OSWEGO, N.Y. — After winning back here on Labor Day weekend Jan Leaty made himself the favorite to win the 57th Sunoco Race of Champions Saturday night at Oswego Speedway.
Leaty made the pre-race oddsmakers look like geniuses as his game plan of how to win this race worked to perfection.
Leaty, who started on the pole, pitted for tires on lap 134 and used the late pit-stop strategy perfectly, as he took the lead from Wilbur Hebing on lap 183.
Then Leaty held off the relentless challenges of Matt Hirschman over the final eight laps to secure the $10,000 triumph.
Hebing slipped back to third with J.R. Kent coming home fourth and Chuck Hossfeld ending up fifth.
“This is a nice little place to have 50 miles from home “ said Leaty, who won the first RoC race at Oswego in 1996. “We’re really lucky as I have a good group around me, my team they gave me a great pit stop and that was the difference in the race.
“If Matt would have gotten out in front of me things would have been totally different. We’re a team as we all work hard together and I’m fortunate.”
The finish:
Jan Leaty, Matt Hirschman, Wilbur Hebing, J.R. Kent, Chuck Hossfeld, Pete Brittain, Buck Catalano, Billy Putney, Daren Scherer, Lee Sherwood, John Markovic, Rick Zacharias, Phil Slater, Tommy Farrell III, Eddie Hawkins, T.J. Potrzebowski, Larry Fisher, Jimmy Zacharias, Bobby Holmes, Jim Storace, Earl Paules, Zane Zeiner, Eric Beers, Erick Rudolph, Chris Finocchario, John Bennett, Rick Kluth, Woody Pitkat, Tony Hirschman, Sege Fidanza, Patsy Catalano, Rusty Smith, Greg Furlong, Bill Mislin, Bob Reis, J.R. Swansbrough, Chris Zacharias, Tommy Kinsella, Mike Leaty, Doug Reaume.