August 3, 2002

HOWIE PAGE WINS SECOND OF YEAR

Oswego, NY - Howie Page, just off a dismal weekend at Sandusky Speedway, was more than happy to take home the Torbitt's 45, and in doing so, Page also strengthened his lead on the Oswego championship points in his battle with Otto Sitterly. He chased down race leader Jeff Holbrook and after a lap 25 restart, got the jump on the 35 off turn four. It was a no brainer for Page after that. Said Page in victory lane, "This is really good. We didn't really have that good of a car. We were real tight. I didn't know what that was going to do for us. It didn't help us, but everybody else must have slowed down a little bit. We haven't been doing that good lately. My guys have worked really hard. This is awesome for them Jeff was a little faster than I was. My car was so tight, I couldn't turn. I knew I had to get him on a start. He must have tried to protect the bottom. The outside was open so I went there. We bumped a little bit, but that's okay, that's racing. We'll take the win. I'm ecstatic every time I win. This is good for us."

Holbrook, who led from the green until Page got him just past the midway mark, ran solo in second at the checkered. He said of his near-miss, "Almost. I just started getting tired. I don't know how I'm going to run 200 laps in the Classic. We'll deal with that when the time comes I guess. I just got loose there on the start and Howard came up alongside of me. My car takes three or four laps to get back into it and I couldn't hold him off. I was hoping it would go green all the way. I was hoping, but not tonight. We'll be here next week."

Holbrook's lead survived some early yellows including one on lap 2 for the 44 of Jamie Moore, who was restarted, but ironically, the 87 of Keith Gilliam stopped trying to enter the pits and it was he who required the hook. He would not continue.

Holbrook and Page were joined early on by Tim Gareau as a three-way battle developed. Unfortunately for Gareau, the next yellow flew for his 5 and into the pits he came smoking and spewing flames. He was ofn. Hal LaTulip also came in and rejoined the field late, only to re-pit shortly thereafter.

On the green, Holbrook and Page were alone out front with Joey Hawksby Jr., Shawn Muldoon, Dave Trytek, driving the 00 as the powerplant on the 70 expired earlier, Bob Goutermout and Tim Snyder, all running toward the leaders.

Just prior to halfway, Holbrook came upon some slower cars and Page looked to be able to close the gap over the 35. Shawn Muldoon now ran third with Hawksby and Trytek the top five. Hawksby's luck ran out once again on lap 25 when a brush by Bob Goutermout's 77 sent the Carson 27 hard into the first turn foam. Hawksby was okay, but the car was flatbeded. A few other cars pitted during the interim including Vern LaFave, Jerry Curran, Bill Peri and Jamie Moore.

Page used this restart to get the jump on Holbrook and he powered away after the pass. Holbrook sat in second with Shawn Muldoon also uncontested in third. The battle was between Tim Snyder, Dave Trytek, and Bob Goutermout. Brian Sweeney, Pat Lavery and Otto Sitterly diced behind.

The race ran clean green from thereon in and although a couple lap cars slowed Page's progress forward a might, it didn't hurt as he had built up a good cushion over Holbrook as the race wore down. Under the checkered it was Page, Holbrook, Muldoon, Goutermout and Snyder.

Muldoon, who continues his quest for 2002 Rookie of the Year and who also entered the night third in the point standings, added to his point total. Shawn said simply, walking from the scales, "The car tightened up a little bit. We'll take what the car will give us. It will be good. The car was super tight. We tried something different last week and it got tight. We'll make some more changes. We'll get it."

Bob Goutermout, who was all smiles just keeping his car in one piece commented on his fourth, "It was a good race. I'm happy we brought it home in the top five and we rolled it back in the trailer for a change. I had that scare there when I got a little close to the wall. Me and little Joe got together. I hate to see that. Hopefully he'll be all right. It was close racing out there tonight."

And, Tim Snyder, the fifth place runner, who may have gained a spot in the points over the hapless Gareau, indicated that he still is not happy with his powerplant. "It's the same problem we've had every other weekend," said Tim. "We're low on power. We can get enough power to keep up to guys on the straightaway. The car goes straight through the corner. The crew has done a great job working on the car. We have a little push going in, and it comes out with no power to put it down and keep up with those guys. We're starting to pick up though. For Classic you have to be there at the end, not necessarily be fast."

CAR COUNT: Supermodifieds (24) / Limiteds (30) / Super Stocks (19) / Modifieds (43)

SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #1
1. Shawn Muldoon (1) 2. Joe Hawksby Jr (27) 3. Bob Goutermout (77) 4. Bob Bond (25) 5. Keith Gilliam (87) 6. Brian Sweeney (3) 7. Hal LaTulip (56) 8. Dan Connors (96)

SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #2
1. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 2. Jerry Curran (24) 3. Otto Sitterly (79) 4. Dave Trytek (00) 5. Bill Peri (14) 6. Dave Halstead Jr (34) 7. Vern LaFave (97)

SUPERMODIFIED HEAT #3
1. Howard Page (18) 2. Jeff Holbrook (35) 3. Tim Snyder (0) 4. Jamie Moore (44) 5. Pat Lavery (99) 6. Mike Brubaker (36) 7. Craig Rayvals (94) 8. Joe Alfieri (50)

SUPERMODIFIED FEATURE (45)
1. Howard Page (18) 2. Jeff Holbrook (35) 3. Shawn Muldoon (1) 4. Bob Goutermout (77) 5. Tim Snyder (0) 6. Dave Trytek (00) 7. Otto Sitterly (79) 8. Brian Sweeney (3) 9. Pat Lavery (99) 10. Bob Bond (25) 11. Mike Brubaker (36) 12. Craig Rayvals (94) 13. Bill Peri (14) 14. Dan Connors (96) 15. Jerry Curran (24) 16. Jamie Moore (44) 17. Joe Hawksby Jr (27) 18. Vern LaFave (97) 19. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 20. Hal LaTulip (56) 21. Keith Gilliam (87) 22. Joe Alfieri (50) 23. Dave Halstead Jr (34) 24. Bob Magner (70) DNS