ADIRONDACK INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY REGULARS TURN IN TOP PERFORMANCES AT OSWEGO’S RACE OF CHAMPIONS WEEKEND

NEW BREMEN (NY) – With the historic 57^th Annual Race of Champions Weekend festivities capping off the 2007 season at the Oswego Speedway, several competitors from the Adirondack International Speedway continued their race season outside AIS, competing in the early fall classic at the “Steel Palace”.

            Some having never competed at Oswego, while some are rather familiar with the 5/8^th’s-mile surface, a total of five Late Model competitors as well as five Adirondack Sport Compact competitors made the trip down.

            In the Race of Champions “Mini-Stock” Open on Friday night Lowville’s Jason Brigham was the top shoe recording the feature win over none other than four fellow competitors. Scott Shafer, Tom Dubach, Andre Roggie, and Rudy Widrick all drove their respective racers into the top-five of the 28-car field proving that the Adirondack International Speedway simply makes up the best of the best in four-cylinder competition in the Northeast. For Brigham it was the second time the former Adirondack Track Champion sat in a drivers seat all year long and this time it was in his No. 4 Honda Civic that his father Al drove to the ’07 title at AIS. Roggie, who completed his first season in the Late Model ranks with an impressive “Rookie of the Year” honor, took the formerly driven Henry Walseman car down. Roggie was there to defend his title and did so respectively.

            One day later, the gates swung open for another three divisions of racing. In support of the Race of Champions 200 for the open-wheel modifieds, the Cup Lites, Late Models, and Super Stocks were in competition. In the Late Models, four-time AIS track champion John Papin had his No. 50 loaded for bare with fellow competitors Lee Gill, Tommy Cloce, Erik Cupernall and Spencer MacPherson.

            Gill, who started his heat in the 10^th position and went on for an impressive second redrew the 10^th position for his starting spot in the 50-lap main. Cloce, who did one better than Gill in winning his heat, did one worse for the redraw, pulling starting position number 11. Papin, who finished third in his heat, was fortunate to redraw position number three for the feature event.

            When the 50 lap main was in the books, the feature finish showed Gill finishing second with Cloce taking fourth. Papin took ninth with Cupernall holding on for a solid 15^th. MacPherson unfortunately did not finish after an accident in the first half of the event took him out of competition. Impressive through and through was Lee Gill passing several good cars through the day including Western New York hotshoe Todd Hoddick, Lancaster Champion Bill Weber as well as several others. After finishing second to 2006 & 2007 MAARA Late Model Champion, Will Thomas in the heat race event, Lee did so again in the feature after Thomas had drawn the pole position. Lee showed as the faster car on several occasions but Thomas drove a flawless race en route to his victory.

            In the early stages of the feature event Papin had went pitside for some mechanical troubles but returned to battle back into the top-10. Cupernall fought the ugly stick off for the entire race, being a victim of circumstances on several occasions, Erik fought through and finished the race with his battered No. 61.

            Notes: All Late Model competitors represented Adirondack with “ADIRONDACK” decals stuck across the very top of their windshields. The added character got the attention of Speedway Announcers Dave Buchanan and Mike Paz as the two complimented AIS management for the promotional idea. Furthermore, an Adirondack feature story took up a full page of the official program of the Race of Champions Weekend. The story was triggered at the ultra-competitive fleet of Adirondack drivers making the trek down to Oswego. A trek that eventually turned into a very successful one…