By Camden Proud
OSWEGO, NY (July 10, 2017) – Third generation driver Michael Muldoon drove to his third career Supermodified triumph this past Saturday night at the Oswego Speedway in the FX Caprara, Royal Purple No. 15 Muldoon Chassis racer.
Muldoon, who is one of just five drivers in speedway history to earn a victory through a dead heat finish, was not to be stopped on Century 21 Galloway Realty and Helena Chemical Company Night at the ‘Steel Palace.
The 23 year-old Exelon System Engineer from Baldwinsville started back in the third spot for the 50-lap main event and by lap 2, shot right past polesitter Lou LeVea Jr. and gave chase to early race leader Dan Connors.
A Canale Insurance and Accounting yellow flag would fly on lap 5 for a spinning Jeff Abold in turn 1. Abold nearly collected Otto Sitterly, but SItterly was able to continue on without incident, however Abold was done for the night.
On the ensuing restart, Dave Gruel, who was a late arrival to the track on Saturday after appearing at a sponsorship event at Herb Phillipson’s in Oswego, found himself into the turn four foam hard after going to the top side and losing the handle on the No. 50. Gruel was also out for the remainder of the evening with heavy front end damage.
It was on the next restart that Muldoon made his move by Connors for the lead and the No. 15 machine proved to be all but unbeatable for the entire race, checking out from the field on the long green flag run leading up to a lap 26 yellow flag.
This caution was when more misfortune struck for seven time speedway champion Sitterly, as he had charged from his tenth starting spot up to sixth, but as Sitterly looked under Joe Gosek for fifth, things proved to be a little bit too tight in turn one and Otto lost the handle on the Nicotra Racing No. 7 while trying to stay off of Gosek. Tim Snyder struck Sitterly’s front end as Otto was facing the wrong way in turn one.
Snyder would continue without even having to make a pit stop, but Sitterly had to make a nose wing change in the pit area before coming back out to re-join the field.
The man on the move on the lap 27 restart was eleventh starting Gosek, who brought the crowd to it’s feet after shooting by Connors and Brandon Bellinger for second. Unfortunately for Connors, who had a good run put together early, the 01 ended up against the foam just a lap later in a simple spin which took away his otherwise podium run.
Points leader Dave Shullick Jr, who also had to make a hard charge from back in twelfth, used yet another yellow to his advantage, working to third by Bellinger on lap 29.
Shullick then gave chase to Gosek and was all over ’00 Joe’ for the remaining twenty circuits, but ‘The Shoe 2’ was unable to get by the Burke’s Do It Best Homecenters No. 00 while neither driver appeared to have anything for Muldoon as the trio lead Bellinger and Snyder with ten laps to go.
At that point, the race for the lead seemed over, but Sitterly’s race was just getting started as unbelievably, Otto found his way back inside the top five with 7 laps to go, making the charge past Michael Barnes, Keith Shampine, Tim Snyder, and more to get back inside the top five. Sitterly gave chase to Bellinger in the closing laps, but had to settle for fifth.
Muldoon went on to take the dominating victory ahead of Gosek, Shullick, Bellinger and Sitterly. Snyder, Shampine, Barnes, LeVea and Connors rounded out the top ten. The son of 21 time Supermodified feature winner Mike Muldoon, Michael was thrilled to be back in victory lane, his first ever victory in a 50-lapper that did not come as a dead heat victory.
“The car was pretty good tonight, but still not exactly where we want it,” Muldoon said. “It was solid though and we got to start up front. It’s a long race, I got nervous the last twenty laps or so just hoping we could stay out front. I just decided to sort of save my tires a little bit early to make sure we had enough left in the tank for later in the race. We’ll probably change a few things before next week to see if we can get it going a little better but it was a really good night for us you’ve got to be happy with this.
Gosek, who bas been absolutely rolling since his hard Opening Night accident, picked up his fourth podium finish of the season and fifth top five, pleased with his team’s efforts amongst the very even field of cars. The all-time top five leader in the division is searching for just a little bit more to get his first win since back in 2014.
“It’s a good night, but man it was a tough race up there,” Gosek commented. “There is a lot of good cars, like ten or thirteen good cars so you have to work for every spot you get. We made some major changes before tonight and it was actually a lot better, the car seemed to drive much better tonight so I’m ok with learning a little bit off of that.”
Shullick has been a machine this season in his first full go at a non-wing championship with the Nicotra Racing No. 2 and while he was not as dominant as seen in weeks past last Saturday night, the North Ridgeville, OH talent was happy to make the charge from 11th up to another podium finish, his fourth of 2017 on top of his three feature victories.
“It was pretty good, we were close,” offered Shullick. “I could go the outside, but it was just a little bit slick up there tonight in that groove so I sort of had to crossover a little bit, it just made it hard to pass. I was glad to see Michael (Muldoon) get a win and Joe (Gosek) have a good run, I know the fans want to see other people win so they got what they paid for tonight.”
The point standings continue to work in the favor of Shullick and Nicotra Racing as he leads teammate Sitterly by nearly 60 points into this coming weekend’s C’s Beverage ‘Summer Championship’ ahead of Barnes, Gosek and Shampine.
Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
Saturday July 8, 2017
Supermodifieds
Timed Hot Laps: 1. 7 Otto Sitterly – 16.444, 2. 2 Dave Shullick Jr. – 16.641, 3. 68 Michael Barnes – 16.693, 4. 15 Michael Muldoon – 16.712, 5. 55 Keith Shampine – 16.723, 6. 00 Joe Gosek – 16.786, 7. 72 Dave Danzer – 16.850, 8. 02 Brandon Bellinger – 16.857, 9. 05 Jeff Abold – 17.027, 10. 0 Tim Snyder – 17.045, 11. 50 Dave Gruel – 17.141, 12. 01 Dan Connors – 17.276, 13. 83 Lou LeVea Jr. – 17.327
Heat 1 (12 laps): 1. 7 Otto Sitterly, 2. 50 Dave Gruel, 3. 05 Jeff Abold, 4. 72 Dave Danzer, 5. 68 Michael Barnes, 6. 83 Lou LeVea Jr, 7. 55 Keith Shampine, 8. 71 Bill Sharkey
Heat 2 (12 laps): 1. 2 Dave Shullick Jr, 2. 0 Tim Snyder, 3. 00 Joe Gosek, 4. 01 Dan Connors, 5. 02 Brandon Bellinger, 6. 15 Michael Muldoon, 7. 56 Hal LaTulip, 8. 78 Guard Nearbin
Feature (50 laps): 1. 15 Michael Muldoon, 2. 00 Joe Gosek, 3. 2 Dave Shullick Jr, 4. 02 Brandon Bellinger, 5. 7 Otto Sitterly, 6. 0 Tim Snyder, 7. 55 Keith Shampine, 8. 68 Michael Barnes, 9. 83 Lou LeVea Jr, 10. 01 Dan Connors, 11. 56 Hal LaTulip, 12. 71 Bill Sharkey, 13. 50 Dave Gruel, 14. 05 Jeff Abold, 15. 78 Guard Nearbin, 16. 72 Dave Danzer
Lighthouse Lanes Hard Charger: 00 – Joe Gosek
Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer: 83 – Lou LeVea Jr.
Brad Penn Oil Supermodified Heat Winners: Dave Shullick Jr, Otto Sitterly
Small Block Supermodifieds
imed Hot Laps: 1. 13 Russ Brown – 18.739, 2. 9 Jack Patrick – 18.878, 3. 54 Camden Proud – 19.034, 4. 67 Tyler Shullick – 19.102, 5. 22 Mike Bruce – 19.142, 6. 04 Kreig Heroth – 19.146, 7. 37 Jesse Bearup – 19.147, 8. 01 Dalton Doyle – 19.163, 9. 50 Dave Cliff – 19.250, 10. 77 Cameron Rowe – 19.287, 11. 74 Mike Bond – 19.312, 12. 91 Barry Kingsley – 19.367, 13. 18 Andrew Schartner – 19.402, 14. 89 Tony Pisa – 19.440, 15. 69 – Rob Pullen – 19.444, 16. 88 Brad Haynes – 19.554, 17. 90 Greg O’Connor – 19.568, 18. 15 James Babcock – 19.868, 19. 23 Cameron Black – 20.024, 20. 99 Dennis Rupert – 20.051
Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. 74 Mike Bond, 2. 9 Jack Patrick, 3. 01 Dalton Doyle, 4. 22 Mike Bruce, 5. 90 Greg O’Connor, 6. 89 Tony Pisa, 7. 23 Cameron Black
Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. 13 Russ Brown, 2. 37 Jesse Bearup, 3. 67 Tyler Shullick, 4. 88 Brad Haynes, 5. 18 Andrew Schartner, 6. 99 Dennis Rupert, 7. 77 Cameron Rowe
Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. 69 Rob Pullen, 2. 50 Dave Cliff, 3. 54 Camden Proud, 4. 91 Barry Kingsley, 5. 04 Kreig Heroth, 6. 15 James Babcock, 7. Steve Wood
Feature (30 laps): 1. 9 Jack Patrick, 2. 54 Camden Proud, 3. 01 Dalton Doyle, 4. 88 Brad Haynes, 5. 67 Tyler Shullick, 6. 18 Andrew Schartner, 7. 04 Kreig Heroth, 8. 22 Mike Bruce, 9. 69 Rob Pullen, 10. 77 Cameron Rowe, 11. 37 Jesse Bearup, 12. 50 Dave Cliff, 13. 90 Greg O”Connor, 14. 91 Barry Kingsley, 15. 13 Russ Brown, 16. 74 Mike Bond, 17. 99 Dennis Rupert, 18. 15 James Babcock, 19. 89 Tony Pisa, 20. 23 Cameron Black, 21. 93 Steve Wood
D&S Landscaping Hard Charger: 18 – Andrew Schartner
Sherwood Racing Wheels Lap Leader Award: 9 – Jack Patrick
White’s Car Care 4th Place Award: 88 – Brad Haynes