Just as lap one was finishing, Gruel nosed by Noto, with Lavery sliding by shortly, setting up a team car dash to the finish. Noto started to fall off the pace, as top runners, McKnight, Gosek, Graham, Randy Ritskes, Tim Snyder, Otto Sitterly, Joey Payne and Bob Bond worked their way through.
Gruel maintained a three-car length gap, as they circled the fast 5/8’s at 17.44 and 17.47 laps. Fourth running Gosek, and his dancing partners Graham and Ritskes began chasing down the highflying trio up front, as a six-car break away began to develop.
Caution flew over the speedway for the first time in the event, as Danny Connors 01 slowed in turn two, with possible torque arm problems. The top ten remained intact on the take off, with McKnight peaking his nose of the 08 in the high side, to no avail.
Sitterly began a charge on lap 24, as he maneuvered by Snyder seventh. The crossed flags for halfway were shown, with Gruel turning in a 17.46 lap, 2 car lengths ahead of teammate Lavery. McKnight, Gosek, Graham, Ritskes, Sitterly, Snyder, Payne and Bond rounded out the top ten and were all still in contention. Lap 29, the caution lights flashed again, this time for Craig Rayvals 94 that was pinched against the first turn hub rail. Later diagnosis showed a break in the front axel. Mike Muldoon screeched the #20 to a stop on the front straightaway for another immediate caution flag.
With the top five running in line, seventh running Sitterly appeared to be the only car able to advance, this time Ritskes was his victim. Gruel remained unchallenged up front, wheeling consistent 17.37 and .42 laps, as his three-car length gap was room enough.
With three laps to go, caution flew again, this time for Bob Bond’s 25 car that spun out of turn four. The top five again remained unchanged, with Sitterly blasting by Graham’s 90 along the grand stand straightaway for sixth as laps wound down.
Checkered flags waved, with David Gruel collecting his second career win, 4.5 seconds ahead of team mate Pat Lavery, with Dave McKnight, Joe Gosek and Otto Sitterly rounding out the top five.
“The car was absolutely phenomenal tonight,” Gruel exclaimed with a smile from ear to ear. “We did a lot of work on it this week, made a few changes to the car, and they worked perfect. The guys put in a lot of time in the garage, and we were fast tonight. We ran well in our heat race, and the car performed well in the feature. It was a great night for Double Deuce Racing, with a one two finish.”
Second place finisher, Pat Lavery echoes his team mates comments. “The guys did a lot of garage time this week, and the car was good. I tooted my horn, but David didn’t listen and move over. All in all, it was a good night for the team.”
Dave McKnight finished in third “It’s tough sledding out there. It’s pretty much a one-groove track right now, and we tried going outside, but there’s no bite out there just yet. I’m sure we’ll be able to get out there soon, it just didn’t work tonight. The Syrell car was good, we just need to move up a couple of more positions.”
Barry Kingsley and Cameron Rowe led the 17-car parade on their 30 lap main event, with Kingsley’s 23 showing the way in the early going. As the field raced for positions early on, previous week winner Mike Bond had his car #26 come to a rest in turn three, with the Mike Bruce 22 car also involved. Quick diagnosis on the 26 saw a broken break line.
On the get go, Kingsley led Jason Simmons, Jack Patrick, Schartner, Rowe, Kreig Heroth, Dave Cliff, Tim Barbeau, Brian Osetek and Dave Latulip. As Kingsley cruised ahead, Schartner pulled top the inside of Patrick, where the pair raced side by side for three laps, before Schartner inching ahead on lap 6.
Schartner stayed inside, and wheeled by Simmons on the inside of turn one, moving into the runner up spot, and closing in on car 23 up front.
Lap 9, Schartner again went to the inside along the front straightaway. This time, as they raced into turn one, the 23 the 18 cars touched, sending the Kingsley car into a spin in turn one. Track officials review the tape, and called it a racing incident, giving Schartner the top spot.
From there, Schartner stayed up front, unchallenged for the lead. Rookie Dave Latulip lost a battle with the inside fourth turn wall after contact from another car, ending the fine run the #27 had going. Schartner kept the 18 on cruise control up front, while the battle behind was between the 9 and 44 cars.
With five laps to go, Kreig Heroth made it a Crow Motorsports top two, as he slipped Patrick back to third. Yellow came over the speedway one last time, this time on lap 28 was Dennis Rupert lost the handle on the 99, setting up a green-white –checkered finish.
Once again, Schartner pulled away unchallenged, and drove on for his fifth career Oswego feature win. “The car was fast all night,” the happy winner stated. I have to apologize to Barry, it wasn’t intentional, but I didn’t mean for that accident to happen. We unloaded fast, the car was fast all night, and tonight was a good night for the Crow Motorsports team.
News and Notes, 23 supermodifieds and 17 SBS cars were pitside. Cameron Rowe and Jack Patrick won SBS heats while Joe Gosek, Dave McKnight and Pat Lavery took supermodified checkered flags. Next week is a regular night of racing, with qualifiers, a 30-lap SBS race and 50-lap supermodified feature. Pit gates open at 3:30pm, grandstands and practice start at 4:30pm, with the first heat race at 6:30pm.
Supermodified Order of finish
1) David Gruel 50, 2) Pat Lavery 22, 3)Dave McKnight 08, 4)Joe Gosek 00, 5)Otto Sitterly 7, 6)Ray Graham 90, 7)Randy Ritskes 88, 8)Tim Snyder 0, 9)Joey Payne 99, 10)Kody Graham 21, 11)Jerry Curran 24,12)Dave Danzer 52, 13)Michael Muldoon 20, 14)Stephen Gioia III 9, 15)Keith Gilliam 87, 16)Bob Bond 25, 17)Craig Rayvals 94, 18)Brian Sobus 79, 19)Andy Noto 48, 20)Danny Connors 01, 21)Guard Nearbin 78, 22)Steve Abt 85.
SBS Order of finish
1)Andrew Schartner 18, 2)Kreig Heroth 44, 3)Jack Patrick 9, 4)Dave Cliff 79, 5)Tim Barbeau 50, 6)Mark Castiglia 90, 7)Rob Pullen 2, 8)AJ Bernys 24, 9)Barry Kingsley 23, 10)Brian Osetek 00, 11)Dennis Rupert 99, 12)Will Hadcock 43, 13)Jason Simmons 98, 14)Dave Latulip 27, 15)Cameron Rowe 77, 16)Mike Bond 26, 17)Mike Bruce 22