OSWEGO, NY… Day three of the 61st edition of the Race of Champions Weekend came to a conclusion on Sunday afternoon at the Oswego Speedway after the completion of the Sportsman, Late Models and the Factory Stocks. Bobby Holmes won his first career event at the Race of Champions Weekend after winning the RoC Sportsman 100 while Zane Zeiner was victorious in the Late Model 100 and Tom Casagrande won in the Factory Stock event.
Lockport, NY pilot Bobby Holmes and Ontario’s Amy
Catalano led the stout field of Sportsman to Race of Champions Hall of Famer
Jim Burleigh’s green flag for the 100 lap event presented by the 2012
Motorsports Expo and the Gater Racing News and it was Holmes out front early. A
multi-car pile-up on the first go around after Daryl Lewis Jr lost control of
his Lewis Racing entry and slid into the turn three foam. Chris Finocchario,
Chip Wanamaker, Andy Jankowiak, Jessie Kent and Kevin Lewis were all involved.
On the lap five restart it was Holmes leading the
husband-wife duo of Dave and Amy Catalano with Zane Zeiner and Nick Capelli
running in the top five. The second yellow of the event occurred on lap seven
when Dunn Tire Raceway Park regular Craig Dolphin lost the handle of his ride
on the front straightaway after contact with Tony Hanbury. Dolphin was able to rejoin the field with
Hanbury going to the rear of the field for his involvement with the caution.
The lap 13 restart saw Holmes and Dave Catalano run
one-two with Zeiner and Mike Leaty running in the top four and Catalano got
loose coming off of turn four, letting Zeiner and brother Buck Catalano on by
the CP Ward General Contracting, PJ Radiator, Catalano Motorsports entry. Out
front, Holmes with his DQ Properties, Original Pizza Logs entry was pulling
away from Buck Catalano and RoC 200 and defending race winner Zane Zeiner in
the top three with Dave Catalano and Nick Capelli rounding out the top five at
the one-quarter mark in the event.
On lap 29, Mike Leaty and Nick Capelli would get around
Dave Catalano with his wife Amy and Tony Hanbury chasing him down. One lap
later, Catalano would pull his 54 mount pit side and out of the event. Craig
Dolphin would also drop out of the event on lap 33 as did Erich Stritzel. With Holmes in command, Zane Zeiner looked to
the outside of Buck Catalano for the second spot and would clear the elder
Catalano in turn three. Couple of laps later, Mike Leaty would do the same
thing to Catalano but it took Leaty to turn one on lap 39 for position number
three. On lap 42, Jessie Kent lost the
ride of his Kent Racing 16 entry into the turn one foam to slow the field down
for the third time on the afternoon. On the restart, Holmes and Zeiner would
pull away but not by much over Leaty and Capelli.
When the field crossed the halfway mark, Holmes continued
to lead the field around the “Steel Palace” with Zeiner, Leaty, Capelli, Buck
Catalano, Hanbury, Amy Catalano, Matt Kurzejewski, Bryan Sherwood and Daryl
Lewis Jr running in the top ten. As the
race went on, Tony Hanbury was the fastest car on the speedway as the former
winner of the event was trying to continue his charge to the front of the
field, running in fifth after the 64th circuit around the famed 5/8th’s
oval on the shores of Lake Ontario. The leaders were reeling on lap traffic as
the race hit the three-quarter mark with Zeiner within a car length with the
defending race winner tried the bottom side to get around Holmes but the Dunn
Tire Raceway Park regular Holmes shut the door on Zeiner.
The caution would come out once again on lap 73 for Krieg
Heroth going up in smoke. It was a tough break for the winner of the Small
Block Supermodified event on Friday night of RoC Weekend. During the caution,
Buck Catalano and Tony Hanbury went down pit road for a tire change.
The lap 78 restart saw Holmes continue to show the field
around the “Steel Palace” on the bottom side of the speedway with Zeiner, Leaty
and Capelli right there fighting for the second spot with Amy Catalano running
in fifth. Bryan Sherwood would spin in turn four with just eleven laps
remaining to bring out the yellow flag for the fifth time in the event.
The caution set up a four lap shootout with the top four
pulling away with Hanbury trying to get around Amy Catalano for fifth place.
The race was on but no one could catch Bobby Holmes as he won over Zane Zeiner,
Mike Leaty, Nick Capelli, Amy Catalano, Tony Hanbury, Matt Kurzejewski, Daryl
Lewis Jr, Buck Catalano and Rusty Smith completing the top ten.
