Brode Clinches 2013 Championship on PRC Industries Night

Howie Brode clinched the Riverhead Raceway track championship in the Modified division on PRC Industries Inc. night. All Brode had to do was qualify and take the green flag in the first of the twin-30 lap features. Brode did more than just start, though. He finished third in the first race which helps out in the New York State championship standings as well.

“It feels good,” said Brode. “We had a good season, and that’s what we work so hard for. We just had to be consistent. We were really good in the middle of the year.”

Now that he’s locked up the 2013 championship, Brode’s goals have now changed.

“I’m just gonna try to win the Tour race next week and the 50-lapper the week after that,” said Brode.

The evening’s festivities began with the NASCAR Modifieds taking to the raceway for time-trials to set the field. Timmy Solomito set the fastest lap with a time of 11.854 seconds. He beat Tommy Rogers Jr. by two one-thousandths of a second.

Solomito then picked the first starting position out of the bucket during the redraw. David Roys picked the second starting position, Brode drew third, Jason Agugliaro drew fourth, Justin Bonsignore drew fifth, John Beatty Jr. drew sixth, Ryan Preece drew seventh and Rogers drew the eighth starting spot.

The first feature of the night was a 20-lap race for the Super Pro Trucks. Anthony Vecchio started from the pole position with Dave Koenig to his outside. Koenig rocketed to the lead on the outside coming out of turn two. The first caution of the race came out just one lap later for a spin by Erin Dumicich-Solomito at the entrance to turn one. Koenig led Roger Turbush on the restart, but Turbush took the lead from the outside two laps later. Mark Stewart took third from Brian McElearney in turn three on lap six and set his sights on the leaders as they continued to battle. Koenig took the lead back from Turbush on lap 12 as Turbush had a problem entering turn one. He came to a stop along the backstretch wall which brought out the caution.

Stewart was seeking his second straight win and was all over the back of Koenig on the restart. He got under Koenig going into turn three on lap 15 and they made hard contact. Koenig almost went around, but saved it. They continued to battle hard before the caution came out once again. Lou Maestri came to a stop in turn two, which brought out the yellow flag. With two laps to go Stewart dove underneath Koenig going into turn three. They made contact for most of the last lap before Stewart cleared Koenig going into turn three. Stewart scored the victory, his second in a row and his fourth of the season.

“The truck was good, so I did what I could,” said Stewart. “I just can’t thank everyone enough. It’s always fast.”

The Blunderbusts were next with their 20-lap feature. Thomas Puccia started on the pole with Paul Parisi to his outside. Parisi’s transmission blew right at the drop of the green flag. Immediately the caution came out because Parisi came to a stop high in turn two. On the restart Puccia jumped out to the early lead. He held the lead for the first half of the race before Tommy Walkowiak passed him in turn one on lap 12. Walkowiak held on to win the race, but there was some controversy on the final lap involving his teammate Ron Langdon, and Tom Pickerell. Pickerell entered the race just two points behind Walkowiak. On the final lap contact was made between Langdon and Pickerell and Pickerell went for a spin in turn four. Pickerell declined to comment on the incident, but his crew chief, Grant Knowles, was open to talk.

“(He) wrecked us,” said Knowles. “Walkowiak was given the championship tonight.”

Walkowiak disagreed with that assessment.

“I’ve never known him to run that way,” said Walkowiak. “He told me it was an accident. I’ve won five championships on my own. I don’t need a sixth from a (cheap) move.”

The Chargers were next on the schedule. Cory Midgett led the field to the green flag with Tom Anderson to his outside. Midgett got the early lead by clearing Anderson on the exit of turn two, but Anderson took the lead three laps later in turn two. The caution came out just a lap later for a spin by Midgett after he and Jayson White made contact in turn four. Anderson led Cj Lehmann and Chris Turbush to the restart. Turbush was black-flagged two laps after the restart because he was leaking fluid. He caught a break though as the caution came out one lap later. Midgett’s motor blew in turn three and White spun in his oil. Turbush went to the pits, his team fixed the issue, and he was right back on the track. He brought out the caution two laps later when he spun in turn one. Anderson led Chad Churilla and Lehmann to the green flag and Churilla quickly dove to Anderson’s inside. He was underneath Anderson going into turn one a lap later, but Anderson came down on Churilla and spun out. Churilla was hit from behind as well. Lehmann cleared it all and became the new leader. Ray Minieri, Turbush, White, and Anderson rounded out the top five for the next restart. Turbush made a quick move to Minieri’s inside going into turn one to take second place. One lap later he was underneath Lehmann for the lead going into turn one, but the caution came out to put him back to second place. Turbush tried the outside of Lehmann after the restart. He couldn’t clear Lehmann, and then got spun from behind by Richard Wilson in turn two. That caution ended the race as it hit its time limit and Lehmann was declared the winner. White finished second, Minieri third, and Anderson finished fourth.

“It’s awesome,” said Lehmann. “There’s nothing like winning a race. I took away all his (Turbush’s) space. I gave him what he needed and nothing more.”

After the race Turbush was heated.

“I shot under Minieri, he got sideways, and then he finished me off,” said Turbush. “We are going for a title and he doesn’t care. He doesn’t come over to apologize either. Then I get under Cj for the lead and the caution comes out which is an unlucky break for us. It’s funny how the 1 goes from the white line until I get outside and now he’s a car length off the line. If you want to race that way you’ll get it back. It’s racing though. But it’s just funny.”

