OSWEGO, N.Y. — Mexico, N.Y. native Mike Bond cruised to his fifth-career win in the 26th annual Bud Light Classic 75 Sunday night at Oswego Speedway, leading every lap aboard the Four Sevens Motorsports No. 47.
After qualifying second and then redrawing the pole position Friday night, Bond used the clean track ahead of him to his advantage, driving out to as much as an eight-and-a-half second lead over the field before a three-car crash in Turn 2 set up a nine-lap dash to the checkered flag.
That was of no consequence to Bond, however, who drove off on the final restart and built a 3.696-second advantage in just nine laps en route to his second-straight win in the crown jewel event for the limited class.
Sunday night marked Bond’s record-extending 41st-career Pathfinder Bank Small Block Super Series win at Oswego and his fourth of the season.
The veteran celebrated with a rare smoke show on the frontstretch, doing celebratory donuts before parking his car in victory lane.
“I had a little bit of a challenge getting through some of those lap cars, but all in all, this is what we come here to do,” said Bond, who previously won the SBS Classic in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2016.
The race saw seven total yellow flag periods, including three on the initial start, of which Bond was grateful each time.
“I was glad to see some of the cautions tonight; they really helped clear the track for us and it was good to get the field bunched back up,” Bond explained. “The car was perfect. This Four Sevens crew does an awesome job giving me everything I need.”
Like last year, when he set the SBS Classic wins record with his fourth victory, Bond was non-committal about his chances of returning to the driver’s seat for many — if any — races at Oswego in 2018.
“We might run Classic next year, but beyond that … I don’t know. We’ll see.”
The action was just as heated in the SBS Classic as it was in the Bud Classic earlier in the night, with three different incidents on the opening green flag forcing complete restarts that got hairier and more chaotic each time.
On the third attempt at a double-file start, outside-polesitter and fast qualifier Russ Brown got sideways exiting Turn 4, coming down the track in front of the entire field and sparking a multi-car melee that collected as many as 10 different drivers.
Among those eliminated before their nights could ever begin were Brown, Josh Kerr, Alex Hoag, Mike Bruce and Rob Pullen, who finished 23rd through 27th, respectively.
That left Bond with virtually no competition out front.
Despite yellows on laps 17, 30, 37 and 66, runner-up and two-time SBS Classic winner Andrew Schartner could do nothing to chase down Bond on the restarts.
“My car was perfect until the very end, when I got just a little bit loose,” Schartner said. “No one had anything for Mike though. We were all riding chickens on ice skates and he was riding a Clydesdale tonight. That’s just what it was. He was the class of the field. They did an excellent job and my guys did just as good of a job to give me a great race car tonight.”
“I don’t know how I could have asked for anything more. I guess it was on me, because the car was phenomenal and Mike was just driving away from us. It’s been a good season, though. I’m really proud of my dad and it’s been a dream come true to drive a car that he designed and put together.”
Dalton Doyle completed the podium in third, followed by three-time and reigning track champion Dave Cliff and former Speedway PR director Dan Kapuscinski, who had a strong and consistent night to come home fifth.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
