With a threat of showers or thunderstorms possible, the track ran their full program uninterrupted but for a brief shower during early practice, with the winds keeping the rain away for the rest of the day. With a program that included 5 regular divisions and a demonstration by the EEKR go karts, a smaller than usual crowd was treated to a good Saturday night show, headlined by the Modifieds.

    As always, we send our thanks out to Steve "LaFilms" LaFountaine for providing the great videos you see here each week. A link to his website, LaFilms Productions, can be found on the upper right of this page. UPDATE 06/17/2010: There are now video links to all events from Saturday after each part of the story. Scroll down for each.

     Kicking off the evening of racing were the Super Pro Trucks, with Frank Scimeca, Jr. and Bryan Quilliam leading the 15 truck field to the green. Scimeca nosed at front at the start, with Kathleen Hallock mounting an immediate challenge on Quilliam for 2nd spot, taking it as Quilliam faded to 4th while Frank Dumicich, Sr. took over 3rd.  Shaun Gouldsbury, experiencing mechanical problems, dropped to the apron in turn 3 and stopped, as Dumicich, Sr. worked his way into 2nd, but the caution flew to remove Gouldsbury’s truck from the track. When the green flew once more, Scimeca jumped out front, with Dumicich, Sr. right behind him, as Erin Dumicich challenged Hallock for 3rd. Suddenly, Lou Maestri and Dave Koenig, vying for 5th, shot by Hallock, moving them into 4th and 5th, as Hallock faded back to battle for 6th with Roger Turbush and Frank Dumicich, Jr. Dumicich, Jr. was able to get by Turbush and Maestri to take 5th away as the beating and banging continued near mid-pack. By the mid point of the race, the top 8 were running in a line, with less than a truck length separating any of them, as Scimeca, who’d originally held a commanding lead early in the race, had Dumicich, Sr. riding close behind lap after lap. R. Turbush moved by Dumicich, Jr. for 5th spot on lap 12, setting up a battle for 6th between Dumicich, Jr. and Maestri. Suddenly, Dumicich, Jr. spun in turn 4 onto the apron, bringing out the caution on lap 13. When the green flew once more, Dumicich, Sr. nosed ahead of Scimeca a little, but Scimeca fought back, retaking the lead off turn 2, as they ran side by side, with the rest of the top runners doing the same, providing some excellent racing for the fans to enjoy. Scimeca went a little high a few laps later, taking sole possession of the lead as Dumicich, Sr. tucked in behind, but behind that, E. Dumicich and Koenig were battling side by side for 3rd, so even with each other it seemed like they were tied together. But the checker flew with Frank Scimeca, Jr. taking the win, as Frank Dumicich, Sr., Erin Dumicich, Dave Koenig and Roger Turbush rounded out the top 5. But a post race inspection revealed Scimeca’s truck had an illegal distributor, handing the win to Frank Dumicich, Sr. and moving Mike Albasini to 5th spot. 

Video of the Super Pro Truck race can be found here. Part 2 of SPT .

       The Blunderbusts were next up, with Russ Skippon and Scott Sepe set to lead the field to the green flag. The first attempt at a start saw Skippon and Sepe get together in turn 2, with Rob Bader suffering damage to his car as the field piled in, and yellow flew. With Bill Portney, Sr. and Fred Nolan on the front row, attempt number 2 got started with Portney taking the lead, but Jimmy White and Nolan got together in turn 2, with the caution coming out once more to clear debris left behind from the turn 2 incident. With Portney and Nolan on the front row, attempt 3 took place, but this time the ‘action’ was mid pack, as multiple cars collided in turn 1 and 2, bringing out yet another caution. 

