Riverhead Raceway: Two wins in three weeks for Fortin family

Two weeks after his father, John Fortin Sr., struck gold in the NASCAR Modifieds at Riverhead Raceway, second-generation racer J.B. Fortin of Holtsville made it back-to-back wins for the Fortin clan Saturday night in a 50-lap event. The younger Fortin mastered a restart at the halfway mark of the race to claim his second career victory.

As Fortin exited his car after the race, he looked over at announcer Bob Finan holding the trophy and reminded him, “I told you I was coming to see you for a trophy tonight.”

Roger Turbush of Riverhead had to be content with second place. Dave Brigati of Calverton was third, defending champion Tom Rogers Jr. of Riverhead fourth and John Baker of Brookhaven fifth.

In the first event of the night, Tony Ferrante Jr. of New Hyde Park drove to victory in the Jim Kelly Memorial 22. Don Howe of Water Mill was second and early race leader Mark Miller of Hauppauge finished third.

After three weeks off, the Super Pro Trucks returned for a 20-lap event. When the dust settled, former multi-time champion Lou Maestri of Deer Park scored his division-leading 35th career win. Max Handley of Medford and his brother, Jack Handley, also of Medford, were the next two finishers.

A 20-lap Legend Race Car event saw 16-year-old Jeffrey Farruggia Jr. of Riverhead score his first career feature win after surviving several late-race restarts. Jim Sylvester of Massapequa was the runner-up while Brad Van Houten of Wading River claimed third.

The Bandoleros ran their second race of 2021, and when the race was checkered on Lap 9 of a scheduled 15 due to a 15-minute time limit, Chevy Rommeney of Bohemia made a bold pass in lapped traffic pay off for his first career victory. Darren Krantz Jr. of Huntington came in second. Kaitlyn Stradley of Wilmington, Del., moved up from the 12th starting spot to finish third.

Gerard Lawrence of Miller Place finished first in a 20-lap Crate Modified race. He was followed, in order, by Brian Brown and Chris Lescenski, both of Riverhead.

Former Mini Stock champion Paul Wojcik of Patchogue scored his fifth career victory in a 20-lap affair, his first of 2021. Mike Mujsce Jr. of Hampton Bays was second, with Tom Puccia of Shirley third.

The lead changing hands three times in the final two laps of a 4/6-Cylinder Gut & Go race, with Ryan Warren of Indialantic, Fla, prevailing. Warren barely edged runner-up Bob Haeger of Hampton Bays by 0.009 seconds, Kevin Coyle of East Meadow was third after starting 24th.

The night concluded with Joey Palmeri Jr. of Lindenhurst driving the last car standing in a 4/6-Cylinder Demolition Derby. Second place went to Robert Savoy of Selden and third to John Palmeri of Lindenhurst.