September 17th, 2006

Racing legend Bentley Warren wins the 13th Bud Light Super Nationals at Oswego Speedway

Posted by Oswego Speedway on September 18, 2006 - Supermodified racing legend Bentley Warren brought the crowd to its feet Sunday afternoon after winning the rescheduled International Supermodified Association's (ISMA) 50-lap Super Nationals at Oswego Speedway. The win came exactly 40 years to the day of Warren's first feature win at Oswego - Sept. 17, 1966. It was his 66th career feature win at the lakeside oval and the ninth consecutive different driver to visit victory lane in an ISMA event at Oswego. With only a handful of laps to go, Warren ducked under ISMA's top gun Chris Perley for second place and race leader Canadian supermodified veteran Dave McKnight. Once out in front, Warren sailed away the last few laps in the Perley-owned No. 71 to collect the win.

"I couldn't believe that I was keeping up with Chris," Warren said. "He was running an awful good race at the beginning. It seemed like a lot of cars kept coming to me. The car was wicked awesome. Before that big oil mess late in the race, I knew I had an awful, awful good racecar. I thought maybe I'd be lucky and be able to win this. But after that oil came I thought that was the end of it. There's no way I was going to do it. But I had a few breaks. They were fighting with each other and went up too high . They left a nice hole there for me." The 65-year old Warren said it'd been about three years since his last supermodified win. The Kennebunkport, Maine, resident joked that he'd been thinking that Perley's ISMA dominance had come from his driving skills, but now knows that it's all in the cars that are prepped for him. Perley's second car by no means runs like a "back-up" car. The Rowley, Mass., driver picked up twin 30-lap ISMA feature wins with it earlier this season in Jennerstown Speedway in Pennsylvania. "We try to get two cars exactly the same," third-place finisher Perley said. "Sometimes mine comes out better, sometimes Bentley's comes out better. Today, Bentley's did and luckily he was able to showcase it for everyone to see."

Teammates Jeff Holbrook and Dave Trytek led the 26-car ISMA field to the green to start the 50-lap main event. Trytek inched out ahead of his car owner, Holbrook, to lead the maiden lap. Bobby Magner's No. 40 raced across the stripe in third to complete a first lap sweep for the Holbrook team trio. Trytek checked out from the rest of the field, but the three team cars led the pack until Mike Lichty maneuvered his No. 84 by the Magner machine on the fourth lap. Trytek held a 15-car advantage in the early go. Coming from their ninth and 11th starting positions, Nokie Fornoro and Perley were the cars to watch in the early stages, slicing through the field to the fifth and sixth spots by the seventh lap. McKnight powered under Lichty for third place on the ninth lap before blasting by Holbrook and into the runner-up spot on the 11th circuit. Once clearing Holbrook, McKnight's No. 94 faced nearly a 20-car length deficit to Trytek who was quickly approaching lapped traffic. Open track ahead of the No. 94 accompanied by heavy traffic for Holbrook's No. 70 helped cut the leader's advantage in half when the first caution flag flew for Lou Cicconi and the team cars of Magner and Holbrook in the fourth turn. With 17 laps in the books, Trytek was in command. McKnight, Lichty, Fornoro and Perley rounded out the top five. A patient Warren sat in seventh behind Canadian Mark Sammut. Trytek held the top spot with ease on the restart, but ISMA's top gun in 2006, Perley, quickly flew around the outside of Fornoro for fourth place. Trytek eased out ahead of McKnight until lapped traffic came into play once again. McKnight quickly closed the five-car gap and challenged for the lead for the first time in the race. McKnight looked to the inside of the No. 70 on the 25th lap. He tried once again on the 26th lap, pinning Trytek behind Justin Belfiore's No. 8. McKnight grabbed the lead while Lichty took advantage of the frustrated No. 70 and slipped underneath for second. But both of those passes were nullified after officials decided that a caution flag flown for a tangle between Magner and Joe Scanlon's No. 55 occurred before the lap had been completed, thus scoring went back to the last completed lap.

