August 19, 2000

Jamie Letcher Gets His First Win

Oswego, NY - The Letchers have been a fixture at Oswego Speedway for many year. Back in the early 60s, Mark Letcher started his Oswego Speedway career. He currently sits in 12th all time in Oswego points, and had a long career. Almost to the day, 26 years after Marks best ever finish at Oswego, a second to Kenny Andrews, son Jamie made all the Letchers racing dreams come true as he pulled off his first ever Oswego Speedway feature event. Jamie led all 45 laps enroute to the win, and withstood a late race rush by Greg Furlong to win in a photo finish. Jamie became the 68th driver in the history of Oswego Speedway to win a feature event.

Gary Syrell and Letcher started the 45 lap race from the front row, with Letcher grabbing the lead coming out of the fourth turn for the green flag. Otto Sitterly followed Letcher through on the outside while Todd Stowell, Bob Goutermout, and Greg Furlong used the inside line to get by early race traffic. By lap five, Letcher was turning in 17.59, while he had Sitterly on his back bumper. Syrell, Jamie Moore, Stowell, Howie Page, Tim Gareau, Shannon Groves, Mike Douglas, and Jerry Curran filled out the top ten at this early point.

Letcher quickened the race pace a bit as he stopped watches at 17.51 and 17.48 the next few laps as he and Sitterly put ten lengths on Syrell back in third. The race stayed green, and the action in the mid part of the pack was tight as Tim Gareau, Mike Douglas, Shannon Groves and Greg Furlong fought closely for position.

Gareau began his charge to the front on lap 12, as he used the inside lane coming off the fourth turn to get by Page for sixth. The next lap he used the inside groove out of four for a pass, this time Todd Stowell was his victim, as the 5 was now up to fifth place. Lap 14, the familiar inside fourth turn pass was used for the third straight lap, as Gareau shot by Jamie Moores 88 off fourth place.

Back up front, Letcher began to put some distance on the Sitterly 79, as he pulled away by two car lengths. Gareau kept his momentum going as he moved in on third place running Gary Syrell. Gareau moved into third on the front stretch by the Syrell 08 on lap 17, and was now a half straightaway behind the lead duo.

The complexion of the race, and possibly the point championship, changed on lap 19. As Gareau approached the 7 of Bill Sharkey as he was pulling in the pits, the two cars made contact. When the dust settled, the cars of Gareau, Syrell and Curran were sitting along the outside wall, while Sharkey was nosed into the inside hub rail. The yellow, then red flags came out to clean up the fourth turn. The heat of the moment saw tempers flare a bit, but order was restored quickly, and the race resumed.

The top ten at this restart were Letcher, Sitterly, Stowell, Moore, Douglas, Furlong, Goutermout, Vern Lafave, Bob Bond and Brian Sweeney. Stowell immediately went to the outside and got by Sitterly for second, and began to chase down Letcher. The 89 gave the leader a couple of looks for the spot, but couldnt get by. The lead trio pulled away, as the clipped off laps at 17.50 and 17.47 as they gained six lengths on fourth running Moore.

Lap 25 saw Letcher gain a three car length lead, getting a little breathing room for himself. Douglas moved his 23 to the outside of Moore for fourth spot, with Furlong following him through. Letcher opened up his lead by one car length per lap as he got even quicker, with laps in the 17.41 area. In five laps, his lead was now up to five lengths ahead of the 89 and 79. Furlongs patience paid off as he got by Douglas on lap 30 with a front straightaway pass, and was five lengths behind the second place battle.

With 10 laps to go, Letcher built up a 1.37 second lead, while Stowell led Sitterly and Furlong by three lengths. The 58 remained quick with consecutive17.53 laps. Lap 40 saw Furlong move to the outside of Sitterly for third on the front straightaway, and begin to catch Stowell. Letcher came into traffic, which he moved to the outside to clear.

With two laps to go, Furlong kept his charge going as he went to the outside of the Stowell 89 on the front straightaway and took over second place. Letchers 58 began to slow, as he clocked in a 17.99 with two laps left. The ten car length lead Letcher had shrank in a hurry. As they received the white flag Letcher led, and Furlong was charging, and it was a one lap dash for the win.

Furlong tried to get a run coming off the corners to get by. As they came off the fourth turn for the last time, Letcher went to the inside of a slower car, while Furling went event lower. They raced across the finish line side by side, and it took officials a few minutes to decide who the winner was. Jamie Letcher picked up the win by inches, much to the delight of the big crowd on hand.

"This is awesome, " Jamie said after his victory. "The car was on a rail. I didnt have to fight it, only a little bit on the restarts. Weve been trying at this, and gaining on it."

Second place Greg Furlong commented after his run, "I want to congratulate Jamie on his win. It was a good race. We were a little loose off, it was probably the best car I had all year. Not enough cautions, just ran out of time. I thought I had Jamie at the end. Going into one, I almost went to the outside, then I went, no , if I go to the outside, he'll see me, and he'll shoot by the lapped car. he may not know I'm there, and he went low on the lapped car, I went wide we went 3 wide in the corner. I gave it all I had. Guys told me before the feature started we had to finish the race, as we could win a championship."

Heat 1: Tim Gareau, Todd Stowell, Vern LaFave, Shannon Groves, Brian Sweeney, Tim Proud, Tim Snyder, Bill Peri, Bill Sharkey

Heat 2: Otto Sitterly, Greg Furlong, Howie Page, Gary Syrell, Bob Bond, Ray Graham, Jennifer Chesbro, Hal LaTulip

Heat 3: Jamie Letcher, Mike Douglas, Jerry Curran, Jamie Moore, Dave Mazzoni, Bob Goutermout, Tim Devendorf, Dave Trytek

Oswego Quality Carpets Super 45: 1. Jamie Letcher(58), 2. Greg Furlong(72), 3. Todd Stowell(89), 4. Otto Sitterly(79), 5. Bob Goutermout (77), 6. Mike Douglas (23), 7. Dave Trytek(70), 8. Jamie Moore(88), 9. Tim Snyder(0), 10. Brian Sweeney(3), 11. Bob Bond(25), 12. Jerry Curran(24), 13. Tim Devendorf(76), 14. Howie Page (18), 15. Dave Mazzoni (04), 16. Gary Syrell(08), 17. Shannon Groves(07), 18. Jennifer Chesbro(33), 19. Ray Graham (90), 20. Tim Proud (22), 21. Vern LaFave(97), 22. Tim Gareau (5), 23. Hal LaTulip, 24. Bill Peri (14)