OSWEGO, N.Y. (June 8, 2019) – The annual Twin 35’s for Novels Supermodifieds took place Saturday, June 8 to open the first full month of the 2019 Oswego Speedway racing season and culminate an opening to the season that included back-to-back twin features for supermodifieds for the first time in speedway history.
In what turned out to be a mostly clean night of racing, Otto Sitterly drove his “Black Betty” No. 7 Nicotra Racing supermodified to podium finishes in both rounds of the twin 35-lappers while teammate and recent first-time feature winner Alison Sload posted a pair of top-10 finishes with results of sixth and ninth.
While Jeff Abold and Dave Danzer raced their cars to wins, it would be hard to argue that Sitterly didn’t put on the best show.
Starting sixth in the first feature, Otto was on the charge early and moved into third by lap 6. He would spend most of the remainder of the race challenging Dave Gruel for the No. 2 position. After a fierce battle, Otto would finally get by Gruel on lap 32 and set his sights on leader Abold. But there wasn’t enough time and Otto would have to settle for second after another strong run in the Riccelli Northern / Peaceful Living Home Sales / CORR/Pak 7.
Sitterly would start the nightcap in 10th and again make a hard charge toward the front, this time moving into the third position just past the lap 15 mark. He would work on second-place running Aric Iosue until shooting past the No. 11 on lap 32. Nearly out of time, Otto wasted immediately began to square up leader Dave Danzer. On the final lap, Sitterly would shoot to the inside of Danzer’s No. 52 on entry to turn three. For a brief moment Otto gained the lead, but he would push up the track and out of the groove in the center of turns 3 and 4, giving Danzer and Iosue the open lane to scoot back past the Nicotra Racing machine and slide Otto back to third and the finish stripe.
“The car was good tonight,” Sitterly told LakesideRacingNews.com reporter Chris Porter. “It seems to start off loose and get a little tight at the end. I had a struggle with a couple cars tonight and getting by them. The track got a little narrow a couple of times and that cost me a little bit. I would have liked to have had a few laps to work on the (Abold, in the first race) just to try and ruffle his feathers a little bit and see if we could get something.”
Otto went on to talk about the second race with Porter.
“When I got into second, I knew I was basically out of time. I could see we were catching him rapidly, and he was really tight on exit. I thought the time was right to make a move and he wiggled a little bit out of turn 2 and I’ve raced long enough here to realize when you go by somebody in that situation you need to go by pretty quick before he turns his car into (turn) 3. I tried by best to go past him fast and turn the corner, but it just didn’t quite work out,” Sitterly commented.
With two race nights and four feature events now in the books, one win and four top-five finishes have Sitterly ahead in the Novelis Supermodified point standings by a 17-point margin over Abold. Sload is tied for fourth with Keith Shampine, 50 points back of Otto.
Next up for Nicotra Racing is the first regular night of the season with a single 50-lap feature, in addition to time trials and heat races, this Saturday, June 15.
John Nicotra Racing is a Supermodified race team owned by John Nicotra with drivers Otto Sitterly, Alison Sload and Davey Hamilton. Since our team’s debut in 2007, Nicotra Racing and has won six Budweiser International Classic 200s, nine Oswego Supermodified track championships, three Mr. Supermodified races, nine Jim Shampine Memorials and currently 45 total Oswego feature races. – Otto Sitterly (34); Dave Shullick Jr. (9); Davey Hamilton (1); Alison Sload (1).
Nicotra Racing is proud to be sponsored by Riccelli Northern, CORR/PAK Merchandising, Peaceful Living Home Sales, 5 Brothers Produce, Burnac Produce Limited, Provincial Fruit Co., Flavor First, Georgia Crate & Basket, Rite-Pak Produce, Quality First Produce, Sam Accursio Farms, Ritz-Craft Homes, Torbert Farms, Elite Harvesting and Sunrise Growers.
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