RGeeProductions
08-24-2014, 06:09 PM
One of the largest crowds in recent memory gathered to celebrate I Love America night Saturday at Riverhead Raceway and they watched as Ryan Preece of Berlin, Ct. captured a non stop 35 lap NASCAR Modified feature event on Miller Lite/Donaldson's Volkswagen night. The triumph was Ryan's third of 2014 and snapped the four race win streak of Tom Rogers Jr.
Dave Sapienza of Riverhead for the first time in his career set fast time with a lap of 11.922 but would redraw third for the feature event while Ryan Preece and defending NASCAR Modified champion Howie Brode drew the front row. Preece who normally does not do well in the redraw took full advantage of his pole starting position as he raced out front when the green flag waved while championship leader Howie Brode quickly tucked into second. Brode found himself under attack from his nearest rival in the point standing Tom Rogers Jr. who raced his way from fourth to second early in the race which was just fine with race leader Preece.
With Brode and Rogers having at it for second Preece was able to open up a sizeable lead in his East West Marine Chevrolet and with not a single yellow flag in sight the defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion expanded his lead lap after lap. The tussle for second would be the battle to watch as not only were Brode and Rogers racing for runner-up money but for valuable points as the 2014 season winds down, Howie came to the race with a 17 point lead over Rogers who has narrowed the gap greatly with his recent win streak.
When the checker flag waved it was Ryan Preece in the Bill & Barbara Park owned entry driving a flawless race to claim the Rapid Recovery Towing/Joe's Garage hardware. "Man this car was on the money tonight" Preece boasted in a busy victory lane, "Bill & Dave found something, I'm not going to tell you what but it worked". Ryan was also thankful for the large crowd that was on hand, "it is great to see all these people here tonight and I sure hope they are having fun".
Howie Brode of East Islip would come out on top in the fight for second in his Freightliner of Long island Chevy while Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead was third in the Royal Fence Chevy which translates into a 19-point lead for Brode in the championship standings with four point races left. Dave Sapienza of Riverhead and John Fortin Sr. of Holtsville rounded out the top five.
While he might have lost some ground in the NASCAR Modified title fight Tom Rogers Jr. made a giant leap in the Figure Eight championship chase as he won their 15-lap feature event for his third win of 2014. Rogers wasted no time racing his way from a third starting berth to the race lead at the throw of the green with Ken Hyde Jr. in tow. Just prior to an early race yellow flag for a multi-car crash involving Bryan Quilliam, Mike Mujsce and Chris Turbush Roger Maynor powered by Hyde for second. On the ensuing restart disaster would strike for Maynor as he appeared to break an axle when he hit the gas and his once 14-point lead over Tom Rogers would vanish. That turn of events moved Hyde back to second and the defending champion went back to work on trying to find a way past race leader Rogers. Ken looked high and low and at times would get a wheel on Tom but the latter was able to pull away each and every time. At the finish it was Tom Rogers Jr. in the PCFI Plymouth coupe not only winning the race but also taking over the championship lead by two points over Roger Maynor, 456 to 454. Ken Hyde Jr. of Mastic Beach was runner-up in the K&K Towing entry while Mike Mujsce of Quogue made a great recovery from his early race tangle to place third in the Bill Beener Tree Service racer.
The 20-lap Charger feature event would provide the closest finish of the night as defending champion Eric Zeh of Selden made a last lap pass of David Roys of Coram to notch his fourth win of 2014. After several DNF's due to mechanical issues Roys found himself on the pole for the race and he raced his way out front when things got underway. Greg Immerman gave chase to Roys over the first 8 laps of the race before he was over taken by John Baker on lap 9. Meanwhile Eric Zeh who started the race 10th was on the march towards the front of the race which was in the process of going green to checker. At the halfway mark Zeh worked his way under Baker for second down the backstretch and his task then became trying to erase a hefty race lead built up by Roys. Lap after lap Zeh made up soem ground but it became evident that without a caution flag he'd run out of time in his pursuit. On lap 18 Brandon Turbush making his first ever start spun off turn two and the caution that David Roys never wanted to see indeed would wave setting up a green, white & checker finish. When the race resumed Zeh made no bones about his plan of attack as he dove under Roys who was able to thwart the first challenge. However after taking the white flag Zeh got two thirds of his car under Roys off turn two, David tried throwing the block forcing Eric under the line going into turn three but Zeh would prevail as the tandem raced off turn four to take the win in the Randy's Performance Chevy as the crowd roared with approval for the close finish. David Roys was second in the Robert's Asphalt Chevy while John Baker of Brookhaven was third in the Sunrise Medical Labs Camaro.
