Parity is the new buzz word at Oswego Speedway, as there were two first time feature winners in Barry Kingsley and David Gruel Saturday night. Gruel led all 45 laps en route to his victory, while Kingsley picked up the lead after early race leader Jason Simmons encountered problems. Both Gruel and Kingsley had to hold off intense pressure in the final laps for the wildly popular wins.
Gruel and Keith Shampine led the 18 car starting field to Bruce Lee’s green starter sticks, with Gruel snagging the lead at the start. Jeff Holbrook and Otto Sitterly went low to move forward early, while Ray Graham and Dave McKnight elected to go to the high side of the speedway.
The field raced for early positioning, with Gruel in the cat bird seat with Shampine, Pat Lavery, Joe Gosek, Jeff Holbrook, McKnight, Tim Snyder, Graham, Joey Payne and Sitterly following. Gruel built a 1.67 second lead early in the event, using laps in the 17.35 and 17.38 area to gain the advantage. Shampine, Lavery and Gosek raced for second behind the #50, but not being able to gain on the race leader.
The only yellow flag of the race came out on lap 7, as Larry Muroski’s 38 slowed on the speedway surface, bunching up the field. Gruel wasted no time shooting back to a comfortable gap, while, McKnight moved up a spot, shooting by Holbrook’s 35 for fifth.
Otto Sitterly grabbed another spot, cranking by the Payne 99 on the front stretch for 8th. Back up front, Gruel quickened the race pace with consistent 17.25 and .21 laps, as he gained a 1.03 second lead in a few laps.
As the crossed flags sign came out at the halfway point of the racer, Gruel turned in a 17.44 lap, as he held a 1.61 second lead to the Shampine, Lavery, Gosek, McKnight, Holbrook, Graham, Sitterly and Bentley Warren parade behind.
Sitterly’s 7 came to life at the halfway point, as he wheeled by Graham on lap 24 for seventh, and shot by Holbrook a lap later for sixth, and was on the charge as he was closing the gap to the 88,22, 00 and 08 cars. Gruel remained in charge by just over a second with laps in the .59 and .65 area code, while Shampine inched closer.
With 10 laps to go, Shampine cut the lead to just under a second, as Sitterly moved to fourth by McKnight on the inside of turn one. Laps were running out, but Sitterly had the 7 car flying, chopping the lead considerable. Lap 39, he shot by Gosek’s 00 on the high side coming out of turn four, while one lap later Lavery was his victim on the back straightaway. Sitterly was now in third place, with five laps left. He had a steamroller of a car, but laps were coming closer to 45 quickly.
Gruel continued to circle the 5/8’s mile at 17.65 laps, running a consistent line, keeping the eight car length gap to Shampine’s 88, with Sitterly 1.47 second behind the race leader with 5 to go. Gruel continued to hit his marks, wheeling the Double Deuce machine at the head of the class.
Sitterly continued his charge, shooting by Shampine on the outside for second on lap 43, .71 seconds behind Gruel. As they reached the white flag, Gruel remained five lengths in front, with the 7 on the charge. They hit turn three, with the cars bumper to bumper, Gruel looking to protect the inside, with Sitterly thinking he could fill the hole.
With the checkered flag waving, Gruel powered off turn four, with Sitterly looking for the inside slingshot. Gruel’s 50 remained smooth and fast, while Sitterly’s dirt tracked the 7 out of four looking for that little extra bite, but it was not to be. The 7 got sideways, while the 50 remained in control, with Gruel shooting his right arm in victory, crossing under the checkered flag first, with Sitterly just behind on his inside.
“What a race!” the newest member of the $1000 club said just after his victory. “This was the hardest 45 laps I’ve ever driven. This is a new starting point, winning a supermodified feature at Oswego. I just have to thank everyone from Billy, Bob, the whole crew and sponsors. I couldn’t be happier.”
“Great job to Dave, Billy and Hoef,” the gracious second place finisher said after his furious charge. “The car really came in, and it was time to go. Patience and a good car worked well, and we’re happy with a second, and wheel it on the trailer tonight,” high point man Otto Sitterly said after his second place run.
“I just couldn’t get any closer to Dave, congratulations to him,” third place finisher Keith Shampine added. “The car was good, I was getting closer, but we couldn’t make a serious run at him. It was a good point night for us. We’re closing in on the top five.”
