MYRACENEWS.COM: Riverhead Features More Than One Demo On Busy Night

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Riverhead Features More Than One Demo On Busy Night

With a Big Car demo on the schedule, Riverhead Raceway got a few extra ’demo’ derbys’ in the features run before the evening’s scheduled ended, as one race was shortened by time limits, and others had more crashing and spinning than most would have liked on the first truly warm night of the season. The Blunderbust Division, with their best car count of the season, held time trials, with Tommy Walkowiak turning in a lap of 14.968, setting a new track record for the class. With a pit jammed full of race cars, a full program that included an nice tribute to Slim Jim Donaldson, who’s moving out of state, and no police cars to mess up the playing of the National Anthem, an eventful night was in stock for all. Here’s the full story.

The Legends kicked off the night’s events, with 24 of over 33 legends signed in attempting qualification. With Anthony Cacioppo and Michael Rommeney leading the field, the green flew, with Cacioppo taking the lead at the start, while Kyle Ellwood challenged Rommeney for 2nd. That battle lasted a few laps until Chris Young moving by to take 3rd from Ellwood and begin Young‘s attempt to get by Rommeney for 2nd. Further back, Chris Rogers and Tom Sherman battled for 6th, with Rogers getting the spot, as Mike Malone then went to work on Sherman. Having made short work of Rommeney, Young went to the task of passing Cacioppo in an attempt to get the lead. Cacioppo was up to the challenge, pulling away by about 2 car lengths from Young, but Young closed right back in, but they tangled going into turn 4, with both spinning into the infield, which handed the lead to Ellwood as the caution flew. When the green flew again, Ellwood led Malone, Jason Sendlewski, Justin Strumpf and Tom Sherman. Sherman got by Strumpf to take 4th, but Eric Goodale, subbing for Timmy Solomito, spun after contact, and the yellow flew again on lap 10. Ellwood took off when the green came out again, with Malone right on his bumper. The mover of the race at this point was Kevin Nowak, who’d started 24th, but was now running 8th as he weaved his way through the field. Also on the move was Young, who had gone to the rear after his earlier spin, running now in 10th. On lap 11, Brendon bock spun into the infield out of harm’s way, but he decided to pull back out on lap 12, and caution flew once again. During the caution, track officials sent Nowak to the rear for his involvement in Bock’s spin.

With the green out once more, Ellwood took of with Malone still riding his bumper, as Sendlewski and Sherman followed. Ellwood and Malone began to spread out their lead over the rest of the field to a couple of car lengths, as Malone worked as hard as he could to stay with Ellwood. Suddenly, on lap 15, right behind them, Sherman hit Sendlewski as he tried to pass him for 3rd coming out of turn 2. They actually hit a couple of times, with the final contact resulting in Sendlewski’s car flipping and going into the backstretch wall, resulting in the red flag coming out quickly as track officials rushed to the scene. Sendlewski was thankfully okay, but both he and Sherman were done. During the clean up, track officials invoked the time limit, as the race had already consumed about 36 minutes, and Kyle Ellwood was able to collect his first ever victory, as Mike Malone, Justin Strumpf, Kyle Soper and Paul Dodorico rounded out the top 5 in what turned out to be the first demo derby of the evening.

The 30 lap, double point, Blunderbust race was next, as fast qualifier Tommy Walkowiak and Scott Sepe, who’d set 5th fastest time, led the field to the green. Walkowiak took off coming off turn 4, leaving Sepe in his dust, as Rob Bader, Tom Pickerell, Jack Handley, Jr., Paul Parisi and Scott Maliszewski all went by Sepe, who ran the high line and faded back quickly. Pickerell got by Bader to take 2nd a lap later, but Bader hung with him riding his bumper as Walkowiak built a sizeable lead. Pickerell set about closing that gap, which he did lap by lap, catching up to Walkowiak as he encountered his first lapped cars by lap 7, allowing Pickerell to get right in behind him. Bader still ran 3rd, about 6 car lengths back, with a line of cars behind him. On lap 8, Pickerell gave Walkowiak a bit of a hard tap to let him know he was there, as they continued to run up front alone, weaving around lapped cars. By this time, the two leaders were 15 car lengths in front of 3rd place Bader, and Maliszewski was closing in on him. On lap 9 entering turn 3, Pickerell found an opening to get under Walkowiak, passing him coming off turn 4 to take the lead on lap 10. Walkowiak managed to stay right with Pickerell, but lapped cars, at this point, were going to make any attempt at a pass virtually impossible. On lap 12, Pickerell got a little high coming off turn 2, allowing Walkowiak a look, but lapped cars once again forced Walkowiak to fall in behind Pickerell. On lap 14, Jessica Cohan spun in turn 2, and the first caution of the race flew. When the green came out again, Pickerell took off with Walkowiak to his outside, and Pickerell zoomed into the lead once more, with Walkowiak right on his rear, as Maliszewski and Bader followed. On lap 17, Eddie Mistretta spun off the track into the infield, but pulled back to the edge of the track and stopped, causing the next caution. On the next restart, Pickerell took off once more with Walkowiak, Maliszewski, Bader, Bill Wegmann, and Handley right behind. By lap 20, Pickerell still held a small lead over Walkowiak and Maliszewski, as they all pulled away from Bader and those behind him. Wegmann made his move a lap later, taking 4th from Bader. Pickerell was picking up the pace up front, pulling 3 car lengths ahead of Walkowiak, who now had Maliszewski right behind him. With one to go, Pickerell caught up to a group of lapped cars, but he’d built a comfortable lead by that point, and Tom Pickerell in the Pickerell Clam and Seafood/G-Force Collision #4 went on to win the double point event, as Tommy Walkowiak, Scott Maliszewski, Bill Wegmann and Rob Bader rounded out the top 5.