Over the past two years Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches has been tabbed "big money" as some of his wins come with extra prize money on the line. Well it also appears that the soft spoken talent likes big crowds as he won his 5th Legend Race Car main event of 2014 Saturday. As per INEX rules the heat race winners have the front three starting spots for their 20-lap feature and Davidowitz winning the first heat gave him the pole and he didn't waste this golden opportunity. When the green light winked on Davidowitz roared out front in his Thriftway Auto Body machine with Kevin Nowak winner of heat two tucking in behind Davidowitz from the outside pole. Nowak, a tested tough veteran was able to keep step with the race leader but never really close in for a pass and soon he'd find himself under attack from Kyle Soper and Brad Van Houten the two main championship contenders. While there was plenty of "peaking" among the top four cars they pretty much would run nose to tail for the remainder of the race with Richie Davidowitz posting the victory. Kevin Nowak of Medford was runner-up in the J-Tech Electric Sedan while Kyle Soper of Manorville was third in the Moriches Bay Diner mount.
The program opened with a 50-lap Grand Enduro that found Jimmy "The Kid" White Jr. starting on the pole via luck of the draw. White was gunning for his 10th overall Riverhead Raceway win in 2014 having not only won in the Grands but also the Blunderbusts and Demolition Derby events. White would lead all the way in his Busy Bee Pest Control Chevy which would be the good news, the bad was he would fail an extensive post race technical inspection. White was found to have an unapproved part in his engine and was disqualified. Steve Mastro of Port Jefferson made a late race pass of Rob Bader of Holtsville for second and that pass would actually net the driver of the NY Auto Giant his second career win. David Antos of Lindenhurst was runner-up in the CR Customs Chevy while Rob Bader held on for third in his Robert's Express Fuel Oil entry.
The School Bus Demolition Derby once again provided plenty of thrills and spills along the way and when the steam settled it was "The Junk Yard Dog" John Denniston of Westbury earning a hard fought victory over Michael "Cheesebox" Rommeney of Maspeth. The duo along with "Irish" Mike O'Keefe were the last three standing with plenty of hard hitting and games of cat and mouse taking place. In the end it was Denniston in the Hagerman Systems bus the winner. Rommeney in the Gershow Recycling bus was runner-up and O'Keefe of Islip third in the Tom O'Keefe & Sons entry third.
NASCAR Modifieds:
1, Ryan Preece 2. Howie Brode 3. Tom Rogers Jr. 4. Dave Sapienza 5. John Fortin Sr. 6. Jason Agugliaro 7. Kyle Ellwood 8. Vinny Biondolillo 9. Jeffrey Goodale 10. Amber Fortin 11. Ken Darch 12. CJ Lehmann
Figure Eights:
1. Tom Rogers Jr. 2. Ken Hyde Jr. 3. Mike Mujsce 4. Scott Pedersen 5. Vinny Biondolillo 6. CJ Lehmann 7. Gary Fritz Jr. 8. Chris Turbush 9. Roger Maynor 10. Dan Lynch 11. Bryan Quilliam DQ-John Vullo
Chargers:
1. Eric Zeh 2. David Roys 3. John Baker 4. Chris Turbush 5. Greg Immerman 6. CJ Lehmann 7. Ray Minieri 8. Cory Midgett 9. Owen Grennan 10. Scott Pedersen 11. Brandon Turbush 12. Dan Lynch
Legend Race Cars:
1. Richie Davidowitz 2. Kevin Nowak 3. Kyle Soper 4. Brad Van Houten 5. Artie Pedersen III 6. Brendon Bock 7. Greg Harris 8. Eric Hersey 9. Dylan Slepian 10. Ray Fitzgerald 11. Christian Conklin 12. Vinny Delaney 13. Anthony Marsh 14. Shawn Wanat 15. Vinny Colletti 16. Mike Van Houten 17. Ed Cheslak 18. Michael Rutkoski 19. Bryan Kelly 20. George Tomko Jr. 21. Jim Sylvester 22. Kevin Chew 23. Chris Rogers 24. Allan Pedersen 25. Steve Hersey 26. Kurt Krieger 27. Joe Oliver 28. Keith Goodale
Grand Enduro (top five):
1. Steve Mastro 2. David Antos 3. Rob Bader 4. Brian McCormack 5. Erick Zegel
School Bus Demolition Derby (top three)
1. John Denniston 2. Michael Rommeney 3. Mike O'Keefe
Bob Finan
Dave Sapienza of Riverhead for the first time in his career set fast time with a lap of 11.922 but would redraw third for the feature event while Ryan Preece and defending NASCAR Modified champion Howie Brode drew the front row. Preece who normally does not do well in the redraw took full advantage of his pole starting position as he raced out front when the green flag waved while championship leader Howie Brode quickly tucked into second. Brode found himself under attack from his nearest rival in the point standing Tom Rogers Jr. who raced his way from fourth to second early in the race which was just fine with race leader Preece.
