NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Riverhead Raceway 

Bonsignore Wins Delayed Hoosier Tire 200 at Home Track

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The Whelen Modified Tour was in town for the Hoosier Tire East 200 at Riverhead Raceway but, things did not go as planned. Rain was forecasted in the area around the time of the race which prompted officials to move the race up to an earlier time. Riverhead regular Tom Rogers Jr. continued his dominance in Time Trials setting fast time with a 12.018 but, his team made an unapproved adjustment which meant the Rogers would be moved to the tail end of the field before the start of the race.

As soon as Time Trials ended the rain began to fall and for the second week in a row racing action was put on hold. NASCAR made the decision and postponed the Whelen Modified Tour Hoosier Tire East 200 until Sunday, June 28th along with all the supporting divisions. The Tour was scheduled to go out first with the green flag scheduled to wave at 12:30p.m.

When the cars rolled out onto the track for their pace laps the rain came again. The cars were moved back into the pits as track crews began to dry the track. After an hour delay the engines were fired and the cars were moved back onto the track. Because Tom Rogers Jr. was put to the back of the field, another Riverhead Raceway regular; Vinny Biondolillo moved into the 1st starting spot. At the drop of the green flag Timmy Solomito grabbed the top spot passing Biondolillo on the outside in turn 1. Solomito would hold the lead until Lap 8 when Justin Bonsignore slipped underneath the No. 16 for 1st. The first caution came out on lap 10 when Kyle Ellwood and Chase Dowling spun in turn 4. The race restarted on Lap 18 but the second caution came out immediately after as James Civali crashed into the front stretch wall destroying the right side of his Coors Light No. 79. Civali would walk away; Kyle Ellwood would receive the free pass.

On lap 33 the race restarted with Bonsignore still leading over Solomito. The third caution would come out on Lap 38 when Donny Lia got out of shape in Turn 2 and stacked up the field behind him. A total of 9 cars received damage including defending race winner Eric Goodale however, he and all drivers involved would continue. Ron Silk who was driving for Bill Park suffered rear end issues under caution while running 6th, his race would be over.

On Lap 53 the fourth caution came out when Rowan Pennink spun in turn 4. By Lap 73 Tom Rogers Jr. worked his way into the Top 10 after starting in the rear. The race reached halfway making it an official race with Bonsignore continuing to lead over Preece and point leader Doug Coby. Caution number five would wave on lap 115 when Frank Vigliarolo Jr. hit the wall in Turn 2. The race would restart on Lap 123 and things started to heat up as Preece, Eric Goodale and Timmy Solomito went three wide on Lap 127. Caution number six would soon come out when Bobby Santos backed his No. 44 into the Turn 4 wall. Shawn Solomito was also involved spinning his East Port Feeds No. 75 into the infield.

While under caution another pop up shower hit the track and the race was red flagged on lap 141.

“We have a real good car,” leader Justin Bonsignore said during the rain delay, “we will take the rain out but, either way I think we can hold these guys off we just need to keep saving our car, the last 30 laps here are going to get exciting if we get it back going and we don’t want to burn it up early.”

After another hour passed the cars were back out to restart the race and Bonsignore continued to dominate over Doug Coby and Todd Szegedy. Szegedy would be able to slip passed Coby for second. With 10 laps to go Bonsignore hit lap traffic, allowing Szegedy to catch the back bumper of the M3 Technology No. 51. But, Szegedy ran out of time and Justin Bonsignore was able to cruise to his first Whelen Modified Tour win of 2015.

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“I think lap cars just got in his way,” said Szegedy, “guys were high and low and couldn’t pick a lane and I think that allowed me to get back to Justin, he was a little better than I was but, from me to Coby I think it was really close.”

Doug Coby would finish third, defending race winner Eric Goodale finished fourth and Timmy Solomito rounded out the top five. Tom Rogers Jr. was able to work his way to a seventh place finish.

Eric Zeh Takes Down Win in Charger Feature

The Charger division saw a 15 car field take the green flag. Greg Immerman started on the pole with Chris Turbush to his outside. Turbush was able to work his way to the lead on Lap 3. The first caution came out when Rich Wilson spun his No. 12 on the backstretch after contact with other cars. On lap 5 John Baker looked under Turbush for the lead entering Turn 3. The two would make contact damaging the left front fender on Turbush’s No. 81 allowing Baker to take the lead. On the next lap Turbush and third place car, David Roys made contact damaging the No. 81 even more. The caution flag would wave again on Lap 7, with Baker leading over Roys and point leader Eric Zeh. When the race restarted Zeh got a good jump and passed Roys. On Lap 10 Zeh was able to pass Baker and take the lead.

Rich Wilson had an issue entering Turn 1 on lap 15, he would pull into the infield and the race would stay green until the end with Eric Zeh taking down the win. “We’ve been struggling all year” Zeh said, “Little problems here and there, been getting good finishes. The car is getting better, working on it, working on it. We had a good run going, a little beating and banging but, we kept it up front.”

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Dylan Slepian Captures 3rd Win of the Season With Big Money Race

The Legends cars were racing for big money in a 30-lap feature event with the winner taking home $1,000. Brad Van Houten would set fast time with a 13.604 and re-drew 3rd on Saturday. However, he did not make it to the races on Sunday. Vinny Delaney drew the pole with Dylan Slepian on his outside.

