Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – OSWEGO, NY – Tyler Thompson may not remember the celebration Sunday night with all the Budweiser he received.
But when he wakes up on Labor Day morning, the driver of the No. 98 Supermodified will realize he’s a two-time champion of the Budweiser International Classic 200 at Oswego Speedway.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Thompson told RPW in victory lane post-race. “It hasn’t set in. Feels like another race, but it’s more than that.”
Thompson made the pass for the win on lap 101 exiting turn four on polesitter Otto Sitterly, who led the entire first half of the race. The 24-year-old from Oswego was really good on corner exits throughout the time he was starting to push.
“I was trying for five or six laps,” said Thompson. “He was better in, I was better off. I happened to get a really big run and said, ‘If I’m gonna do it, it’s now.”
Early in the race, Thompson gained ground in a run that nearly lasted 50 laps. Sitterly was in lapped traffic, allowing Thompson to close in. It seemed as if Thompson had a chance to take the lead before a red flag on lap 59 for rain led to a two-hour rain delay.
“I had to use the bathroom, I was fine with it,” Thompson said. “We were starting to get free and once we found out we could change stagger, it was a big relief.”
Before the race restarted, race control allowed teams to change stagger and clean the floorboard only, or else they would suffer a one-lap penalty.
In the second half of the race, the leaders were in heavy lapped traffic, such as with 80 to go when Sitterly reeled back in Thompson or with around 43 to go when Dave Shullick Jr. closed in on the leader. In a race known for drivers running out of fuel just before the checkers, Thompson wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing for him.
“That’s the hard thing,” said Thompson. “You want to go slow and save fuel, but when there’s a guy like Sitterly that’s so good and so experienced. Once he sets a pace like that, you have to try to keep away from him.”
The win in the 200 caps off a season in which Thompson won three times in 11 Supermodified features. The No. 98 started the season with a win on opening night, May 25, winning again July 20 and now in the 200.
This year’s track champion, Dave Shullick Jr., nearly added a fourth 200 victory to his mantlepiece, which would’ve been his third in the last four years. Shullick ends the year at Oswego with his head up high after finishing runner-up.
“Car was good,” said Shullick Jr. “In the end track position was king. I got tight with 10 to go, but I’m happy with second. Thompson went earlier than I thought he would. We probably went around lap 130, but I was still pretty good at the end.”
Oswego Speedway now begins its transformation to dirt to prepare for Super DIRT Week 52 in October.
A Feature 1 (200 Laps): 1. 98T-Tyler Thompson[6]; 2. 95-Dave Shullick Jr[3]; 3. 7-Otto Sitterly[1]; 4. 1-Bobby Santos III[12]; 5. 68-Michael Barnes[2]; 6. 52-Dave Danzer[8]; 7. O2-Brandon Bellinger[7]; 8. 29-Mike McVetta[4]; 9. 94-Logan Rayvals[30]; 10. OO-Joe Gosek[13]; 11. 22-Mike Bruce[10]; 12. 78-Mark Sammut[22]; 13. 90-Jack Patrick[19]; 14. O1-Dan Connors Jr[5]; 15. 41-Russ Wood Sr[25]; 16. 20-Nick Snyder[23]; 17. 14-Joey Payne[18]; 18. 55-Mike Netishen[11]; 19. 54-Camden Proud[15]; 20. 11-Ben Seitz[17]; 21. 0-Tim Snyder[21]; 22. 15-Michael Muldoon Jr[14]; 23. 75-Brian Osetek[20]; 24. 88-Josh Sokolic[28]; 25. 99-Jerry Curran[29]; 26. O5-Jeff Abold[9]; 27. 83-Lou LeVea Jr[16]; 28. 70-Dave McKnight Jr[24]; 29. 66-Lou LeVea Sr[27]; 30. 27-Aric Iosue[26]
