6/6/10
Otto Sitterly Win Streak Extends To 4 In A Row At Oswego,
Chris Proud picks up SBS Checkers
By Dan Johnson
Otto Sitterly Win Streak Extends To 4 In A Row At Oswego,
Chris Proud picks up SBS Checkers
By Dan Johnson
Otto Sitterly and Chris Proud shared the top step of the podium Saturday night at Oswego
Speedway, as each took home wins in the feature events. Sitterly chased down teenager Danny
Connors and made the pass for the win on lap 40 after Connors 01 got sideways off turn four.
Sitterly drove away for this fourth consecutive win of 2010. Proud led a four car freight train to
the finish of the SBS 25 lap race for his initial win of the year.
Local drivers Lou Levea and Danny Connors led the 16 car supermodified field to starter
Donnie Forbes green flag, with the Connors 01 grabbing the early lead by the time they reached
turn one. Otto Sitterly and Dave McKnight pulled their machines to the inside, while Tim Snyder
and Jeff Holbrook turned to the high side of the speedway to move forward.
Connors quickly went out to a five car length lead, early in the race, as Tim Snyder, Joe Gosek,
Levea, Dave Gruel, McKnight, Pat Lavery, Holbrook, Ray Graham and Joey Payne rounded out
the top ten early on. McKnight and Lavery wheeled by Gruel, keeping their march forward, while
Snyder chopped into the Connors advantage. It was a three car breakaway at the front, as
Connors, Snyder and Gosek held a full straightaway gap over the bottleneck behind. Lap 11,
McKnight pulled by the Levea 61 on the home stretch for fourth, and began to chase down the
high flying trio up front.
A major accident in between turns three and four stopped the race on lap 12, as a multi car
accident brought the field to a halt. A chain reaction saw Pat Lavery’s 22 catapult into the
outside wall, sending the Double Deuce upside down. Holbrook’s 35 suffered significant
damage too, while the Levea 61 was banged around on all four corners. Graham’s 90 and Gruel’
s 50 also suffered terminal damage in the five car melee. Lavery quickly pulled himself from the
upside down machine, while Levea was slow exiting his machine from the impact.
After the lengthy clean up, the scoreboard saw Connors, Snyder, Gosek, McKnight and Sitterly
up front. Snyder looked to the high side to get by the teenager, but had to back out. As he
backed out, Gosek filled the gap, and moved the 00 to second. The trio circled the 5/8’s at a
17.29 clip, with Gosek waiting for a mistake up front.
Larry Muroski’s 38 jumped out of gear, resulting in a yellow flag session. Gosek tried
Connors on the take off, but didn’t have any better luck than Snyder, as Connors kept his line
and stayed in front. McKnight shuffled by Snyder on the restart for third place, putting two
veterans of he speedway behind the youngest driver at the track. Sitterly’s 7 began picking up
steam, and wheeled by the Snyder 0 for fourth spot.
Connors wheeled the #01 like a seasoned veteran, with laps at 17.34 and 17.39, as he pulled
away from Gosek’s 00 by five lengths at lap 29. McKnight’s charge to the front ended on lap 31
with the 08 slowing on the grandstand straightaway, as a bolt in the front end sheered off,
ending their chances for victory.
The lead trio now saw Connors, Gosek and Sitterly in the thick of the battle. The 7 got better
as the race went on, shooting by Gosek’s 00 on the outside in turn one, on lap 33. Connors gap
was ¾ of a second on Sitterly, but the gap was shrinking each lap. In the next few laps, the
Connors 01 remained in the 17.3 range, while Sitterly’s 7 cranked around at 17.1’s. Lap 37,
Connors held a two car length lead, as Sitterly began sizing up the leader, looking for the best
possible place for a pass.
