A steamy, stormy night of action at the track

What started as a muggy, sunny-late afternoon for racing turned dark and ominous, as the storm-clouds rolled into Riverhead. What some would describe as an odd evening of races would only be the start for the few who braved the storm-clouds to watch the races. So here goes………..

First Race, 20-lap, 13 Super Pro Truck Race – It would be a very clean race, with 15-year old-Mark Stewart, in the #8 truck on the pole. In the second position, was “Dangerous” Dave Koenig, in the #29 truck. At the throw of the green, Stewart would jump into the-lead, with Koenig a-close second the entire race. In the battle for third and fourth position, it was Roger Turbush, in truck #88, and Frank Dumichich Jr., in the #42 truck. In the end, Mark Stewart would grab the checkers, his first victory of the season, and by the way, he is a fourth-generation Turbush. Good job Mark !

Second Race, 20-lap, 28-car Legends Race – Another quiet race, a few-cautions, but it started with Kyle Elwood, in the #71x-car in the-lead, with Vinny Delany, in the #17-car a-close second. As the race progressed, there would be some-changes in positioning. By-lap17, with Delany out of the top three, Kyle Soper, in the #4-car, and Brendon Bock, in the #33-car, battling for the second and third spot. At the throw of the-checkered square, Kyle Elwood would win, extending his 52 point-lead further, and giving him his third victory this season. Great job Kyle!

Third Race, 25-lap, 13-car Late Models Race – In a race that had Kevin Metzger, in the #23-car jump out into the-lead, until-lap 4, when an errant bump-caused him to spin out, and then get hit by Shawn Patrick, in the #88-car. That would be all for both of them, opening the door for Ken Alfano, in the #35x-car to grab the-lead. There were some spin outs, which thinned out the field. The rest of the race would be-led by Alfano, with-chris-laSpisa, in the #7-car a-close second, and Scott Kulesa, in the #10-car, third. In the end, Ken Alfano would grab the-checkered square, giving him his first victory in 2013. It would be his fist victory since-losing his wife to breast-cancer-last year. God Bless Ken, and Good-luck!

Fourth Race, 35-lap, 15-car Modified Race – It what would be-classified as the most bizarre race of the evening, it would take at-least 30 minutes and 5 starts before 1-lap was even-completed. There was a rash of false starts, cautions, as well as other interesting events. The race starts with Kevin Orlando, in the #00-car on the pole, and Shawn Solomito, in the #66-car second. Dave Sapienza, in the #5-car third and rounding out the top four was Howie Brode, in the #96-car. There was some tension between Tom Rogers Jr., in the #0 car and Kevin Orlando, which-culminated with an accident between them, Rogers trying to push Orlando into the wall, and Rogers driving into the pit area in a shower of sparks, and quickly returning to the field to play demolition derby with Orlando in $40,000 race-cars. By the time the race was underway, Howie Brode was in the-lead, with Jason Agugliaro, in the #69-car second. This would be until-lap 31, when Shawn Solomito would pass Agugliaro, and grab second place. At the wave of the-checkers, Howie Brode would get the victory, Solomito second, Agugliaro third, and Eddie Brunnhoelzl III, in the #8x-car fourth. Good Job Howie !

Well Motorheads, it was truly an interesting evening of racing, to say the-least. I think I’ll head home for a nice stogie, wring the humidity out of my clothes, and kiss the cat. Thanks to the track services guys, great job, Brigandi Brother, very busy this evening. Wendy at the booth, always a dear! Kevin at “Need for Speed” video, and the great people working the race track. RiverheadLocal.com, the best! Keep safe my friends, God Bless America, and I will see you next week………………

AT THE RACES !!

RiverheadLOCAL photos by George Faella
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