When the green flag flew Delaney and Slepian went at it for the top spot. Slepian was able to get by Delaney on Lap 3 however the caution would come out later that lap. Michael Rutkoski hit the wall coming out of Turn 4; Allan Pedersen would slam hard into the rear of the Buzz Chew No. 88. Rutkoski would walk away from his car meanwhile; Pedersen would be able to continue. The second caution flew on Lap 8 when Mike Van Houten looped his car in Turn 4.

On the restart Slepian was able to get a good jump on Delaney. On Lap 10 the No. 63 passed Delaney for the lead. On the same lap Steve Hersey spun on the back stretch, backing into the tire barrier on the inside of the track. No caution came out and Hersey was able to continue. On Lap 16 the yellow was back out when Mike Van Houten spun again in the same spot he did before.

On the restart Slepian had a new driver in his rear view mirror as Kevin Nowak moved into second. Lap 19 saw a scary moment when George Tomko Jr. spun the No. 5 on the exit of Turn 4. Greg Harris in the SGS Stoneworks No. 65 hit the left rear of Tomko’s car and went airborne. Harris landed hard on all four wheels and was able to drive his car to the pits but, his car sustained heavy suspension damage, Tomko had to have his car towed back into the pits. The race restarted and Dylan Slepian was able to hang on for the final ten laps to take down his third win this season.

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Jimmy White Makes Blunderbust Comeback

It’s been a while since Jimmy White Jr. was seen driving a Blunderbust. Since having off-season surgery, White has been out of his Blunderbust car until this weekend when the No. 32 returned to the track.

Jim Laird Jr. who is coming off his first win set fast time with a 15.051, he would redraw the 8th starting spot. Terry Stiles would pick the pole but, had to start in the back for the feature. This meant that Joe Warren Jr. would start 1st with White on his outside. It didn’t take long for White to grab the lead doing so on Lap 2. The one and only caution would fly when Brian Brown spun his No. 56 in Turn 4 after some contact with Dennis Scott. Jimmy White would continue to dominate the remainder of the race and take down his first win in his first race back.

“I’ll take it with a smile” White said, “I’ve had my three and a half year old daughter yelling at me every weekend I haven’t brought her home any trophies. We came out for the Grand [Enduro] race, the car wasn’t right. This, I’ll take it all day.”

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Hoosier Tire 200 Results:

  1. Justin Bonsignore (4)
  2. Todd Szegedy (11)
  3. Doug Coby (6)
  4. Eric Goodale (12)
  5. Woody Pitkat (24)
  6. Timmy Solomito (2)
  7. Tom Rogers Jr. (1)
  8. Ryan Preece (5)
  9. Vinny Biondolillo (3)
  10. Dave Sapienza (27)
  11. Ted Christopher (21)
  12. Kyle Ellwood (23)
  13. Chase Dowling (16)
  14. Max Zachem(26)
  15. Keith Rocco (18)
  16. Patrick Emerling (20)
  17. Brendon Bock (22)
  18. Shawn Solomito (19)
  19. Jerry Solomito (14)
  20. Bobby Santos (25)
  21. Jamie Tomaino (28)
  22. Troy Talman (7)
  23. Donny Lia (15)
  24. Ken Heagy (17)
  25. Rowan Pennink (8)
  26. Frank Vigliarolo Jr. (10)
  27. Ron Silk (13)
  28. James Civali (9)

 

Blunderbust:

  1. Jimmy White Jr.(2)
  2. Scott Maliszewski (4)
  3. Tom Pickerell (6)
  4. Jack Handley Jr.(3)
  5. Jim Laird Jr. (7)
  6. Joe Warren Jr. (1)
  7. Tom Sullivan (5)
  8. Terry Stiles (20)
  9. Tom Puccia (8)
  10. Bill Wegmann Jr. (15)
  11. Ed Mistretta (12)
  12. Dennis Scott (13)
  13. Bob Muller (16)
  14. Jessica Cohan (18)
  15. Tim Mulqueen (10)
  16. Robert Ehrle (19)
  17. Tom Walkowiak (14)
  18. Brian Brown (11)

 

Legends:

  1. Dylan Slepian (2)
  2. Kevin Nowak (7)
  3. Kyle Ellwood (6)
  4. Chris Rogers (4)
  5. Richie Davidowitz (15)
  6. Vinny Delany (1)
  7. Anthony Marsh (5)
  8. Shawn Wanat (14)
  9. Eric Hersey (16)
  10. Allan Pedersen (12)
  11. Ray Fitzgerald (10)
  12. Kurt Kreiger (17)
  13. Vinny Coletti (20)
  14. Mike Van Houten (17)
  15. Jerry Curran (19)
  16. Jeff Otto (22)
  17. Steve Hersey (18)
  18. Bill Fitzgerald (21)
  19. Artie Pedersen III (11)
  20. George Tomko Jr. (9)
  21. Greg Harris (13)
  22. Michael Rutkoski (8)
  23. Brad Van Houten (DNS)

 

Chargers:

  1. Eric Zeh (8)
  2. John Baker (7)
  3. David Roys (5)
  4. Steve Mastro (4)
  5. Greg Immerman (1)
  6. CJ Lehmann (9)
  7. Ray Minieri (10)
  8. Eric Lutz (15)
  9. Chris Turbush (2)
  10. Rob McCormick (14)
  11. Jason Hansen (3)
  12. Brandon Turbush (13)
  13. Brian Midgett (12)
  14. Rich Wilson (6)
  15. Cory Midgett (11)Source: Brenden Madonia/LongIslandJam.com
    With the help of Darren McCabe