With a heat index hovering near 100 degrees, Riverhead Raceway ran a 7 event show in front of a decent sized crowd of people drinking whatever cold beverages they could find. Most fans waited in shady spots or their air-conditioned cars and only began filing into the stands at the beginning of the festivities due to the extreme heat, but they were treated to a fast paced show of racing, and at the end of the night, some pretty severely damaged school buses in the full sized school bus demo derby. 

     The Blunderbusts led off the evenings features, with Michael Rommeney on the pole and Fred Nolan to his outside. Nolan fell back quickly, just as Scott Sepe moved up in the first 2 laps to takeover 2nd, running closely on Rommeney’s bumper, as Ray Shannon, Bill Portney, Sr. and Rob Bader rounded out the early top 5. Rommeney completely dominated the race, building a substantial lead by the halfway point, with no change in the top runners to that point. On lap 12, Portney spun in turn 4, collecting Tim Mulqueen and Scott Maliszewski in the process. Mulqueen tried to rejoin the race, but his car was spewing water on the track, and the caution flag waved. In a questionable call under caution, Rob Bader was put to the rear for rough riding. Though Bader did make contact with Portney, causing him to spin, it was Portney chopping down on him (again and again) that also was reason for the contact. 

      When the green waved again, Rommeney took off with Sepe running right by his side through turns 1 & 2, with Rommeney taking the lead as they completed a lap. Shannon got into Sepe as they battled for 2nd, with Sepe getting loose, and Shannon getting the spot as Sepe tried to correct, but Sepe got tagged hard by Bill Wegmann and spun into the infield, dropping Sepe from the top 5. Up front, Tom Sullivan got by Shannon to take 2nd away, leaving Shannon to battle with Paul Parisi for 3rd spot. With Rommeney once again running away with the race, this battle for 3rd became the main focus on the track. Parisi won the battle in the end, taking third away on the last lap, as Michael Rommeney took his first ever Blunder bust victory, with Tom Sullivan, Paul Parisi, Ray Shannon and Bill Wegmann rounding out the top 5. 

     The Legends feature lined up next, with Jim Byrne and Bryan Johnson on the front row. The first attempt at a start brought a debris caution, as Chris Turbush made contact with Jason Sendlewski in turn 1, leaving part of Sendlewski’s rear fender sitting on the track. While lining the cars up for a restart, Chris A. Young somehow managed to hit Sendlewski’s car, knocking the rest of the fender off, but it only delayed the restart another lap as the track crew quickly removed the debris. With the field lined up, the green flag waved, with Byrne taking of as Johnson ran by his side, but INEX officials ruled Byrne somehow jumped the start, and ordered him to the rear (under the next caution). Jeffrey Goodale took the lead from Byrne on the back stretch, as Johnson, Mike Malone, and Sendlewski followed. On lap 3, the caution flew for a wreck in turn 4, and Byrne was then relegated to the rear (for allegedly jumping the start. We’ll address that later.)

     Goodale and Tom Sherman were now on the front row for the restart, with Goodale getting a car length lead over Sherman at the start, as Malone and Glenn Maningo  battled for 3rd. Sherman tried a pass on the low side on Goodale, but Goodale pulled away, leaving Sherman in 2nd for now as other battles for position raged behind them. Malone won his battle with Maningo, and the top 3 started pulling away from the rest of the field as the laps mounted up. Kevin Nowak was now battling Maningo for 4th, taking the spot from him easily, while Tony Naglieri watched from 6th. Naglieri made his move on lap 9, getting by Maningo to take 5th, as up front, Sherman took over the lead and pulled out to a 3 car length margin over Goodale. Goodale then tried to fend off a challenge by Malone, but Malone got by to take 2nd spot away, as Nowak also got by Goodale, dropping Goodale to 4th. Sherman, meanwhile, had built himself a very comfortable lead by lap 13, leading Malone by 10 car lengths, as 2nd through 5th ran almost bumper to bumper, with a good margin between them and the rest of the field as they all ran single file. With no further incidents, Tom Sherman took the convincing victory, with Mike Malone, Kevin Nowak, Jeffrey Goodale and Tony Naglieri rounding out the top 5. 

