Second career Sportsman Series win for Tuttle in first SDW visit
Escaping the clutches of lapped traffic with five laps to go, Cameron Tuttle had a comfortable lead, but was unaware of the furious drive coming from behind him.
Zach Sobotka, the 2021 Brewerton Speedway Sportsman Modified track champion from Parish, NY, cleared the pack of slower traffic in front of him and set his sights on leader Tuttle with just three circuits remaining. By the wave of the white flag, Sobotka had reeled Tuttle nearly all the way in and knew it was time to make a move.
“Coming out of Turn 2, I didn’t think I had enough for [Tuttle] to even get in there,” Sobotka said. “I just drove in wide-open pretty much going into 3.”
With one swift motion, Sobotka uncorked a slide job on Tuttle in Turns 3-4. But Tuttle held strong on the top side and denied the pass on corner exit, zooming by Sobotka with the lead and the $1,000 Hurricane Harvey 30 check at the stripe.
“That was the best race I’ve ever been in,” Tuttle said.
Getting into Turn 3 on the final lap, Tuttle had just realized Sobotka was coming.
“I thought I heard him coming out of Turn 2 on the last lap, and I didn’t see [Sobotka],” Tuttle said. “I was trying to look up at the [DIRTVision big screen] up there, but I couldn’t see him, so lap car around. Then, he dove under me, so I just kept it to the wood on the top and it was a drag race to the line.”
After battling hard to get on the podium in the final circuits, Sobotka had zero intentions of settling for second once he got out of lapped traffic.
“I was just trying to get to [Tuttle’s] bumper and see what I could make happen in Turns 3-4,” Sobotka said. “If I was a little bit closer, I might have been able to do it, but it was definitely close.”
Tuttle had led since the drop of the green and made quick work of traffic with a racecar setup to his liking. He lost barely any ground to the rest of the field in the first 20 laps, even with multiple lane changes to get through traffic.
“Going through lapped traffic, I could put it on the bottom, I could put it in the middle, and it would still get the drive off the corner that I needed,” Tuttle said. “Multiple lanes to race in made for a phenomenal race.”
The win was the second of his Sportsman Modified Series campaign this season after capturing the Western USA Region points title. He now turns his attention to qualifying for his first career Chevy Performance 75 appearance at Oswego Speedway on Friday.
“It’s a huge confidence booster going into tomorrow,” Tuttle said. “This is our first time going to Oswego, and we haven’t had time to travel around this year to actually see how the car’s gonna do against all these guys.”
Sobotka came home second after a drive from ninth to a near victory in the final corner. One more caution flag, and he said the finish could have been different.
“I saw the flagger give five-to-go and I was stuck behind a couple lap cars, and I split ‘em all three wide and kinda slid them,” Sobotka said. “I feel like I needed a caution really bad.”
Will Shields hung on for third while Brian Calabrese and Wednesday night’s winner Chris Mackey completed the top-five.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Sportsman Modified action continues at Oswego Speedway on Friday afternoon with a Hot Lap session before Time Trials to lock-in the first three rows of Sunday’s Chevy Performance 75 as part of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week XLIX.
Catch all the action live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.
Feature (30 Laps) 1. 35T-Cameron Tuttle [1][$1,000]; 2. 38S-Zach Sobotka [9][$600]; 3. 82S-Will Shields [3][$450]; 4. 21C-Brian Calabrese [2][$325]; 5. 3M-Chris Mackey [4][$275]; 6. 1X-Justin Stone [5][$225]; 7. 31b-Ryan Dolbear [7][$200]; 8. 06J-Jordan Bennett [6][$180]; 9. 8F-Alan Fink [13][$160]; 10. 33m-Richard Murtaugh [12][$140]; 11. 19c-Brandon Carvey [22][$120]; 12. 7s-Mike Sabia [8][$110]; 13. 10G-Austin Germinio [10][$100]; 14. 17J-Brent Joy [14][$100]; 15. 5S-Tanner Siemans [18][$100]; 16. 29H-Nick Heywood [24][$100]; 17. 7z-Zach Payne [11][$100]; 18. 33x-Matt Janczuk [19][$100]; 19. 5H-Amy Holland [26][$100]; 20. 1M-Tyler Murray [23][$100]; 21. 32H-Max Hill [17][$100]; 22. 92b-Andrew Buff [21][$100]; 23. 6M-Cody Manitta [15][$100]; 24. 16R-Earl Rudy [30][$100]; 25. 64C-Tyler Corcoran [25][$100]; 26. 631-Todd Buckhold [20][$100]; 27. R1-Riley Bogala [27][$100]; 28. 2s-Taylor Doxtater [31][$100]; 29. 1R-Ricky Thompson [29][$100]; 30. 70A-Alex Payne [28][$100]; 31. 1S-Andrew Smith [16][$100] Hard Charger: 19c-Brandon Carvey[+11]
