One Last Chance for the Sportsman Modifieds

by Bill Foley

NAPA Super Dirt Week DIRTCar Sportsmen qualifying, at the Oswego Speedway, for the Sunday afternoon Chevy Performance 75 came down to three 10 lap events on Saturday night.

Nine positions were at stake for the over 60 drivers who were hoping to qualify for their major event of the year.
Brianna Ladouceur, Zach Sobotka and Bucko Branham came across the line first as they cemented their berth in Sunday’s main event.

Ladouceur Victorious

Polesitter and Mohawk International Raceway Champion Ladouceur jumped out to the early lead and Pablo Pascarella, who started on the outside of the front row, held on to the qualifying spot until the eighth lap when Willy Decker Jr. got past.

Brianna and Decker escaped from the rest of the field, but Pascarella was feeling the pressure from Mike Fowler who got past with just two laps to go and earned the final qualifying position by nearly eight car lengths.

The race was marred by a yellow early on for Tighe Sherlock as he needed a hook to remove him from the top of the front stretch and Adam Rozen took a hard ride along the backstretch wall.

At the checker Pascarella and David Manchester rounded out the top five.

Last Chance Showdown #1 Results: Brianna Ladouceur, William Decker Jr., Mike Fowler, Pablo Pascarella, David Manchester, D.J. Forbes, Dave Rogers, Dan Kapuscinski, Amy Holland, John Virgillio, Cedric Gauvreau, Brian Hudson, Ricky Thompson, Tyler Corcoran, Brandon Carvey, Griffen Mansmith, Earl Rudy, Cole Hentschel, Adam Rozen, Tighe Sherlock.

Sobotka Qualifies

Zach Sobotka, A.J. Lloyd and Mike Stacey started one-two-three and finished exactly in that order in the second race of the night.
Sobotka felt some early pressure from Lloyd, but the duo was able to pull away from the rest of the field.

Earl on Chris Burek was holding down the third spot, but on the fourth lap Stacey pulled alongside and they raced and entire lap side-by-side with sparks flying from contact. Stacey got the edge.

However, on the sixth lap Tristan Draper had moved into fourth and attempted to close in.

At the checker Sobotka had a1.87 second win over Lloyd with Stacey two seconds behind the leader. Completing the top five were Draper and Burek.

On the opening lap a backstretch accident involving Tyler Murray, Fred Proctor and Tyler Felix sent Felix off on the hook. It was the second time during SDW he was assisted from the track as at Weedsport on Wednesday the car ended up on its top.

Last Chance Showdown #2 Results: Zach Sobotka, A.J. Lloyd, Mike Stacey, Tristan Draper, Chris Burek, Chris Cayea, Jean Francois Tessier, Michael Sabia, Jamy Bagor, Addison Bowman, Tim Devendorf, J.J. Courcy, Tom Juno, Robert Gage, Chris Thurston, Joe Williams, Felix Murray, Tyler Murray, Fred Proctor.

Final to Bucko

Bucko Branham started outside the first row in the final 10 lapper. He out dragged pole sitter Corey Barker to the first turn and built up an early advantage.

While Barker, Ryan McCartney and Kevin Chaffee were contesting the final two qualifying spots the action behind them was nothing sort of chaotic as Dalton Rombough, Matt Steffenhagen, Alex LaJoie, and Corey Cormier were in a mad scramble.

With two laps to go the yellow came out for Torrey Stoughtenger and the ensuing restart was costly for Barker as he got shuffled and ended up out of a starting spot for the big race.

Last Chance Showdown #3 Results: Bucko Branham, Ryan McCartney, Chris Corbett, Kevin Chaffee, Corey Cormier, Corey Barker, Matt Steffenhagen, Alex LaJoie, Chris Hulsizer, Chris Mackey, Nick Heywood, Dalton Rombough, Devin Willis, Kearra Backus, Joel Hall, Ben Beshaw, Normand Hamel, Steve Gray, James Spano, Torrey Stoughtenger.

CHEVY PERFORMANCE 75 LINEUP