News Director 
Story By: CAMDEN PROUD / OSWEGO SPEEDWAY – OSWEGO, NY – It was only a matter of time before Redwood, NY driver Jesse Bearup picked up his first career victory at the Oswego Speedway.
Bearup, who began competing in the Pathfinder Bank SBS division back in 2014, has had a fast start to his 2017 campaign and this past weekend, the second generation driver finally put his family’s Felder’s Roofing, Route 37 Building Supply homebuilt racer in victory lane following a strong performance to hold off veteran Dalton Doyle.
The driver of the No. 37 started on the pole in the 30-lap, caution free main event and never looked back despite some late race scares in lapped traffic. Bearup found his first win to be a huge rebound for he and his team, after they battled transmission issues all evening long.
“This means the world to my team because we are from some little town way up north and to come down to a track like Oswego with a home built car and win a feature is insane,” Bearup said. “And I’m glad to be able to say I did it after the night we were having made that it all worth it.”
Bearup lead the entire race comfortably until he started to reach lap traffic in the closing 5 laps. This is when things got interesting, but all the 21 year old reminded himself to do was simply “use his head” to work past the slower cars and keep a hard charging Doyle behind him.
“I knew Doyle was coming, he is one fast driver and I couldn’t let my guard down not even for one lap,” Bearup mentioned. “Then I see the lapped cars coming up quickly and I just thought to myself ‘use your head,’ so I made a clean pass on the first car and the second one got my nerves going a bit but I couldn’t let them get to me. It all worked out.”
With points leader Dave Cliff, Andrew Schartner, and last week’s winner Mike Bond all duking it out further back in the top ten, it didn’t take long for the top three of Bearup, Doyle and Barry Kingsley to run away from the pack while the likes of Cliff, Schartner, Jack Patrick, Bond, and Camden Proud tried to work their away around the No. 90 of Greg O’Connor, who brought his newer Hedger Chassis home with a very strong performance in 4th.
All of the battling in the top ten bettered Bearup’s chances for victory and he made the most of them. He described the feeling of seeing Doyle right alongside him on the final circuit, making for a very exciting finish. Bearup was able to hold off the No. 01 going into turn three.
“On the last lap I saw Doyle right next to me so I just focused and literally held the car wide open and it worked, the car stuck. And I won,” Bearup recalled. “My team especially my dad, has busted their asses from the start of this whole thing and I can’t thank them enough along with my crew chief Murray who built the car. I’m glad he’s my crew chief and I wouldn’t want anybody else. Hopefully the car will be ready to race Sunday at Evans Mills.”
With his first ever checkered flag, Bearup became the first new winner in Oswego’s SBS division since the 2014 season. Bearup, Doyle and Kingsley went on to finish one, two and three while O’Connor, Cliff, Schartner, Patrick, Bond, Proud and Brad Haynes rounded out the top ten.
SBS heat races were won by Bond, O’Connor and Kreig Heroth.
The speedway returns to action on Saturday, July 1 featuring an Independence Weekend ‘Grand Prix’ special with a 75-lap main event for the Novelis Supermodifieds and a 35-lap main for the Pathfinder Bank SBS. Fireworks will conclude the evening’s action. Tickets can be purchased by phoning (315)-342-0646.
Oswego Speedway
June 10, 2017
Pathfinder Bank SBS
SBS Group Time Trials: 1. 54 Camden Proud – 18.991, 2. 50 Dave Cliff – 19.073, 3. 37 Jesse Bearup – 19.075, 4. 69 Mark Castiglia – 19.083, 5. 18 Andrew Schartner – 19.161, 6. 01 Dalton Doyle – 19.193, 7. 74 Mike Bond – 19.212, 8. 9 Jack Patrick – 19.281, 9. 91 Barry Kingsley – 19.290, 10. 77 Cameron Rowe – 19.302, 11. 04 Kreig Heroth – 19.314, 12. 90 Greg O’Connor – 19.341, 13. 23 Cameron Black – 19.539, 14. 86 Brad Haynes – 19.555, 15. 15 James Babcock – 19.596, 16. 89 Tony Pisa – 19.697, 17. 14 Alex McRae – 19.715, 18. Dennis Rupert – 20.070, 19. 22 Mike Bruce – 25.880
Heat 1 (10-laps): 1. 74 Mike Bond, 2. 14 Alex McRae, 3. 77 Cameron Rowe, 4. 69 Mark Castiglia, 5. 54 Camden Proud, 6. 23 Cameron Black, DNS – Mike Bruce
Heat 2 (10-laps): 1. 90 Greg O’Connor, 2. 91 Barry Kingsley, 3. 37 Jesse Bearup, 4. 01 Dalton Doyle, 5. 15 James Babcock, 6. 89 Tony Pisa
Heat 3 (10-laps): 1. 04 Kreig Heroth, 2. 9 Jack Patrick, 3. 18 Andrew Schartner, 4. 50 Dave Cliff, 5. 86 Brad Haynes, 6. 99 Dennis Rupert
Feature (30-laps): 1. 37 Jesse Bearup, 2. 01 Dalton Doyle, 3. 91 Barry Kingsley, 4. 90 Greg O’Connor, 5. 50 Dave Cliff, 6. 18 Andrew Schartner, 7. 9 Jack Patrick, 8. 74 Mike Bond, 9. 54 Camden Proud, 10. 86 Brad Haynes, 11. 77 Cameron Rowe, 12. 04 Kreig Heroth, 13. 14 Alex McRae, 14. 15 James Babcock, 15. 69 Mark Castiglia, 16. 89 Tony Pisa DNS – Cameron Black, Dennis Rupert, Mike Bruce
