Late Race Pass Drives Ryan Preece To Miller Lite NASCAR Modified Victory At Riverhead Raceway
RIVERHEAD, NY — It was a very competitive and exciting Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway as all the Miler Lite night feature events featured some great competitive racing including the 35-lap NASCAR Whelen All- American Series Modified main event where Ryan Preece of Berlin, Ct. raced his way into the race lead with just 8 lap remaining in the contest to post his third win of the season.
In pre-race qualifying Ryan Preece, making his first start in the Merkel Race Engines Chevy since July 27th at Riverhead, set fast time with a lap of 11.876 but would redraw 6th for the feature event. Jason Agugliaro and Dave Brigati would wind up picking the front row in the 18-car field. At the throw of the green flag it would be Jason Agugliaro racing his way out front with Dave Brigati filing into second for the first half of the race. A couple of early race cautions would find positions behind the two race leaders being exchanged on the double file restarts with drivers Dave Sapienza, Chuck Steuer, Timmy Solomito and point leader Howie Brode all going toe-to-toe for position.
Meanwhile back up front Jason Agugliaro was driving his heart out in hopes of scoring his first career NASCAR Modified feature event win but as the race hit the halfway mark Ryan Preece started to make his presence known. On lap 18 Preece was able to wrestle second away from Dave Brigati and after a few laps closed in on leader Agugliaro. With ten laps remaining in the race it looked as though Jason might just be able to keep Ryan at bay but then Preece, exiting turn two on lap 26, made a charge under Agugliaro. By the time the duo raced through the third and fourth turn Preece would have the race lead as they began the 27th lap, a lead he’d never surrender over the final 8 circuits.
As the checkers waved it was Ryan Preece notching his third NASCAR WAAS Riverhead win of 2013 to go along with his Hoosier Tire 200 WMT triumph back in late June. “What can I say, Bill & Dave just give me a great car to drive and I’m the lucky guy who gets to drive it” Ryan boasted after exiting the East-West Marine Chevy. As for racing with Agugliaro for the win Preece reflected, “Jason had a good car but as the race wore on he got tight off the corner and my car was great on the bottom and I was able to get by”.
Turning in a great performance for second would be Jason Agugliaro of Islip in his Tom O’Keefe & Sons Chevy and he joked afterwards, “I wish there was a tour race somewhere tonight, we would have won”. Dave Sapienza of Riverhead made a late race move to secure third place money for his new sponsor Heller Construction. Dave Brigati of Calverton and Chuck Steuer of Bohemia, making his first Riverhead start in over two years, completed the top five.
On the strength of an early race outside pass, Jeremy McDermott of Riverhead scored his second Late Model win of the year in the Miller Lite night 25-lap main event. Shawn Patrick and Jeremy McDermott brought the field down to the green flag for the start of the race and it would be Patrick to hold court for the first lap of the race. However on lap two McDermott hung his SDS Telecommunications Dodge to the outside of Patrick and Jeremy was able to get some good “bite” on the high side racing his way out front. Once out front McDermott, the 2012 Charger champion would quickly pull away from Patrick and the remainder of the field. The race saw many of the championship contenders going into the contest have issues, mainly point leader Scott Kulesa and challenger Roger Oxee. Kulesa was knocked out with a damaged shock, while Oxee got a right front flat and fell from the race. All of that mattered not to race leader Jeremy McDermott who drove off to victory in the Unique Golf owned racer. Shawn Patrick of Brightwaters was runner-up in the Steve Mehner Race Engines Dodge, while Chris LaSpisa of Shirley made a great comeback from an early race flat to finish third in the Sprinklers Galore Irrigation Chevy.
The Miller Lite night 20 for the Chargers turned out to be a barn burner and when the dust settled CJ Lehmann of Shirley drove to his first win of the season in the car his team calls the “Cotton Candy Express”. Tom Anderson set the pace of the race over the first 7 laps challenged at first by Cory Midgett who ran second for the first four laps. Lap 5 saw CJ Lehmann racing his way around Midgett for second with Cory now third and Eric Zeh entering the battle in fourth. A lap 7 double file restart would really shake things up as Lehmann was able to rim ride the outside lane to the race lead around Anderson with Eric Zeh racing his way from fourth to second. The race between Lehmann and Zeh intensified as the two young driving talents swapped paint side by side through the corners with “Radiant” Ray Minieri taking it all in from a close third. Chad Churilla made his way to the party later as well and it was now a four car fight for the win. Minieri actually got by Zeh for second on lap 12 but five laps later on the 17th circuit it was Churilla getting by Minieri to now challenge Lehmann. Chad got close to the back bumper of the TJ Halpin’s Chevy but in the end it was CJ Lehmann prevailing and scoring the popular win. Chad Churilla of Hauppauge would settle for second in the Angela’s House Pontiac while Chris Turbush of Riverhead made some late race moves to finish third in the Sapienza Racing Chevy.
