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pa.racer
09-01-2007, 11:14 AM
Does anyone know what the roc finish was at Oswego last night? Thanks!

RGeeProductions
09-01-2007, 11:20 AM
Not as of yet, which is strange as they usually are very good sending the PR.
I am leaving for Riverhead in 1 1/2 hours but if I recieve it, it will be posted in here in the forum.

uticamike
09-02-2007, 10:00 AM
Top 8 were J. Leaty
B. Hebing
B Putney
L. Sherwood
T. Hirschman
C. Hossfeld
M. Leaty
B. Holmes

Jan was the man although Wilber gave him his best shot but used up the tires getting to him. Lee Sherwood and Tony put on a great show with Lee
slipping by late. He also set fast time in TT's (which i still hate). Bobby Holmes
started on the pole and was very fast early, seems he's not suffering any
ill effects from his concussion suffered in a hard crash in his last race here.
27 mods on hand for this one, I thought there would be more as guys look to
tune up for the 57th ROC in 3 weeks. Just a perfect night weatherwise for
racing. Looking foreword to Thompson.

RGeeProductions
09-02-2007, 12:27 PM
Many time track and national Modified champion Jan Leaty of Williamson, NY once again proved on Saturday night at the Oswego Speedway that he is still one tough customer to beat in extra distance races. On Saturday night during the Budweiser International Classic Weekend event Leaty showed the large crowd what a good teacher does in teaching his students a lesson they will never forget.

Leaty started fourth in the field of 27 and stayed in this position for the first 41 laps of the 125 lap feature. During a yellow flag period on lap 41 Leaty pitted to change tires and when racing resumed Leaty started to teach school on how to race at the famed Oswego Speedway.

Using the outside groove Leaty rocketed from the rear of the field to take the lead from Sege Fidanza with an outside turn four pass on lap 76. Once in the lead the schooling wasn't over as Wilbur Hebing was charging to the front also and pulled alongside Leaty on several occasions to challenge for the lead.

Leaty actually pulled over to see if Hebing had anything to challenge him and when he didn't Leaty turned up the wick and pulled away to the easy $5,000 win. Hebing settled for second with pole sitter Billy Putney coming home in third. Tony Hirschman on hand setting up his car for the 57th Sunoco Race of Champions in three weeks finished fourth with a fast closing Lee Sherwood ending up fifth.

The race was the final RoC Dart North Region point event and by finishing in ninth position Pete Brittain was crowned the champion by eight points over Erick Rudolph who finished one spot behind Brittain.

“ I guess that is a good way to put it “ said Jan when asked if the teacher taught the students on this night. “ We got a pretty good car and a pretty good group of guys who know what they're doing. It takes the whole package to win a big race and we were fortunate to get the breaks go our way again and we're running good. “

After pitting on lap 41 Jan just moved to the top groove at Oswego and literally flew to the front without the aid of a yellow flag. Twenty - eight laps after pitting Jan moved into fourth and one lap later rocketed into third and on lap 71 moved into second. After dogging leader Sege Fidanza for four laps a great run off the second turn propelled Jan into turn three on the outside of Fidanza and as the duo exited turn four Jan got the lead he would never give up.

“ I got this car going so good that I know its personality “ said Jan. “ We seem able to drop this car on any track with a setup that is appropriate and tune it in right. I have had a lot of cars through the years and I have had some cars like this and some cars not like this, sometimes its lucky breaks, and sometimes it's other things. But right now we're on a good roll with this car and I appreciate it as I've been on some bad rolls too. “

Jan the teacher continued his lessons on the evening by seeing if the second fastest car after the pit stops, Wilbur Hebing had anything for him after getting into second on lap 84.

“ I knew he ( Wilbur ) was running good and to be honest with you when he first got to me I pulled down to give him the outside for a couple of laps to see if he had anything to pass me “ recalled Jan. “ I knew I had a little left so I pulled down to the wall as I didn't want to slide into the turn and leave the bottom open for him to get by me. So I let him on the outside to see if he could take the measure up there and I figured to be real fair with him for a couple of laps. When he didn't have enough to pass me I knew that all I needed to do was not get off the hub rail, do my turns decent, and kind of wear him down. “

Jan explained how a leader wears down his competition. “ It's harder to run in second than in first because you have to try and anticipate what they guy in front of you is doing. I think it is harder on the tires to be in second than it is in first because when the leader gets on the gas you in second romps on the gas to try and catch the leader to keep up with him. Plus a leader can set his own pace where in second you have to find a way around the car in front of you. “

Jan continued on by talking about racing with Wilbur. “ We are not only good competitors but we are good friends and I knew that he wasn't going to drive over me to win the race. It's nice to know that a guy will run you hard and clean while going for the lead. I knew if I covered the bottom and did my homework we would be ok. “

After knowing that Hebing had nothing for him Jan then picked up the pace to finish out the race. Jan explained his thoughts on that. “ I was more concerned about if there was anyone else flying through the field that I didn't know about. You got good racers back there like Tony Hirschman, Lee Sherwood and a bunch of guys who run well and I didn't know where they were all stacking up. “

