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B & G Oswego Points Standings "In The Groove"..with DJ Oswego Speedway Stats |
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by Dan Johnson Familiar faces Greg Furlong, Dave Cliff and Matt Hirschman all graced victory lane at Oswego Speedway Saturday night in the Memorial Day weekend open wheel triple header. Furlong made it three winners in three weeks ain the supermodified division, as he cruised ahead of Otto Sitterly for the win in the Jim Shampine Memorial 50. Dave Cliff won for the second week in a row, and three in four weeks in the SBS Tony White Memorial 35. Matt Hirschman led all 100 laps enroute to a dominating performance in round 1 of the Race of Champions asphalt modified Tour, the Richie Evans 100. Craig Rayvals and Keith Gilliam brought the 17 car supermodified field to starter Donnie Forbes green flag, with Rayvals getting the bite on the inside for the advantage at the start. The field scrambled, all looking for racing room, trying to get to the front first. Rayvals led Jason Spalding, Gilliam, Furlong, Sitterly, Stephen Gioia, Pat Lavery, Bob Reis, Bob Magner and Tim Snyder in the early circuits. Furlong and Sitterly showed they were the cars to watch early, as they wheeled their way by the Gilliam car by lap 5, and set sail for the leaders. Furlong shot by Spalding for second on the high side in turn four, lap 5. He stayed in the outside groove, and hung the 72 to the high side of leader Rayvals on lap 8,and raced away with the point. The 72’s first lap in the top spot was clocked at 17.40, as he began to distance himself from the pack of the 94, 23 and 7 cars. It took Sitterly a few more laps to get through traffic, which proved to be the pivotal point of the race. Lap 12, Sitterly moved to third, and six laps later, he cranked by Rayvals for second, 4.09 seconds behind Furlong. For the second week in a row, the 72 and 7 were set up to battle for the feature win. Yellow came over the speedway on the 19th go round, as Shawn Muldoon’s 1 car flicked steam in the air, a true sign of an overheating engine. This caution period erased Furlong’s big lead, and put the blue #7 in the tracks of the White 72. Furlong went back to work on the restart, quickly pulling to a full second advantage. Further back, Pat Lavery made his way forward, as he wheeled by both Gilliam, then Spalding, putting the Deuce in the number four spot. Two car battles ensued over the speedway as the 72 and 7 cars raced for the lead, 94 and 2 raced for third, 23 and 24 cars wheeled for top five spots and 4 and 9 worked on each other further back. Lap 33 Jerry Curran appeared ion the top five with the Nuclear Banana, cranking his new creation by Spalding, and continuing to race against Lavery and Rayvals. Back up front, Furlong weaved in and out of traffic, opening his lead 5 car lengths over Sitterly. Bobby Magner brought out the caution with an ill handling 22 car for the third time, giving Sitterly one last chance to go after the leader. Furlong was up to the task, and staved off the challenge of the Sitterly 7, and cruised away with consistent 17.4 laps. As lap 50 flashed on the scoreboard, Furlong raced his way to career win 37 in the supermodified division at Oswego Speedway. “It was a race to the front tonight, and we just happened to get there before Otto,” the happy Furlong said after his win. “I have the best crew around, and these guys work their tails off. A few weeks ago, we took this car out of here in a basket, and tonight we won with it. Not bad for an eight year old car.” “We just missed the set up,” second running Sitterly commented. “Second tonight, a win last time, we’re definitely happy with how the year started. We’ll be back.” 20 SBS cars lined up for one of the show’s they all want to win, the Tony White Memorial, named for their fallen comrade. When the green flag unfurled to start the emotion charged 35 lapper, Cliff picked right up where he left off last race, in the lead. Cliff showed right out of the box he once again had a dominant car, as he quickly went out to a full straightaway lead. Yellow flags kept the field close, but Ricky Zeigler, Larry Muroski, Brian Sobus, Rob Pullen, Mike Bond, Jack Patrick, Kevin Knopp, Josh LaRochelle and Shawn Walker looked for racing room in the early laps. Red flag conditions stopped the racing, as a track blockage in turn four saw Brian Sobus and Tim Barbeau end up with damaged machines, ending their chances at victory. As Cliff pulled away with ease, opening night winner Mike Bond, tried to catch the #06, s he shot by Pullen to a top five position. Cliff Cruised back out to a four second lead over Muroski and Bond, while Pullen and Knopp raced for position. The leader came into race traffic on lap 23, but handled it with a cool head and calm hand, as he eased his way through the lapped cars. The lead continued to grow through the green flag laps, and Cliff was never challenged in the 35 lap feature. “This win is a big one, as Tony White built this car,” Cliff said trying to keep his emotions in check. “We wanted this one. Tony was a friend, and I can still remember that sneaky grin he had before that heat race. We miss him deeply.” The final feature of the night was always entertaining RoC modifieds, as they were lined up for 100 laps of green flag racing. Matt Hirschman picked up the heat race win early in the night, and drew the number 1 chip in the top twelve re-draw, which was a good omen for the evening. Hirschman took the lead early, and held back every challenge throughout. Dave Wollaber gave chase for the first half of the race, until Sege Fidanza worked his red #77 by the Wollaber black #5 on lap 57. A lap 69 caution for top contenders Lee Sherwood and TJ Potzrebowski tangling in turn three closed the pack up, sending some lead cars pitside. As Hirschman pulled out, fans attention shifted to Jan Leaty, on the charge after an early evening full of problems. Leaty charged on the outside lane, overcoming numerous problems, to now be a contendor for the feature win. Leaty got by Wollaber for this on lap 69, and three laps later shot by Fidanza for the runner up spot, .66 seconds behind the high flying Hirschman. Leaty closed in on the red and white 60, looking for his third straight modified win at Oswego. Hirschman was up to the task, as he thwarted the Leaty charge, and began to pull away as laps closed in on 100. Further back, Tommy Farrell was in the midst of a furious outside charge, coming back from a lap 69 pit stop. Farrell’s pink #11 found the money groove to his liking and moved to fifth by Pete Brittain on lap 95 on the high side of turn four and grabbed fourth one lap later in the same place by Wollaber. Lap 97, Farrell raced his way by Fidanza for third, but ran out of laps as he tried to catch the top duo. Hirschman’s powerful 60 remained ion control all 100 laps of the Richie Evans 100, and picked up his second win in two years at the lakeside speedway. “It’s always fun to run Oswego, just the history and prestige at Oswego, it’s an honor to run here and a great thrill to win here,” the appreciative winner said after the popular victory. “To win on a night named for Richie Evans and Jimmy Shampine, it’s a great thrill for me. I remember coming here as a kid and watching both the supers and modifieds run here. I’ve always loved coming here.” News and Notes…..34 modifieds, 18 supers and 20 SBS cars were pitside. Matt Hirschman, Tommy Farrell, Jim Storace, and Sege Fidanza won RoC heats, Larry Muroski, Dave Cliff and Tom Barbeau won SBS heats, while Otto Sitterly and Greg Furlong took checkers in supermodified heats. Ronnie Silk won the RoC B Main. Next race at Oswego Speedway is Saturday, May 31. Gates open at 4:30pm, with the first green flag at 6:30pm. On the racing card is a regular night of supermodified and SBS racing, which will have the SST modifieds in attendance as well. Admission is $10 for adults. Supermodified finish Jim Shampine Memorial 50 1)Greg Furlong 72, 2)Otto Sitterly 7, 3)Craig Rayvals 94, 4)Pat Lavery 2, 5)Jerry Curran 24, 6)Jason Spalding 23, 7)Bob Reis 4, 8)Stephen Gioia 9, 9)Lou Levea 03, 10)Hal Latulip 56, 11)Tim Snyder 0, 12)Bob Magner 22, 13)Gary Morton 99, 14)Keith Gilliam 87, 15)Mike Casey 47, 16)Shawn Muldoon 1, 17)Bob Bogwicz 09 SBS finish Tony White Memorial 35 1)Dave Cliff 06, 2)Larry Muroski 38, 3)Mike Bond 26, 4)Rob Pullen 2, 5)Kevin Knopp 04, 6)Josh LaRochelle 10, 7)Shawn Walker, 8)Rick Zeigler 25, 9)Jack Patrick 9, 10)Jason Simmons 91, 11)Stan Gates 28, 12)Dave Danzer 52, 13)Lou Levea Jr 95, 14)Guard Nearbin 1, 15)Ken Pierce 67, 16)Barry Kingley 23, 17)Dave Gruel 18, 18)Brian Sobus 79, 19)Tim Barbeau 50, 20) Krieg Heroth 46 RoC Modifieds finish Richie Evans Memorial 100 FINISH; 1)Matt Hirschman 60, 2)Jan Leaty 6, 3)Tommy Farrell, III 11, 4)Sege Fidanza 77, 5)Pete Brittain 66, 6)Dave Wollaber 5, 7)Daren Scherer 3, 8)Ronnie Silk 79, 9)Ryan Preece 40, 10)John Markovic 95, 11)Rusty Smith 34, 12)Tommy Kinsella 3, 13)Billy Putney 88, 14)Dean Rypkema 24, 15)Rowan Pinnink 93, 16)Steven Reed 55, 17)Rick Kluth 44, 18)Mike Leaty 25, 19)Jimmy Zacharias 71, 20)Todd Smith 52, 21)TJ Potrzebowski 72, 22)Lee Sherwood 95, 23)Vern LaFave 97, 24)Doug Reaume 14, 25)Wilbur Hebing 66. DNS; Jim Storace DNQ’S; JR Swansbrough, Bobby Jones, Todd Baer, Chris Risdale, Ken Canestrari, Matt Clemens, Mark Tychoniewicz, Eric Beers, Dick Kluth. LAP LEADERS; Hirschman ( 1 – 100 ). |
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by Dan Johnson Speedway regulars Otto Sitterly and Dave Cliff each recovered from sub par opening days to record victories at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. Sitterly started the 45 lap supermodified race from the outside front row, and led all 45 laps enroute to the convincing victory. While it was Sitterly’s ninth career supermodified win, it was the first for car owner John Nicotra. Cliff grabbed the lead from Bill Moore on lap 2 of the SBS feature, and held back Stan Gates enroute to the popular victory. The victory was the 4th time Cliff has visited victory lane at Oswego, including the 100 lap Nationals last year. Stephen Gioia and Sitterly paced the sleek supermodifieds to Donnie Forbes green flag. After an initial jingle on the start, more of a precautionary yellow, the feature race went all 45 laps, green to checkered flags. Gioia jumped out to the quick lead, with Sitterly lurking on the outside. As they raced into turn three, Sitterly powered the blue #7 alongside the Gioia 9, and came out of turn four with the lead. Gioia fell in behind as Greg Furlong, Pat Lavery, Bob Reis, Jason Spalding, Keith Gilliam, Shawn Muldoon, Bobby Magner, Lou Levea and Jerry Curran gave chase. Defending speedway champion Furlong wheeled by Gioia along the grandstand straightaway on lap 5 to take over the runner up spot, five lengths behind leader Sitterly, who was stopping watches at a consistent 17.8 clip. As the field strung out, two car battles developed as Sitterly and Furlong raced for the lead, Gioia and Lavery waged war for third, and Bob Reis and Shawn Muldoon went at it for fifth. By lap 16, Sitterly pulled out to a 1.18 second advantage, as Furlong’s 