     With Portney and Nolan still on the front row, attempt 4 saw the green fly once more, with Portney taking the lead cleanly this time, as Nolan ran alongside, but behind, with White and Tim Mulqueen following, and Mulqueen quickly got by Nolan for 2nd, while Tom Pickerell moved up to 4th , following Tom Sullivan as Nolan and White continued to fade back quickly as the inside line of cars advanced. The cars got 3 wide in turn 3 & 4, with Mike Rommeney, Kevin Rommeney and Pickerell side by side by side, but Pickerell pulled out in front, leaving the Rommeney’s to battle for 5th. K. Rommeney won the battle for 5th, as M. Rommeney and Tommy Walkowiak battled for 6th, but up front, Portney, with his right side hood pin missing and the hood raised on the right front, continued to hold the lead over Mulqueen. Pickerell then mounted a challenge on Sullivan, taking the spot coming off turn 2 on lap 5. K. Rommeney then challenged Sullivan for 4th, taking that spot away on lap 6, as Bader dropped out of the race with handling problems. Walkowiak, meanwhile, had gotten by Sullivan to takeover 5th spot as Portney continued to hold off Mulqueen by one car length. K. Rommeney got sideways in turn 4, with Bill Wegmann hitting him when there was nowhere to go, but Wegmann corrected and continued racing, but K. Rommeney was unable to get going, and the caution came out on lap 9 once more.  

      Portney held onto the lead on the restart, with last week’s winner Mulqueen now doing battle with Pickerell for 2nd, as Sullivan and Walkowiak ran closely behind them, waiting for the opportunity to advance their positions. Pickerell won the fight for 2nd, with Sullivan holding 4th as Walkowiak ran outside in 5th, looking to pass on the high side to move up, but he quickly found that wasn’t working and tucked back in line. Sullivan and Mulqueen got side by side to battle for 3rd, but Mulqueen held on, as yellow flew again on lap 13 for debris. When the green flew again, Portney led the single file restart to the line, as Walkowiak again looked to the high side to advance, moving into 3rd spot as the field came off turn 4. Pickerell was pressuring Portney for the lead, but Portney held his composure and the spot.  Walkowiak made a move to the outside of Pickerell on lap 15 trying for 2nd, but Walkowiak got high in the marbles and had to back off and fall in behind once more. On the next lap, Walkowiak tried the high side once more, but still was unable to make the pass, even though he got a bit ahead of Pickerell by a half car length at one point on lap 17. On lap 18, Ray Shannon spun in turn 2, and was collected by K. Rommeney, and the caution came out once more, setting up a 2 lap dash to the finish. Under the caution, track officials ruled that Walkowiak had advanced 2 positions on the last restart, placing him back to 4th for the next restart.  When the green flew again, so did Portney, and Walkowiak tried the outside on Mulqueen to try and take 3rd,  but to no avail, and Bill Portney, Sr. went on to take the win, his first victory in more than 11 years, as Tom Pickerell, Tim Mulqueen, Tommy Walkowiak and  Tom Sullivan rounded out the top 5 in a very exciting race. Everyone in the top 5 worked hard and they deserve recognition for putting on a great show. 

Highlight video  BB pt 1  & BlunderBust pt 2

    The Chargers rolled out next, minus point leader Chris Turbush, who was serving a one week suspension for an incident the previous week. His brother, Roger Turbush, would fill in for him, starting last (11th spot) due to it being his first Charger race of the season. Frank Dumicich, Jr. and Tom Anderson led the field to the green, with F. Dumicich taking the lead on the start, while Daryn Miller quickly moved into 2nd on the first lap, with Anderson dropping to 3rd, and a lap later, Jay Henschel moved by him on the low side to take 3rd away. Chris McGuire took over 4th from Anderson a lap after that, as F. Dumicich continued to hold a comfortable lead. Anderson continued to drop back, as Jeremy McDermott and R. Turbush moved up into the top 6. Behind them, the battle for positions was hot, with Brian Doyle getting by Erin Dumicich to battle Kevin Orlando for 8th spot, while up front, 2nd through 6th ran bumper to bumper, about 2 car lengths behind leader F. Dumicich. On lap 6, E. Dumicich and Orlando came together, bringing out the caution. On the restart, F. Dumicich held the lead on the double file restart, as Henschel challenged, with R. Turbush making a move to the outside to advance, but CJ Lehman, Doyle and McDermott got together hard in turn 2, bringing  the caution out once more. McDermott pitted for repairs and returned, but Doyle’s night ended as his car was towed to the pits. 

