Tom Rogers Jr. Sweeps Riverhead Raceway Twin 30 NASCAR Modified Features On A Chilled Opening Night
The 65th anniversary season of racing got underway Saturday night at Riverhead Raceway on a clear but chilly evening which also turned out to be the eve of a full moon arriving on Sunday. The Twin 30 NASCAR Modified features lived up to the full moon theory with the second race in particular a marathon event. In the end Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead swept the Twin 30’s earning his 32nd & 33rd career NASCAR Whelen All American Series Modified victories.
In qualifying a mere 3/1000ths of a second would separate Tom Rogers Jr. and Ryan Preece with Tom having the edge 11.953 to 11.956 with Rogers picking 5th in the redraw and Preece 4th. John Beatty Jr. and rookie Kyle Soper picked the front row. When the 22 car field took the first green flag of 2015 pole sitter Beatty entering the first and second turn washed up the hill slightly opening the inside lane up and quickly jumping through the opening were both Timmy Solomito and Tom Rogers Jr. who came from their respective third and fifth starting berths to occupy first and second on lap 1. The duo who have a history ran in that order until a 9th lap restart changed the complexion of the race.
With Timmy Solomito to the inside and Rogers outside the leaders car seemed to falter off the fourth corner when the green waved and that allowed Rogers to bolt back into the lead with John Beatty Jr. now second while Solomito headed pit side to repair his car. Ryan Preece ran third behind the leaders and as the field took the halfway signal he made an inside move enter turn 1 to pass Beatty for second and set his sights on leader Tom Rogers Jr. Although he drew close at times there was no stopping Tom Rogers Jr. in the Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm Chevy as he scored the win. Ryan Preece in the TS Haulers entry was runner up while rookie Kyle Soper of Manorville made a late race pass on Beatty for third in the Installations by Gemini machine. John Beatty Jr. of Merrick and Dave Sapienza of Riverhead filled out the top five.
Race two was indeed more dicey in both the fight for the lead but unfortunately also in caution flags and damaged race cars. Ryan Preece was able to break out front at the throw of the green on the outside with Rogers now in tow. Sadly in this race making a house call would be the full moon theory as this race had the “big one”. Exiting turn 2 George Brunnhoelzl III and John Fortin made contact while fighting for position in the top five and both had to check-up which stacked the field behind them. Among the cars involved and damaged in the melee were Howie Brode, both Shawn & Timmy Solomito, Brendon Bock, John Fortin Sr. & Jr. and Ken Darch. Brunnhoelzl was able to keep his forward progress and never lost a spot.
With his outside pass at the start of the second 30-lapper the chilled fans on hand figured Preece would split the doubleheader with Rogers but somebody forgot to give Tom that memo. On lap 11 as Preece worked through the fourth turn his car seemed to jump out on him which allowed Rogers to swoop in and make the pass to make it a clean sweep for the Jessup Landscaping team. Preece was runner-up once again in the East West Marine Chevy while Jason Agugliaro of Islip turned in a stellar performance for third in the Northeastern Bus Rebuilders entry. George Brunnhoelzl III of Mooresville, NC and Dave Brigati of Calverton rounded out the top five.
Former Late Model champion Jeremy McDermott of Riverhead topped the 25-lap Late Model field that boasted a 15-car field for opening night. 2014 Rookie of the Year Chris Lescenski broke out front at the start of the race with Kevin Metzger in hot pursuit. However Kevin’s run for the lead would hit a snag on lap 5 when he and Scott Kulesa got caught up with a lapped car drawing a yellow and sending both to the pits for repairs. On the ensuing restart Lescenski held serve at the front of the field with Jeremy McDermott, his close friend and somewhat of a teammate now second. On lap 8 McDermott cast friendship aside and made an inside pass off turn four to take the lead from Lescenski who one lap later lost second to Roger Oxee. Once out front Jeremy McDermott put the SDS Telecommunications machine on cruise control and drove off to victory. Roger Oxee of Peconic in the Sophie’s Restaurant Pontiac was rune-up while Chris Lescenski of Riverhead drove a solid race for third in the M Spero Motorsports Chevy.
