OSWEGO, NY (July 14, 2021) - The huge month of July will continue this Saturday the 17th at Oswego Speedway as C’s Beverage Center presents the 34th running of the $10,000 to win Mr. Novelis Supermodified event.
Joining the big block Supers for their 75-lap battle will be the $1,500 to win Mr. Pathfinder Bank SBS and a $2,000 to win special for the J&S Paving 350 Supermodifieds.
Coming off of double features for the Supermodified and Small Block Super divisions a week ago, the point standings have seen some shake ups with new high point men Otto Sitterly and first time SBS winner Josh Sokolic leading the way into the final points event of July.
The Supermodified division has seen only one repeat winner this year in Michael Barnes, who won both the Spring Classic and the 75-lap Independence Weekend Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Other winners include Dave Shullick Jr on May 8, Max McLaughlin on May 15, Mike Bruce on June 12, Otto Sitterly on June 19, and Tyler Thompson and Alison Sload on July 10.
Shullick had been leading the points standings since Opening Day until a crash in the 50-lap Summer Championship one week ago proved to be a major setback for the Osetek Team, as they were not able to completely repair the No. 95 prior to the rescheduled 35-lap feature.
This allowed Sitterly, the nine-time and defending track champion, to capitalize, and the driver of the Nicotra Racing No. 7 is now up seven points on his former teammate Shullick.
The points leaders are at 657 and 652 points, respectively.
Behind Sitterly and Shullick, Brandon Bellinger sits third only eleven points out of the lead after three straight podium finishes for the No. 02 including two on the same night a week ago.
Michael Barnes is fourth just 25 points out of the lead, while Jeff Abold is fifth at 49 points away.
Sload, Dave Danzer, Thompson, Dan Connors Jr, and Tim Snyder currently complete the top ten over Lou LeVea Jr, Bruce, Joe Gosek, Jack Patrick, and McLaughlin in the top fifteen.
Of the drivers scheduled to be in the field on Saturday night, only two of them have earned Mr. Supermodified titles in the past with Sitterly winning four times in 2006, 2013, 2015, and 2018, and Danzer twice in 2014 and 2016.
In the Pathfinder Bank SBS class, Dan Kapuscinski, with three total feature wins, has led the standings all year long until 19 year-old Josh Sokolic broke through for the first two wins of his career, sweeping last Saturday’s Twin 20’s.
Kapuscinski recovered from an earlier mishap to finish third in the first Twin, but pulled pitside with problems early on in the second Twin.
Sokolic went on to take the win and the points lead with 611 points just ahead of Kapuscinski’s 605 points.
Rookie Noah Ratcliff earned his first heat race win and doubled up with a pair of podium finishes in last week’s twins, allowing the 16 year-old driver to build his lead over Griffin Miller for Rookie of the Year, as well as move up to third in the point standings with a total of 560 for the season.
With 539 and 536 points; brothers Brad Haynes, a feature winner on May 15, and Bryan Haynes complete the top five in the points rundown while Miller, Cameron Rowe, Robbie Bruce, Dennis Rupert, and rookie Mark Denny Jr. fill in the top ten.
Rookies Darrick Hilton, Joey DeStevens, Greg O’Connor, Josh Wallace, and AJ Larkin currently are eleventh through fifteenth in points.
Two former Mr. Pathfinder Bank SBS champions will also have a chance to repeat in Saturday’s event as 2010 champion Andrew Schartner will be in the field.
Additionally, defending champion David LaTulip has announced his second appearance of the season with the No. 27 machine and will use Friday testing to tune up his ride in hopes of a big repeat victory on Saturday
While the J&S Paving 350 Supers will not be racing under the “Mr. 350” title just yet this week, this is an extra distance, higher paying event for the Winged Small Block Supers as the 30-lap shootout is set to pay $2,000 to the winner.
After earning his first two career 350 wins by virtue of sweeping double feature night for the 350 Suermodifieds on July 3, Mike Bruce has stolen the points lead from Kreig Heroth in a very tight battle that sees Bruce with 395 points, Heroth with 391, and Dalton Doyle with 385 in third.
Rounding out the top five are rookie Kyle Perry at 366 points and Barry Kingsley at 362 points ahead of an all-rookie top ten made up of May 15 winner Nick Kinney, Jon Tesoriero, Dave Cliff, Kali Spaulding, and Ralph Clark.
Completing the top fifteen are Vern LaFave, Tom MacLeod, Mike Netishen, and John Leonard.
All fifteen of these drivers are expected this weekend, including New Englanders Netishen and Leonard as they take advantage of the Star Speedway off week to compete at Oswego.
350 Super Classic champion Jeffrey Battle, teammate Eddie Witkum Jr, and Classic runner-up Chase Locke have all confirmed plans to be in attendance as well.
Saturday’s schedule will see pit gates open at 2:15pm, the second round of the Novelis Fan Can Chase will take place outside the main entrance from 3:00 to 3:45pm, grandstands will open and practice will begin at 3:15pm, group time trials take the green at 5:00pm, and heat races will begin promptly at 6:00pm.
The feature order for the evening is J&S Paving 350 Supermodifieds, Pathfinder Bank SBS, and Novelis Supermodifieds.
Pre-sale tickets for Mr. Novelis Supermodified are on sale now by calling the Speedway box office at (315)-342-0646.
Presenting sponsor C’s Beverage Center, located just off Route 104 West in Oswego, offers special discount prices available in 12-packs, cases, and kegs providing the finest in imports, micro-brews, wine coolers, and malt beverages. The selection at C’s Beverage Center is the largest in Oswego County and C’s Beverage is always ‘on tap’ for any and all of your beverage needs.
For more information on C’s Beverage Center and to view a full listing, you please visit them online at www.CsFarmMarket.com or phone (315)-343-1010. You can also LIKE C’s Beverage on Facebook at Facebook.com/CsFarmMarketOswego.
To keep up with the latest news and information from Oswego Speedway, visit the track online at OswegoSpeedway.com, FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway, FOLLOW on Instagram @OfficialOswegoSpeedway, and LIKE on Facebook at Facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway.
About Oswego Speedway: Oswego Speedway is a 5/8 mile semi-banked pavement racing oval located off the shores of Lake Ontario in scenic Oswego, NY. The speedway has been a continuously run weekly racing venue since August 1951. The premier open-wheel pavement short track cars in the world, Supermodifieds, run weekly at the Oswego Speedway making it the only weekly Supermodified racing venue in the world. The Small Block Supermodifieds and 350 Supermodifieds accompany the full blown Supers on a weekly Saturday night schedule which runs from May through September. Oswego Speedway is mentioned in racing circles as the “Indy of the East,” as no fewer than a dozen past and present competitors have competed at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway including Mario Andretti, two-time Indy 500 champion Gordon Johncock, and former International Classic Champions Bentley Warren, Joe Gosek, and Davey Hamilton.
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