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Riverhead, NY Aug. 24th
By Bob Finan
On a picture-perfect evening, a standing room only crowd packed Riverhead Raceway for the final School Bus Demolition Derby of 2024. Prior to the mayhem, the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series was in action with Jeremy McDermott of Riverhead capturing the headline 40-lap Late Model feature event for his third win of the season.
Gerard Giordano and Brandon Turbush brought the Late Model field to green with Giordano, former New England Truck Series champion showing the way early. Turbush was passed on the second circuit by Chris McGuire who chased leader Giordano until the 7th lap when he was passed by Jeremy McDermott. The Giordano-McDermott storyline has varied during the spring and summer and another chapter was about to be entered. After settling in behind Giordano, McDermott paced himself looking for the right moment to make his move. On lap 25 exiting the fourth turn McDermott slipped underneath Giordano, the two traded some paint and by the time they reached the first turn to start lap 26, McDermott was the new leader. One lap after surrendering the lead to McDermott, Giordano was passed for second by “Radiant” Ray Minieri, who spent the rest of the race chasing McDermott.
When the checker flag waved on the final Miller Lite Triple Crown Series of 2024 Jeremy McDermott was basking in the limelight with his Eastport Feeds team on his 33rd career win. The team dodged a bullet in qualifying when Jeremy spun the car in turn four taking contact from Brian Doyle who had nowhere to go. “I don’t know what happened in the heat, it just broke loose and went around” McDermott recalled. “My team got it right for the feature, we were free off, but we had a good battle with Giordano for the win”.
With his runner-up finish in the 1683 Bar & Grill machine in the 40-lapper, Ray Minieri of Bay Shore secured the 2024 Miller Lite Triple Crown Series title, “we wrecked pretty bad at Wall last Saturday, I spent one entire day just welding her back into shape” Ray noted post-race. Kevin Metzger of Massapequa was third in the Complete Well & Pump Toyota. Brian Doyle of Medford, thrashed on his car after the heat race crash to salvage the night with a fourth, while Chris McGuire of Miller Place was fifth.
Simply stated Scott Pedersen of Shirley is dominating the 2024 TK Figure Eights at Riverhead Raceway. The former three-time champion won the 20-lap Miller Lite Triple Crown Series 20-lap event to securing the MLTCS title, it was Scott’s fifth win in eight races this year. Pedersen and Bryan Quilliam brought the grid to green with Scott breaking out front. Quilliam was quickly passed on the first lap by Allan Pedersen who immediately glued himself to his uncle’s bumper. For the entire 20-laps the Pedersen family sat at the front of the field with Scott in the Bobby’s One Stop Custom Exhaust & Auto Camaro notching his 16th career victory. Allan Pedersen of Center Moriches settled for second in the Top Notch Performance Chevy, Ryan Warren of Ridge in his self-funded entry scored a podium finish in third.
Cody Triola of Bay Shore actually won the 30-lap Blunderbust feature event, second of their three race Miller Lite Triple Crown Series in his heat race. Starting deep in his qualifier, Triola, a former two-time champion moved towards the front earning passing point that put him on the pole for the feature. Cody, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth took full advantage leading green to checker for his third win of the season. Eddie Diaz chased Triola for 25 laps of the contest before he veered onto the Figure Eight course with mechanical failure while the field started the 26th lap. Just moments later, Ron Langdon making his first start of 2024 blew up in the Tom Puccia entry drawing a caution. The extra distance race featured the choose cone and Triola took the bottom, as did new second place runner Tom Pickerell, Joe Densieski who was third took the outside of the front row. On the restart Triola kept the Cesspool Pros machine out front driving off to his 13th career win in the process. Over the final three cycles the battle was for second with Joe Densieski of Riverhead making the wise choice at the cone to earn runner-up money in the Hydro Action Caprice. Championship leader Tom Pickerell of Huntington was third in the Encore Rentals Chevy.
The third and final Miller Lite Triple Crown Series race for the Super Pro Trucks, a 30-lap affair fell to Jack Handley Jr. of Medford who scored his fourth win in six races contested to date. Mark Stewart, third on the all-time SPT win list with 25 raced his way to the early lead over Erin Solomito at the throw of the green. While Stewart pulled away as the laps clicked off, Solomito had her hands full racing for second with the likes of Lou Maestri, Jack Handley Jr. and Sean Glennon. on lap 16 entering the third turn Handley muscled his way under Solomito for second but if he ere to catch Stewart he’d need a caution. Low and behold on lap 19 a single truck spin drew that caution Handley so desired. At the choose cone Stewart picked the inside, Handley wasted no time jumping to his outside. When the race resumed Handley in the East Side Building Toyota was able to ride the outside lane by Stewart for the lead. Two laps later Sean Glennon slipped under Stewart for second on lap 23. Once out-front Handley would have to survive two additional late race cautions and subsequent restarts to score his 24th career win putting him just one shy of Stewart for third. Sean Glennon of Northport with another solid effort was second in the Glennon Construction mount, Mark Stewart of Riverhead settled for third in the East Side Building machine.