Turbush entered the race two points back of Eric Zeh who had his own troubles.

“I honestly don’t know what happened,” said Zeh. “They all jammed up in the front. I tried to slow up and I got hit from behind and it broke the sway bar. I then got a flat, pit, and then I got another flat running fourth. But we’ll come back strong next week and hopefully we can win.”

The NASCAR Modifieds followed the Chargers for their final twin-30 feature event. Timmy Solomito started from the pole position after he put down the fastest lap in time-trials and drew the top spot in the redraw. Solomito took off on the initial start and never looked back. The first race went caution free with Solomito scoring the victory by a straightaway over David Roys.

The starting lineup of the second race was determined by the finishing order of the first race so once again Solomito was starting from the top spot with Roys to his outside. This race was slowed once for a spin by John Fortin Jr. in turn two after he and John Beatty Jr. made contact. Solomito set sail after the restart and once again won by a straightaway, but this time he beat Justin Bonsignore to the finish.

“It’s almost like a dream to have a day that smooth,” said Solomito. “We had a pretty good car all day. I thought we’d have a good car (for the feature), but I didn’t think it would be that good.”

After the race in the pits a young girl asked Solomito if she could have his trophy. To her surprise he said yes so she went home with his trophy.

“I have a bunch of trophies since I was five-years-old,” said Solomito. “I don’t really need another one so why not?”

Next week the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour takes on Riverhead Raceway for the second time this season. Solomito had a car capable of winning back in June before his night ended prematurely do to overheating.

“We’re just gonna do our thing and see what happens,” said Solomito. “I just need to save the car and be around at the end.”

The final feature event of the night was for the “World Famous” Figure Eight Stock Cars. Mike Mujsce Sr led the field to the green flag and held the lead for all but two laps. He had a three car-length lead over Kenny Hyde Jr., but he spun out by himself at the entrance to turn three. The race remained green and Hyde scored his second straight victory.

“It’s better than words can describe,” said Hyde afterwards. “I was going to settle for second, but then I got there so I kept on the pressure and he overdrove it. It’s just great to win.”

Ed Brown Jr. won the eight-cylinder enduro at the end of the night.

Photos available at: http://www.racerhub.com/photos/showgallery.php?cat=2190

Blunderbust Top 10:

1. (9) Tommy Walkowiak

2. (1) Thomas Puccia

3. (5) Brian Brown

4. (14) Scott Maliszewski

5. (10) Tim Mulqueen

6. (8) Bill Wegmann Sr.

7. (4) Justin Wahl

8. (12) Jack Handley Jr.

9. (18) Brandon Hubbard

10. (6) Tom Sullivan

Super Pro Trucks:

1. (4) Mark Stewart

2. (2) Dave Koenig

3. (9) Frank Dumicich Jr.

4. (11) Mike Albasini

5. (3) Rob Bader

6. (6) Frank Dumicich Sr.

7. (1) Anthony Vecchio

8. (7) Brian McElearney

9. (13) Amanda Anderson

10. (10) Lou Maestri

11. (8) Erin Dumicich-Solomito

12. (5) Roger Turbush

13. (12) Rich Campo

Chargers:

1. (5) Cj Lehmann

2. (4) Jayson White

3. (9) Ray Minieri

4. (2) Tom Anderson

5. (6) Chris Turbush

6. (3) Richard Wilson

7. (8) Chad Churilla

8. (7) Eric Zeh

9. (1) Cory Midgett

Modified Race 1:

1. (1) Timmy solomito

2. (2) David Roys

3. (3) Howie Brode

4. (7) Ryan Preece

5. (5) Justin Bonsignore

6. (8) Tommy Rogers Jr.

7. (9) Dave Sapienza

8. (4) Jason Agugliaro

9. (11) Dave Brigati

10. (6) John Beatty Jr.

11. (12) Kevin Orlando

12. (10) Vinny Biondolillo

13. (13) John Fortin Sr.

14. (15) Kyle Ellwood

15. (14) John Fortin Jr.

16. (16) Ed Brunnhoelzl III

17. (17) Ken Darch

18. (18) Shawn Solomito

Modified Race 2:

1. (1) Timmy Solomito

2. (5) Justin Bonsignore

3. (7) Dave Sapienza

4. (6) Tom Rogers Jr.

5. (4) Ryan Preece

6. (3) Howie Brode

7. (2) David Roys

8. (12) Vinny Biondolillo

9. (14) Kyle Ellwood

10. (9) Dave Brigati

11. (13) John Fortin Sr.

12. (11) Kevin Orlando

13. (10) John Beatty Jr.

14. (16) Ed Brunnhoelzl III

15. (8) Jason Agugliaro

16. (18) Shawn Solomito

17. (17) Ken Darch

18. (15) John Fortin Jr.

Figure 8 Top 10:

1. (5) Kenny Hyde Jr.

2. (3) John Vullo

3. (11) Tom Ferrara

4. (2) 19- F8

5. (1) Mike Mujsce Sr.

6. (7) Roger Maynor

7. (9) Gary Fritz

8. (6) Arne Pedersen

9. (9) Brian Hansen

10. (12) 91- F8

 

Source: Rob Blount