DEANE SMART BATTLES TO SPEEDWAY 95 LATE MODEL WIN
Bradley’s Deane Smart made it two in a row at Speedway 95 Saturday night as he fought his way to the checkered flag in the Dysart’s Late Model feature. Starting on the outside pole for the 40 lap event, Smart first raced side by side with defending division champion Brenton Parritt of Steuben, who was racing in a car borrowed from his brother Wayne. Smart and Parritt battled for the lead for the first 22 laps, many of them side by side. In turn 2 on lap 23, the top five cars, all running in a group, ended up in an incident that eliminated Hermon’s John Curtis Jr., as well as Parritt, who attempted to return to competition but was forced to park the car for the night. On the restart, Smart took the lead, but by lap 28, Joey Doyon of Winterport had made his way from the 13th starting spot to challenge Smart for the lead. With Smart on the outside and Doyon on the inside, the duo circled the track side by side, swapping the lead for the final 12 laps, with Smart winning by a car length at the checkers. Doyon was second, followed by Wayne Parritt Jr. of Steuben. Winterport’s Ryan Deane finished fourth with Dana Wilbur of Frankfort again picking up a strong top five finish. Brenton Parritt successfully defended his 2014 points title by again finishing atop the standings for 2015. The Late Model points ended a week earlier than the other divisions, as they will race the final Hopkins Landscaping series event next Saturday, which does not earn regular season points for the drivers.
In the Coca-Cola Sport-Fours, it was the night for the youngsters to shine, as two graduates of the Wednesday night Stars of Tomorrow copped the top two finishing spots in the 25 lap feature. Dustan Durrell of Newburgh, a season long rookie in the division, picked up his first win after passing points leader Andrew Crosby just before the caution flew on lap 20 for fluid on the track. Durrell held the lead through another caution on lap 22, and held off a late race charge from Marcus Dunn of Newburgh, who was racing his first Sport-Four race since clinching the season championship in the Stars of Tomorrow the previous week. Dunn finished second, with oldster Barry Elston of Carmel picking up third. Scott McCLeod of Kenduskeag was fourth with Jeff Overlock Jr. of Hermon finishing fifth.
After a side by side battle with points leader Greg Pung of Franklin for the first 8 laps of the 25 lap Casella Waste Systems Strictly Street feature, Bob Seger Jr. of Frankfort drove on to victory with Pung finishing a strong second following a late race battle with Jordan Pearson of Glenburn. Pearson finished third, after racing side by side with Bradley Norris of Ellsworth successfully for the third spot, then Pung, unsuccessfully, for the second spot in the closing laps. Norris finished fourth with Asa Jones of Sullivan recovering from an early race pit stop to finish fifth.
In the Outlaw Super Series of Maine event, Ricky Burgess of Oakland easily won the 50 lap feature after coming from his 8th place start and passing early leader Kris Matchett of Skowhegan on the 14th lap. Matchett held the second spot until D.J. Moody of Prospect got by on lap 48 to take the second spot away from Matchett. Matchett finished third, followed by Lance Chapman of Benton in fourth and Shawn Hamel of Bangor in fifth.
The Wednesday night RoadRunners showed up 25 strong in their Saturday night debut, and put on a show the RoadRunner fans had to enjoy. With multiple wrecks slowing the pace of the 20 lap feature, Keith Drost backed up his win on the final Wednesday night of the season with a win on Saturday night, after taking the lead from Abel Leamur of Winterport on lap 12 and holding it to the finish. Dustan Durrell of Newburgh led early, then fell back as far as fifth, recovering to take second at the end. Third went to Leamur, with Morgan Shaw of Stetson and Mickey Godin of Hermon rounding out the top five.
Speedway 95 continues the 2015 season on September 15 at 7:00 with the 50 lap Hopkins Landscaping series for the Dysart’s Late Models final headlining the night’s schedule. Brenton Parritt and Deane Smart will go into that final race tied at the top of the points standings for the series. It will also be the final points night for the other three divisions, with no clear winner in any division until the final points races are in the books.