5/25/09
Trent Stephens, Ted Christopher and Dave Gruel Grab Port City 150 Checkers
By Dan Johnson
It was a nice of first’s on opening night 2009 at Oswego Speedway Saturday night, as Trent
Stephens, Ted Christopher and Dave Gruel all took checkered flags in the traditional Port City 150
weekend. Trent Stephens shocked the packed house with the electrifying win in the MSA 40 lap
event, as he picked up the victory in his ever supermodified race. In the Race of Champion
modified race, legendary driver Ted Christopher finally got the monkey off his back, as he
grabbed his first ever Oswego modified win. In the SBS event, Dave Gruel won the 35 lapper in
his first race in the Barbeau 50.
Ray Graham and Jason Spaulding paced the 26 car supermodified field to the green flag for the
40 lap MSA event. Graham grabbed the top spot when the race went green, as the field shuffled
for racing room behind the 90. Ohio drivers Charlie Schultz and Timmy Jedrzejek went to the
inside lane to move forward, while Doug Didero shoes the high side of the speedway.
The race was only a lap old, when the red flag stopped the action on the back side of the
speedway. Newcomer Kyle Edwards looped the #11 out of turn two, directly in front of track
champ Otto Sitterly. Sitterly took evasive action, but slammed the outside wall with great force.
An engine fire flared up on the Sitterly 7, which was quickly extinguished. Michael Barnes and
Jon Henes were also involved in the incident. All the drivers were uninjured, but the Sitterly car
suffered terminal damage to the front end.
Graham quickly shot back away on the take off ahead of Spaulding, but fans began to take
notice of rookie Trent Stephens in the Stout #19. Stephens, who graduated to the supers from
the Buckeye Sprint cars, was making his first ever start in a powerful supermodified. Lap 11,
Stephens trapped Spaulding behind a slower car and wheeled into the runner up spot, 2.57
second behind the high flying Graham.
As Graham circled the track at a clip of 16.37, he began closing in on the slower traffic. Coming
to the halfway point of the race, the complexion of the race changed, as leader Graham suddenly
slowed and pulled off the track in turn four. He later stated that the electrical components of the
90 failed, ending his bid for his first Oswego win.
This turn if events handed the lead to Stephens, who now had Spaulding, Pat Lavery, Randy
Burch in tow. Caution again flew over the speedway just after the halfway point, for Stephen
Gioia and Jack Smith. Burch showed the team car to the leader was strong as well, as he
powered by Lavery for third on the restart, then chased down second place Spaulding a few laps
later for the runner up spot.
Burch needed a caution flag to be able to reel in his team mate, bu that caution never flew.
Stephens wheeled and dealed his way through lapped traffic like a cagey veteran, and remained
clam and cool behind the wheel as he crossed under the double checkered flags first. Burch
followed in second, with his best Oswego run, with Spaulding the first local driver in third.
“I cant believe this!,” the ecstatic winner said in victory lane. “Our first race in a super, let alone
at Oswego. We ran here last year in a sprint car and won, and now in a super, and we’re two for
two. The car ran like a dream, and I never would have dreamt we could have won our first time in
a supermodified, let alone at a historic place like Oswego.”
Second place finisher Randy Burch was just as happy as the winner. “Steve Stout really
knows how to set these cars up! This car is so potent, it was a pleasure to drive. It had so much
power, and handled great. We’ll take a second, especially to our team mate. Congratulations to
Trent, he’s a class act, and drove a great race.”
Jason Spaulding was all smiles in third. “I’ll definitely take a third here with a wing on,” he
added. “To be the first local car, we’re really happy. It’s a great start to the year, and hopefully we
can use this and have a great year coming up.”
In the SBS 35 lap event Jason Simmons and Ken Pierce led the parade of 22 cars to Donnie
Forbes green flag. Gruel raced to the lead from his inside second row starting spot, and survived
the marathon event, which saw only five cars finish on the lead lap. Opening night blues were
suffered by many of the top runners in the division, with numerous crashes slowing the event.
An early front straight away crash ended the night for top runners Dave Danzer and track titlist
Kevin Knopp, while Rob Pullen’s night needed early in his new ride. Tim Barbeau ran strong and
began to chase down the leader, but the motor on the Barbeau driven, Steve Abt owned #58 gave
up, ending Barbeau’s run.
