Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – Defending Novelis Supermodified champion Dave Shullick Jr. took off from his fifth place starting spot to win the C’s Beverage ‘Summer Championship’ this past Saturday night at the Oswego Speedway. It was the fourth victory of the season for the North Ridgeville, O.H. driver and the ninth of his non-wing career at the Steel Palace.
“The car was really good tonight. We fought a tight piece all day and didn’t know how much to tighten it for the feature race, but we got it good,” Shullick said in victory lane. “I played with some brakes under the caution and then it was pretty damn good after that.”
Dan Connors Jr. and Aric Iosue brought the field to green for the 50-lap main event with Iosue leading the first circuit from the outside.
After diving to the low side of rookie Tyler Thompson on the initial start, Shullick was on a mission from the inside of the third row and quickly began to work the outside lane on fourth starting Brandon Bellinger, Connors, and Iosue.
By the completion of lap 2, Shullick found the high side of Bellinger for third before taking the runner up position away from Connors one lap later coming off the exit of turn four.
Shullick was not done yet, as he immediately reeled in the Iosue No. 11 and drove right around the outside for the lead coming to complete lap 4.
As Shullick began to pull away, Shampine and Otto Sitterly were busy at work behind him as Shampine drove into third around the outside of both Bellinger and Connors with Sitterly following him through for fourth all the way from his twelfth starting spot.
Fresh off his first victory in nearly three seasons, it appeared as if Sitterly was poised for two in a row as he breezed by 8 cars in only five laps early on.
No sooner than they found the top five did Shampine and Sitterly take second and third as the pair worked past runner up Iosue by lap 6 with Shampine making an outside pass for second and Sitterly using the bottom part of the speedway to grab third.
Shullick, Shampine and Sitterly showed right away that they were the class of the field in this particular event as the front three had pulled away from everyone by lap 10 with Shampine and Sitterly slowly but surely closing in on the No. 2.
With less than 20 laps in the books, Shullick was well on his way, already lapping up to 14th running Dave Gruel in the No. 50 and later catching 13th running Dave Danzer in the No. 52, Logan Rayvals in 12th, and Thompson who had since dropped all the way back to 11th.
Lapped traffic became a major factor for the leaders at the halfway point and it was on lap 27 when Shampine looked high on a lapped car that Sitterly attempted to fill the gap, but the two brushed with Sitterly pounding the inside hub rail before cutting back across the track and making heavy contact with the outside wall to bring out the Canale Insurance & Accounting yellow flag. Sitterly was OK, but the Nicotra Racing No. 7 sustained heavy damage.
The points leader was now out of the race with 23 laps to go and this allowed the second, third, and fourth place drivers in the standings of Shampine, Barnes and Shullick, to close the gap on the seven time track champion.
All of the lapped cars were left in between the new top three of Shullick, Shampine and Iosue on the ensuing restart and this wound up allowing Shullick to pull away even further from the rest of the field, eventually lapping up to 8th place Jeff West by the completion of the main event.
Iosue lost a ton of ground coming back to the green after the lone caution, handing third over to Connors, fourth to Bellinger, and fifth to the No. 05 of Jeff Abold, but only for a moment as Bellinger was immediately able to take away the final podium position from the Connors No. 01 just one corner later.
For the remaining 20 laps, Connors would then be forced to fend off Abold, who was back for the first time in several weeks after dealing with motor issues on his ride. He ran rather strong in the ‘Summer Championship’ to wind up grabbing his first top five of the 2018 season.
Further back in the top ten, Iosue had fallen all the way back to seventh with the ‘Hustler’ Michael Barnes, wheeling his way up from eleventh to sixth in the Syrell Racing No. 68.
Out front on the other hand, it was pure domination for Dave Shullick Jr. as with his victory, DJ has now tied Barnes for third place in the standings just 35 points behind Sitterly for the lead.
Shampine was able to hold on for second place in the main event to come within just 11 points of the current championship leader with only four regular feature events remaining.
