May 15th, 1999

MULDOON TAKES OPENING NIGHT WIN AT OSWEGO

Oswego, NY - 1998 Oswego Speedway track champion Mike Muldoon lost none of his winning edge over the winter. Muldoon took over the lead in the Coca-Cola-Syracuse Newspapers 45 opener on lap 9 and was never seriously headed. His challenger for the championship in '98, Tim Gareau, also looking in top form, tucked right in on Muldoon's bumper most of the way, to finish second.

"It was a great win. The crew did a great job this winter. I'd like to thank Doug Holmes for doing some engine work this winter. The horsepower seems to be a little bit better. I'd also like to thank my sponsors, Ed Izyk(attorney at law), and Beaver River Trucking, commented Mike Muldoon after his victory, "It was close out there, but I didn't know how close. You can't tell. You can't see. You can't hear. Traffic was tough out there. Hopefully we'll have a good year. It's started out good."

1998 Rookie of the Year Doug Boisvert led the first laps of the new supermodified season before Jeff West took over on lap 6. Muldoon came by West on lap 9 with the first yellow flying on lap 10 for a devastating crash involving Billy Whittaker in the Crucitti 91 and Jennifer Chesbro's 33. Pitting here were Bob Bond(injectors) and rookie Tim Devendorf(fuel problems) Devendorf's beautiful 76 super erupted in flames in the pits due to a leak, during the yellow. Underway, it was Muldoon out front, but the battle was for second between West, Bob Goutermout and Tim Gareau.

Goutermout finally claimed the spot with his Fultonian friend Gareau right behind in third. The top trio began to lap the tail of the field by lap 21 and unfortunately, a lap car would cause Goutermout's demise on lap 25, when he got tapped from behind as the leaders, approached a slower car, checked up coming into turn two. Goutermout was on the hook and out for the night. Randy Ritskes, defending champion of the race, pitted to correct a linkage problem while the cleanup ensued. Another quick yellow flew before a lap was made for the 25 of Bob Bond allowing third place runner Jeff West to dive into the pits for adjustments.

The race was now between Muldoon and Gareau, with third on back switching like a channel surfer. Howard Page, Eddie Bellinger, Greg Furlong, Todd Stowell, Ritskes and Doug Boisvert swapped spots until another slowdown came on lap 30 when Todd Stowell's 89 was against the foam in 2. Stowell was able to restart, but unfortunately he and Jeff West were the cause of yet another yellow moments later as West was returning from the pits. Stowell was pushed to the pits and able to return, West was hooked. Greg Furlong was pulled in for a leaking rear end. While all this was going on, the 65 of Ralph Clark had a ball of fire spewing from his 65. Clark travelled all around the track, on fire, while the crowd watched the blazing car. Clark promptly stopped by the safety truck already on the track for the Stowell-West accident, and the fire was extinguished.

With 15 to go, it was Muldoon staving off Gareau's advances at each slowdown, Page in third, Ritskes taking fourth from Bellinger and the 02 in fifth.Page would be the victim of the final two yellows as he was spun out on lap 34 and then was into the wall on lap 38, going in on the hook.It was clear sailing for Muldoon after this as he crossed the line for win number one of 1999. Gareau, Ritskes, Bellinger and Stowell completed the top five.

Said second place runner Gareau, who lost the title by two points to Muldoon last year, "We're real happy with second, especially on opening day. It gets the season started out good. It felt good to finish behind Mike. I thought I had a shot at him but there was too much stagger in the tires and had to settle for second. We felt bad when Bob (Goutermout) spun there, but coming up on that slow car meant Mike, Bob and I had to check up fast. I tagged Bob. It was a racing accident and he knows it, but I still feel bad. The crew did a great job over the winter. I'm just real happy with second and it's a good start to a long season."

Third place finisher Randy Ritskes, who had won this event in 1998 commented, "Well, it was kind of a tough one. We didn't have power steering. We tried to fix that and didn't get that fixed. Then one of the throttle linkages loosened off and I only had quarter to half throttle. So, when a caution came, we pitted and got that fixed and got full throttle back. While we were in there we played with the stagger a bit too and I was able to get back toward the front again. We just needed to get up a little further I guess. We had some bonsai moves, but you've got to do them with 15 laps to go. It was fun. We'll be back on Memorial Day."

Heat 1: Howard Page, Greg Furlong, Bob Goutermout, Bob Bond, Scott Eldred, Tim Devendorf, Dave Halstead, Dan Connors

Heat 2: Randy Ritskes, Mike Muldoon, Ed Bellinger, Doug Boisvert, Jerry Curran, Jennifer Chesbro, Hal LaTulip, Jack Carr(dns oil pump)

Heat 3: Tim Gareau, Jeff West, Mike Bond, Dave Mazzoni, Ralph Clark, Todd Stowell, Tim Snyder, Billy Whitaker.