Speedway 95

ROOKIE RYAN MODERY GETS FIRST LATE MODEL WIN

Fred Ashmore Jr. of Hancock outdueled Hudson’s Donny Silva following a lap 24 restart to take the lead on lap 25 of the 35 lap Coca-Cola of New England Series race for the Sport-Four Division at Speedway 95 Saturday night. Silva had led from the drop of the green and through a lap 5 restart until the yellow flew again on lap 24 for a solo spin by Glenburn’s D.C. Alexander. On the restart, Ashmore hung with Silva and made the pass on the 25th lap that he held until the checkers flew. Silva also fought off a hard challenge from 14 year old Emma Libby of Glenburn as she tried to take the second spot from him over the final five laps. Silva hung on for second with Libby taking third, her first top three finish in her rookie year in the division. Bradley Dolan of Glenburn finished the extended length feature in fourth with Ted Ryder of Carmel coming in fifth.

Seventeen year- old Ryan Modery of Hermon took his first career Dysart’s Late Model win driving car number 11 in his 11th week of racing in the premier division at Speedway 95 by passing multi-time champion Duane Seekins of Stockton Springs on lap 32 of the 35 lap feature. Modery and Seekins each won a qualifying heat and started on the front row of the race that was stopped only once, on lap 8, by the caution flag. Modery followed Seekins for most of the event, waiting to mount his challenge until the laps wound down. Seekins finished second with Hermon’s Mike Hopkins coming from his 14th place starting spot to finish third. Fourth went to Andy Saunders of Ellsworth, who worked his way up from 12th in the starting field, and Donny Blanchard of Bangor who started fourth, finished fifth.
Steve Moulton of Holden had his car break in warm-ups enough so he couldn’t repair it for the night’s racing, so fellow competitor Shane Tatro, also of Holden, loaned him his car for the night. Moulton adapted well to the strange car as he won the 25 lap Maine State Lottery Sportsman feature by a wide margin over second place finisher D.J. Moody of Prospect. Moulton took the lead from outside pole-sitter Gene Wasson of Greenbush on the fourth lap and continued to stretch his lead in the caution free event until the checkers fell. Third place went to pole-sitter Bradley Norris of Ellsworth with Wasson finishing fourth. Kris Matchett of Skoweghan finished fifth.

Andrew McLaughlin of Harrington took the lead from pole-sitter Shelby Kimball on an early race restart and held it through another caution on lap 20 to win the 25 lap Strictly Street feature. Kimball started the event on the pole, with her brother, Matt Kimball, outside. She took the early lead and stretched it to several car lengths until the event’s first caution ended her run at the front. She finished the race in second, with David Brannon of Lisbon finishing third after a close race with Kimball for the runner up spot. Fourth went to former champion Jim Carr Jr. of Clifton with Ren Dorr of Addison rounding out the top five.

Andrew Crosby of Hermon continued his domination of the Bomber Division as he again took the feature win. This one wasn’t easy, though, as Chris Carroll of Greenbush swapped the lead with Crosby over the final eight laps before Crosby took the win by less than a car length. Carroll finished second with Carmel’s Jeremy Scott in third. Fourth went to pole-sitter Dillon Dodge-Hafford of Winterport with Scott Bonney of Bangor finishing fifth. Several caution flags kept the field close, and almost ran over the 20 minute time limit on the event before the 20 laps were completed.

Saturday night racing switches to Thursday nights for the next two weeks. On Thursday, July 12, NAPA Auto Parts stores will sponsor the show that will feature the 2nd annual Wreaths Across America Ikey Dorr 50 lap Invitational for Street Stock type cars that pays $1500 to win. Former Speedway 95 driver Andy Santerre of Cherryfield, who now makes his home in North Carolina will be the Grand Marshall for the race and will bring 2 of his drivers from the K&N Pro series, Brett Moffitt and Sergio Pena, to meet and sigh autographs for the fans. On Thursday night, July 19, Budweiser King of Beers and the Good News Center will present the 100 lap John Phippen/Allen Fletcher Memorial event for the Dysart’s Late Models. Speedway 95 has moved it’s regular Saturday night shows to Thursdays for the next 2 weeks so the fans and drivers can enjoy racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Oxford Plains Speedway on those week-ends without missing any activity at Speedway 95.