Kingsley and Jason Simmons were at the head of the class for the 22 car SBS 30 lap main event, with Simmons getting the better jump when the green flag came out, powering the 25 car to the point. Simmons led early on, with Kingsley Mike Bruce, Krieg Heroth, Dave Cliff, Dave Danzer, Tim Barbeau, Brian Sobus, Andrew Schartner and Mike Bond in tow.
Cliff went to the outside early on moving the #06 to fourth by Heroth on the front straightaway. A lap 6 caution flag slowed the pace, as rookie Doug Williams slowed the 10 car, bringing the slowdown. During the slowdown, leader Simmons 25 car encountered motor problems, and pitted the leading machine, taking out of contention, handing the point to the Kingsley 23.
Kingsley took full advantage of being up front pulling out on the restart, with Bruce and Cliff three lengths back battling for second. A lap 11 caution bunched the field as Fred Killian looped the 02 car. The cars remained in line on the restart with the only one stepping into the outside was Andrew Schartner. The 18 grabbed a few spots in the outside, taking advantage of the rest of the pack running against the hubrail.
As the 23, 2, and 06 led, the team cars of Heroth and Schartner were three lengths behind trying to catch the high flying trio. Lap 21, Schartner’s run to the front ended, after contact with another car, breaking the front tie rod on the #18.
Kingsley raced out by two car lengths on the take off, as fans in the put area began to make their way to the side of the fence, as pit favorite Kingsley inched closer to a possible feature win. Cliff stepped to the high side to get by Bruce on lap 24, but backed out, as Kingsley remained up front.
Coming out of turn four, Kingsley’s 23 went a groove higher, as the car appeared to get loose in the closing stages. He remained up front, but his gap was gone and it was a bumper to bumper dash between the top three. Nervous anticipation was all over the speedway as Kingsley took the white flag still in control of the race. Cliff shot by Bruce, and tried to make a last gasp effort for the win.
Coming out of turn four with the checkered flag waving, Kingsley got the 23 sideways out of the corner. He did a masterful job of keeping the car in the middle of the track, and drove under the checkered flag first with Cliff on his back bumper, Barry Kingsley could be called “Oswego Speedway Feature Winner”.
“I have to thank everyone that helped along the way,” the gracious winner started after the impressive run. “I can’t believe it. We’ve got one of these, what a race. I knew I had to go, as there were a bunch of good guys behind me. Besides the birth of my daughter and the day I got married, this is the best day of my life!”
News and notes….22 SBS cars and 18 supermodifieds were pitside. Steve Abt, Jason Simmons and Tim Barbeau won SBS heat races, with Tim Snyder, Jeff Holbrook and Pat Lavery taking supermodified qualifiers. Kingsley’s win made his the seventh different driver in SBS competition to win this year. Kingsley became the 70th different driver to win an SBS feature at Oswego Speedway, while Gruel became the 87th different driver to win a supermodified race at Oswego. Dave Gruel and Otto Sitterly are the point leaders as the stretch run of the year comes. Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman were announced to be coming to Oswego Speedway for the August 4th USAC Silver Crown race. Newman competed in last year’s event. It was also announced two more drivers would be announced shortly.
Novelis Supermodified 45 finish:
1)Dave Gruel 50, 2)Otto Sitterly 7, 3)Keith Shampine 88, 4)Pat Lavery 22, 5)Joe Gosek 00, 6)Dave McKnight 08, 7)Bentley Warren 15, 8)Joey Payne 88, 9)Daniel Connors Jr 01, 10)Jeff Holbrook 35, 11)Dave Cliff 98, 12)Shaun Gosselin 26, 13)Larry Muroski 38, 14)Ray Graham 90, 15)Lou Levea 61, 16)Greg Furlong 72, 17)Tim Snyder 0, 18)Joe Chillemi 14
PathFinder Bank SBS 30 finish:
1)Barry Kingsley 23, 2)Dave Cliff 06, 3)Mike Bruce 2, 4)Krieg Heroth 44, 5)Tim Barbeau 58, 6)Brian Sobus 79, 7)Mike Bond 26, 8)Dennis Richmond 7, 9)Guard Nearbin 78, 10)Bob Henry 93, 11)Dave Danzer 52, 12)Doug Williams 10, 13)Bryan Haynes 86, 14)Andrew Schartner 18, 15)Steve Abt 85, 16)Vern Lafave 50, 17)Fred Kilian 02, 18)Lou Levea Jr 95, 19)Keith Gilliam 87, 20)Jason Simmons 25, 21)Terry Solazzo 91, 22)Stan Gates 90.