RPW Exclusive: The Big Show 2 Kicks Off At OCFS Sunday With Dom Roselli Jr. Victorious

Column By: JOSEPH PHILLIPS / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – The 2025 Big Series 2 at Orange County Fair Speedway finally got to complete a full show on Sunday evening.

The 106th year opener was the Joey Falanga Memorial Night, sponsored by M. Falanga Trucking.  The program hit the track with the ever popular DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds, Sportsman and Street Stocks.  This was the event originally suppose to hit the track in early May.

Fans were treated to four Modifed heats, five Sportsman heats and a couple of Street Stock qualifiers. The Mods and Sportsman each had a couple consolation races to fill out the fields.

The fourth Mod heat race saw a serious tangle in the third turn between Ryan Godown and Donnie Wilson.  Wilson faired the worst of the two with his car rolling a couple of times. Godown was able to continue, while Wilson’s night was over.

The track surface was in good shape for the features. It had bite and had multiple grooves. A cushion did built up over the course of the night and some light track maintenance was quickly handled to ensure the best surface.

Currently, New York is in an extreme heat dome with the temps pushing the mid 90’s so the heat didn’t do the track any favors.

First feature of the night was the Modified main and it was one for the ages. Jack Lehner started up front and led two thirds of the race. Stalking Lehner was Dom Roselli Jr. who was able to snatch the top spot away from the ‘Ginga Ninga’ and drive on the score the checkered flag.

While those two were battling, Alex Yankowski made a steady drive from 16th to finish the race in third. Yankowski felt that with a few more laps he would have been able to catch Roselli.

For the victor, this was his first career win in a Big Block Modified in just his third start.

In full-fender action, the Mike Traverse Street Stock class saw 22 cars take the green for their feature race.  Jim Maher in the M1 car took the win with Jack Beaumont and Jayden Sleight rounding out the podium.

The Sportsman class was the last feature to hit the track for the evening. After a couple of first lap restarts, a single file restart was called and the cars were able to get a nice rhythm going.

Brian Krummel took the win with an almost full straightaway lead over Dylan Madsen and Jeff Higham who rounded out the podium.

Krummel pointed out that Sunday was his youngest child’s eighth birthday. Fans will remember that Krummel won the Sportsman portion of last year’s Eastern States race. Hopefully ‘BK Speed’ can keep the momentum going and pick up more wins this season.

News & Notes…

Sunday night was especially poignant as the Falanga family was on hand to remember their late family member who tragically died in a motor vehicle accident in May of 2019.  He was a driver in the Sportsman, 358-Mod and Big Block Modified divisions, utilizing the number 88.  Before finding his way to full size cars, Falanga competed in go karts and was a fan favorite in anything he strapped into.

Falanga’s mother, Marsha, pointed out that Joey was well loved with over a 1,000 people attended his memorial service.

Joey’s father, Tony, said that Joey was also pushing the outside on the track. If he hit the wall, it was okay. He would just get back up there and keep trying.

“One Eastern States, Joey hit the wall hard in turn 1,” the elder Falanga said.  “He just got into the 358 and continued on with the next heat.”

In other sad news, Maxwells 31st Lap Tavern recently lost former Bartender Mark Horler. Horler had previously bartended for Maxwells for roughly ten years. Many fans attending the races took some time to speak with the current staff at the 31st Lap.

For a Sunday night, the program was run quickly and long time OCFS track announcer, Tim Pitts, certainly kept the night entertaining.  The racing was excellent with only a few cautions marring the night.

After the races, Brett Hearn, Doug Dulgarian and the team were discussing ways to make the next event even better.

The next Big Series 2 race is on July 13th, followed by Race four on August 3rd and September 7th for race five.  Concluding the season will be the historic Eastern States Weekend in October.