Tom Rogers JR. Goes From Last To Victory Lane
Defending NASCAR Modified champion Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead and his team plotted out strategy Saturday afternoon in the pit area of Riverhead Raceway and when the night’s 40-lap feature event was over that game plan worked to perfection as Rogers won his first feature event of 2016 after starting last. It was only the 5th start of the season for Rogers who is on the road to recovery after some early season health concerns.
14-year old Dillon Steuer took the race lead when the green flag and with an extended green flag run to start the race the up and coming talent built up a very comfortable lead over second place Ken Darch. The complexion of the race as well Steuer’s night would change dramatically when the caution flag waved on lap 24. On the first attempt to restart the race NASCAR Officials felt Steuer left early on Darch and waved off the restart while admonishing Dillon on the radio. However on the second attempt to restart the race Steuer left early again and was directed to report to the rear of the field. This moved Darch into the race lead with John Baker alongside for the restart and when the green waved it appeared for a spell as though Darch just might record his first career victory as he took over the race lead. Baker ran second for a lap before he was overtaken by Howie Brode on lap 26.
Brode went right to work on Darch for the race lead once to second with both drivers hearing the footsteps of Tom Rogers Jr. who raced his way from 13th to third. Sensing Rogers behind him Brode made a bold move entering the first turn in an effort to take the lead and contact was made with Darch spinning and Brode riding up and over the leaders hood. With Darch done for the night and Brode going to the rear as a caution car that propelled Tom Rogers Jr. to the race lead for the 30th lap restart with championship leader Shawn Solomito now second. When the race went back to green Solomito appeared to attempt a crossover move on Rogers exiting the second turn a move the race leader seemed prepared for and Tom was able to thwart that challenge.
At the finish it was Tom Rogers Jr. in the Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm Chevy taking the win proudly proclaiming his teams game plan worked to perfection, “we decided this afternoon instead of using up our tires in the heat race that I’d take the green and pull into the infield. We knew that would start us last but with a 13-car field we felt we could march towards the front” Tom then noted saving the 11-12 laps on his tires might just have put him over the top over Solomito, “on that last caution I looked over at Shawn’s right rear and it was pretty used up, I knew our strategy worked out just like we hoped it would”. Tom would not be the only winning driver in the family on the night as his daughter Ashley won her division in the Big Wheel Race.
Shawn Solomito of Center Moriches was runner-up in the Eastport Feeds Chevy and now enjoys a healthy 42-point lead over Dave Brigati of Calverton. Kyle Soper of Manorville placed third in the 40-lapper in his Eastport Manor Deli with Howie Brode of East Islip and Brigati completing the top five.
The 25-lap Late Model event turned out to be a marathon affair with numerous caution flags slowing the race and when the dust settled former multi-time Charger champion Eric Zeh of Selden celebrated his first career win in the division. Kyle Ellwood broke to the early race lead when the race started and was chased no less than three different challengers in Ray Minieri, Eric Zeh amd Chris Turbush over the first ten laps with Turbush moving to the role of challenger just before one of many yellow flags waved. While under caution Turbush’s car suddenly stalled up the backstretch ending his night and while they were pushing his car to the pits the race leader Ellwood had a left rear tire go flat and he too had to pit. The wild turn of event moved Eric Zeh from third to the race lead with former multi-time champion Kevin Metzger now second but after just two laps in the challenger role Metzger was passed by Jack Orlando for second after “Jumping” Jack made his way from a 17th starting berth. Once in the race lead Eric Zeh would not surrender the top spot in the Corwith’s Auto Body Chevy driving off to a popular victory. Jack Orlando of Calverton was runner-up in the Staria Automotive Chevy with Kevin Metzger of Massapequa completing the podium in the Complete Well & Pump entry.
