(Press Release from Riverhead Raceway)
With rain pushing the Buzz Chew Chevrolet 200 WMT program to Sunday afternoon at Riverhead Raceway, four divisions from the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series also had to wait another day to race. The four features were split equally around the 200. Don Howe of Watermill topped the Eddie Partridge Vintage All Star event while Jim Laird Jr. of Islip Terrace won the Blunderbust event prior to the 200. Richie Davidowitz of East Moriches won his second straight INEX Legend Race Car event and Dave Antos of Lindenhurst bested the Street Stocks after the 200.
In the 20-lap Blunderbust popular racing veteran Tom Sullivan paced the race early on with Jim Laird Jr. quickly making his way to second. Laird, who had been fast all morning long in practice was able to muscle his way by Sullivan before the first quarter of the race was completed. After yielding the lead to Laird, Sullivan found himself in the clutches of Brandon Hubbard in a fight for second with Brandon claiming the position. Once to second Hubbard was able to keep the high-flying leader Laird in his sights but was never able to pull up to offer a challenge. When the race concluded Jim Laird Jr. earned his 13th career win in the Long Island Poultry Caprice giving him sole possession of 8th on the all-time win list. Brandon Hubbard of Mastic Beach was runner-up in the United Exhaust Shop entry, while Eddie Diaz of Centereach crossed the line third in the Gramercy Group racer.
“Big Money” Richie Davidowitz may have gone winless in 2022, but early on in 2023 he is proving that was a fluke as he scored his second straight INEX Legend Race Car victory. Joey Braun moved to the early race lead at the throw of the green with Davidowitz and Jeff Farruggia tucking in right behind. With an early green flag run Braun was able to keep his challengers a couple car lengths back but that was erased on lap 7 when Kendall Van Houten spun drawing a yellow. When the race resumed Braun maintained his lead at first but Davidowitz quickly crossed the leader over and by the time they hit the stripe to start lap 9 Davidowitz was the new race leader with Farruggia following in Richie’s tire tracks to come to second. Over the final half of the race Richie Davidowitz, a UPS package truck driver during the week kept the Freddie & Megan Kraft back racer out front for his 27th career win, tops in class. Jeff Farruggia of Riverhead was second in the Chris Mohr Landscaping machine while Joey Braun of Manorville completed the podium in the Uncle Carmine’s Hot Peppers mount.
With a new qualifying heat race passing point system in place, defending Street Stock champion took full advantage of the new procedure passing more cars than anyone else in qualifying. That fete earned Antos, the all-time leading winner of SS races at the track the pole for the 20-lap feature. You can probably guess the rest. When the green light winked on Dave Antos quickly moved out front in the EP Milling & Sweeping Monte Carlo and survived a restart along the way to post his 13th career victory. Gerard Lawrence of Miller Place was runner-up in the Blazin’ Bagels Chevy while Jarrod Hayes of Calverton crossed the line third in the North Fork Sanitation entry.
The Eddie Partridge Vintage All-Stars had their season debut Sunday and when all was said and done former five-time NASCAR Modified champion Don Howe sat in the winner’s circle at the end of 15-laps. Howe, along with former WMT regular Tony Ferrante Jr. started towards the back of the field but quickly made their collective way towards the front. Mark Miller in a Meade’s Welding tribute car to former racer John Meade led the first half of the race while Howe and Ferrante made their way forward. On lap 8 Howe was able to make his way by Miller to take over the race lead, an advantage the driver of the Corwith’s Auto Body Cavalier never relinquished. Mark Miller of Hauppauge was impressive on the day with his runner-up finish, warding off third place finisher Tony Ferrantre Jr. of New Hyde Park in the Anthony Ferrante & Son Chevy in the closing laps.
Blunderbusts: 1. Jim Laird Jr. 2. Brandon Hubbard 3. Eddie Diaz 4. Cody Triola 5. Tom Sullivan 6. Bill Wegmann Jr. 7. Bill Wegmann Sr. 8. Gary Caldwell 9. Michael Accordino 10. Ralph Corsini 11. Steve Neenan
Legend Race Cars: 1. Richie Davidowitz 2. Jeff Farruggia Jr. 3. Joey Braun 4. Nick Morabito 5. Chase Van Houten 6. Eric Hersey 7. Brad Van Houten 8. Riely O’Keefe 9. Jason Castaldo 10. Ryan Lutz 11. Jim Sylvester 12. Charlie Hodge 13. Rodney Dowless Jr. 14. Mike Van Houten Jr. 15. Jayden Glennerster 16. Ray Stulz 17. Alex Halinar 18. Pat Moore 19. Chris Sinatro 20. Kim Daniel 21. Michael Metcalf 22. Steve Woytysiak 23. Kendall Van Houten 24. Kevin Ohrnberger 25. Marc Godnick 26. Ryan Barbieri
Street Stocks: 1. Dave Antos 2. Gerard Lawrence 3. Jarrod Hayes 4. Rhett Fogg 5. Brian McCormack 6. Dennis Kurras 7. Tom Sullivan 8. Kyle Halpin 9. Alyssa Paprocky 10. James DiPietro 11. Ricky Carman 12. Henry Cuesta 13. Luke Foerster 14. Brian Brown 15. Danny Pizzo
Eddie Partridge Vintage All-Stars: 1. Don Howe 2. Mark Miller 3. Tony Ferrante Jr. 4. Frank Saladino 5. Sal Accardi Jr. 6. Boot Jasinski 7. Mike Siraco 8. Jimmy Reed Jr. 8. Jimmy Reed Sr.
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