. 9 car to Victory Lane on Saturday evening during a 35-lap modified feature.

After being the fastest car during Time Trials with a time of 11.925 seconds, Rogers drew the fourth position during the six-car redraw in the midst of a 13-car field. Rogers moved up through the first two rows at a rapid pace as he took the lead extremely early in the race and never looked back. However, the race was delayed a few minutes as Jerry Solomito had engine trouble – forcing him to go to the pits for approximately five pace laps.

Early in the day, trouble erupted throughout the pit area. Water was found in several of the driver’s fuel tanks; the problem was caused by Eddie Partridge, whom of which gave multiple racers the tainted fuel. Partridge refused to reimburse those drivers – forcing others to find a replacement for their gas before qualifying.

Ken Darch, the driver that was hurt the most by this ordeal, went to Dave Sapienza for help. Sapienza, a Sunoco dealer, had plenty of gas at his shop. He returned there to help out and came back to the track with enough gas to help Darch get back on the track.

Howie Brode continues to lead the points, but with his win – Rogers has now taken over the second position ahead of Ryan Preece, who once again missed a race for being at the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event. In other news, Ed Brunnhoelzl III driver of the No. 8x modified announced that his wife, Katie and he are expecting their first child in January.

“Every win is good and important. That’s what we are here for. I wish my car owner was here. This car is one that I own, but the guy that I drive for weekly – I wish he was here with us,” Rogers said on his victory. “It’s been a rough season, and I think he needed some time off. This car here is a car that I’ve driven all the time. It is just kind of one of those cars that is a fluke, but realistically – there is nothing different from this car to any other car.”

Mike Mujsce Sr. Gets First Win of the Season in Figure Eights

In a wild Figure Eights event, Mike Mujsce was able to come up on top. With Kenny Hyde Jr. charging hard behind Mujsce, he was able to pull away in the closing laps after leading the majority of the race.

On lap two, the No. 42 car of Frank Dumicich Jr. got into the No. 06 of Vinny Biondolillo. A few laps later, the two collided once again – causing a major left rear tire rub on the No. 06 car. When the leaders got to the eighth lap, Dumicich got into the No. 29 car, and was stuck on his right rear tire – forcing the cars the stop for several moments while track safety crews removed the No. 42 car from the top of the No. 29.

With just two laps to go in the race, the No. 84 stopped right in the middle of the track. The No. 28 car of Roger Maynor slammed into him, forcing him to collide with the No. 23 of Tom Rogers Jr.

Maynor currently holds an eight-point lead over Tom Rogers. Mujsce sits third in points with Kenny Hyde Jr. and Scott Pedersen rounding out the top-five.

Tim Mulqueen Captures Blunderbusts Win

In a nearly caution-free Blunderbusts race, Tim Mulqueen was able to record his first victory of 2014. Mulqueen was able to hold off Terry Stiles and Jack Handley Jr. for the win.

On lap two, the No. 76 of Bill Wegmann and the No. 34 car of Bryan Sescila collided, along with the No. 00 of Tommy Walowiak. The No. 58 car of Brandon Hubbard started off with the lead, and had a large advantage over second-place but had trouble, which ended his evening after the second lap.

The No. 41 car of Terry Stiles battled Mulqueen intensely after the halfway mark of the race. On lap 13, he made one last attempt to take the lead with a cross over move, but he wasn’t able to hold on for the victory.

Handley continues to hold a 20-point lead over Tom Pickerell for the championship. Jimmy White Jr. and Bill Wegmann are tied for a distant third in points.

Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2290

Modified Results:

  1. Tom Rogers Jr. (4)
  2. David Brigati (1)
  3. Howie Brode (3)
  4. Kyle Ellwood (6)
  5. Todd Szegedy (7)
  6. Vinny Biondolillo (2)
  7. Jeffrey Goodale (10)
  8. Ed Brunnhoelzl (8)
  9. Ken Darch (11)
  10. Russell Savoy (46)
  11. David Sapienza (14)
  12. Brad Van Houten (13)
  13. Jason Agugliaro (4)
  14. Jerry Solomito Jr. (9)

Legends Results:

  1. Kyle Soper
  2. Richard Davidowitz
  3. Bryan Kelly
  4. Artie Pedersen III
  5. Dylan Slepian
  6. Ray Fitzgerald
  7. Brad Van Houten
  8. Anthony Marsh
  9. Paul Dodorico
  10. Allan Pedersen
  11. Jim Sylvester
  12. George Tomko Jr.
  13. Vinny Delaney
  14. Eric Hersey
  15. Mike Van Houten
  16. John Harley
  17. Joe Oliver
  18. Ed Cheslak
  19. Gregory Harris
  20. Kurt Krieger
  21. Eric Henschel
  22. Wally Davidowitz
  23. Steve Hersey

Blunderbusts Results:

  1. Tim Mulqueen
  2. Terry Stiles
  3. Jack Handley Jr.
  4. Thomas Puccia
  5. Tom Pickerell
  6. Tom Sullivan
  7. William Wegmann
  8. Jimmy White Jr.
  9. Joe Warren
  10. Edward Mistretta
  11. William Wegmann
  12. Ray Shannon
  13. Bryan Sescila
  14. Dennis Scott
  15. Brian Brown
  16. Ian Maliszewski
  17. Jessica Cohen
  18. Rich Hubbard
  19. Tommy Walkowiak
  20. Charlie Zukowski

Figure Eights Results:

  1. Mike Mujsce Sr.
  2. Kenneth Hyde Sr.
  3. Scott Pedersen
  4. Vinny Biondillio
  5. Cj Lehmann
  6. Roger Maynor
  7. Gary Fritz Jr.
  8. Chris Elixson
  9. Tom Rogers
  10. Brian Quiliam
  11. Frank Dumicich Jr.

    Source: Joseph Wolkin/LongIslandJam.com