Rogers Dominates Modified & Figure 8 Feature Events
It was a packed house at Riverhead Raceway on Saturday, July 18, 2015 as fans gathered to watch 6 school buses go at it in the School Bus Demolition Derby. But, before that took place; five divisions battled it out on the 1/5 of a mile oval.
It was a Tom Rogers night with the No.0 being the first car out in time trials setting a time of 11.978, the fastest time until Jason Agugliaro was a few hundredths faster setting fast time with an 11.933. Rogers’ bad luck in the re-draw continued as he picked 6th out of the 6 drivers to re-draw. Jerry Solomito picked the pole with Agugliaro to his outside.
When the green flag waved Solomito pulled away with Agugliaro and Kyle Soper going side by side for 2nd. On Lap 2 Soper and Agugliaro got together on the back stretch and the No.69 went for a spin entering Turn 3. All the drivers were able to avoid him and Agugliaro only suffered a flat left front tire.
On the restart Solomito was able to hold on to the lead, on Lap 3 last week’s winner John Fortin got into the back of the No.59 going into Turn 1. Solomito looped his car, Ken Vogel Jr. and Danny Watts stopped on the track to avoid contact, all three drivers were able to continue. John Fortin was moved to the rear of the field for rough riding. That meant that Kyle Soper would inherit the lead with Tom Rogers Jr. to his outside.
From the drop of the green flag Rogers and Soper went side by side for 3 laps. Neither driver had an edge until Lap 7; when Rogers slowed early going into Turn 1 and pulled a crossed over underneath Soper on the exit of Turn 2. By the time the field completed a lap Rogers grabbed the lead and started to pull away. Soper was able to stay with Rogers and put some pressure on the No.0. But time ran out and Rogers took down the win.
“Kyle was pretty good, he squeezed me up a little bit but, gave me just enough room,” said Rogers. “I was struggling on the outside, I was too tight. I did a cross over on him and was able to get in there.”
With this win, Rogers is currently leading in the Modified point standings after taking it away from John Fortin who was leading after his win just last week. There is only a 5-point difference between them.
Rogers Scores 3rd Win of the Season in Figure 8 Feature
In the Figure 8’s Rogers was again the dominant driver. The No. 43 started 7th out of 12 cars. Bryan Quilliam and Mike Mujsce shared the front row. The first caution came out early when John Fortin Sr., making his first appearance in a Figure 8 in a number of years, got into CJ Lehmann in the No.14. Fortin was forced to pit with a flat left front tire but, would return.
On the restart Gary Fritz Jr. grabbed the lead but, that was short lived as entering Turn 3 Mike Mujsce got into the back of the No.9, turning Fritz and bringing out the caution. Mujsce would be sent to the rear for rough riding. Kenny Hyde Jr. and Tom Rogers restarted on the front row. On Lap 2 Rogers muscled his way past Hyde and took the lead. The next caution came out on Lap 4 when Jayson Hansen stalled his car on the track. The race went green for six more laps until the final caution came out when Mike Herbst in the No.29 stalled on the track.
The race would restart and Tom Rogers, Ken Hyde, and Roger Maynor went at it. Hyde was all over the back bumper of Tom Rogers but, was unable to get passed the No.43 and Rogers took down the win.
Richie Davidowitz Takes Down 3rd Legends Victory of 2015
Last week the Legends division saw a bit of controversy when race winner, Richie Davidowitz was protested against for running illegal fuel. The fuel was found not to be Sunoco race fuel which Riverhead Raceway requires all drivers to use. Davidowitz was stripped of his win and points gained from last week; the win was handed to Artie Pedersen III. Track Official Mike Cappiello stated that no further penalty would be handed to Richie Davidowitz or the No.1 team but, did confirm the fuel was sent to INEX just for identification. Cappiello did not comment on what the fuel was.
So with Richie still in the Visconti No.1 and with legal race fuel, Davidowitz put on a show, winning his heat race, meaning he would start on the outside pole. During that same heat race, Steve Hersey in the No.16 crashed hard into the backstretch wall on Lap 1, collecting Brad Van Houten. Both drivers were able to get their cars repaired and ready for the feature event.
George Tomko Jr. and Richie Davidowitz lead the field to the green for the 20-lap feature. Davidowitz wasted no time grabbing the lead; passing Tomko on the outside on Lap 1. The one and only caution came out on Lap 2 when Mike Van Houten spun in Turn 4, he would continue. Davidowitz again pulled out to a commanding lead over Tomko and Dylan Slepian. Neither Tomko nor Slepian could catch the IGA No.1 and Davidowitz grabbed the win.