Fans rose to their feet, as the teenage Connors led the track champ in the waning laps of the
race. Could Connors hold on for the victory? As they exited turn four on lap 40, the Connors 01
slipped, and got sideways, with Sitterly taking full advantage, making the pass for the lead. “It
was getting late in the race, and the track was a little slippery late in the race,” Danny said on the
pass for the lead. “I thought I was going in the wall, and was lucky to save it.” Connors
recovered, pulled the car back straight, and tried to wheel back by Sitterly in turn one. The 01
could not make the pass stick, and Sitterly remained in front.
Sitterly pulled out in the last few laps, keeping his 7 in the .1 range, with Connors wheeling the
white 01 around still in the 3’s. As the checkered flag flew, Sitterly cruised 2 ½ seconds ahead of
Connors for his fourth win of the year, and fifth win in a row overall.
“How about the Dan Connors?”, Sitterly said after the win. “The car got better the longer the
race went. Once the tires go through a couple of heat cycles, it began to come in.”
Speedway, as each took home wins in the feature events. Sitterly chased down teenager Danny
Connors and made the pass for the win on lap 40 after Connors 01 got sideways off turn four.
Sitterly drove away for this fourth consecutive win of 2010. Proud led a four car freight train to
the finish of the SBS 25 lap race for his initial win of the year.
Local drivers Lou Levea and Danny Connors led the 16 car supermodified field to starter
Donnie Forbes green flag, with the Connors 01 grabbing the early lead by the time they reached
turn one. Otto Sitterly and Dave McKnight pulled their machines to the inside, while Tim Snyder
and Jeff Holbrook turned to the high side of the speedway to move forward.
Connors quickly went out to a five car length lead, early in the race, as Tim Snyder, Joe Gosek,
Levea, Dave Gruel, McKnight, Pat Lavery, Holbrook, Ray Graham and Joey Payne rounded out
the top ten early on. McKnight and Lavery wheeled by Gruel, keeping their march forward, while
Snyder chopped into the Connors advantage. It was a three car breakaway at the front, as
Connors, Snyder and Gosek held a full straightaway gap over the bottleneck behind. Lap 11,
McKnight pulled by the Levea 61 on the home stretch for fourth, and began to chase down the
high flying trio up front.
A major accident in between turns three and four stopped the race on lap 12, as a multi car
accident brought the field to a halt. A chain reaction saw Pat Lavery’s 22 catapult into the
outside wall, sending the Double Deuce upside down. Holbrook’s 35 suffered significant
damage too, while the Levea 61 was banged around on all four corners. Graham’s 90 and Gruel’
s 50 also suffered terminal damage in the five car melee. Lavery quickly pulled himself from the
upside down machine, while Levea was slow exiting his machine from the impact.
After the lengthy clean up, the scoreboard saw Connors, Snyder, Gosek, McKnight and Sitterly
up front. Snyder looked to the high side to get by the teenager, but had to back out. As he
backed out, Gosek filled the gap, and moved the 00 to second. The trio circled the 5/8’s at a
17.29 clip, with Gosek waiting for a mistake up front.
Larry Muroski’s 38 jumped out of gear, resulting in a yellow flag session. Gosek tried
Connors on the take off, but didn’t have any better luck than Snyder, as Connors kept his line
and stayed in front. McKnight shuffled by Snyder on the restart for third place, putting two
veterans of he speedway behind the youngest driver at the track. Sitterly’s 7 began picking up
steam, and wheeled by the Snyder 0 for fourth spot.
Connors wheeled the #01 like a seasoned veteran, with laps at 17.34 and 17.39, as he pulled
away from Gosek’s 00 by five lengths at lap 29. McKnight’s charge to the front ended on lap 31
with the 08 slowing on the grandstand straightaway, as a bolt in the front end sheered off,
ending their chances for victory.
The lead trio now saw Connors, Gosek and Sitterly in the thick of the battle. The 7 got better
as the race went on, shooting by Gosek’s 00 on the outside in turn one, on lap 33. Connors gap
was ¾ of a second on Sitterly, but the gap was shrinking each lap. In the next few laps, the
Connors 01 remained in the 17.3 range, while Sitterly’s 7 cranked around at 17.1’s. Lap 37,
Connors held a two car length lead, as Sitterly began sizing up the leader, looking for the best
possible place for a pass.
