Danzer and Stephen Gioia led the 23-car parade to Donnie Forbes starter sticks, with Danzer’s 52 powering off turn four with the lead. Joe Gosek, Randy Ritskes and Otto Sitterly were all in contention for the championship when the race started, with Gosek and Ritskes looking to the outside to move up, while Sitterly went to the inside to challenge early.
Danzer pulled out to an early 10-car length lead early, with Gioia, Tim Snyder, Jeff Holbrook, Pat Lavery. David Gruel, Bob Bond, Joey Payne, Ray Graham, Randy Ritskes and Otto Sitterly filling out the top 11. Danzer set a blistering race pace, stopping clocks at 17.16 and 17.19 in the first dozen laps of the race.
By lap 13, Danzer increased his lead to 3.56 seconds, as Gioia held back Snyder, Holbrook and Lavery. Gosek used the outside groove to move by Bond for seventh, while Ritskes and Sitterly were mired in traffic.
That big lead was wiped out on lap 14, as the yellow lights flashed for a two-car tangle in turn four between Steve Abt and Kelly Miller. Snyder shuffled by Gioia on the get go for second place, while Gosek turned right to the outside by Gruel and Lavery for a top five spot. Sitterly passed Ritskes on lap 17 for the spot, then set sail for the team cars of the 50 and 22.
Back up front, Danzer clocked in consecutive laps at 17.28, as he built the lead to 2.03 seconds as Forbes displayed the crossed flags sign for halfway. Sitterly continued his charge forward, wheeling by Gosek on the front stretch just after halfway, then passing the Payne 99 for fourth. Just after that pass, yellow again was displayed over the speedway.
The Payne and Sitterly cars came into contact in turn one, with Sitterly’s 7 car sustaining major sheet metal damage ending his night, while Payne’s 99 was pushed away. Danzer pulled out on Snyder once racing, while Ritskes began to make his presence felt, getting by Lavery for fifth.
Holbrook shot by Gioia for third on lap 31, and set sail toward the 52 and 0 cars. Danzer led Snyder by 5 car lengths at lap 30, and still looked smooth and fast up front. Laps in the 17.34 and 17.26 range built the advantage to 1.34 seconds with 13 laps to go. Snyder was in second, with Holbrook, Gioia, Gosek, and Ritskes all still in contention.
A two-car tango in turn two slowed the pace on lap 43, as Michael Muldoon’s 20 car shortened the front end, while the Payne 99 was stopped again in the wrong direction. Muldoon’s night was done. Another yellow flag period came, but this one was a four-car jam session with Snyder, Ray Graham, Dave Gruel and Pat Lavery involved. Graham and Snyder went pitside, out of the race. This brought a new contender to Danzer, as Holbrook was the new player.
On the restart, Danzer shot out again, but this time Gosek got by Gioia for third. As laps wound down. Danzer was comfortably in front as the white flag came out. One last yellow then red flag situation flew over the speedway, as second running Holbrook blew the powerplant in the 35, and did a slow spin in turn three. His race was over, now putting Gosek’s 00 on Danzer’s bumper for the finish.
Danzer remained calm and cool, hit his marks and drove under the checkered flags first, taking the win in the supermodified 50 lapper. It was the first win for Danzer, and the first win for his father Craig, a car supermodified car owner since the 1980’s.
“This is incredible!”, Danzer exclaimed after exiting the car. “This is a dream come true. Winning in my dad’s car, is extra special. Our team is a family team, and this is something we’ve all dreamed about. We have a great car, and I still can’t believe this.”
Track champion Joe Gosek soaked in the moment as well. “This is my first championship with my 00 guys, and second overall. It’s a special one, winning it for my guys. It was a good year, and the guys worked really hard week in and week out. I’m getting older, my career is winding down, and this championship really means a lot.”
Dalton Doyle and Lou Levea were front row dancing partners for the SBS main, with Doyle placing the #1 car at the head of the class when the green flag came out. Mike Bruce went high to move up, while Bond went low, looking for room. By virtue of starting the race, Bond clinched his third ever SBS track championship. With the championship locked up, Bond could now go for the icing on the cake and go for the win.
