John Baker Captures Back-to-Back Victories in Chargers and Late Models
It was a hot day at Riverhead Raceway on August 1st with plenty of action on hand including a car-crushing dinosaur. John Baker was looking to crush the competition in both the Chargers and the Late Model features. Baker’s charger suffered motor issues last week and borrowed David Roys’ car for the feature. This week the No.07 Camaro was back and ready to go.
Baker would roll off 8th in the Charger feature with Chris Turbush and Rich Wilson on the front row. When the green flag flew Turbush quickly jumped into the lead and started pulling away from the field. Owen Grennan followed the No.81 and moved passed Rich Wilson to grab second. The race stayed clean for most of the race. Jimmy White Jr. was in the No.17; he suffered issues with his car on Lap 12 and pulled his car into the infield. On Lap 13 Grennan was all over Turbush for the lead. The No.38 even put the bumper on Turbush coming off Turn 2 getting the No.81 sideways. But, Turbush held on to the lead even as Grennan again put the bumper back on him in the same spot a lap later.
The first and only caution came out on Lap 16 when Steve Mastro and Jarrod Hayes tangled on the front stretch. Both drivers drove away but, both drivers were forced to pit with flat tires. On the restart John Baker, who slowly picked his way through the field, moved into 3rd with 4 laps to go.
With 2 to go Grennan again tried everything he could to get by Chris Turbush. Coming to the White flag Grennan bumped the No.81 getting Turbush completely sideways. Baker then made a move to the outside and it became a three car battle for the win on the last lap. Turbush and Baker were neck and neck coming off Turn 4 but, Baker got a good run on the exit of the corner and in a photo finish beat Chris Turbush to the line and took down his 4th Charger win of 2015.
“These guys were going at it” Baker said, “I got by the 12 and then went to the outside on most of those guys and it worked.”
The official finish distance ended up being .003 between first and second.
Baker Dominates and Takes Down His Second Win of the Night
After his Charger win, John Baker then hopped into his Late Model where he would start on the pole with Chris Lescenski on his outside. At the start Baker continued where he left off jumping out to a big lead over the pack. That lead was short lived as the first caution came out on Lap 3 when Emily La Spisa spun by herself in Turn 1. When the race restarted Baker again jumped back out into the lead.
Chris La Spisa suffered issues on Lap 8 and pulled off the track. On Lap 13 a huge crash took place brining out the red flag. Kevin Metzger and Kyle Harvell were racing for position when Metzger got into the No.16. The No.23 got sideways, over corrected, and got into the left rear of Harvell’s car. The No.16 spun onto the apron when Jeremy McDermott trying to avoid the spin hit the No.16 head on launching McDermott’s car into the air. Both cars stopped on the front stretch with the red flag coming out immediately. Both drivers were ok and got out of their cars under their own power. After a lengthy cleanup the race restarted with Baker and Shawn Patrick on the front row. When the green flag flew Patrick was stuck to the outside and Metzger, Scott Kulesa, and Mike Bologna passed him moving him back to 5th. But, no one could catch the No.07 of John Baker as he had a full straight away lead on the field as he cruised to his first Late Model win of 2015.
Vincent Biondolillo Takes Down First Career Modified Win
The Modifieds ran a normal 35 Lap feature. In Time Trials, Tommy Rogers set fast time with a 12.000 but, his bad luck in the redraw continued as he picked out 8th. Vinny Biondolillo grabbed the pole with Jason Agugliaro to his outside.
The first caution came out on Lap 1 when Jerry Solomito got tight in Turn 2 bunching up the field. John Fortin Jr. then spun and soon it was a traffic jam as the whole field stopped behind the spun No.34. Everyone drove away, a few had some cosmetic damage however, no one pitted and the race continued. Biondolillo pulled away from the field but, right behind him were veterans Ron Silk and Tommy Rogers.
However, neither of the two could gain any ground on the No.06 until Lap 26 when Ken Darch who was a slow car on the track tried blocking Biondolillo. Darch and Biondolillo have a history of run ins this season, Darch tried to brake check the No.06 but, Biondolillo kept it on the gas and turned the No.03. No caution flag flew and the race continued green. Even with the contact with Darch, Biondolillo was still able to hang on and get his first NASCAR Modified win.
Walkowiak Scores Second Win in a Row in Blunderbusts
The Blunderbusts were in action for a 20-lap feature; Robert Ehrle and Joe Warren were on the front row. When the green flag flew, last week’s winner Tommy Walkowiak wasted no time getting to the front, going side by side with Scott Malisewski for second on Lap 2. Then on Lap 3 slipping past Joe Warren for the lead.
