by Dan Laverty
After an
excellently run Old Fashioned drill the night before by the Port Washington F.D.,
everyone rubbed their eyes at the beginning of the 2012 Motorized Nassau County
Drill. Pulling onto Evergreen Avenue I was greeted by a professionally made
sign directing me to where Spectator Parking was. As I approached the Spectator
Parking area I was greeted by a member of the Port Washington F.D. who welcomed
me and directed me on where to park. This drill was well staffed and well run
by Port Washington. I would gladly attend a drill hosted by this department
anytime. This is a department that could (and should) host a State Championship
Drill in the future.
With an
overcast sky everyone was welcomed and the drill began with 3-Man Ladder. The
Carle Place Frogs were the first to run, first man Ricardo Freitas, second man
Mike Geddish and third man Joe Alfaro were called off by Willie Geddish. The
Frogs took their only point of the day with that run of 7.27. The New Hyde Park
Termites’ Phil Athenias, Mike Sovar and Frankie Sonnenberg were called off by
Mike Athenias. The Termites were coming off their win at the William St. George
Drill and ran a time of 7.13. The Roslyn Highlanders, consisting of climbers
Charlie Patino, Greg Brown and Ronnie Presti, were next to place with a time of
6.72. One of the only sub-7 runs on the day. Ronnie Presti previously ran with
The Valley Stream Misfits and recently joined the Roslyn Highlands Fire
Department. He has been a welcome addition to the team and was interviewed by
this writer on Drill Team Radio after The Highlanders took first place in
Efficiency. Ronnie is very excited to be a member of the Highlanders and they
are very glad to have him. (Click
here if you’d like to give a listen to the drill as well as the interview.)
The Westbury Turtles’ climbers Matt Raithe, John Ingram and Dougy Ingram seemed
determined and took first place with a run of 6.70. Ken Gass showed his
excitement after the run as the Turtles left the course to prepare for
B-Ladder. The Lakeview Sparks’ Freddy Senti, Peter Sherkel and Cody Marra took
fourth place with a run of 7.20. Their time might have been better if the first
man up the ladder got out of the officials way. I wrote about this previously
and I hope all the first men up the ladder take heed and stay put once the
reach the top of the arch.
The drill
transitioned right into B-Ladder with no hiccups. Fans were still filing into
the stands. I guess people wanted to have some breakfast before coming to the
drill. Maybe running near the back of the pack does give a team an advantage?
The Termites were first to place with a 6.23. Frankie Sonnenberg was the
climber and was assisted by thrower Mike Sovar. The ladder was dug into the
patch by Nick Tursi and Tim Nacewicz. Tim is no stranger to racing. His grandfather,
John Nacewicz, was one of the founders of the New Hyde Park Termites back in
the 1940’s. The host team Road Runners ran the first sub-6 run, a 5.80.
"Doc" Reese and Chris Cuomo stabbed the patch while new to the crew
Donald Smallwood layed the ladder into the arch for Kyle Lewis. Donald also did
an excellent job on Drill Team Radio the previous night for the Nassau County
Old Fashioned Drill. He will be on the air in the future I am sure. The
Glenwood Greenhorns have not filled out a team line-up so I can’t tell you who
was running for them but I can tell you they took 2 points in B-Ladder with a
run of 5.94. North Bellmore’s Corcoran brothers, Joe and Sean, climbed and
threw the ladder to give the Rinky Dinks their first points on the day with a
time of 5.72. It wasn’t until the run of the second to last team, the Westbury
Turtles, that the winner of this contest was known. Daryl Ranaldo dropped off
his ladder team and Joe Knobbi, Matt Rodden, Dougy Ingram and John Ingram did
the rest. John was given a great ladder to climb and cultivated it into a 5.39
run giving the Turtles another 5 points.
Of the fourteen
teams in attendance only ten ran C-Ladder. Starting 475 feet from the arch and
crossing the lights at the 450 feet mark (credit to GuardrailGeek for the info),
the Road Runners were the first to place with a time of 9.39. Unfortunately for
them they lost Donald "Doc" Reese for the rest of the day with a
sprained ankle. When I interviewed Donald on Drill Team Radio he informed me
that when he attempted to dig the ladder he put too much pressure on the
outside of his foot and rolled his ankle. He was taken for X-rays and returned
in an air cast to cheer on his team. Two teams later the West Hempstead
Westerners were determined to place in this event and possibly top the time of
9.18 they ran in Selden on 6/23 and the 9.21 they ran at the Joe Hunter Drill.
As hard as they tried they had to settle with a time of 9.28 and 5 points.
North Bellmore ran a 9.55 despite a crooked ladder. The Manhasset Lakeville
Minute Men ran a 10.30 bumping Carle Place into fifth place. Carle Place’s fate
was altered again when the Turtles took second place with a run of 9.36 bumping
the Frogs into sixth place.
The water
test was conducted as teams prepared for C-Hose and fans took some time to grab
refreshments and shade. As evidenced by my still sunburnt forehead, the sun was
out and making freckles. Dan Salerno dropped Donald Smallwood and Chris Cuomo
at the hydrant and Richie Cuomo and "Bones" Mahoney at the target.
