Putney Wins One for the Good Guys
The 59th Sunoco Race of Champions came to a conclusion Sunday evening at
the Oswego Speedway with a majority of those in attendance leaving with a
smile on their face. That smile was brought to the faces of many as one of
the good people in this sport of auto racing captured the most prestigious
event of the year.
East Aurora, NY driver Billy Putney won his first Sunoco Race of
Champions 200 as he inherited the lead during a yellow flag period on lap
127 when the last few cars that hadn’t pitted did so at this time. Putney
then led the final 72 laps holding off the constant challenges of first JR
Kent and then Earl Paules to claim the $10,000 feature win. Paules who won
the TJ Toyota / Waite Toyota Modified All – Star race the night before ended
up second with defending race winner Tony Hirschman coming home in third.
Ted Christopher brought a Zacharias Racing entry home in fourth and Jan
Leaty ended up in fifth.
At this race a few years ago Danny Cascioli found himself being towed out
of the Oswego Speedway for unsportsmanlike actions during the Super Stock
feature. This year Cascioli behaved himself to win the French’s Auto Parts
sponsored 75 lap feature. Cascioli took the lead on a lap nine restart and
survived numerous restarts to claim the win. Chris Daughtery was second with
Chip Wannamaker in third, his teammate Lorin Arthofer, III was fourth and
Dylan Terry ended up fifth.
Eric Beers and Matt Hirschman brought the 34 car starting field to green
with Beers getting the lead over Chuck Hossfeld, Hirschman, Erick Rudolph,
and Tony Hirschman.
With the sun starting to set every time there was a double file restart
whoever was on the outside of the front row would lose that spot to the
third place starting car. From the start of the race until lap 32 Hossfeld
and Matt Hirschman did the exchanging of second on three spate occasions.
Defending race winner Tony Hirschman snookered young Rudolph on a lap 24
restart to get fourth. But Rudolph showed Tony who was boss as he retook
fourth one lap later, finally Tony got fourth for good after a lap 32
restart.
With a mandatory pit stop needing to take place after lap 50 a yellow on
lap 54 saw a flurry of pit activity which included JR Kent, Billy Putney,
Mike Leaty, and Rick Kluth among the ten cars that pitted at this time.
On the restart Matt Hirschman got the jump on Beers to get the lead but
it was short lived as Beers returned the favor two laps later. Hossfeld got
past Matt for second on lap 61 and the top five stayed the same until lap 79
when another yellow would come out.
This time Hossfeld, Jan Leaty, Tony Hirschman, Rudolph, Earl Paules,
Rowan Pennink were among 15 cars that pitted.
Beers held the lead with Matt Hirschman in second, Ted Christopher in
third, Tommy Farrell, III in fourth, and Andy Walko in fifth. These five
cars at this point were the only ones not to make their mandatory pit stop.
Matt Hirschman finally got the lead on lap 88 and just after he took over
a huge pileup in turn one brought out the red flag. Many cars that had just
pitted were involved and were lucky that they had good brakes and didn’t
receive too much damage.
The top five would remain the same until lap 98 when Christopher got past
Beers for second but Eric returned the favor seven laps later. JR Kent who
was the first in line of cars who pitted moved into fifth on lap 106.
The winning pass of the race took place on lap 110 as Billy Putney made a
bold outside turns one and two pass of Kent to go from sixth to fourth. Five
laps later Putney moved into third with Kent in fourth and Earl Paules now
taking fifth.
A yellow on lap 126 saw the pits open for pit stops on lap 127 and at
this time the five remaining cars pitted for their mandatory stop. Beers
suffered mechanical problems which forced him to pit on the next lap and
ended up losing two laps making repairs.
When the race returned to green flag conditions Putney held the lead over
Kent who was doing his best to hold off Paules, Tony Hirschman, and James
Civali who had pitted four times earlier to get his problems figured out.
After being run all over the track Paules muscled his way past Kent for
second on lap 134 and set his sights on Putney who had built up a
comfortable lead. Tony Hirschman was next to muscle his way past Kent to
take third on lap 143.
With fifty laps to go Putney was still in command followed by Paules and
Tony Hirschman. Hossfeld moved into fifth on lap 154 and into fourth seven
laps later.
Christopher took fifth on lap 176 and set his sights on the front as he
battled with Hossfeld for fourth.
The final yellow of the event came out with six laps to go as Hossfeld
spun in turn four. The final five laps were anti climatic as Putney held
some strength in reserve for the end of the race as he claimed the popular
win.
Qualifying for the 35 car field saw Hossfeld set quick time in time
trials with a lap of 17.481. The heat races were won by Jim Storace, Dave
Wollaber, and Sege Fidanza.
Dylan Terry and Jimmy Zacharias brought the 34 car Super Stock field to
green in the 75 lap event. The action started early in the first turn as a
multi car pileup brought about an original restart.
On the restart Zacharias took the lead over Terry, Jeff Merritt, Danny
Cascioli, and Chris Daughtery. Exiting turn two on lap one the cars of
Zacharias and Merritt became entangled which set off a wild accident that
involved twelve cars. Some of the cars were able to continue meanwhile a
couple of cars were complete write offs. Zacharias was shaken up for a
little bit and after consulting with the track medical crew walked back to
his pit area.
On the restart Terry held off Cascioli, Daughtery, Todd Stone, and Terry
Potrzebowski, Mike Ramos moved into fifth on lap three.
The winning pass of the race took place on lap nine as Cascioli got under
Terry in turn three for the lead. After getting the lead Cascioli pulled out
to an impressive lead as everyone else had to deal with Terry who was in
second.
With 22 laps to go Daughtery after trying for many laps got past Terry
for second and Ramos who was now third followed him through the opening.
With 15 to go the team cars of Chip Wannamaker and Lorin Arthofer, III
started to make a charge to the front as they moved into fourth and fifth
respectively. The great run of Ramos ended in the turn three wall on lap 67.
The final eight laps were incident free as Cascioli ended his years of
frustration with the win.
Saturday qualifying for the 34 car field saw heat wins go to RJ Zacharias,
Daughtery, Jeff Merritt, and Jimmy Zacharias.
NOTES; The quickly running weekend came to a grinding halt Sunday morning
as a no percent chance of rain became lake effect showers that delayed the
racing program nearly three hours. RoC would like to thank the racers, track
safety crew, and parking lot packers for helping in drying the track. Wilbur
Hebing who was slated to start seventh in the feature scratched after hot
laps due to motor issues. In the Modifieds the top five times redrew for the
first five starting spots in the feature while times six, seven, and eight
were placed in positions ten, eleven, and twelve for the feature. Todd Geist
was in the second Earl Paules entry.
59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR RACE REPORT
FINISH; Billy Putney, Earl Paules, Tony Hirschman, Ted Christopher, Jan
Leaty, JR Kent, Rusty Smith, James Civali, Rowan Pennink, Andy Walko, Kyle
Ebersole, TJ Potrzebowski, Jim Storace, Rick Kluth, Doug Reaume, Mike Leaty,
Chuck Hossfeld, Eric Beers, Tom McGrath, Matt Hirschman, Daryl Lewis, Jr.,
Erick Rudolph, Tommy Farrell, III, Chris Risdale, Daren Scherer, Sege
Fidanza, Tommy Cloce, Jimmy Zacharias, Dave Wollaber, Pete Brittain, Chris
Zacharias, Mark Tychoniewicz, Rick Zacharias, Ron Smith.
DNS; Wilbur Hebing.
LAP LEADERS; Beers ( 1 – 58 ) M. Hirschman ( 59 – 60 ), Beers ( 61 – 87 ),
M. Hirschman ( 88 – 127 ) Putney ( 128 – 200 ).
LAP MONEY WON; Beers - $7,443, Putney - $4,200, M. Hirschman - $3,000.
DART MACHINERY AWARD $1,500 SET OF HEADS; Ebersole.
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAWING $500; Kent.
GATER RACING NEWS BEST APPEARING CAR & CREW AWARD; Lewis.
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Brittain ( 7th to 30th ).
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Kent ( 26th to 6th ).
TOM BALDWIN HARD CHARGER AWARD $500; Kent.
CHUCK BOOS AWARD $100; Geist.
LAST CAR RUNNING ON LEAD LAP $100; Hossfeld.
ZACHARIAS FAMILY RACING AWARD $100; Lewis.
NEXT EVENT – DUNN TIRE RACEWAY PARK – US OPEN – SATURDAY & SUNDAY SEPTEMBER
19TH & 20TH.
FRENCH’S AUTO PARTS 59TH SUNOCO RACE OF CHAMPIONS SUPER STOCK FINISH; Danny
Cascioli, Chris Daugherty, Chip Wannamaker, Lorin Arthofer, III, Dylan
Terry, Todd Stone, Bobby Newman, Todd Ahner, Bobby Lippa, Jr., Tommy
Markham, Willie Strusz, Billy Semmler, RJ Zacharias, Mike Ramos, Mike Scott,
Alan Schlenker, Jerry Ostrander, Derrick Tarbox, Britney Jack, Terry
Potrzebowski, Jason Spaulding, Jesse Johns, Robert Fink, Jeff Goodwin, Brian
Sones, Brad Hayes, AJay Potrzebowski, Chris Hilleger, Mike Nichols, Jimmy
Zacharias, Jeff Merritt, David Johnson, Eric Connors, Jay Mudra.