Glenn Simonin & Mike Mujsce Jr. Among May Meltdown Winners Sunday

After being forced to sit out the recent Street Stock 100 at Riverhead Raceway due to an oil leak Glenn Simonin came back with a vengeance Sunday as he topped the 40-lap May Meltdown Street Stock event for his second win of 2017. Mike Mujsce Jr. of Hampton Bays dominated the 30-lap Mini Stock feature in a car he built in a week to capture his first win of the new season.

When the green light winked on for the Street Stock race Glenn Simonin moved to the lead from the pole starting position with Chris Lescenski in tow. Lescenski gave chase up until the 24th lap when he was passed by hard charging Greg Zaleski who made his way all the way up from his 8th starting spot. By the time Zaleski got to second Simonin had built a large enough lead that would carry his to the checker flag.

“It is nice to win this one after our misfortune just prior to the 100 a few weeks ago” Simonin admitted in victory lane. “I found an oil leak just before the 100 started and I didn’t want to mess up my fellow competitors so I parked it”.

Greg Zaleski of Jamesport was runner-up in the Blue Point Auto Body Chevy while Chris Lescenski of Riverhead rounded out the podium.

Right from the throw of the green in the 30-lap Mini Stock main event Mike Mujsce Jr. dominated the race much like he did in his qualifying heat earlier. Early on Brandon Esposito ran second to Mujsce some distance behind before he was overtaken by Bryan Kelly on the 9th lap. Kelly, who already has one Mini Stock win to his credit in 2017 didn’t fare much better in second than Esposito did as MIke Mujsce Jr. has ’em all covered in his Premier Pest Control machine.

“The car I originally built for this class just didn’t cut it, this one is a sports car and man does it show” the happy winner boasted.

Bryan Kelly of Aquebogue was second in his BKS Marble & Stone entry while Steven Fuller of Manorville was third.

In a rough and tumble 40-lap Truck Enduro Don Nelson Jr. of Rocky Point won his second race in a row and is now two for three in 2017. Ben Gregor set the pace early on with Nelson in hot pursuit. On lap 8 Nelson got into the left rear tire of Gregor sending the leader spinning off the track in turn three. Nelson assumed the lead but not for long as just five laps later challenger Gene Burbol got into Nelson in turn two sending Don spinning. Burbol was black flagged for his role in Nelson’s spin. Luckily for Nelson he kept his foot on the throttle and was able to stay second to new race leader Gary Voight, a veteran driver seeking his first career win. Just three laps after being spun Don Nelson rebounded back to pass Gary Voight on lap 21 with an inside pass entering the third turn. Once out front Nelson would lead the remainder of the race in his Abner Tree Experts Chevy. Gary Voight of Medford was second in the United Exhaust Shop truck while RJ Gage of Riverhead turned in a stellar performance to finish third in the Wise Choice Fuel Oil entry.

Early on the in the 50-lap 4/6-Cylinder Gut & Go race Woot Lawrence ahd the field covered and appeared to be on his way to his first win of 2017. However on lap 31 racing up the backstretch a lapped car made contact with Woot sending him head on into the cement wall ending his afternoon, Woot was okay after the hard contact. That turn of events moved Brandon Espositio into the race lead and he’d lap the entire field in route to the win in his Versa Contracting racer. Corey Beverly of Bohemia was second in the Flow Rite Exhaust machine while Mitch Pattern of Southold in his MoJo racer was third.

The 8-Cylinder Enduro featured the bets finish of the day when Mark Wolf nipped Dominick Ranieri at the line by 3/100ths of a second but that drama would be mild compared to what took place in post race technical inspection. Track officials conducted a rigid inspection of suspension components on the top finishers from the race and the results were shocking to say the least. The top five finishers from the race, Mark Wolf, Dominick Ranieri, Michael Asdahl, Wes Sammon and Brian Halsey were all disqualified for unapproved suspension components. That handed the win to Dennis Jones of Calverton a virtual newcomer to racing who crossed the line sixth. Pat Collins of Southampton was runner-up after crossing the line seventh while third went to Stacy Halsey of Southampton who actually took the checker flag in tenth! The post race tech lasted over two hours before the top three could be verified.

Results: 

Street Stocks: 1. Glenn Simonin 2. Greg Zaleski 3. Chris Lescenski 4. Brian McCormack 5. Greg Harris 6. Rhett Fogg 7. Anthony Pizzo 8. Gerard Lawrence 9. Brandon Hubbard 10. Dale Doherty 11. Kyle Curtis 12. Logan Fogg

Mini Stocks: 1. Mike Mujsce Jr. 2. Bryan Kelly 3. Steven Fuller 4. Preston Prydatko 5. Brandon Esposito 6. Steve Trimboli 7. Paul Wojcik 8. Chris Elixson 9. Robert Dugre 10 Jeremy Clint

Truck Enduro: 1. Don Nelson 2. Gary Voight 3. RJ Gage 4. Mariah Lawrence 5. Steve Belcher 6. Dustin Cole 7. Mike Benton 8. Danielle Corwin 9. Emily Hubbard 10. Danielle Cohen 11. Gene Burbol 12. Ben Gregor 13. Paul Cummings 14. Hank Hallock 15. Phil LaManna

Gut & Go Enduro: 1. Brandon Esposito 2. Corey Beverly 3. Mitch Pattern 4. Doug Tittle 5. Peter Verwys 6. John Palmeri 7. Dan Augustine 8. Don Laskey 9. John Marino 10. Robert Thurau 11. Kris Dane 12. Joe Palmeri 13. Mitch Rippe 14. Kevin Augustine 15. Eric Germuth 16. Mike Boyle 17. Woot Lawrence 18. Preston Prydatko 19. CJ Zukowski 20. Brad Bess 21. Tony Collingsworth 22. Sam Suttmeier 23. Brian Moore 24. Drew Fohrkolb 25. Ryan Warren 26. Brandon Petricek 27. Kendall Grennan 28. Bryan Kelly 29. Joe Warren 30. Ron Everly DQ- AJ DeSantis

8-Cylinder Enduro: 1. Dennis Jones 2. Pat Collins 3. Stacy Halsey DQ’D: Mark Wolf, Dominick Ranieri, Michael Asdahl, Wes Sammon, Brian Halsey, Jarrod Halsey, Justin Ferreri, Thomas Roberts, Drew Scalfani, Peter Hart, Sean Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Dennis, David Verbeeck, William Ebert

Source: Bob Finan/RR PR