Back up front, Gruel wheeled the Barbeau owned #50 ahead of Russ Brown, Dave Cliff, and Mike
Bond. Cliff chased down Brown in the waning laps for the runner up spot, but needed help to
catch the leader. That help didn’t come, as Gruel easily picked up his first win of the year, and
second in two races during the 50 car/
“It was a long one, but we had a great car tonight,” the Auburn native said after the convincing
win. “It handled great, and we’re really happy to start the year off with the win. “
Coming into this weekend, Ted Christopher has won modified raced all up and down the east
coast, all except for Oswego Speedway. He picked up a ride in the Zacharias car two weeks ago
for this race, and looked to grab that ever elusive checkered flag in the Richie Evans Memorial 75.
Billy Putney was the dominant force in the race, as he took off from his front row starting spot
and took control of the race. Christopher, John Markovic, Jim Storace, and Earl Paules followed
in train like fashion, while fans watched Oswego dominator Matt Hirschman slice his way through
the field. Hirschman had a sub par run in his heat race, and was forced to start deep in the field.
By lap 19, Hirschman worked his way to fifth place, closing in on the leaders.
Two laps later, Hirschman was up to third, as he now trailed only Putney and Christopher, and
a shootout was inevitable between the three hot shoes. Putney held the point, as Christopher
and Hirschman traded paint and positions over the next twenty laps. Jan Leaty wanted to join the
fun, and shot his way to fourth spot, just in the tire tracks of the 7 and 60 cars.
Both Christopher and Hirschman tried to get by leader Putney, but to no avail. As Putney had a
wire to wire victory in sight, caution flew on lap 72. During this caution flag period, the left front
tire on leader Putney’s car locked up, and wouldn’t turn. Putney was forced to pit and change
tires, handing the lead to Christopher.
It was a three lap shootout between the two biggest names in modified racing, Ted Christopher
and Matt Hirschman. Christopher protected the inside lane, with Hirschman not afraid to go to
the outside. As the checkered flag waved, Christopher stayed low, with Hirschman going for the
win and powering off turn four along the boiler plate outside wall. Racing to the checkers,
Christopher edged out Hirschman by a front bumper in the exciting finish.
“Finally, we got a win at Oswego,” Christopher exclaimed in Victory Lane. “This was Billy’s
race, and I feel bad for him, he had us covered tonight. After his misfortune, then we had Matty
behind, and when you race with the Hirschman’s and their stranglehold on Oswego, you know
you did something to get a modified win here at Oswego. This is a big one for us, we’ve been
after a win here for a long time.”
News and Notes…..Heat race wins went to Tim Barbeau, Dave Danzer and Dave Gruel in the
SBS division, Earl Paules, Rusty Smith, TJ Potrzebowski and Darren Scherrer in the RoC cars,
and Jack Smith, Randy Burch and Otto Sitterly in MSA competition. Doug Didero set fast time
with the supers with a lap of 15.377 in time trials.
Port City 150 – MSA 40 lap results
1. Trent Stephens (19), 2. Randy Burch (49), 3. Jason Spaulding (23), 4. Pat Lavery (2), 5. Charlie
Schultz (7), 6. Tim Ice (77), 7. Doug Didero (3), 8. Tim Jedrzejek (8), 9. Joey Payne (99), 10. Jerry
Curran (24), 11. Bobby Reis (88), 12. Jack Smith (09), 13. Bobby Magner (22), 14. Tim Snyder (0),
15. Stephen Gioia, III (9), 16. Ray Graham, (90), 17. Bobby Dawson (28), 18. Gene Lee Gibson (0) 19.
Jon Henes (36), 20. Matt Palmer (21), 21. Danny Connors (01), 22. Kyle Edwards (11), 23. Otto
Sitterly (79), 24. Mikey Barnes (70), 25. Rich Reid (55), 26. Louie LeVea Sr.(03)
Port City 150 SBS 35 results
1. Dave Gruel (50), 2. Dave Cliff (06), 3. Russ Brown (60), 4. Mike Bond (26), 5. Shawn Walker (68),
6. Steve Abt (85), 7. Jack Patrick (9), 8. Jason Simmons (91), 9. Guard Nearbin (78), 10. Brian
Sobus (79), 11. Dennis Rupert (95), 12. Rob Pullen (25), 13. Chip Wood (2), 14. Timmy Barbeau
(58), 15. Stan Gates (28), 16. Barry Kingsley (23), 17. Andrew Schartner, 18. Kenny Pierce (67), 19.
Mark Castiglia (90), 20. Dave Danzer (52), 21. Kevin Knopp (04), 22. George Knight (1).