Jason Simmons took the lead from Doyle, with Bruce, Bond, Heroth and Schartner all getting by the Doyle machine. Simmons was in control at laps of 19.65 and .69, as he looked to run away and hide for his first Oswego win.
Bond wheeled under Bruce for the runner up spot on lap 4, as he looked to cut down the 1.88-second gap Simmons had raced out to. Bond began to chop down the lead, as with Simmons running laps in the 6’s, Bond stopped the clocks in the 5’s.
At halfway, Simmons still led, but Bond cut the gap to 15 car lengths, with Bruce, Heroth and Schartner still in contention. On lap 19, Bond was now running bumper to bumper with Simmons, with the 26 stepping to the outer reached of the speedway looking for the race lead.
With Simmons fending off Bond, Bruce, Heroth and Schartner chopped the gap considerably, now making it a five-car race for the lead in the closing laps. The next few laps saw the 98, 26 and 22 cars break away from the 44 and 18 team cars, making it a three-car race for the win.
Bruce looked low on the Bond car entering turn one, but had to back out. Bond in turn looked by Simmons, with no luck. Lap 27, the pace slowed for a first turn accident between Jack Patrick and Will Hadcock. Simmons couldn’t shake Bond on the get go, as Bond peeked outside again. Coming down on the last lap for the win, Bond gave it one last shot on the outside, with the 26 getting a grip this time and shooting by for the lead. With one turn to go in the race, Bond passed Simmons for not only the championship, but the win as well.
“I have to hand it to everyone, Terry Solazzo, my crew and all my sponsors,” the victory said after the dramatic win. “We had a great year, and a great five years with this team. We’ve run well week in and week out. It’s a lot of preparation in the garage, and this is a lot of fun with these guys.
News and Notes…22 supers and 21 SBS cars were pitside. Jeff Holbrook, Dave Danzer and Dave Gruel won supermodified heat races with Dalton Doyle, Brian Haynes and Mike Bruce won SBS heat races. Dave Danzer became the fifth driver to win a feature in his supermodified rookie year, as well as becoming the eighth driver to win in both the supermodified and SBS divisions at Oswego Speedway. The championship was Gosek’s second career title, winning also in 2003. Bond won his third career championship, adding to his 2003 and 2004 SBS titles. Racing takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Oswego Speedway, as it’s Classic Weekend. Times and schedules can be found at oswegospeedway.com
Supermodified 50 lap finish
1)Dave Danzer 52, 2)Joe Gosek 00, 3)Randy Ritskes 88, 4)Pat Lavery 22, 5)Stephen Gioia III 9, 6)David Gruel 50, 7)Kody Graham 21, 8)Shaun Gosselin 26, 9)Joey Payne 99, 10)Jeff Holbrook 35, 11)Brandon Bellinger 02, 12)Tim Snyder 0, 13)Ray Graham 90, 14)Michael Muldoon 20, 15)Bob Bond 25, 16)Bobby Haynes 44, 17)Otto Sitterly 7, 18)Steve Abt 85, 19)Kelly Miller 81, 20)Joe Chillemi 14, 21)Guard Nearbin 78, 22)Hal Latulip 56, 23)Dave McKnight 08
SBS finish
1)Mike Bond 26, 2)Jason Simmons 98, 3)Mike Bruce 22, 4)Andrew Schartner 18, 5)Rob Pullen 2, 6)Kreig Heroth 44, 7)Dave Cliff 06, 8)Mark Castiglia 90, 9)AJ Bernys 24, 10)Tim Barbeau 50, 11)Barry Kingsley 23, 12)Dalton Doyle 1, 13)Dave Latulip 37, 14)Brad Haynes 86, 15)Jack Patrick 9, 16)Will Hadcock 43, 17)Brian Osetek 00, 18)Lou Levea 95, 19)Dennis Rupert 99, 20)Cameron Rowe 77