ISMA Irish Jack Murphy Memorial at Oswego Speedway Cancelled Due to Rain
Shullick and Seitz Fast in Afternoon Practices Before the Rain
On a day when 25 International Supermodified Association race teams were hoping to begin their 2014 season in victory lane, Mother Nature stole the checkered flag at New York’s Oswego Speedway Saturday. Despite a valiant effort from ISMA officials, Oswego Speedway officials and race teams to complete the Irish Jack Murphy Memorial on Saturday, pesky rain showers in the Oswego, New York area forced race officials to cancel the season-opening event.
A number of light rain showers in the early afternoon on Saturday caused slight delays and small adjustments to the practice schedule. Track crews, ISMA officials, and race teams took to the track after each small rain shower to help expedite the track drying process early on.
In an attempt to get as much racing in as possible with the radar showing more showers approaching the race track, race officials made the call to not run time trials and lineup ISMA qualifying heats by combined practice times.
It wasn’t until around 6 p.m. EST, when ISMA qualifying heats were set to begin, that the heaviest shower hit the track and took away the racing surface. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the decreasing temperatures throughout the evening made it increasingly difficult to prepare the racing for the 145+ MPH speeds exhibited by the ISMA Supermodified machines.
Due to more rain being projected through the weather forecast, race officials made the decision to forego the originally scheduled rain date of Sunday, May 4 and cancel the event. Saturday night’s cancellation marked the first time Oswego Speedway has been forced to cancel an event since 2011 when the Torrese family took over the facility.
Grandstand rain checks from Saturday’s event will be honored at Oswego Speedway on either Saturday, May 25 or June 7 when ISMA returns for their season-opening event.
ISMA Supermodified teams will be able to redeem their pit passes on Saturday, June 7. In order for a rain check to be honored it must be presented along with the coinciding wristband. There will be no exceptions in this policy. If a rain check is returned without a wristband, or vice versa, the pit pass redemption will not be honored.
Prior to the cancellation of Saturday’s event and before the heavy rain showers, ISMA teams were able to participate in two separate practice sessions at the 5/8-mile New York oval. A full list of combined results from those two practice sessions can be found below.
ISMA will return to action on Saturday, June 7 at Oswego Speedway for a 50-lap feature event.
For more information on ISMA, visit www.ismasupers.com, “Like” ISMA on Facebook by searching “ISMA” and follow @ISMASupers on Twitter.
INTERNATIONAL SUPERMODIFIED ASSOCIATION
ISMA Irish Jack Murphy Memorial
Overall Practice Results
Oswego Speedway
Oswego, NY
May 3, 2014
Pos. Car Driver Time
1 94s Dave Shullick, Jr. 15.272
2 17 Ben Seitz 15.331
3 84 Mike Lichty 15.338
4 39 Allison Cumens 15.395
5 37 Jeff Locke 15.459
6 11 Chris Perley 15.487
7 79 Jon McKennedy 15.547
8 61 Lou Cicconi 15.561
9 8 Moe Lilje 15.603
10 25 Dan Bowes 15.752
11 78 Mark Sammut 15.934
12 21 Eddie Witkum, Jr. 15.955
13 02 Brandon Bellinger 16.016
14 97 Ryan Gath 16.041
15 64 Jim Paller 16.057
16 65 Tim Ice 16.114
17 74 Rob Summers 16.126
18 55 Mike Keeler 16.204
19 94 Craig Rayvals 16.419
20 1 Kyle Edwards 16.645
21 27 Jamie Timmons 16.699
22 96 Lou LeVea, Sr. 16.816
23 71 Dan McKnight 17.025
24 48 Rich Reid 17.845
25 83 Lou LeVea, Jr. No Time
Sources:51 Sports/ISMA PR