72 began to fade as green flag laps continued to click off. Sitterly quickened the race pace, as the circled the 5/8’s at 17.48 and 17.53 laps, with Furlong turning in 17.7 laps. Just past the halfway mark of the race, Sitterly’s Nictora owned #7, with a two second lead over second place, came upon lapped traffic for the first time of the feature. The high line was the preferred path for the race leader, as he patiently weaved his way through the slower supermodifieds. Once clear of traffic, Sitterly’s lead grew to 4.59 seconds. Further back in the pack, Muldoon out drag raced Reis to the first corner on lap 29, for a top five spot. Lap 37 saw Lavery’s patience prevail as he pinned Gioia behind the Spalding 23, and made the move by in turn two for the show spot. The scoreboard now read Sitterly, Furlong, Lavery, Gioia, and Muldoon. Sitterly remained in control of the race, as laps wound down to “45”. He circled the track one last time at a 17.7 pace, and cruised under the checkered flag 3.77 seconds ahead of the Furlong 72. After taking the checkered flag, Sitterly’s 7 came to victory lane to the boisterous ovation from the grandstands. “The car seems to be ok, we made an adjustment for the feature, and that turned it in the right direction. It wasn’t great, but it was pretty driveable,” the happy winner said. “I wasn’t sure what I had in the feature, but once the tires came in, it was a good car. I have to thank my crew, Doug Holmes, and of course, Johnny Nicotra.” Billy Moore and Krieg Heroth came to the green flag for the SBS 30 lap main event, with Moore nabbing the lad at the takeoff. Cliff started in row two behind Moore, and followed the leader through for the second spot. A spin on lap one brought out the yellow flag. On the restart, Cliff wheeled the 06 on the inside of the Moore 7 for the lead on the front straightaway. Cliff quickly pulled away, as he turned in a 19.67 his first lap up front. Stan Gates came through, and raced his way to second place, giving chase to Cliff. Further back, a furious race for third place broke out as Larry Muroski, Tim Barbeau, Shawn Walker, Josh LaRochelle, Heroth, Kevin Knopp, Rob Pullen and Brian Sobus raced side by side four rows deep for position. As these eight cars raced for third, the leaders broke away and pulled out more each lap. Cliff and Gates turned in 19.6 laps, as they stretched the lead up to a full straightaway by the halfway point of the race. As rhe Cliff and Gates cars seemed to be joy riding for the lead, Muroski and Barbeau were the two to break away, while Knopp, Sobus and Bond were next in line, as they all raced for top five positions. Ricky Ziegler slapped the turn four wall on lap 21, erasing the 10 second gap the 06 and 28 built up. Cliff and Gates broke away again, with Knopp and Bond sweeping by Barbeau for fourth and fifth. Two laps later, Muroski lost the handle on the 58, losing third spot. Cliff responded with another good restart, and Gates followed. Gates couldn’t mount a challenge, and Dave Cliff raced his way to his fourth career Oswego feature win, .29 seconds ahead of Gates. “After wrecking the new car last week, we brought out the old car, and it ran great,” the SBS winner said after his convincing victory. “The guys on the crew did a great job, and this is a much better feeling than where we were last week. News and Notes…..13 supermodifieds and 18 SBS cars were pitside. Stephen Gioia and Pat Lavery won supermodified heat races, with Tim Barbeau, Dave Cliff and Billy Moore won SBS heat races. Jerry Curran debuted his new supermodified. Craig Rayvals crashed his supermodified in his heat race after a suspension part broke when the race started. No racing at Oswego Speedway this weekend, with racing resuming Memorial Day Weekend as the supermodifieds, SBS cars, and RoC modifieds run the Jim Shampine, Tony White and Richie Evans memorial races respectively. Gates open Saturday May 24th at 1:30pm, with the first heat race at 4:00pm. SBS 30 finish 1)Dave Cliff 06, 2)Stan Gates 28, 3)Kevin Knopp 04, 4)Mike Bond 26, 5)Tim Barbeau 50, 6)Brian Sobus 79, 7)Shawn Walker 68, 8)Rob Pullen 2, 9)Josh LaRochelle 10, 10)Dave Gruel 18, 11)Jack Patrick 9, 12)Jason Simmons 91, 13)Larry Muroski 38, 14)Krieg Heroth, 15)Lou Levea Jr 95, 16)Rick Zeigler 25, 17)Guard Hearbin 1, 18)Bill Moore 7. Supermodified 45 finish 1)Otto Sitterly 7, 2)Greg Furlong 72, 3)Pat Lavery 2, 4)Stephen Gioia 9, 5)Shawn Muldoon 1, 6)Bob Reis 4, 7)Keith Gilliam 87, 8)Bob Magner 22, 9)Jason Spalding 23, 10)Lou Levea 03, 11)Jerry Curran 24. |
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by Dan Johnson Two names familiar to victory lane at Oswego Speedway, Shullick and Bond, kicked off the 2008 season at the lakeside oval with impressive wins. Dave Shullick Jr raced to his third winged supermodified feature win at Oswego, as he inherited the top spot when ACME Racing team mate Moe Lilje encountered engine problems while leading. Shullick stayed ahead of fellow Ohioan’s Tim Jedrzejek and Charlie Schultz in the finish of the 40 lap MSA-Oswego wings race. Mike Bond proved he is a force to deal with in the SBS class, as he completely dominated the companion 30 lap race. Bond started 11th, took the lead on lap 7 and raced away for the dominating 5.1 second win. Both Shullick and Bond started their respective features from position number 11. Ohio drivers, both heat race winners, Moe Lilje and Jack Smith paced the 26 car supermodified field to Bobby Hayduk’s green flag. Lilje shot out to the lead, as he raced away from his inside starting spot. Shullick had fans attention early in the 40 lapper, as he raced his way from his 11th to seventh in the first three laps. Lilje held the top spot with Randy Burch, Jack Smith, Greg Furlong, Keith Gilliam, Randy Ritskes, Shullick, Kelly Miller, Charlie Schultz and Timmy Jedrzejek early on. Lilje lapped the speedway at 16.71 clips, as he built a 10 car length advantage over the heavy hitters in the field. Ritskes worked his way by Gilliam, and set sail for the top four. Lilje held his lead, while the quartet of Burch, Furlong, Ritskes and Shullick battled among themselves for position. Kelly Miller, running sixth, began to chop the distance down, and looked to make it a five car battle for second. Lap 14, Lilje came into traffic for the first time, and was bottled up for two laps, as the second place battle began to cut into his lead. Lap 14, the complexion of the race changed dramatically. As they raced around a lapped car, the top five cars of Burch, Ritskes and Furlong collided, with all three making heavy contact with the front straightaway wall. As Ritskes unbuckled from the disabled Soule 32, a fuel leak developed, with a spark igniting a blaze. Quick thinking track safety officials were all ready on the scene, and extinguished the flame as it appeared. None of the drivers were injured, but all three cars were severely damaged. After the lengthy clean up effort, racing resumed with a new top five. Lilje now lead team mate Shullick, with Kelly Miller third, Jedzrejek fourth and Schultz in fifth. Lap 18, as he raced along the front straightaway, Lilje’s 19 developed an engine malfunction, sidelining the leader of the race. Shullick took control from there. Jedzrejek and Schultz got by Miller, and tried to catch the high flying leader, who stopped clocks with 16.21 and 16.26 laps. Jedzrejek began to close the gap to Shullick, as he erased the .52 second lead in a handful of laps, racing to the back bumper of the 49 machine. Jedzrejek tried a couple of times to get by the Shullick machine, to no avail. A debris caution on lap 35 slowed the field. The debris proved to be second running Jedzrejek’s nose wing, and as Timmy later said, “I knew we were done after that. I was tightening up, and I just didn’t have anything for DJ after the nose wing came off.” With 5 to go, Shullick took off when the green flag came out, and raced away unchallenged the remainder of the race. Jedzrejek fell back, and finished almost 3 seconds behind, with Schultz third, sweeping the podium for the MSA regulars. “I just love coming here!,” the winner exclaimed in victory lane. “Moe was running really well, and he’s going to get his wins. My dad has five wins here, now I have three. Hopefully we can begin to catch up with him.” “DJ is the King of the MSA right now,” second place finisher Jedzrejek said. “Second on opening day is a good way to start the season, we just have to find a way to chase DJ down a bit.” “We’re getting there,” a happy Schultz said in third. “Early it didn’t look like we were in good shape, but between our car coming in, and others falling out, we’ll take another third.” SBS regulars Kenny Pierce and Shawn Walker started up front for the first feature race of the year. Walker darted out to the lead, as the field scattered behind looking for racing room. Dave Gruel, Tim Barbeau and Jack Patrick elected to use the high side of the speedway to work forward, while Mike Bond and Larry Muroski went to the low side. All eyes were on Bond from the get go, as the 26 was on a mission from the start. From starting spot 11, Bond went high and low to move up to fourth by lap 5. The next circuit, he blew by Pierce, Jack Patrick and Stan Gates to move up to second. Lap 6, he pulled side by side with Walker in turn four, and had the top spot by the time they drag raced along the grandstand straightaway. Bond’s first lap in the lead was clocked at 19.63, and he quickly distanced himself from the field. Bond’s team mate Rick Zeigler brought out the yellow flag on lap 10, as he made contact with the inside fourth turn wall. When racing resumed, Bond went back to work and checked out from the pack. At the halfway point, lap 15, Bond’s lead was up to 1.61 seconds, as he clocked in a 19.68 circuit. Rob Pullen began to make his presence felt, as the Deuce came around. He wheeled by Dave Gruel on lap 16 for fourth place, and grabbed third the next time by, disposing of Gates. Lap 20, As Pulled tried to keep moving up, contact with the second running Shawn Walker car sent the Pullen 2 to the outside turn two wall, ending his charge on the back of a tow truck. That caution flag wiped out the 4.47 second lead Bond had built. Following the dominating 26 car on this restart were Walker, Gates, Kevin Knopp, Josh Larochelle, Brian Sobus, Jack Patrick. Lou Levea Jr and Jason Spalding were the only other cars on the racing surface at this point of the feature. Walker fell back on the take off, as Bond blew away once again. Knopp and Sobus raced their way forward, but neither had enough to catch Mike Bond in the afternoon opener. As the scoreboard flashed “30”, Bond drove under the checkered flag more than 5 seconds ahead of Knopp and Sobus. “We started off the year right,” Bond said in the understatement of the day. “I’d like to thank the guys on the crew, they really turned all the wrenches right, and really put a good set up under me.” News and Notes…….28 supermodified and 20 SBS cars were on hand for opening day. In supermodified time trials, Timmy Jedrzejek set a new track record with a 15.542 lap, erasing Bentley Warren’s track record that has held upfor 15 years. SBS heat race wins went to Larry Muroski, Shawn Walker, and Stan Gates. Supermodified heat race wins were taken by Moe Lilje, Jack Smith and Greg Furlong. Practice crashes were severe in the supermodified division as Craig Rayvals totally damaged his 94 car after the throttle hung on the back straightaway. Rayvals slammed the third turn wall with great force. Mike Casey severely damaged his 11 Saturday with a fourth turn wall shot, requiring Casey to be transported to a Syracuse hospital for observation. He returned to the track for Sunday’s action. Racing resumes this Saturday night at Oswego Speedway, with a regular night of action of qualifiers and a 30 lap SBS feature and 45 lap supermodified feature event. Gates open at 4:30pm with the first green flag at 6:30pm. Finish SBS 30 1)Mike Bond 26, 2)Kevin Knopp 04, 3)Brian Sobus 79, 4)Josh Larochelle 10, 5)Shawn Walker 68, 6)Jack Patrick 9, 7)Lou Levea Jr. 95, 8)Stan Gates 28, 9)Jason Simmons 91, 10)Rob Pullen 2, 11)Dave Gruel 18, 12)Ken Pierce 67, 13)Larry Muroski 38, 14)Tim Barbeau 50, 15)Barry Kingsley 23, 16)Krieg Heroth 46, 17)Rick Zeigler 25, 18)Bill Moore 7, 19)Guard Nearbin 1 Finish MSA-Oswego Wings 40 1)Dave Shullick Jr 49, 2)Timmy Jedzrejek 8, 3)Charlie Schultz 7, 4)Denny Fisher 81, 5)Bob Bond 25, 6)Jack Smith 09, 7)Jason Spalding 23, 8)Bobby Dawson 28, 9)Shawn Muldoon 1, 10)Otto Sitterly 7, 11)Keith Gilliam 87, 12)Pat Lavery 2, 13)Stephen Gioia 9, 14)Bobby Magner 22, 15)Kelly Miller 16, 16)AJ Russell 70, 17)Moe Lilje 19, 18)Randy Burch 52, 19)Greg Furlong 72, 20)Randy Ritskes 32, 21)Joe Gosek 00, 22)Matt Palmer 21, 23)Robbie Summer 97, 24)Lou Levea 03, 25)Craig Reed 12 |
