For the next four days, the Oswego Speedway will become the hub of dirt track racing in the United States.
Upwards of 300 racing machines in four classes will take to the transformed dirt oval at the historic 5/8th-mile lakeside track in the Super Bowl of dirt track racing.
Over $400,000 in prize money will be up for grabs, topped off with the $51,000 winner’s check for the victor of the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 finale Sunday afternoon.
Upwards of 30,000 fans are expected this week for Super DIRT Week 51 and all 950 camping sites around the track have been sold out for months. Plenty of good reserved seats in both the front and rear grandstands are still available.
Stewart Friesen is a five-time SDW 200 winner, but was injured in last Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series race at Talladega. He is expected to practice this week in his Halmar modified to see if he can run with some back issues.
In addition to Friesen, eight other former SDW 200 winners are entered for 2023 and they represent 24 wins in the 200. Brett Hearn leads the way with six wins, with Friesen five, Billy Decker four, Matt Sheppard three and Danny Johnson two. Billy Dunn and Larry Wight have each notched a single victory.
New for this Sunday’s finale will be automatic pit stops on lap 75 and 125 for fuel and tires. These stops will help some of the smaller teams with their refueling and tire changes.
Super DIRT Week had a forty-four year run on the New York State Fairgrounds mile track from 1972 to 2015. SDW then moved to Oswego in 2016.
The recent warm, sunny weather has enabled John Wight’s track prep crew time to prepare a smooth, fast racing surface for SDW 2023.
In an effort to preserve the racing surface, only two classes per day will practice and qualify this Thursday and Friday. The feature races this weekend will be run later in the day to help keep the track in top shape.
Tim McCreadie has some unfinished business at Super DIRT Week 51. This Watertown native is a two-time Lucas Oil late model champion and has won the Chili Bowl, the World 100 and 21 Super DIRT Series modified specials.
But “T-Mac” has never won the 200 and he’s entered this year in both the big-block and 358 modified classes. The son of legendary DIRT champion, Bob McCreadie, will be driving the Petruska Family Atlas Paving modifieds this weekend.
Weedsport completes Calavade Cup
The first racing of Super DIRT Week 51 was at Weedsport Speedway Tuesday night for the completion of the rescheduled Cavalade Cup Weekend that was rained out last month.
45 358 DIRT modifieds, 42 sportsman and 22 ESS sprint cars were on hand and the 25-lap ESS feature saw local modified ace, Larry Wight, jump into his Gypsum Express sprinter and score a wire-to-wire, $2,500 victory off the outside pole.
Jason Barney and Chuck Hebing were second and third. Quebec’s Jordan Poirier’s fourth place finish was good enough to nail down his second ESS championship.
The 75-lap main event for the 358′s saw Tim Sears jr. and Ronnie Davis lll lead in the early going, but Erick Rudolph charged up through the field from his 12th starting position and took the lead on the 60th lap and went on for the win.
Ronnie Davis was second, followed by Tim Fuller, Tim Sears Jr., Jordan McCreadie, Jimmy Phelps, Larry Wight, Mike Mahaney, Zach Payne and Billy Dunn
Photo finish
Weedsport’s 75-lap DIRT Sportsman Classic ended up with a photo finish, with Richard Murtaugh just edging out Emmett Waldron by .011 of a second. Cody McPherson was third, followed by Matt Janczuk, Andrew Buff, Ryan Dolbear, Kevin Chaffee, Cody Manitta, Zach Sobotka and Jessica Power.
Eric Wise was the winner of the 20-lap, 600 Micro-sprint main event.
Hurricane Harvey 358 victory to Mat Williamson
Wednesday night’s Hurricane Harvey DIRT 358 modified special at the Brewerton Speedway saw 45 358′s sign into the 3/8th-mile, Route 11 oval.
Second generation standout, Jordan McCreadie, led most of the main event, but Mat Williamson caught him on a lap 56 restart and this St. Catherines, Ontario racer held on for the $4,000 victory.
Matt Caprara and Felix Roy, a pair of young up and coming racers, came in third and fourth. Marc Johnson was fourth, followed by Dave Marcuccilli, Billy Dunn, Brandon Carvey, Tim Sears Jr. and Amy Holland.
Friday’s time trials moved to Thursday
DIRT officials announced Thursday afternoon that due to a poor weather forecast for Friday that the big-block and pro stock time trials will be moved from Friday afternoon to Thursday.
Cars practice on Oswego’s new dirt surface
The four divisions of race cars competing at Super DIRT Week 51 at Oswego Speedway this week got their first shot at running on the new clay surface Wednesday afternoon.
Each division got two practice sessions, with Erick Rudolph recording the quickest time for the DIRT big-blocks. Mat Williamson was fast in the 358 class, with David Rodgers quickest in the sportsman. Pete Stefanski paced the pro stock entries.
Stewart Friesen practiced in both his big-block and 358 mods and is expected to continue to run later this week. Friesen is nursing some back issures from a NASCAR Truck Series crash last Saturday at the Talladega Speedway.
The new clay racing surface at Oswego was smooth and fast for Wednesday’s initial practice session.
Super DIRT Week schedule
Thursday October 5th
2-3:30 p.m. Practice for all classes
3:30 p.m. Pro stock time trials {Top 6 locked in}
5 p.m. DIRT 358 modified time trials (Top 6 locked in}
7:30 p.m. pro stock heats 10 laps each
DIRT 358 modified heats 20 laps each
Friday October 6th
2-4 p.m. practice
4 p.m. DIRT sportsman time trials (Top six locked in)
5:15 p.m. DIRT big-block modified time trials (Top six locked in}
7:30 p.m. DIRT sportsman heats 15 laps
DIRT big-block modified heats 25 laps
Saturday October 7th
2 p.m. Pro stock consi 10 laps
DIRT 358 mod consi 15 laps
4 p.m. pro stock feature 50 laps
6 p.m. DIRT 358 modified feature 150 laps
Sunday October 8th
1 p.m. Dirt sportsman consi 12 laps
2 p.m. DIRT big-block modified consi 15 laps
Source : Syracuse