by Dan Johnson

The supermodified and small-block supermodified feature races at Oswego Speedway were mirror images of each other Saturday night, as Ray Graham and Dave Cliff each parlayed top cars and good starting spots into victories. For Graham, it was his second feature win of the season, while for Cliff it was his first SBS feature win of 2009.

Tim Snyder and Graham led the 22-car supermodified parade to Jerry Kritzman’s green flag and Graham moved right to the lead. The field shuffled behind as everyone looked for racing room. Joey Payne and Otto Sitterly pulled their cars inside, while Dave McKnight, Joe Gosek, and Doug Didero went to the high side of the speedway to move forward.

Graham circled the track at a 17.60 clip in the early stages, while Bobby Magner, Snyder, Jason Spaulding, Pat Lavery, Stephen Gioia, Payne, McKnight, Jerry Curran, and Keith Shampine followed in order. Graham and Magner moved ahead of the pack as seven cars were in close contention for third.

Sitterly began his march forward on lap 9, as he passed Shampine and Curran on the same lap to move to ninth. Sitterly passed McKnight next with an inside front-straightaway pass on lap 12. Pre-race favorites Joe Gosek and Doug Didero were still mired in heavy race traffic at this juncture, as the 00 and 3 ran 11th and 12th.

Yellow flew over the speedway for the first time in the race on lap 15 as Didero’s 3 came to a stop on the front straightaway with a broken sway bar putting the 3 out of commission.

Graham remained in control of the race, while fifth-running Pat Lavery perfectly timed the restart to move up a spot, passing Spaulding in turn four when the race went green. Second-place Magner suddenly slowed in the third turn and pulled the 22 car to the pits with obvious mechanical failure.

Todd Stowell’s spin in turn one on lap 17 bunched the field once again. The race behind the leader reached fever pitch at this point as Payne moved the Plum Crazy 99 up to fourth, wheeling past Spaulding, while Lavery continued a forward march. Lavery and Payne passed Snyder’s 0 car for second and third spots on lap 19, then set out to cxatch the high-flying 90 f Graham.

At the halfway point of the 45-lap race, Graham held a 1.23-second lead over Lavery, Payne, Gioia, and Sitterly. As the race progressed, Snyder was unable to keep the 0 low on the speedway and faded from the top five. Shortly after the halfway point, Lavery and Payne closed the gap on Graham.


Lavery’s run ended on lap 27, however, as his second-running car came into contact with a foam block in turn four bringing out the caution flag. He attempted to get past a lapped car and slipped out of the groove contacting one of the safer barriers. Top runners Snyder and Greg Furlong pitted during this interruption but only Snyder returned to action.

Payne, still looking for his first non-winged victory, tried to set Graham up for a pass on the restart, but the the leader maintained his advantage, pulling out to an advantage of .83 seconds within a few laps. With 10 laps to go, it was a four-car breakaway for the win as Grahm, Payne, Gioia, and Sitterly pulled away in close formation. Graham was stronger in the straightaways while Payne showed better cornering speed. Gioia maintained third while waiting for an opening and Sitterly looked to the high side. McKnight ran 10 lengths back in fifth.

Graham protected the inside lane, leaving Payne the long way around if he were going to accomplish a pass for the lead. Payne tried the outer groove but could not pull even with the 90. With two laps left, Sitterly took a podium finish away from Gioia when he made the pass for third, but ran out of laps to catch the lead duo.

As the checkered flag waved, Graham raced to his second career Oswego win just a car length ahead of the “Jersey Jet.” Sitterly held on for third, Gioia was fourth, and McKnight finished fifth.

“I know Joey was closing in at the end,” the winner said in victory lane. “We were starting to get loose getting in. The guys keep working on the car. They are the ones that make it happen. I really have the thank the guys on the crew. We were getting good drive off the corner and loose on entry, and I could hear Joey coming at the end.”

Local drivers Jason Simmons and Dave Gruel drew front row assignments for the 20-car SBS 30-lap feature, with Simmons wasting no time in racing out to the lead. Dave Cliff steered his black 06 to the inside from his second-row start to pass Steve Abt and Dave Danzer on the first lap to take second spot.

On lap 3, Cliff went to the outer groove to pass Simmons down the front straightaway and take the lead. A pair of lap-3 caution periods interrupted racing action, and top runner Russ Brown was involved in one of the caution periods and had to restart at the rear of the field.

Dave Gruel and Tim Barbeau moved into the top three on the restart. Brown began his charge from the back of the pack as the 60 worked well on the outside of the speedway. Cliff held a 1.27 lead over the Gruel-Barbeau duel for second, as Kevin Knopp held fourth. Brown was all the way back up to fifth by lap 10.

Lap 11 saw a two-car tango in turn one, as Knopp’s 04 and Andrew Schartner’s 18 ended up striking the foam barrier. Knopp’s damage on the 04 forced his retirement from the race, while Schartner was stepping gingerly coming out of the 18.

Once back to green, Cliff pulled away easily as Brown sped past Barbeau for third on lap 14 and stayed outside to pass Gruel on lap 15 for the second.

Cliff circled the track at a 19.30 clip. Brown tried to pass him high and low, but was unable to gain an advantage.

“It was a good race, and I have to thank Russ, Dave, and Tim for racing me clean,” victor Dave Cliff said after his win. “We had a good starting spot, and not as good a car as we hoped, but it was enough for tonight. These guys are so tough, our competition is so close, getting a win isn’t easy in this division, that’s for sure.”

News and Notes… 22 supermodifieds and 21 SBS cars were pitside Saturday. Bobby Magner, Stephen Gioia, and Joe Gosek won supermodified heat races, while Dave Gruel, Dave Cliff, and Brian Sobus won SBS heats. Joe Gosek made his first appearance of the year in the 00, while Michael Barnes was behind the wheel of the brand new Osetek-Buske 66. Samantha Todd kept her winning streak intact as she won the Powerpuff 8 lap dash, finishing ahead of Janine Regan. Kathy Harrington came home third. There is no racing this week for the Harborfest break. Racing returns Aug. 1, with the annual “Mr. Supermodified” $10,000-to-win 50-lap feature and $1,000-to-win “Mr. SBS” race.

Supermodified Feature Finish (45): (1) Ray Graham 90, (2) Joey Payne 99, (3) Otto Sitterly 7, (4) Stephen Gioia 9, (5) Dave McKnight 08, (6) Keith Gilliam 87, (7) Todd Stowell 89, (8) Jason Spaulding 23, (9) Keith Shampine 88, (10) Pat Lavery 2, (11) Tim Snyder 0, (12) Lou Levea Sr. 61, (13) Jerry Curran 24, (14) Dan Connors 01, (15) Joe Gosek 00, (16) Greg Furlong 72, (17) Hal Latulip 56, (18) Lou Levea Jr. 04, (19) Bobby Magner 22, (20) Doug Didero 3, (21) Bob Bogwicz 09, (22) Mike Barnes 66.

SBS Feature Finish (30): (1) Dave Cliff 06, (2) Russ Brown 60, (3) Dave Gruel 50, (4) Tim Barbeau 58, (5) Mike Bond 26, (6) Brian Sobus 79, (7) Jason Simmons 91, (8) Jack Patrick 9, (9) Shawn Walker 68, (10) Guard Nearbin 78, (11) Stan Gates 28, (12) Barry Kingsley 23, (13) Brian Haynes 86, (14) Chip Wood 2, (15) Mark Castiglia 90, (16) Dave Danzer 52, (17) Steve Abt 85, (18) Kevin Knopp 04, (19) Andrew Schartner 18, (20) Rob Pullen 25.