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by Dan Johnson Joe Gosek and Dave Gruel showed the way at Oswego Speedway Saturday night as they picked up the feature wins in the supermodified and SBS divisions respectively. For Gosek, it was his fourth win of the year, while Gruel picked up feature win number thereof 2007. The feature wins for both drivers helped give them the top spot for feature wins in 2007 for their divisions. Two of the most famous names in supermodified - Gioia and Shampine, racing paced the field to starter Donnie Forbes green flag. Keith Shampine shot out to the lead as they reached the start finish line, as the field quickly shuffled into single file behind the #85. Greg Furlong made the first move to get to the front, as he pulled his #72 by heat race winner Bob Reis #4 machine. Otto Sitterly’s 6 car slowed early in the race, with the driver bringing the car pitside shortly, out of the race. Furlong continued forward, as he picked off Stephen Gioia on lap 8, bringing Joe Gosek along for the ride. The duo was 10 lengths behind leader Shampine, who was turning 17.4 laps up front Two laps later, the 72 and 00 cars chased down Shampine, and began challenging for the lead. Lap 13, the complexion of the race changed, as Furlong, who was going for the lead on the 85, spun the #72 in turn three. The car just came around on Furlong, who then went from second place, to the back of the pack. This caution put the 00 on Shampine’s back bumper for the restart. As the race went green, something on the Shampine 85 apparently broke, as the car touched the outside front straightaway wall. The car then continued on to the wall in turn two, with extensive front end damage to what was the leader’s machine. The crew will have an extensive front end rebuild, as the International Classic is only two weeks away. Gosek inherited the lead, with Gioia, Tim Snyder, Craig Rayvals and Michael Barnes in tow. Snyder jumped by Gioia on the restart, as the scoreboard now read 00 - 0. Barnes made his presence felt, as he began to weave the Double Deuce to the front. First, he wheeled by Rayvals for fourth, and in the same lap, chased by Gioia’s 9 car for third spot, behind only Gosek and Snyder. In the meantime, Gosek pulled ahead by a full straightaway, just five laps after the restart. Just a few laps later, Barnes kept up his charge as he eliminated the one car between him and the leader, as the 22 cranked by Snyder on the front straightaway, lap 20. He was a full straightaway behind Gosek, and had half the race to catch him. It appeared he would need a yellow flag to catch the high flying 00. Further back, Bobby Bond weaved his way through the field as he raced his Xtreme Chassis #25 to fourth spot. Gosek and Bond raced wheel to wheel for third spot. Back up front, Gosek came into heavy lapped traffic, as Barnes chopped away at the lead. Three tenths of a second per lap was the clip that Barnes cut into the lead. Gosek caught sixth place Gioia and put the 9 a lap down with 10 to go. At that lap 35 point, Barnes continued to chop away at the lead, as it was down to half a straightaway. The caution flag Barnes needed didn’t come out, as the 22 cut away at the lead the hard way. Barnes erased the lead, and with two laps to go, it was a bumper to bumper race between the 00 and 22 for the win. As the white flag was readied, Barnes tried and inside move coming out of turn four for the lead. As he went for the top spot, the 22 broke traction coming out of the turn, and Barnes had to back out. Gosek continued to lead, but Barnes never gave up. He set himself up for one last chance. As they came out of turn four for the checkered flag, Barnes again tried the low move. Again, the car didn’t stick, with Barnes backing out, and Gosek just racing ahead for the checkered flag. Gosek took the win, about two tenths of a second ahead of Barnes. Snyder held on for third, with Bond in fourth and Rayvals in fifth. “ It wasn’t as good, or Barnsey was a lot better,” the four time winner of 2007 said in Victory Lane after the race. “I figured I would stay low, protect the bottom and make him go high around me. If he could, more power to him. He was running two or three tenths better than I was. We got the job done, and we’re in one piece.” Stan Gates and Star Matteson brought the SBS cars to the green flag, with Gates taking the top spot at the green flag. Dave Gruel started in row three and raced to the lead quickly. Lap 4 saw the 18 race his way to the top spot by Gates, and Gruel raced away seemingly at will. Three caution flags at lap 10 bunched the field to Gruel’s bumper, but he never gave up the top spot. Rob Pullen tried two different occasions on restarts to get by the 18, but to no avail. Gruel raced away at each restart, not giving anyone a chance at the win. At lap 30, Gruel picked up his series leading thirds win of the year, almost a full second ahead of Pullen. “We brought the car to Ray this week and he really helped us out a lot,” the winner said. “He found something we needed help with, and it really turned the car around.” News and Notes…..Dave Gruel, Alan Barker and Russ Brown won SBS heats, while Bob Reis and Bob Bond won supermodified heat races. Second point man in SBS, Brian Sobus got the 79 upside down in the heat race, as he was caught up in the multi car jingle. Brian returned later for the feature. Chris Perley swept the ISMA weekend in New England. Mikey Ordway picked up a guaranteed Classic spot, virtue of his second place finish, behind Perley at Lee on Friday night. Greg Furlong and Russ Brown picked up their fourth track championships in 2007. Supermodified finish 1) Joe Gosek 00, 2)Michael Barnes 22, 3)Tim Snyder 0, 4)Bob Bond 25, 5)Craig Rayvals 95, 6)Stephen Gioia 9, 7)Bob Reis 4, 8) Jason Spaulding 23, 9)Keith Gilliam 87, 10) Pat Lavery 99, 11)Howard Page 18, 12)Greg Furlong 72, 13)Hal LaTulip 56, 14) Mike Casey 11, 15)Dave Halstead 34, 16.)Keith Shampine 85, 17)Otto Sitterly 6. SBS finish 1)Dave Gruel 18, 2)Rob Pullen 2 , 3)Mike Bond 26, 4)Kevin Knopp 04, 5)Alan Barker 60, 6)Russ Brown 13, 7)Josh Larochelle 10, 8)Tim Barbeau 50, 9)Stan Gates 28, 10)Rick Zeigler 25, 11)Mark Regan 4, 12)Ken Pierce 67, 13)Chris Natoli 33, 14)Brian Sobus 79, 15)Danny Kapuscinski 05, 16)Jack Patrick 9, 17)Jason Simmons 91, 18)Star Matteson 82, 19)Criag Heroth 46, 20)Larry Muroski 38, 21)Dave Cliff 06, 22)Bill Moore 7, 23)Shawn Walker 68, 24)Eddie Horne 01, 25)Mike Farrow 70, 26)Ryan Coleman 29 |
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by Dan Johnson Joe Gosek and Josh Larochelle each broke recent strings of bad luck as they collected the checkered flag in Oswego Speedway feature races Saturday night. In supermodified action, Gosek started sixth, took the lead on lap eight from Pat Lavery and held back Michael Barnes for his third win of the season. Larochelle moved to the front row after an initial start accident, grabbed the lead at the start and led all 30 laps in the SBS feature. Pat Lavery and Jason Spaulding led the parade down to Bruce Lee’s green flag for the 45 lap supermodified feature. Lavery shot out to the point, but the pack was shifting high and low to come through early. Bobby Bond went to the inside, while Otto Sitterly and Doug Didero chose the high side of the speedway to move through. Tim Snyder and Gosek moved into the top three early as they raced in the outer groove by Barnes and Spaulding. Gosek picked his way by Snyder on lap six on the grandstand straightaway for second place. Two laps later, in the same spot, he raced by Lavery for the lead and tried to raced away from everyone else. In just a couple of laps, Gosek built up a 10 car length edge over Lavery. Barnes tried not to let Gosek get too far ahead, as he moved to third on lap 9. After a pair of restarts, Barnes finally made his pass of Lavery stick on lap 12. Didero stayed in contact, moving the Booth 61 to third just a few laps later, bringing Bond along for the ride. The top five on the scoreboard now read Gosek, Barnes, Didero, Bond and Lavery. Gosek stopped clocks at 17.08 and 17.05, showing he was going to be tough to catch in this 45 lapper. Just a bit further back, Spaulding, Otto Sitterly and Greg Furlong had the best battle in the race track going, as they went at it high and low for spots just out of the top five. Barnes began to chop away at Gosek’s lead, and within a few laps they raced bumper to bumper through the lapped traffic. Craig Rayvals and Tim Gareau came to a rest in turn two on lap 26, bringing out a caution flag and bunching up the field. Gosek blasted away on the restart, and began to build a lead. Further back, Otto Sitterly made his first appearance in the top five as he shot by Lavery on the take off. Gosek turned in some tof the fastest feature laps of the year in this stretch, as 16.92 and 16.86 were showing for laps from the 00. Barnes and Didero turned similar times, but Gosek held the advantage. The field remained spread out, and the caution flag never came out in the final stretch, as Joe Gosek staved off Barnes and Didero’s threat to come away with win #3 on th year. “We had a rough stretch, but the guys kept working hard,” Joe said after the satisfying win. “The car has always been fast, but we just haven’t been on the track at the end of too many of these.” Star Matteson and Danny Kapuscinski started the SBS 30 lap main from the front row. The race wasn’t a laps old, when Matteson’s 82 made contact with the turn two wall, and was hooked off the speedway. This accident brought the 10 of Josh Larochelle