The Chargers, 14 of them, rolled out for the next event, with Alan Reeves and Eric Zeh leading the field to the green. Reeves took the lead at the start, with Brian Doyle quickly moving from 3rd into 2nd , but Zeh hung on in 3rd as Ray Minieri moved from 6th to battle Derek Stochecki for 4th. Suddenly, CJ Lehmann and Tom Sullivan got together, bringing out the first caution of the race. Sullivan and Lehmann both pitted, but returned. On the restart with 1 lap complete, Reeves and Doyle ran side by side, but Doyle nosed ahead and led as lap 2 was completed. Behind them, the battle for 3rd between Zeh and Minieri heated up, with Minieri running even with him side by side as Reeves fell back to 4th. Behind them, Reeves and Frank Dumicich, Jr. were duking it out for 5th, beating and banging side by side as Chris Turbush joined in, then Dumicich getting sideways at one point, then hitting Reeves and spinning him, as the caution came out on lap 7. On the restart, Doyle took off, and had Minieri right on his tail, with Zeh to his outside, trying to take the lead away. Doyle ran side by side with Zeh, moving ahead as they came off turn 4, and completing the move as they went down the back stretch, leaving Zeh and Minieri to fight for 2nd. Dumicich, Jr. running in 4th, got rough on Minieri, but Minieri shook it off, hanging onto 4th for the moment, until another caution came out on lap 11 for wreck involving Dumicich, Jr. and Zeh. On the restart, Doyle took off, with Minieri, now up to 2nd, right on his tail. On the next lap, Doyle went wide out of turn 4, and Minieri ducked under him, pulling up even as Doyle fought to hold the lead, as Chris Turbush, now 3rd, watched patiently, just ahead of Chris McGuire and Erin Dumicich . Doyle and Minieri went at it like that for the next 7 laps, running cleanly side by side, putting on a show that the fans were loving every second of. On lap 15, they both got high coming off turn 2, and Turbush looked for a second like he might join in, but he backed off and stayed right with them. On lap 17, F. Dumicich and Stochecki came together in turn 2, bringing out the caution once more. Nascar scoring ruled that Doyle had been the leader, so he lined up with Minieri right behind for the restart. When the green flew, so did Doyle, but Minieri charged right behind him, but Turbush challenged Minieri for 2nd almost immediately, taking the spot, as Doyle went a little high coming off turn 2 on the next lap, allowing Turbush to take the lead away, as McGuire and Minieri battled for 3rd, with McGuire getting the spot. As he entered turn 1, he got Doyle loose, and as Minieri fought back, he got Doyle loose again, and as he tried to recover, McGuire clipped his left rear, sending Doyle to the infield in turn 2, while Zeh spun behind all this after contact from John Baker, spinning Zeh back into Baker, who then got hit by Lehmann, and the caution flew once again on what had turned into the next unscheduled demo derby! Doyle went to the pits, did not return, as Turbush took the green with Minieri, McGuire, and E. Dumicich right behind. Everyone settled down to run the last two laps, With Jeremy McDermott edging by E. Dumicich for 4th on the final lap, as Chris Turbush scored his 2nd victory of the season in the East-West Marine #81, with Ray Minieri, Chris McGuire, Jeremy McDermott and Erin Dumicich rounded out the top 5 in a Charger wreck fest.

There is now a video of this race on our Facebook Page.

