OSWEGO, NY (September 16) - After an up and down 2012 season at Oswego Speedway, Fulton, NY’s Jack Patrick finally broke through into victory lane with a dominating performance in The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com Fall Championship Pathfinder Bank SBS main event. Patrick started on the pole position, passed Jeremy Pitcher for the lead on lap six, and then held off a hard charging Mike Bond to earn the right to pull into Chris Nelson Insurance Victory Lane on Saturday night.
Oswego Speedway Public Relations Specialist Dan Kapuscinski returned behind the wheel of a Small Block Super on Saturday night and drove to a third place finish in the Heagerty No. 79, normally driven by Tim Barbeau, ahead of Barry Kingsley and DIRT Sportsman driver Jeremy Pitcher in the Top 5. Pitcher was driving the Team Tapout No. 93, the regular ride of JJ Andrews, and drove to an outstanding fifth place finish in his first ever SBS start.
Mike Bruce, Jon Tesoriero, AJ Bernys, Jason Simmons, and Rob Pullen filled the Top 10 results.
Patrick, whose No. 9 machine sustained heavy damage in the SBS Classic just two weeks ago, spoke with Keith Zehr at the conclusion of the Fall Championship.
“Everything went pretty much perfect tonight,” said Patrick, who set fast-time in SBS time trials to earn the pole position for Saturday night’s main. “We finally got the win we’ve been looking for this season. It is nice to get the last win of the season; we can take this one with us all winter long. It has been a rough year, I have to thank all my sponsors and crew, without them we wouldn’t have got the car back here after Classic.”
Patrick and Pitcher brought the SBS field down to the Cam’s NY Pizzeria green flag from the front row, but before the first lap could be completed SBS rookies Zack Babcock and Anthony Losurdo spun down the back straight resulting in a complete restart.
On the second try Pitcher would charge out ahead in the No. 93 with Patrick, Bond, Kapuscinski, and Kingsley falling into line behind. Pitcher did his best to hold off the hard charging SBS veterans of Patrick and Bond, but on lap six Patrick managed to shoot underneath Pitcher into turn three to take the top spot.
As Patrick went by the two made some contact forcing Pitcher high on the Speedway allowing Bond, Kapuscinski, and Kingsley to all work by on the low side into turn one pushing Pitcher back to fifth in the order.
Over the next eight circuits Patrick, Bond, Kapuscinski, and Kingsley would pull away from the rest of the field with Bond pressuring Patrick heavily for the point. As the event pressed on both Patrick and Bond began to distance themselves from Kapuscinski and Kingsley, until another yellow flag waved on lap 14 once again for Babcock in the No. 44.
With 21-laps remaining Kapuscinski and Kingsley would now draw back to the rear bumpers of Patrick and Bond ahead of Pitcher, Bruce, Tesoriero, Simmons, Bernys, and Kreig Heroth in the Top 10 at the restart.
As the field came back to green the front four of Patrick, Bond, Kapuscinski, and Kingsley again checked out and just like early in the race, after a few laps Patrick and Bond would distance themselves from third and fourth.
Bond worked Patrick relentlessly for the point for several circuits, before finally losing touch with the race leader with about ten laps to go. With Patrick pulling away out front the battle on the Speedway was for third between Kapuscinski and Kingsley.
Kingsley, driving the Simmons owned No. 91, got a late start to the season but looked very good in the Fall Championship working the No. 79 of Kapuscinski for several laps looking for a podium position. Ironically, Kingsley was the crew chief of the Tom Bliss owned Supermodified which Kapuscinski drove during the 2005 season at Oswego, and now the two battled on the Speedway head to head.
Further back Pullen, who finished second in the SBS Classic, was making his presence known working passed David LaTulip and Heroth to fight into the Top 10 in the very late stages of the race driving the No. 2. Pullen would eventually hand his ride over to Kathy Harrington, who would go on to her second consecutive win in the Hoosier Mama Powder Puff event at Oswego.
Up front however it was all “Fireman” Jack Patrick rolling onto his first win of 2012 over Bond, Kapuscinski, Kingsley, and Pitcher in that order.
