By Bill Foley
Sixteen more spots were filled for Sunday’s Chevy Performance 75 as 90 DIRTcar Sportsman ran four 15-lap qualifying races on Friday night at the Oswego Speedway.
Robert Bublak, Will Shields, Dave Constantino and Ryan Stabler had relatively easy victories in outdistancing fields of more than 20 cars.
Bublak Wins First Qualifier
After an initial start that saw Bob Henry Jr. grab the lead the yellow came out immediately for a complete restart.
Bublak took over as the green flag flew and Henry settled into second place. However, on the fifth lap a strong challenge was initiated by Andrew Buff who crept up on the rear end of Henry’s 79 as the duo raced off of turn two.
The green to checker event saw Bublack and half a second ahead of Henry Jr. and following were Buff and James Michael Friesen earning qualifying spots in the Sunday Chevy Performance 200.
Guaranteed starters Dave Marcuccilli started at the rear and used it as a shake down run and Jackson Gill decided not to put his car on the track.
Results
Robert Bublak, Bob Henry Jr., Andrew Buff, James Michael Friesen, Andrew Smith, Bucko Branham, D.J. Forbes, Chris Cayea, Dalton Rombough, David Manchester, Jeff Taylor, Tim Devendorf, James Spanno, Earl Rudy, Jamy Bagor, Ben Bushaw, Corey Barker, Norman Hamel, Brandon Carvey, Bobby Flood, Torrey Stoughtenger, Dave Marcuccilli.
Shields Runs in Front
In a caution filled 15 lapper Will Shields was ahead of most of the difficulties as he outran Martin Pelletier by 1.1 second and Kyle Inman by 1.4 seconds as the trio will be joined by fourth place (and eighth place starter in the heat) Jessica Power on Sunday.
The first yellow came out for a turn four incident on lap one for spinning Bobby Deleon and Kearra Backus.
After the restart a gaggle of cars got together between three and four with Oswego Speedway legend Joe Gosek getting pushed up the track and caught against the wall. The squeeze play put him in motion as the car flipped two and a half times before coming to rest on its side. Gosek crawled out uninjured, but the car was the worst accident thus far of Super Dirt Week 2018.
Not only was Gosek’s car heavily damaged, but Tighe Sherlock also received the hook treatment for front end damange. The Chris Hulsizer ride was also involved as was Cole Hentshcel.
Power moved into fourth on the restart as she made a low move off turn two under Corey Cormier and near the end she was feeling some pressure from Pablo Pascarella and Mike Fowler, but she earned her spot in the main event.
Guaranteed starters from time trials, Kevin Root and David Schilling, did some testing far behind the field, but used this as a test session.
Results
Will Shields, Martin Pellitier, Kyle Inman, Jessica Power, Pablo Pascarella, Mike Fowler, Mike Stacy, Corey Cormier, Dan Kapuscinski, Zach Sobotka, Addison Bowman, Steve Gray, Tyler Corcoran, Michael Sabia, Kearra Backus, Kevin Root, C.J. Castelletti, Cole Hentschel, Joe Gosek, Chris Hulsizer, Tighe Sherlock, David Schilling, Bobby Deleon.
Constantino Advances
Only two yellow flag periods hampered Dave Constantino’s run to victory in the third race of the night.
Guaranteed starter Adam McAuliffe sat this one out as he coasted around the tail end of the field.
From the green the outside polesitter took the lead and Constantino held on for an eight-tenths of a second win over Connor Cleveland.
Robert Delormier found himself back in third after starting on the pole, but he was still handily in third.
With five laps to go Brad Rouse, running fourth, got around in the first turn and backed into the wall while Cedric Gavureau collided with the 18R.
That shuffled the standings with five laps to go and in the end Constantino, Cleveland, Darryl Nutting (from his seventh starting spot) and Delormier qualified for the big show.
Results
Dave Constantino, Connor Cleveland, Darryl Nutting, Robert Delormier, A.J. Lloyd, Chris Burek, Ryan McCartney, Amy Holland, Tristan Draper. J.J. Courcy, Chris Corbett, Brian Hudson, Tyler Murray, Chris Mackey, Cedric Gavureau, Ricky Thompson, John Virglio, Robert Gage, Devin Willis, Rick Miller, Brad Rouse, Nick Heywood, Adam McAluliffe.
Stabler Wins Finale
In the last race of the night Ryan Stabler took off at the green while Jeremy Pitts and Tyler Thompson were dicing for second and third.
It remained that way throughout the race with the positions remaining the same.
Alan Fink was scrambling to hold on to the final available qualifying spot for the night, but Brianna Ladouceur was stalking him throughout the final laps.
Once again the yellow flag remained in the holster of starter Dave Farney as Stabler won by 1.3 seconds over Pitts.
Results
Ryan Stabler, Jeremy Pitts, Tyler Thompson, Alan Fink, Brianna Ladouceur, Kevin Chaffee, Willy Decker Jr., Jean Francois Tessier, Alex Lajoie, Matt Steffenhagen, Dave Rogers, Tom Juno, Joe Hall, Adam Rozen, Joe Williams, Rich Rogola, Fred Proctor, Griffen Mansmith, Henry Desormeau, Chris Thurston, Cody Clark.
