OSWEGO, NY (May 31, 2021) - Prior to Saturday night’s Spring Classic, there was perhaps no one who deserved a Classic win more than the ‘Hustler,’ Michael Barnes.
With finishes of second, second, second, third, and third in the last five Classics, it's safe to say Barnes has been consistently at the front, but was just never quite able to close the deal.
Finally, everything came together for the driver of the Syrell Racing No. 68 on Memorial Day Weekend.
After a tremendous move to go from fifth to second in one lap, Barnes put himself in position, and took the race lead from a fuel starved Tyler Thompson with ten laps remaining.
He then kept two Classic winners; Doug Didero and Otto Sitterly, at bay on a pair of restarts, including a green - white - checkered, to secure his long awaited victory and remarkable sixth straight podium finish in the 200-lap crown jewel.
“I kind of thought Tyler (Thompson) was going to run out of fuel,” Barnes admitted. “I pushed it, at the end, but I was kind of laying back early because I knew they had questions on their fuel mileage. He had the better car. When I pushed harder I could hang with him, but I did not want to go too much because I just had a feeling. It was nice to finally get it done.”
Holding off Sitterly on a restart was no easy task, and he had a long red flag to think about how he was going to hold off the No. 7 car.
“I knew Otto was going to be right behind me,” Barnes added. “He is the best in the business and I just had to hit two good laps and hang on at that point. The tires are what they are after 200 laps on them, and at that point I just hammered on them, hung on the bottom and figured I would try to make it hard enough for him to the point he had to go around me on the outside.”
Continuing Barnes said,” This is for a lot of people. Eric Syrell lost his Mother recently, my bud Herc Masters just passed away, a good friend of mine Tim just passed away. Barry Cann, this one is for him. He, Mike Murphy, and Joey Witkum were the first ones that got me in a Super here 16 years ago. Thank you to Syrell Racing and everyone on this team. It feels so good to finally get this done.”
For Sitterly, it was his eighth podium on the Classic since 2009 and third runner-up finish in the Classic driving for John Nicotra.
“It was a pretty wild finish,” Sitterly said. “Michael (Barnes) did a great job. He had a better car than I did. Two laps to go in the Classic, I was thinking what do you do other than just pitch it to the outside of him and give it a try. He drove away from me on the last lap so all I was thinking was if I could have just had a wheel in there, I would have made the car wide and not let him back by. I am happy for those guys though. Michael is a great guy, a great competitor, and the family has been coming here a long time. They are all great people and they deserve it even though I wanted to take it away from them.”
Dan Connors Jr, who has been knocking on the door for a feature win for far too many years now, was poised to get it done in the 200 on Saturday.
Connors ran the Classic of his life in the No. 01 and settled for a strong third place finish; his best in the Classic, behind Barnes and Sitterly.
“It was a long race out there,” offered Connors. “The car was really good in the beginning, but that is not really what we planned. You usually want to be pretty tight so then the car comes to you. I knew because of that, I was going to have it rough at the end, so I just tried to get as far as I could early, and then save tires in second. It worked pretty well for a while, I had a harder time at the end, but it was just enough to hang in there for a podium.”
Outside pole sitter Dave Shullick Jr. jumped out in front into the early lead over fast timer Jeff Abold going into the first corner.
Bellinger was next to work to the outside of Abold on lap 1, taking second away from his fourth starting spot down the back chute.
The yellow flag came out very early on for a Johnny Payne spin in the Nearbin No. 78 off of turn two.
Green lights were put back on with eight laps completed and it was again Shullick opening up a lead over Bellinger, Abold, Doug Didero, and Tyler Thompson in the top five.
Bellinger did not let Shullick get too far ahead, however, as he decided he wanted to lead some laps of his own, going underneath the Shullick No. 95 to take the point on lap 14.
Also on the move was Didero who took third from Abold on lap 15, while Sitterly, Barnes, and Connors mixed it up for positions six through eight.