Bond, who finished second in the season long championship battle, talked about his second place run on Fall Championship Weekend.
“The car went away on the long runs, we needed some more cautions,” said Bond. “We had a lot of work to do after the crash at Classic; I have to thank my crew and Terry Solazzo for all the work they put in these past two weeks. We had a halfway decent season this year; I am just tired of finishing second all the time.”
Kapuscinski, who had not been behind the wheel of a racecar since Classic Weekend 2010, brought the Heagerty owned No. 79 home with a third place run.
“I have to thank Carlee and Chris Heagerty and Tim Barbeau for giving me this opportunity,” said Kapuscinski. “I’m a very lucky guy to be able to work here at the Speedway and have a chance to race tonight. It is a pretty cool day. The race suit barely fits, the racecar barely fit, but everyone did a great job on the car and that was just a lot of fun. I hope I have the chance to do it again sometime.”
For more information on Oswego Speedway be sure to visit online at www.oswegospeedway.com. Fans can also like the Speedway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway or follow on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
The Post-Standard & www.Syracuse.com
PATHFINDER BANK SBS SERIES
SBS Time Trials – 1. 9 – Jack Patrick: 19.272, 2. 74 – Cameron Rowe: 19.326, 3. 93 – Jeremy Pitcher: 19.392, 4. 26 – Mike Bond: 19.399, 5. 79 – Dan Kapuscinski: 19.439, 6. 47 – Jon Tesoriero: 19.455, 7. 91 – Barry Kingsley: 19.462, 8. 99 – Jason Simmons: 19.465, 9. 22 – Mike Bruce: 19.509, 10. 04 – Kreig Heroth: 19.510, 11. 24 – AJ Bernys: 19.519, 12. 17 – David LaTulip: 19.620, 13. 2 – Rob Pullen: 19.631, 14. 98 – JJ Andrews: 19.640, 15. 87 – Brad Haynes: 19.647, 16. 28 – Stan Gates: 19.700, 17. 1 – Anthony Losurdo: 19.752, 18. 43 – Pitt Watson: 19.899, 19. 95 – Lou LeVea Jr.: 19.920, 20. 88 – Will Hadcock: 20.395, 21. 33 – Andy Noto: 20.634, 22. 44 – Zack Babcock: 20.755, 23. 65 – Barry Silsmer: 24.367
Feature (35-laps): 1. 9-Jack Patrick, 2. 26-Mike Bond, 3. 79-Dan Kapuscinski, 4. 91-Barry Kingsley, 5. 93-Jeremy Pitcher, 6. 22-Mike Bruce, 7. 47-Jon Tesoriero, 8. 24-AJ Bernys, 9. 99-Jason Simmons, 10. 2-Rob Pullen, 11. 04-Kreig Heroth, 12. 17-David LaTulip, 13. 98-JJ Andrews, 14. 1-Anthony Losurdo, 15. 43-Pitt Watson, 16. 95-Lou LeVea Jr, 17. 28-Stan Gates, 18. 65-Kevin Jackson, 19. 88-Will Hadcock, 20. 44-Zack Babcock, 21. 33-Andy Noto, 22. 74-Cameron Rowe, 23 87-Bryan Haynes
1st Heat (10laps): 1. 17-David LaTulip, 2. 47-Jon Tesoriero, 3. 22-Mike Bruce, 4. 93-Jeremy Pitcher, 5. 2-Rob Pullen, 6. 28-Stan Gates, 7. 95-Lou LeVea Jr, 8. 44-Zack Babcock
2ndHeat (10laps): 1. 24-AJ Bernys, 2. 99-Jason Simmons, 3. 1-Anthony Losurdo, 4. 79-Dan Kapuscinski, 5. 98-JJ Andrews, 6. 88-Will Hadcock, 7. 74-Cameron Rowe, 8. 65-Barry Silsmer
3rd Heat (10laps): 1. 04-Kreig Heroth, 2. 26-Mike Bond, 3. 91-Barry Kingsley, 4. 9-Jack Patrick, 5. 87-Bryan Haynes, 6. 43-Pit Watson