Bond Blasts to Career Victory 43 in C’s Beverage Summer Championship
Mike Bond from Mexico, N.Y. drove to his 43rd career Pathfinder Bank Small Block Supermodified victory and his second of the 2018 season in this past Saturday night’s C’s Beverage ‘Summer Championship’ at Oswego Speedway.
Bond, driving the Four Sevens Motorsports No. 74 machine sponsored by Millenium Music, drove from sixth to the win after an exciting battle with defending track champion Dave Cliff in the late stages.
Bond’s victory gave his car owner and sister in law Denise Bond her 27th career checkered flag as an SBS car owner, tying her with Crow Motorsports for most all-time at the ‘Steel Palace.’
“The car was working good tonight,” Bond commented in victory lane. “If we got the stagger we needed we probably could have run even better, but I have to thank my guys for giving me a good car. We had some problems earlier during warmups and they busted their butts to get it back together right. Thanks to Denise for giving me a great piece.”
Once again the most recent SBS feature event provided plenty of action for the fans this past Saturday night at the speedway with impressive 16 year old rookie Joshua Sokolic and Cliff leading the field to the green flag for the 30-lap main event.
Driving the Tim Barbeau owned No. 50, Cliff quickly took the top spot away from the outside lane of the speedway with Sokolic dropping back into second.
Dalton Doyle was mighty quick all night long on the No. 01 and he had that car up to third by lap 2 with Patrick falling back to fourth and Bond quickly cracking the top five from his starting spot in sixth.
Meanwhile, Andrew Schartner, Dan Kapuscinski, Russ Brown, and Anthony Losurdo were all on the move in that order as the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth place cars soon worked up to seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth with only 2 circuits in the books.
With Losurdo and Brown in a torrid battle for the points lead, the driver of the Missile Motorsports No. 1 knew he had to make quick work with the five time speedway champion hot on his heels as ‘Hawk’ found the low side of Schartner on lap 3 with Brown and the No. 54 of Camden Proud following suit.
As this battle was taking place, Losurdo’s teammate Kapuscinski had since worked past the No. 27 of seventh starting David LaTulip to take that position away with less than five laps completed.
The Canale Insurance & Accounting yellow flag was then displayed on lap 4 for a spinning No. 94 of rookie Tim Glidden Jr. who fired back up and rejoined the field.
On the restart, Cliff remained out front with Sokolic still second, Doyle third, Bond up to fourth, and Jack Patrick was hanging on for fifth after starting third.
Patrick, however, only stayed in fifth for a corner, as Kapuscinski outfoxed the veteran to take that spot away off of corner number two.
Trying to follow in Kapuscinski’s footsteps as best he could was July 7 winner and points leader Losurdo, who charged from twelfth to the outside of the LaTulip No. 27 to take seventh away on lap 6.
Further back in the field, Brown was also doing his best to keep up and track down the young man he has been battling for the points lead, finally working to the low side of Schartner on the same circuit with Proud staying glued to the back bumper of the No. 13 to follow him through as well.
With Patrick now sixth, Losurdo seventh, Brown eighth, Proud ninth and Schartner in tenth, things were heating back up towards the front of the pack as Doyle began to challenge Sokolic for the second spot.
As Doyle looked to the low side of the rookie, that was the opportunity Bond was looking for to try out the high road and this set up an entertaining battle for positions two and three for the next several laps.
On lap 8, Sokolic ended up pushing wide off of turn two, allowing both Doyle and Bond to slip by to take second and third away with Sokolic falling to fourth and Kapuscinski working on him back in fifth.
The yellow flew was then waved again as Glidden spun or a second time on lap 10 and that certainly tightened the field up with 20 circuits remaining as Cliff lead Doyle, Bond, Sokolic, Kapuscinski, Patrick, Losurdo, LaTulip, Brown, and Proud in the top ten.
On the restart, Losurdo was finally able to duck under Patrick for sixth with 11 laps complete as Brown and Proud worked under the LaTulip No. 27 to take eighth and ninth. That duo then began to chase down the Patrick No. 9.