The Figure-8’s were next, with 11 cars, their highest number this year, as Bryan Sescila and Steve Stadler each made their 2011 debut. Tim Farrell and Scott Pedersen led the field to the green, with S. Pedersen grabbing the lead, but before the first lap could be completed, something in Stadler’s car let go, and the caution flew. On the next attempt, Farrell grabbed the lead, with Roger Maynor and S. Pedersen battling for 2nd, as Maynor took the spot. Maynor then passed Farrell to take the lead on the next lap as everyone else battled for position behind them in the early laps. Farrell spun at the X on the next lap, with Tom Ferrara moving into 2nd spot, as Mike Mujsce moved to 3rd, leaving S. Pedersen and his brother Arne to battle for 4th. Suddenly, on lap 3, Tom Rogers, Jr., running in 6th, stopped with a busted rear end, and the caution came out. On the restart, Maynor jumped back out front as teammates Ferrara and Mujsce battled for 2nd, when A. Pedersen, Sescila and Farrell got together, leader Roger Maynor stopped in the turn as the yellow came out after suffering a rear end malfunction. Now down to only 6 cars running, the race restarted with Mujsce in the lead and Farrell right on his tail, but his lead in the race came to an end a lap later as HIS car shut down, and yellow flew once more! With only 5 cars now running, the fans were treated to an exhibition race, as Tom Ferrara led the way right to the end, picking up his first victory of the season in his Bill Beener Tree Service #14, while Tim Farrell, Dennis Scott, Bryan Sescila and Mike Mujsce rounded out the top 5. Though running in 4th at the finish, Mike Herbst was later DQ’ed to last place in the race.

Now it was the Modifieds out to run their 35 lap feature. Ken Darch and Jason Agugliero led the 23 car field to the green, with Darch taking the early lead after running side by side with Agugliero. Don Howe moved to 2nd briefly after Agugliero fell back, but Shawn Solomito passed Howe to move into 2nd when Howe fell back, while Agugliero held 3rd and Darch continued to lead. Behind them, Justin Bonsignore took the outside groove to move from 10th to 5th spot quickly, even as Tom Rogers, Jr. moved by Howe and Agugliero to take 3rd. Plenty of action on 2nd through 6th at this point, with Jerry Solomito getting by Agugliero for 5th as Bonsignore moved to 4th, while S. Solomito caught Darch and got under him to challenge for the lead, with Darch dropping quickly back to 4th as Rogers and Bonsignore moved by on the low side. Rogers then got under S. Solomito, with Bonsignore on Rogers’ bumper, as Rogers passed S. Solomito for the lead, leaving Bonsignore and S. Solomito to vie for 2nd spot. Behind all this, J. Solomito was now 4th, with Dave Brigati running a solid 5th by lap 10. Just then, Agugliero, Ed Brunnhoelzl Jr., Gary McDonald and Sean McDonald tangled in turn 4, bringing out a caution. It took some work to separate Brunnhoelzl and S. McDonald, but soon the green waved again, and Rogers took off with Bonsignore to his outside, with the Solomito’s tagging along behind, but before a lap was completed, a back stretch wreck involving 5 cars brought the caution right back out. The green flew once more after the wreck was cleaned up, with Rogers once again leading Bonsignore, both Solomito’s and Brigati. Brigati moved to 4th as J. Solomito went high in turn 2 after contact, moving John Fortin, Sr. to 5th. Rogers continued to lead by ½ car length over Bonsignore, as S. Solomito rode a car length behind them. Rogers continued to lead Bonsignore until Rogers got a little loose on lap 20, and as he corrected, Bonsignore went to his outside, but Bonsignore wasn’t able to complete the pass, leaving the bottom open for S. Solomito to then challenge him for 2nd. A lapped car force S. Solomito to give up that fight and fall back to 3rd, but the battle up front heated up once more after the leaders got past the lapped cars. Bonsignore got down inside of Rogers entering turn 1 on lap 24, taking the lead away as the traveled down the back stretch. Caution flew again on lap 26 as John Fortin, Jr. and J. Solomito came together in turns 1 & 2. On the restart, Bonsignore took off with Rogers in pursuit, but it soon became clear that Bonsignore had the fastest car as he built his lead lap after lap. On lap 29, J. Solomito spun in turn 1, bringing out another caution, but racing resumed quickly, and Bonsignore took off once more, but no more challenges for position took place, as Justin Bonsignore, in the M3 Technologies #51, won his first race of the season, besting Tom Rogers, Shawn Solomito, Dave Brigati and John Fortin, Sr. The win put Bonsignore in a tie for the point lead with Fortin, Sr., but Bonsignore will miss the next scheduled event as he runs the Whelen Modified Tour race at Monadnock next week.

News and Notes: At least one Charger driver very unhappy over a ‘no call’ late in the race, and may not finish out the season… Timmy Solomito telling various sources he may be back racing as early as next week. Stay tuned on that one…. Don’t forget 100 Foot Drags this coming Sunday afternoon at Riverhead Raceway. Way more cars expected for this growing phenomena. If you have the time, come on out and support this event and maybe help get a permanent drag strip built eventually… Late Model drivers being polled about if having an event on an off night at Wall Speedway. If enough interest is shown, expect it to happen soon…. That’s it for this week. Computer Modem problems slowed the early release of this story and I apologize for that. Until next time, live well and be safe! WJ

Posted by W. J at 6/21/2011 7:50 AM