Story By: STEVEN PETTY / GTR PROMOTIONS – OSWEGO, NY – Second generation driver Andy Jankowiak from Tonawanda, NY picked up the win in the DCR Performance 40 for the Xtreme Money Race (XMR) Sportsman Modifieds at the Oswego Speedway Saturday night.
To honor and remember the life of Evan Canfield, Evan’s fiancé Erica and his mom Stephanie waved the green flags that saw young guns Teddy Bowen and Jaden Brown leading the field, with Brown taking off from the outside line, with Jankowiak and Tony Hanbury racing in the top three. Jankowiak wouldn’t need much time to take the lead, as he would take over the top spot on lap three. The caution would come out on lap six as Amy Catalano and John Wilbur made contact on the back straightaway, with Wilbur wheel hopping off the left front of Catalano. She would be able to continue after making a pit visit, but the same couldn’t be said for Wilbur.
Josh Sokolic would move to fourth place on the restart as the Oswego Speedway 350 Supermodified driver was making his first Sportsman start and would quickly start to chase down Jake Christman for third place. Jankowiak would continue to dominate the event, having an over three second lead at some points of the 40-lap event. After starting the event at the rear of the field, Timmy Catalano would use the outside line to work his way through the field and he would take over fourth place from Sokolic with three laps remaining.
Jankowiak would go on to score the win over Hanbury, Christman, Catalano, and Sokolic.
“It is so special to win here. I grew up coming here for Race of Champions Weekend and finally we got a Sportsman win here,” Jankowiak said in victory lane. “We were a little bit free on the restarts, but we had a good car,” stated runner-up finisher Tony Hanbury.
“We were definitely a third-place car and not disappointing with our first time here,” Jake Christman said.
Qualifying heats were won by Shawn Nye, Amy Catalano, and Evan Rygielski.
A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 57X-Andy Jankowiak[3]; 2. 11-Tony Hanbury[5]; 3. 48-Jake Christman[6]; 4. 64-Timmy Catalano[12]; 5. 6X-Josh Sokolic[7]; 6. O3-Jaden Brown[2]; 7. 27-Evan Rygielski[9]; 8. 47-Teddy Bowen[1]; 9. 4X-Shawn Nye[13]; 10. 6-Nick Morich[8]; 11. 37-Brian Rygielski[18]; 12. 99-Bill Mislin[15]; 13. 14-Dan Majchrzak[23]; 14. 54-Amy Catalano[11]; 15. X-Johnny Bennett[26]; 16. 2Y-Kevin Youngs[28]; 17. 9-Chase Sinsabaugh[25]; 18. 41-Timmy Lewis[10]; 19. 1-Jacob Gustafson[19]; 20. 86-Tim Nies[17]; 21. 15-Damon Frutchey[24]; 22. O4-JP Harbst[21]; 23. 4-John Wilbur[14]; 24. 25-Steve Shultz[4]; 25. 2-Tyler Harbst[16]; 26. 62-Cameron Ruggiero Jr[20]; 27. (DNS) 3-Joe Papin; 28. (DNS) 94-Paul Flye
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4X-Shawn Nye[9]; 2. 6X-Josh Sokolic[1]; 3. 57X-Andy Jankowiak[8]; 4. 64-Timmy Catalano[6]; 5. 47-Teddy Bowen[5]; 6. 2-Tyler Harbst[4]; 7. 9-Chase Sinsabaugh[2]; 8. O4-JP Harbst[7]; 9. 14-Dan Majchrzak[3]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 54-Amy Catalano[2]; 2. 11-Tony Hanbury[9]; 3. 6-Nick Morich[6]; 4. 25-Steve Shultz[1]; 5. 2Y-Kevin Youngs[5]; 6. 99-Bill Mislin[8]; 7. 86-Tim Nies[10]; 8. 1-Jacob Gustafson[7]; 9. (DNS) X-Johnny Bennett; 10. (DNS) 94-Paul Flye
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 27-Evan Rygielski[2]; 2. 48-Jake Christman[3]; 3. 4-John Wilbur[4]; 4. 41-Timmy Lewis[8]; 5. O3-Jaden Brown[6]; 6. 37-Brian Rygielski[9]; 7. 62-Cameron Ruggiero Jr[1]; 8. 3-Joe Papin[10]; 9. 15-Damon Frutchey[5]; 10. 17-Lee Sharpsteen[7]