The history books had another chapter added to them On July 10th as Mike and Bob Bond became the first set of brothers to win features at Oswego Speedway on the same race night. Bob grabbed his first ever Oswego Speedway supermodified feature win as he led all 50 laps of the King of Wings event, pocketing the 25 team a cool $5000. Mike Bond passed race leader Dave Danzer halfway through the 30 lap SBS race, to pick up $1,000 and add to his all time leading feature winning total in the division, now at 21.
Bobby Dawson and Bobby Bond led the parade of 26 MSA winged supermodifieds to the line, as some of the most talented drivers in all of supermodified racing were at the ready for the 50 lap race. Bond grabbed the lead early in this one, as he knew the start would be very important. “I knew I had to get a better jump than the 28, I really wanted to lead early”, Bond said of his early race strategy.
Russ Wood and Otto Sitterly went to the inside to move forward, while Joe Gosek and Bobby Magner went to the “money groove” to advance. Early on Bond led Dawson, Tim Ice, Paul White, Randy Burch, Trent Stephens, Magner, Gosek, Wood, and Charlie Schultz. Bond circled the track at a consistent 16.53 clip, as he built up an early 2.51 second gap over his pursuers. Ice made the move to second on lap 11, as he dropped Dawson back to the show spot in the lineup.
One lap later, the caution showed as Gene Lee Gibson’s 0 car came to a stop, as his feet became overheated, with internal problems in the Ohio based machine. Once racing again, the cars lined up in single file form. Gosek and Magner traded spots, as the hometown duo looked to advance.
Bond continued his 16.48 pace, and opened his lead back to 10lengths, but Ice started to get comfortable and was on the charge. Burch made his way by Dawson, and the race up front was now between the 25, 77, and 52 cars.
Lap 21 Burch’s fine run ended as he limped the Gillingham #52 pit side as fans attention began to shift further back, as Mike Lichty and Ray Graham had been charging from the back of the pack. The 74 and 90 cars appeared in the top ten at halfway, as Bond’s lead shrunk to 5 lengths over Ice.
With 20 laps of consecutive green flag racing going on, cars were spread all over the speedway, as Bond came into slower traffic on lap 28. He cruised to the outside with ease. Graham shortly exited the race after his fine charge to the top ten.
The lead grew to 1.84 seconds, as Bond had things all his way in the next portion on the event. Through traffic, a few laps later, that gap increased to 2 ½ second, as Paul White became a player as well in the Steve Miller Sweet 16. White scooted into third with ten laps to go, trying to chase the 77 car. A few laps later, White turned left off turn four, went pit side and his best run at Oswego was over.
With five to go, the scoreboard read 25, 77, 28, 41 and 00. Bond circled the 5/8’s mile with a comfortable lead, but lapped traffic was going to play a part in this before the finish. Bond came up to the lapped cars, wheeled around the high side and kept his momentum up. Ice cut the gap down as laps wound along, but ran out of time.
The double checkered flags came out, and crossing under them first, was Mexico, NY’s Bobby Bond, the newest supermodified feature winner at Oswego Speedway. Tim Ice had his second consecutive second place finish in the King of Wings Special, while Bobby Dawson also had his best ever Oswego run in third.
“I really thought my first win here would be without a wing, instead of with one,” Bobby chuckled after the win. “I knew the start would be big, and I just wanted to get the lead early. The car was tight, really tight. I have to thank the guys on the crew, my family and all the fans tonight. I hope you liked the show.”
“I’m really liking this place,” second place finisher Ice said. “He was getting closer and closer in the end, I wish it would have been ten more laps or so, but it was a good run for our car. I was trying to save some of the car, but had to go too, as it was a fast race, and it was time to go.”
“We had a great run tonight, we’re thrilled,” third place finisher Bobby Dawson said of his best ever Oswego finish. “We made some changes to the car, the guys did a lot of work, and we’re really happy with the results.”
In The PathFinder Bank “$1,000 to Win” 30 lap event, Mike Bruce and Dave Danzer started from the front row. Danzer shot to the lead quickly, with the field shuffling into single file form in a hurry. Bruce followed in second, with Bond, Brian Sobus, Andrew Schartner, Barry Kingsley, Tim Barbeau, Dave Cliff, Steve Abt and Jason Simmons in tow.