Trent Stephens, Ted Christopher and Dave Gruel Grab Port City 150 Checkers
By Dan Johnson
It was a nice of first’s on opening night 2009 at Oswego Speedway Saturday night, as Trent
Stephens, Ted Christopher and Dave Gruel all took checkered flags in the traditional Port City 150
weekend. Trent Stephens shocked the packed house with the electrifying win in the MSA 40 lap
event, as he picked up the victory in his ever supermodified race. In the Race of Champion
modified race, legendary driver Ted Christopher finally got the monkey off his back, as he
grabbed his first ever Oswego modified win. In the SBS event, Dave Gruel won the 35 lapper in
his first race in the Barbeau 50.
Ray Graham and Jason Spaulding paced the 26 car supermodified field to the green flag for the
40 lap MSA event. Graham grabbed the top spot when the race went green, as the field shuffled
for racing room behind the 90. Ohio drivers Charlie Schultz and Timmy Jedrzejek went to the
inside lane to move forward, while Doug Didero shoes the high side of the speedway.
The race was only a lap old, when the red flag stopped the action on the back side of the
speedway. Newcomer Kyle Edwards looped the #11 out of turn two, directly in front of track
champ Otto Sitterly. Sitterly took evasive action, but slammed the outside wall with great force.
An engine fire flared up on the Sitterly 7, which was quickly extinguished. Michael Barnes and
Jon Henes were also involved in the incident. All the drivers were uninjured, but the Sitterly car
suffered terminal damage to the front end.
Graham quickly shot back away on the take off ahead of Spaulding, but fans began to take
notice of rookie Trent Stephens in the Stout #19. Stephens, who graduated to the supers from
the Buckeye Sprint cars, was making his first ever start in a powerful supermodified. Lap 11,
Stephens trapped Spaulding behind a slower car and wheeled into the runner up spot, 2.57
second behind the high flying Graham.
As Graham circled the track at a clip of 16.37, he began closing in on the slower traffic. Coming
to the halfway point of the race, the complexion of the race changed, as leader Graham suddenly
slowed and pulled off the track in turn four. He later stated that the electrical components of the
90 failed, ending his bid for his first Oswego win.
This turn if events handed the lead to Stephens, who now had Spaulding, Pat Lavery, Randy
Burch in tow. Caution again flew over the speedway just after the halfway point, for Stephen
Gioia and Jack Smith. Burch showed the team car to the leader was strong as well, as he
powered by Lavery for third on the restart, then chased down second place Spaulding a few laps
later for the runner up spot.
Burch needed a caution flag to be able to reel in his team mate, bu that caution never flew.
Stephens wheeled and dealed his way through lapped traffic like a cagey veteran, and remained
clam and cool behind the wheel as he crossed under the double checkered flags first. Burch
followed in second, with his best Oswego run, with Spaulding the first local driver in third.
“I cant believe this!,” the ecstatic winner said in victory lane. “Our first race in a super, let alone
at Oswego. We ran here last year in a sprint car and won, and now in a super, and we’re two for
two. The car ran like a dream, and I never would have dreamt we could have won our first time in
a supermodified, let alone at a historic place like Oswego.”
Second place finisher Randy Burch was just as happy as the winner. “Steve Stout really
knows how to set these cars up! This car is so potent, it was a pleasure to drive. It had so much
power, and handled great. We’ll take a second, especially to our team mate. Congratulations to
Trent, he’s a class act, and drove a great race.”
Jason Spaulding was all smiles in third. “I’ll definitely take a third here with a wing on,” he
added. “To be the first local car, we’re really happy. It’s a great start to the year, and hopefully we
can use this and have a great year coming up.”
In the SBS 35 lap event Jason Simmons and Ken Pierce led the parade of 22 cars to Donnie
Forbes green flag. Gruel raced to the lead from his inside second row starting spot, and survived
the marathon event, which saw only five cars finish on the lead lap. Opening night blues were
suffered by many of the top runners in the division, with numerous crashes slowing the event.
An early front straight away crash ended the night for top runners Dave Danzer and track titlist
Kevin Knopp, while Rob Pullen’s night needed early in his new ride. Tim Barbeau ran strong and
began to chase down the leader, but the motor on the Barbeau driven, Steve Abt owned #58 gave
up, ending Barbeau’s run.
