Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – Less than a month away from the track’s 68th season opener, Oswego Speedway officials have released the time schedules for all weekly ‘Road to the Championship’ events in 2018 featuring the Novelis Supermodified and Pathfinder Bank SBS divisions.
Beginning on Memorial Day Weekend, each division will embark on a ten race championship series which kicks off on Saturday, May 26 when the first ever running of the Jim Shampine Memorial Twin 50’s will be held for the Novelis Supermodifieds along with a 35-lap Tony White Memorial main for the Pathfinder Bank SBS.
Weekly time schedules for this season will remain nearly identical to 2017, with the exception of Opening Day as well as the two events that include driver autograph sessions on both June 16 and August 11.
On May 26, racing will get off to an early start. Pit gates will open at 11:30am, grandstands will open with the start of hot laps at 1:30pm, and heat races will get underway at 4:00pm.
Supermodified heats will be first on Opening Night, followed by Small Block Super heats, the first Jim Shampine Memorial 50-lap feature, the Tony White Memorial 35, and the second Jim Shampine Memorial 50-lap feature.
Two weeks later, June 9 will see a regular program that includes a 50-lap main event for the Novelis Supermodifieds and 30-lap feature for the Pathfinder Bank SBS.
All regular 50 and 30-lap programs that do not include the addition of an autograph session will see pit gates open at 3:00pm, grandstands open at 4:30pm, and racing getting the green flag at 6:15pm.
Race dates with the standard time schedule include the 9th of June, the Independence Weekend Special on June 30, July 7 and July 14, and also for the 32nd running of the $10,000 win Mr. Novelis Supermodified and $1,500 to win Mr. Pathfinder Bank SBS on July 21.
As part of ‘Retro Night’ on August 4th along with Track Championship Night on August 18, racing will again get underway promptly at 6:15pm and follow the same time schedule as June 9, June 30, July 7, July 14, and July 21.
On autograph shows in 2018, which will be held on Novelis Supermodified Twin 35 night June 16, as well as the speedway’s first ‘Family Night’ special on August 11, pits will open at 2:30pm, practice will begin at 4pm, autographs will take place on the frontstraightaway at 5:15pm, and the first heat will take the green at 6:30pm.
Similar to years past, on regular race nights, 10-lap heats for the Small Blocks will be first followed by the 12-lap heats for the Supermodifieds, the Small Block Super main event, and the Supermodified main event.
Back for a second year in 2018 are the speedway’s group time trial sessions which will take place at the conclusion of hot laps. On each regular race week, time trials will begin 45 minutes prior to the start of heat races. Small Block Supers will go first for their 15-minute time trial session at 5:30pm, followed by the Supermodifieds immediately at 5:45pm. Heat races will start 15 minutes after Supermodified time trials get the checkered flag.
