June 14th, 1997

HOWARD PAGE IS A FIRST TIME WINNER AT OSWEGO; MULDOON TAKES SECOND TWIN 35

Oswego, NY - A first time winner, a third time winner, a disqualification, and anything else you wanted to see, topped the bill at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. As always, the Twin 35's for supers were not for the faint of heart. Four red flags and a few yellows flew before both were over. Howard Page edged out Mike Muldoon in the initial 35 by just a nose at the finish line to win his first-ever Oswego victory. "It's been a long time since my last victory at Star Speedway," said Page, "It didn't seem like I'd ever get this one." To add to his joy, Page's finance Trina, who has been in the hospital for several weeks, was well enough to be back at the speedway to see Page get his first win. Mike Muldoon picked up win number three on the season, taking the second Dunkin Donut 35 in an exciting duel with Pat Abold, back from his impressive runs at Pike's Peak two weeks ago. The limited winner, Tim Devendorf, would also have been a first timer, but his car failed to pass tech, giving the win to Ray Graham, Jr. of Fulton.

Dave Heitzhaus and Shannon Groves led off the first Twin 35, started by handicapping. Heitzhaus grabbed the initial lead, but yellow flew on the third circuit for Todd Stowell who had backed into the foam, after a possible tap. Stowell was able to continue. Dan Soule came in for a tire on what be one of many trips to the pits.

Tim Snyder in the 0, charged by Heitzhaus for the lead on lap 5, leaving the 11 in second. Jamie Letcher, Shannon Groves and Page were the top five. As Snyder led, Steve Gioia came into the pits with a valve problem on the 9, followed by Stowell, who found more wrong with the 89 than originally perceived.

Snyder was building a nice lead for himself when the first red of the early evening occurred. On lap 11, when Stowell was reentering the race on the back straight. From a tape replay, Tim Gareau appears to be slowing for Stowell, causing point leader Doug Didero to catch a wheel, become airborne, with a brief fire erupting from an oil line. Eddie Bellinger, Dan Soule, Andy Powell, Stowell and New Jersey's Joey Payne, filling in for Gary Morton in the 99, all were involved in some form. After the cleanup, the 3 and the 12 remained in the pits, as crews frantically worked on the cars.

On the green, Snyder took up where he left off as Jamie Letcher, Dave Heitzhaus, Page and Abold were trailing closely. In one swoop, Letcher came by for second, pulling Abold and Page along with him. Heitzhaus appeared to be in trouble.

A great three way battle for second ensued between Letcher, running a great race, Page and Abold and by lap 13, Page and Abold ran second and third behind Snyder, also running the race of his life. Letcher, Greg Furlong, Dave Trytek, Jeff West, Heitzhaus,Joe Gosek and Mike Muldoon, battled in the top ten.

Page and Abold ran side by side pressuring Snyder and finally it was Page who broke by for the lead on lap 17.

Lap 18 saw the second red of the night when Dave Trytek and Greg Furlong tangled, gathering in the 07 of Groves, the 11 of Heitzhaus and the 35 of Muldoon, who had just stopped to avoid the incident. Groves, Trytek and Heitzhaus went in on the hook, while Furlong headed in as did Kenny Bell. Groves and Heitzhaus did not return.

Howard Page, waiting a long time for this possible win, put the pedal down on the green, leaving Pat Abold and Tim Snyder to battle for second. Jamie Letcher held off Jeff West and Joe Gosek, while Muldoon methodically worked his way forward. Eddie Bellinger and Tim Gareau were showing forward mobility.

Lap 24 saw a yellow for Joe Hawksby Jr. who spun after something may have broke in his 2.

Page had Abold breathing down his neck, but before four laps were run, red flew for the final time in this 35-lapper grind, and a grind it was for many teams. This time the Soule cars of Dan and Ken Bell, Greg Furlong and Dave Trytek, were running too close for comfort as the 16 of Mark Hartman joined the action. A chain reaction set up causing a five-car accident. Hartman appeared to have a great deal of damage when he came into the pits on the hook. Furlong, too, had some work to do. Trytek and Bell were pushed away and Soule, whose crew was now on overtime, came back out of the pits just in time for the green.

It was Page's race to the roses now with just seven to go. Page had just to hold off a hard charging Muldoon, who had passed Abold on the restart, to the end as Abold, Snyder, Gosek, Bellinger, West and Gareau were a few car lengths back.

Muldoon closed in as the race wore down, but Page was able to hold him back as the crowd roared with excitement. Page's smile and a big hug from Trina in victory lane told the story. "I'd just thank all the guys who got me here, my crew, Eddie Bellinger," said Howard, "Everyone who put up with me all this time and worked so hard. This may have been a bad race for some due to the reds, I know Didero would have been right there too, but it's great for me. It's been a long time coming."

