News Director 
Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – “Redemption” was the word for Dave Shullick Jr. on Saturday night at Oswego Speedway.
Shullick lead last year’s Budweiser International Classic 200 right up until the final two circuits which saw the Nicotra Racing No. 2 machine run out of fuel. In 2017, DJ is set for a return to the speedway on a full-time basis with the same IFS racer out of Nicotra’s stable.
‘The Shoe 2′ got off to a great start with that effort this past weekend behind the wheel of the Otto Sitterly maintained ride, timing in at 16.2 seconds in timed warmups before driving by his teammate for second in lapped traffic on lap 37 of the feature event. Shullick later went on to grab the big win, the fifth for team Nicotra on Opening Night.
Saturday night’s field was lead to green for the 50-lap headliner by Sitterly and Michael Barnes, with Barnes driving right by seven-time on the outside to get the lead on lap 1.
Barnes lead the event for 42 laps right up until Shullick found his way under the Syrell Racing No. 68 on a late race restart. Barnes, however did not hold the top spot without challenges from Sitterly, who pulled to Barnes’ back bumper looking for the lead on multiple occasions.
It wasn’t until Sitterly nearly touched the turn two wall trying to get around a lapped car that Shullick took second and soon after began to stalk race leader Barnes.
Just a few laps later on that 42nd lap, the first caution flag of the event flew for Joe Gosek, who was running fourth. Gosek crashed heavily into the turn one wall with the No. 00. Fortunately Gosek was ok, but the Burke’s Do It Best Home Centers Supermodified sustained significant damage.
On the ensuing restart, it was Shullick finding his way by the defending track champion and last year’s Opening Night winner in Barnes for the eventual checkered flag.
Despite one more caution which saw Bellinger, Muldoon and Abold all get tangled together down the backstretch in a restart melee, Shullick was not to be denied and he stayed out in front of Barnes and Sitterly to drive to a very impressive victory. Sitterly, by the end of the event, had pulled right back behind Barnes and attempted to challenge the late race leaders in what made for an exciting finish.
Saturday’s trip to victory lane was the 30th for car owner John Nicotra and the first non-wing win at Oswego for an Ohio driver since Gene Lee Gibson pulled the trick back in 1987. Shullick also exited the Steel Palace with the points lead at the end of the evening after picking up his 7th career win at the historic Oswego County oval. The defending ISMA Supernationals Champion also has six winged victories under his belt at the Big O and will go for the double at May 27th’s ‘Super Spectacle,’ with a chance to win in both classes of cars.
“This is exactly what we wanted to do today, come back here and win,” Shullick said in victory lane. “This isn’t exaclty the Classic yet but we are going to be here all year. Thats what we are working towards and hopefully this is the first of many. I just have to thank Nicotra Racing and Royal Purple for the big opportunity.”
Shullick, Barnes and Sitterly lead the way on May 13 for the very competitive Novelis Supermodified field with Dave Danzer and Tim Snyder completing the top five. Dan Connors, Jeff Abold, Lou LeVea Jr, Logan Rayvals, and Michael Muldoon filled in the remainder of the top ten.
Dave Gruel, Joey Payne, and Keith Shampine were all in the pits early with mechanical problems.
Heat race wins on the evening went to Bellinger and Payne.
Snyder was the Lighthouse Lanes Hard Charger Award recipient while Dan Connors took home the Lighthouse Lanes Up and Comer Award.
Andrew Schartner Takes All New Homebuilt Chassis to Pathfinder Bank SBS Victory Lan
The script could not have been written any better for Andrew Schartner at Oswego Speedway’s 67th Annual Opening Night presented by Mitchell’s Speedway Press this past Saturday.
Schartner, of Concord, NC drove his father Karl’s brand new homebuilt racer to victory lane in just its first start, holding off series standouts Dave Cliff and Russ Brown for the eventual checkered flag in the 30-lap Pathfiner Bank SBS main event. Saturday’s win was the 13th of Schartner’s career at Oswego and his first in a family built ride. The former Mod Lite competitor now sits sixth on the speedway’s all-time SBS win list.
