Silk Drives Bill Park’s No. 20 Into Victory Lane for Its Second Consecutive Week
It was one of the hottest days of the season so far as fans and drivers gathered at Riverhead Raceway on Saturday, June 13th to see Ron Silk grab the second straight Modified feature win for Bill and Barbara Park’s No. 20.
Tom Rogers Jr. set fast time yet again in time trials with a time of 11.833. The re-draw would not be as kind to Rogers as he would draw 7th. Jason Agugliaro would pick the pole with Vincent Biondolillo starting to his outside, Silk would start 3rd. Agugliaro was able to lead the first few laps of the feature but, it wasn’t long until Silk was able to get under the No. 69 and take the lead. Silk would be able to pull away from the field until the one and only caution came out on lap 18 when Danny Watts spun the No. 82 in turn 2, Watts would continue and finish 13th. The field would restart single file with Silk leading Biondolillo and Tom Rogers Jr. Nobody was able to catch the East West Marine No. 20 and the Norwalk, CT resident was able to cruise to his first win at Riverhead in 2015.
“It feels great, it was a great day” Silk said, “The car was good all day, it was a rough week a couple weeks ago we were running with the guys in the back but the guys worked really hard.”
Second Straight Charger Win for John Baker
The Chargers were back in action with a 30-lap feature with the field set by time trials. David Roys set fast time in the No. 26 with a 13.323, he would pick the 6th starting spot in the re-draw. Cory Midgett drew the pole after setting the second fastest time; CJ Lehmann would start to his outside.
The first caution came out right after the green flag waved to start the race. Jason Hansen and David Roys got together in turn 1, new comer Brandon Turbush spun his No. 37 to avoid contact and brought out the caution, all three drivers would continue. On lap 2 Eric Zeh spun his No. 34 on the front stretch, no caution was thrown and Zeh was able to continue. The caution did fly later on lap 2 when Hansen and Roys got together again in Turn 2; sending Roys’ car spinning. Hansen would be disqualified, Roys would continue.
On lap 3 John Baker caught leader Cory Midgett and was able to pass Midgett for the lead on the next lap. Midgett has had a lot of bad luck in recent weeks and this week was no different as the No. 14 was black flagged by officials for a loose right front fender. On lap 13 David Roys was black flagged by officials due to fluid leaking out of the No.26. On lap 23 Eric Zeh and CJ Lehmann made contact off of turn 4, this cut down the right front tire on the No. 34 forcing Zeh to stop his car in Turn 1 and bring out the caution, Zeh would return and come back to finish 5th. The final caution would come out with 4 to go when Chris Turbush in the No. 81 hit the wall on the backstretch, which broke the right front suspension and ended Turbush’s night. John Baker was able to hold off Ray Minieri and take down his second win in a row and third overall in the Chargers.
“I was kinda worried going into this race” Baker said, “We made some adjustments but, this team is wonderful, I would be no where without them.”
Jack Orlando Takes Home Win After Caution Packed Late Model Feature
The Late Model division was back in action with the winner of the last two features Jarrod Hayes absent from the field. Richie Davidowitz was supposed to start on the pole but issues before the start forced the No. 11 to retire. That moved Jack Orlando to start from the pole. Roger Oxee started 2nd and was challenged early by Kyle Harvell in the No.16. Harvell and Oxee got together going into turn 3 on lap 2, sending Oxee’s car around and bringing out the first caution.
Orlando would lead the field for the restart and by lap 14 had a straight away lead over the field. The second caution would come out on lap 20 when Mike Bologna in the No. 00 and Scott Kulesa in the No. 10 got together coming off Turn 4. Kulesa’s car went head on into the wall destroying the front of the Eastport Feeds machine. Jeremy McDermott would also receive some damage but, would continue. Kulesa would be ok and walked away from the car. Mike Bologna would continue after making a stop in the pits.
After a lengthy clean up the green flag waved again however, cautions breed cautions as the yellow would come out the following lap when Kyle Harvell and Chris Lescenski got together coming off Turn 4. Lescenski’s car would ride the hood of Harvells car for a bit but, the two would separate. Orlando, who lead most of the laps last time the Late Models were out but, was caught up in a crash, was able to hang on and grab his first win of 2015.
Jim Laird Jr. Captures First Career Blunderbust Victory
The Blunderbusts were also back in action with Jim Laird Jr. starting on the pole. The only incident on the track was when Terry Stiles was black flagged by officials for a loose rear bumper at the start of the race.
