8/4/2001

STEFANIK SWEEPS THIS YEAR’S RIVERHEAD TOUR STOPS…
by J.A. Ackley

BLUNDERBUSTS

            On the start, Russell Broy and his purple and yellow #99 Island Trees Automotive Chevrolet took off from his outside pole position with the #3 Coyote Catering Chevy of Doug Watson right on his tail.  But before the two could do battle, caution would wave for the stalled #8 in turn 3.
            On the restart, Broy would take his #99 to the front once again with the #3 of Doug Watson right in tow.  Watson would get the low line off of turn 4 on lap 2 to make it a side-by-side battle.  On the next lap going into turn 3, Watson would take his #3 to the lead.  However, before Watson could test out the lead caution would fly for a tangle between the #64 of Carl Voelker Jr., #58 of Richie Hubbard, and many others who were running in the back got caught up as well.
            After a brief cleanup, the race would resume once again and the #99 of Russell Broy and #3 of Doug Watson would duke it out for the lead once again.  After a lap of battle, the #3 of Doug Watson would claim the lead.  However, lurking about in the background was the #08 Young Guns Racing Caddy of Jarrod Hayes of whom was moving up through the field at a steady rate.  On lap 6, Jarrod Hayes would get underneath the #3 in turn 3, and come off of turn 4 with the lead.  Before Hayes could test his lead, caution would fly once again for debris in turn two.
            After another brief cleanup, Jarrod Hayes would take off from the start once again.  After gaining a decent lead, caution would wave again for an incident involving the #65 Lincoln of Sean Byrne and #99 of Russell Broy.
            On the restart, Jarrod Hayes and the #89x Hitherbrook Nursery Chevrolet of Chris McGuire would do battle.  Going into turn 2 the next lap, Jarrod Hayes would shake off McGuire and start building his lead.  When the checkers waved, Jarrod Hayes in the #08 SPONSORS WANTED Cadillac would win his second feature of 2001.
            Taking the runner-up money would be the purple #89x Hitherbrook Nursery Chevrolet Impala of Chris McGuire.  Following McGuire to take third would be a fine run for the #10 Mahan Construction Chevrolet Caprice of Tom Slee.  In fourth would be the #66 SPONSORS WANTED Chevrolet Impala of Mark Wolf and rounding out the top five would be Eugene Malverty in the #23 SPONSORS WANTED Buick.