“This is without a doubt my favorite win so far,” Schartner commented. “The car was great. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of my father and this entire crew. It was very special to get not only a brand new race car, but a car he built me right into victory lane.”
The driver of the No. 18 Beaver River Distribution machine stole the lead from polesitter Kreig Heroth with just under 10 laps to go and it wasn’t long before Cliff, Brown, and Camden Proud followed suit, with Heroth falling back to bring the No. 04 home to a 5th place effort by the end of the night.
Matt Magner, Jack Patrick, Jesse Bearup, Dalton Doyle, and Barry Kingsley rounded out the top ten in the caution free main event.
Heat race wins went to Cliff, Doyle, and Patrick.
Heroth was given the Sherwood Racing Wheels Lap Leader Award, Proud was the recipient of the White’s Car Care 4th Place Award and Brown was awarded the D&S Landscaping Hard Charger Award after starting sixth and driving to third.
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Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Novelis Supermodifieds
Supermodified Feature (50-Laps): 1. 2 – Dave Shullick Jr, 2. 68 – Michael Barnes, 3. 7- Otto Sitterly, 4. 52 – Dave Danzer, 5. – 0 Tim Snyder, 6. 01 – Dan Connors, 7. 05 – Jeff Abold, 8. 83 – Lou LeVea Jr, 9. 94 – Logan Rayvals, 10. 15 – Michael Muldoon, 11. 02 – Brandon Bellinger, 12. 00 – Joe Gosek, 13. 50 – Dave Gruel, 14. 56 – Hal LaTulip, 15. 14 – Joey Payne, 16. 55 – Keith Shampine, 17. 70 – Dave McKnight
Heat 1 (12-laps):1. 02 – Brandon Bellinger, 2. 7 – Otto Sitterly, 3. 00 – Joe Gosek, 4. 0 – Tim Snyder, 5. 2 – Dave Shullick Jr, 6. 06 – Jeff Abold, 7. 50 – Dave Gruel, 8. 94 – Logan Rayvals
Heat 2 (12-laps): 1. 14 – Joey Payne, 2. 55 – Keith Shampine, 3. 15 – Michael Muldoon, 4. 68 – Michael Barnes, 5. 01 – Dan Connors, 6. 52 – Dave Danzer, 7. 83 – Lou LeVea Jr, 8. 56 – Hal LaTulip
Pathfinder Bank Small Block Supermodifieds
Feature (30-laps): 1. 18 – Andrew Schartner, 2. 50 – Dave Cliff, 3. 13 – Russ Brown, 4. 54 – Camden Proud, 5. 04 – Kreig Heroth, 6. 87 – Matt Magner, 7. 9 – Jack Patrick, 8. 37 – Jesse Bearup, 9. 01- Dalton Doyle, 10. 91 – Barry Kingsley, 11. 99 – Dennis Rupert, 12. 88 – Brad Haynes, 13. 90 – Greg O’Connor, 14. 77 – Cameron Rowe, 15. 22 – Mike Bruce, 16. 89 – Tony Pisa, 17. 23 – Cameron Black DNS – Mike Bond, James Babcock
Heat 1 (10-laps): 1. 50 – Dave Cliff, 2. 87 – Matt Magner, 3. 04 – Kreig Heroth, 4. 91 – Barry Kingsley, 5. 88 – Brad Haynes, 6. 23 – Cameron Black
Heat 2 (10-laps): 1. 01 – Dalton Doyle, 2. 74 – Mike Bond, 3. 37 – Jesse Bearup, 4. 54 – Camden Proud, 5. 99 – Dennis Rupert, 6. 22 – Mike Bruce
Heat 3 (10-laps): 1. 9 – Jack Patrick, 2. 77 – Cameron Rowe, 3. 13 – Russ Brown, 4. 18 – Andrew Schartner, 5. 90 – Greg O’Connor, 6. 89 – Tony Pisa