Connors joined those picking up positions with 20 laps in the books, nosing to the inside of Abold going into turn three to move into a top five spot.
Just as this happened, tenth running Lou LeVea Jr. hit the wall rather hard in turn two, signaling a disappointing ending to a solid day for the No. 83 team.
The field re-stacked on lap 176, and that is when Thompson decided it was time to get a move on.
On the restart, Shullick had snuck back low under Bellinger going into turn three, but Thompson followed through, and immediately went to the inside of Shullick to take the lead with 25 laps in the books.
It was now Thompson out in front, Shullick second, and Didero third.
Didero and Bellinger battled side by side for the position for nearly ten laps, before Doug finally settled into third on lap 34 with Connors also going to the inside of Bellinger.
Connors wasn’t done there, as he really turned up the wick on lap 35, going first to the inside of Didero and then Shullick to move up into second.
Bellinger began to fade with 45 laps in the books as Sitterly, Barnes, Abold, and Russ Wood all made it by to take over fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth.
A spin by Iosue on lap 64 brought out another yellow flag just as the leaders had entered heavy lapped traffic.
The top five of Thompson, Connors, Didero, Shullick, and Sitterly strung out for the next 15 laps until a second Iosue spin brought out another yellow flag.
On the lap 83 restart, Shullick went to the outside of Didero for third and began to put pressure on Connors for second.
The front five runners would remain unchanged at the halfway mark, with Thompson taking the $750 bonus from Insinger Performance for leading at lap 100.
Over the next 25 green flag laps, the leaders worked through heavy traffic, and while things got a little squirrely at the front, the top three positions remained unchanged.
Barnes and Abold both got by Sitterly to grab the fourth and fifth positions.
On lap 125, Shullick got hung up behind a slower car and left a door for Didero down low, with Doug taking advantage in the No. 3 and Barnes following suit in the No. 68.
This was when Barnes made what turned out to be the winning move, blowing by Connors and Didero on the outside while they were pinned in traffic to go from fifth to second in half a lap.
Shullick brought out the yellow on lap 128 whe a left front spindle broke on the No. 95.
On the restart, Thompson walked away, continuing his torrid pace in the No. 98 with Barnes, Connors, Didero, Abold, and Sitterly still trying to give chase.
With 42 laps remaining, Abold pulled into the pits after heavy smoke poured out of the engine area of the No. 05.
The top five was now Thompson, Barnes, Connors, Didero, and Sitterly.
Barnes was able to apply the pressure on Thompson in the opening laps after the restart, but on the long run, nobody had anything for Thompson .
With Thompson long gone, the battle to watch was one that seemed to go on all race between Connors and Didero for third, with Didero finally able to capitalize on a lapped traffic situation to steal the position with 19 laps to go.
When Didero went under Connors, that got the No. 01 washed a little out of shape, creating a hole for Sitterly who went low and into fourth.
Then came the lap that changed everything.
Tyler Thompson, who had nearly a straightaway lead on Barnes, ran out of fuel coming to nine laps to go and slowed to a dead stop on the back stretch.
The Jason Simmons Racing crew re-fueled both Thompson’s 98T and also Dan Kapuscinski’s No. 88 ride, which had also run dry in the same lap.
With now only five laps remaining, the green flag came back out as it was Barnes out in front, Didero second, Sitterly third, Connors fourth, and Joe Gosek, who had come from deep in the field to crack the top five.
For a moment, it looked as if Didero may be able to at least challenge Barnes for the lead when the No. 3 went up in flames in a terrifying incident down the back stretch with three laps to go.
Didero escaped the fiery wreckage shaken with minor burns, but was able to walk away after a broken driveline entered the oil tank and side cell causing the car to erupt and slide to a stop.
After a lengthy red flag to tend to Didero and clean up the backstretch, Barnes would now have the five-time Classic Champion Sitterly breathing down his neck for the green-white-checkered restart.