One of the first driver to sign up for the new Eagle Auto Mall Modified Crate class during the off season was former Blunderbust standout Terry Stiles of Rocky Point and Saturday he enjoyed his first career win in the new class topping the 25-lap main event. Stiles led the first three laps of the race at the start before being passed by Dave Brigati who executed an outside pass exiting the fourth turn. Brigati, the championship leader would pace the race until the 13th circuit when Dylan Slepian worked his way by for the race lead. Brigati in an attempt to return the favor on Slepian drove his car into the corner deep sending the race leader into a spin after contact with the caution flag waving for Slepian. Race officials sent Brigati to the back of the pack for the 15th lap contact which moved third place Terry Stiles into the race lead. Stiles had Dillon Steuer to contend with on the restart and when the green light came on Terry was able to drive into the race lead. Steuer would run second until the 21st lap when a determined Dylan Slepian charged his way through the field back to second. When the race concluded the T&S Auto Clinic Chevy of Terry Stiles was indeed an open wheel winner and he celebrated by doing two of his recognizable splits. Dylan Slepian of Dix Hills worked back to a runner-up finish in the Hurricane Grill & Wings entry while veteran Dennis Krupski of Calverton was third in the Dynamic Automotive racer.
Ken Hyde Jr.of Mastic Beach scored his third Figure Eight win of the season after winning a hotly contested 15-lap feature event. Gary Fritz Jr. broke out to the early race lead at the throw of the green with both Hyde and Scott Pedersen in the hunt. Hyde ran second for the first three laps before Pedersen held down the spot from the 4th lap up until the 9th circuit. Lap 10 found Hyde making his way by Pedersen for second and after spending little more than a lap testing his future brother in lap Fritz he raced his way out front on lap 12. Before Ken could lay claim to his 8th career triumph he’d have to keep Roger Maynor at bay which he successfully did in his SGS Stone Works entry. Roger Maynor of Bay Shore was runner-up in his Barrasso & Sons Mason Supplies Ford while Tom Rogers Jr. placed third in the United Exhaust Shop Plymouth Coupe.
After missing the early part of the 2016 race season due to leg surgery “The Wildchild” Tommy Walkowiak of Ridge took full advantage of a rare pole starting position to win his 58th career Blunderbust feature event. Right from the start of the race Walkowiak served notice he was the driver to beat moving out front over newcomer Joshua Creel who would run second for the first 8 laps of the contest. On lap 9 defending Blunderbust champion Tom Pickerell worked his way by Creel on a double file restart for second and like his predecessor could only get a glimpse of the leaders rear bumper before then being challenged for second in the closing laps by Tim Mulqueen. Motivated by a desire to win and wanting to gain as many points as possible on championship leader Jack Handley Jr. who dropped out of the race early Mulqueen was able to loop around Pickerell for second on lap 18 but with just over a lap remaining any hopes of making a run at the leader disappeared. When the 20-lap affair concluded Tommy Walkowiak notched his first win of the year in his Langdon’s Automotive Caprice with Tim Mulqueen of Levittown runner-up in the Equine Hay Products Cadillac. Tom Pickerell of Huntington was third in the Northportpower.com Chevy.
Prior to the race season John Beatty Jr. of Merrick decided to return to his racing roots purchasing a INEX Legend Race Car from Brendon Bock and Saturday that decision paid dividends when Beatty won the 20-lap feature event. Veteran Paul Dodorico and Ryan Lutz diced for the lead on the first lap of the tilt with Bryan Kelly and John Beatty making a bold move on the second lap to take the top two spots. Kelly would lead only the second lap as Beatty made his way by for the top spot with Kevin Nowak coming to second that same lap. Nowak’s run for the lead and the win came to an abrupt halt on the 4th lap when he spun moving Vinny Delaney to second. Delaney went to work on making a pass of Beatty for the race lead but every time he got to the rear bumper and tried to race under the leader his car got loose allowing Beatty to maintain the top spot. Vinny also has to do some “big picture” racing as he was well aware that championship leader Kyle Ellwood was out of the race early and he could very well leave the track as the new points leader. There was not stopping John Beatty Jr. in his Giella Electric machine as he drove off to the win over Vinny Delaney of Holtsville in his Stakey’s Pumpkin Farm entry. Delaney now also sits atop the standings as the season starts to wind down. Greg Harris of Riverhead completed the top three in his SGS Stone Works racer.