Muldoon, Abold, West and Snyder rounded out the top five, with Gosek, Bellinger, Gareau, Trytek and Payne finishing up the top ten. Page received the Universal Joint Sales Up and Comer award, his last now that he is a feature winner.

The second of the Dunkin Donuts Twin 35 segments saw the fastest cars from heats lined up in front with Mike Muldoon and Pat Abold on the first row. Many crews put forth herculean efforts while the limiteds ran, to get their cars ready for the second leg. Twenty-two cars, some slightly mangled, ready to go at it again when the flag waved.

Muldoon was the leader when another red flag flew on lap 3. Affected again were Didero, Soule and Bell, with Letcher and Bellinger, Payne and Heitzhaus, all collected. An interpretation of the video replay had Didero getting very high, possibly squeezed into the wall, in turn four. The 3 got a little out of whack, causing a check-up of cars behind, sending them every which way into the first turn foam, and elsewhere. Bellinger, Soule, Didero, Letcher, Heitzhaus and Payne all ended up in the pits, some not to return. Didero's crew reported irrevocable damage this time. Soule, Payne and Letcher were out. Heitzhaus made a valiant attempt, but pulled in several laps later. Muldoon and Abold became the main combatants on the green. Jeff West, Steve Gioia, Tim Snyder, Gosek, Gareau, Page, Dave Simard, in the Shea 37 and Todd Stowell were the top ten runners.

By lap 13, Abold had closed in on Muldoon but couldn't make a pass. As Pat would say later, "I'm behind these guys by a couple weeks in my homework." Lap 15 saw another slowdown for the 7 of Bill Sharkey, who was able to continue after just glancing the foam.

On the restart, Muldoon pulled away slightly, but to no avail as yellow flew almost immediately, this time for Sharkey, Dave Trytek and Ken Bell. While this cleanup ensued, it was determined Tim Snyder's 0 had lost an oil plug, leaving a good deal of oil to be laid down. Sharkey and Trytek parked their cars here, but Bellinger returned to the fray after his crew did some hasty repair work.

It was clear sailing after this one and it was Muldoon unfurling the most sail. Abold settled into a close second while West held third pretty much on his own. Steve Gioia ran fourth while Page was fifth. Joe Gosek, Dave Simard and Tim Gareau were right there. And, that's how they concluded the wild night. It was Muldoon, Abold, West, Gioia, Page, Gosek, Simard, Gareau, Stowell and Powell in the top ten at the checkered. Muldoon commented in victory lane that he was happy, but even more happier for Howard Page. "It was a hard night. Starting deep in the pack in that first one, I never thought we'd get to the front," said Mike. "I must congratulate Howie Page on that first win. I'm excited for him. He's kinda like me - a low dollar man - and he's worked a lot of years. More than our victory, I'm glad for Howie." Pat Abold was also pleased. "We're a couple weeks behind in our test, but two top threes, and it's in one piece," laughed Abold, "All in all I can't be dissatisfied. We need to step it up now, these guys are running really fast." Jeff West also concluded that it was a rough night. "That first race was tough, and the second was just a rabbit race because of tires," said West. "Everyone was on junk. I'm not sure that tire rule was good tonight. I hope we review it for next time. We're real happy though. The crew worked hard and we brought it home for our fourth out of five top fives this year, with only one crash. We'll just keep hanging in there. Every one of these keeps us closer to that number one spot in points. Got to look at that nowadays. All in all it was fun."

Dave Simard, who indicated early in the evening, that he and the Shea team, plan on getting as many non-wing laps as possible at Oswego this year, unofficially claimed both the Universal Joint Sales Up and Comer and the SCS Installations Hard Charger awards.

Heat 1: Mike Muldoon, Shannon Groves, Tim Snyder, Eddie Bellinger, Howard Page, Greg Furlong, Dave Simard, Gary Syrell, Bill Sharkey

Heat 2: Pat Abold, Jeff West, Doug Didero, Jamie Letcher, Dave Trytek, Kenny Bell, Joe Hawksby, Joey Payne, Todd Stowell

Heat 3: Steve Gioia, Tim Gareau, Joe Gosek, Dave Heitzhaus, Danny Soule, Andy Powell, Mark Hartman, Lou Cicconi, Bob Goutermout(dns motor), Roger Clark(dns).

Consi: Dave Simard, Todd Stowell, Gary Syrell, Joey Payne, Joe Hawksby Jr., Mark Hartman, Bill Sharkey(dns), Roger Clark(dns).