1
0
Riverhead, NY June 24th
By Bob Finan
Prior to the Miller Lite 200 Salute to Mike Ewanitsko WMT event, four Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series divisions took to Riverhead Raceway for some exciting action. Kyle Ellwood of Riverhead scored his second Eagle Auto Mall Crate Modified victory of the season just one week after triumphing in the annual Baldwin, Evans & Jarzombek 77 Tour Type Modified Memorial.
Vinny Delaney jumped to the early lead in the 25-lap Eagle Auto Mall Crate Modified tilt with Kyle Ellwood quickly coming to second. Ellwood chased Delaney eventually catching him and challenging for the lead. On lap 9 Ellwood jumped alongside Delaney with the tandem racing side by side for laps 9 & 10. Exiting the fouth corner to start the 11th cycle Ellwood was finally able to wrestle the lead away from Delaney. A quick yellow as the field started lap 12 waved for a minor get together involving Chris Sinatro and Eddie Schutze. When racing resumed Ellwood kept his race lead while early leader Delaney was now the subject of four car tussle for second with Michael Berner, Chase Grennan and AJ DeSantis. The battle for second allowed Kyle Ellwood to open up a comfortable lead, a cushion he’d take to victory lane for the third time in his Crate Mod career steering the Kelco Construction Chevy. Vinny Delaney of Islip Terrace fought hard and held on for second in the Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm Chevy with Michael Berner of Patchogue third in the Planet Earth Recycling entry.
Hands down the race of the night unfolded in the 20-lap Super Pro Truck feature with three trucks racing under a blanket over the final 8 circuits of the event. When the dust settled Matt Triola of Bay Shore enjoyed the thrill of a first career victory. Early on Triola and “The Bullet” Ethan Brown tested each other for the race lead going door to door before Brown took sole possession of the lead on lap 5. Undaunted, Triola fought back and took back the lead on lap 9 when he ducked under Brown with the duo again pitted side by side. Jack Handley Jr., two-time winner in ’23 had the best seat in the house to observe the fight for the lead from third. From lap 12 until the white flag lap the trio ran under a blanket. On the final lap exiting the second turn, Triola on the inside, Brown on the outside made slight contact with both trucks momentarily pointed to the infield. Triola remained out front and barely hung on in his Cesspool Pros Chevy in a photo finish over Jack Handley Jr. of Medford in the East End Builders Toyota. Unfortunately for Brown he would spin high off the fourth turn after getting in the marbles handing third over to Joe Cerabino of Bay Shore in the Victory Martial Arts truck.
The 20-lap Street Stock main event featured numerous restarts and Brian McCormack of Holbrook mastered nearly all of them, except for the last one where Gerard Lawrence of Rocky Point took advantage to score his first win of the season. The entire race saw McCormack and Lawrence get after each other, racing side by side over the first four laps. Up until the 13th lap McCormack was able to keep Lawrence at bay over several restarts, however on the final restart Brian’s car got a tick loose off turn two and Lawrence pounced to the outside. Once he took the lead Lawrence never looked back in his EP Milling & Sweeping Chevy scoring the 7th win of his Street Stock career. Brian McCormack had his best run of the year with second in the Robo Car Wash Monte Carlo with defending champion Dave Antos of Lindenhurst completing the podium in his JTEC Electric Monte Carlo.
Returning from a track mandated vacation, Joe Warren Jr. of Ridge was a man on a mission in the night’s 20-lap Mini Stock feature. After coming from last to first in his heat race earning maximum passing points, Warren earned the pole for the main event. The rest is history. When the green waved Warren broke to the early race lead with Chris Olivari in tow, Over the first half of the contest Olivari kept pace, however former champion Paul Wojcik closed in to challenge Chris for second. That allowed Warren to pull away in his Newtown Landscaping Cavalier not just for his first win of the year, the 9th of his career moving him into sole possession of first on the all-time win list. Chris Olivari of Coram in the sponsor wanted racer was second with Paul Wojcik of Patchogue third in the RFG Electrical Contracting entry.
Eagle Auto Mall Crate Modifieds: 1. Kyle Ellwood 2. Vinny Delaney 3. Michael Berner 4. Chase Grennan 5. AJ DeSantis 6. Terry Stiles 7. Max Handley 8. Eric Hersey 9. Owen Grennan 10. Sean Glennon 11. Alex Colasanto 12. Mike Albasini 13. Rich Gerbe 14. Chevy Rommeney 15. Dennis Krupski 16. Chris Sinatro 17. Eddie Schutze 18. Tom Sekulski
Super Pro Trucks: 1. Matt Triola 2. Jack Handley Jr. 3. Joe Cerabino 4. Lou Maestri 5. Rob Corwin 6. Frank Dumicich Sr. 7. Chris Lescenski 8. Ethan Brown 9. Erin Solomito 10. Liam Patrick
Street Stocks: 1. Gerard Lawrence 2. Brian McCormack 3. Dave Antos 4. Danny Pizzo 5. Brian Brown 6. Greg Harris 7. Kyle Halpin 8. Tom Sullivan 9. Alyssa Paprocky 10. Ricky Carman 11. James DiPietro 12. Luke Foerster 13. Rhett Fogg 14. Chris Mancz 15. Dennis Kurras 16. PJ McGay 17. Jake Curran DQ Jarrod Hayes
Mini Stocks: 1. Joe Warren Jr. 2. Chris Olivari 3. Paul Wojcik 4. Andrew Farnham 5. Joe Cooke Jr. 6. John Harley 7. Jack Innes 8. CJ Zukowski 9. Nick Johnson 10. AJ DeSantis