For the second year in a row Jan won the Modified portion of this special weekend at Oswego. The veteran driver spoke about this weekend at Oswego and what it means to win on Budweiser International Classic Weekend at Oswego. “ It's kind of a throwback for me as Tony Hirschman and I were talking earlier “ recalled Jan. “ We were talking about that earlier today as for years this race was the Bud 200, the Classic on Sunday and when you added it all up it was a real good purse for a one day event. It was the best paying race of the year and I loved coming here to run in the Bud 200. Races don't pay like they use too and we understand why but we still have some tradition with guys racing in these big events who have been around for a while. So it's good to win on Classic weekend at Oswego. “

“ I probably should have waited a little bit before charging to the front “ said second place finisher Wilbur Hebing when talking about how Jan Leaty pulled away from him at the end of the race. “ But you don't know if they're going to be cautions or not going to be cautions and you don't know if he ( Jan ) was saving his car or not. I kind of figured he was saving his car as he had good lead, but we were just so good. I just kept going the speed I was going and I caught him so I decided to go and try and get him then. I tried him good a couple of times and got alongside of him a couple of times but I didn't have enough to get by him. “

Wilbur who won the last race here in July started in sixth and stayed in that position until pitting on lap 41. Wilbur spoke about the tough decision a driver faces in these races on whether to race patient or charge to the front, which abuses the car and tires.

“ It's tough because when you racing with guys on used tires they do get loose and you have to be careful when you have new tires on“ said Wilbur. “ Look at tonight Ricky Zacharias got loose and got into the back of Tony Hirschman and ended up in the wall. Tommy Kinsella he was real loose at that time in the race and I came around and saw him in the wall. It's not surprising to see things like that here because when a Modified gets loose here they are a handful. “

Wilbur also spoke on some schooling he took into his memory bank for future reference on this night. “ I learned a lot about saving tires tonight as I followed Tony Hirschman for 50 laps and following Jan there at the end. Who better to learn from than those two guys. “

With the success Wilbur and his Kenny Troyer owned team has been having at Oswego over the past few races. This team is really looking forward to the 200 in three weeks. “ We're geared up for that race as I think we have a fair shot. There's going to be a lot of good cars here as Matt's ( Hirschman ) coming, Eric ( Beers ) will be here and I hear a couple of other tour guys are coming along with Tony and Jan. It's going to be tough and there is a lot of luck involved too but we're going to bring our best and see what happens. “

“ We're happy to finish third “ said pole sitter Billy Putney. “ I just didn't quite have the car going into the corner that I needed to hustle it up around some of the slower cars early on and lost a lot of ground there. It was difficult to make it back up, Jan and Wilbur had us covered but we were good enough for a third place finish tonight and we came home in one piece. “

Qualifying for the 27 RoC Dart Asphalt Modifieds on hand saw Sherwood set fast time in time trials with a 17. 661 lap. Heat races were captured by JR Swansbrough and Daren Scherer.

JR KENNERUP/RoC DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR PR

RGeeProductions
09-02-2007, 12:27 PM
STEEL PALACE NOTES; Several teams were required to add mufflers to their cars before the show started due to the show being a North Region event. Wilbur Hebing blew a radiator hose after his time trial and somehow kept the car from hitting the wall after spinning in its own fluid. Hard hits to the outside wall in the feature will keep the teams of Phil Slater, Rusty Smith, Rick Zacharias, and Tom Kinsella working hard to repair the damage for the next race here in three weeks. Lee Sherwood had the fastest car at the end but ran out of laps after pitting for tires on lap 79. More incentives have been added to the Modified portion of the 57th Sunoco Race of Champions which will be held here in three weeks. All non - qualified Modifieds will receive a free Hoosier Racing Tire valued at $150. Due to a very high interest from racing teams who compete in the True Value Modified Series in New England. The highest finishing True Value Series driver in the RoC 200 will receive a significant bonus. Once again Marilyn and Don Toal have raised close to $22,000 in lap money for the show and they are still taking lap sponsorships. 17 year old third generation driver Jimmy Zacharias made his Oswego Modified debut in impressive fashion. Jimmy was close to being a lap car early in the race but each lap he was getting quicker and ended up pulling away from the lead pack of cars much to the delight of his supportive family and he ended up being one of the co - Hard Chargers of the Race.

RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR NORTH REGION FINAL RACE # 5

FINISH; Jan Leaty, Wilbur Hebing, Billy Putney, Tony Hirschman, Lee Sherwood, Chuck Hossfeld, Mike Leaty, Bobby Holmes, Pete Brittain, Erick Rudolph, Sege Fidanza, Daren Scherer, John Markovic, Ken Canestrari, Vern LaFave, Jimmy Zacharias, Danny Knoll, Jr., Tom Kinsella, Rick Kluth, Rusty Smith, Rick Zacharias, Doug Reaume, Alex Hoag, JR Swansbrough, Phil Slater, Kevin Lewis, Matt Clemens.

LAP LEADERS; Holmes ( 1 - 69 ), Fidanza ( 70 - 75 ), J. Leaty ( 76 - 125 )
DART MACHINERY AWARD SET OF HEADS $1,200 VALUE; Rudolph
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500; Putney
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; LaFave ( 24th to 15th ) & J. Zacharias ( 25th to 16th )
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Hoag ( 8th to 23rd )

NEXT RoC DART EVENT; Saturday / Sunday September 8th & 9th - Thompson International Speedway - Combined Event # 3 - 75 lap feature

JR KENNERUP/RoC DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR PR