By Dan Kapuscinski
OSWEGO, NY (August 16, 2015) – For the second time in Oswego Speedway’s 65 year history, a third generation Speedway racer drove to victory lane at the ‘Steel Palace’ as Brandon Bellinger outhustled a hard charging Otto Sitterly to score his first career triumph on Ovarian Cancer Awareness Night, joining his grandfather Ed Bellinger Sr., and father Ed Bellinger Jr. in the Speedway’s prestigious record books.
Driving the patented Bellinger No. 02, the third generation shoe started from the outside of the first row, leading every lap on his way to the win. However, the 50-lap score was no gift.
Bellinger had to outlast seven-time champion Sitterly over the course of the final 16-laps, including several late race restarts, to score the victory.
Bellinger Sr. was the first of the family racers to earn a victory at Oswego on July 4, 1956 with Bellinger Jr. turning the trick for the first time on July 6, 1974. Now, August 15, 2015 will be added to the Bellinger racing tale with the family now having scored a total of 79 main events wins at Oswego Speedway.
The Bellinger family now joins the Hoag family as a three generation clan to have won main events at the Speedway. Dutch Hoag, Dean Hoag, and Alex Hoag were the first to finish the task in July of 2014.
For the second week in a row however, a third generation driver has visited victory lane as Michael Muldoon won on the Speedway’s 65th Anniversary, August 8.
Sitterly, Joe Gosek, Jeff Abold, and Michael Barnes chased Bellinger across the line on Saturday night with Dave Danzer, Dave Gruel, Bob Bond, Tim Snyder, and Pat Lavery filling the top ten spots.
“That was the longest race I think I have ever been in,” said Bellinger in Turning Stone Resort Casino Victory Lane. “I knew when Otto got up to 2nd, he’s been fast all year, that it was game time then. I just had to run the perfect line and not make any mistakes, if I did make one I am sure he would have been there. We keep coming back here with a fast car; I think we are actually a little better than we were last week. There is still room for improvement and more speed in this car, we need to keep working on it, and make it happen again next week.”
Pathfinder Bank SBS champion Dave Cliff and Bellinger brought the 23-car Novelis Supermodified field to the Cam’s Pizzeria green flag on Saturday, with Bellinger immediately jumping to the point in the No. 02.
Bellinger, who had won his qualifying heat earlier in the night and a semi-final feature one week ago at the Speedway, battled Michael Muldoon for victory on the Speedway’s 65th Anniversary August 8, but fell short in a wheel to wheel battle approaching the halfway point.
On this night, Bellinger seemed poised and determined, and quickly jetted to an early lead over Gosek, Kody Graham, Abold, and Sitterly.
Lap 16 would see the night’s first caution as Tim Devendorf found the third turn foam. Devendorf was okay in the collision, but was done for the night.
During this caution point leader Bob Bond ducked to pit lane, but did return to action in what would turn out to be a long night for the driver of the No. 47.
On the restart Bellinger picked up where he left off, checking away from the field. Further behind it was Sitterly mounting a charge as he rolled by Abold for fourth.
As Sitterly worked his way closer to the top three positions, Graham started to find a bite in the No. 21, sliding under Gosek for the runner-up position out of turn four to complete lap 29.
With Graham now second, lapped traffic looked as though it may play a role, as the No. 21 seemed to be closing slightly on the No. 02.
Bellinger masterfully worked the early traffic to the high side, leaving Graham, Gosek, Sitterly, and Abold to deal with the back markers in his wake.
Eventually something had to give, as Graham and the lapped machine of Lou LeVea Sr. touched in turn one sending the No. 21 around in front of the pack. Gosek, Abold, Gruel, and Bond would all spin to avoid with Sitterly managing to slowly drive through the accident scene.
With the Speedway blocked, the red lights came on at lap 34.
Brian Sobus and Shaun Gosselin had to head to the pit area to make repairs as a result of the altercation in turn one.
Graham also went to the pit area, done for the night in the No. 21.
With the majority of the cars being declared as spinning or stopping to avoid the accident, the restart order would see Bellinger leading Gosek, Sitterly, Abold, Barnes, Gruel, Lavery, Snyder, and Danzer.
When the field came back to green Sitterly made quick work of Gosek, setting up the final 16-lap charge between Bellinger and Sitterly.
Two laps after the restart, Bond’s long night continued with a spin in turn one. The point leader coming into the night would make a wild charge a race’s end to somehow push back to eighth position.
Another caution on lap 44 slowed Bellinger’s momentum, giving Sitterly yet another shot on a late race restart, but it was not meant to be on this night as Bellinger and Sitterly ran away from the field with the No. 02 again visiting victory lane at Oswego in exciting fashion at the line.
“I was pretty much where I was,” said Sitterly. “Congratulations to the Bellingers, they are a good bunch of people. It was an awesome run for the kid, once we got behind him we were really just too tight. We got in that deal with Kody (Graham) and Joe (Gosek) a bit there, maybe it bent the front end some? I don’t know? If I tried to roll the outside, the front end would just take off into the dirt. Good job to those guys.”
Gosek returned to the podium in consecutive weeks driving his own No. 00.
“Our car was alright tonight,” said Gosek. “It wasn’t anything to compete for the win, but we’re getting better. I want to thank Mary (Gosek) and her whole Teal Team tonight, I wish we could have won for her, but it was a great night and I am sure all of her hard work will pay off.”
A total of 25 Novelis Supermodifieds were in the pit area Saturday including the first appearances of the season for Joey Payne in the Strong Racing No. 99, Logan Rayvals in the Rayvals No. 94, and Mike Barbera in the Barbera No. 45.