On the restart Trytek held onto the lead but it was only a matter of time until McKnight put his No. 94 solidly under Trytek on the 30th lap in the third turn. The now third-place running Perley followed McKnight under Trytek one lap later. Warren did the same. McKnight's lead was nearly short-lived as Perley's No. 11 swung to the high side of the No. 94 on the 32nd lap, but McKnight wouldn't give in. The two began to race away, but Warren started closing the gap. He caught the duo on the 35th lap as the trio approached lapped traffic. Perley continued to look for a way around the No. 94 with his teammate Warren watching close behind. When the lead pack dove into lapped traffic, Perley attempted to pin McKnight behind Danny Shirey's No. V2, but McKnight picked the right lane and escaped with a slight advantage as the three raced out of the first pack of lapped supers. Racing action was brought to a standstill after Michael Barnes brought out the race's final caution with a mishap in the first turn. A messy fluid spill by another competitor led to a lengthy red flag being needed to clean the racing surface. McKnight brought the field back to racing with just 12 laps to go. Perley, Warren, Trytek and Lichty followed the point man to the green flag. Immediately, the top three pulled away from their chasers.

Perley went back to the high groove pulling along side McKnight for a full trip around the speedway on the 42nd lap, but McKnight refused to give in. Perley gave it one last try on the 45th lap. Again, he went to McKnight's high side. He couldn't muster a pass and Warren made him pay. Warren dove his No. 71 underneath Perley and stole the position away. He then used the momentum and newfound groove to power underneath McKnight on the 46th lap to take the lead. The crowd rose to its feet as the supermodified vet pulled away the final four laps to earn the win.

McKnight held off Perley for second. It was his third runner-up finish on the season and follows a near win at Oswego's Classic just two weeks ago. "All in all the car ran great today," McKnight said. "We did what we needed to do. We got out front and led lots of laps. Unfortunately, we had brake trouble with eight to go. From what the guys are telling me, we sheered the brake line off of the left rear. I know the peddle was going to the floor. I had to take it easy the last eight laps. I knew it'd be a matter of time before somebody got by. If the brakes hadn't have broken we'd have won the show but coulda, woulda, shoulda. I was happy with the run, but just disappointed we havent' been able to put one it the bank. We've been second four or five times this year. We've had a bit of motor trouble. We had a great weekend up here at the Classic and got bumped out of the lead. I'm happy with the run, just disappointed we couldn't put it in the bank for my race team and the guys.

Perley finished in third. "Bentley had the best car today and he showed it," Perley said. "I'm just so ecstatic that he was able to show it. I thought I could get Dave. I kept working on him but obviously I couldn't. I opened up the door for Bentley and I think it was great. It was a popular win. It's still a team win and a third place for me... ahead of my point competitors."

Lichty hung around the top five all race, finishing in fourth. "We started third in the race," Lichty said. "It was tough to pass out there today. Everybody needed that one line. I couldn't go to the outside. When I tried to turn the car down it just go loose. We ended up fourth so it was still a good day for the Patco Transportation Stage Door No. 84. We ended up fourth at Star last week and got a fourth today. We'll take them."

Last year's ISMA Super Nationals winner Fornoro brought the Danny Soule-owned No. 32 home in fifth. "Everybody changes their cars for the feature," Fornoro said. "We made a couple of minor changes too but we really needed more wedge because I ended up getting loose getting in to the corners. That messes you up pretty good. The track was kind of dirty and had a little oil on it. But everybody had the same disadvantages that I did. You take what you can get. I'm more elated that Bentley Warren won because he's been a friend of mine since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I'm glad it was a safe day and that we had a pretty good crowd. Maybe we'll get it next year. Last year was good, but I'll take what we got today."

ISMA heat wins were collected by Fornoro, Lichty, Perley and Trytek. Torrese and Burch pocketed the two consolation races. Over 40 supermodifieds graced the pits Sunday afternoon. Drivers of note not making the starting field included Mike Ordway and Joe Gosek. Ordway suffered a blown motor on the Clyde Booth No. 61 while Gosek walked away from a vicious accident in his heat race that saw him virtually annihilate the Snyder No. O machine he piloted after crashing into the fourth turn fence.