By Carol D. Haynes, ISMA PR; photos by Jim Feeney
Lee, N.H. – Otto Sitterly drove his John Nicotra Racing No. 7 to his first ISMA Supermodified Series win of 2021 Friday night at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire. Sitterly, who extended his points lead with the victory, won the Ollie Silva Memorial 75-lapper over Ben Seitz in the Howie Lane No. 97 and recent Sandusky Fast Friday winner Jeff Abold in his family-owned No. 05. Moe Lilje in the Dan Soule No. 32 and Mike Ordway Jr. in the Clyde Booth No. 61 rounded out the top five.
“I’m real happy with everything,” Sitterly said after the win. “Obviously, this racecar we have is a big part of it all. We have a great car and a great crew. I need to thank this whole team and one guy I really owe one is Jimmy Bodnar out in Ohio. He built this piece and it has all kinds of history to it. We have big shoes to fill with it and we are doing our best to keep up. I owe Jimmy D also. He built the motor for this car and it’s working well for us. Jeffery Abold doesn’t know it, but he actually taught me something tonight. It was sort of turning out to be a race between the two of us to the front and when I was behind him, he actually showed me a pretty good line. I was running a little too low on the track, but I moved out there and the car seemed to really hook up. We’ve only ran here a few times. We came out last year and got in a little skirmish on the start and pulled in early, so we didn’t have any notes to go off of. It feels good to be able to come here and run well. I’m very pleased with all of this today. Now we go to Oswego tomorrow night.”
Fourteen winged big-block supermodifieds were in attendance with 13 making it through the heat races for the 75-lap feature. Heats were won by Lilje and Dave Helliwell. Seitz and Ordway Jr. started in the front row for the feature while Abold and Sitterly started fifth and sixth in row three.
The ISMA tour will be back in New Hampshire Friday, August 20 for their first-ever race at Claremont Motorsports Park. The Nicotra / Sitterly team will enter Claremont with a 128-point lead over Soule / Lilje.
Ollie Silva Memorial 75
Ollie Silva Memorial 75 Feature Results: 1. 7-OTTO SITTERLY, 2. 97-Ben Seitz, 3. 05-Jeff Abold, 4. 32-Moe Lilje, 5. 61-Mike Ordway Jr., 6. 25-Dan Bowes, 7. 37-Ryan Locke, 8. 11-Chris Perley, 9. 77-Kenny White Jr., 10. 29-Bobby Chartier, 11. 5-Russ Wood, 12. 07-Dave Helliwell, 13. 9-Jeffrey Battle, DNS 28-Eric Lewis.
Heat 1 Results: 1. Moe Lilje, 2. Otto Sitterly, 3. Bobby Chartier, 4. Mike Ordway Jr., 5. Ryan Locke, 6. Kenny White Jr., 7. Eric Lewis
Heat 2 Results: 1. Dave Helliwell, 2. Jeff Abold, 3. Jeffrey Battle, 4. Ben Seitz, 5. Russ Wood, 6. Dan Bowes, 7. Chris Perley