August 17,2002
TWIN 30'S TO GAREAU AND HOLBROOK
Oswego, NY - Saturday night at Oswego Speedway proved the fact that no two races
are ever the same. Two 30 lap features went off last week, with two totally
different results. The first 30 lap feature event saw Tim Gareau win his
second consecutive feature race, while the second brought out a new first
time winner in Jeff Holbrook.
Gareau suffered through a tough couple of years, trying to figure out
his new supermodified. A few weeks back, they simplified things. They put
the new car away, and brought out the older, proven car. Since then, they
have returned to the form of old. After a two year drought, they returned
to victory lane twice in two weeks. In the last three features with the
older car, they have finished with two wins and a fourth.
In the second race, Jeff Holbrook dominated the first 2/3's of the
race. He shot out from his front row starting spot, and built up as much as
a 5 second lead. Late caution flags came out, and Otto Sitterly worked him
high and low, but Holbrook hung on and earned career victory number one.
The first race saw the regular handicapped procedure line up used, with Joe
Hawksby Jr. and Keith Gilliam on the front row at the start. Gilliam
grabbed the early lead, as the field sorted out behind. Cars darted for
position, everyone k owing they only had 30 laps to get to the front. While
Otto Sitterly and Tim Gareau went to the inside, Shawn Muldoon and Howard
Page put their machines in the outside lane to move forward.
Gareau, Bob Bond and Tim Snyder stacked up three wide as they raced down
the front straightaway, looking to advance. Gareau as the charger early as
he came from his ninth starting spot to fifth in just three laps. The
yellow came out for the first time in the race as fourth running Jeff
Holbrook's machine caught a wheel from another competitor. There was
contact in front, and the 35 were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
On the restart, Gilliam led Jerry Curran, Otto Sitterly, Hawksby,
Gareau, Bond, Snyder, Muldoon, Vern Lafave and Howard Page. Lap six,
Curran made the move for the lead by Gilliam, with Sitterly and Gareau
following him through the while. As Sitterly had just worked his way by
Curran for the lead, the yellow flag came out for a third turn wreck
involving Craig Rayvals and Bill Peri. Peri was pushed back off, while
Rayvals went back to the pits on the hook.
On the restart, the top three drove off. It was now the three race for
the lead between Curran, Sitterly and Gareau. Gareau pulled the 5 car to
the inside lane, and grabbed second from Sitterly on the back straightaway.
He stayed low, and as they raced down the front stretch, Gareau came away
with the lead.
Once up front, Gareau began to build his lead, as he stretched away
from the field. Sitterly knew it was time to go, as he made short work of
the Curran 24 for second place on lap 14. Sitterly was now four car lengths
behind the leader, with just about half the race to go. Further back, high
point man Howard Page was stuck in traffic in eighth spot, racing with Bob
Bond for position.
At the half way point of the race Gareau led Sitterly, while Curran,
Gilliam and Tim Snyder rounded out the top five, with Dave Trytek in Snyder'
s shadow in sixth. Snyder kept his charge forward going as he moved by
Gilliam with an outside front straightaway pass. Back up front, Sitterly
closed up to the 5 cars back bumper. There was action all over as Muldoon
shot by Curran for third place on lap 17.
The point race came that much closer on lap 18, as high point man Howard
Page spun coming off the fourth turn. "The car was just loose", Howard
said.
Gareau pulled away by a couple of lengths on the restart, but the yellow
lights flashed again on lap 22, this time for a Dave Lair spin in between
turns 3&4. The 5 again pulled out by a couple of car lengths, while
Sitterly and Muldoon staged a battle for second spot. Further back, Page
tried salvaging what he could, as valuable points were on the line.
Gareau had a comfortable working margin over the 79 and 1 cars. Lap 27
saw the caution flag come out again, as Jamie Moore tossed up a smoke cloud
on the front straightaway with a 360-degree spin. The car didn't touch the
wall, and continued on.
Sitterly couldn't challenge Gareau on the restart, and Gareau crossed
under the checkered flag three car lengths ahead of Sitterly. Muldoon held
on for third, with Curran and Snyder fourth and fifth.
"The car is handling superb", a jubilant Gareau after his second
consecutive victory. "At the end it was getting a little loose on me, I don
't know if the tires were wearing a little bit. The car is handling."
"Second was good," Sitterly commented after his run. "We could catch up
to Timmy, we couldn't get by. We caught up some points, and we are making
changes for the second race."
SECOND 30 TO HOLBROOK FOR HIS FIRST ALSO
The second 30-lap feature was lined up with the heat race winners up
front. Howard Page and Jeff Holbrook had the fastest last lap of the heat
winners, and were rewarded with front row starting positions. In 30 lap
races, the start is of ultimate importance.
Holbrook got the better jump when the green flag came out, and jumped
to the lead at the start. Page, Gareau, Snyder, Gilliam, Bond Curran,
Sitterly, and Muldoon fell in position as the race started. Holbrook pulled
out to an early lead, as he stopped watches at a 17.47 clip. As Page and
Gareau battled for second that allowed Holbrook to pull away to a two-second
advantage within a few laps.
