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Gater News - May 4th, 2008
Oswego Speedway’s opener is officially in the record books.  And I was there!  I’ll tell you what - it was a rough weekend to be a racecar owner, as there was an awful lot of damaged equipment.....

----  Kreig Heroth had a rough opening day, falling victim to a “rookie handicapping” rule that I had never heard of.  Although he raced a few times last year, and showed great promise by time trialing 6th out of 30 cars for last year’s Classic, he’s being treated as if he’s never been on the track before.  It was explained to car owner Chris Lupa that because he has rookie status, that he has to “pay” for that eligibility by starting LAST in his qualifier for the first three weeks. THREE WEEKS!  Here’s what makes this rule so ridiculous:  Heroth is a previous feature winner at Oswego Speedway, a few years back in the Cup Lite series.  He is NOT the guy that shouldn’t be allowed to use his EARNED pole or front row starting spot, just because he is the only driver eligible for rookie status, and just because it is a new year.  Lupa was told that yes, he can have his starting spot that he earned from last year’s competition if he wants it, but then can’t run for rookie of the year, which is a nice honor, and something to put on his resume for the future. That just strikes me as crazy, and ruins the first quarter of the team’s season if he really has to start caboose for three weeks, just to win a ROTY trophy at the end of the year.  That scratch handicapping rule should be reserved for ONLY the driver that you’re concerned will cause an accident if you start him up front, not an accomplished driver who has already proven himself, and already won a feature at the speedway, and turned a 19.7 second lap in his heat, from scratch.

----  And the result?  I bet you can guess.  Heroth was relegated to a 16th place starting position (almost last) in the feature, and was involved in TWO other peoples wrecks before the car was too badly damaged to continue, after the second disaster of the night on lap nine.  A lovely 16th place finish to show for all of their efforts, and a twice-bent racecar.  But be strong, Kreig.  Only two more weeks of starting caboose.  If it doesn’t rain, you’ll be racing by June. Baloney.

Finish SBS 30

1)Mike Bond 26, 2)Kevin Knopp 04, 3)Brian Sobus 79, 4)Josh Larochelle 10, 5)Shawn Walker 68, 6)Jack Patrick 9, 7)Lou Levea Jr. 95, Stan  Gates 28, 9)Jason Simmons 91, 10)Rob Pullen 2, 11)Dave Gruel 18, 12)Ken Pierce 67, 13)Larry Muroski 38, 14)Tim Barbeau 50, 15)Barry Kingsley 23, 16)Krieg Heroth 46, 17)Rick Zeigler 25, 1Bill Moore 7, 19)Guard Nearbin 1