By lap 13, Missile Motorsports made their move under Sokolic going into turn three as Kapuscinski took the fourth spot away bringing Losurdo with him up into fifth as Sokolic fell out of the top five in sixth with Patrick seventh, Brown eighth, Proud ninth and LaTulip tenth at the halfway mark.
Closing in on 10 laps to go, Bond knew it was time to make his moves for the lead as the division’s all time wins leader soared around the outside of Doyle for second at the completion of lap 19 before immediately pressuring Cliff for the race lead less than a lap later.
On lap 21, Sokolic nearly touched the foam in turn two, but wrestled the car away from the wall.
However, this allowed Patrick to move back into sixth, Brown into seventh, and Proud into eighth with Sokolic dropping all the way back to ninth just ahead of LaTulip in tenth.
With eight laps to go, Bond got another good high side run to take the lead from Cliff on lap 22, but only for a moment as the driver of the Barbeau Racing No. 50 machine battled back on the low side in between turns one and two.
Cliff was actually able to wrestle the lead back away from Bond for a full lap and a half as he held the top spot solidly with only six laps to go, but the car was just a little bit too loose to hang on to.
With four to go, Cliff got sideways just enough for Bond to use the slingshot move off of turn two to take the lead with Cliff falling to second and Doyle right there for third while Losurdo had since worked around the high side of Kapuscinski for fourth.
In the closing stages, Bond walked away for the win in another thriller with Cliff hanging on for the two spot and Doyle in third while Missile Motorsports completed the top five to allow Losurdo to expand his point lead to nearly twenty over Brown.
Rounding out the top ten were Patrick, Brown, Proud, Sokolic, and LaTulip in that order.
Schartner and Greg O’Connor came home eleventh and twelfth with Cameron Rowe thirteenth, Kingsley fourteenth, and rookie Steve Flack finishing out the running order at the end of 30-laps in the fifteen spot.
Heat race wins on C’s Beverage night went to LaTulip, Sokolic, and Schartner with Losurdo picking up the D&S Landscaping Hard Charger Award for the fourth time this season while Kapuscinski was awarded Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer in the main event.
Oswego Speedway returns to action for one of it’s biggest shows of the season this Saturday, July 21 when Best Western PLUS Captain’s Quarters and Quality Inn and Suites Riverfront presents the $10,000 to win Mr. Novelis Supermodfiied and $1,500 to win Mr. Pathfinder Bank SBS. Tickets remain available by phoning the speedway box office at (315)-342-0646.
BOX SCORE
Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
Saturday, July 14, 2018
C’s Beverage ‘Summer Championship’
Supermodifieds
Feature (50-laps): 1. 2 DAVE SHULLICK JR, 2. 55 Keith Shampine, 3. 02 Brandon Bellinger, 4. 01 Dan Connors Jr, 5. 05 Jeff Abold, 6. 68 Michael Barnes, 7. 11 Aric Iosue, 8. 1 Jeff West, 9. 98T Tyler Thompson®, 10. 77 Shaun Gosselin, 11. 66 Lou LeVea Sr, 12. 26 Nathan Schultzkie®, 13. 0 Brent Murray®, 14. 94 Logan Rayvals, 15. 52 Dave Danzer, 16. 7 Otto Sitterly, 17. 50 Dave Gruel, 18. 56 Hal LaTulip, 19. 71 Bill Sharkey, DNS – 83 Lou LeVea Jr, 4 Roger Clark.
Heat 1 (12-laps): 1. 7 Otto Sitterly, 2. 68 Michael Barnes, 3. 1 Jeff West, 4. 77 Shaun Gosselin, 5. 94 Logan Rayvals, 6. 0 Brent Murray®, 7. 71 Bill Sharkey
Heat 2 (12-laps): 1. 50 Dave Gruel, 2. 01 Dan Connors Jr, 3. 02 Brandon Bellinger, 4. 55 Keith Shampine, 5. 52 Dave Danzer, 6. 26 Nathan Schultzkie®
Heat 3 (12-laps): 1. 2 Dave Shullick Jr, 2. 05 Jeff Abold, 3. 98T Tyler Thompson®, 4. 11 Aric Iosue, 5. 66 Lou LeVea Sr, 6 56 Hal LaTulip, 7. 83 Lou LeVea Jr.