to the front row for the restart. Larochelle took full advantage of this, and took control like a cagey veteran. Larochelle took the lead when the green flag start the race, with Danny K, Brian Sobus, Kevin Knopp, and Dave Cliff rounding out the top five early. Larochelle had a comfortable lead, as he was ahead by a few car lengths with no one seriously challenging the point. Tim Barbeau and Jack Patrick made their way free of traffic, and began to challenge the top five positions. The race was slowed on lap 14, as second running Danny K met the third turn foam with his #05, after turning in his best performance of the year in the machine. Danny was all right, but the car went off the speedway on the hook. On the restart Larochelle, Knopp, Sobus, Barbeau and Patrick pulled away, and it was apparent this race would be settled between these top five machines. Patrick worked by Barbeau for fourth, and brought Mike Bond and Russ Brown along for the ride. Back up front, it was all Josh Larochelle. He pulled the 10 car out to a comfortable advantage, and circled the speedway in consistent 19.32 laps. The field couldn’t do anything with the leader, and he drove under the checkered flag .31 seconds ahead of Knopp and Sobus. “I have to thank my dad and crew for all the work they put in to the car,” the happy winner said after win #2 on the year. “These guys make all the difference, and that’s where the race is won, in the shop. News and Notes…..Danny K., Kevin Knopp and Josh Larochelle won SBS heat races, while Doug Didero and Michael Barnes won supermodified qualifiers. Greg Furlong and Russ Brown keep the point leads, with one point race remaining. This weekend is the final point show which is a regular night, super 45 and SBS 30. Gates open at 5pm, with time trials set to go off at 6:30pm. Supermodified finish 1)Joe Gosek 00, 2)Michael Barnes 22, 3)Doug Didero 61, 4)Bob Bond 25, 5)Otto Sitterly 6, 6)Pat Lavery 99, 7)Greg Furlong 72, 8)Tim Snyder 0, 9)Jason Spaulding 23, 10)Keith Shampine 85, 11)Hal Latulip 56, 12)Mike Casey 11, 13)Tim Gareau 5, 14)Craig Rayvals 95, 15)Shawn Muldoon 1, 16)Stephen Gioia 9, 17_Joe Chilemmi 03. SBS finish 1)Josh Larochelle 10, 2)Kevin Knopp 04, 3)Brian Sobus 79, 4)Jack Patrick 9, 5)Russ Brown 13, 6)Mike Bond 26, 7)Tim Barbeau 50, 8)Larry Muroski 38, 9)Dave Cliff 06, 10)Mark Regan 4, 11)Jason Simmons 91, 12)Shawn Walker 68, 13)Dave Gruel 18, 14)Rob Pullen 2, 15)Stan Gates 28, 16)Rick Zeigler 25, 17)Craig Heroth 46, 18)Barry Kingsley 23, 19)Ken Pierce 67, 20)Alan Barker 60, 21)Gregg Davis 89, 22)Eddie Horne 01, 23)Danny Kapusinski 05, 24)Bill Moore 7, 25)Star Matteson 82 |
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by Dan Johnson Veteran drivers Greg Furlong and Mark Regan picked up hard earned big dollar wins Saturday night at Oswego Speedway in the Mr. Supermodified/Mr. SBS event. Furlong played a high speed game of chicken with Otto Sitterly on a mid race restart to take the lead and go on for the $10,000 victory, while Regan held back Rob Pullen and Brian Sobus through a caution plagued 35 lap SBS $1500 payday. Keith Shampine and Craig Rayvals paced the 19 car field as they came to Donnie Forbes green flag. Rayvals grabbed the early lead, and shot out ahead in the early stages. Defending Mr. Supermodified champion Otto Sitterly made the first move to the front as he brought the blue #6 up the line and grabbed the lead from Rayvals on lap as they weaved through traffic. Greg Furlong and Bobby Bond raced their way through traffic, and it the race for second was the best battle on the speedway. The 6, 72 and 25 raced hard for second spot, and began to chop down the lead Rayvals built early. The trio easily distanced themselves from the rest of the field behind as they chased down the 95, as they entertained the over 4000 fans in the grandstand. The furious battle behind for the lead was slowed on lap 9 as contenders Joe Gosek, Tm Snyder, Stephen Gioia and Pat Lavery were all involved in a back straightaway accident which saw race ending damage occur to all 4 cars involved. All the drivers were uninjured, but the cars were done for the race. This restart saw Sitterly grab away the lead from Rayvals with an inside move in turn one, bringing Furlong with him as they sent Rayvals back to third. Bond didn’t let the 6 and 72 get too far away, as he shot by Rayvals on lap 14 for third place. Sitterly, Furlong and Bond began to show the capacity crowd this race was going to be decided between the three of them, as they raced away from the pack. The trio raced high and low through traffic, stopping watches at a 17.43 clip, even in the thick traffic. Caution slowed the furious pace on lap 19, as Shawn Muldoon and Jason Spalding found the third turn outside wall with their 1 and 23 machines. Both cars were out for the night after finding the boiler plate wall. Furlong got the bite on this restart as they raced out of turn four. He pulled the 72 to the inside on the take off, and it was a drag race to the first turn for the race lead. Furlong got the line first, and Sitterly hd to back out as the 72 took the race lead. He didn’t get away, as Sitterly and Bond stayed right in the tire tracks of the 72, just waiting for a slip up. As the 72, 6 and 25 raced for the lead, Rayvals, Shampine Bob Reis and Doug Heveron race for position about 10 seconds behind, as they race reached the halfway point. Lap 25, Furlong stopped watches at 17.28, as Sitterly and Bond cooled their tires looking for another opening. Traffic on lap 32 saw Sitterly try and use the slower cars to pin the leader. Sitterly tried high and low, while Bond waited patiently for an opening. Furlong picked his way through the traffic, never losing his lead through the lapped traffic. The leaders lapped their way up through the top five cars, as they weaved by Heveron, Reis and Shampine, as laps clicked off the scoreboard. Lap 43, Bond’s 25 moved into the runner up spot and he went to the inside of Sitterly in turn three, and had fans on their feet cheering for the Mexico driver as he looked for his first career supermodified victory. He quickly caught Furlong, and perched himself on the back bumper of the 72 with five laps to go. Bond looked high and low through the slower cars, looking for any opening to shoot his way to the lead. Furlong played his hand like the veteran he is, making all the right moves through the traffic. Bond drew even at times, but couldn’t get by, having to back out at the last minute. As the checkered flag came out, Furlong remained just ahead of Bond, picking up another Mr. Supermodified title. Bond held on for second, with Sitterly in third. Rayvals was the last car on the lead lap in fourth, with Keith Shampine picking up another top five, bringing the #85 home in fifth. “The fastest car didn’t win tonight,” Furlong admitted in Victory Lane. “The bar is raised here, and everything has to be right for someone to win a race here. The 61 was fast tonight, Joe would have been tough and then Otto and Bob. A win here is a tough thing to come by.” Four was the magic number in the Mr. SBS 35 lap feature. There were four caution flags before one lap was completed, as drivers were a bit anxious at the start of this race. Career SBS point leader Mark Regan drives car #4, taking over the driving chores for the White family since Tony’s passing. Regan’s car 4, started in position #4 in the feature race as well. Finally, there was a four car battle for the race win as the top four cars all finished within ¾’s of a second. On the fifth start before a lap was complete, Jason Simmons raced his way to the point. Pullen grabbed the lead from Simmons on lap 7 in turn four, bringing Regan along with him as the 2 and 4 tried to race away. Dave Gruel stayed in contact s the 18 was working on the high side of the speedway. The move for the lead came on lap 11, as Regan pulled the #4 to the outside on the grandstand straightaway, and Regan was now the driver in control of the race. Pullen and Gruel swapped second a pair of times, as Regan began to distance himself a bit from the pack. At the halfway point, Regan held the lead over, Pullen, Gruel, Simmons, Larry Muroski, Brian Sobus, Russ Brown, Mike Bond and Tim Barbeau. Accidents over the next handful of laps sidelined Brown and Barbeau. Sobus worked his way to the top three, as he 79 worked well on the high side of the track. Regan showed this race was his to win, as he kept a comfortable distance ahead on each restart. Pullen couldn’t seriously contend for the lead, as he had a battle with Sobus to hold on to second. This race was Mark Regan’s. He raced under the checkered flag, taking home his first ever Mr. SBS title. Mark is one of the original drivers since the division started, and has been in the class since the inception. Pullen and Sobus followed the 4car, with Gruel and Bond in fourth and fifth. “This one is for Wayne and Debbie,” an emotional Regan dedicated in victory lane. “We’ve wanted to get a win for them and for Wayne for a while now, and with retirement coming, I‘m glad I got one for them. This is a very big win for us, and we couldn’t be happier. News and Notes…..20 supermodifieds and 282 SBS cars were pitside Saturday. Rob Pullen, Josh Larochelle, and Russ Brown won SBS heats, while Joe Gosek, Otto Sitterly and Doug Didero won supermodified heat races. Greg Furlong’s win gave him the final guaranteed starting spot for the International Classic. The originally scheduled PRA show for Friday night is cancelled. A regular show of supermodifieds and SBS cars is now on the schedule for Saturday night. Gates open at 5pm, with the first heat race at 6:30pm. Supermodified finish 1)Greg Furlong 72, 2)Bob Bond 25, 3)Otto Sitterly 6, 4)Craig Rayvals 95, 5)Keith Shampine 85, 6)Doug Heveron 01, 7)Bob Reis 4, 8)Hal Latulip 56, 9)Mark Sammutt 78, 10)Mike Casey 11, 11)Michael Barnes 22, 12)Kelly Miller 03, 13)Shawn Muldoon 1, 14)Jason Spalding 23, 15)Tim Snyder 0, 16)Stephen Gioia 9, 17)Pat Lavery 99, 18)Joe Gosek 00 SBS finish 1)Mark Regan 4, 2)Rob Pullen 2, 3)Brian Sobus 79, 4)Dave Gruel 18, 5)Mike Bond 26, 6)Larry Muroski 38, 7)Jason Spalding 91, 8)Russ Brown 13, 9)Kevin Knopp 04, 10)Dave Cliff 06, 11)Shawn Walker 68, 12)Jay Andrews 93, 13)Eddie Horne 01, 14)Tim Barbeau 50, 15)Jack Patrick 9, 16)Dave Danzer 52, 17)Barry Kingsley 23, 18)Stan Gates 28, 19)Danny Kapuscinski 05, 20)Star Matteson 82, 21)Josh Larochelle 10, 22)Alan Barker 60, 23)Ryan Coleman 29, 24)Rick Zeigler 25, 25)Chris Natoli 33, 26)Ken Pierce 67 |