     On the next restart, F. Dumicich held his lead, as Miller and Henschel  followed closely behind, with McGuire and R. Turbush shadowing them.  Henschel got by Miller to take 2nd, and ran right on F. Dumicich’s bumper as R. Turbush now ran 4th, but he challenged Miller for the spot, and R. Turbush took it easily. F. Dumicich had been able to pull away from Henschel, who now had R. Turbush challenging him for 2nd, with R. Turbush getting under Henschel and taking 2nd away as he bulled his way through, dropping Henschel to 3rd. R. Turbush seemed to easily catch F. Dumicich after that, with Henschel hanging closely behind them. R. Turbush made a move to take the lad on the outside, allowing Henschel to pull up to F. Dumicich’s bumper, but R. Turbush kept up his pursuit on the outside, getting his nose out front as the crossed the line, with R. Turbush taking the lead solidly on the back stretch, with F. Dumicich dropping back to 2nd, as Henschel held 3rd.  With 2 laps left, Roger Turbush pulled away to a commanding lead, holding it right to the end, and winning in only his 2nd Charger feature ever, while Frank Dumicich, Jr., Jay Henschel, Chris McGuire and Daryn Miller rounded out the top 5. Roger Turbush celebrated his victory by stopping in turn 2 with the checkered flag and climbing up the fence to meet his brother Chris as they celebrated the win. 

Charger  video Charger Race

    After this race, the EEKR took over the track, giving a nice exhibition of all their different divisions, covering age brackets from 5 years old on up to the 35 and over go karts. A very impressive group of go karts put on a nice show to promote go karting, where so many of today’s Riverhead regulars got their start in racing. 

     The Late Models were next with 13 cars set to start the race. With Doug Renalds on the pole, and Mike Mortimer on the outside, they experienced  2 false starts due to Renalds not going on time, resulting in cautions being thrown. Track officials decided enough was enough after the 2nd one, and placed Renalds at the rear of the field. On the next attempt, with Ralph Stanzione and Mortimer on the front row, green flew and Stanzione and Mortimer took off side by side, banging on each other as they vied for the lead, with Stanzione eventually pulling into the lead. On the next lap, Mike Bologna tried to move up from 3rd to 1st in turn 3, but too many cars and not enough space resulted in a wreck and a caution flag.  On the restart, Stanzione took off with Roger Oxee by his side, but Stanzione pulled away as Oxee and Artie Pedersen, Jr. duked it out for 2nd, while Bologna and Shawn Patrick followed. On the next lap, Oxee got under Stanzione coming off turn 2, taking the top spot on the back stretch, with Patrick also getting under Stanzione to take 2nd, as Pedersen and Bologna battled for 4th spot. Up front, Oxee and Patrick pulled away, while behind them, no one could get by Stanzione, creating a large pack of cars running side by side. Pedersen finally managed to get along side Stanzione, who had been drifting high through the turns, and as Pedersen got by, so did Bologna and Chris LaSpisa, dropping Stanzione to 6th.  A lap later, Bologna made a move on Pedersen, with both spinning and getting collected by LaSpisa, but they all pulled away, even though LaSpisa had major damage to the nose of his car. One lap later, Renalds and Mortimer crashed in the back stretch, bringing out the caution on lap 9. LaSpisa pitted to for repairs, but returned to the race, as Oxee and Patrick brought the field to the green flag once more. Oxee took off with Patrick in tow, but Pedersen blew a tire after colliding with Ken Alfano in the first turn, and the yellow was back out quickly as Pedersen limped his car to the pits. Kevin Metzger pitted to fix a flat R/F he suffered in the jumble, and Buzzy Eriksen was forced to the pits because of some sheet metal debris from Alfano’s car that was wedged in Eriksen’s rub rail. 

