SUPER SEGE PUTS RUTHERFORD RACING IN THE 59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS SST MODIFIED VICTORY LANE…
BRIGHAM WINS 3RD MINI STOCK TITLE IN A ROW…
GARLOCK CAPTURES FACTORY STOCK


In only his second time in an SST Modified on Friday night Super Sege Fidanza made a car that was perfectly setup by Rutherford Racing the car to beat in the 59th Sunoco Race of Champions Gater / Motorsports Expo sponsored SST Modified 100 at the Oswego Speedway.

Meanwhile for the third year in a row Jason Brigham dominated the 20 lap Mini Stock feature while Tim Garlock dominated the 20 lap Factory Stock feature.

Fidanza who started second passed pole sitter and lap one leader Nick Capelli with an outside turn three pass on lap two to get the lead he would never be challenged seriously for over the remaining 98 laps.

Besides Fidanza dominating the race en route to the $2,500 win his teammate for this race Pistol Pete Brittain brought home the second Rutherford Racing entry in second after starting ninth. Pole sitter Capelli ended up third with veteran Buck Catalano finishing fourth after starting eighth and 28th starter Rick Kluth finished fifth.

Capelli and Fidanza brought the 31 car field to green with Capelli getting the jump to grab the lead over Fidanza, Jeff Price, Jimmy Zacharias, and JR Kent. Entering turn three just before lap two was scored Fidanza took the lead with a powerful turn three outside pass.

Price got past Capelli on lap four for second with Capelli returning the favor 12 laps later. Pete Brittain moved into fifth on lap 17 but had Kent re passed him for fifth one lap later. Just before a yellow would come out on lap 20 Zacharias moved past Price for third.

The top five running order would stay the same until lap 23 when Brittain took to the high line to move into fifth and two laps later moved into fourth. Meanwhile on lap 29 Wilbur Hebing moved into fifth past a slip sliding Kent.

The running order of the race changed dramatically on lap 51 as Brittain after trying several laps finally got under Zacharias going into turn three. Zacharias tried his best to stay in the groove but slipped out of it and spun. Hebing was left no place to go and he slid into the incident ending his strong run.

Buck Catalano was the next driver to make noise by passing his way to the front as he moved into fifth on lap 56 and ten laps later moved into fourth.

With 20 laps to go Price got past Catalano for fourth and two laps later after trying for several laps Brittain finally got around Capelli for second. Catalano retook fourth on lap 84 with Jon Price now taking fifth from his brother Jeff.

The final yellow flew with 15 laps to go and when the green came back out Fidanza opened up his lead over Brittain. Rick Kluth made some noise as he moved into fifth after starting 28th on lap 86. The final 14 laps were anti climatic as Fidanza led Brittain across the line to make it a Rutherford Racing one two sweep.

Qualifying for the 45 car field saw heat wins captured by Jeff Price, Kevin Timmerman, Kent, Hebing, and Capelli while Jeff Hamman and Tony Hanbury won the consi’s.

Dave Frendt and Doug Mould brought the Mini Stock field to green with third place starter Gene Purvis taking the lead on the first lap followed by Otis Bradshaw, Mould, Jason Brigham, and Scott Shafer.

Brigham moved into third on lap two followed by Shafer into fourth and Tim Dubach into fifth. Brigham on a mission rocketed into the lead coming off turn four to grab the lead on lap three. Bradshaw got past Purvis for second on the next circuit while Shafer moved into third on lap five.

Tim Dunn moved into fifth on lap five and into fourth on lap seven. Shafer moved into second on lap eight while Dubach moved back into fifth on lap ten.

Up front Brigham was in a league of his own in the nonstop event as he lapped up to the fourth place car at the checkers. Shafer was second followed by Dunn, Bradshaw, and Dubach.

The Rear Wheel winner of this event was Shafer while Ransomville racer Tim Durfy was the Dirt Car winner of the event.

Qualifying for the 14 car field saw heat wins captured by Brigham and Shaffer

Richard Petey and Howard Bott brought the Factory Stock 20 lap feature to green. Petey grabbed the lead over Tim Garlock, Bott and Tom Casagrande.

Garlock roared into the lead on lap three with an inside turn two pass. After getting the lead Garlock raced out to a full straightaway lead. Casagrande moved into second on lap two and was a half a track behind at that point. At the halfway point Bott took third and all of the attention was now focused on Casagrande.

As the laps wound down Casagrande was cutting into the large lead of Garlock but ran out of laps as he fell less than a car length short at the checkers. Bott and Petey followed the lead duo across the line.

The qualifying heat was won by Casagrande.

NOTES; Hot laps earlier in the day claimed the cars of Justin Petcosky who hit the wall ending his day. Dick Kluth blew the motor and he jumped into the Dan Hoag car to race the show and took a SST Provisional to get into the show. Bobby Holmes also blew a motor in hot laps and had a new motor trucked in from Buffalo, NY. The motor was installed in time for Bobby to qualify through his heat race. Zach Curren and Craig Dolphin got together in the last hot lap session ending their day of racing. George Skora, III was making his open wheel debut on this day. The show was delayed twice during the show as several track lights overheated and went out. Each time a 20 minute delay took place as the lights cooled down and then came back on. Despite a gloomy forecast the wind coming off Lake Ontario kept all moisture well south of the speedway.

GATER / MOTORSPORTS EXPO SST MODIFIED 59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS OFFICIAL FINISH; Sege Fidanza, Pete Brittain, Nick Capelli, Buck Catalano, Rick Kluth, Tim Gullo, Jerry Gradl, Jon Price, Amy Catalano, Jeff Hamman, Bobby Holmes, Tom McGrath, Kevin Timmerman, Terry Cheetham, Eric Stietzel, Jeff Price, Rick Zacharias, Andy Jankowiak, Wilbur Hebing, Jimmy Zacharias, JR Kent, Chris Finnochario, Lee Sharpsteen, Bobby Osgood, Billy Putney, Dick Kluth, Tony Hanbury, Justin Shepker, George Skora, III, Zach Truesdail, Earl Paules.
DNQ’S; Jody Buckley, Craig Dolphin, Jason Simmons, Dave Tedesco, John Markovic, Ryan Beeman, Ed Weber, Patrick Emerling, Fred Taylor, Pat Veruys, Russ Brown, Zach Curren, Kevin Miller, Matt Kurzejewski.

59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS MINI STOCK OFFICIAL FINISH; Jason Brigham, Scott Shafer, Tim Dunn, Otis Bradshaw, Tim Dubach, Tim Durfy, Gene Purvis, Bill Veruys, Doug Mould, Dave Frendt, Gert McDonald.
DNS; Mike Stringer, Archie Haner.

59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS FACTORY STOCK FINISH; Tim Garlock, Tom Casagrande, Howard Bott, Richard Petey.

JR KENNERUP