Aug 25, 2001

FURLONG WINS FINAL NIGHT AND SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP

Oswego, NY - Oswego Speedway crowned three champions Saturday night on Burke's Home Centers night, two of them repeaters - Greg Furlong (supers) and Lou LeVea(super stocks) and one a persistent contender for ten years - limited super driver Mark Regan. Feature wins went to Furlong, and first-timers Jack Patrick and Doug Reaume. Orchard Park's Billy Couell took home the Cup Lite main on the last regular night of racing at the Big O before Budweiser Classic weekend, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1st and 2nd.

Greg Furlong took the lead from a hard charging Tim Snyder on lap 30 as the duo diced with a lap car, and went on to his fifth win of the season, capping his second straight championship. Furlong, concentrating now on an unprecedented third straight Classic, said in victory lane, "I really feel bad for Timmy Snyder. If that lap car wasn't there I think Timmy would have won tonight. I was giving him all I had and I could not pass him. If it weren't for lapped traffic, I don't think I would have. After lap 35 they put the lap cars back and I think he would have won had he been out there. Our car was really tight at the beginning and at the end it started to really loosen up. It was really fast. Our other car is our primary car and we're running that in Classic. This car is the one we've started at the back and won with. We had some trouble with this car. The crew did a great job to tighten it up. My crew won me this championship. They work ten times harder than I do. It's them. They are the reason I win races and the championship. I owe to them and without them I couldn't do it." As to a record third straight Classic win? "I think I can do it. There is so much that goes into it. There's a lot of luck you have to worry about too. Our other car is our primary car. It's a little bit better than this one. I hope we come next week with the best car we can have. If we can come with the same car we've had the last two years I think we have a good chance. Unfortunately, you can't predict everything else, so if it goes the way we want it to I think we'll have a shot. Hopefully, we can do what we did last year."

Snyder, who had taken the early lead from the outside of the front row, was bound and determined to get one this year. He survived cautions on lap 7 for a minor spin by Gary Syrell and another more damaging one for the Devendorf 20 on lap 12, and kept the pack behind him each time. Bob Bond, Greg Furlong, Mike Ordway and Joe Gosek were among the contenders chasing Snyder. A lap 19 yellow flew for Shannon Groves, who went to the rear.

With the field bunched behind, Snyder had Furlong and Mike Ordway laying in wait to nab him, but Ordway and Furlong were fighting each other too, so Snyder's lead was safe for the moment. A brush with Furlong out back, however, broke something in the brakes on the Ordway 61 and on lap 25 he came in. "I felt the tap," said Mike, "and when I came into three, I hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. It was time to come in."

Now Snyder had Furlong back there and as they approached a lap car, Snyder got bogged and Furlong went by. it was all his race now.

Greg put a few lap cars in between as Snyder, Bond, Gosek, Goutermout and Trytek diced for position behind.

A lap 36 yellow changed things a might as Gary Syrell was into the wall in turn one after a sandwich attempt by Goutermout and Bond. Said Goutermout after finishing the race fifth, "In one piece again! We got what we were after getting ready for next week. The longer we went, the better we got. I kind of hoped we wouldn't have as many cautions, and it might have got better. We're real happy with the way the night went. I hated to see Gary (Syrell) wreck. I thought I was fully by and I don't know if he didn't have enough room to move up but I couldn't see it. We should have been able to go three wide there."

As is the rule at Oswego, the last ten laps are run with the lap cars put to the rear. This gave Snyder, Gosek, Goutermout and Trytek a chance at the leader one more round. The man on the move was Gosek in the Holbrook 35 which he will also drive for Classic. Gosek moved up to second on lap 37, but Furlong was not about to give an inch. Gosek chased him down but Greg hit the checkered with room to spare. Gosek, Snyder, Bond and Goutermout finished in the top five.

Gosek was very pleased with his first-time run. "We're happy with second. The guys worked hard and the car was really good for our first time. It was consistent from start to finish. We picked those guys off and some of the inexperienced ones would get a little loose, but it was a good clean race all in all. We had a good race car and we didn't really want to play with it too much because we didn't know what it was going to do in a feature race. I think we were as quick as Greg at the end, but he was driving the wheels off the thing. We had a good run, and if we had a little more lap traffic, we could have given Greg a better run. It was still a little loose, who's to say. It's over and he won. This is a good, solid race car so far. We'll see what it brings next week. It was tight at the beginning and that's what you need for 200 laps."

Snyder was a little disappointed with third. "Third was good, but we expected a little bit better. We got held up by a lap car. But, that's racing. The guys have been doing a lot of work. We got the engine back late last night and they worked late and all this morning. So, hopefully everything is all right for next week. This is a good way to finish off the season."

And, Bond, who had just notched his sixth top five finish to date, said, "The car was pretty good at the beginning and at the end it got a little loose. The longer we went the slower we got. We'll take fourth. The car's in one piece and we'll be back next week."

SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #1 1. Jamie Moore (88) 2. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 3. Gary Syrell (08) 4. Mike Ordway (61) 5. Dave Trytek (70) 6. Vern LaFave (97) 7. Kenny Bell (32) 8. Bill Peri (14) 9. Robert Parrow (21)

SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #2
1. Tim Snyder (0) 2. Greg Furlong (72) 3. Joe Gosek (35) 4. Otto Sitterly (79) 5. Shannon Groves (07) 6. Hal LaTulip (56) 7. Pat Lavery (99) 8. Doug Kells (38)

SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #3
1. Todd Stowell (89) 2. Bob Bond (25) 3. Howie Page (18) 4. Bob Goutermout (77) 5. Bill Sharkey (52) 6. Brian Sweeney (3) 7. Tim Devendorf (20) 8. Dave Halstead Jr (34)

SUPERMODIFIED CONSI
1. Ken Bell (32) 2. Pat Lavery (99) 3. Tim Devendorf (20) 4. Bill Peri (14) 5. Doug Kells (38) 6. Dave Halstead Jr (34) 7. Robert Parrow (21)

SUPERMODIFIED FEATURE (45)
1. Greg Furlong (72) 2. Joe Gosek (35) 3. Tim Snyder (0) 4. Bob Bond (25) 5. Bob Goutermout (77) 6. Dave Trytek (70) 7. Todd Stowell (89) 8. Howard Page (18) 9. Bill Sharkey (52) 10. Shannon Groves (07) 11. Pat Lavery (99) 12. Ken Bell (32) 13. Hal LaTulip (56) 14. Jamie Moore (88) 15. Dave Halstead Jr (34) 16. Vern LaFave (97) 17. Gary Syrell (08) 18. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 19. Brian Sweeney (3) 20. Bill Peri (14) 21. Mike Ordway (61) 22. Otto Sitterly (79) 23. Tim Devendorf (20) 24. Doug Kells (38)