In what turned out to be one of the wildest and exciting feature races in a long time here at the Oswego Speedway, Norm Mackereth survived all the debris and serious spills to record his first feature win of the season. Driving the famed Ed Bowley prepared car "Flyin' 5" the popular, Canadian ace narrowly edged out Nolan Swift in a tremendous battle which lasted right down to the wire where Mackereth boasted a mere half-car length aqvantage over Swift's 10 pins. Stormin' Norman earned a profitable $1,500 for his 45 lap effort.
Luckless Freddie Graves of Central Square jumped off to a good lead with his car 38 with Warren Coniam coming on in the 04 to do battle. Jimmy Shampine was in the process of working his way up through the field in fine style but was forced to pit with a faulty rear end on his 8ball on lap 9. His unbeaten Oswego win skein was ended at seven. With Shampine out of the race, it seemed like the rest of the boys were rejuvinated in their efforts for the top spot and everyone was running for all they were worth.
A big battle was forming for all the top 10 spots with competition fierce all the way down the line. At the mid-way point, Graves and Coniam were pacing the field with Chuck Ciprich, Kenny Andrews, Bryan Osgood, Nolan Swift, Norm Mackereth, John Spencer, Kemp Dates, Bob Stelter, Mark Letcher and several others battling away superbly for the top spots. Everything was going real well until lap 28 when Dates spun in turn three with Stelter and Letcher making contact with the wall in an attempt to avoid the stalled machine. No one was injured in the skirmish, however Letcher's mount was towed to the pits.
The hardship continued on lap 33 when leader Graves encountered suspension failure sending his 38 spinning in the front stretch and being T-boned by Coniam who had no where to go. Both cars hit the first turn wall inflicting severe damage to the 38 and moderate damage to the 04 - and both cars out for the night. Only one lap later, Spencer spun in the front stretch and was T-boned by Ray Sand who as well had no way to steer clear of the mess. Both cars were towed to the pits and out for the night, while neither driver was injured, Spencer did receive a severe shaking from the impact.
On the restart Swift paced the field with Mackereth second and it set the stage for the fantastic finish. Norm needed only one lap to move past Swift into the lead but the Syracuse veteran was not about to give up. He pressed Mackereth all the way and was able to give it one last ditch effort on the final circuit but Norm was able to withstand his challenge. Down to the checkered flag came Norm Mackereth in the Ed Bowley car 5 winning the 45 lap feature go. It was Norm's first feature win here in nearly two years and he had to do it the hard way as his power steering unit broke midway through the race and he was forced to pilot a rather hard steering machine. Nolan Swift was second in car 10 with Kenny Andrews third aboard car 55. Chuck Ciprich drove a beautiful race with the Tobin-Detrick Special car 21 and placed fourth - while Oswego pilot Jim Gray took a fine fifth place finish in car 31.
The balance of the field included: Gary Reichert 78, Bryan Osgood 09, Kemp Dates 28, Bob Stelter 36, Darrell Peckham 44, Doug Syer 72, Bruce Kraft 16, Joe Paeno 06, Mike Rizzo 34, John Spencer 07, Fred Graves 38, Warren Coniam 04, Ray Sand 71, Mark Letcher 29, Sam Carista 37, Nick Rowe 12, Jimmy Shampine 8, Tom Leeson 97 and Ron Wallace 13.
Heats were taken by Shampine, Spencer and Coniam - with Coniam and Shampine leading the way again in the semis. Jim Gray won the consi.