“Love to race here and I love to be here at Oswego”. “We
had a push late and Uncle Mike made a great call and I can’t believe we are
standing here” said Holmes in victory lane. Runner up finisher Zane Zeiner said
that “I had a push on short runs but got better as the race went on”. For Holmes, it was his
In the TJ Toyota/Waite Toyota 100 it was Western New York
pilot Ron Nurmi and Brian stone on the front row and it was Nurmi out front
with Austin Kochenas, Jeffrey Brown, Zane Zeiner and Scott Wylie running in the
top five.
Nurmi and Brown would pull away from the field of Late
Models as Zeiner would pass Kochenas for third on lap 17 and Scott Wylie would
try and do the same thing but was unsuccessful as the field crossed the stripe
and completed lap 20. Travis Fisher and Bobby Weber were right there behind the
battle for fourth as the leaders were pulling away from the field.
A short time later, Wylie would get the pass for fourth
with Fisher and Weber getting around Kochenas before lap 25. The field of cars
was stretched all around the “Steel Palace” and Fisher continued his way
through the field as he got around Scott Wylie for the fourth position.
The leaders had the fastest cars of the event early on
and the first yellow of the event came out on lap 44 for a spinning Joe
Berretta on the front straightaway. Beretta was running just inside the top ten
before the spin in front of the starter’s stand. Jeff Brown, Austin Kochenas
and Bobby Weber went pit side and made changes and all were able to rejoin the
field for the lap 48 restart.
Nurmi had some company in the names of Zane Zeiner and
Travis Fisher on the restart with Scott Wylie right there as well. At the
halfway mark, Nurmi continued to show the way over Zeiner, Fisher, Wylie and
Jeff Brown in the top five. Zeiner would wait ten more laps before passing
Nurmi for the lead with Fisher and Brown also going under the veteran driver
from Western New York for positions two and three respectively.
The caution lights would come back on lap 66 for the
second time for a spinning Scott Wylie. The third generation driver would be
able to continue to rejoin at the back of the field. The restart saw Zane
Zeiner pull out with a big advantage over Fisher and Brown. Problems for early
race leader Ron Nurmi as he went under power and went down pit road. Nurmi
rejoined the field several laps down.
Jeff Brown worked for several laps trying to get around
Travis Fisher for second and passed him with 15 laps remaining. The race was on
for third on back with Fisher, Weber, Kochenas and Wylie right there all
fighting for the same part of real estate.
Zane Zeiner dominated the second half of the Late Model
event and he won his second event of the weekend at Oswego. Jeff Brown finished
in second followed by Weber, Fisher and Kochenas rounding out the top five.
Tom Casagrande led from wire to wire to claim the
French’s Auto Parts Factory Stock feature event at the Oswego Speedway.
Casagrande would get around both Brandon Oltra, and Keith Frankenfield to claim
the checkered flag for the second time in his career. Casagrande never looked behind him and in
victory lane, stated that he “had fun and loves racing at Oswego for the Race
of Champions”.
2012 Motorsports Expo Presented by Gater Racing News RoC
Sportsman 100: BOBBY HOLMES, Zane Zeiner, Mike Leaty, Nick Capelli, Amy
Catalano, Tony Hanbury, Matt Kurzejewski, Daryl Lewis Jr., Buck Catalano, Rusty
Smith, Andy Lewis, Kevin Lewis, Bryan Sherwood, Jody Buckley, Kreig Heroth,
Dick Kluth, Chip Wanamaker, Erich Stritzel, Craig Dolphin, Dave Catalano, Jessie
Kent, Andy Jankowiak, Chris Finocchario and Eddie Hawkins DNQ: Jimmy Zacharias,
Lexi Wilson, Russ Brown, Matt Clemens, Barry Fitzgerald
Heat Winners: Mike Leaty, Tony Hanbury, Zane Zeiner,
Daryl Lewis Jr
Consolation Winner: Jody Buckley
TJ/Waite Toyota RoC Late Model 100: ZANE ZEINER, Jeff
Brown, Bobby Weber, Travis Fisher, Austin Kochenas, Scott Wylie, Joe Beretta,
Brian Stone, Ron Nurmi, Geno Steigerwalt.
Gater News best Appearing Car: Geno Steigerwalt
Fast time: Bobby Weber (18.870 sec. 119.237mph)
French’s Auto Parts RoC Factory Stocks: TOM CASAGRANDE,
Brandon Oltra, and Keith Frankenfield
Heat Winner: Tom Casagrande
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