In town testing for Budweiser International Classic Weekend September 4-6, Payne started the main event, only completing 34-laps with an 18th place run.
Barbera completed just three laps before pulling pit side.
Rookie Rayvals, who turned a quick lap of 17.532 seconds in warm-ups, slid into the outside wall in his heat race and did not return for the main event. The racer appeared to only have rear wing damage.
Shell Shock Custom Helmet Paint heat race victories went to Graham, Bellinger, and Gosek.
The Radical Race Gear Lap Leader and Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer Award went to Bellinger while Sitterly notched the Lighthouse Lanes Hard Charger Award.
Racing at Oswego Speedway continues on Saturday, August 22 with the Pathfinder Bank SBS Twin 20’s and a 50-lap Novelis Supermodified main.
Pit gates will open at 2 p.m. on August 22 with the grandstand opening and hot laps beginning at 4pm.
Kids 16 and under with paid adult and active military with I.D. are free.
For more information on Oswego Speedway visit online at www.oswegospeedway.com or call (315) 342-0646. Visit the Speedway on social media @OswegoSpeedway or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway.
Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
Saturday, August 15th, 2015
Ovarian Cancer Awareness and Autograph Night
presented by
Bosco’s Meats and U-Pull U-Save Auto Parts
BOX SCORE:
Novelis Supermodified Feature (50-laps): 1. 02 – Brandon Bellinger, 2. 7 – Otto Sitterly, 3. 00 – Joe Gosel, 4. 05 – Jeff Abold, 5. 68 – Michael Barnes, 6. 52 – Dave Danzer, 7. 50 – Dave Gruel, 8. 47 – Bob Bond, 9. 0 – Tim Snyder, 10. 22 – Pat Lavery, 11. 79 – Brian Sobus, 12. 96 – Lou LeVea Sr, 13. 56 – Hal LaTulip, 14. 26 – Shaun Gosselin, 15. 11 – Aric Iosue, 16. 21 – Kody Graham, 17. 06 – Dave Cliff, 18. 99 – Joey Payne, 19. 83 – Lou LeVea Jr, 20. 5 – Tim Devendorf, 21. 9 – Stephen Gioia III, 22. 45 – Mike Barbera, 23. 20 – Michael Muldoon
Radical Racegear Lap Leader: #02 – Brandon Bellinger
Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer: #02 – Brandon Bellinger
Lighthouse Lanes Hard Charger: #7 – Otto Sitterly
Heat #1 (12-laps): 1. 21 – Kody Graham, 2. 22 – Pat Lavery, 3. 47 – Bob Bond, 4. 06 – Dave Cliff, 5. 11 – Aric Iosue, 6. 96 – Lou LeVea Sr, 7. 9 – Stephen Gioia III, 8. 20 – Michael Muldoon
Heat #2 (12-laps): 1. 02 – Brandon Bellinger, 2. 7 – Otto Sitterly, 3. 26 – Shaun Gosselin, 4. 68 – Michael Barnes, 5. 79 – Brian Sobus, 6. 5 – Tim Devendorf, 7. 56 – Hal LaTulip, 8. 99 – Joey Payne
Heat #3 (12-laps): 1. 00 – Joe Gosek, 2. 05 – Jeff Abold, 3. 50 – Dave Gruel, 4. 52 – Dave Danzer, 5. 0 – Tim Snyder, 6. 83 – Lou LeVea Jr, 7. 94 – Logan Rayvals, 8. 55 – Keith Shampine, 9. 45 – Mike Barbera
Pathfinder Bank SBS
Pathfinder Bank SBS Feature (30-laps): 1. 50 – Dave Cliff, 2. 04 – Kreig Heroth, 3. 74 – Mike Bond, 4. 93 – JJ Andrews, 5. 87 – Matt Magner, 6. 18 – Andrew Schartner, 7. 98 – Jason Simmons, 8. 91 – Barry Kingsley, 9. 9 – Jack Patrick, 10. 8 – Josh Kerr, 11. 01 – Dalton Doyle, 12. 3 – Chris Proud, 13. 99 – Dennis Rupert, 14. 76 – Scott Shafer, 15. 24 – Dennis Richmond, 16. 54 – Camden Proud, 17. 1 – Anthony Losurdo, 18. 22 – Mike Bruce, 19. 69 – Mark Castiglia, 20. 14 – Alex Mcrae, 21. 15 – James Babcock, 22. 88 – Ron Pratt
D&S Landscaping Hard Charger: #87 – Matt Magner
Nice Price Auto Sales Up and Comer: #87 – Matt Magner
White’s Car Care 4th Place: #93 – JJ Andrews
Sherwood Racing Wheels Lap Leader: #93 – JJ Andrews
Bacc-Off Hard Luck Award: #22 – Mike Bruce
Heat #1 (10-laps): 1. 74 – Mike Bond, 2. 50 – Dave Cliff, 3. 1 – Anthony Losurdo, 4. 04 – Kreig Heroth, 5. 9 – Jack Patrick, 6. 99 – Dennis Rupert, 7. 24 – Dennis Richmond, 8. 88 – Ron Pratt
Heat #2 (10-laps): 1. 98 – Jason Simmons, 2. 8 – Josh Kerr, 3. 18 – Andrew Schartner, 4. 91 – Barry Kingsley, 5. 76 – Scott Shafer, 6. 14 – Alex McRae, 7. 15 – James Babcock
Heat #3 (10-laps): 1. 22 – Mike Bruce, 2. 93 – JJ Andrews, 3. 01 – Dalton Doyle, 4. 54 – Camden Proud, 5. 87 – Matt Magner, 6. 69 – Mark Castiglia, 7. 3 – Chris Proud