Gary Fritz Jr. of Mastic Beach scored his first career Figure Eight win as he was leading the scheduled 15-lap Figure Eight feature when the time limit ran out on lap 8 during a caution. The class took to the track as the final race of the card and late in the night. Fritz, the 2013 Rookie of the Year raced his way out front when the green light came on with Mike Mujsce on his bumper. Right in line with Mujsce were the likes of Ken Hyde Jr., Roger Maynor and Tom Rogers Jr.. At one point or another all four posted a challenge to Gary who was equal to the task every time and many on hand felt even if the race went 15-laps he’d do the same. When the time limit ran out it was an elated Northeastern Office Equipment team that greeted their driver Gary Fritz Jr. in victory lane. Tom Rogers Jr. in the United Exhaust Shop Plymouth Coupe was runner-up and Ken Hyde Jr. in the Long Island Truck & Equipment racer were second and third.
Timing is everything in many sports and in the 20-lap Charger feature John Baker of Brookhaven proved it as he stunned race leader Eric Zeh of Selden on a late race restart to post his third career win. Sophomore driver Greg Immerman showed the way over the first 7 laps of the race before CJ Lehmann executed an inside pass off turn 4 for the lead coming to start the 8th lap. Lehmann quickly found defending champion Eric Zeh filling his mirror and on lap 11 Zeh worked his way by for the lead. Baker would soon then wrestle second away from Lehmann setting the stage for the exciting finish. A late race caution on lap 18 set up the single file restart, Zeh went into the third and fourth corner in the middle to the high side of the track and when the green waved Baker quickly went down under the race leader stunning not just the race leader but all those looking on as well. That move would indeed be the winning one for John Baker and his Staria Automotive race team. Eric Zeh would have to settle for runner-up money in the S&P Carting Chevy with CJ Lehmann of Shirley third in the Shore Mechanical Monte Carlo.
Jack Handley Jr. of Medford for the second year in a row won the 20-lap Blunderbust opener after taking the lead on lap 6 and never looking back. The race was marred by a personal feud that boiled over from the past two years between Tommy Walkowiak of Ridge and Brian Brown of Baiting Hollow who decided after spinning each other out during the race to have a Demo Derby with their cars. Both were removed and disqualified from the race with future penalties to be announced. As for the actual race Tim Mulqueen moved out front at the start with Tom Sullivan in tow for the first lap before Jack Handley, who started 4th got by. Once to second Jack wasted no time in his Relle Electric Chevy taking the lead which he did for good on lap 6 utilizing a crossover move off turn four. With five laps to go Joe Warren Jr. of Ridge moved his TS Haulers entry to second and try as he might there was not catching the race leader and he settled for second. 70-year young Bill Wegmann Sr. of North Bellmore was third in the Crackerjack Auto Stores Oldsmobile.
Defending Super Pro Truck champion Lou Maestri of Deer Park started his title defense off in style with his 28th career victory. Brian McElearney broke to the race lead at the outset but would only lead the first lap as Mike Albasini worked his way by to move out front on lap 2. Lou Maetsri who started the race 4th moved by teammate McElearney for second on lap 4 with an inside pass and then set sail for leader Albasini. Mike who has been stuck on 9 career wins since 2013 was hoping to break into the double digit win column but Lou had other ideas as he saw an opening to the inside and took it for the race lead on lap 12. Once out front Lou Maestri would not surrender the lead and drove his IGA Food Market of Fort Salonga Chevy to victory lane. Mike Albasini of Flushing was third in the Hollis Court Collision Silverado with Jimmy Rennick Jr. of Howard Beach a solid third in the Mike’s Heavy Duty Recovery entry.
“Big Money” Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches topped the 28-car Legend Race Car field to win their 20-lap feature. Davidowitz set fast time with a lap of 13.726 but did not fare to well in the redraw while Vinny Delaney drew the pole and Ray Fitzgerald picked the outside pole. Delaney wasted no time taking command of the race early on as he moved out front at the drop of the green with Fitzgerald second. Davidowitz in the meantime was moving from his 4th row starting spot to the top three with all of his passes for position coming on the outside lane. Once to third Richie passed Fitzgerald to the outside off turn down for second on lap 9 and five laps later he’d use the same move to work his way by Delaney for the lead on lap 14. Once out front in his Thriftway Auto Body racer Richie Davidowitz, a five time winner in 2014 drove to victory in the 2015 opener. Vinny Delaney of Holtsville in the Wise Choice Fuel Oil machine was runner-up while Greg Harris of Riverhead drove from 7th to a podium finish with his third place tally in the SGS Stone Works mount.