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by Dan Johnson Doug Didero, Mike Bond, and Bill Hebing all picked up impressive wins in the open wheel tripleheader at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. Didero grabbed his first Oswego win in over two years after a spirited battle with Joe Gosek in the 45 lap supermodified feature, while Mike Bond held off the advances of Alan Barker and Russ Brown throughout the 30 lap SBS main. Hebing led all 75 laps of the RoC feature giving both him and car owner Kenny Troyer their first Oswego wins. Due to a rash of sub par finishes, Joe Gosek and Otto Sitterly started up front for the 45 lap supermodified race. Gosek quickly raced away with the lead, as the rest of the 20 car field shuffled behind. Greg Furlong and Doug Didero elected to go to the inside lane to move forward, while Tim Snyder and Michael Barnes went to the outside. The only yellow flag of the race came out on lap three, as Keith Shampine’s 85 came to rest against the first turn inside wall after contact from another machine. The left front of the 85 was banged up, ending Keith;s night. Gosek shot back out to a comfortable lead, as Didero began to weave his way through. The 61 shot by Sitterly on the restart to move to third. Furlong followed Didero through the whole, trying to remain in contact with the leaders. Three laps later, Didero took over second, wheeling by the Bob Bond #25. Didero’s 61 was now 10 car lengths behind the 00, as the pair approached lapped traffic. Once they came to the slower cars, the 00 and 61 raced bumper to bumper at a 16.89 clip, looking to get by the slower machines. The next few laps was some of the most exciting the speedway has seen in a few years. Lap 15, Didero pinned the Gosek car behind Pat Lavery’s 99 in turn three, and shot the 61 to the inside to the lead. Before the lap was complete, Gosek shot the 00 under the 61 to take the spot back. Seconds after surrendering the lead, Didero took it back from Gosek. The lead changed hands twice within a lap. Didero quickly clocked in a 16.62 lap, and pulled out to a 1.83 second lead. Furlong chased down the Bond 25,and raced his way by on lap 18 for third spot,. Within a few laps, Furlong reeled in Gosek for second place, as the pair ran bumper to bumper at the halfway point. Further back, Michael Barnes made his first appearance in the top five at this juncture, as he wheeled the 22 by Sitterly for fifth place. Back up front, Didero was on cruise control through the slower cars. He handled the lapped traffic with ease, mainly using the inside lane to pick off the lapped machines. At this point, Didero was lapping up to the seventh place cars, putting many fast machines a lap behind. Traffic came into play on lap 34, as Furlong wheeled the 72 by the Gosek 00 for the runner up spot, 5.17 seconds behind the high flying Booth 61. It appeared that with ten laps remaining, Furlong would need a caution flag in order to have any chance at a second consecutive feature win. Didero keep the pressure on, as he lapped sixth running Otto Sitterly on lap 39. He kept his foot in it, and was headed to his first checkered flag since the 100lapper in 2005, driving the Syrell 08. As the checkered flags flew, the 61 crossed under almost 4 seconds ahead of the Furlong 72. Gosek held on for third , with Bond and Barnes the only other cars on the lead lap in fourth and fifth. “This was a long time coming“, Didero said after the impressive run. “We had some trials and tribulations and we just kept working on it. We came out in warmups and made one huge change on the car, and the car loved it. We made a couple of small changes, and there are still more to make.” Local drivers Jack Patrick and Mike Bond began the 30 lap SBS feature from front row starting spots. Patrick grabbed the point when Bruce Lee’s green flag unfurled, with Alan Barker and Russ Brown picking the inside groove to work their way forward. Bond didn’t waste any time taking the lead from Patrick, as he put the 26 to the inside of the 9 on the grandstand straightaway on lap three for the top spot. Turn one caution flags stalled the action in the first half of the race, first by Lou Levea then Kevin Knopp’s 04. Bond remained in control, of the race, while Brown made his presence felt, as he made his appearance in the top five on lap 14. He kept moving forward as he grabbed fourth from Mark Regan on lap 18, then third three laps later by Patrick. Barker moved into contention on lap 17 as he wheeled the 60 into second and tried to reel in Bond’s 26. Barker and Brown then put on an entertaining show and the pair raced wheel to wheel the remainder of the 30 lapper. Lap 23 slowed the pace as fourth place running Josh Larochelle slowed at the east end of the speedway. This gave Barker and Brown one last shot at Bond for the victory. Bond kept the 26 up front, and cruised the final laps up front for the win. Barker held on for second, while apparent contact sent the Brown 13 up the speedway towards the outside wall. Patrick got through on the inside for the last spot on the podium. “It’s been so long since we won, I almost forgot how to get here,” Bond joked after his win. “The guys on the crew did a great job, we had a few rough weeks. It’s a good time to get things going again.” The RoC modifieds rounded out the tripleheader with their third trip of the year to the Oswego Speedway. Bill Hebing knew it was his night when he drew the #1 chip out of the bag, to start the 75 lap feature event from the pole position. He turned that draw, and a good car into his first ever win at Oswego. Matt Hirschman gave chase and looked to get by the 66, but never seriously threatened for the victory. Hirschman held on for second, with Chuck Hossfeld brining the #22 home in third. News and Notes….Rick Kluth, Matt Hirschman and Chuck Hossfeld won RoC heats, with Russ Brown, Mike Bond and Jack Patrick taking SBS heat race checkered. Joe Gosek, Doug Didero and Greg Furlong won supermodified heat races. The PRA race, scheduled for August 10 has been cancelled, with a regular race night now on the schedule Saturday August 11. Russ Brown did double duty running his SBS car as well as the Stephen Gioia #9 supermodified. Next race is August 4, the $10,000 to win Mr. Supermodified and $1500 to win Mr. SBS. Gates open at 4:30pm with the first heat at 6:30pm. Supermodified finish 1)61 Doug Didero, 2)72 Greg Furlong, 3)00Joe Gosek, 4)Bob Bond 25, 5)Michael Barnes 22, 6)Otto Sitterly 6, 7)Ray Graham 90, 8)Tim Snyder 0, 9)Shawn Muldoon 1, 10)Craig Rayvals 95, 11)Bob Reis 4, 12)Keith Gilliam 87, 13)Jason Spalding 23, 14)Bob Magner 01, 15)Pat Lavery 99, 16)Hal Latulip 56, 17)Mike Casey 11, 18)Russ Brown 9, 19)Joe Chilemi 03, 20)Keith Shampine 85 SBS finish 1)Mike Bond 26, 2)Alan Barker 60, 3)Jack Patrick 9, 4)Tim Barbeau 50, 5)Russ Brown 13, 6)Mark Regan 4, 7)Dave Cliff 06, 8)Dave Gruel 18, 9)Danny Kapuscinski 05, 10)Rick Zeigler 25, 11)Larry Muroski 38, 12)Rob Pullen 2, 13)Josh Larochelle 10, 14)Star Matteson 82, 15)Chris Natoli 33, 16)Jason Spalding 91, 17)Brian Sobus 79, 18)Kevin Knopp 04, 19)Jay Andrews 93, 20)Lou Levea 96, 21)Ed Horne 01, 22)Shawn Walker 68, 23)Ken Pierce 67 RoC 75 finish FINISH; Wilbur Hebing, Matt Hirschman, Chuck Hossfeld, Billy Putney, Mike Leaty, Erick Rudolph, Pete Brittain, Lee Sherwood, Rusty Smith, Tommy Kinsella, John Markovic, Danny Knoll, Jr., Alex Hoag, Andy Szapacs, Doug Reaume, Vern LaFave, Daren Scherer, Ken Canestrari, Chris Finocchario, Phil Slater, Bobby Holmes, Eric Beers, Dan Chimera, Jim Lameroux, Rick Kluth, Sean O’Neill, Matt Clemens LAP LEADERS; Hebing ( 1 – 75 ) DART MACHINERY AWARD SET OF HEADS $1,200 VALUE; Markovic GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500; Brittain HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Smith ( 23rd to 9th ) HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Kluth ( 2nd to 25th ) |
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by Dan Johnson The top drivers over the past ten years in each division picked up the feature wins Saturday night at Oswego Speedway, as Greg Furlong and Russ Brown each picked up checkered flags. Brown took the lead from Kevin Knopp on lap 15 and drove away for the win in the SBS feature. Furlong grabbed the lead from Craig Rayvals on lap 7, and drove off from the competition in the caution flag free 45 lap feature race at the speedway. Keith Shampine and Craig Rayvals brought the 17 supermodifieds to Bruce Lee’s green flag, with Rayvals getting the better jump for the early lead. Furlong and Michael Barnes, winner of the last two supermodified features each used the inside groove to work their way to the front. By Lap 5, the line up read Rayvals, Tim Snyder, Furlong, Shampine, Pat Lavery, Stephen Gioia, Barnes, Shawn Muldoon, Bob Reis and Bob Bond. Davey Hamilton had his #7 in 12th early, coming back from a heta race accident. Furlong kept his charge forward going as he cranked by the Snyder 0 on the inside of the front straightaway on lap 6, to grab the runner up spot. One lap later, it was same move, this time by Rayvals for the number one spot. Furlong’s first lap in the lead was clocked in at 17.15, as he began to race away from the competition. Barnes picked his way through as well, as he wheeled his way to the top five by lap 10. Lap 11 he disposed of Shampine for fourth. Next tripo around, he picked off Snyder on the outside of the front straightaway to move into the top three. Lap 13, Rayvals was the victim, as Barnes was now in second, 4.61 seconds behind the high flying leader. Lap 20, Furlong raced his way into traffic for the first time, as he cranked his way to the outside to get through. Further back, Shawn Muldoon began to pick his way through, as he got by Lavery and Rayvals just before the halfway point of the race. Furlong continued to pull away as he had a full straightaway lead. Lap 28 he lapped the seventh place car of Lavery, lap 30 he put Rayvals a lap down, and next time by he was up to the fourth place running Shampine. Laps of 17.18 showed that Furlong was the man to beat, but Barnes and Snyder needed a caution flag to close the gap. Snyder made the move back to second as he trapped Barnes in slower traffic with ten laps to go. Eight laps to go, Shawn Muldoon went a lap down to Furlong, as with only a handful of laps left, only the top three cars were on the lead lap. Furlong closed the caution flag free race with laps of 17.21 and 17.22, showing the car was still strong. For the first time in almost two years, Furlong took the checkered flag in a 45 lap feature. Snyder kept the 0 in front of the Barnes 22 for second. Shawn Muldoon ripped off his second consecutive fourth place finish, with Keith Shampine bringing the 85 home fifth. “My car is better, and my crew is getting it faster for me,” the winner said in victory lane. “There’s just a little more in there, but it’s nice to be back in Victory Lane after a 45 lapper. I was beginning to think we wouldn’t make it back.” All time SBS feature win leader Russ Brown picked up career win #20 Saturday night, as he bagged his first feature event win of 2007. Brown started the race back in row 6, and steadily worked his way to the front in the caution flag plagued race. Kevin Knopp and Brian Sobus showed the way early, as Brown, Jay Andrews, Ricky Zeigler, Josh Larochelle, Lou Levea, Mike Bond, Dave Cliff and Alan Barker filled out top ten positions. It was a three car race right from the get go, as Knopp, Sobus and Brown distanced themselves from the field. Lap 13, saw the 13 car of Brown make an inside pass of Sobus on the front straightaway, as he moved up to second spot. Two laps later, Brown kept his foot into it, and took the lead by Knopp. Brown began to pull away, but caution flags kept the field on the back bumper of the 13 machine. Knopp could never seriously challenge for the