Their run netted them 3 points to add to the 6 points they earned in the ladder
events. Roslyn’s Sean Brody drove his group of Highlanders down the course and
dropped Vito Lippolis, Jr. and Greg Brown at the hydrant where the excelled in
getting water into the hose. As Scott Gildea and Stan Dybus, Jr. jumped off the
rig many of us were wondering if the nozzle was going to make it to the
coupling in time. Sure enough Stan got the nozzle on and helped give his team 4
more points to add to the 4 points they obtained in 3-Man Ladder. Next to place
were the Minute Men with a 15.34. The Levittown Rebels recently had the rear
end of their truck redone by MI Performance in West Babylon. Utilizing the same
motor and the newly refurbished rear end the Rebels ran a 14.92 for fourth
place and their only points of the day. The last team to run their C-Truck had
the benefit of knowing what times they had to beat. The Turtles did their call
offs, revved their truck and took off from the starting line. Daryl Ranaldo
took the duo of Ken Gass and Matt McVie and dropped them off at the hydrant
where Ken superbly hit the hydrant and got water in the hose rather quickly.
Matt Raithe and Dan Cornell got off at the nozzle and Dan hit the target
stopping the clock. From beginning to end this run only took 12.65 seconds and gave
them another 5 points bringing their total on the day to 19, 10 points ahead of
the nearest competitor, the Road Runners with 9 points.
B-Hose did
not see any "7’s" run, the closest was the first place run by West
Hempstead with an 8.45. Westbury attempted to put up a faster time and came
pretty close with an 8.48. The Lakeview Sparks’ Cody Marra coupled the hydrant
(with no dragger) and Breaker Pete Sherkel helped out Freddy Senti and they
took third place with a 9.41. Hicksville and Glenwood rounded out the top five
with runs of 10.33 and 10.60 respectively.
At the end
of the first five contests, the Westbury Turtles had an astounding 23 points. They
hadn’t officially won the drill yet, but they were in great position to close
this one out on top. The Westerners had 10 points could win the last three
events and possibly overtake them. Port Washington had 9 points, Roslyn had 8,
North Bellmore 6, and Lakeview had 5.
Efficiency
began with the Termites running a 9.31 for 1.5 points. The Road Runners ran a
9.16 for 3 points and Glenwood ran a 9.31 to tie the Termites and receive 1.5
points. The Westerners ran a 9.14 besting the time of the Road Runners for 4
more points. Everyone was thinking that we were not going to see any runs in
the 8-second range and the 9.14 by the Westerners was going to be hard to beat.
But then Mike McCann hit the hydrant with fervor, Jordan McCann turned on the
water, Malcolm Hunter, Tim Hunter, Greg Brown and Jeff Chen all coupled and
pulled out the hose. Nozzle-man Ronnie Presti and his backup man Charlie Patino
did an excellent job at the target. It looked like a great run and it was not
until Donald "Woody" Wood from Spencerport announced the time of 8.73
that the Roslyn Highlanders knew they just did something special. They not only
took first place and 5 points but they broke their old team record of 8.76 that
was set on back in the early 2000’s at Merrick. When I went to interview
someone from Roslyn for Drill Team Radio, Stan graciously offered up Nozzle-man
Ronnie Presti. Ronnie said he was very excited to be running motorized and was
even more excited about the shot they just ran. (Once again, Click here to give a listen.)
Going into the Motor Pump contest the Westbury Turtles still had 23 points. The
Westerners had 14, Roslyn was now even closer with 13. Port Washington had 12 and
North Bellmore had 6 points.
Interestingly,
the five teams that scored in Efficiency were the same five to score in Motor
Pump. This time the Termites scored first place with a time of 6.31. Another
second place followed for the Westerners with a time of 6.39. Roslyn added to
their point count with a third place run with a time of 6.57. Port Washington
and Glenwood rounded out the top five with times of 7.00 and 7.30 respectively.
This would make it two events in a row that the Turtles did not score any
points letting the Westerners get even closer.
Going into
Buckets the Turtles still had 23 points. The Westerners were now hot on their
heels with 18, followed by Roslyn with 16 and Port Washington with 14. The
Termites were also in the top five with 10.5 points.
The Road
Runners ran a 24.70 giving them 3 more points and a third place finish in the
drill. West Hempstead ran a 23.67 which gave them 5 points tying the Turtles for
total points. North Bellmore ran a 25.56 for third place in Buckets. Oyster Bay
ran a 26.97 for their only point of the day. Now it was up to Westbury. They
had to beat a time of 27.00 if they wanted to win this drill outright. The
Turtles rose to the challenge and took fourth place in the contest, giving them
25 points on the day.
The Westbury
Turtles had first place at the 2012 Nassau County Drill all to themselves. This
is the first major motorized tournament win for them in 36 years. Their last
win was on July 7th in 1976 at Hempstead. They also won the 9th Battalion Drill
that year beating the Hicksville Hicks by 4 points.
At the end
of the drill I interviewed the Cornell brothers from Westbury for Drill Team
Radio and their smiles were as big as the 23 points they had coming out of
B-Hose.
Congrats to
the Westbury Turtles on their win. They did a fantastic job!
Here are
your 2012 Nassau County Drill champs: Ken Gass, Matt Rathe, John Ingram, Dougy
Ingram, Joe Gnobbi, Matt Rodden, Matt McVie, Dan Cornell, Jasper Skilbia, Rob
Darocha, Billy Cornell, Daryl Ranaldo, Munch, Matt Buck, Larry Topel, Vin
Abbetielo & Ken Gass, Sr.
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