Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – A solid showing of 20 Supermodifieds showed up in the pit area for Oswego Speedway’s 68th Season Opener two weeks ago and after a promising start to the 2018 season car count wise, as many as five different Supermodifieds are expected trackside this weekend including one new rookie.
Heading into Saturday night’s A&P Auto Parts ‘Spring Championship’ 50, Keith Shampine leads the Novelis Supermodified contingent into the month of June over Otto Sitterly, Michael Barnes, Chris Perley, and Dave Danzer in the top five.
Sitting six through tenth are defending track champion Dave Shullick Jr, Brandon Bellinger, Dave Gruel, Aric Iosue and Dan Bowes who all scored top ten finishes in at least one or both of the Twin 50’s on May 26.
Several top ten contenders a year ago currently sit out of the top ten heading into week two including Joe Gosek, Dan Connors Jr, and Jeff Abold who all either crashed out or had issues during the Jim Shampine Memorial feature events to start the season.
Impressive rookies Tyler Thompson and Nathan Schultzkie are only separated by a mere nine points heading into week two and if Opening Night is any indication, it will certainly be an exciting battle for the coveted ‘Rookie of the Year’ honors.
While Bowes, who impressed May 26 in his first two non-wing starts, as well as first time non-wing winner two weeks ago Perley and Dave McKnight are not expected back for this weekend, a solid five new cars is anticipated to roll through the pit gates come Saturday afternoon.
Shaun Gosselin will be back with the very chassis he has already won two Oswego features with. The former No. 26 has been reworked to the blue and white No. 77, sporting an independent front suspension setup in the family owned racer. Gosselin was able to hit the track with that ride late in the 2017 season, but struggled in the Budweiser International Classic 200.
One driver who had a career run going in last year’s Classic is Tim Devendorf, but as many fans will recall, the green and black No. 5 ended up on its roof going down the frontstretch just as Devendorf began to set his sights on taking the lead. Devendorf hopes to have the TK2 Motorsports machine back trackside June 9.
Logan Rayvals, a second generation driver and division Rookie of the Year a week ago will make the hall from Brockville, Ontario to Oswego this Saturday with the family owned No. 94. Rayvals was waiting on an engine last weekend, but hopes to be ready to go for this Saturday night. Son of former Oswego winner Craig Rayvals, Logan managed the first Supermodified top five of his career in 2017 alongside an impressive five top ten efforts.
Roger Clark has not made laps at Oswego Speedway since the 2000 season, but his crew has let the speedway know that the veteran will be back this weekend with the reworked No. 4 machine. Clark is returning with a freshened powerplant, independent front suspension, and more updates to the team’s 1994 Snyder and Snyder Chassis.
Speaking of Snyder, fans won’t see the ‘Zero Hero’ at the track at all in the month of June. Tim is busy moving his family from New Hampshire to New York and will return in July. Instead, Snyder has tabbed his longtime crew member Brent Murray as the rookie pilot of the No. 0 for all of June. Murray impressed in his first at speed laps less than a week ago at the track’s rookie Fast Friday session getting down to 18.3 seconds. The Fast Friday was Murray’s only experience in a race car of any kind to date.
