OSWEGO, NY – With a flurry of activity in the Pathfinder Bank SBS division on Saturday evening, it was once again Four Sevens Motorsports driver Mark Castiglia finding Turning Stone Resort Casino Victory Lane at night’s end in the Century 21 Galloway Realty 30-lap main at Oswego Speedway.
Castiglia started on pole position in the No. 67, leading all 30-laps on his way to the win over Andrew Schartner, Jack Patrick, Kreig Heroth, and Rob Pullen.
Castiglia’s win is the fourth of his career tying him for 19th on the series all-time win list with the likes of Andy and Tom Jodway, Otto Sitterly, Tim Barbeau, and his teammate Cameron Rowe.
“I have to thank Denise Merrill for letting me drive for her this year,” said Castiglia. “Dan Dennie, he’s awesome, he works on this car all week and I couldn’t do it without him. I was kind of down yesterday but Cameron Rowe and Jason Simmons kind of picked me back up, I’ve been frustrated, the car just hasn’t been right but they said to keep my head up and stick with it.”
Castiglia again found himself in a battle with Schartner for a race win.
“Yeah, I saw him up there on the board,” said Castiglia. “These tires are just spent, there are no more laps left on them. I felt him there and I have to thank him (Schartner) for running me clean. I was doing all I could to hang onto it, but it was a handful.”
Tim Gareau, Brian Sobus, Jason Simmons, David LaTulip, and Cameron Rowe completed the top ten on Saturday night.
Castiglia and teammate Rowe led the field to the Cam’s NY Pizzeria green flag in the SBS night cap with Castiglia edging out in front pulling Schartner to second ahead of Rowe, Gareau, Patrick, Heroth, Pullen, and Chris Proud.
The race would move through its first half relatively quickly with Castiglia, Schartner, Rowe, Gareau, and Patrick trying to run away and hide from the rest of the field. Schartner appeared to be faster than Castiglia in the early going, but simply could not make a move on the steady Castiglia No. 67.
With championship contenders Russ Brown and Mike Bond working their way through the pack, trouble would hit Brown at lap 13 as he and Proud touched while running sixth on the Speedway sending Brown around to bring out the yellow.
Brown would head to the pit area, but did rejoin the pack. Proud was sent to the tail of the field.
After starting 16th, Bond was now all the way up to 8th at lap 14 but on the restart he too would find trouble as it appeared as though the right side nerf bar was making contact with the right rear tire causing a considerable amount of smoke from the No. 74.
As Castiglia, Schartner, and Rowe checked away from the field, Bond would eventually spin all on his own in turn two to bring out the caution at lap 16. Bond would head pit side to try and correct his issues, but was unable to do so ending his night with a dismal 24th place finish.
After a restart that saw Castiglia lead Schartner, Rowe, Gareau, Patrick, Heroth, Pullen, Sobus, JJ Andrews, and Jason Simmons, another yellow would fly before a lap could be completed for the No. 93 of Andrews who spun high in turn one, nearly collecting his teammate Simmons. Andrews would also be done for the night in 23rd.
On this restart Castiglia and Schartner hooked up, charging away from the pack and creating good space between themselves and Rowe, Gareau, Patrick, and Heroth.
Just two laps later Rowe would slow suddenly in the No. 77 out of turn four, losing several spots on the track dropping him all the way back to tenth in the order. At the same time a three car jingle in turn one came about between Justin Connell, Brown, and Jeremy Pitcher. Brown would develop a flat left rear tire in the incident, forcing him to the pits, but again he would rejoin the fray.
As the race settled back into pits paces it was clear that Saturday night belonged to Castiglia as he motored away from the field to lead green to checkered and claim his second win of 2013 at the Speedway.
Further back Patrick, Heroth, and Pullen managed to work their way passed Gareau in the late going to drive up to third through fifth respectively.
After a rough start to his season, Schartner’s second place finish was welcoming.
“I’m just happy to be running good,” said Schartner. “With the way the car ran in the first feature, it was embarrassing; we didn’t have anything at all. We were chasing a camber issue and did not know it, and kept making chassis changes and just threw the car way out of whack. Tonight was just a testament to my guys, we turned the thing around and ended up second.”
Patrick, like Schartner, has had an up and down beginning to his year but managed a podium finish on Saturday night.
“We finally put things together tonight,” said Patrick. “I want to thank my crew, we did a lot of work to the car this week and it paid off. We found some bad parts on it from the crash a couple weeks ago. This was just a long time coming getting back up here on the podium again, it feels pretty good.”
Shell Shock Custom Helmet Paint heat race wins went to Castiglia, Rowe, and Gareau.
The Sherwood Racing Wheels ‘Lap Leader’ was Castiglia.
Dalton Doyle claimed the D&S Landscaping ‘Hard Charger’ while Mike Bruce was the Nice Price Auto Sales ‘Up & Comer.’
Kreig Heroth took home the White’s Car Car 4th place award.
For more information on Oswego Speedway visit online at www.oswegospeedway.com or LIKE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway or FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway. Those interested in Speedway video programming online can subscribe to the Speedway’s YouTube Channel, ‘OswegoSpeedwayOnline’.
To purchase tickets for the 2013 racing season call the Speedway box office at (315) 342-0646.
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