      All 10 Late Models rolled out next (Where is everybody???!), with Artie Pedersen, Jr. on the pole and Mike Mortimer to his outside. Pedersen took the lead at the start, as Mortimer and Ralph Stanzione battled for 2nd, but Mortimer held on. Mike Bologna and Ken Alfano battled for 4th, with Bologna taking the spot, as  Bologna then set his sights on Stanzione, easily passing him to move into 3rd. Stanzione and Alfano then went at it for 4th, coming together so hard at one point that it tore Alfano’s right front fender almost off the car. Suddenly, on lap 3, Alfano spun after contact with Buzzy Eriksen, bringing out the 1st caution of the race. NASCAR officials penalized  Eriksen for rough riding over the incident, and he was put to the rear for the restart.  Meanwhile, Mortimer’s right front was almost torn off during the scramble to avoid Alfano’s car. Alfano was sent to the pits for repairs, while it seemed no one noticed Mortimer’s very obvious dragging front fender, and he was allowed to stay out. On the restart with Pedersen and Mortimer up front, Pedersen was called for allegedly jumping the start, yellow flew, and he was sent to the rear of the field. With Mortimer (still dragging his R?F fender) on the pole, and Bologna to the outside,  green flew once more. Bologna took the lead easily off turn 2, leaving Mortimer and Shawn Patrick to battle side by side for 2nd, with Kevin  Metzger in 4th moving in to challenge Patrick as he slid back from his battle with Mortimer. Metzger and Stanzione touched during this battle, with Stanzione a handling problem which slowed him down considerably, allowing Roger Oxee and Shawn Patrick to move into the 4th and 5th spots, while Stanzione dropped from the race into the infield. Mortimer, Metzger and Oxee ran nose to tail, many car lengths behind Bologna, who had a 6 car length lead to work with at that point. Buzzy Eriksen got by Patrick to take 5th away, just as Mortimer spun in turn 2, losing the 3rd spot after Metzger had just passed him for 2nd. Oxee, Eriksen and Patrick now ran 3rd through 5th, as Mortimer recovered to rejoin the race a lap down. Up front, Bologna was running all by himself as the rest of the field followed, as Alfano was black flagged for leaking, dropping him from the race on lap 16. Eriksen was now riding Oxee trying to take 3rd away, and on lap 21, got under Oxee to take 3rd, with Patrick following into 4th spot as Oxee fell to 5th. Metzger was closing a bit on Bologna, but the laps ran out as Mike Bologna took his 3rd victory of the season, with Kevin Metzger, Peter ‘Buzzy’ Eriksen, Shawn Patrick and Roger Oxee, and Artie Pedersen, Jr. rounding out the top 6. 

      Next up, after a short intermission, were the Modifieds, with Amber Fortin and Al Ermmarino on the front row of the 18 car field. A. Fortin and Ermmarino ran side by side as Bill Park followed in 3rd, with John Beatty in 4th. Park was able to get outside Ermmarino after he tucked in behind A. Fortin, and Park quickly took the 2nd spot. Chris Young spun off turn 4 on lap 3 with no caution as he eventually rejoined the race a lap down. Ermmarino battled back, getting by A. Fortin to take the lead as Park stayed in 2nd spot, with A. Fortin holding 3rd as Beatty and Timmy Solomito battled for 4th.  Slower cars now came into play, forcing the leaders to run single file as they easily passed them, with Solomito getting by Beatty to take 4th away. Solomito got under A. Fortin to take 3rd a lap later, with Beatty and John Fortin also getting by to drop A. Fortin to 6th. On lap 9, Park saw a chance to pass Ermmarino on the low side going into turn 1, and Park took the lead after a lap of racing side by side with Ermmarino as they exited turn 2 on the next lap. That battle allowed Solomito, Beatty and J. Fortin to catch up, with the top five running bumper to bumper by lap 13. Park then began to pull away from Ermmarino, gaining a 3 car length lead by lap 15, stretching it out to an eight car length lead by lap 22. Suddenly, Beatty spun in turn 2, moving J. Fortin into 4th, with no caution coming out, and moving Tom Rogers, Jr. into 5th. Up in turn 4, Solomito lost the handle on his mount, and as he tried desperately to correct, smashed head on into the wall just off turn 4, bringing out the caution and closing up the field. Solomito was okay despite the hard hit, but his car was done for the night. With the green flying once more, Park took off, with J. Fortin moving by under Ermmarino to take 2nd away, as Rogers, Chuck Steuer and Wayne Anderson followed. Park maintained a 3 car length margin over J. Fortin as the field ran single file by lap 27. From that point on, Bill Park was never challenged, taking his 32nd career Modified win, placing him 3rd on the all time Modified winner’s list, as John Fortin, Al Ermmarino, Tom Roger’s, Jr. and Chuck Steuer rounded out the top 5. At post race tech, Ermmarino was found to have an unapproved carburetor and was placed last, moving Wayne Anderson up to 5th.  Tom Rogers, Jr. still dealing with a broken wrist, maintained his point lead, adding 2 points by finishing ahead of Steuer. 

