RGeeProductions
09-21-2008, 01:47 PM
GRUEL, CASABRANDE, BRIGHAM, SHAFER, PETRIE, HODDICK, AND NICHOLS CAPTURE PRELIMINARY 58TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS CHECKERS
The 58th Sunoco Race of Champions completed another successful weekend of racing this past weekend at the Oswego Speedway. Despite a sluggish economy and increased fuel costs of late, a perfect weekend for racing brought out a strong contingent of racecars and race fans.
Winning preliminary features on Friday night were David Gruel in the Lighthouse Lanes NORA Small Block Super Modifieds, Tom Casabrande in the Factory / Pure / Street Stocks, while Jason Brigham won the Overall Mini Stock feature. With three separate divisions competing in the Mini Stocks the division winners were Brigham in the asphalt Front Wheel Drive division, Scott Shafer in the asphalt Rear Wheel Drive division, and Zak Petrie in the Dirt Wheel division.
Winning preliminary features on Saturday afternoon were Todd Hoddick in the Dart Heads Late Models and Mike Nichols defending his Super Stock win of a year ago.
Brian Sobus and David Gruel brought the Lighthouse Lanes NORA Small Block Super Modified 35 lap feature down to green. Gruel in the car for the first time that was normally driven by Tim Barbeau jumped into the lead over Sobus, Kevin Knopp, defending race winner Rob Pullen, and Mike Bond.
The top five stayed in line until lap nine when Bond moved into fourth and five laps later Knopp passed his way into second while Bond followed him into third at the same time. David Cliff moved into fifth on lap 15 in the very competitive event.
Bond took second from Knopp on lap 16 and with no yellows slowing the action he found himself nearly a full straightaway behind leader Gruel. On the next circuit Cliff moved into fourth and with the leader approaching lap traffic, this allowed the field to bunch up.
Gruel worked his way through lap traffic with ease as he held Bond at bay; Cliff was the fastest car on the track as he took third on lap 26.
The nonstop feature event saw Gruel come home with the win over a fast closing Bond, Cliff, Knopp, and Sobus.
Qualifying action for the 20 car field saw heat wins claimed by Bond and Pullen.
The always exciting Mini Stock division saw Mike Stringer and defending race winner Jason Brigham bring the field to green.
Brigham raced out to the lead over Stringer, Gene Purvis, Randy Schlenker, and Scott Shafer. Schlenker moved into third on lap two with Shaffer making a huge move coming out of turn four to go from fifth to third on lap three.
Tim Dunn who was picking his left rear wheel off the ground in the corners moved into fifth on lap three. Shafer powered into second on lap four with Dunn executing a four wide pass coming down the homestretch to claim third.
Dunn moved into second on lap seven and many thought a battle for the lead would take place following a yellow on lap ten. Brigham would nothing to say about a challenge for the lead as he sprinted out to a big lead.
Meanwhile Dunn and Shaffer were waging their own private battle for second with Shaffer claiming second on lap 18. Following a restart on lap 19 Dunn would reclaim second and set his sights on leader Brigham.
Coming down for the checkers Dunn got a huge run on the outside and nearly beat Brigham to the line as Brigham won by inches. Shaffer was third with Schlenker in fourth and Stringer in fifth.
Brigham won the asphalt Front Wheel Drive division while Shaffer won the asphalt Rear Wheel Drive division and Zak Petrie who finished eighth won the Dirt Car division.
Heat races for the 21 car field were won by Dunn and Shaffer.
The final feature on Friday night was the 25 lap Pure / Factory / Street Stock event. Tom Casabrande and Matt Jurek brought the field to green with Casabrande jumping out to a big lead. Jurek, John Hewson, Jr., Mark Spencer, Jr. and defending race winner Richard Petey completed the top five.
Petey was the show as he moved into fourth on lap four and seven laps later moved into third. But with the feature going without a yellow flag Petey just ran out of time in trying to catch the top two cars.
Casabrande in for the win followed Jurek, Petey, Hewson, and Spencer.
