OSWEGO, NY (August 8, 2021) - Driving the Flack Racing Small Block Super in Joe Gosek’s 1995 Supermodified livery, Dan Kapuscinski delivered a convincing fourth win of the season in the Pathfinder Bank SBS ‘Retro Night’ 30-lapper on Saturday.
Kapuscinski started back in ninth, worked his way up to second by lap 10, and was challenging for the lead when contact was made with polesitter Greg O’Connor going into the first corner.
Danny K was able to squeeze by a spinning O’Connor, but Josh Sokolic, Robbie Bruce, Griffin Miller, and Brad Haynes were all caught up in this accident with O’Connor, Sokolic and Bruce retiring for the evening.
Kapuscinski was forced to restart at the tail end of the field and used the next 18 laps to drive back up through the pack, re-taking the lead by virtue of an exciting move to go under brothers Brad and Bryan Haynes in the third corner with three laps to go.
“I feel really bad about getting into the back of Greg,” Kapuscinski said. “I tried everything I could to stay off the back of him, and unfortunately it just sent him around. He is a super nice guy and I don’t like to race people like that. This doesn’t mean as much when you do something like that, but these guys - what can I say? It’s a perfect race car and so all in all it turned out to be an OK night. Winning races is the way you win the points battle, so we are going to just keep trying to win races and that will take care of itself.”
Bryan Haynes finished second for the second time of 2021. It was the third top five finish of the season for the Odenton, MD driver, a winner of the Bud Light SBS Classic in 2015.
“We are fighting a lot of the stuff with the car and are bridesmaid again,” offered Haynes. “I have finished in the top three way too many times with these two yahoos this year and need to be the one winning, but it was good racing. It got kind of tough in lapped traffic. We got through some of it well, but we just started to have a horrible vibration and I was doing everything that I could to hold on to it. But good job to Danny (Kapuscinski), and it is always fun racing my brother even though it is nerve wracking for my parents.”
Brad Haynes was able to keep pace with his brother for the entire race, but the two-time feature winner never had quite enough to power his No. 88 machine under his brother’s No. 86. Haynes would have to settle for third.
“It's always worth a try to beat Bryan,” Haynes said. “He is the older brother and I have to go for it, but I think we put a good show on for the fans trying to battle it out, so why not. “I got up there in that jingle in turn one at the beginning of the race and it bent up pretty much every panel on the car. It didn’t feel very good out there, but I figured I would give it a shot to stay out front and try to keep the points up for us.”
The 30-lap feature event was brought to the green flag by the two GO Racing teammates, Greg O’Connor on the pole and Dennis Rupert to his outside.
O’Connor led from the drop with third starting Bryan Haynes and fifth starting Brad Haynes able to take over second and third right away.
Rupert got the hot shuffle with sixth starting Miller, seventh starting Bruce, and ninth starting Kapuscinski moving up to positions four, fixe, and six, respectively.
Kapuscinski went underneath Bruce to crack the top five in just three laps, and then went past Miller for fourth on lap 5.
Next were the Haynes Brothers, who were both passed by Kapuscinski on the same lap in a pair of moves that put the No. 00 into the second position.
However, just after the race leaders crossed the start-finish line to complete lap 10, that is when chaos ensued in turn one wiping out the race leader, and fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth place cars.
Because Brad Haynes spun to avoid and was able to continue, he restarted back in second alongside brother Bryan in the lead.
Cameron Rowe, Dennis Rupert, Noah Ratcliff, Mark Denny Jr, Darrick Hilton, Robbie Wirth, Josh Wallace, and Joey DeStevens fired off in positions three through ten with Danny K being sent back to the tail end of the line.
On the restart, the Haynes Brothers were able to pull away from Rowe, Ratcliff and Rupert, as Kapuscinski used the bottom part of the Speedway to quickly work his way back into the top five by the halfway point.
At halfway, it was still Brothers Haynes out in front with Bryan Haynes leading and Brad Haynes second over Rowe, Ratcliff, and Kapuscinski.
With 12 to go, Kapuscinski was able to get underneath current Rookie of the Year leader Ratcliff heading down the front stretch and immediately reeled in Rowe for the three spot.
Five laps later, Kapuscinski made his low side move for third and again began to give chase to the Haynes Brothers out in front, closing the gap in just a handful of laps.
With five laps to go, the leaders entered extremely heavy lapped traffic. Bryan Haynes was able to hold onto the lead momentarily, but with just three laps remaining, both he and brother Brad had been boxed in by a lapped car. This gave Kapuscinski the opportunity he needed.
Danny K put the No. 00 on the bottom part of the Speedway, passing both the Haynes Brothers as well as the lapped car in a daring move to inherit the lead coming to two laps to go.
When debris set up a green-white checkered finish, Kapuscinski drove away on the final restart for an impressive win over Bryan Haynes, Brad Haynes, Rowe, and Rupert in the top five.
Ratcliff had issues in the last two laps, handing sixth and seventh to Hilton and Denny while Ratcliff finished eighth with Wirth and DeStevens completing the top ten.
Wallace, Tony DeStevens, and AJ Larkin finished eleventh through thirteenth.
Only two events remain in Oswego Speedway’s 2021 championship schedule and it continues this coming Saturday, August 15 as Barlow’s Concessions and A&P Auto Parts present a full program for the Novelis Supermodifieds and Pathfinder Bank SBS plus the Sunoco New York Super Stocks Classic tune-up event.
Tickets are available online at OswegoSpeedway.com.
For more information on Oswego Speedway, visit online at OswegoSpeedway.com, LIKE on Facebook at Facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway, FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway and Instagram @OfficialOswegoSpeedway.
RESULTS
JP Jewelers Retro Night
Pathfinder Bank SBS
Saturday, August 7, 2021
Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
Feature (30-laps): 1. OO DAN KAPUSCINSKI, 2. 86 Bryan Haynes, 3. 88 Brad Haynes, 4. 77 Cameron Rowe, 5. 99 Dennis Rupert, 6. 66 ® Darrick Hilton, 7. 14 ® Mark Denny Jr, 8. 73 ® Noah Ratcliff, 9. 04 ® Robbie Wirth, 10. 05 ® Joey DeStevens, 11. 49 ® Josh Wallace, 12. 24 ® Tony DeStevens, 13. 35 ® AJ Larkin, 14. 9 ® Griffin Miller, 15. 90 Greg O’Connor, 16. 26 Josh Sokolic, 17. 32 ® Robbie Bruce
Heat 1 (10-laps): 1. OO Dan Kapuscinski, 2. 90 Greg O’Connor, 3. 32 ® Robbie Bruce, 4. 77 Cameron Rowe, 5. 49 ® Josh Wallace, 6. 04 ® Robbie Wirth
Heat 2 (10-laps): 1. 86 Bryan Haynes, 2. 88 Brad Haynes, 3. 73 ® Noah Ratcliff, 4. 99 Dennis Rupert, 5. 66 ® Darrick Hilton, 6. 35 ® AJ Larkin
Heat 3 (10-laps): 1. 26 Josh Sokolic, 2. 9 ® Griffin Miller, 3. 14 ® Mark Denny Jr, 4. 05 ® Joey DeStevens, 5. 24 ® Tony DeStevens
Group Time Trials: 1. OO Dan Kapuscinski - 18.707, 2. 26 Josh Sokolic - 18.968, 3. 73 ® Noah Ratcliff - 19.129, 4. 77 Cameron Rowe - 19.161, 5. 05 ® Joey DeStevens - 19.196, 6. 86 Bryan Haynes - 19.242, 7. 90 Greg O’Connor - 19.258, 8. 9 ® Griffin Miller - 19.264, 9. 88 Brad Haynes - 19.350, 10. 32 ® Robbie Bruce - 19.389, 11. 35 ® AJ Larkin - 19.490, 12. 24 ® Tony DeStevens - 19.517, 13. 14 ® Mark Denny Jr - 19.568, 14. 49 ® Josh Wallace - 19.854, 15. 04 ® Robbie Wirth - 19.941, 16. 99 Dennis Rupert - 19.944
D&S Landscaping Hard Charger: #00 Dan Kapuscinski
Lighthouse Lanes Up & Comer: #99 Dennis Rupert
White’s Car Care 4th Place Award: #77 Cameron Rowe
- CAMDEN PROUD on Aug 08, 2021
- Article Date: 8/8/2021