win, and Brown crossed under the checkered flags just over a half second ahead of Knopp and Sobus. “We’re figuring out the new car,” Brown said after his win. “Winning in this division is so tough as we have a great group of drivers and cars. It’s just like an IROC race out here, and it feels great to get the win.” Jeff Abold capped off a successful weekend in Ford Focus competition at Oswego Saturday night as well. Jeff not only won the USAC race at Oswego Saturday, but he also picked up the win at Spencer Speedway Friday night, making it a two win weekend for the current high point man in the USAC Ford Focus Northeast division. Abold is the dominant driver in the division to date, as this was his fourth win of the year in competition, with his other two finishes being fourth place runs in the #05. News and Notes….Rick Fedreezi and Jesse State won USAC heats, with Brian Sobus, Mike Bond and Lou Levea won SBS heat races. Michael Barnes and Greg Furlong won supermodified heat races. This weekend is the second MSA-Oswego wings show along with the Old Timer Reunion. Gates open at 4pm with time trials at 6:30pm. Supermodified finish 1)Greg Furlong 72, 2)Tim Snyder 0, 3)Michael Barnes 22, 4)Shawn Muldoon 1, 5)Keith Shampine 1, 6)Pat Lavery 99, 7)Keith Gilliam 87, 8)Davey Hamilton 7, 9)Stephen Gioia 9, 10)Bob Bond 7, 11)Bob Reis 4, 12)Jason Spalding 23, 13)Hal Latulip 56, 14)Mike Casey 11, 15)Craig Rayvals 95, 16)Dave Halstead 34, 17)Joe Chilemmi 03. SBS finish 1)Russ Brown 13, 2)Kevin Knopp 04, 3)Brian Sobus 79, 4)Josh Larochelle 10, 5)Lou Levea 96, 6)Dave Cliff 06, 7)Tim Barbeau 50, 8)Larry Muroski 38, 9)Dave Gruel 18, 10)Mark Regan 4, 11)Jason Simmons 91, 12)Rick Zeigler 25, 13)Dave Danzer 52, 14)Jay Andrews 93, 15)Rob Pullen 2, 16)Mike Bond 26, 17)Shawn Walker 68, 18)Star Matteson 82, 19)Alan Barker 60, 20)Jack Patrick 9, 21)Chris Lupa 01. |
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by Dan Johnson The “Young Guns” again took center stage this past Saturday night at Oswego Speedway as Michael Barnes and Dave Gruel each picked up their second wins of the season in the supermodified and SBS series respectively. Barnes inherited the lead in the supermodified race when leader Joe Gosek was black flagged on lap 23 for a leaking valve cover gasket. Barnes withstood a late race challenge from Greg Furlong for the checkered flag. Gruel shot by Dave Cliff on lap 12 in the SBS feature and drove away from the field for his victory. Stephen Gioia and Pat Lavery brought the 21 car supermodified field to the green flag. Gioia grabbed the early lead, but the car on the move at the start of the race was the Joe Gosek 00. Gosek started the race from inside of row three, and by the end of lap one, using the outside groove, Gosek shot his way all the way to Gioia’s bumper in second spot. Gosek wheeled by the 9 on lap4, but had to go back as a two car tangle on the back straightaway slowed the action as Tim Snyder and Keith Gilliam’s cars came to a stop. Both restarted the race. The line up at the restart saw Gioia, Gosek, Lavery. Otto Sitterly, Randy Ritskes, Michael Barnes, Greg Furlong, Hal Latulip, Shawn Muldoon and Jason Spalding round out the top ten. Ritskes shot by Sitterly when the green flag came out, and kept his foot into it. Ritskes kept the momentum going, but hit eh back end of the Lavery 99 on the back straightaway, sending the Plum Krazy 99 into a spin into the back pit gate. Gosek grabbed the lead on this restart, and began to drive away from the rest of the 21 car field. The 00’s first lap up front was clocked at 17.09, as he pulled out by 4 car lengths. As Gosek pulled away, Barnes didn’t let him get too far out of sight, as he worked his way forward. First, he wheeled the 22 under Sitterly on the grandstand straightaway for third, then a lap later went by the Gioia 9 for second place, 3.96 seconds behind Gosek. Barnes clocked in a 17.06 lap mirroring Gosek’s times, but not catching the high flying 00. Gosek weaved through his first dose of traffic on lap 15 without problem. Smoke began to surface from the tail end of the leaders car on lap 20, as officials looked over the situation. Lap 23, the black flag was shown to leader Gosek, as smoke was pouring from the machine. It was discovered that a leaky valve cover gasket was the culprit. Barnes took over the top spot and began to drive away, looking for back to back wins. Further back, the three car battle for third place heated up between Gioia, Ritskes and Muldoon. Both the 95 and 1 passed the Gioia car in the next five laps, moving them to third and fourth places. Muldoon was having his finest hour in his new Hawk car as he moved up to fourth place in the white #1. Barnes lead up front was back up to a full second with laps of 17.19 and 17.21, as Furlong gave chase. A lap 39 caution flag closed the field up one last time, and now the top six cars of Barnes, Furlong, Sitterly, Muldoon, Ritskes and Gioia now restarted bumper to bumper. Furlong tried to shoot by on the take off, but pulled back in line. Barnes held his line, and the 22 and 72 pulled out from the6 and 1 cars, as this was now a two car race to the checkered flag. Barnes came into slower cars as the white flag showed, but handled that with ease as he was on his way to his second win of the year. Furlong had his best run of the year in second, with Sitterly a close third. Shawn Muldoon came home with a hard fought fourth place, with Ritskes in fifth. “It was a good race tonight, but there was no way I was going to catch Joe,” the two time 2007 winner stated after the race. “My car was good, and it’s really nice to get another win, but the 00 was fast. I don’t know what kind of lap times he was turning, but Joe was really good.” In the SBS feature, Mark Regan took the early lead in the White #4. Point leader Josh Larochelle backed into the first turn foam, bringing out the first caution flag of the night. That caution period turned into a red flag, as the ominous clouds over the speedway finally opened up, dumping rain over the speedway. An hour and a half rain delay followed, but the skies eventually cleared and speedway officials along with push trucks dried the trace surface, and it was back to green flag racing. Regan, Dave Cliff, Dave Gruel, Mike Bond, Brian Sobus, Jay Andrews, Tim Barbeau, Kevin Knopp, Lou Levea and Russ Brown showed as the top ten as racing resumed. Cliff took the 06 to the high side of the speedway on the restart as he grabbed the lead from Regan. Gruel followed the 06 into second place, and brought Bond, Sobus Knopp and Brown along with him. Gruel made the pass for the eventual win on lap 12 as he went by the 06 on the grandstand straightaway for the lead. Bond kept his hopes alive as he moved to second on lap 17, two car lengths behind. Brown tried to catch the leaders as he raced into the top five as laps wound down. The leaders came into traffic on lap 25, which they handled with ease. One lap later, the caution flag flew as second running Bond’s 26 came to a rest in turn four with a flat left front tire. As Gruel remained in control, Brown moved the 13 to second as he wheeled by the Cliff 06 on the take off lap. Laps counted off, as the cars remained evenly spaced in the final laps and Gruel picked up win #2 on the season. “The car ran well tonight, and I have to thank my guys,” the happy winner stated after the race. “This is a tough division, and a win here is always rewarding.” News and Notes……SBS heat races were taken by Dave Gruel, Mike Bond, and Lou Levea with Randy Ritskes, Joe Gosek and Greg Furlong taking supermodified heat race wins. Bob Bond made his initial appearance of the year in his new Xtreme Chassis #25. Doug Heveron also made his first Oswego showing of 2007. This weekend, Indy 500 veteran Davey Hamilton returns to supermodified racing after a five year absence due to an IRL accident in Texas. Changes were announced Saturday for the 2007 Classic Weekend. The headlining changes see Friday of Labor day weekend is now set aside for the ISMA show, with the RoC modifieds moving to Saturday. Supermodified finish 1)Michael Barnes 22, 2)Greg Furlong 72, 3)Otto Sitterly 6, 4)Shawn Muldoon 1, 5)Randy Ritskes 95, 6)Stephen Gioia 9, 7)Jason Spalding 23, 8)Craig Rayvals 94, 9)Tim Snyder 0, 10)Mark Sammutt 78, 11)Bob Reis 4, 12)Dave Halstead 34, 13)Bob Bond 25, 14)Mike Casey 11, 15)Doug Heveron 01, 16)Joe Gosek 00, 17)Hal Latulip 56, 18)Pat Lavery 99, 19)Keith Gilliam 87, 20)Joe Chilemmi 03, 21)Keith Shampine 85. |
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by Dan Johnson Mexico driver Michael Barnes put on a dazzling display behind the wheel of the Lighthouse Lanes 22 as he completely dominated the supermodified feature at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. Barnes, who started sixth, took the lead from Pat Lavery in the opening laps of the race, and easily drove away from the field for the impressive victory. In the end, only second place Otto Sitterly was the only other car on the lead lap. Sitterly and Lavery paced the field as they raced to the green flag. Lavery shot out to the early lead, but Barnes all ready had fans attention. He came from his outside third row starting position, to third place by lap 1. The caution flag flew on lap2, as Keith Shampine’s 85 stopped in turn three. Barnes moved by Sitterly on the restart, and kept his foot in it as he shot by Lavery for the top spot on lap 3. Barnes quickened the race pace as he stopped watches with a 17.12 his first lap up front. High point man Randy Ritskes moved up the charts as he wheeled by Stephen Gioia for fourth place. Ritskes didn’t let Barnes get away, as he moved by Sitterly and Lavery the next couple of laps. Barnes led Ritskes by 3.03 seconds as the duo began to race away from the pack. Further back, Greg Furlong tried to stay in touch as he raced the 72 up to third place on lap 7. Back up front, Barnes ripped off consecutive laps of 17.06 and 17.11 as he grew the lead to 4.81 seconds. Furlong chased down Ritskes as the 95 and 72 raced wheel to wheel for the spot. Sitterly and Lavery continued their battle for fourth, as they raced behind the lead trio. Barnes negotiated traffic with ease as he went high and low around the slower cars. At the halfway point of the race, Barnes held over a 5 second lead, as Ritskes and Furlong raced bumper to bumper coming up to the lapped cars. Sitterly, Lavery, Gioia and Tim Snyder were the only the cars on the lead lap at the halfway point of the feature. During the long green flag run, Barnes continue to drive away as he was putting on a dazzling display of dominance. Lap 31 he put sixth place Stephen Gioia a lap down, while a few laps later, he lapped up to fifth place. His lead was now a healthy 5.86 seconds, again clocking in laps in the low 17.1 area. Only the second caution flag of the race came out on lap 41 as the second place battle came to a grinding end in the third turn wall. Randy Ritskes and Greg Furlong’s cars came into contact as they raced in lapped cars entering the third turn, with both going into the outside wall. The 72 suffered significant damage once again, while the 95 was bent, but not as bad. Both drivers were ok, but both