The qualifying event for the nine car field saw Casabrande take the win.
The 50 lap DART Heads Late Model feature on Saturday afternoon saw defending race winner Will Thomas and Bob Weber bring the field to the green. Thomas would bolt out to the lead over Travis Fisher, Todd Hoddick, Weber, and Tommy Cloce.
Hoddick who won this race in 2006 moved into second on lap five with Cloce moving into fourth on lap six and into third on lap nine.
David Ragin started to make some noise after starting 13th as he moved into the top five on lap 12 and one lap later took fourth.
The next 25 laps saw everyone biding their time before making their late race moves. In heavy lap traffic on lap 37 leader Thomas went high in turn one to go around the lap car of Patrick Hargan. The Hargan car pushed up the track and that opened the door for Hoddick to grab the lead. Cloce followed Hoddick through the opening to take second and on the next lap Ragin moved into third.
The final 12 laps were anti climatic as Hoddick cruised to the easy win followed by Cloce, Ragin, Lee Gill, and Josh John.
Qualifying races for the 32 Late Models saw heat races won by Hoddick, Gill, Thomas, and Cloce.
The 75 lap Super Stock feature had Shawn Sitarchyk and David Johnson lead the 40 car starting field to green. With a yellow occurring on the first lap and cautions counting Sitarchyk inherited the lead followed by Johnson, Michael Ramos, David Milbrand, and RJ Zacharias.
On a lap four restart Zacharias bolted into third and on the next lap defending race winner Mike Nichols moved into fifth. Before the third yellow of the race was displayed on lap six Zacharias swiftly moved into second. On the restart Nichols powered into third and things got pretty hairy as the front of the field entered heavy lap traffic on lap 13.
Disaster would strike Zacharias going into turn one on lap 14 as he and leader Sitarchyk became entangled with the lap car of Earl Paules. The yellow came out for Paules who lost a tire and for Zacharias who buried the car in the inside turn one boiler plate.
Nichols would inherit the lead with David Milbrand taking second as Sitarchyk did a 360 spin and only lost two spots. Frank Reakes and Jay Mudra now moved into fourth and fifth respectively.
On the restart Reakes moved into third followed by Mudra for fourth and Johnson recovered to regain fifth. On a lap 27 restart Reakes moved around Milbrand for second and at the same time Jeff Merritt who won this race in 2006 moved into fourth.
Merritt continued his charge to the front by taking third on lap 55 and second from Reakes on lap 63. Reakes and Merritt continued to battle for second and this allowed Nichols to slip away to win his second consecutive win in this event.
Reakes passed Merritt for second with three laps to go as Chris Daugherty in the Bill Chandler, Jr. car ended up fourth and Milbrand finished fifth.
Qualifying events for the 52 Super Stocks on hand saw heat wins go to Reakes, Ramos, Johnson, Nichols, and Milbrand. While the B Mains were won by Todd Ahner and Terry Weldy.
LIGHTHOUSE LANES NORA SMALL BLOCK SUPER MODIFIED FINISH; David Gruel, Mike Bond, David Cliff, Kevin Knopp, Brian Sobus, Rob Pullen, Russ Brown, JJ Andrews, Stan Gates, David Danzer, Josh LaRochelle, Barry Kingsley, Shawn Walker, Jack Patrick, Pat Mullen, Jerry Holmes, Ken Price, Sam Allen, Rick Curtis, Rick Ziegler.
MINI STOCK FINISH; Jason Brigham, Tim Dunn, Scott Shaffer, Randy Schlenker, Mike Stringer, Gene Purvis, Kevin Rex, Zak Petrie, Barry Christman, Jr., Otis Bradshaw, Bob Curren, Amanda Quinones, Ryan Purvis, Archie Haner, Kevin Miller, James Potrzebowski, Kurt Knapp, Greg Turner, AJ Lane. DNS; Paul Haner.
