August 21, 1999

HOWARD PAGE NOTCHES HIS SECOND WIN OF '99 AT OSWEGO SATURDAY AS MIKE MULDOON CLINCHES A THREEPEAT CHAMPIONSHIP

Oswego, NY - Howard Page had to park his car a couple weeks in a row due to motor problems, but he got it all back together Saturday night. Taking an outside line around leader Greg Furlong on lap 19, Page went on to his second feature win of 1999, a perfect primer for the upcoming Budweiser Classic 200.

Howard Page was an appreciative winner after some weeks of not racing his car. "The car's been real good, we've just had motor problems the past few weeks. We're back I guess. The car was good. It was real good. Back about lap 19 I just picked the right lane, got a good bite on Greg and got by him. He was doing pretty good. I'm just glad we stayed together. Car's running good, but we just have to keep it together. We kept blowing head gaskets. I'd like to especially thank Pat Furlong for helping me get this motor back together and Tim Salisbury. This win makes up for the last two or three weeks. which were bad. I don't even think about Classic. Next week is another 45 lapper and then the next week is another race, just a bunch more laps. I think we ran a Classic tonight...so many caution laps. I'd really like to thank my sponsors Bellinger Auto Sales, Slice n Go Deli, Front Door Tavern, Engles Performance, Castle Chemicals and of course, Page Race Chassis."

The Clearview Home and Leisure/Cam's NY Pizzeria 45 was a mixture of hard racing and attrition, from the start when the Whittaker 12 missed the green due to an oil leak.

Yellow flew before a lap was complete when the luckless Bob Goutermout was again on the hook after brushing another car's tire.

Greg Furlong got out front when the shaky starts were over as Todd Stowell and Howard Page followed. Behind were Mike Muldoon and Tim Gareau fighting for the 1999 track title. Muldoon's comfortable margin gave him the advantage, but anything could happen.

On lap 10, Todd Stowell and Jeff West tangled coming off turn four, sending Stowell onto the hook and out for the night. Stowell later was taken to the Oswego Hospital for rib x-rays. West came into the pits and would later reenter the fray laps down to the field. A flurry of pit activity occurred here with West, Curran and Bill Peri in working on their cars. All three remained when the green fell.

Furlong had Page, Muldoon and Gareau right there on the green, but he managed to pull away a bit. Yellow flew again on lap 12 when the 15 of Scott Eldred spun. Doug Boisvert limped into the pits on this slowdown. The front four were Furlong, Page, Muldoon and Gareau as a second pack formed with Snyder, Ray Graham, Jamie Moore, Mike Bond and Joe Gosek.

Lap 17 saw the leaders approaching a mass of traffic and by lap 19 Page had outmaneuvered Furlong for the lead. Pitting out of the action in this portion of the event was Mike Brubaker, just back from a devastating crash several weeks ago.

Yellowitis returned with a lap 26 spin of Dave Halstead.

Page was able to stave off the advances of Furlong, Muldoon and Gareau easily on the restarts and by lap 30 he was pulling away. Joe Gosek, who, like Halstead, had just hauled in from the rained-out Riverside ISMA show, had his brakes go, locking up his left rear. He slid into the pits, out for the night.

With ten to go, Page was well in command as Furlong, Muldoon and Gareau stayed nose to tail behind, with Gareau trying intently to get by Muldoon. Some great side-by-side action took place as Snyder held off Graham, Moore, Mike Bond and Shannon Groves.

Page was on cruise as the five to go was given, but unfortunately, the action was far from over. Just into lap 44, Greg Furlong had something break on his 72 sending him on a ride of the backstretch wall. He was shaken and sore after the bout, but otherwise okay. He said later that something must have broken as he just headed for the wall. In the interim, oil was reported all around the track in spots. Red was dropped. Refueling and cleanup held up the race for a time.

Howard Page faced three more complete laps to victory with Mike Muldoon and Tim Gareau now right on his tail. Page held them off easily to notch number two. Muldoon, Gareau, Snyder, and Moore were the top five.

With his second place finish, Muldoon became only the third man in Oswego Speedway's 49 year history to win three straight titles. Jimmy Shampine and Doug Didero were the other two. Muldoon startled the huge crowd by pretty much announcing his retirement. "We've done what we came to do. We finished in one piece. I'd like to congratulate Howie Page on his win. It's time to get ready for Classic. I don't really think about the championship right now. We had a good consistent year. It's something maybe I'll think about a year or so down the road and realize how hard this was to get. Right now I'm just elated that we finished in one piece. The crew has been great to me. They've done such a great job over the fifteen years I've been racing I'd really like to thank them. I'm all done at Oswego. Classic time will hopefully be my last race here. My equipment is all for sale. I'd like to try something else. Silver Crown is where I'd like to go."

SUPER NOTES: A fifteen car super consi saw the 08 of Gary Syrell pound the wall, putting him out for the night. Joe Gosek and Mark VanLuven tangled while fighting for the lead on the last lap, also involving Pat Lavery's 99... Gosek used his provisional to enter the feature. VanLuven missed the qualifying cut..Another multi-car crash occurred after the checkered flew...Vern LaFave, who recently purchased the Armstrong super, competed in his first supermodified feature, qualifying via the consi. He finished 18th in the supers and 4th in the limited main.

Heat 1: Tim Gareau, Tim Snyder, Bob Goutermout, Jerry Curran, Hal LaTulip, Bill Peri, Bill Sharkey, Mike Brubaker, Vern LaFave, Jennifer Chesbro

Heat 2: Greg Furlong, Jeff West, Todd Stowell, Billy Whittaker, Ray Graham, Bob Bond, Scott Eldred, Dan Connors, Dave Halstead, Justin Shea, Pat Lavery

Heat 3: Howard Page, Mike Muldoon, Shannon Groves, Jamie Moore, Mike Bond, Doug Boisvert, Mark VanLuven, Joe Gosek, Gary Syrell, Dave Mazzoni, Roger Clark

Consi: Bill Sharkey, Eldred, Brubaker, LaFave, Mazzoni, Halstead, Chesbro, Connors, Gosek, VanLuven, Shea, Lavery, Clark, Syrell, Bob Smith(35)