Cliff, Jr., Sitterly Get First Saturday Night Wins Of Oswego’s Season

by Contributor | May 12, 2008 10:05 am

The first regular Saturday night of racing for 2008 is in the books at the Oswego Speedway. A safe night with very few cautions got the fans out of the speedway before 9:00. Faces new and old visited Domino’s Pizza Victory Lane during the heat races and made a trip to the AT&T Interview Podium at the end of the feature events on Lighthouse Lanes and Oswego Sub Shop night.

In the PathFinder Bank SBS Racing Series, Dave Cliff Jr. rebounded from a horrible opening day on May 4th to capture the feature win. For over two thirds of the thirty lap feature Cliff and Stan Gates ran away from third place runner Larry Muroski who had the balance of the field in tow. After a restart with less than ten laps to go the race for third heated up between Muroski, Tim Barbeau, Kevin Knopp and Mike Bond. With less than five laps to go, Muroski brought out the yellow flag with a spin between turns three and four ending his chances for an AT&T podium finish. The race wound down with Cliff and Gates keeping the top two spots. Knopp, Bond and Barbeau rounded out the top five. Brian Sobus, Shawn Walker, Rob Pullen, Josh LaRochelle and Dave Gruel filled out the top ten. The Garafolo’s Heat Race winners were Tim Barbeau, Dave Cliff and Bill Moore. The Cutro Professional Inspection Up ‘n Comer was Stan Gates. The Hannibal IGA Supermarket Express Lane award went to Lou LeVea Jr. The Colosse Cheese Store Hard Charger was Kevin Knopp. The Butler Disposal Service Hard Luck driver was Bill Moore. The White’s Car Care Tony White 4th Place award went to Mike Bond.

For the Novelis Supermodified division, it was their first points race of the season at the Oswego Speedway as the Burkes Do-It Best MSA-Oswego Wing Series started things off on opening day. The feature field was full of several drivers that had never won an Oswego Speedway Novelis Supermodified feature and the odds were that there would be a brand new winner at the end of the night. Otto Sitterly saw to it that would not be the case as he had the John Nicotra #7 dialed in and picked up his first win in the brand new Hawksby Chassis. Fans kept and eye on the race night co-sponsor Lighthouse Lanes cars of Pat Lavery and Bobby Magner to see if they could get a win for their sponsor. Lavery was part of the best race of the night battling Stephen Gioia III for third place for most of the feature. Greg Furlong, driving his back-up car, advanced the most positions and ran a solid second for the majority of the event. At the conclusion of the race, Otto Sitterly had the field covered to pick up the popular win. Furlong captured the runner-up spot. Lavery picked off Gioia in traffic late in the race to get an AT&T podium finish. Gioia and Shawn Muldoon rounded out the top five. The Burkes Home Centers Heat Race winners were Pat Lavery and Stephen Gioia III. The J & K Plumbing, Heating & A/C Up ‘n Comer was Pat lavery. The Bosco & Geers Supermarket Express Lane award went to Shawn Muldoon. The Jakes Automotive Hard Charger was Greg Furlong. The 2Xtreme Auto Transport & 24 Hr. Towing Hard Luck driver was Jason Spaulding.

Oswego Speedway is quiet on May 17th but roars back to life on Community Bank and Burritt Motors Memorial Day Weekend. There will be an Open Practice session on Friday night May 23rd with FREE grandstand admission. On Saturday the Race of Champions Modifieds will join the Novelis Supermodifieds and PathFinder Bank SBS Racing Series for the Parts Plus Richie Evans Memorial 100, the Tony White Memorial 35 and the Jim Shampine Memorial 50. All fans who bring their May 10th rain stub on May 24th will receive a $5 discount off of grandstand admission.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/sports/cliff-jr-sitterly-get-first-saturday-night-wins-of-oswegos-season/

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