S.R.O. Crowd Sees Tom Rogers Make Triumphant Return To Riverhead Raceway NASCAR Modifieds With Third Win Of 2013
RIVERHEAD, NY — Tom Rogers Jr. of Patchogue made a triumphant return to the NASCAR Modified ranks at Riverhead Raceway this past Saturday when he won the 35-lap Whelen All-American Series feature event in his first start after serving a five week suspension. The Donaldson’s Volkswagen-Subaru night victory was Tom’s third of the season and ninth in the past two seasons and 23rd overall in his career.
Ryan Preece of Berlin Ct. once again set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 11.847 and with his recent bad luck in the redraw had one of the safety workers from the track draw for him, he’d start 4th. The front row would find veteran Tom Rogers Jr. and sophomore driver Vinny Biondolillo on the front row. When the race got underway Rogers would lead the first lap by a half car length over Biondolillo, who was trying to hang tough on the outside. On lap two Jason Agugliaro was able to pass Biondolillo for second to the inside with Ryan Preece making a quick move from the outside to the inside to race under Vinny for third going into the first turn. Preece would then pressure Agugliaro for second for a few laps before he got by Jason for second on the 5th lap of the race and all the jockeying for position behind him was just fine with race leader Tom Rogers.
Once to second it didn’t Preece long to play catch-up to Rogers and once he got to Tom’s back bumper the high speed chess game was on. Looking to execute a crossover move in the corners Preece would roll into the corners on the high side before ducking to the inside off the turns but Tom Rogers Jr. was wise to that game plan and was able to keep Ryan at bay. Watching all of this from third position was Jason Agugliaro who kept himself in position in case the top two cars got together. After the race hit halfway is when things began to settle in as Rogers was able to put some distance between himself and Preece as Ryan’s car seemed to drop off a bit and he fell back of Tom in the final stages of the contest.
At the finish it was a very satisfying race win for Tom Rogers Jr. and his Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm team, “I can’t thank Joe Ambrose for sticking with me during all of the recent events” Tom commented, “my team kept working away and won a race here last week with Ron Silk and that is a testament to them and this race team”. As for the race itself Tom recalled, “we were really good early on but then I abused the right rear a bit and the car fell off but I guess so did Ryan’s. We had a good battle early, he’s fun to race with”.
Ryan Preece of Berlin, Ct was runner-up in the JAD Carpet Showcase Chevy while Jason Agugliaro of Islip placed third in the Tom O’Keefe & Sons Inc. entry. Point leader Howie Brode of E. Islip was fourth while Dave Brigati of Calverton completed the top five. With three Riverhead Raceway point paying races left in 2013 Brode has a comfortable 86-point cushion over Timmy Solomito of Islip, 382 to 296, Ryan Preece is third with 287.
Ken Hyde Jr. of Medford posted his first Figure Eight win of the year when he topped the 15-lap feature event. Defending champion Mike Mujsce who was seeking to snap a post championship season strewn with bad luck with a victory took the early race lead over Ken Hyde Jr. when the green light winked on. Once again however the racing gremlins stepped in and ended Mike’s run out front on lap 4 when he slowed with a flat tire and other damage drawing a yellow flag after he nearly his one of the protective cement blocks on the infield. That turn of event put Ken Hyde Jr. out front with Arne Pedersen now sitting second. Pedersen who thought he hurt his engine in practice and would have to find another ride for the night didn’t after his crew made the necessary repairs chased Ken Hyde Jr., the 20-year old race leader for the remainder of the race but to no avail. At the checkers it was one very happy Ken Hyde Jr. and in victory lane he gave credit to a sponsor who came on board for the night, “I can’t thank Grant Williams of Northeastern Office Equipment enough for his support tonight”. Arne Pedersen of Mastic Beach was second in the BNR Home Improvement Dodge while brother Scott Pedersen of Shirley as third in the Reliable Motors Chevy.
