Solomito hopes win will change his luck

NASCAR modified driver Timmy Solomito of Islip shook off a case of the sophomore jinx Saturday evening at Riverhead Raceway when he made a bold early-race move to lay claim to the 35-lap feature event for the Whelen All-American Series. The victory came almost a year to the day of Solomito’s last of two wins in 2009.

“I can’t thank Dave and Cindy Brigati enough. They own my regular car and they stepped up as sponsors on my family car to get this much needed win tonight,” said Solomito, the 2009 Rookie of the Year. “Of course, my mom and dad make all I do possible and tonight we were in our family car, so this win is that much more special.”

The victory ended what had been a nightmarish 2010 season for Solomito. “Hey, we have five races left,” he said, “maybe our fortunes have changed and we can get another one before it’s all said and done.”

Defending NASCAR modified champion John Fortin of Holtsville finished second. Chris Young of Calverton was third despite having one of his tires register just five pounds of air pressure at the race’s end. Bill Park of Manorville and the division leader, Tom Rogers Jr. of Patchogue, completed the top five. Rogers leads second-place Chuck Steuer by 20 points, 528 to 508.

In other races:

A career season for Arne Pedersen of Mastic Beach continued in a 15-lap figure eight feature event as he won his fourth main event of 2010. His brother, Scott Pedersen of Shirley, was second. Tom Rogers Jr. of Patchogue recovered from an early-race trip to the pits for third place. With the win, Arne Pedersen regained the division lead from his brother, with six points separating them.

For the first time since September of 2004, Jeremy McDermott of Stroudsburg, Penn., found his way to victory lane in a 20-lap charger event. Frank Dumicich Jr. bolted out into the lead at the throw of the green flag and was on his way to building a comfortable lead when trouble struck. NASCAR officials had to wave the black flag at Dumicich prior to the halfway mark as a trail of water was streaming off the right rear section of his overheating car. That propelled McDermott into the lead and on the way to his third career win. Chris Turbush of Riverhead, the defending charger champion, took second. His father, Dan Turbush of Riverhead, was third.

Scott Maliszewski of Deer Park notched his second win of the season when he topped the field in a 20-lap blunderbust feature event. It was his 13th career blunderbust victory. Kevin Rommeney of Maspeth was second and Tom Sullivan of Massapequa third.

Anthony Pizzo of Lake Ronkonkoma made a late-race pass with three laps remaining in a 60-lap, four-cylinder enduro to collect top honors. He was followed by the second-place Steve Trimboli of Freeport and the third-place Robert Endlekofer of Miller Place.

Two of the best slugged it out for the car rollover contest win as Jim Donaldson of Coram bested returning veteran John Silver of Wantagh.

Jason Savoy of Lake Panamoka came out on top in the four-cylinder demolition derby. He and his brother, Brian Savoy of Lake Panamoka, were the last two standing.