Not to be outdone by his older brother, “Mad” Max Handley of Medford won his fourth Street Stock event of 2024 in a 20-lap affair. Jack Handley Jr., making a one-off start in the Brian Brown Chevy broke to the early lead over Tom Sullivan. However, Sullivan would get too close to Jack on lap 2 sending the leader into a spin cycle and himself to the rear for his role. When the race went back to green Gerard Lawrence was the new early leader over Charles Sudano. Sudano was replaced in second on lap 7 by Jarrod Hayes who just two laps later jumped to the outside of Lawrence to take the lead on lap 10 during a restart. With Hayes leading and Lawrence second, Max Handley closed in to make a three-car fight. On lap 13 as the trio exited the fourth turn Handley dove to the inside, catching both Hayes and Lawrence off-guard. Max, in the Rosenberg & Gluck Personal Injury Law sponsored racer made the move stick to take the lead and his 5th career victory. Jarrod Hayes of Calverton, fresh off a Lake George vacation was runner-up in the North Fork Sanitation Chevy, Gerard Lawrence of Miller Place was third in the EP Milling & Sweeping Chevy.
Greg Harris of Riverhead put his SGS Stone Works Chevy into the lead on lap 2 and never looked back claiming his second 30-lap 8-Cylinder Enduro win of 2024. Kevin Feeney of East Quogue in his sponsor wanted entry was second, Pat Collins of Southampton third in the PC Truck & Equipment machine.
In the wild School Bus Demolition Derby popular Johnny Vullo of Bay Shore won his second consecutive event in the same bus he won in, much to his own surprise.
Late Models: 1. Jeremy McDermott 2. Ray Minieri 3. Kevin Metzger 4. Brian Doyle 5. Chris McGuire 6. Keith Rotzi 7. Ed Cheslak 8. Scott Cheslak 9. Gerard Giordano 10. Brandon Turbush
Figure Eights: q1. Scott Pedersen 2. Allan Pedersen 3. Ryan Warren 4. Will Farrell 5. Gary Fritz Jr. 6. Kim Hyde 7. Bryan Quilliam 8. Bob Dalke 9. Paulo Miquel DNS- Joe Warren Jr.
Blunderbusts: 1. Cody Triola 2. Joe Densieski 3. Tom Pickerell 4. Bill Wegmann Sr. 5. Emily Hubbard 6. Liam Macwhinnie 7. Joe Boccia 8. Steven Fried 9. Ron Langdon 10. Eddie Diaz 11. Anthony Capobianco 12. Brad Bess 13. Tom Sullivan 14. Jim Laird Jr.
Super Pro Trucks: 1. Jack Handley Jr. 2. Sean Glennon 3. Mark Stewart 4. Matt Triola 5. Frank Dumicich Jr. 6. Dave Koenig 7. Erin Solomito 8. Lou Maestri 9. Rich Bruce 10. Liam Patrick 11. Cillian Tennant 12. Rhett Fogg 13. Tony Naglieri 14. Frank Dumicich Sr.
Street Stocks: 1. Max Handley 2. Jarrod Hayes 3. Gerard Lawrence 4. John Harley 5. Jack Handley Jr. 6. Dennis Kurras 7. Ricky Carman 8. Tom Sullivan 9. Alyssa Paprocky 10. Kyle Halpin 11. James DiPietro 12. PJ McGay 13. Bob Dalke 14. Anthony Caccioppo 15. Danny Pizzo 16. Luke Foerster 17. Charles Sudano
8-Cylinder Enduro: 1. Greg Harris 2. Kevin Feeney 3. Pat Collins 4. Woot Lawrence 5. Carmine Ragusa 6. Donny Oliver 7. Pat Collins Jr. 8. Ricky Carman 9. Sean Fitzpatrick 10. Richie Carman 11. Roger Tramm 12. Joe Boccia 13. Eric Germuth 14. Jack McCarthy Jr. 15. Tim Healy 16. David Cohen 17. Steve Neenan 18. James Heym 19. Steve Jones 20. Will Ebert 21. Christian Kalbfleisch 22. David Verbeck 23. Brian Halsey 24. Justin Squires 25. Don Carasiti
School Bus demolition Derby winner- Johnny Vullo