The first caution came out when Terry Stiles and Jack Handley Jr. got together on the front stretch. Handley would continue but, Stiles was leaking fluid and was pushed to the pits. On the restart it was Walkowiak and Malisewski going at it until the next caution on Lap 8. Joe Warren’s car was a putting on a smoke show forcing him to pull off. Under the caution there was more contact and Ed Mistretta suffered a flat tire. Soon he drove across the infield and went after Jack Handley Jr. Mistretta was quickly DQ’d from the race.
The next caution came out one lap later when Handley and Malisewski got together on the front stretch sending the No.22 into the wall hard. Because of the time limit the race restarted single file with the next flag ending the race. On Lap 11 Tom Sullivan stopped on the track bringing out the caution and Tommy Walkowiak was declared the winner.
“Last week [the car] was getting a little loose so I tightened it up” Walkowiak said, “I think it’s still a little too tight now so we’ll find the in between here.”
“Dynamite” Dan Turbush Win First Feature of the Night In Super Pro Trucks
The Super Pro Trucks were the first feature out running 20 laps. Amanda Andersen and Mike Albasini started on the front row. On the first lap Albasini got by Andersen and moved into the lead, right behind him was “Dynamite” Dan Turbush who already has two wins this season. On Lap 2 Turbush slipped under Albasini and grabbed the lead. On Lap 6, last week’s winner Dave Brigati and Mike Albasini got together while battling for 2nd. The caution would wave that lap for debris on the track. While under caution Brigati showed his displeasure with Albasini and on the restart got by the No.66 without incident. Mark Stewart would follow Brigati and move into 3rd. On Lap 13, Stewart passed Brigati and moved into 2nd. But, time ran out and Stewart could not catch his grandpa and Dan Turbush cruised to his third win of 2015.
“This thing has been super” Turbush said, “It’s amazing, it’s not only me, this little truck didn’t want to sit in the infield last week, it was hurt. Basically, it told me let’s get out front and lets show these people what this little truck can do.”
Jimmy White Jr. won the Grand Enduro
Photos are available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2413
Aug. 1, 2015 Race Results:
Super Pro Trucks
1 Dan Turbush (4)
2 Mark Stewart (8)
3 David H. Brigati (5)
4 Lou Maestri (7)
5 Jimmy Rennick Jr. (6)
6 Gerard Giordano (3)
7 Brian Brown (9)
8 Amanda Anderson (1)
9 Michael Albasini (2)
Blunderbusts
1 Tommy Walkowiak (6)
2 Jim Laird (8)
3 Jimmy White Jr. (15)
4 Jack Handley Jr. (7)
5 Tom Pickerell (16)
6 Derek Wegmann (9)
7 Jason Wegmann (18)
8 Jessica Cohen (3)
9 Bob Muller (14)
10 Tim Mulqueen (13)
11 Tom Sullivan (12)
12 Ryan Zukowski (17)
13 Robert Ehrle (1)
14 Thomas Puccia (11)
15 Scott Maliszewski (4)
16 Edward Mistretta (10)
17 Joe Warren (2)
18 Terry Stiles (5)
Chargers
1 John Baker (8)
2 Chris Turbush (1)
3 Owen Grennan (3)
4 Ray Minieri (10)
5 CJ Lehmann (7)
6 David Roys (9)
7 Richard Wilson (2)
8 Eric Zeh (11)
9 Jarrod Hayes (13)
10 Brian Midgett (4)
11 Steve Mastro (6)
12 Dennis Cunningham (12)
13 Jason Hansen (5)
14 Jimmy White Jr. (14)
Late Models
1 John Baker (1)
2 Scott Kulesa (7)
3 Kevin Metzger (6)
4 Mike Bologna (11)
5 Buzzy Eriksen (14)
6 Roger Oxee (10)
7 Shawn Patrick (5)
8 Chris McGuire (3)
9 Chris Lescenski (2)
10 Kaitlyn Schober (12)
11 Emily La Spisa (13)
12 Kyle Harvell (4)
13 Jeremy McDermott (9)
14 Jack Orlando (15)
15 Chris La Spisa (6)
Modifieds
1 Vinny Biondolillo (2)
2 Ron Silk (6)
3 Tom Rogers Jr. (8)
4 Jason Agugliaro (2)
5 John Fortin (9)
6 Kyle Soper (11)
7 John Fortin Jr. (4)
8 Eddie Brunnhoelzl III (5)
9 Howie Brode (7)
10 Jerry Solomito Jr. (3)
11 Danny Watts (12)
12 Ken Darch (10)
13 Kyle Ellwood (13)
14 Amber Fortin (14)
Source: Brenden Madonia/LongIslandJam.com