The 20-lap Miller Lite Super Pro Truck feature was decided by three drivers in yet another closely contested short track classic on the night with defending champion Roger Turbush of Riverhead scoring his 16th career win. For the second week in a row second generation driver Brian McElearney broke out front at the start and was chased over the first five laps by Frank Dumicich Sr. Lap 6 is when things started to heat up as Mike Albasini raced his way under Dumicich on the front stretch to come to second with Roger Turbush quickly coming to third. Albasini and Turbush in tandem quickly reeled in race leader McElearney and an intense three truck race for the lead and win was on. With both Albasini and Turbush draped all over his tailgate McElearney did a great job keeping both at bay until lap 17 when Turbush made a bold move to the outside and drove around Brian to take the race lead as the two to go signal was displayed. Roger Turbush was able to keep his Allied Air Conditioning Chevy out front over the final two laps to collect the victory. In a photo finish for second Brian McElearney of North Babylon was runner-up in the Randy’s performance Chevy while Mike Albasini of Flushing was third in the Hollis Court Collision entry.
Defending Legend Race Car champion Kyle Ellwood of Riverhead extended his 2013 point lead as he drove to his fourth win of the season. When the 27-car field lined-up teammates Jeffrey Goodale and Kyle Ellwood occupied the front row by virtue of their heat race victories and by the time the duo hit the third turn Ellwood had the measure of Goodale for the lead. On lap 2 Kyle Soper worked his way under Goodale for second and he would stay close to Ellwood until he was passed for position by “The Natural” Timmy Solomito on lap 8. Once to second Timmy was all over the rear bumper of Ellwood as they battled for the lead. Solomito made a late race run off turn four for the lead which Ellwood was able to block with slight contact involved. Both drivers gathered up their cars and raced on with Kyle Ellwood in the Riverhead Building Supply entry taking the win over Timmy Solomito of Islip in the Monster’s Recycling machine. Kyle Soper of Manorville was third in the Moriches Bay Diner racer.
Jason Savoy of Lake Panamoka scored his second consecutive Demolition Derby win of 2013 as he topped newcomer Andrew Ferrante of Riverhead. Ferrante was named Judge’s Choice while “Curious” George Astacio of Shirley was voted Fan’s Choice.
NASCAR Modifieds: 1. Ryan Preece 2. Jason Agugliaro 3. Dave Sapienza 4. Dave Brigati 5. Chuck Steuer 6. Timmy Solomito 7. Howie Brode 8. Shawn Solomito 9. David Roys 10. Kevin Orlando 11. Kyle Ellwood 12. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 13. EJ Heim 14. Vinny Biondolillo 15. Danny Watts 16. Marisa Niederauer 17. Ken Darch 18. Jerry Solomito Jr.
Late Models: 1. Jeremy McDermott 2. Shawn Patrick 3. Chris LaSpisa 4. Mike Bologna 5. Kevin Metzger 6. Chris McGuire 7. Ken Alfano 8. Jarrod Hayes 9. Derek Stacheki 10. Kevin Orlando 11. Roger Oxee 12. Scott Kulesa 13. Arne Pedersen
Chargers: 1. CJ Lehmann 2. Chad Churilla 3. Chris Turbush 4. Eric Zeh 5. Ray Minieri 6. Cory Midgett 7. Rich Wilson 8. Tom Anderson
Super Pro Trucks: 1. Roger Turbush 2. Brian McElearney 3. Mike Albasini 4. Frank Dumicich Jr. 5. Lou Maestri 6. Erin Dumicich-Solomito 7. Mark Stewart 8. Frank Dumicich Sr. 9. Rob Bader 10. Anthony Vecchio 11. Kevin Scharfenberg 12. Rich Campo 13. Dave Koenig
Legend Race Cars: 1. Kyle Ellwood 2. Timmy Solomito 3. Kyle Soper 4. Richie Davidowitz 5. Greg Harris 6. Jeffery Goodale 7. Brendon Bock 8. Justin Strumpf 9. Kevin Nowak 10. Johnnie Gloor IV 11. Chris Rogers 12. Shawn Wanat 13. Eric Hersey 14. Anthony Marsh 15. Christian Conklin 16. Dylan Slepian 17. Allan Pedersen 18. Bobby Jones 19. Steve Smith 20. Steve Hersey 21. Artie Pedersen III 22. Brad Van Houten 23. Vinny Delaney 24. Bob Goleski 25. George Tomko Jr. 26. Mike Van Houten 27. Gary Molnar DNS- Paul Dodorico, Ed Cheslak
4-Cylinder Demolition Derby Winner: Jason Savoy
Sources: Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR