by Dan Johnson

A pair of veteran drivers returned to victory lane at Oswego Speedway Saturday night as Doug Didero won the supermodified feature and Mike Bond won the small-block supermodified main event. Didero took the lead on lap 21 of the supermodified race and barely held off the late dashes by Joey Payne and Dave McKnight in lapped traffic. Bond raced his SBS car from fifth to first in the last ten laps of to earn his victory.

Jason Spaulding and Todd Stowell paced the 21-car supermodified field to starter Donnie Forbes’ green flags to start the 45-lap feature. Spaulding took the early lead as the pack shuffled behind him. McKnight, Didero, and and Otto Sitterly moved to the front quickly, as McKnight put the 08 into sixth place by lap two and Didero and Sitterly followed McKnight’s charge.

Lap 4 saw the first yellow flag of the event as Tim Snyder’s 0 lost traction in turns three and four and looped around while running in a top-five spot. On the restart, Spaulding led Stephen Gioia, Payne, Ray Graham, McKnight, Pat Lavery, Didero, Sitterly, Stowell, and Jerry Curran. Didero took an inside line on the restart and passed Lavery, then McKnight within a lap. Sitterly continued tracking Didero, again following the defending Classic winner through the pack.

Caution again flew over the speedway on lap 6 as New Hampshire driver Dave Sanborn looped his 12 car into the turn-three foam. Sanborn was able to continue, but the restart was delayed as a portion of the lighting system failed at the speedway forcing a half hour wait for the racing action to resume.

Once the lights came back to full power, Payne quickly took over second place as he went to the inside of Gioia’s 9 on the restart. Once clear of the 9 car, Payne caught Spaulding and took over the lead with an inside front straightaway pass on lap 10. The “Jersey Jet” quickened the race pace his first lap in front as he clocked in a 17.67 lap.

Just behind the high flying Payne’s 99, fourth-running Ray Graham’s 90 slowed off turn four allowing Didero, McKnight, and Sitterly to move up. Not wanting Payne to get too far away, Didero went challenged McKnight for position. The pair raced side by side until coming up to third running Gioia. Didero passed Gioia first, then McKnight followed into fourth position.

With the tight action behind him, Payne raced out of a 1.38-second advantage in just three laps in the lead. On lap 15, Didero and McKnight passed Spaulding to move into second and third places, now 1.15 seconds behind Payne. Didero began closing the gap a quarter second per lap, and by lap 19 was running nose to tail with the leader.

On lap 21, Didero pulled the Xtreme Chassis 3 to the inside of the 99 and came out of turn four in the lead. Just behind, Sitterly passed the Gioia and Spaulding cars and gave chase for the lead pack. Just a few laps later, Spaulding’s top-five run ended as he pulled the 23 pitside out of the race.

At the halfway point, Didero was clocked at 17.05 seconds with a 1.37 second lead over Payne and McKnight, while Sitterly, Gioia, and Greg Furlong were eight lengths back. Keith Shampine, Keith Gilliam, Todd Stowell, and Tim Snyder rounded out the top ten with half the race remaining. Seventh-running Shampine ended his run on lap 32 as he pulled the 88 car pitside with mechanical problems.

As Didero built his lead to 3.89 seconds by lap 33, heavy slower traffic loomed ahead as a pack of five cars ran for position. The long green-flag run, uninterrupted racing since the delay after lap 6, saw cars all over the race track and the leader coming up on the slower cars at the back of the pack.

With Didero looking for racing room past slower cars running side by side, Payne cut into the lead that had been over three seconds. On lap 39, the interval was down to 1.87 seconds. Payne and McKnight cut into the lead even more, as by lap 42 the gap was just five car lengths.

With two laps to go, the 99 and 08 were two lengths back and leader Didero was still negotiating slower traffice and did not have a clear track ahead. The white flag waved with Didero bogged in slower cars and the 99 and 08 now on his back bumper. Coming into turn four, Payne went to the outside for the win, but Didero took away the preferred line, sliding up ahead of Payne and McKnight, blocking to perfection as they raced to the checkered flag. Didero crossed the line first, with Payne, McKnight and Sitterly all nose-to-tail behind. Gioia rounding out the top five.

“I owe this one to everyone on the crew,” Didero said after the hard-earned victory. “It was a tough one, coming back from last week’s accident. Everyone really worked hard and put in a long week. The passing flag came out and I had to look for any opening, as they obviously didn’t look at the passing flag.”

“It was a good run for us tonight,” Payne said after his second-place finish. “We were running him down, and we just needed a few more laps. I want one of these non-winged feature really bad, and we came close tonight.”

In the SBS feature, Andrew Schartner and Stan Gates drew front -ow starting assignments and ran side by side for the first lap before Schartner took the lead on lap 2. Mike Bond went to the outside early, while Dave Gruel, winner of the 2009 season’s firs three features, was deep in traffic starting in 12th spot.

Russ Brown peeked his 60 to the inside in the first few laps, racing his way to fourth place just behind Schartner, Rob Pullen, and Jack Patrick. Schartner circled the 5/8’s-mile track in consistent 19.67 laps, as the rookie led his first laps on pavement.Just behind the lead pack, Tim Barbeau, Dave Cliff, Mike Bond, Kevin Knopp, and Brian Sobus were looking to close the gap on the leaders.

Yellow came over the speedway for the first time on lap 9 as the Mark Castiglia 90 and Steve Abt 85 cars came to a rest just out of turn four. Both were able to continue after assistance.

Brown grabbed third on the restart, and began to work on the 18 and 25 cars for the lead. Racing action was again slowed, this time on lap 12 as the top-ten cars of Stan Gates and Dave Cliff made contact on the grandstand straightaway. Gates’ 28 hit the turn-one foam ending his run.

With 10 laps to go, Schartner led Pullen, Brown, Patrick, and Bond. Bond went by Patrick on the restart with an inside pass to take over fourth, just behind Brown’s 60. A few laps later, Brown and Bond passed Pullen for second and third places.

On lap 27, Bond kept his charge going as he stayed low and passed Brown for second just behind rookie Schartner, still leading with laps winding down. One lap later, Schartner bobbled out of turn four, allowing Bond to pass on the inside and take the lead.

His ten-lap charge from fifth to first was complete and he drove unchallenged the rest of the way for his first win of 2009. Schartner and Brown held on to top-three spots with Rob Pullen and Kevin Knopp filling out the top five.

“The inside has been the way to go, and our car was really good tonight,” Bond said on the victory podium. “I have to thank my crew, as they really did a good job.”

News and notes… 21 cars were pitside in each division. Tim Barbeau, Rob Pullen, and Mike Bond won small-block supermodified heat races, while Otto Sitterly, Doug Didero, and Joey Payne won supermodified heats. Dave Gruel had been looking for a record fourth win in a row in the SBS division, but never cleared traffic in the 30 lapper. John “Luther” Gray drove the Gilliam 87 in practice and heat races as a gift from Gilliam for Gray’s work with the “Make-A-Wish” foundation.

ISMA raced at Toledo and Berlin raceways Friday and Saturday, with Russ Wood taking the Toledo checkered and Chris Perley victorious at Berlin. It was a rough weekend on both drivers and equipment in the midwest, as Bobby Bond crashed his 25 at Toledo and suffered a broken foot, and Johnny Benson was involved in grinding crash with fire coming over the 21 Saturday at Berlin. Sunday morning, Benson was listed in serious but stable condition in a Spectrum Hospital. There are no races at Oswego until July 4 when the Jim Shampine Memorial 58 and Tony White 34 are scheduled. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., driver autographs are at 5:45 p.m., and the first heat race is at 6:30 p.m.

Supermodified Feature Finish (45): (1) Doug Didero 3, (2) Joey Payne 99, (3) Dave McKnight 08, (4) Otto Sitterly 7, (5) Stephen Gioia 9, (6) Greg Furlong 72, (7) Keith Gilliam 87, (8) Todd Stowell 89, (9) Jerry Curran 24, (10) Bentley Warren 15, (11) Pat Lavery 2, (12) Tim Snyder 0, (13) Bob Magner 22, (14) Lou Levea Sr. 03, (15) Hal Latulip 56, (16) Dave Sanborn 12, (17) Lou Levea Jr. 04, (18) Keith Shampine 88, (19) Jason Spaulding 23, (20) Danny Connors 01, (21)Ray Graham 90.

SBS Feature Finish (30): (1) Mike Bond 26, (2) Andrew Schartner 18, (3) Russ Brown 60, (4) Rob Pullen 25, (5) Kevin Knopp 04, (6) Brian Sobus 79, (7) Dave Gruel 50, (8) Jack Patrick 9, (9) Dave Danzer 52, (10) Dave Cliff 06, (11) Tim Barbeau 58, (12) Guard Nearbin 78, (13) Barry Kingsley 23, (14) Steve Abt 85, (16) Gregg Davis 68, (16) Jason Simmons 91, (17) Chip Wood 2, (18) George Knight 1, (19) Dennis Rupert 95, (20) Mark Castiglia 90, (21) Stan Gates 28.