At the Races: July 21

Hi all, and welcome to another edition of …. AT THE RACES … This week the weather was cooling off a little, but the racing was as hot as ever as Riverhead Raceway hosted the Baldwin, Evans, and Jarzombek 77 event, sponsored by Mobil One oil. So, lets get to it……..

First race: a 20-lap, 13-truck, Super Pro Truck event. As fate would have it, the Turbush brothers, Roger and Chris, drew spots one and two at the start. As the light went green, Roger, in the #88 truck jumped out into the lead, as his brother Chris, in the #81 truck and Lou Maestri, in the #1 truck, battled it out for second. In lap 13, turn 3, an accident between Mike Albasini, in the #66 truck and Frank Dumichich Sr. in the #5 truck drew a yellow caution. That did not deter Roger Turbush, in the Allied Air Conditioning Chevy, as he grabbed the checkered flag and the victory.

Good Luck to Roger and his fiancee Stephanie Brigati on their engagement this week.

Second race: a 20-lap, 10-car, Figure Eight event. The race started clean for two laps, but as fast as you can say spark plug, a pile up between rookie drivers “Mad” Mike Smith and George Seus, had both suffering damage to their cars. After the restart, the first two spots went to Roger Maynor, in the #28 car, and Arne Pedersen, in the #34 car. The race remained quiet, although an accident in the “X” between Tim Farrell, in car #16, and Rick Swanson, in car #19 got a rise from the crowd. In the end, Roger Maynor, in the Barrasso and Sons Mason Supplies Ford grabbed the checkered square, and his 107th career win.

Third race: a 20-lap, 14-car, Charger event. The light winked green, and Chris Turbush, in the #81 car, who by the way held a rare pole position, raced for the lead with Brian Doyle, in the #73 car, as Turbush edged Doyle only by yards. C.J. Lehmann Jr., in the #1 car, made his play to pass Doyle, but Doyle made contact with Lehmann, and sent him into a spin in lap 9. This sent a yellow out and Doyle to the rear of the pack for rough riding. Jeremy McDermott, in the #5 car, vaulted into second, behind Turbush, but to no avail. Turbush took his East-West Marine Chevy past the checkers, and to his 31st career victory.

Fourth race: a 77-lap, 24-car, Baldwin, Evans & Jarzombek 77 NASCAR Modified Event. At the drop of the green, the game began, as Ron Silk, in the #6 car, moved right out front, with Ted Christopher, in the #15 car, a close second. The race had numerous yellows early, and also had drivers like Tom Rogers Jr., Timmy and Shawn Solomito, and Ryan Preece waging a war for third through sixth place, through double file restarts, and green flag conditions. In lap 21, the changes for position began. Ryan Preece, in the #20 car, slid under Ted Christopher, in the #15 car, and took second place. In lap 25, Reece wrestled the lead away from Silk, putting Silk and Christopher on his tail. On lap 27, Christopher moved on Silk and took second, setting his sights on leader Reece. In lap 33, after yet another restart, Christopher tried to make an inside move on Preece, but made contact with the third place car of Silk, which put him on a spin into the infield grass on turn 3 and 4. This propelled Shawn Solomito into third, and he instantly went to work on Silk, who was in second. Solomito pressed Reece hard for the lead in the final 10 laps, but in the end, Reece, grandson of legendary car owner Bob Judkins, took the checkered square in his Bill and Barbara Parks-owned WMT-Flamingo Motorsports car for the victory.

On a side note, the Baldwin, Evans, & Jarzombek 77 car race is to honor three local drivers who succumbed to racing related injuries. Baiting Hollow native Charlie Jarzombek started racing in 1962, compiled a record 63 wins at Riverhead Raceway. He is a member of both the Long Island Sports Hall of Fame, as well as the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame. He won 187 feature events in his 25 year career. Sadly, he was killed in 1987, when his car hit a retaining wall at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway

East Patchogue’s Tom “Tiger” Baldwin won 11 times at Riverhead Raceway, and spent 20 seasons (1985-04) on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. He passed away after an accident at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway in 2004.

Richie Evans was from Rome, N.Y., but had some of his finest racing moments on Long Island. He won 17 races at Islip Speedway, two at Freeport Raceway, His last win came at Riverhead Raceway in August 1985, two months before a fatal practice-lap crash at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway would claim his life. Earlier this year, Evans became the first Modified driver to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The last four cars pictured in my story, belonged to Charlie Jarzombek. They were restored by his brother Ricky, in the same barn where he and Charlie originally built them.

Well race fans, that’s it for now. Gonna put some water in the radiator, take off the ear muffs, and lube the ball joints. I hope you enjoy the story and the photos, a great job by Brigandi Brothers towing, track services, great guys, fellow photog Mike, Wendy in VIP, and all the great drivers who make Saturday’s at Riverhead Raceway an exciting time. Be well motor heads, and I will see you next time………..

AT THE RACES !!

RiverheadLOCAL photos by George Faella

Click thumbnails to enlarge images

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