Back up front, Gruel wheeled the Barbeau owned #50 ahead of Russ Brown, Dave Cliff, and Mike
Bond. Cliff chased down Brown in the waning laps for the runner up spot, but needed help to
catch the leader. That help didn’t come, as Gruel easily picked up his first win of the year, and
second in two races during the 50 car/
“It was a long one, but we had a great car tonight,” the Auburn native said after the convincing
win. “It handled great, and we’re really happy to start the year off with the win. “
Coming into this weekend, Ted Christopher has won modified raced all up and down the east
coast, all except for Oswego Speedway. He picked up a ride in the Zacharias car two weeks ago
for this race, and looked to grab that ever elusive checkered flag in the Richie Evans Memorial 75.
Billy Putney was the dominant force in the race, as he took off from his front row starting spot
and took control of the race. Christopher, John Markovic, Jim Storace, and Earl Paules followed
in train like fashion, while fans watched Oswego dominator Matt Hirschman slice his way through
the field. Hirschman had a sub par run in his heat race, and was forced to start deep in the field.
By lap 19, Hirschman worked his way to fifth place, closing in on the leaders.
Two laps later, Hirschman was up to third, as he now trailed only Putney and Christopher, and
a shootout was inevitable between the three hot shoes. Putney held the point, as Christopher
and Hirschman traded paint and positions over the next twenty laps. Jan Leaty wanted to join the
fun, and shot his way to fourth spot, just in the tire tracks of the 7 and 60 cars.
Both Christopher and Hirschman tried to get by leader Putney, but to no avail. As Putney had a
wire to wire victory in sight, caution flew on lap 72. During this caution flag period, the left front
tire on leader Putney’s car locked up, and wouldn’t turn. Putney was forced to pit and change
tires, handing the lead to Christopher.
It was a three lap shootout between the two biggest names in modified racing, Ted Christopher
and Matt Hirschman. Christopher protected the inside lane, with Hirschman not afraid to go to
the outside. As the checkered flag waved, Christopher stayed low, with Hirschman going for the
win and powering off turn four along the boiler plate outside wall. Racing to the checkers,
Christopher edged out Hirschman by a front bumper in the exciting finish.
“Finally, we got a win at Oswego,” Christopher exclaimed in Victory Lane. “This was Billy’s
race, and I feel bad for him, he had us covered tonight. After his misfortune, then we had Matty
behind, and when you race with the Hirschman’s and their stranglehold on Oswego, you know
you did something to get a modified win here at Oswego. This is a big one for us, we’ve been
after a win here for a long time.”
News and Notes…..Heat race wins went to Tim Barbeau, Dave Danzer and Dave Gruel in the
SBS division, Earl Paules, Rusty Smith, TJ Potrzebowski and Darren Scherrer in the RoC cars,
and Jack Smith, Randy Burch and Otto Sitterly in MSA competition. Doug Didero set fast time
with the supers with a lap of 15.377 in time trials.
Port City 150 – MSA 40 lap results
1. Trent Stephens (19), 2. Randy Burch (49), 3. Jason Spaulding (23), 4. Pat Lavery (2), 5. Charlie
Schultz (7), 6. Tim Ice (77), 7. Doug Didero (3), 8. Tim Jedrzejek (8), 9. Joey Payne (99), 10. Jerry
Curran (24), 11. Bobby Reis (88), 12. Jack Smith (09), 13. Bobby Magner (22), 14. Tim Snyder (0),
15. Stephen Gioia, III (9), 16. Ray Graham, (90), 17. Bobby Dawson (28), 18. Gene Lee Gibson (0) 19.
Jon Henes (36), 20. Matt Palmer (21), 21. Danny Connors (01), 22. Kyle Edwards (11), 23. Otto
Sitterly (79), 24. Mikey Barnes (70), 25. Rich Reid (55), 26. Louie LeVea Sr.(03)
Port City 150 SBS 35 results
1. Dave Gruel (50), 2. Dave Cliff (06), 3. Russ Brown (60), 4. Mike Bond (26), 5. Shawn Walker (68),
6. Steve Abt (85), 7. Jack Patrick (9), 8. Jason Simmons (91), 9. Guard Nearbin (78), 10. Brian
Sobus (79), 11. Dennis Rupert (95), 12. Rob Pullen (25), 13. Chip Wood (2), 14. Timmy Barbeau
(58), 15. Stan Gates (28), 16. Barry Kingsley (23), 17. Andrew Schartner, 18. Kenny Pierce (67), 19.
Mark Castiglia (90), 20. Dave Danzer (52), 21. Kevin Knopp (04), 22. George Knight (1).