Snyder and Sitterly race for fourth and fifth, while Muldoon was coming
through from his ninth starting spot. Lap times quickened in the fast paced
race, as watches were tripped a 17.29 in consecutive laps, as the 35 built
the lead every lap. By lap 10, it was up to a full straightaway advantage.
Knowing every point counted, Sitterly went right to work on Snyder, and
grabbed fourth place with a front straightaway pass. Once by the 0, Sitterly
caught right up to the second place race, now making it a three-car battle
for the spot. Sitterly remained on the charge as he got by Gareau on the
outside on lap 14, again on the front straightaway.
Back up front, Holbrook came into slower traffic for the first time. He
patiently worked his way through the lapped cars, as he had a bit of a
working margin to go with. At the halfway point of the race, Holbrook built
a 4.03 second advantage ahead of Page, Sitterly, Gareau and Snyder.
The 35 remained quick, as lap times remained consistent at 17.46.
Sitterly said it was time to go if he had any chance to win. Lap 17 he shot
the #79 to the outside of the Page 18 out of turn four, and took over the
runner up spot, 4.67 seconds behind the hi flying leader.
That over four second margin was wiped away on lap 22, as the first
caution flag of the race waved. Craig Rayvals slid the #94 into the foam in
between turns three and four. It was now a bumper to bumper shoot out, with
eight laps remaining. As they restarted, Brian Sweeney spun in turn 1,
forcing another restart.
Again, Holbrook kept his composure, and put his foot down on the
accelerator. He pulled out by two car lengths when the green flag came out,
as Sitterly could not pull up to the leader. The 79 came in quickly, and
Sitterly charged up to the bumper of the 35 car.
The white flag came out, with Holbrook leading by just a car length.
Sitterly could not challenge on the last lap. Holbrook clocked in a lap of
17.56 on the last lap, and he cruised under Don Forbes checkered flag a car
length ahead of the #79. He became the 74th driver to ever win a
supermodified feature event at Oswego Speedway.
"It feels great!" Holbrook exclaimed just after the popular win. "The
pressure is off now. Now I can enjoy the rest of my racing career now that
my first one is over. The car, the first feature, I knocked it out of
square, and I just couldn't get back into it. Something was wrong. I had a
shock go bad. They replaced it, and it seemed a lot better, so I think it
was back to where it used to be."
"The car was tight in the second race," Sitterly said after his second
runner up finish of the night. "Congratulations to Jeff. He was quick, and
he ran a good race. We changed the shocks before the second race, and the
change worked. We'll take two seconds on the night, and you're thinking
points. We're 13 out with one to go."
SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #1
1. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 2. Joe Hawksby Jr (27) 3. Otto Sitterly (79) 4. Vern
LaFave (97) 5. Brian Sweeney (3) 6. Hal LaTulip (56) 7. Dave Lair (88) 8.
Bob Magner (70) 9. Bobby Smith (50)
SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #2
1. Howard Page (18) 2. Keith Gilliam (87) 3. Bob Bond (25) 4. Bill Peri (14)
5. Dave Trytek (00) 6. Bob Goutermout (77) 7. Jamie Moore (44) 8. Dan
Connors (96)
SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #3
1. Jeff Holbrook (35) 2. Tim Snyder (0) 3. Jerry Curran (24) 4. Shawn
Mulddon (1) 5. Craig Rayvals (94) 6. Pat Lavery (99) 7. Mike Brubaker (36)
8. Dave Halstead Jr (34)
SUPERMODIFIED FEATURE #1 (30)
1. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 2. Otto Sitterly (79) 3. Shawn Muldoon (1) 4. Jerry
Curran (24) 5. Tim Snyder (0) 6. Dave Trytek (00) 7. Keith Gilliam (87) 8.
Bob Bond (25) 9. Bob Goutermout (77) 10. Hal LaTulip (56) 11. Vern LaFave
(97) 12. Howard Page (18) 13. Pat Lavery (99) 14. Mike Brubaker (36) 15.
Dave Halstead Jr (34) 16. Bob Magner (70) 17. Dave Lair (88) 18. Jamie Moore
(44) 19. Jeff Holbrook (35) 20. Dan Connors (96) 21. Bill Peri (14) 22.
Brian Sweeney (3) 23. Craig Rayvals (94) 24. Joe Hawksby Jr (27) 25. Bobby
Smith (50)
SUPERMODIFIED FEATURE #2 (30)
1. Jeff Holbrook (35) 2. Otto Sitterly (79) 3. Howard Page (18) 4. Tim
Gareau Jr (5) 5. Tim Snyder (0) 6. Bob Bond (25) 7. Shawn Muldoon (1) 8.
Jerry Curran (24) 9. Keith Gilliam (87) 10. Jamie Moore (44) 11. Dave Trytek
(00) 12. Pat Lavery (99) 13. Vern LaFave (97) 14. Bob Goutermout (77) 15.
Hal LaTulip (56) 16. Mike Brubaker (36) 17. Dave Lair (88) 18. Dave Halstead
Jr (34) 19. Bob Magner (70) 20. Brian Sweeney (3) 21. Craig Rayvals (94) 22.
Dan Connors (96) 23. Bill Peri (14) 24. Joe Hawksby Jr (27) 25. Bobby Smith
(50)