With Brode and Rogers having at it for second Preece was able to open up a sizeable lead in his East West Marine Chevrolet and with not a single yellow flag in sight the defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion expanded his lead lap after lap. The tussle for second would be the battle to watch as not only were Brode and Rogers racing for runner-up money but for valuable points as the 2014 season winds down, Howie came to the race with a 17 point lead over Rogers who has narrowed the gap greatly with his recent win streak.
When the checker flag waved it was Ryan Preece in the Bill & Barbara Park owned entry driving a flawless race to claim the Rapid Recovery Towing/Joe's Garage hardware. "Man this car was on the money tonight" Preece boasted in a busy victory lane, "Bill & Dave found something, I'm not going to tell you what but it worked". Ryan was also thankful for the large crowd that was on hand, "it is great to see all these people here tonight and I sure hope they are having fun".
Howie Brode of East Islip would come out on top in the fight for second in his Freightliner of Long island Chevy while Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead was third in the Royal Fence Chevy which translates into a 19-point lead for Brode in the championship standings with four point races left. Dave Sapienza of Riverhead and John Fortin Sr. of Holtsville rounded out the top five.
While he might have lost some ground in the NASCAR Modified title fight Tom Rogers Jr. made a giant leap in the Figure Eight championship chase as he won their 15-lap feature event for his third win of 2014. Rogers wasted no time racing his way from a third starting berth to the race lead at the throw of the green with Ken Hyde Jr. in tow. Just prior to an early race yellow flag for a multi-car crash involving Bryan Quilliam, Mike Mujsce and Chris Turbush Roger Maynor powered by Hyde for second. On the ensuing restart disaster would strike for Maynor as he appeared to break an axle when he hit the gas and his once 14-point lead over Tom Rogers would vanish. That turn of events moved Hyde back to second and the defending champion went back to work on trying to find a way past race leader Rogers. Ken looked high and low and at times would get a wheel on Tom but the latter was able to pull away each and every time. At the finish it was Tom Rogers Jr. in the PCFI Plymouth coupe not only winning the race but also taking over the championship lead by two points over Roger Maynor, 456 to 454. Ken Hyde Jr. of Mastic Beach was runner-up in the K&K Towing entry while Mike Mujsce of Quogue made a great recovery from his early race tangle to place third in the Bill Beener Tree Service racer.
The 20-lap Charger feature event would provide the closest finish of the night as defending champion Eric Zeh of Selden made a last lap pass of David Roys of Coram to notch his fourth win of 2014. After several DNF's due to mechanical issues Roys found himself on the pole for the race and he raced his way out front when things got underway. Greg Immerman gave chase to Roys over the first 8 laps of the race before he was over taken by John Baker on lap 9. Meanwhile Eric Zeh who started the race 10th was on the march towards the front of the race which was in the process of going green to checker. At the halfway mark Zeh worked his way under Baker for second down the backstretch and his task then became trying to erase a hefty race lead built up by Roys. Lap after lap Zeh made up soem ground but it became evident that without a caution flag he'd run out of time in his pursuit. On lap 18 Brandon Turbush making his first ever start spun off turn two and the caution that David Roys never wanted to see indeed would wave setting up a green, white & checker finish. When the race resumed Zeh made no bones about his plan of attack as he dove under Roys who was able to thwart the first challenge. However after taking the white flag Zeh got two thirds of his car under Roys off turn two, David tried throwing the block forcing Eric under the line going into turn three but Zeh would prevail as the tandem raced off turn four to take the win in the Randy's Performance Chevy as the crowd roared with approval for the close finish. David Roys was second in the Robert's Asphalt Chevy while John Baker of Brookhaven was third in the Sunrise Medical Labs Camaro.