Armed with some new marketing partners on his potent Charger car Chris Turbush of Riverhead scored the victory, his 35th career win in the 20-lap Charger main event. Tom Anderson and Jayson White moved out front when the race went green and indeed it would be a fast paced non-stop event for the class. White chased Anderson for the first three laps of the tilt before he was passed to the inside by Chris Turbush in turn one on the fourth lap. Once to second Turbush then went hunting for race leader Anderson who was hoping to score a win for his new race team. However on lap 8 exiting the fourth turn Chris Turbush was able to slip under Tom as they raced off the corner to start the 9th lap of the race. Once he had the Eastern Fuel Chevy out front there was no looking back for the former four-time Charger champion as he motored to his third race win of 2013.Eric Zeh of Selden, who is locked in a tight battle with Turbush for the championship made some late race moves to finish runner-up in the DC Customs Chevy while Chad Churilla of Hauppauge was third in the Angela’s House Pontiac.
It had taken Legend Race Car talent Vinny Delaney a few years to win his first career main event but now the Holtsville resident can lay claim to two feature event wins in one month as he topped their 20-lap event. At the throw of the green Vinny Delaney, winner of the second heat race was able to get out front going into the first turn to take the race lead, a lead he’d never surrender but indeed be pressured for during the race. Over the first dozen laps of the race Richie Davidowitz kept the pressure up on Delaney as he looked high and low for a way around Vinny. Lap 13 found Brendon Bock making his way around Davidowitz for second and it was now Bock’s turn to try and figure a way by the leader. Just as Davidowitz did prior Bock stayed glued to Delaney and looked high and low for a groove by him but in the end it would indeed be Vinny Delaney in the John’s Fuel Oil machine scoring his second win of 2013. Brendon Bock of Franklin Square was runner-up in the A&S Bagels racer while Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches was third in the SAM Mechanical mount.
Popular “Cheesebox” Michael Rommeney of Maspeth took the win over his father-in-law Dennis “The Menace” Scott of Bay Shore in a hard hitting and crowd pleasing School Bus Demolition Derby. The tandem created some great memories for the fans and some good Thanksgiving Day diner table talk in their family as they battled it out as the large crowd screamed with approval. Scott would finish second to Rommeney after his battery failed in his bus.
NASCAR Modifieds: 1. Tom Rogers Jr. 2. Ryan Preece 3. Jason Agugliaro 4. Howie Brode 5. Dave Brigati 6. Shawn Solomito 7. Timmy Solomito 8. Kyle Ellwood 9. Kevin Orlando 10. Chuck Steuer 11. Eddie Brunnhoelzl III 12. Vinny Biondolillo 13. Dave Sapienza 14. Ken Darch 15. Danny Watts 16. David Roys
Figure Eights: 1. Ken Hyde Jr. 2. Arne Pedersen 3. Scott Pedersen 4. John Vullo 5. Roger Maynor 6. Gary Fritz Jr. 7. Frank Dumicich Jr. 8. CJ Lehmann 9. Ron Langdon 10. George Seus 11. Brian Hansen 12. Mike Mujsce
Chargers: 1. Chris Turbush 2. Eric Zeh 3. Chad Churilla 4. Ray Minieri 5. Tom Anderson 6. Jayson White 7. CJ Lehmann 8. Rich Wilson 9. Rob Visconti 10. Cory Midgett 11. Mike Coll 12. Tom Sullivan
Legend Race Cars: 1. Vinny Delaney 2. Brendon Bock 3. Richie Davidowitz 4. Justin Strumpf 5. Timmy Solomito 6. Kyle Ellwood 7. Artie Pedersen III 8. Eric Hersey 9. Bryan Kelly 10. George Tomko Jr. 11. Brad Van Houten 12. Kevin Nowak 13. Dylan Slepian 14. Shawn Wanat 15. Joe Sedotto 16. Vinny Colletti 17. Mike Van Houten 18. Allan Pedersen 19. Anthony Marsh 20. Steve Hersey 21. Steve Smith 22. Greg Harris 23. Ed Cheslak 24. Kyle Soper 25. Jeffrey Goodale DNS- Chris Rogers, Nicholas Harnage
School Bus Demolition Derby: 1. Michael Rommeney 2. Dennis Scott 3. Jason Savoy 4. Chris Vancott
Sources: Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway PR