On lap 3, he and Bill Wegmann Jr. got together in Turn 2 sending Stiles into the infield grass. No caution was thrown as both cars continued but the black flag for Stiles was taken back after the bumper fell off. Defending Blunderbust winner Tom Pickerell was on the charge moving into 3rd on Lap 12 after starting 11th. With 2 to go Pickerell passed Scott Maliszewski for 2nd. However, the Pickerell Clam No. 4 ran out of time and Jim Laird Jr. took down his first career Blunderbust win.
“It’s amazing I can’t even put it into words” Laird said, “I’ve been coming here since I was in diapers watching guys like [Tom] Pickerell and “Crazy Eddy” [Mistretta] race. I can’t even begin to tell you how much this means to me.”
Mark Stewart Takes The Checkered in Caution Free Super Pro Truck Race
The Super Pro Trucks went 20 laps which saw Mark Stewart take down the win. Stewart initially stared 4th however on the start Gerald Giordano was called for jumping the start and moved to the rear. This moved Stewart into second and on the restart, Stewart jumped into the lead. On lap 7 Anthony Vecchio spun his No. 17 but, no caution was thrown. Vecchio then spun again this time with some help from Dave Brigati on lap 13 again no caution was thrown.
Stewart continued to lead with Lou Maestri right behind him. On lap 16 Amanda Anderson spun her No. 13 in Turn 4 but, was off the racing surface, so the race stayed green. Anderson would not finish the race. Stewart was able to hang on for the remaining 4 laps and take down another win moving him up to 7th in the all-time wins category for the Super Pro Trucks.
David Antos won the 50 lap Grand Enduro.
“Mad” Mike Smith won the Demolition Derby.
Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2383
Super Pro Trucks
1. Chris Stewart (4)
2. Lou Maestri (6)
3. Jimmy Rennick Jr. (1)
4. Dan Turbush (11)
5. Dave Brigati (7)
6. Brian McElearney (5)
7. Mike Albasini (8)
8. Roger Turbush (9)
9. Gerald Giordano (2)
10. Kevin Scharfenberg (3)
11. Anthony Vecchio (10)
12. Amanda Anderson (12)
Blunderbusts
1. Jim Laird Jr. (1)
2. Tom Pickerell (11)
3. Scott Maliszewski (4)
4. Jack Handley Jr. (10)
5. Tim Mulqueen (5)
6. Tom Sullivan (8)
7. Joe Warren Jr. (9)
8. Derek Wegmann (2)
9. Ron Langdon (13)
10. Tom Puccia (12)
11. Ed Mistretta (6)
12. Bob Muller (15)
13. Fred Mullen (16)
14. Terry Stiles (7)
15. Robert Ehrle (14)
16. Jason Wegmann (17)
17. Bill Wegmann Jr. (2)
Chargers
1. John Baker (3)
2. Ray Miniari (5)
3. CJ Lehmann (2)
4. Rich Wilson (9)
5. Eric Zeh (7)
6. Steve Mastro (10)
7. Brian Midgett (12)
8. Brandon Turbush (11)
9. Chris Turbush (8)
10. David Roys (6)
11. Cory Midgett (1)
12. Jason Hansen (4)
Late Models
1. Jack Orlando (3)
2. Shawn Patrick (7)
3. Jeremy McDermott (10)
4. Kevin Metzger (6)
5. Chris La Spisa (8)
6. Roger Oxee (2)
7. Mike Bologna (11)
8. Kaitlyn Schober (14)
9. Kyle Harvell (5)
10. Chris Lescenski (4)
11. Scott Kulesa (9)
12. John Baker (12)
13. Mike Mortimer (13)
14. Richie Davidowitz (DNS)
Modifieds
1. Ron Silk (3)
2. Vinny Biondolillo (2)
3. Tom Rogers Jr. (7)
4. Howie Brode (5)
5. Shawn Solomito (6)
6. Kyle Soper (8)
7. Jason Agugliaro (1)
8. Ken Darch (4)
9. Jerry Solomito (10)
10. Frank Vigliarolo (11)
11. John Fortin (9)
12. David Schneider (12)
13. Danny Watts (13)
14. Artie Pedersen III (17)
15. Kyle Ellwood (14)
16. Amber Fortin (16)
17. Ken Heagy (15)
Source: Brenden Madonia/LongIslandJam.com