cars went off on the hook, out of the action. With only four laps left, this left only Barnes and Sitterly on the lead lap, with Lavery, Gioia and Snyder third through fifth, one lap down on the restart. Snyder saw the slower cars box in the 99 and 9, and he pulled the 0 to the outside lane. He moved from fifth to third in the closing laps, and picked up a podium finish a week after putting the 0 on its roof during a time trial lap. Back up front, Barnes was completely in control, and drove away for the impressive 1.89 second victory. Sitterly had his finest run of the year in second. “We were fast in the heat race, and everyone else seemed to be struggling,” Barnes said after the impressive run. “This car likes the hubrail. If I get off the hubrail it doesn’t go as good, but it likes the hubrail. Doug Holmes builds one impressive motor, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Larry Muroski became the first repeat winner in the SBS series this year, as he backed up his opening day win with another victory. Just as he did in the opener, Muroski led all 30 laps enroute to the win. Once again, he started the race from the front row, took the lead when the race started and never looked back. Jack Patrick followed Muroski’s tire tracks all 30 laps, as he waited for the leader to slip and make a mistake. That mistake never happened, and Patrick settled for a runner up spot. Brian Sobus drove another good race, bringing his #79 home in third. Russ Brown and Lou Levea rounded out the top five. “The second one came easier than the first,” Muroski laughed after the race. “They both were surprising, and anytime we can get them, we’ll take them.” News and Notes….Lou Levea, Jack Patrick, Larry Muroski won SBS heats with Michael Barnes and Randy Ritskes taking heat races in the supermodifieds. Kevin Alberts picked up the Tobias Slingshot 20 lap feature win. No racing at Oswego this weekend. Mike Ordway Jr won his first ever ISMA race, Saturday at M-40 Speedway. The next race is June 30, with gates open at 5pm and racing at 6:30pm. Supermodified results 1)Michael Barnes 22, 2)Otto Sitterly 6, 3)Tim Snyder 0, 4)Pat Lavery 99, 5)Stephen Gioia 9, 6)Keith Shampine 85, 7)Jason Spaulding 23, 8)Travis Bartlett 93, 9)Dave Halstead 34, 10)Randy Ritskes 95, 11)Greg Furlong 72, 12)Hal Latulip 56, 13)Shawn Muldoon 1, 14)Craig Rayvals 94, 15)Joe Gosek 00, 16)11 Mike Casey SBS results 1)Larry Muroski 38, 2)Jack Patrick 9, 3)Brian Sobus 79, 4)Russ Brown 13, 5)Lou Levea 96, 6)Tim Barbeau 50, 7)Mike Bond 26, 8)Rob Pullen 2, 9)Josh Larochelle 10, 10)Dave Gruel 18, 11)Kevin Knopp 04, 12)Rick Zeigler 25, 13)Mark Regan 4, 14)Jason Spaulding 91, 15)Alan Barker 60, 16)Jay Andrews 93, 17)Dave Cliff 06, 18)Chris Lupa 01, 19)Chris Natoli 33, 20)Star Matteson 82, 21)Andy Noto 05, 22)Shawn Walker 68, 23)Stan Gates 28. |
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by Dan Johnson In front of a jam packed grandstand, Amherst, Ohio driver Dave Shullick Jr. picked up his first ever win at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. Shullick rode just out of the top five in the first 30 laps of the race, but his Stout owned #49 roared to life in the outside groove in the last ten laps of the race as he raced from sixth place to the lead. Local driver Michael Barnes chased Shullick to the line finishing second, with MSA regular Charlie Schultz coming home third. SBS driver Alan Barker also picked up his first ever Oswego feature win Saturday night as he led all 30 laps enroute to the popular victory. Stephen Gioia and Keith Shampine paced the 25 car field to the starters green flag to start the race. Shampine blasted from his outside front row starting spot, as he raced his #85 to the lead. Shampine turned in some torrid laps right at the start, as he opened up a quick 2 second lead over Gioia and Furlong. As Shampine began to catch the tail of the field on lap 7, he spun the 85 out of turn two, losing the top spot. Stephen Gioia inherited the lead during this caution period. When the race restarted, Gioia went right to work and began to open a lead of his own. The second year driver ran a nice line and stopped watches in the low 16 second bracket as he held some of the best in the supermodified business behind the #9 as Furlong, Timmy Jedrzejek, Michael Barnes, Moe Lilje and Dave Shullick Jr were in tow. Two time Oswego feature winner Joe Gosek pulled pitside a few laps later, as smoke billowed from the black 00, ending Gosek’s chance at a winged victory this night. As the race reached the halfway point, Gioia remained in control of the race, as second running Furlong could not make an attempt for a pass for the lead. Barnes had the car on the move as the Lighthouse Lanes #22 found a liking to the inside lane, as Barnes began moving up the list. He first shot by Jedrzejek for third place, and kept moving forward, as he challenged Furlong for the runner up spot. Lap 29 saw the caution flag fall, as Ohio driver Gene Lee Gibson spun the 0 car out of turn four. On the restart, Shullick’s #49 kicked into another gear, as he shot to the outside lane on the restart. When the green flag came out, Shullick shot by Lilje, Jedrzejek and Barnes to jump from sixth to third places. Caution lights flashed a few laps later, as the leaders had a chance once again to cool their tires. Just as he did on the previous restart, Shullick turned the #49 to the right, and took the high side of the speedway. On this restart, he quickly got by Furlong for second, then chased down Gioia for the lead. Once in front, Shullick began to pull away from the field, as the 49 turned some of the quickest laps of the year as he stopped watches at 16.19. Barnes kept his momentum on the inside as he raced by Gioia’s 9 car for second. Charlie Schultz’s #7 came on in the latter stages as he raced by for third. Lap 40, Shullick raced under the checkered flag a full second ahead of Barnes. Shullick’s win brought Dave Sr. and Jr into the Oswego Speedway record books as they became only the second father-son duo to win supermodified features at Oswego Speedway. Charlie Schultz had his finest hour in Oswego as he wheeled the May #7 home in the show spot. Stephen Gioia’s fine run ended in fourth spot, with Greg Furlong in fifth. “I love coming here!” exclaimed Dave Shullick Jr. after his win. “The car wasn’t very good at the beginning, it was pushing so bad, it was dump trucking. Words cannot describe this win. When we were pulling in today, I was telling the story of when I was 5 years old, I was jumping in mud puddles in the parking lot. To finally get a win here means so much.” Michael Barnes summarized his second place finish. “We were hooked up on the inside tonight. Shullick was hooked up on the outside tonight, he can really wheel these things. You can really make some tight moves with a wing, it’s really fun to run with a wing on top. “We were for a couple shows last year and really struggled,” said third place Charlie Schultz. “We made alot of changes to it and it was really good from the second set of hot laps on. I was gaining confidence every lap.” In the companion SBS feature, a new feature winner entered the record books as Alan Barker kept the #60 in front all 30 laps as he picked up the feature win on his birthday. Barker picked up the NORA division feature win at Adirondack Speedway a couple of weeks ago, and backed it up with the win Saturday night. After winning his heat race, Barker started the race from the front row and took the lead as the green flag came out for the 30lapper. He remained in front throughout the event, leading comfortably by 5 car lengths the majority of the race. Rob Pullen, Tim Barbeau and Russ brown had an entertaining three car race for second place, but could never seriously challenge Barker for the win. “We took off right at the start, and just tried to run away and hide from these guys,” the happy winner stated after the win. “This is a tough division to get a win in, and this victory really feels good.” Pullen had his best run of the year in the 2 in second, with Barbeau third, Brown fourth and Dave Gruel in fifth. News and Notes……33 supermodifieds and 23 SBS cars were pitside. Lou Levea, Alan Barker and Larry Muroski won SBS heat races, while Tim Jedrzejek, Jack Smith and Moe Lilje won MSA heat races. Dave Shullick Jr also recorded fast time in time trials, as he ripped of a lap of 15.802. Charlie Schultz, Timmy Jedrzejek, Pat Lavery, Michael Barnes and Gene Lee Gibson all stopped clocks in the 15 second bracket. The MSA cars return to Oswego on July 14. |
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by Dan Johnson Joe Gosek, Kevin Knopp and Bobby Newman all picked up feature wins at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. Gosek made a midrace pass of leader Ray Graham, then held off Greg Furlong for his second win of the season. Kevin Knopp turned his best race in years into victory in the SBS division, while Bobby Newman led all the way in the super stock race. Michael Barnes and Graham paced the supermodified field to the green flag. The race wasn’t a lap old, when the caution flag flew for a turn one incident. Travis Bartlett had what seemed to be an innocent spin. Otto Sitterly’s car spun, then Mike Casey’s 11 slammed into the back end of the Sitterly 6. The tail section of the 6 was wiped out, while Casey’s right front was destroyed. All the drivers were uninjured in the incident. Graham shot out to the lead in his first Oswego appearance of the year. Randy Ritskes used the inside to come through race traffic, while Doug Didero and Joe Gosek went to the outside groove. Graham and Didero began to race away from the field with 17.36 laps, as Joe Gosek, Stephen Gioia, Pat Lavery, and Greg Furlong followed. A three car spin on lap 10 slowed the pace as Tim Snyder, Craig Rayvals and Keith Shampine spun to a stop in turn 1. The leaders brought Gosek with them on this restart, making it a three car race for the lead. Gosek shot his 00 by Didero’s 61 on lap 13 for the runner up spot, and went right to work on the 90. Didero’s car bean to slow at this juncture, as the 61 fill of the race pace. The west side of the speedway again was the culprit, as the yellow lights flashed once again. Top five running Gioia’s 9 clipped the outside wall, with significant right side damage. Stephen was ok, but the car’s right front wasn’t. Furlong began his charge on the restart, as he shot by Didero for this and closed up to the two leaders. Now the three car breakaway in the front were the 90, 00, and 72. A few laps later, the 61 went pitside, out of the race with fuel pump issues. Lap 22, Graham’s 90 bobbled in turn 4,and that was all Gosek needed to slide the 00 under the 90 for the lead. Gosek’s first lap up front was clocked in at 17.08, and he went right out to a seven car length advantage over Graham. Lap 28, Furlong moved to second on the front straightaway, and tried to catch the high flying 00. The duo immediately came into slower traffic, with the Furlong 72 creeping in on the Gosek 00.Once clear of traffic, they raced bumper to bumper at 17.21 laps. Graham trailed, with Randy Ritskes in fourth and Keith Shampine holding of for