NEMA Returns to Oswego; Points & Speed on the Minds of Competitors
Bridgewater, MA — The NEMA Midgets and the NEMA Lites will be making one of their longest tows of the season to one of most challenging tracks on the circuit. NEMA returns to the Oswego Speedway in central New York State to be part of the track’s “King of Wings VII” night this Saturday evening.
The midgets share the card with the ISMA Super Modifieds, who will run a fifty lap feature, with the Lites going a 20 lap distance and NEMA a 25 lap card.
The five-eighths-mile oval provided for the fastest laps in the history of NEMA when the club visited last September. John Zych passed Oswego Regular Michael Barnes with fourteen laps on the board last year, setting a blistering pace, running laps nearly a half second faster than the previous track record in the 16.4 range. Randy Cabral was “lurking” behind Zych the whole race and pulled off a heroic pass on the last lap in lapped traffic to take down a surprising win.
As the drivers told correspondent Lou Modestino two years ago, many consider Oswego to be a “rhythm track.” It is a place where if you hit your marks each lap, you end up going faster and faster as the race progresses. None know Oswego better than two veterans who will be competing this weekend – Russ Stoehr, driving the Breault 44, with eight wins at the Big O, and Joey Payne, who will be in the Bertrand Motorsports #74 this weekend, a long time weekly Oswego super modified competitor.
“I’ve been looking forward to this weekend all year,” said Payne. “When Timmy came up to me last year and said ‘I want you in one of my cars here next year’, it was a no brainer. I’m incredibly excited,” he said.
Add in any of the other podium finishers from this season and it’s anyone’s guess as to who will bring home the trophy. Points are in consideration for this race as well. John Zych goes into Oswego with a fairly narrow margin over teammates Todd Bertrand and Randy Cabral. In the Lites, Danny Cugini leads Anthony Payne and Cabral.
The gates open at 1:30 this Saturday with practice taking place at 3PM. NEMA will be using its “open” time trial format for this Saturday’s race, another element that will create excitement and may produce a surprise result for the fans.
Sources: Tim Bertrand/NEMA PR