1st NASCAR Modified Twin 30:
1. Tom Rogers Jr. 2. Ryan Preece 3. Kyle Soper 4. John Beatty Jr. 5. Dave Sapienza 6. Howie Brode 7. Jason Agugliaro 8. George Brunnhoelzl III 9. John Fortin Sr. 10 Vinny Biondolillo 11/ Brendon Bock 12. Ken Darch 13. Shawn Solomito 14. Eddie Brunnhoelzl Jr. 15. John Fortin Jr. 16. Dave Brigati 17. Fred Vordemeier Jr. 18. Jerry Solomito Jr. 19. Al Ermmarino 20. Kyle Ellwood 21. Ken Vogel Jr. 22. Timmy Solomito
2nd NASCAR Modified Twin 30:
1. Tom Rogers Jr. 2. Ryan Preece 3. Jason Agugliaro 4. George Brunnhoelzl III 5. Dave Brigati 6. Eddie Brunnhoelzl Jr. 7. Dave Sapienza 8. Kyle Ellwood 9. Kyle Soper 10. John Fortin Sr. 11. Ken Darch 12. John Fortin Jr. 13. Fred Vordemeier Jr. 14. Vinny Biondolillo 15. Shawn Solomito 16. Timmy Solomito 17. Howie Brode 18. Brendon Bock 19. Jerry Solomito Jr. 20. John Beatty Jr. 21. Al Ermmarino 22. Ken Vogel Jr.
Late Models:
1. Jeremy McDermott 2. Roger Oxee 3. Chris Lescenski 4. Chris McGuire 5. Shawn Patrick 6. Kyle Harvell 7. Kevin Metzger 8. Chris LaSpisa 9. Richie Davidowitz 10. Jack Orlando 11. Mike Bologna 12. Scott Kulesa 13. Timmy Solomito 14. Jarrod Hayes 15. Kaitlyn Schober
Figure Eights: 1. Gary Fritz Jr. 2. Tom Rogers Jr. 3. Ken Hyde Jr. 4. Mike Mujsce 5. Scott Pedersen 6. Tom Kraft Jr. 7. Roger Maynor 8. Brian Hansen 9. Bryan Quilliam 10. Tom Ferrara DNS- Mike Herbst
Chargers:
1. John Baker 2. Eric Zeh 3. CJ Lehmann 4. Owen Grennan 5. David Roys 6. Ray Minieri 7. Steve Mastro 8. Greg Immerman 9. Jason Hansen 10. Rich Wilson 11. Chris Turbush 12. Dennis Cunningham 13. Cory Midgett
Blunderbusts:
1. Jack Handley Jr. 2. Joe Warren 3. Bill Wegmann Sr. 4. Tim Mulqueen 5. Terry Stiles 6. Jim Laird 7. Tom Pickerell 8. Ed Mistretta 9. Tom Sullivan 10. Tom Puccia 11. Derek Wegmann 12. Bill Wegmann Jr. 13. Robert Ehrle 14. Chris Van Cott 15. Scott Maliszewski DQ- Tommy Walkowiak DQ- Brian Brown
Super Pro Trucks:
1. Lou Maestri 2. Mike Albasini 3. Jimmy Rennick Jr. 4. Mark Stewart 5. Dave Brigati 6. Kevin Scharfenberg 7. Amanda Anderson 8. Brian McElearney 9. Gerard Giordano
Legend Race Cars:
1. Richie Davidowitz 2. Vinny Delaney 3. Greg Harris 4. Paul Dodorico 5. John Beatty Jr. 6. Dylan Slepian 7. George Tomko Jr. 8. Josh Williams 9. Chris Rogers 10. Michael Rutkoski 11. Eddie Fatscher 12. Allan Pedersen 13. Ray Fitzgerald 14. Brad Van Houten 15. Mike Van Houten Jr. 16. Shawn Wanat 17. Bryan Kelly 18. Kurt Krieger 19. Bobby Jones 20. Ed Cheslak 21. Steve Hersey 22. Eric Hersey 23. Jerry Curran 24. Bill Fitzgerald 25. Eric Henschel 26. Wally Davidowitz 27. Steve Smith 28. Artie Pedersen III
Sources: Bob Finan/Riverhead Raceway