FACTORY / STREET / PURE STOCK FINISH; Tom Casabrande, Matt Jurek, Richard Petey, John Hewson, Jr., Mark Spencer, Jr., Howie Bott, Kevin Mendel, Jeff Guidotti, Mike Maggiore.
DART HEADS LATE MODEL FINISH; Todd Hoddick, Tommy Cloce, David Ragin, Lee Gill, Josh John, Bob Weber, George Skora, III, Brent Dragon, Jim Lamoreaux, Larry Fisher, Will Thomas, DJ King, Paul Koehler, Jr., Ben Reynolds, Mike Sweeney, Ray Bancroft, Lorin Arthofer, Josh Lloyd, George Swansbrough, Bobby Newman, Patrick Hargan, Earl Paules, Joey Brainard, Travis Fisher, Ron Nurmi, Andre Roggie, Francis Gross, III, Zane Zeiner, Jimmy Wismer, Jr., Bob Fenstermaker, Tim Card, Scott Nurmi.
SUPER STOCK FINISH; Mike Nichols, Frank Reakes, Jeff Merritt, Chris Daugherty, David Milbrand, Brad Kline, Shawn Sitarchyk, David Johnson, Justin Mooney, Jon Moser, Jeff Goodwin, Jay Mudra, Alan Schlenker, Todd Ahner, Michael Ramos, Todd Stone, Phil Alhart, Jr., Steve Hoffman, Joe Mooney, Joe Miller, Dan Scott, Kristy Arthofer, Robert Fink, Lee Sharpsteen, Dave Wolanski, Bobby Lippa, Jr., Glenn Lippolis, Brian Sones, Bill Semmler, Darrick Tarbox, Timothy Garlock, Willy Strusz, Terry Weldy, Earl Paules, RJ Zacharias, Jim House, Jr., Jay Llewellyn, Jason Dinzer, Kyle Sharpe, Tom Markham.
DNQ’S; Dave Arbes, Eric Connor, Duane Eiden, Steve Shultz, RJ Wayman, Ben Van Tassel, Stephen Burton, Josh Oswald, Cody Gregg, Christopher Miller, Phil Foster, Chip Wannamaker.
JR KENNERUP
The 58th Sunoco Race of Champions completed another successful weekend of racing this past weekend at the Oswego Speedway. Despite a sluggish economy and increased fuel costs of late, a perfect weekend for racing brought out a strong contingent of racecars and race fans.
Winning preliminary features on Friday night were David Gruel in the Lighthouse Lanes NORA Small Block Super Modifieds, Tom Casabrande in the Factory / Pure / Street Stocks, while Jason Brigham won the Overall Mini Stock feature. With three separate divisions competing in the Mini Stocks the division winners were Brigham in the asphalt Front Wheel Drive division, Scott Shafer in the asphalt Rear Wheel Drive division, and Zak Petrie in the Dirt Wheel division.
Winning preliminary features on Saturday afternoon were Todd Hoddick in the Dart Heads Late Models and Mike Nichols defending his Super Stock win of a year ago.
Brian Sobus and David Gruel brought the Lighthouse Lanes NORA Small Block Super Modified 35 lap feature down to green. Gruel in the car for the first time that was normally driven by Tim Barbeau jumped into the lead over Sobus, Kevin Knopp, defending race winner Rob Pullen, and Mike Bond.
The top five stayed in line until lap nine when Bond moved into fourth and five laps later Knopp passed his way into second while Bond followed him into third at the same time. David Cliff moved into fifth on lap 15 in the very competitive event.
Bond took second from Knopp on lap 16 and with no yellows slowing the action he found himself nearly a full straightaway behind leader Gruel. On the next circuit Cliff moved into fourth and with the leader approaching lap traffic, this allowed the field to bunch up.
Gruel worked his way through lap traffic with ease as he held Bond at bay; Cliff was the fastest car on the track as he took third on lap 26.
The nonstop feature event saw Gruel come home with the win over a fast closing Bond, Cliff, Knopp, and Sobus.