Sitterly made it very exciting at the drop of the green, taking a hard look to the outside and sling shotting it back down low to show Barnes a wheel down the front stretch, but he could not quite get the job done.
Barnes held him off and won his first International Classic. Sitterly finished second, Connors third, Gosek fourth, and Payne in fifth.
Oswego Speedway returns to action on Saturday, June 12 with a double header for the Novelis Supermodifieds and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour presented by JDV Productions. Tickets are available at JDVProductions.com.
The Pathfinder Bank SBS and J&S Paving 350 Supermodifieds will be back on the racing card on Saturday, June 19 alongside Twin 35’s for the Novelis Supermodifieds.
For more information, visit online at OswegoSpeedway.com, LIKE on Facebook at Facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway, or FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway.
RESULTS
64th International Classic 200
Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
Saturday, May 29, 2021
Novelis Supermodifieds
64th Annual International Classic (202-laps): 1. 68 MICHAEL BARNES, 2. 7 Otto Sitterly, 3. 01 Dan Connors Jr, 4. 00 Joe Gosek, 5. 14 Joey Payne, 6. 0 Tim Snyder, 7. 44 Mike Lichty, 8. 3 Doug Didero, 9. 98T Tyler Thompson, 10. 88 Dan Kapuscinski, 11. 22 ® Mike Bruce, 12. 78 Johnny Payne, 13. 02 Brandon Bellinger, 14. 99 Jerry Curran, 15. 05 Jeff Abold, 16. 66 Lou LeVea Sr, 17. 54 Camden Proud, 18. 95 Dave Shullick Jr, 19. 32 Moe Lilje, 20. 41 Russ Wood, 21. 11 Aric Iosue, 22. 83 Lou LeVea Jr, 23. 90 Jack Patrick, 24. 56 Hal LaTulip
Time Trials: 1. 05 Jeff Abold - 16.052, 2. 95 Dave Shullick Jr. - 16.184, 3. 3 Doug Didero - 16.224, 4. 02 Brandon Bellinger - 16.237, 5. 98T Tyler Thomson - 16.321, 6. 68 Michael Barnes - 16.330, 7. 7 Otto Sitterly - 16.335, 8. 01 Dan Connors Jr. - 16.370, 9. 22 ® Mike Bruce - 16.418, 10. 83 Lou LeVea Jr. - 16.471, 11. 41 Russ Wood - 16.678, 12. 11 Aric Iosue - 16.696, 13. 54 Camden Proud - 16.696, 14. 99 Jerry Curran - 16.710, 15. 00 Joe Gosek - 16.720, 16. 66 Lou LeVea Sr. - 16.821, 17. 0 Tim Snyder - 16.973, 18. 88 Dan Kapuscinski - 17.010, 19. 90 Jack Patrick - 17.041, 20. 44 Mike Lichty - 17.114, 21. 32 Moe Lilje - 17.155, 22. 78 Johnny Payne - 17.456, 23. 14 Joey Payne - 17.531, 24. 56 Hal LaTulip - 18.103
Joe’s Jerky Polesitter In Memory of Mikayla Guile ($1,000): #05 Jeff Abold
Joe’s Jerky Outside Polesitter In Memory of Mikayla Guile ($500): #95 Dave Shullick Jr.
D&S Landscaping Hard Charger: #14 Joey Payne
Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer: #01 Dan Connors Jr.
Insinger Performance Halfway Leader ($750): #98T Tyler Thompson
Tammy Ten Media Lap Leader ($500): #98T Tyler Thompson
11th Place Finisher in Memory of Joe Kapuscinski ($500): #22 ® Mike Bruce
Jakes Automotive 23rd Starter In Memory of Jake Ratcliff ($250): #14 Joey Payne
Area Auto Racing News Best Car & Crew Award: #32 Moe Lilje
- CAMDEN PROUD on May 30, 2021
- Article Date: 5/30/2021