Brode Pads Point Lead With Win in Second 30-Lap Feature

It was raining the morning of race day at Riverhead Raceway on August 3rd, but thankfully by the afternoon the skies cleared and racing went on as scheduled. Though it was wet throughout much of the day a good crowd turned out to watch the NASCAR Modifieds run twin 30-lap features, as well as the Late Models, Chargers, Blunderbusts, Super Pro Trucks, and a 4/6-cylinder Enduro.

The evening started off with the Chargers running time-trials for their 20-lap feature race. Chad Churilla set fast time with a lap of 13.282 seconds. Current points leader and last week’s winner Eric Zeh had the second fastest time at 13.398 seconds.

The starting lineup for the Chargers was set after the fastest eight drivers redrew their starting positions as is done for every time-trial race. Ray Minieri had the third fastest lap in time-trials but he picked the pole position. Tom Anderson was sixth fastest but he started the feature on the outside of the front row. Richard Wilson drew third, CJ Lehmann drew fourth, Eric Zeh drew fifth, Chris Turbush drew sixth, Chad Churilla drew seventh and Jayson White drew the eighth position.

Time-trials for the NASCAR Modifieds followed and it was young, Vincent Biondolillo who had the fastest lap with a time of 11.850 seconds. Defending track champion Shawn Solomito had the second fastest lap with a time of 11.865 seconds.

The top eight starting positions were determined by the redraw and it was Timmy Solomito who picked the pole position. His qualifying time was seventh fastest. David Roys drew second, Shawn Solomito drew third, Dave Sapienza drew fourth, Biondolillo redrew fifth, current points leader Howie Brode drew sixth, Jason Agugliaro drew seventh, and last week’s winner Dave Brigati drew eighth.

The first feature of the night was a 20-lap feature for the Super Pro Trucks who were racing for the first time since July 13th. Rob Bader started from the pole position with Brian McElearney to his outside. McElearney got a good start and took the lead from Bader while exiting turn two. Mark Stewart made his way into second place on the second lap of the race. McElearney surrendered the lead on the eighth lap when he suffered a part failure. Just one lap after the restart Frank Dumicich Jr. got into the back of Stewart in turn four and moved him up the track. Stewart then got turned in turn one, but he managed to save the truck from completely spinning out. Frank Dumicich Sr., Roger Turbush, John Denniston, and Bader took damage in an accordion-effect after Stewart’s slide. Stewart was ruled to be the leader on restart with Dumicich Jr. alongside of him and Erin Dumicich-Solomito on his tailgate. Mike Albasini restarted fourth and Dave Koenig restarted fifth. The caution was out once again just one lap later when Albasini and Dumicich-Solomito got together on the backstretch. The second half of the race went completely green and Stewart was able to hold off Dumicich Jr. to score his second straight win, and second of his career. Koenig finished third, Lou Maestri finished fourth, and Dumicich Sr finished fifth.

“It feels really good,” said Stewart. “I didn’t expect to get two wins in a row so early. I’m still learning. It feels really good though. This one is a lot sweeter than the last one though because I actually had to get around people, which is always a challenge.”

Jack Handley Jr. started the Blunderbust feature from the pole position with Paul Parisi to his outside. The race’s only caution came out on the fourth lap when Jimmy White Jr. came to a stop at the entrance to turn one. Handley led all 20 laps and won with ease to score his third victory of the season. Tommy Walkowiak finished second, Bill Wegmann Sr. finished third, Bill Wegmann Jr. finished fourth, and Scott Maliszewski completed the top five.

“I was a little more nervous,” said Handley, “being that I was starting first than starting in the back. You’ve got everything to lose. If you start in the back you can only do better. We are just going for wins now. Two more would be nice, but I think I can get one more at least.”

The Chargers followed the Blunderbusts with their feature event. Ray Minieri started on the pole with Tom Anderson to his outside courtesy of the redraw. Minieri jumped out to the early lead but the points leader Eric Zeh was charging hard and he moved into second on the fourth lap. The race went green until lap 17 when Jayson White was spun in turn one and Arne Pedersen slammed into White’s driver side door. Minieri had to hold off Zeh, Chad Churilla, Chris Turbush and CJ Lehmann on the restart and he was able to do just that to score the win. The victory was the third of the season for Minieri who now trails Zeh by 16 points in the Charger points standings.

“I didn’t really have to work too hard for it,” said Minieri. “I started on the pole, so I just needed to go out there and not make any mistakes. It was one of those races where you just had to not make any mistakes, hit your marks, and do what you’ve got to do.”

The Late Models were back in action and Kevin Metzger started from the pole with Shawn Patrick to his outside.  The first caution came out on just the second lap. Scott Kulesa spun in turn two, but the caution was actually for debris in turn two. Jeremy McDermott made his way by Patrick to take second just before the caution came out. On the restart McDermott was on the outside and he was moved back into third as Patrick got by to take back second. But McDermott took second back again just two laps later. McDermott chased down Metzger and the two battled hard for the lead. McDermott got underneath Metzger exiting turn four. They raced side-by-side through turns one and two on lap 22, and then the two made contact. Metzger got into the right rear of McDermott and both drivers got into the backstretch wall. McDermott went into turn three with the lead, but spun out due to a flat right-rear tire. With McDermott now out of the picture, Metzger now had to hold off a new challenge from Ken Alfano who the winner of the last Late Model event. Alfano gave Metzger a few shots, but Metzger was able to keep Alfano at bay to score his first victory of the season.

