Sherwood Runs To First Ever RoC Asphalt Modified Series Win

Story By: RACE OF CHAMPIONS – OSWEGO, NY – Bryan Sherwood of Binghamton, N.Y., made a clean sweep at the Oswego Speedway on Saturday afternoon en route to picking up his first career win in the Race of Champions Modified series. Sherwood set fast time, won his heat before dominating the 61-lap Richie Evans Memorial.

“I have to thank everyone for their time, effort and support,” stated Sherwood from Race of Champions Modified Series victory lane fueled by Sunoco. “It was a big day for us and when you have a day like this, you can’t let it get it away from you. Those last few laps were really nerve racking but we closed the deal. This is just incredible.”

For the feature, Sherwood started on the pole with Daryl Lewis alongside. Lewis inched past Sherwood at the start finish line to actually register on the scoring system as the leader of the first lap. The pair ran one two during the opening stages as everyone settled in and conserved their equipment for later in the race. At times Sherwood opened up a healthy advantage over Lewis.

Sherwood held the lead before the first caution came on lap 23 as Karl Hehr slowed on the backstretch with mechanical issues. This brought the first restart of the race. Sherwood stayed in front while Lewis got a good restart to stay second.

On lap 24 another caution was needed as Kirk Totten got the wall on the inside of turns three and four. Sherwood kept pace at the front, but Lewis didn’t get a great restart which saw him drop out of the top five. As Lewis dropped, Mike Leaty emerged as a contender. Leaty worked Sherwood before falling in line in second.

The pace of the feature was slowed one final time on lap 39. Sherwood chose the bottom for the restart with Leaty now to the outside. Like he’d done all day, Sherwood stayed the course in front while Tyler Rypkema now moved into second.

Rypkema began applying heavy pressure to Sherwood as he looked for a way by. Although he had a slightly faster car, he just couldn’t find a clear path to get by Sherwood as he maintained his lane on the bottom.

As they raced for the lead, Andy Jankowiak, Patrick Emerling and Tommy Catalano had a stellar battle going for third. The duo were working over one another hard as they each looked to gain an advantage.

With less than 10 to go, Rypkema bobbled getting into the first turn. He made slight contact with Sherwood. He hit the brakes to prevent himself from getting into the leader which shot him up the track. This opened the door for Jankowiak, Emerling and Catalano to move on by.

In the closing stages Sherwood drove away as Jankowiak had his hands full with hard pressing Emerling. Emerling worked him over to no avail. At the checkered flag it was Sherwood claiming his first ever series victory.

Jankowiak, the opening round winner at Lancaster Speedway, finished in second while Emerling ended up third. Catalano got his best finish in the Series and Modified division as he finished fourth. Rypkema held on to finish in fifth.

Sherwood set the fastest time in qualifying and won a qualifying race while George Skora of Eden, N.Y., won the second qualifying race.

The Race of Champions is a sanctioning body presenting Modified and Stock Car racing on asphalt and dirt surfaces throughout the Northeast, with events in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The 67th annual Race of Champions weekend will take place in 2017 at Lake Erie Speedway in North East, Pennsylvania and is the second longest consecutive auto-racing event in North America, second only to the Indianapolis 500.

Feature Finish
Richie Evans Memorial ‘61’
Oswego Speedway, Oswego, NY.

Finishing Position, Car Number, Driver, Laps Completed, Reason Out (If Any)

Pos No. Name Laps
1 95 Bryan Sherwood 61
2 12x Andy Jankowiak 61
3 07 Patrick Emerling 61
4 54 Tommy Catalano 61
5 32 Tyler Rypkema 61
6 71 Jimmy Zacharias 61
7 65 George Skora 61
8 25 Mike Leaty 61
9 3 Daren Scherer 61
10 10 Daryl Lewis 61
11 1 Chris Ridsdale 61
12 40 Tommy Rought 60
13 64 Amy Catalano 38
14 11 Kirk Totten 23
15 59 Karl Hehr 19
16 04 Kreig Heroth 10

Time of Race: 35 minutes 26 seconds Average Speed 82.389 mph

Margin of victory: 0.453 seconds Fast Qualifying Lap: Bryan Sherwood / 17.832 seconds @ 126.380 mph

Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers (Daryl Lewis Lap 1, Bryan Sherwood 2-61)

Qualifying Race Results:

Qualifying Race 1

Pos No. Name
1 95 Bryan Sherwood
2 25 Mike Leaty
3 07 Patrick Emerling
4 71 Jimmy Zacharias
5 54 Tommy Catalano
6 3 Daren Scherer
7 12x Andy Jankowiak
8 4 Kreig Heroth

Qualifying Race 2

Pos No. Name
1 65 George Skora
2 10 Daryl Lewis
3 32 Tyler Rypkema
4 64 Amy Catalano
5 59 Karl Hehr
6 11 Kirk Totten
7 1 Chris Ridsdale
8 40 Tommy Rought

Point Standings following Oswego Speedway (Including Fastest Qualifying Time and Qualifying Race Bonus) 05/13/2017:

Pos No. Name Total
1 12x Andy Jankowiak 205
2 07 Patrick Emerling 188
3 95 Bryan Sherwood 183
4 65 George Skora 179
5 32 Tyler Rypkema 153
6 54 Tommy Catalano 142
7 3 Daren Scherer 141
8 25 Mike Leaty 134
9 10 Daryl Lewis 118
10 64 Amy Catalano 111
11 11 Kirk Totten 108
12 59 Karl Hehr 100
13 22 Chuck Hossfeld 83
14 71 Jimmy Zacharias 72
15 01 Cam Barber 69
16 51 TJ Potrzebowski 66
17 7ny Kevin Miller 60
18 1 Chris Ridsdale 58
19 40 Tommy Rought 56
20 40 Alan Bookmiller 54
21 04 Kreig Heroth 48
22 25r John Ramsay 20