FEATHERLITE MODIFIED SERIES

            Next up on the night’s docket of racing would be the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series, second and final stop of the year at Riverhead, the TS Haulers 200.
            Ed Flemke, Jr. would grab the Bud Pole Award in his #79 Hill Enterprises Pontiac but with the redraw, he would find himself starting from 4th.  On the starting grid, the front row would feature the #14 Bear Motorsports Chevy of Chris Kopec on pole, and 2001 Miller Lite 200 winner, Mike Stefanik in his #21 Eggland’s Best Chevrolet.  On the start, Mike Stefanik would jump into the lead.  However, before he could test his lead, caution would wave for a big tangle at the start-finish line.  Involved in the incident would be Riverhead regulars, Gregg Shivers in his #23 Olsen’s Discount Nurseries Pontiac, John Fortin in his #84 Abbott’s Hart Cove Marina Chevrolet, and tour regular and former champion, Tony Hirschman in his #48 Key Material Chevrolet.
            On lap 7, the race would resume with Mike Stefanik jumping into the lead once again, with the #14 of Chris Kopec and #79 of Eddie Flemke ready to pounce on any mishaps the 4-time Featherlite Modified champion Stefanik would make.  On lap 23, the race would be slowed again with the #14 of Chris Kopec in the turn 1 wall.  4 laps later the race would resume once again with Stefanik in the lead but would be hindered on lap 29 once again with an incident in turn 4 involving the #02 Gershow Recycling Chevy of J.R. Bertuccio, #31 Ferrante Racing Chevy of Tony Ferrante, Jr., and #5 Dale Averill Designs Ford of Charlie Pasteryak as well as many in the back of whom checked up for the tangle.
            On lap 32 the race would restart once again, with Mike Stefanik getting the jump on the lead but coming into turn 1, Eddie Flemke would try the outside of Stefanik and produce some great side-by-side racing.  However, Flemke’s fine run would come to an end on lap 36 where he met the turn 3-4 walls.
            The race would resume on lap 42 with Mike Stefanik once again in the lead, but with Mike Ewanitsko right in his exhaust reading to pounce on the opportunity to lead before his home track crowd.  On lap 49, Ewanitsko would grab the lead going into turn 1 but before he could test the lead, right behind him would result in another caution with an incident involving the #79 of Eddie Flemke, #1x Muratec Dodge of Chuck Steuer, #99 Perth Amboy Spring Chevrolet of Jamie Tomaino, #20 Smithtown Nissan Chevy of Bill Park, #05 TS Haulers Dodge of Joe Hartmann and #11 Bruce George Paving Chevy of Nevin George.
            After an extensive cleanup, the race would resume on lap 59 with Mike Ewanitsko in the lead.  However it would only take 10 laps of green to have the caution wave again for the stalled #11 of Nevin George in turn 1.  After a brief delay, Ewanitsko would jump into the lead once again on the restart.  Ewanitsko would maintain a good lead until lap 96 when caution waved again for the #08 TS Haulers Chevy of Ken Heagy who had spun on the back straight going into turn 3.
            The race would resume on lap 99 and Ewanitsko was once again in the lead.  However, misfortune would strike the Long Islander, as he would find his throttle stick and find himself go high and scrape the turn 4 wall.  Ducking underneath the flying Ewanitsko to take the lead would be Mike Stefanik in his #21 with Long Islander, Fred Vordermeier hot on the tail of Stefanik, ready to take the lead away.  Caution would wave on 108 for a major incident off of turn 2, which serious damaged quite a few cars.  Involved in the incident would be the #49 Riverhead Building Supply Chevy of Chris Young #25 ATC Dodge of Ted Christopher, #8 Sunoco Chevrolet of Rick Fuller, and #2 LesCare Kitchens Pontiac of Reggie Ruggiero.  The incident was major enough to even bring out the red flag on lap 116.
            After an extensive cleanup, the race would resume on lap 120, with Stefanik out in the lead, and Vordermeier right on his tail.  Fred Vordermeier applied quite a bit of pressure and would try his all to get around Stefanik, with Vordermeier’s #04 getting loose a couple times, and even scraping the wall once, all in an effort to try to take the lead before his hometown crowd.
            Stefanik and Vordermeier’s battle would be put on hold on lap 137 for the #08 of Ken Heagy who had spun in turn 1.
            On lap 140, Stefanik would jump into the lead once again with Vordermeier looking for ways to get around the four-time FMS champ.  The intense battle would be halted once again on lap 175 for an incident in turn one involving the #14 of Chris Kopec and #99 of Jamie Tomaino.
            On lap 183, the race would resume again, and Stefanik would turn it up a notch gaining a good lead of the #04 of Fred Vordermeier.  With 10 laps to go, former Riverhead winner, and champion, Jerry Marquis in the #34 BRE Racing Chevy was closing in on Stefanik and Vordermeier.  In the closing laps, Marquis would get around to take away Vordermeier’s second place but Marquis would run out of time and Stefanik would go on to win the 2001 TS Haulers 200.
            Following the red and white Chevrolet of Stefanik would be 2000 Featherlite Modified Champion, Jerry Marquis in his #34 BRE Racing Chevrolet.  Taking the third spot would be tonight’s pleasant surprise, the #04 E.J. Davies Chevrolet of Long Islander, Fred Vordermeier Jr.  In fourth, it would be the hard charging #17 Universal Welding Chevrolet of Long Island’s Mike Ewanitsko and rounding out the top 5 would be the #77 Mastrobattisto, Inc. Chevrolet of Jersey’s John Blewett III.

CHARGERS

            In the Chargers, rookie Frank Bonsignore in the #98x Chevrolet Beretta would start pole with Rob Tribuzio on the outside in his #01 Dodge.  On the start, Bonsignore and Tribuzio would do some side-by-side combat, putting on a real show the fans.  Frank Bonsignore would grab the lead going into turn 3 but before he could test his lead, caution would wave for an incident on the front straight involving the #24 of Barry Stanchio and the points leaders, #2 of Robin Vollmoeller and #43 of Ray Minieri.
            After a brief cleanup, the Bonsignore-Tribuzio battle would resume with side-by-side action once again.  Going into turn 3, Frank Bonsignore would grab the lead with Tribuzio’s #01 in tow.  However, Tribuzio would try to take the lead once again by diving into turn 3 and making it a side-by-side battle once again.  Tribuzio would dive into the same turn one lap later to take the lead.
            Tribuzio would lead the field around until lap 13 when caution flew for the #28 SPONSORS WANTED Pontiac which went high in turn 3 and 4 and scraped the wall.  On the restart, Tribuzio would once again resume his leading ways until caution would fly once again on lap 16 for the #30 U-Rent All Chevy of Richie Carman which had gone high and hit the turn 1 wall.  On the restart, Tribuzio would take off once again and 4 laps later would win his first Charger feature in his #01 Riverhead Trailer Dodge.
            Rookie, Frank Bonsignore would wheel his #98x White Post Wholesale Growers Chevrolet to a second place.  Taking down third would be the #36 Smith-McCord Construction Chevrolet of Eric Lutz.  In fourth, it would be the #7 Staria Automotive Pontiac of Darryl Baker and rounding out the top five would be Brian Schwarz in his #11x White Post Wholesale Growers Chevrolet.

COMING NEXT WEEK

            Coming this upcoming Saturday will be a night once again full of action and excitement brought to you by Miller Lite.  After a 200-lap event this past week for some, and a week off for others, the Modifieds return to weekly action with a 50-lap Double Point event sponsored by Ideal Cesspool.  The Late Models will return once again for a 50-lap Double Point feature as well, brought to you by Long Island Freightliner and Tobay Printing.  The School Buses also return to do battle in a demolition derby.  Along with the aforementioned events, the Blunderbusts as well as the Chargers will also be in attendance to fill a very full card of racing action.

Sources:  J.A. Ackley/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:  August 6, 2001