fifth. Furlong repeatedly tried to move by Gosek, but the 00 was now up front and Furlong just couldn’t make a serious charge. Gosek steered clear the final laps of the race, to bring home his second win in three races. Furlong had his best finish of the year in second, with Ray Graham k knocking down a third in his first appearance of the season. “It was a long week,” Gosek said in victory lane. “I have to give it to my guys, they really put in a long week and got the car fixed. I didn’t know if we would even be here. It reminded me of the good old days, working late nights in the garage, getting the car fixed with the guys..” “It was our best run of the year,” second place Furlong said. “I think I was a whisper faster than Joe, but we just couldn’t get by. Congratulations to him and his guys.” Kevin Knopp made it four winners in four weeks in the SBS series at Oswego. Knopp had been faster in recent weeks, and it all came together Saturday, culminating in his first win in quite some time. Jay Andrews had the early lead in his #93, until Dave Cliff came by lap 8 pass. Knopp followed Cliff by, and stayed on the tail of the 06, patiently waiting for an opening. That opening came on lap 15, as Cliff’s 06 slid to the outside groove, with Knopp filling the whole on the inside with the 04. Knopp held back Cliff on numerous restarts, and came away with the victory. Jay Andrews picked up his best finish in a long time as well as he wheeled the #93 home to a third place finish. “It was a good run for us tonight,” Knopp said of his long awaited victory. “The 06 just pushed up a bit in four, and we took over from there.” Bobby Newman shot out to the lead when the green flag came out for the super stocks, and drove off for his first win of the year. News and Notes….15 super stocks, 25 SBS cars and 18 supers were pitside Saturday. Bobby Newman won the stock car heat, while Jay Andrews, Kevin Knopp and Lou Levea won SBS heats. Supermodified heats went to Randy Ritskes, Doug Didero and Ray Graham. This weekend the MSA cars come to town for a 40 lap feature, with the SBS cars also on the card for their 30 lapper. Spectator gates open at 4:45pm, with supermodified time trials at 6:30pm. Supermodified finish 1)Joe Gosek 00, 2) Greg Furlong 72, 3)Ray Graham 90, 4)Randy Ritskes 95, 5)Keith Shampine 85, 6)Craig Rayvals 94, 7)Tim Snyder 0, 8)Hal Latulip 56, 9)Jason Spalding 23, 10)Travis Bartlett 93, 11)Dave Halstead 34, 12)Bob Reis 4, 13)Doug Didero 61, 14)Michael Barnes 22, 15)Stephen Gioia 9, 16)Pat Lavery 99, 17)Otto Sitterly 6, 18)Mike Casey 11 SBS finish 1)Kevin Knopp 04, 2)Dave Cliff 06, 3)Jay Andrews 93, 4)Josh Larochelle 10, 5)Rick Zeigler 25, 6)Jack Patrick 9, 7)Jason Simmons 91, 8)Chris Lupa 46, 9)Chris Natoli 33, 10)Russ Brown 13, 11)Lou Levea 96, 12)Larry Muroski 38, 13)Alan Barker 60, 14)Dave Gruel 18, 15)Rob Pullen 2, 16)Ken Pierce 67, 17)Mike Bond 26, 18)Ryan Coleman 29, 19)Mark Regan 4, 20)Shawn Walker 68, 21)Brian Sobus 79, 22)Bill Moore 7, 23)Tim Barbeau 50, 24)Gordon Smalledge 59, 25)Star Matteson 82 |
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by Team Full Throttle 704-281-7699 Cicero, NY – Team Full Throttle Driver Development racer Keith Shampine was very pleased with the results of his initial test run in his sleek looking Supermodified at Oswego Speedway last Saturday afternoon despite not being able to get up to full speed due to a problem with the track’s surface that necessitated a bit of a “changing traffic pattern” in one of the corners. Now the 23-year old hotshoe says he’s really looking forward to going back this weekend for the second open practice on Saturday prior to Sunday’s Coca-Cola Kickoff 45-lap opening Supermodified race. "We're really looking forward to the 2007 season,” Keith said. “Believe it or not, just getting to the track to practice was a huge plus for our team. The motor ran great, and there were only a few very minor handling problems that can be corrected for this weekend.” The racer went on to say that with the newly repaired track surface he should get a much better idea of what he has to work with as far as the changes to the suspension on the car made over the winter and designed to lighten the car and improve the handling. “With such a new suspension setup it may take a couple of weeks for us to dial it in, but when we do I think we'll have a great car,” stated Keith. “It’s closer now to the newer style cars and definitely a little lighter, and it seemed to respond very well to little changes we made at the track last weekend. We couldn’t really get to full speed because we had to enter turn one a little differently due to the pavement pulling up in the bottom groove, but we still felt good about the day because nothing leaked or failed on the car and we learned a lot about the setup that we think will help us for this weekend.” Shampine knows he wouldn’t be preparing for his third and potentially most successful season of Supermodified racing if not for the help of others. “I'd like to thank all the people, sponsors and my crew who have helped get the 85 on the track again this year. Chandler Automotive, Benton’s Refrigeration, Borio’s Restaurant, National Parts Peddler, Technical Consulting, Port City Machine, and Team Full Throttle have all been a very important part of my Dad and I being able to keep going and get to where we are with this car. It should be a great summer." Keith Shampine is a member of the Team Full Throttle NASCAR Driver Development Program and is represented by Driver Development Services, LLC of Charlotte, NC. For more information about Keith, visit his website at www.keithshampine.com or www.goteamfullthrottle.com. |
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by Pat Abold Motorsports Inc Oswego NY- 2006 USAC Northeast Ford Focus Midget Series runner up Jeff Abold of Pennellville N.Y. has filed an entry and will be competing in the Performance Racing Industry Sprint & Midget Classic @ the Orlando Speedworld on December 14th &15th. Abold a 17 year old Senior @ JCB high school in Phoenix, recently reflected on his 2006 season in which he lead the Northeast Series with 4 feature wins. “All in all , I felt we had a pretty good season in the Northeast Series. We accumulated more wins & points than the previous season, which is a plus,but a few bad races hurt us in the end. I plan on having a very strong season next year and one of my main goals in the win a USAC championship”. For the PRI event Abold will be driving the same Hawk Chassis that has carried him to 6 USAC feature wins over the past 2 seasons. The car is owned and prepared by Jeff’s father 2 time USAC Silvercrown winner Pat Abold with sponsorship from A&P Automotive of Oswego NY, Sam’s Auto Body of Syracuse NY, Martel Auto Repair of Ipswich MA, Sweet Manufacturing of Kalamazoo MI, Advanced Racing Suspensions, Indianapolis IN, & Red Devil Brakes & Components, Mount Pleasant PA. The PRI show is held annually @ the Orlando convention center with over 3000 manufactures of motorsports products will be on hand with competitors from NASCAR, CART, IRL, SCCA, World of Outlaws, USAC & many more will converge for the 3 day event. Abold stated “ the PRI show seems to be a great way to get my name out to the racing world. A lot of big name owners & drivers will be attending the show and it’s a great way to showcase your talent. My main goal is to go down to Florida,qualify well, and bring the win back to the Northeast. It should be an awesome experience. |
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by Carol Haynes Oswego, NY - Just in time for Christmas gift giving, George Caruso Jr. will be selling and personalizing his new book 50 Years: Oswego Speedway International Classic on Saturday, December 9th at Lighthouse Lanes on Shampine Drive in Oswego, NY. The book signing will take place from 1-4 pm. Carol D Haynes, who assisted Caruso in the preparation of the book which has already sold to many race fans and checked off on many Christmas lists. The new book, which was debuted in November, is a compilation of all 50 of the prestigious International Classics run at Oswego Speedway. It’s a 400-page hardcover bound book reliving all the famous races. It contains a concise written review of all 50 International Classics accompanied by hundreds and hundreds of black and white photos. It also contains quotes from many of the former race winners as gathered by Haynes. It also features a complete index of Classic finishes, time trials and points. And, the greatest part is the 32 pages of full color Classic memories – an extraordinary keepsake in itself gleaned from the archives of Speedway Press. If you liked the first hardcover book by Caruso, Oswego Speedway, the First 50 Years published in 2000, you will definitely want this book to complete the set. These new books will be on sale as will Caruso’s first book on the history of the first 50 years of the famed Oswego Speedway, which was written for the celebration of the speedway’s 50th consecutive year in 2000. Either of these books may also be purchased online at www.speedwaypress.com, at Speedway Press, 1 Burkle St. and Garafolo’s Importing on East Ninth and Bridge Sts in Oswego. Orders may be placed at Speedway Press, 315-342-1363. Charge cards are accepted. The book shipped in New York State will cost $63.00 which includes tax and shipping. Out of state, with just shipping charges, the cost is $59.00. Picked up at Speedway Press or at Garafolos, the total cost is $54.00. |
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by Carol Haynes Oswego, NY – It’s finally here. The book all supermodified race fans have been waiting for – 50 Years: Oswego Speedway International Classic. The hard-cover edition has just arrived at Speedway Press Inc. and is ready for shipping. It will make a great gift! The book, a compilation of all 50 of the prestigious International Classics run at Oswego Speedway, was prepared by George Caruso Jr. with the assistance of Carol D Haynes. It’s a 400-page hard-bound book reliving all the famous races. It contains a concise written review of all 50 International Classics accompanied by hundreds and hundreds of black and white photos. It also contains quotes from many of the former race winners as gathered by Haynes. It also features a complete index of Classic finishes, time trials and points. And, the greatest part is the 32 pages of full color Classic memories – an extraordinary keepsake in itself gleaned from the archives of Speedway Press. If you liked the first hard-bound book by Caruso, Oswego Speedway, the First 50 Years published in 2000, you will definitely want this book to complete the set. The book shipped in New York State will cost roughly $64.00 which includes tax and shipping. Out of state, with just shipping charges, the cost is roughly $59.00. If anyone would also like the 2006 50th anniversary Classic Yearbook thrown in, the cost $72.00 in state and $67.00 out of state for the 2 publications. You can order the book online at www.speedwaypress.com or by calling 315-342-1363 or mail check or money order to Speedway Press Inc, PO Box 2006, Oswego, NY 13126. |
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