Qualifying Flight-A
- 10G-Austin Germinio, 15.356; 2. 1X-Justin Stone, 15.509; 3. 7z-Zach Payne, 15.546; 4. 1S-Andrew Smith, 15.552; 5. 11W-Ben Wheeler, 15.644; 6. 92b-Andrew Buff, 15.677; 7. 7d-Dustin Hutton, 15.728; 8. 29H-Nick Heywood, 15.752; 9. 12M-John Miller, 15.798; 10. 25S-George Sanford, 15.803
Qualifying Flight-B
1. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 15.349; 2. 38S-Zach Sobotka, 15.423; 3. 33m-Richard Murtaugh, 15.447; 4. 5H-Amy Holland, 15.593; 5. 72P-AJay Potrzebowski, 15.614; 6. 32H-Max Hill, 15.663; 7. 04G-DJ Gonyo, 15.774; 8. 21W-Quinn Wells, 15.807; 9. 1C-Dale Caswell, 15.995; 10. 284-Jamie Kamorowski, 16.828
Qualifying Flight-C
- 31b-Ryan Dolbear, 15.357; 2. 06J-Jordan Bennett, 15.518; 3. 8F-Alan Fink, 15.64; 4. 5S-Tanner Siemans, 15.64; 5. R1-Riley Bogala, 15.701; 6. 18G-Gavin Eisele, 15.705; 7. 30R-Mike Root, 15.726; 8. 11AC-Austin Cooper, 15.984; 9. 48B-Keara Backus, 16.11; 10. 64C-Tyler Corcoran, NT
Qualifying Flight-D
- 7s-Mike Sabia, 15.282; 2. 3M-Chris Mackey, 15.362; 3. 17J-Brent Joy, 15.462; 4. 33x-Matt Janczuk, 15.521; 5. 1M-Tyler Murray, 15.55; 6. 19c-Brandon Carvey, 15.567; 7. 29C-Matt Caprara, 15.604; 8. 70A-Alex Payme, 15.636; 9. 16X-Savannah LaFlair, 15.914; 10. 11C-Alyssa Cody, 16.12
Qualifying Flight-E
- 35T-Cameron Tuttle, 15.434; 2. 82S-Will Shields, 15.463; 3. 6M-Cody Manitta, 15.473; 4. 16R-Earl Rudy, 15.517; 5. 51-Rich Townsend, 15.563; 6. 631-Todd Buckhold, 15.666; 7. 75C-AJ Custodi, 15.671; 8. 2s-Taylor Doxtater, 15.766; 9. 42A-Colby Adamczak, 16.011; 10. 1R-Ricky Thompson, 16.507
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
- 10G-Austin Germinio [1]; 2. 1X-Justin Stone [2]; 3. 7z-Zach Payne [3]; 4. 1S-Andrew Smith [4]; 5. 92b-Andrew Buff [6]; 6. 29H-Nick Heywood [8]; 7. 12M-John Miller [9]; 8. 25S-George Sanford [10]; 9. 11W-Ben Wheeler [5]; 10. 7d-Dustin Hutton [7]
Heat #2 – Flight (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
- 21C-Brian Calabrese [1]; 2. 38S-Zach Sobotka [2]; 3. 33m-Richard Murtaugh [3]; 4. 32H-Max Hill [6]; 5. 5H-Amy Holland [4]; 6. 72P-AJay Potrzebowski [5]; 7. 21W-Quinn Wells [8]; 8. 04G-DJ Gonyo [7]; 9. 1C-Dale Caswell [9]; 10. 284-Jamie Kamorowski [10]
Heat #3 – Flight (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
- 31b-Ryan Dolbear [1]; 2. 06J-Jordan Bennett [2]; 3. 8F-Alan Fink [3]; 4. 5S-Tanner Siemans [4]; 5. R1-Riley Bogala [5]; 6. 18G-Gavin Eisele [6]; 7. 64C-Tyler Corcoran [10]; 8. 30R-Mike Root [7]; 9. 48B-Keara Backus [9]; 10. 11AC-Austin Cooper [8]
Heat #4 – Flight (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
- 7s-Mike Sabia [1]; 2. 3M-Chris Mackey [2]; 3. 17J-Brent Joy [3]; 4. 33x-Matt Janczuk [4]; 5. 19c-Brandon Carvey [6]; 6. 1M-Tyler Murray [5]; 7. 70A-Alex Payne [8]; 8. 29C-Matt Caprara [7]; 9. 11C-Alyssa Cody [10]; 10. 16X-Savannah LaFlair [9]
Heat #5 – Flight (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
- 35T-Cameron Tuttle [1]; 2. 82S-Will Shields [2]; 3. 6M-Cody Manitta [3]; 4. 631-Todd Buckhold [6]; 5. 1R-Ricky Thompson [10]; 6. 2s-Taylor Doxtater [8]; 7. 16R-Earl Rudy [4]; 8. 42A-Colby Adamczak [9]; 9. 75C-AJ Custodi [7]; 10. 51-Rich Townsend [5]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer
- 92b-Andrew Buff [1][-]; 2. 1M-Tyler Murray [5][-]; 3. 64C-Tyler Corcoran [7][-]; 4. R1-Riley Bogala [2][-]; 5. 1R-Ricky Thompson [3][$100]; 6. 12M-John Miller [6][$100]; 7. 29C-Matt Caprara [10][$100]; 8. 16R-Earl Rudy [8][$100]; 9. 04G-DJ Gonyo [9][$100]; 10. 284-Jamie Kamorowski [14][$100]; 11. 48B-Keara Backus [12][$100]; 12. 16X-Savannah LaFlair [15][$100]; 13. 75C-AJ Custodi [13][$100]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer
- 19c-Brandon Carvey [2][-]; 2. 29H-Nick Heywood [3][-]; 3. 5H-Amy Holland [1][-]; 4. 70A-Alex Payne [7][-]; 5. 18G-Gavin Eisele [4][$100]; 6. 11C-Alyssa Cody [12][$100]; 7. 42A-Colby Adamczak [10][$100]; 8. 1C-Dale Caswell [11][$100]; 9. 30R-Mike Root [9][$100]; 10. 2s-Taylor Doxtater [5][$100]; 11. 21W-Quinn Wells [6][$100]; 12. 11AC-Austin Cooper [14][$100]