Qualifying action for the 20 car field saw heat wins claimed by Bond and Pullen.
The always exciting Mini Stock division saw Mike Stringer and defending race winner Jason Brigham bring the field to green.
Brigham raced out to the lead over Stringer, Gene Purvis, Randy Schlenker, and Scott Shafer. Schlenker moved into third on lap two with Shaffer making a huge move coming out of turn four to go from fifth to third on lap three.
Tim Dunn who was picking his left rear wheel off the ground in the corners moved into fifth on lap three. Shafer powered into second on lap four with Dunn executing a four wide pass coming down the homestretch to claim third.
Dunn moved into second on lap seven and many thought a battle for the lead would take place following a yellow on lap ten. Brigham would nothing to say about a challenge for the lead as he sprinted out to a big lead.
Meanwhile Dunn and Shaffer were waging their own private battle for second with Shaffer claiming second on lap 18. Following a restart on lap 19 Dunn would reclaim second and set his sights on leader Brigham.
Coming down for the checkers Dunn got a huge run on the outside and nearly beat Brigham to the line as Brigham won by inches. Shaffer was third with Schlenker in fourth and Stringer in fifth.
Brigham won the asphalt Front Wheel Drive division while Shaffer won the asphalt Rear Wheel Drive division and Zak Petrie who finished eighth won the Dirt Car division.
Heat races for the 21 car field were won by Dunn and Shaffer.
The final feature on Friday night was the 25 lap Pure / Factory / Street Stock event. Tom Casabrande and Matt Jurek brought the field to green with Casabrande jumping out to a big lead. Jurek, John Hewson, Jr., Mark Spencer, Jr. and defending race winner Richard Petey completed the top five.
Petey was the show as he moved into fourth on lap four and seven laps later moved into third. But with the feature going without a yellow flag Petey just ran out of time in trying to catch the top two cars.
Casabrande in for the win followed Jurek, Petey, Hewson, and Spencer.
The qualifying event for the nine car field saw Casabrande take the win.
The 50 lap DART Heads Late Model feature on Saturday afternoon saw defending race winner Will Thomas and Bob Weber bring the field to the green. Thomas would bolt out to the lead over Travis Fisher, Todd Hoddick, Weber, and Tommy Cloce.
Hoddick who won this race in 2006 moved into second on lap five with Cloce moving into fourth on lap six and into third on lap nine.
David Ragin started to make some noise after starting 13th as he moved into the top five on lap 12 and one lap later took fourth.
The next 25 laps saw everyone biding their time before making their late race moves. In heavy lap traffic on lap 37 leader Thomas went high in turn one to go around the lap car of Patrick Hargan. The Hargan car pushed up the track and that opened the door for Hoddick to grab the lead. Cloce followed Hoddick through the opening to take second and on the next lap Ragin moved into third.
The final 12 laps were anti climatic as Hoddick cruised to the easy win followed by Cloce, Ragin, Lee Gill, and Josh John.
Qualifying races for the 32 Late Models saw heat races won by Hoddick, Gill, Thomas, and Cloce.
The 75 lap Super Stock feature had Shawn Sitarchyk and David Johnson lead the 40 car starting field to green. With a yellow occurring on the first lap and cautions counting Sitarchyk inherited the lead followed by Johnson, Michael Ramos, David Milbrand, and RJ Zacharias.
On a lap four restart Zacharias bolted into third and on the next lap defending race winner Mike Nichols moved into fifth. Before the third yellow of the race was displayed on lap six Zacharias swiftly moved into second. On the restart Nichols powered into third and things got pretty hairy as the front of the field entered heavy lap traffic on lap 13.
Disaster would strike Zacharias going into turn one on lap 14 as he and leader Sitarchyk became entangled with the lap car of Earl Paules. The yellow came out for Paules who lost a tire and for Zacharias who buried the car in the inside turn one boiler plate.
Nichols would inherit the lead with David Milbrand taking second as Sitarchyk did a 360 spin and only lost two spots. Frank Reakes and Jay Mudra now moved into fourth and fifth respectively.