Fans rose to their feet, as the teenage Connors led the track champ in the waning laps of the
race. Could Connors hold on for the victory? As they exited turn four on lap 40, the Connors 01
slipped, and got sideways, with Sitterly taking full advantage, making the pass for the lead. “It
was getting late in the race, and the track was a little slippery late in the race,” Danny said on the
pass for the lead. “I thought I was going in the wall, and was lucky to save it.” Connors
recovered, pulled the car back straight, and tried to wheel back by Sitterly in turn one. The 01
could not make the pass stick, and Sitterly remained in front.
Sitterly pulled out in the last few laps, keeping his 7 in the .1 range, with Connors wheeling the
white 01 around still in the 3’s. As the checkered flag flew, Sitterly cruised 2 ½ seconds ahead of
Connors for his fourth win of the year, and fifth win in a row overall.
“How about the Dan Connors?”, Sitterly said after the win. “The car got better the longer the
race went. Once the tires go through a couple of heat cycles, it began to come in.”
20 SBS cars went to the line for their man event, with Tim Barbeau and Jason Simmons up on
the point for the start. Barbeau jumped to the head of the class from his outside spot, as the
field scattered behind looking to challenge the fast 58.
Caution flags came out early and often in the race, as numerous cautions for spins, crashes
and contact, made it difficult for drivers to get in any kind of rythm in the SBS race. Early on, top
five running Barry Kingsley and Dennis Richmond were involved in a turn four crash. Rookie
Mike Bruce had a nice run going early on in the #2, until a yellow flag session in turn two took
him out of his third spot.
Barbeau, Simmons, Chris Proud, Brian Sobus, Dave Cliff, and Steve Abt were the main
contenders through the action, with Barbeau gaining comfortable gaps through each restart.
As Barbeau’s 58 was out front by five lengths on lap 10, he suddenly pulled to the outside
groove, with fluid spewing out of the car, as motor problems, ended Barbeau’s bid for the
victory. Simmons inherited the lead, with Proud on the tailpipes of the #25.
Lap 12, Proud went outside out of turn four, and made the complete pass for the lead by turn
one. Sobus, Cliff and Abt shuffled Simmons back in the next few laps. Caution remained the
headliner in this race, as officials shortened the race to 25 laps at this point.
It was a four car shootout, as Proud, Sobus, Cliff and Abt were going to decide this one
between themselves. Cliff looked on the inside of Sobus, with Abt going high, but Sobus stayed
ahead of the pair. All the while, Proud wheeled the #50 at the head of the class up front, under
the checkers first.
“The car was good tonight, it was tough to get into a rhythm,”, the winner stated after his first
win of 2010. “It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it. The car has been fast all year, and we’re happy to
get the win tonight.”
News and Notes..20 SBS and 17 supermodifieds were pitside. Jason Simmons, Tim Barbeau
and Steve Abt won SBS heat races with Danny Connors and Ray Graham taking supermodified
checkers. There is no racing at Oswego this Saturday, but racing returns June 19, with a regular
night of supermodifieds and SBS cars. Otto Sitterly’s four wins in a row is the second best ever
start to a supermodified season, only bettered by Jim Shampine’s 1974 season, when he started
out with 7 feature wins in a row
Supermodified 45 finish
1)1)Otto Sitterly 7, 2)Danny Connors 01, 3)Tim Snyder 0, 4)Bobby Magner 41, 5)Joey Payne 99, 6)
Shaun Gosselin 26, 7)Larry Muroski 38, 8)Craig Rayvals 94, 9)Joe Gosek 00, 10)Dave McKnight
08, 11)Dave Gruel 50, 12)Lou Levea 61, 13)Pat Lavery 22, 14)Ray Graham 90, 15)Jeff Holbrook 35,
16)Keith Shampine 88
SBS 25lap finish
1)Chris Proud 50, 2)Brian Sobus 79, 3)Dave Cliff 06, 4)Steve Abt 85, 5)Kreig Heroth 44, 6)Jason
Simmons 25, 7)Bob Henry 18, 8)Barry Kingsley 23, 9)Mike Bruce 2, 10)Vern LaFave 05, 11)Dennis
Richmond 37, 12)Dave Danzer 52, 13)Guard Nearbin 78, 14)Mike Bond 26, 15)Tim Barbeau 58, 16)
Zack Crawford 7, 17)Stan Gates 60, 18)Mark Castiglia 90, 19)Brad Haynes 43, 20)Brian Osetek 00
the point for the start. Barbeau jumped to the head of the class from his outside spot, as the
field scattered behind looking to challenge the fast 58.
Caution flags came out early and often in the race, as numerous cautions for spins, crashes
and contact, made it difficult for drivers to get in any kind of rythm in the SBS race. Early on, top
five running Barry Kingsley and Dennis Richmond were involved in a turn four crash. Rookie
Mike Bruce had a nice run going early on in the #2, until a yellow flag session in turn two took
him out of his third spot.
Barbeau, Simmons, Chris Proud, Brian Sobus, Dave Cliff, and Steve Abt were the main
contenders through the action, with Barbeau gaining comfortable gaps through each restart.
As Barbeau’s 58 was out front by five lengths on lap 10, he suddenly pulled to the outside
groove, with fluid spewing out of the car, as motor problems, ended Barbeau’s bid for the
victory. Simmons inherited the lead, with Proud on the tailpipes of the #25.
Lap 12, Proud went outside out of turn four, and made the complete pass for the lead by turn
one. Sobus, Cliff and Abt shuffled Simmons back in the next few laps. Caution remained the
headliner in this race, as officials shortened the race to 25 laps at this point.
It was a four car shootout, as Proud, Sobus, Cliff and Abt were going to decide this one
between themselves. Cliff looked on the inside of Sobus, with Abt going high, but Sobus stayed
ahead of the pair. All the while, Proud wheeled the #50 at the head of the class up front, under
the checkers first.
“The car was good tonight, it was tough to get into a rhythm,”, the winner stated after his first
win of 2010. “It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it. The car has been fast all year, and we’re happy to
get the win tonight.”
News and Notes..20 SBS and 17 supermodifieds were pitside. Jason Simmons, Tim Barbeau
and Steve Abt won SBS heat races with Danny Connors and Ray Graham taking supermodified
checkers. There is no racing at Oswego this Saturday, but racing returns June 19, with a regular
night of supermodifieds and SBS cars. Otto Sitterly’s four wins in a row is the second best ever
start to a supermodified season, only bettered by Jim Shampine’s 1974 season, when he started
out with 7 feature wins in a row
Supermodified 45 finish
1)1)Otto Sitterly 7, 2)Danny Connors 01, 3)Tim Snyder 0, 4)Bobby Magner 41, 5)Joey Payne 99, 6)
Shaun Gosselin 26, 7)Larry Muroski 38, 8)Craig Rayvals 94, 9)Joe Gosek 00, 10)Dave McKnight
08, 11)Dave Gruel 50, 12)Lou Levea 61, 13)Pat Lavery 22, 14)Ray Graham 90, 15)Jeff Holbrook 35,
16)Keith Shampine 88
SBS 25lap finish
1)Chris Proud 50, 2)Brian Sobus 79, 3)Dave Cliff 06, 4)Steve Abt 85, 5)Kreig Heroth 44, 6)Jason
Simmons 25, 7)Bob Henry 18, 8)Barry Kingsley 23, 9)Mike Bruce 2, 10)Vern LaFave 05, 11)Dennis
Richmond 37, 12)Dave Danzer 52, 13)Guard Nearbin 78, 14)Mike Bond 26, 15)Tim Barbeau 58, 16)
Zack Crawford 7, 17)Stan Gates 60, 18)Mark Castiglia 90, 19)Brad Haynes 43, 20)Brian Osetek 00