       The Figure-8’s rolled out next, with 12 cars, with Ken Hyde, Sr. and Dennis Scott on the front row. With the green out, Hyde, Sr. took the lead as Tom Ferrara got by Scott to take 2nd away, as Will Farrell moved up to 4th, while Scott Pedersen spun at the “X”, but rejoined the race quickly at the tail end of the lead lap. Hyde, Sr. continued to lead as Ferrara, Scott, Farrell and Ken Hyde, Jr. rounded out the top 5. Hyde, Sr. and Ferrara pulled away form the others as Scott and Farrell battled over 3rd. Meanwhile, point leader Arne Pedersen was doing battle with Hyde, Jr. for 5th spot, as Roger Maynor and Tom Rogers, Jr. kept close watch right behind them. On the next lap, Scott spun into the infield just off turn 2, losing 3rd, and the yellow came out as he was unable to restart his car. During the caution, Maynor had to pit from 6th spot for a flat, but returned in time for the restart. Hyde, Sr. held the lead over Ferrara, while Farrell dropped back suddenly right after the green flew to about 9th spot, while Ferrara spun in turn 3, moving Hyde, Jr. and Rogers into a battle for 2nd, as Arne Pedersen spun in turn 3 & 4, stopping just off the track with a broken left front suspension, and bringing out another caution. 

      When green returned, Hyde, Sr. and Rogers led the field around, followed by Hyde, Jr. and Mike Mujsce. Rogers took the lead on the restart, as Hyde, Sr. was challenged for 2nd by Mujsce, while Scott Pedersen was challenging Hyde, Jr. for 4th. Rogers now had a comfortable lead over Hyde, Sr., as S. Pedersen moved up into 4th spot. Maynor and Tom Graff ganged up on Hyde, Jr. to battle for 5th, with Maynor able to make the move and Graff following through into 6th. Rogers had a 6 car length lead over Hyde, Sr., who had Mujsce all over his bumper to challenge for 2nd, when Hyde, Sr. suddenly spun at the “X” after contact with Mujsce, moving Mujsce into 2nd, but S. Pedersen immediately passed Mujsce to take 2nd away. With one lap to go, Tom Rogers, Jr. had a substantial lead over Scott Pedersen, Mike Mujsce, Kenny Hyde, Jr. and Roger Maynor. They crossed the line in that order, but a post race altercation between both Hyde’s and Mujsce resulted in NASCAR officials moving Roger Maynor to 3rd, followed by Tom Graff and Tom Ferrara as penalties were issued to Hyde, Sr. Mujsce and  Hyde, Jr., dropping them to 8th, 9th and 10th in the official finish.

       The 8 Cylinder Enduro followed, with Robin Schewire battling his way from 14th to take the victory in that event, and Mike Rommeney triumphed over 5 others to win the Full Sized School Bus Demo, and believe me when I tell you, they WRECKED those buses!!!

News and Notes: The Whelen Modified Tour race is coming to Riverhead Raceway next week, so note the earlier start time of 4:30 for time trials….  It was announced last night that Mike Andrews, Jr., driver of the Ambrose #3 Modified, has been suspended for the rest of this season due to an incident after the end of last week’s modified feature. He will also be on probation for the entire 2011 season, if he chooses to compete…  I’m not familiar with this new enforcement of the leader jumping the start, but it is based on not going until the drivers reach the point between the yellow painted block and the yellow line across turn 4. I saw 2 driver’s called on it last night, but wonder how the call can be made from outside turn 3 & 4, when the presence of the field blocks an accurate view of those 2 markers? Where I sit in turn 1 & 2, it was clear both times that the leader was right where they were supposed to be. In one case, the Late Models, it might have looked that way because the outside car didn’t take off as fast, costing Artie Pedersen, Jr. a penalty he may not have deserved. Same in the case of Jim Byrne in the Legends race. To my way of thinking, at least, the call should be made by someone who can see that area…   I know I’m not alone in believing the “Freshman Legends Race” has outlived isn’t usefulness, for this season anyway. Some of those classified as “Freshman” now have as many or more laps in competition than some of those who only started running last year. My personal belief is that it’s now time to run heat races for ALL Legends cars, putting the best 24 out there for the feature race to entertain the paying customers each week. Most weeks there is plenty of time to run 3 heats and a consi to determine the field. All the “Freshman” race does is discourage any sort of development in the division, and denies experience to those stuck in it. This has never been inflicted on any other division before, and is becoming a detriment to this division in particular. Just my thoughts on the matter…As always, we have some video highlights of the races, courtesy of Steve LaFountaine of LaFilms. Steve has full videos of most weeks available for you viewing/collecting pleasure. You may contact him at (631) 219-9411 to request the video you’re looking for.

       That’s it for this week’s effort. It’s nice to be back again, looking forward to the WMT race and double point, extra distance Charger and Blunderbust races next week. Until then, live well and be safe. As always, comments of any kind are more than welcome. WJ