Courtesy of Pete's Racing Site

Leaty in Top Ten in ROC at Oswego
Williamson, NY - On a weekend when Tony Vecchio, Sr., was inducted into the Race of Champions Hall of Fame, and when Branich Motorsports and their sponsor Rochester Steel Treating Works, Inc., teamed up to honor Vecchio, it seemed only fitting that Branich modified driver Jan Leaty would be a major player in the 53rd Annual Sunoco Modified Race of Champions at Oswego Speedway.

Leaty finished second in his heat race, qualifying him for the redraw for the first 18 starting positions for the 200 laps event. After starting his Pace Electronics/Heluva Good Foods Pontiac 10th in the field of 42 cars, Leaty steadily moved to the front, finally passing pole sitter Zane Zeiner on lap 107. Zeiner had led the race from the start. Leaty was able to build a comfortable lead, and it was the team's strategy to make the mandatory pit stop with about fifty laps to go.

"We had a GREAT car all day, wrong strategy, though," recalled Leaty. "We wanted to be fast at the end and stay out of trouble so we're going to  pit around lap 150. The race went green from lap 134-183, only giving me 13 laps to move up from 23rd to 7th. Lap money was a good consolation prize, but I would have rather won it!" The ROC was the team's last race of the 2003 season. Leaty finished the season on a torrid pace, with two top five and two top ten finishes in his last four races.

For more information about Leaty and the Branich Motorsports modified effort, visit the team's website at www.speedwayad.com/BranichMod.

Branich Motorsports
P.O. Box 897
Williamson, NY 14589
Call: 315-589-4444
E-Mail: FKae4@aol.com