“He took me out,” said an unhappy McDermott. “I was alongside of him and I felt him hook me in the right rear and I went into the wall. The officials say he was coming down while I was coming up. I don’t know why he’d be coming down if he’s on the outside. I’ll have to see the tape though. It all happened pretty fast.”

Metzger saw it differently.

“He got to the inside of me,” said Metzger. “I was just trying to keep him down and we tangled. That’s it. It was just a racing deal.”

The NASCAR Modifieds headlined the evening’s festivities with twin 30-lap features. Timmy Solomito drew the pole position and David Roys started on the outside of the front row. Solomito got the jump on Roys and held the lead. Roys’ race didn’t last long as he slammed the turn two wall and then got hit by Eddie Brunnhoelzl III and Kevin Orlando. Solomito restarted with his older brother, Shawn to his outside. Shawn lost a few spots on the restart because he came close to hitting the wall on the exit of turn four. Dave Sapienza made his way by to take second and Howie Brode took third. Timmy Solomito held off a fast Sapienza to win the first 30-lap race. Sapienza, Brode, Brigati and Shawn Solomito completed the top five.

“We were pretty good in the first race,” said Timmy Solomito. “We were just tight all day. We held off Sap [Sapienza], which was good. I think he had a little bit better of a car than me, but we were able to hold him off. It’s nice to get a win for these guys. They deserve it. They work hard on the car.”

The second race’s starting lineup was determined by the finishing order of the first race so Timmy Solomito started on the front row with Sapienza to his outside. The caution came out on the second lap of the race when Biondolillo came to a stop in turn four. Brode made his way by Sapienza to take second just before the caution came out so Brode restarted on the outside of the front row. Solomito missed his shift on the restart, which gave the lead to Brode who led the rest of the way. Solomito tried to mount a charge on a couple of occasions but he said the car was too tight for him to make a pass for the win. The victory is Brode’s fourth of the season.

“I saved a little bit in the first one,” said Brode. “I had a good car and I was able to get Timmy on the start and just led it from there. I was trying to move around a little bit. I found something that worked and I was able to pull a couple car-lengths there at the end.”

Brode now leads Timmy Solomito by 79 points in the standings.

“I don’t want to say anything yet,” said Brode about the championship, “but if we keep running the way we are then we’ll be fine.”

The final event of the night was a 4/6-cylinder Enduro. The carnage-filled event left cars and bumpers strewn around the track but Joe Warren Jr. was able to survive it all to score the victory.

Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/index.php?cat=2163

Super Pro Truck Results:

1. (4) Mark Stewart

2. (5) Frank Dumicich Jr.

3. (7) Dave Koenig

4. (12) Lou Maestri

5. (3) Frank Dumicich

6. (6) Anthony Vecchio

7. (1) Rob Bader

8. (10) Michael Albasini

9. (9) Erin Dumicich-Solomito

10. (8) Roger Turbush

11. (13) John Denniston

12. (2) Brian McElearney

13. (11) Rich Campo

Blunderbusts:

1. (1) Jack Handley Jr.

2. (10) Tommy Walkowiak

3. (3) William A. Wegmann

4. (5) William J. Wegmann

5. (14) Scott Maliszewski

6. (11) Tom Pickerell

7. (7) Ron Langdon

8. (9) Tom Sullivan

9. (8) Tim Mulqueen

10. (16) Brandon Hubbard

11. (13) Brian Brown

12. (12) Justin Wahl

13. (4) Tom Puccia

14. (6) Jimmy White Jr.

15. (2) Paul Parisi

16. (15) Bryan Quilliam

Chargers:

1. (1) Ray Minieri

2. (5) Eric Zeh

3. (7) Chad Churilla

4. (6) Chris Turbush

5. (4) CJ Lehmann

6. (3) Richard Wilson

7. (9) Cory Midgett

8. (11) Scott Pedersen

9. (2) Tom Anderson

10. (8) Jayson White

11. (10) Arne Pedersen

Late Models:

1. (1) Kevin Metzger

2. (5) Ken Alfano

3. (6) Roger Oxee

4. (8) Scott Kulesa

5. (2) Shawn Patrick

6. (7) Mike Bologna

7. (9) Chris McGuire

8. (3) Jeremy McDermott

9. (4) Chris La Spisa

10. (13) Kevin Orlando

Modified Race 1:

1. (1) Timmy Solomito

2. (4) Dave Sapienza

3. (6) Howie Brode

4. (8) Dave Brigati

5. (3) Shawn Solomito

6. (7) Jason Agugliaro

7. (12) Kevin Orlando

8. (5) Vinny Biondolillo

9. (9) Kyle Ellwood

10. (11) Marisa Niederauer

11. (13) Ken Darch

12. (14) EJ Heim

13. (10) Ed Brunnhoelzl III

14. (2) David Roys

Modified Race 2:

1. (3) Howie Brode

2. (1) Timmy Solomito

3. (5) Shawn Solomito

4. (9) Kyle Ellwood

5. (6) Jason Agugliaro

6. (13) Ed Brunnhoelzl III

7. (7) Kevin Orlando

8. (4) Dave Brigati

9. (8) Vinny Biondolillo

10. (12) EJ Heim

11. (11) Ken Darch

12. (2) Dave Sapienza

13. (10) Marisa Niederauer

14. (14) David Roys

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam