Greg Furlong and Bob Goutermout each won 30 lap features in the supermodified division at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. In the opening 30 lap feature, Furlong took the lead from Tim Gareau on lap 22 and drove away for his tenth win of the year. Bob Goutermout took off from his front row starting spot and never looked back as he led the entire distance in the night cap.
The first feature was lined up according to heat race results, with Greg Furlong and Bobby Bond on the front row. Drama all ready began to play out, as the driver second in points, Tim Snyder, had zero oil pressure, so the team withdrew the 0 for the night. Bond got a better jump on the start, and grabbed the early lead. He turned laps of 17.66 and 17.71 early in the going.
The field fell in behind and got in single file in a hurry. Furlong, Goutermout, Gosek, Jerry Curran, Pat Lavery, Tim Gareau, Shawn Muldoon, Brandon Bellinger and Ray Graham followed closely.
The race was slowed for the first time on lap 8, as a chain reaction accident caused Jerry Curran’s 24 to make contact with the fourth turn outside wall. The 24 was damaged enough to put it out for the night. Bond held the lead through the restart, as the top six cars 25, 72, 77, 27, 99, and 5 pulled away.
A lap 11 Bob Goutermout spin also gathered up the Craig Rayvals 94 and Ray Graham 90. All three cars were out for this race, while Goutermout’s 77 was the only one to return for the second feature.
A three cars breakaway ensued on the next restart, as Bond, Furlong and Gareau left the rest of the field. Lap 18, Furlong moved by Bond for the lead on the front straightaway, but didn’t pull away once he got the point. Gareau worked by Bond the next lap, and was in the tire tracks of the 72.
Lap 21, Gareau surprised everyone as he pulled to the inside of the Furlong car on the back straightaway, and took over the lead. Lap 22, Furlong went right back to work, and made an outside pass in turn four to regain the lead. He began to distance himself from the field, and drove away for the 2.91 win.
“Just before the race started, I told my guys to bump up the stagger, I probably should have told them to leave it alone,” Greg said about his 10th win of the year. “I was a little bit loose. I thought Bobby was setting a pretty good pace, so I rode behind him for a while, and I thought I was going ok, and the Timmy went by me, so we had to go. I thought I was going.”
In race #2, Pat Lavery and Bob Goutermout brought the field down to starter Donnie Forbes green flag. Goutermout took off, but the race wasn’t a lap old, when the caution flag came out, which changed the outlook on the feature. Otto Sitterly, Greg Furlong, Johnny Torrese, Tim Snyder and Craig Rayvals were all involved. Furlong’s 72, the dominant car of the year, had the nose of his 72 wedged under the Sitterly 14. Once the cars were separated, the 72 was hooked to the pits with a bent right steering arm. The team tried to change it, but ran out of time. The 72 was left in the pits on the restart.
Goutermout again shot out to the lead when the race went back to green flag conditions. Bond, Gareau, Andy Noto, Lavery, Bellinger, Kapuscinski, Muldoon, Sitterly, and Stowell followed. Bond’s 25 began to close in on Goutermout, cutting the lead down to a few car lengths by lap 10. It was a two car race, as Gareau’s machine was about a straightaway behind.
Goutermout clocked laps at 17.63 and 17.61 as they raced near the midpoint of the feature. Bond’s car started to fall off the pace, as Goutermout’s lead was up to 2.85 seconds at the half way point of the 30 lapper.
The best race on the track was for fifth, as Noto, Bellinger, Muldoon, Kapuscinski, Sitterly and Stowell raced bumper to bumper for the spot. Sitterly put the 14 in the outside groove, and went around the pack, and took over the fifth spot. He tried to catch fourth running Pat Lavery, but laps were winding down.
Gareau chased down the Bond 25, and took over second spot on lap 25. he would need a caution to catch Goutermout, but that yellow flag never happened. Goutermout kept his foot in it, and crossed under the checkered flag to a thunderous applause, and 1.61 seconds ahead of Gareau.
“I don’t know how close anyone was, but I was giving it everything I had,” the happy winner said in victory lane. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been here, and this feels great!”
Dave Gruel picked up his second win in a row in the limited supermodified division. Gruel held off a charging Russ Brown and Mike Barnes in the waning laps for the victory.
Gruel started the race from the eighth spot, and quickly worked his way forward. As Kevin Knopp led the early laps, Gruel and Brown were on the move early. By lap 2, Gruel worked his way to third, with Brown just behind in fifth. Lap 3 saw Gruel move by Jack Patrick, just behind Knopp.
Lap 5 was all it took, as Gruel went to the outside of the Knopp 94 for the lead. Seven laps later, Brown shot by the Knopp machine, and tried to chase down Gruel’s 18, who had all ready built a 15 car length lead. Brown needed a yellow flag to have any chance at the victory.
That caution flag came out on lap 17, as this now put Brown on the back bumper of Gruel. On the restart, Gruel protected his line, and Brown couldn’t get by. He stayed on the back bumper of the 18, but couldn’t get by. Brown had one last chance as there was a last lap restart, but again Gruel held his position for the win, his fourth of the year.
“The whole key to the race is getting to the front first,” Gruel commented about the win. “The car worked flawlessly, and getting back to back wins is great for the team.”
Carl Crawford’s recent string of bad luck seemed to come to an end as he picked up the win in the super stock feature race. Crawford held the lead throughout, as Ricky Zeigler and Jason Spalding each had a chance to get by. Both Zeigler and Spalding spun in turn one on lap 18, then the Zeigler car was smashed into by randy Crawford’s 02, ripping the back end off the 12 car. All three drivers were ok, but their cars were badly damaged.
News and Notes…..21 supermodifieds, 30 limiteds and 11 stock cars were pitside. Bob Goutermout, Tim Snyder and Greg Furlong won supermodified heat races, with Dave Gruel, Chris Proud and Rob Pullen taking limited heat race checkered flags. Joe Miller won the super stock heat race. Tim Snyder had oil pressure problems in the 0, drove the Rayvals 95 in the first feature, and then the Bliss #6 in feature two. This week is a regular show for the limiteds and super stocks, and the supers will run a 75 lap feature. The Tobias Slingshot cars make their second appearance of the year as well. Practice starts at 4pm, with racing at 6pm.
Supermodified 1st feature finish 30:
1)Greg Furlong 72, 2)Tim Gareau 5, 3)Pat Lavery 99, 4)Bob Bond 25, 5)Otto Sitterly 14, 6)Shawn Muldoon 1, 7)Todd Stowell 89, 8)Andy Noto 19, 9)Keith Shampine 4, 10)Danny Kapuscinski 65, 11)Tim Snyder 95, 12)Brandon Bellinger 02, 13)Johnny Torrese 91, 14)Kelly Miller 81, 15)Bob Goutermout 77, 16)Ray Graham 90, 17)Craig Rayvals 94, 18)Joe Gosek 27, 19)Jerry Curran 24, 20)Barry Kingsley 6
Supermodified 2nd feature results 30
1)Bob Goutermout 77, 2)Tim Gareau 5, 3)Bob Bond 25, 4)Pat Lavery 99, 5)Otto Sitterly 14, 6)Shawn Muldoon 1, 7)Danny Kapuscinski 65, 8)Brandon Bellinger 02, 9)Todd Stowell 89, 10)Craig Rayvals 95, 11)Keith Shampine 4, 12)Kelly Miller 81, 13)Joe Gosek 27, 14)Greg Furlong 72, 15)Johnny Torrese 91, 16)Tim Snyder 0
Limited 25
1)Dave Gruel 18, 2)Russ Brown 13, 3)Mike Barnes 25, 4)Kevin Knopp 94, 5)9 Jack Patrick 9, 6)Doug Reaume 14, 7)Kris Meyn 86, 8)Steve Austin 66, 9)Mike Bond 93, 10)Brian Sobus 79, 11)Chris Natoli 33, 12)Jay Andrews 46, 13)Bill Moore 7, 14)Josh Larochelle 10, 15)Shawn Walker 68, 16)Tim Barbeau 50, 17)Guard Nearbin 78, 18)Pat Mullen 32, 19)Rob Pullen 2, 20)Sam Bradford 0, 21)Chris Proud 3, 22)Dave Danzer 53, 23)Cameron Rowe 52, 24)Lou Levea 96, 25)Mark Regan 69, 26)Dave Cliff 06, 27)Larry Muroski