     When the green reappeared, Oxee took off with Patrick mounting a challenge on the outside, with Patrick getting ahead by a few feet going through turns 3 & 4, but Oxee battled back, getting back out to a half car length lead as Alfano watched in 3rd, but Oxee got cleanly out front on the next lap. Alfano took a look under Patrick to try for 2nd, but Patrick shut the door, and Alfano remained in 3rd.  Oxee built a 2 car length lead by lap 13, when Metzger spun in turn 2, bringing out another caution. Getting back to it, Oxee easily held off Patrick to retain the lead, but Patrick tried a lap later to get up on the outside once more, but to no avail as Oxee held off the challenge once more. On lap 17, Alfano spun after contact with Bologna in the back stretch, but after seeing no caution, Alfano righted his car and rejoined the race. Oxee now held a 3 car length lead over Patrick, as Bologna was about 7 car lengths behind him, but quite a battle for 4th was going on, as Metzger and Rob Tribuzio challenged Eriksen for that spot.  With 2 to go, Metzger and Eriksen were side by side for 4th,  with Metzger getting by on the final lap, as  Roger “RJ” Oxee sailed on to take his first Late Model win since 2008, but it was the 58th career win for the all time Late Model winner, as Shawn Patrick held on for 2nd, while Kevin Metzger, Peter ’Buzzy’ Eriksen and Rob Tribuzio, up for a visit from St. Simon’s Island, GA. rounded out the top 5.  In victory lane, Roger dedicated his win to Roy Schelein, owner of North Fork Sanitation, a long time supporter of Oxee’s team. Schelein passed away last year just before the start of the season. (Mike Bologna, who’d crossed the line in 3rd spot, was moved to a finishing spot behind Alfano as a penalty for rough riding when he spun Alfano.) 

 Video of  Late Model highlights (Or lowlights, depending on your view)

    The last feature of the night was the Modifieds, with 21 starters in the field, led by John Beatty and Bill Park. Park jumped right into the lead at the start, pulling away from Beatty, who seemed a bit under powered as he dropped back. This allowed Mike Andrews, Jr., Eddie Brunnhoelzl, John Fortin, and Timmy Solomito to moved quickly to top 5 spots. Park dominated right from the beginning, as all the movement and passing was taking place behind him. The action picked up late in the race, as Brunnhoelzl and Young made contact on lap 26, with Young spinning into the infield, with no caution, so Young could only rejoin the rear of the field. On lap 28, the first caution came out, as Beatty spun and hit the wall in turn 4. On the restart, Park and Andrews brought the field back to the green, with Park jumping out front and Andrews just tucking in behind, as Fortin and Solomito waged a battle for 3rd spot, with Solomito lightly brushing the back stretch wall for 2 laps in a row as Fortin rode him high to hold onto 3rd. Andrews was riding Park’s bumper now, when suddenly, Brunnhoelzl and a few lapped cars collided in the back stretch, bringing out the caution with a handful of laps left. When the green came out, Andrews appeared to jump the start, but Park rode him deep and high into turns 1 & 2, retaking the lead as they ran side by side into turns 3 & 4, allowing Fortin to get under Andrews, as Tom Rogers, Jr. rode Fortin’s bumper, leaving Andrews in the high groove with 2 laps to go, and both Fortin and Rogers were able to get by Andrews, dropping him to 4th spot, as Bill Park went on to win his 31st ever Modified feature event at the track, placing him in a tie for 3rd on the all time list, as John Fortin, Tom Rogers, Jr., Mike Andrews, Jr., and Justin Bonsignore rounded out the top 5. 

 Final 5 Laps Mods video

News and Notes: I spoke with Wayne Anderson, who’s car was driven by Dennis Freese of Oval Speed Unlimited in what was just a ‘start and park’ effort, and Wayne hopes to have clearance from his doctor’s to resume racing again sometime in July… Asked about Mike Cappiello’s status, and he is to be released to come home on Monday of this coming week, more good news about his recovery. Hurry back, Mike, many people miss you greatly… Also got a report that Ken Heagy will rejoin the WMT after missing the last two races due to family matters, and an ailing motor… Roger Oxee went from a “I don’t know what’s wrong with this car” (after practice) to victory in the Late Model feature, quite a nice turn around. It may take a while to get that smile off his face…  JR Bertuccio returned to Modified racing in the #3 Ambrose modified, but had a less than memorable race, finishing 16th, after being as high as 7th during the feature..  Next week is a 50 lapper for the Modifieds, along with a 30 lap race for the Blunderbusts, both time trial events, so be sure to show up by 5 PM if you want to see the time trails…. Tommy Sekulski still working on getting his set up right in his #22 Modified. Any one wants to help him out with suggestions, stop by his pit and let him know. He wants to go faster, as any true racer would… That’s it for this weeks story, good to be back after my first week off sick since I started going to races in 1973 at Islip/Freeport. Until next week, live well and stay safe. WJ 

Comments on these stories always welcome through the link below or email at wizgrand@gmail.com