Over the past two years Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches has been tabbed "big money" as some of his wins come with extra prize money on the line. Well it also appears that the soft spoken talent likes big crowds as he won his 5th Legend Race Car main event of 2014 Saturday. As per INEX rules the heat race winners have the front three starting spots for their 20-lap feature and Davidowitz winning the first heat gave him the pole and he didn't waste this golden opportunity. When the green light winked on Davidowitz roared out front in his Thriftway Auto Body machine with Kevin Nowak winner of heat two tucking in behind Davidowitz from the outside pole. Nowak, a tested tough veteran was able to keep step with the race leader but never really close in for a pass and soon he'd find himself under attack from Kyle Soper and Brad Van Houten the two main championship contenders. While there was plenty of "peaking" among the top four cars they pretty much would run nose to tail for the remainder of the race with Richie Davidowitz posting the victory. Kevin Nowak of Medford was runner-up in the J-Tech Electric Sedan while Kyle Soper of Manorville was third in the Moriches Bay Diner mount.
The program opened with a 50-lap Grand Enduro that found Jimmy "The Kid" White Jr. starting on the pole via luck of the draw. White was gunning for his 10th overall Riverhead Raceway win in 2014 having not only won in the Grands but also the Blunderbusts and Demolition Derby events. White would lead all the way in his Busy Bee Pest Control Chevy which would be the good news, the bad was he would fail an extensive post race technical inspection. White was found to have an unapproved part in his engine and was disqualified. Steve Mastro of Port Jefferson made a late race pass of Rob Bader of Holtsville for second and that pass would actually net the driver of the NY Auto Giant his second career win. David Antos of Lindenhurst was runner-up in the CR Customs Chevy while Rob Bader held on for third in his Robert's Express Fuel Oil entry.
The School Bus Demolition Derby once again provided plenty of thrills and spills along the way and when the steam settled it was "The Junk Yard Dog" John Denniston of Westbury earning a hard fought victory over Michael "Cheesebox" Rommeney of Maspeth. The duo along with "Irish" Mike O'Keefe were the last three standing with plenty of hard hitting and games of cat and mouse taking place. In the end it was Denniston in the Hagerman Systems bus the winner. Rommeney in the Gershow Recycling bus was runner-up and O'Keefe of Islip third in the Tom O'Keefe & Sons entry third.
NASCAR Modifieds:
1, Ryan Preece 2. Howie Brode 3. Tom Rogers Jr. 4. Dave Sapienza 5. John Fortin Sr. 6. Jason Agugliaro 7. Kyle Ellwood 8. Vinny Biondolillo 9. Jeffrey Goodale 10. Amber Fortin 11. Ken Darch 12. CJ Lehmann
Figure Eights:
1. Tom Rogers Jr. 2. Ken Hyde Jr. 3. Mike Mujsce 4. Scott Pedersen 5. Vinny Biondolillo 6. CJ Lehmann 7. Gary Fritz Jr. 8. Chris Turbush 9. Roger Maynor 10. Dan Lynch 11. Bryan Quilliam DQ-John Vullo
Chargers:
1. Eric Zeh 2. David Roys 3. John Baker 4. Chris Turbush 5. Greg Immerman 6. CJ Lehmann 7. Ray Minieri 8. Cory Midgett 9. Owen Grennan 10. Scott Pedersen 11. Brandon Turbush 12. Dan Lynch
Legend Race Cars:
1. Richie Davidowitz 2. Kevin Nowak 3. Kyle Soper 4. Brad Van Houten 5. Artie Pedersen III 6. Brendon Bock 7. Greg Harris 8. Eric Hersey 9. Dylan Slepian 10. Ray Fitzgerald 11. Christian Conklin 12. Vinny Delaney 13. Anthony Marsh 14. Shawn Wanat 15. Vinny Colletti 16. Mike Van Houten 17. Ed Cheslak 18. Michael Rutkoski 19. Bryan Kelly 20. George Tomko Jr. 21. Jim Sylvester 22. Kevin Chew 23. Chris Rogers 24. Allan Pedersen 25. Steve Hersey 26. Kurt Krieger 27. Joe Oliver 28. Keith Goodale
Grand Enduro (top five):
1. Steve Mastro 2. David Antos 3. Rob Bader 4. Brian McCormack 5. Erick Zegel
School Bus Demolition Derby (top three)
1. John Denniston 2. Michael Rommeney 3. Mike O'Keefe
Bob Finan