Cory Midgett Wins 2nd Straight Charger Feature Event After A Week Off
The Chargers were back in action after a week off. Chris Turbush has been looking to turn his bad luck season around and tonight was not his night. During heat laps Turbush and Greg Immerman made contact entering Turn 1, bunching up the field. Turbush entered the pits to fix his car while Immermann was forced to pit for damage. Both cars would make it back out with Turbush’s hood missing.
Jason Hansen and Cory Midgett inherited the front row. Right when the green flew, Midgett wasted no time grabbing the lead passing Hansen to the outside on Lap 1. Midgett would pull out to a four car length lead by Lap 8. On the same lap Brandon Turbush and Steve Mastro got together coming off of Turn 4. The cars were hooked together going down the front straight but, both drivers got unhooked and continued just as the caution flag flew for debris. On the restart more trouble occurred when Eric Zeh got into the back of David Roys. This bunched up the field with Zeh stopping on the back stretch with a flat right front tire. Chris Turbush was unable to avoid Zeh and ran into the back of him, crushing the radiator in the process. With water gushing out of the front of the No.81 Chris Turbush’s night was done. Zeh would continue and pit for a new tire.
Owen Grennan and Steve Mastro also suffered flat tires and pitted as well. After a long clean up the race restarted with David Roys moving past Jason Hansen for second. Roys would catch up to the back of Midgett’s car but, could not get by the No.14 and Midgett cruised to his second straight win.
“I wish this was the beginning of the season. I wish this is the way the season started,” Midgett said, “It was a rough start but, we’re getting better and I hope we can keep this up.”
Point leader Eric Zeh was able to salvage a 5th place finish.
The 4/6 cylinder enduro went for 75 laps. The race saw one red flag when Desiree Meier crashed head on into the Turn 3 pit gate. It took a bit for officials to stop the race to check on Desiree. She exited the car under her own power and the ambulance was called to assist her off the track. She would be ok with just a few bumps and bruises. Joe Warren took home the win.
The popular School Bus Demolition Derby ended the night with 6 buses participating. In the end it came down to Michael “Cheesebox” Rommeney and brother, Kevin Rommeney. At one point Michael had his brother on two wheels but, pulled forward and the two drivers continued until Kevin could smash his bus no more and Michael Rommeney pulled into victory lane.
Saturday, July 18th Results:
Legends:
1 Richard Davidowitz (2)
2 George Tomko Jr (1)
3 Dylan Slepian(4)
4 Vinny Delaney(5)
5 Kevin Nowak(9)
6 Ray Fitzgerald(3)
7 Brad Van Houten(17)
8 Gregory Harris(7)
9 Kyle Ellwood(8)
10 Eric Hersey(6)
11 Shawn Wanat(10)
12 Chris Rogers(15)
13 Paul Dodorico(13)
14 Mike Van Houten Jr.(11)
15 Bill Fitzgerald(12)
16 Steve Hersey(16)
17 Bobby Jones(14)
Figure 8:
1 Tom Rogers(7)
2 Kenneth Hyde Jr.(5)
3 Roger Maynor(6)
4 Tom Ferrara(8)
5 Scott Pedersen(4)
6 Mike Mujsce Sr.(2)
7 Gary Fritz Jr.(3)
8 CJ Lehmann(11)
9 Mike Herbst(10)
10 John Fortin Sr.(12)
11 Bryan Quilliam(1)
12 Brian Hansen(9)
Chargers:
1 Cory Midgett(4)
2 David Roys(9)
3 Ray Minieri(11)
4 John Baker(14)
5 Eric Zeh(13)
6 CJ Lehmann(12)
7 Jason Hansen(3)
8 Brandon Turbush(7)
9 Owen Grennan(10)
10 Greg Immerman(1)
11 Brian Midgett(5)
12 Steve Mastro(8)
13 Chris Turbush(2)
14 Richard Wilson(6)
NASCAR Modifieds:
1 Tom Rogers Jr.(6)
2 Kyle Soper(3)
3 Vinny Biondolillo(8)
4 Howie Brode(5)
5 John Fortin(4)
6 Ken Darch(9)
7 Jason Agugliaro(2)
8 Jerry Solomito Jr.(1)
9 Ken Vogel Jr(7)
10 John Fortin Jr.(10)
11 Danny Watts(11)
12 Amber Fortin(12)
Source: Brenden Madonia/LongIslandJam.com