On the restart Reakes moved into third followed by Mudra for fourth and Johnson recovered to regain fifth. On a lap 27 restart Reakes moved around Milbrand for second and at the same time Jeff Merritt who won this race in 2006 moved into fourth.
Merritt continued his charge to the front by taking third on lap 55 and second from Reakes on lap 63. Reakes and Merritt continued to battle for second and this allowed Nichols to slip away to win his second consecutive win in this event.
Reakes passed Merritt for second with three laps to go as Chris Daugherty in the Bill Chandler, Jr. car ended up fourth and Milbrand finished fifth.
Qualifying events for the 52 Super Stocks on hand saw heat wins go to Reakes, Ramos, Johnson, Nichols, and Milbrand. While the B Mains were won by Todd Ahner and Terry Weldy.
LIGHTHOUSE LANES NORA SMALL BLOCK SUPER MODIFIED FINISH; David Gruel, Mike Bond, David Cliff, Kevin Knopp, Brian Sobus, Rob Pullen, Russ Brown, JJ Andrews, Stan Gates, David Danzer, Josh LaRochelle, Barry Kingsley, Shawn Walker, Jack Patrick, Pat Mullen, Jerry Holmes, Ken Price, Sam Allen, Rick Curtis, Rick Ziegler.
MINI STOCK FINISH; Jason Brigham, Tim Dunn, Scott Shaffer, Randy Schlenker, Mike Stringer, Gene Purvis, Kevin Rex, Zak Petrie, Barry Christman, Jr., Otis Bradshaw, Bob Curren, Amanda Quinones, Ryan Purvis, Archie Haner, Kevin Miller, James Potrzebowski, Kurt Knapp, Greg Turner, AJ Lane. DNS; Paul Haner.
FACTORY / STREET / PURE STOCK FINISH; Tom Casabrande, Matt Jurek, Richard Petey, John Hewson, Jr., Mark Spencer, Jr., Howie Bott, Kevin Mendel, Jeff Guidotti, Mike Maggiore.
DART HEADS LATE MODEL FINISH; Todd Hoddick, Tommy Cloce, David Ragin, Lee Gill, Josh John, Bob Weber, George Skora, III, Brent Dragon, Jim Lamoreaux, Larry Fisher, Will Thomas, DJ King, Paul Koehler, Jr., Ben Reynolds, Mike Sweeney, Ray Bancroft, Lorin Arthofer, Josh Lloyd, George Swansbrough, Bobby Newman, Patrick Hargan, Earl Paules, Joey Brainard, Travis Fisher, Ron Nurmi, Andre Roggie, Francis Gross, III, Zane Zeiner, Jimmy Wismer, Jr., Bob Fenstermaker, Tim Card, Scott Nurmi.
SUPER STOCK FINISH; Mike Nichols, Frank Reakes, Jeff Merritt, Chris Daugherty, David Milbrand, Brad Kline, Shawn Sitarchyk, David Johnson, Justin Mooney, Jon Moser, Jeff Goodwin, Jay Mudra, Alan Schlenker, Todd Ahner, Michael Ramos, Todd Stone, Phil Alhart, Jr., Steve Hoffman, Joe Mooney, Joe Miller, Dan Scott, Kristy Arthofer, Robert Fink, Lee Sharpsteen, Dave Wolanski, Bobby Lippa, Jr., Glenn Lippolis, Brian Sones, Bill Semmler, Darrick Tarbox, Timothy Garlock, Willy Strusz, Terry Weldy, Earl Paules, RJ Zacharias, Jim House, Jr., Jay Llewellyn, Jason Dinzer, Kyle Sharpe, Tom Markham.
DNQ’S; Dave Arbes, Eric Connor, Duane Eiden, Steve Shultz, RJ Wayman, Ben Van Tassel, Stephen Burton, Josh Oswald, Cody Gregg, Christopher Miller, Phil Foster, Chip Wannamaker.
JR KENNERUP