Bond shot by Bruce on lap 6 to take over the runner up spot, and begin his charge to Danzer. Lap 11 saw the caution come out, as Dave Cliff looped the 06 looking to advance, and the car came out from under him. Danzer and Bond drew away on the restart, as they distanced themselves from the pack of Bruce, Sobus, Schartner, Abt, and Barbeau, with Vern LaFave coming up to play with the pack as well.
Bond made his move on lap 14, as he cranked the 26 to the inside of the Danzer 52 out of turn two, and won the drag race down the back straightaway for the top spot. Bond’s first lap was clocked at a 19.44 as he quickened the race pace, and drew out 5 lengths on the first lap he was in charge.
He followed it up with consistent 19.47 laps, and the gap to the pack of second through ninth place cars was growing. With Bond cruising, the eight car pack all looked in front, waiting for the guy in front of them to make a mistake. None of these guys slipped, so they all held their spots. Back up front, Bond’s lead grew to 3.53 seconds, as this race was his barring mechanical difficulty.
Caution waved over the speedway with four to go in the extra distance, extra cash race. Back to racing, Bond showed the true veteran that he is, as he wheeled back out front, and drove away unchallenged the rest of the race for the win.
“We had a good car tonight, I really have to thank the guys on the crew,” the all time SBS feature winner stated. “They put in a lot of time on this car, and it’s nice when it all pays off and comes together like this.”
News and Notes. 38 supermodifieds and 22 SBS cars were pit side. Mike Bond, Dave Cliff and Brian Sobus won SBS heats while Russ Wood, Bob Bond, Bob Magner, and Randy Burch won MSA heats with Joey Payne taking checkers in the consi. Dave McKnight broke a torque arm in warm ups, ending the night of the 08 car. Both cars from the Snyder garage blew motors, as the 26 and 0 both lost engines. Jerry Curran and Jason Spaulding also suffered engine problems on the night. Danny Lane took a hard trip into the wall in his MSA heat race, slamming the wall at full speed, and flipping over. The car was virtually destroyed, but Danny walked away uninjured. Bob Bond became the ninth different driver to win supermodified and SBS features at Oswego, joining Tim Gareau, Bob Goutermout, Greg Furlong, Michael Barnes, Otto Sitterly, Craig Rayvals, Ray Graham and Dean Hoag who was the only one of the nine to win his supermodified feature before winning his SBS feature.
Burkes / Community Bank / AT&T “King of Wings” 50 Feature:
1)Bobby Bond 25, 2)Tim Ice 77, 3)Bobby Dawson 28, 4)Bobby Magner 41, 5)Joe Gosek 00, 6)Russ Wood 29, 7)Trent Stephens 19, 8)Otto Sitterly 7, 9)Charlie Schultz 7, 10)Lou Cicconi 49, 11)Kyle Edwards 11, 12)Mike Lichty 74, 13)Jon Henes 36, 14)Paul White 16, 15)Pat Lavery 22, 16)Mike Barnes 70, 17)Ryan Klingelhofer 8, 18)Ray Graham 90, 19)Lou LeVea, Sr. 61, 20)Randy Burch 52, 21)Jason Spaulding 23, 22)Joey Payne 99, 23)Keith Shampine 88, 24)Jeff Holbrook 35, 25)Gene Gibson 0, 26)Rich Reed 55
“$1000 to Win” PathFinder Bank SBS Series 30 Feature:
1) Mike Bond 26, 2) Dave Danzer 52, 3) Mike Bruce 2, 4) Brian Sobus 79, 5) Andrew Schartner 18, 6) Steve Abt 85, 7). Tim Barbeau 58, 8) Vern LaFave 50, 9) Keith Gilliam 37, 10) Dennis Richmond 7, 11) Guard Nearbin 78, 12)Kreig Heroth 44, 13) Brian Osetek 00, 14) Jason Simmons 25, 15). Brian Haynes 86, 16). Danny Kapuscinski 93, 17)Dave Cliff 06, 18) Brad Haynes 43, 19) Barry Kingsley 23, 20). Terry Solazzo 91, 21) Lou LeVea, Jr. 95.