It has been and up and down race season for Brandon Esposito of Farmingville and Saturday night was without doubt an up night as he won the 50-lap Gut & Go Enduro. Esposito took the lead of the race prior to the halfway mark and from that point forward worked heavy lapped traffic like a seasoned pro. The win was a much needed one for Brandon who totaled one of his cars out earlier in the summer in a Mini 8 Enduro. Peter Verwys of East Stroudsburg, Pa was runner-up while Donald “Woot” Lawrence of Southampton was third.
John Denniston of Westbury made it a clean sweep of the 2016 School Bus Demolition Derby events when he won in his Gershow Recycling bus. The event boiled down to Denniston and former Blunderbust racer Wayne Okula of Riverhead who went toe to toe for the win. The large crowd on hand roared with approval as the duo slugged it out before Okula’s bus stalled ending the contest.
NASCAR Modifieds: 1. Tom Rogers Jr. 2. Shawn Solomito 3. Kyle Soper 4. Howie Brode 5. Dave Brigati 6. John Fortin Sr. 7. Dillon Steuer 8. John Fortin Jr. 9. Vinny Biondolillo 10. Ken Darch 11. John Baker 12. Cory Midgett 13. Jason Agugliaro
Late Models: 1. Eric Zeh 2. Jack Orlando 3. Kevin Metzger 4. Mike Bologna 5. Shawn Patrick 6. Jeremy McDermott 7. Ken Matlach 8. David Roys 9. Roger Oxee 10. Brandon Turbush 11. Chris Lescenski 12. Steve Mastro 13. Scott Kulesa 14. Kyle Ellwood 15. Chris Turbush 16. Ray Minieri DNS- Kyle Soper
Modified Crates: 1. Terry Stiles 2. Dylan Slepian 3. Dennis Krupski 4. Dave Brigati 5. Peter Bertuccio 6. Bobby Gardner 7. Dillon Steuer 8. Jason Hansen 9. CJ Lehmann DNS- AJ DeSantis
Figure Eights: 1. Ken Hyde Jr. 2. Roger Maynor 3. Tom Rogers Jr. 4. Mike Musjce Sr. 5. Anthony Vecchio 6. Conner Aguirre 7. Chris Elixson 8. Brian Hansen 9. Gary Fritz Jr. 10. Scott Pedersen 11. Bob Dalke 12. Dan Lynch 13. Vinny Biondolillo
Blunderbusts: 1. Tommy Walkowiak 2. Tim Mulqueen 3. Tom Pickerell 4. Jim Laird 5. Joshua Creel 6. Eric Zeh 7. Scott Maliszewski 8. Tom Puccia 9. Derek Wegmann 10. Cassandra Denis 11. Tom Sullivan 12. Jack Handley Jr. 13. Bill Wegmann Sr. DNS- Alyssa Paprocky, Rob Bader
INEX Legend Race Cars: 1. John Beatty Jr. 2. Vinny Delaney 3. Greg Harris 4. Dylan Slepian 5. Ray Fitzgerald 6. George Tomko Jr. 7. Richie Davidowitz 8. Mike Van Houten 9. Will Hiscock 10. Bryan Kelly 11. Michael Rutkoski 12. Ed Cheslak 13. Paul Dodorico 14. Ryan Lutz 15. Bill Fitzgerald 16. Mike Muduske 17 Dennis Kurras 18. Jonathan Parsons 19. Kurt Krieger 20. Kevin Nowak 21. Kyle Soper 22. Jeff Otto Jr. 23. Kyle Ellwood 24. Wally Davidowitz DNQ- Kyle Kwasna, Silas Hiscock
Gut & Go Enduro (top five) 1. Brandon Esposito 2. Peter Verwys 3. Donald Lawrence 4. Drew Fohrkolb 5. Kevin Rommeney
Source: Bob Finan/RR PR