Group Time Trials: 1. 55 Keith Shampine – 15.910, 2. 7 Otto Sitterly – 15.952, 3. 2 Dave Shullick Jr. – 16.030, 4. 02 Brandon Bellinger – 16.039, 5. 68 Michael Barnes – 16.130, 6. 11 Aric Iosue – 16.211, 7. 52 Dave Danzer – 16.222, 8. 77 Shaun Gosselin – 16.411, 9. 98T Tyler Thompson® – 16.424, 10. 50 Dave Gruel – 16.459, 11. 1 Jeff West – 16.491, 12. 05 Jeff Abold – 16.539, 13. 01 Dan Connors Jr. – 16.567, 14. 94 Logan Rayvals – 16.697, 15. 83 Lou LeVea Jr. – 16.933, 16. 0 Brent Murray® – 17.288, 17. 26 Nathan Schultzkie® – 17.306, 18. 66 Lou LeVea Sr. – 17.484, 19. 71 Bill Sharkey – 19.403, 20. 4 Roger Clark – 18.697
D&S Landscaping Hard Charger: #68 Michael Barnes
Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer: #01 Dan Connors Jr.
Small Block Supers
Feature (30-laps): 1. 74 MIKE BOND, 2. 50 Dave Cliff, 3. 01 Dalton Doyle, 4. 1 Anthony Losurdo, 5. 00M Dan Kapuscinski, 6. 9 Jack Patrick, 7. 13 Russ Brown, 8. 54 Camden Proud, 9. 26 Joshua Sokolic®, 10. 27 David LaTulip, 11. 18 Andrew Schartner, 12. 77 Cameron Rowe, 13. 90 Greg O’Connor, 14. 91 Barry Kingsley, 15. 32 Steve Flack®, 16. 22 Mike Bruce, 17. 94 Tim Glidden®, 18. 23 Cameron Black
Heat 1 (10-laps): 1. 27 David LaTulip, 2. 01 Dalton Doyle, 3. 50 Dave Cliff, 4. 9 Jack Patrick, 5. 90 Greg O’Connor, 6. 32 Steve Flack®
Heat 2 (10-laps): 1. 26 Joshua Sokolic®, 2. 1 Anthony Losurdo, 3. 74 Mike Bond, 4. 91 Barry Kingsley, 5. 77 Cameron Rowe, 6. 23 Cameron Black
Heat 3 (10-laps): 1. 18 Andrew Schartner, 2. 00M Dan Kapuscinski, 3. 13 Russ Brown, 4. 54 Camden Proud, 5. 94 Tim Glidden Jr. ®, 6. 22 Mike Bruce
Group Time Trials: 1. 74 Mike Bond – 18.534, 2. 01 Dalton Doyle – 18.616, 3. 13 Russ Brown – 18.635, 4. 1 Anthony Losurdo – 18.699, 5. 50 Dave Cliff – 18.722, 6. 54 Camden Proud – 18.791, 7. 77 Cameron Rowe – 18.815, 8. 9 Jack Patrick – 18.888, 9. 00M Dan Kapuscinski – 18.941, 10. 26 Joshua Sokolic ® – 18.945, 11. 27 David LaTulip – 18.977, 12. 18 Andrew Schartner – 19.062, 13. 91 Barry Kingsley – 19.098, 14. 90 Greg O’Connor – 19.208, 15. 94 Tim Glidden Jr. ® – 19.608, 16. 32 Steve Flack ® – 19.871, 17. 23 Cameron Black – 20.641
D&S Landscaping Hard Charger: #1 Anthony Losurdo
Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer: #00M Dan Kapuscinski
White’s Car Care 4th Place Award: #1 Anthony Losurdo
Sherwood Racing Wheels Lap Leader: #50 Dave Cliff