Super Sege Wins the Race of Champions' SST Modified
event
In only his second time in an SST Modified on Friday night Super Sege
Fidanza made a car that was perfectly setup by Rutherford Racing the car to
beat in the 59th Sunoco Race of Champions Gater / Motorsports Expo sponsored
SST Modified 100 at the Oswego Speedway.
Meanwhile for the third year in a row Jason Brigham dominated the 20 lap
Mini Stock feature while Tim Garlock dominated the 20 lap Factory Stock
feature.
Fidanza who started second passed pole sitter and lap one leader Nick
Capelli with an outside turn three pass on lap two to get the lead he would
never be challenged seriously for over the remaining 98 laps.
Besides Fidanza dominating the race en route to the $2,500 win his
teammate for this race Pistol Pete Brittain brought home the second
Rutherford Racing entry in second after starting ninth. Pole sitter Capelli
ended up third with veteran Buck Catalano finishing fourth after starting
eighth and 28th starter Rick Kluth finished fifth.
Capelli and Fidanza brought the 31 car field to green with Capelli
getting the jump to grab the lead over Fidanza, Jeff Price, Jimmy Zacharias,
and JR Kent. Entering turn three just before lap two was scored Fidanza took
the lead with a powerful turn three outside pass.
Price got past Capelli on lap four for second with Capelli returning the
favor 12 laps later. Pete Brittain moved into fifth on lap 17 but had Kent
re passed him for fifth one lap later. Just before a yellow would come out
on lap 20 Zacharias moved past Price for third.
The top five running order would stay the same until lap 23 when Brittain
took to the high line to move into fifth and two laps later moved into
fourth. Meanwhile on lap 29 Wilbur Hebing moved into fifth past a slip
sliding Kent.
The running order of the race changed dramatically on lap 51 as Brittain
after trying several laps finally got under Zacharias going into turn three.
Zacharias tried his best to stay in the groove but slipped out of it and
spun. Hebing was left no place to go and he slid into the incident ending
his strong run.
Buck Catalano was the next driver to make noise by passing his way to the
front as he moved into fifth on lap 56 and ten laps later moved into fourth.
With 20 laps to go Price got past Catalano for fourth and two laps later
after trying for several laps Brittain finally got around Capelli for
second. Catalano retook fourth on lap 84 with Jon Price now taking fifth
from his brother Jeff.
The final yellow flew with 15 laps to go and when the green came back out
Fidanza opened up his lead over Brittain. Rick Kluth made some noise as he
moved into fifth after starting 28th on lap 86. The final 14 laps were anti
climatic as Fidanza led Brittain across the line to make it a Rutherford
Racing one two sweep.
Qualifying for the 45 car field saw heat wins captured by Jeff Price,
Kevin Timmerman, Kent, Hebing, and Capelli while Jeff Hamman and Tony
Hanbury won the consi’s.
Dave Frendt and Doug Mould brought the Mini Stock field to green with
third place starter Gene Purvis taking the lead on the first lap followed by
Otis Bradshaw, Mould, Jason Brigham, and Scott Shafer.
Brigham moved into third on lap two followed by Shafer into fourth and
Tim Dubach into fifth. Brigham on a mission rocketed into the lead coming
off turn four to grab the lead on lap three. Bradshaw got past Purvis for
second on the next circuit while Shafer moved into third on lap five.
Tim Dunn moved into fifth on lap five and into fourth on lap seven.
Shafer moved into second on lap eight while Dubach moved back into fifth on
lap ten.
Up front Brigham was in a league of his own in the nonstop event as he
lapped up to the fourth place car at the checkers. Shafer was second
followed by Dunn, Bradshaw, and Dubach.
The Rear Wheel winner of this event was Shafer while Ransomville racer
Tim Durfy was the Dirt Car winner of the event.
Qualifying for the 14 car field saw heat wins captured by Brigham and
Shaffer
Richard Petey and Howard Bott brought the Factory Stock 20 lap feature to
green. Petey grabbed the lead over Tim Garlock, Bott and Tom Casagrande.
Garlock roared into the lead on lap three with an inside turn two pass.
After getting the lead Garlock raced out to a full straightaway lead.
Casagrande moved into second on lap two and was a half a track behind at
that point. At the halfway point Bott took third and all of the attention
was now focused on Casagrande.
As the laps wound down Casagrande was cutting into the large lead of
Garlock but ran out of laps as he fell less than a car length short at the
checkers. Bott and Petey followed the lead duo across the line.
The qualifying heat was won by Casagrande.
NOTES; Hot laps earlier in the day claimed the cars of Justin Petcosky
who hit the wall ending his day. Dick Kluth blew the motor and he jumped
into the Dan Hoag car to race the show and took a SST Provisional to get
into the show. Bobby Holmes also blew a motor in hot laps and had a new
motor trucked in from Buffalo, NY. The motor was installed in time for Bobby
to qualify through his heat race. Zach Curren and Craig Dolphin got together
in the last hot lap session ending their day of racing. George Skora, III
was making his open wheel debut on this day. The show was delayed twice
during the show as several track lights overheated and went out. Each time a
20 minute delay took place as the lights cooled down and then came back on.
Despite a gloomy forecast the wind coming off Lake Ontario kept all moisture
well south of the speedway.
GATER / MOTORSPORTS EXPO SST MODIFIED 59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS
OFFICIAL FINISH; Sege Fidanza, Pete Brittain, Nick Capelli, Buck Catalano,
Rick Kluth, Tim Gullo, Jerry Gradl, Jon Price, Amy Catalano, Jeff Hamman,
Bobby Holmes, Tom McGrath, Kevin Timmerman, Terry Cheetham, Eric Stietzel,
Jeff Price, Rick Zacharias, Andy Jankowiak, Wilbur Hebing, Jimmy Zacharias,
JR Kent, Chris Finnochario, Lee Sharpsteen, Bobby Osgood, Billy Putney, Dick
Kluth, Tony Hanbury, Justin Shepker, George Skora, III, Zach Truesdail, Earl
Paules.
DNQ’S; Jody Buckley, Craig Dolphin, Jason Simmons, Dave Tedesco, John
Markovic, Ryan Beeman, Ed Weber, Patrick Emerling, Fred Taylor, Pat Veruys,
Russ Brown, Zach Curren, Kevin Miller, Matt Kurzejewski.
59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS MINI STOCK OFFICIAL FINISH; Jason Brigham,
Scott Shafer, Tim Dunn, Otis Bradshaw, Tim Dubach, Tim Durfy, Gene Purvis,
Bill Veruys, Doug Mould, Dave Frendt, Gert McDonald.
DNS; Mike Stringer, Archie Haner.
59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS FACTORY STOCK FINISH; Tim Garlock, Tom
Casagrande, Howard Bott, Richard Petey.