Morse’s Luck Turns
Coming into the 2020 season champion Spencer Morse was looking forward to another great point’s battle to defend his 2019 Title. A string of bad luck resulting in several poor finishes has mired Morse nearly 100 points out coming into Saturdays Lee’s Family Trailer Sales Pass Mod 50. That luck seems to have finally turned as Morse scored his second win of the year Sunday at Oxford Plains Speedway.
Morse who started the feature in the seventh spot was able to capitalize on other competitor’s misfortune to quickly move his way to the front. Before lap 6 Morse overtook early leader Milo Washer to put the #34 out front for good. More, however, didn’t have it as easy as it sounds. A pair of cautions erased sizable leads forcing Morse to defend his lead throughout the contest. Morse was dogged by a very fast Ryan Ripley over the last dozen laps before beating him across the line by a car length to keep his championship hopes alive.
Ryan Ripley, making his first start of the season, came all the way from his 16th starting spot to secure runner-up honors. Ripley appeared to be the fastest car in the field and twice challenged eventual winner Morse on the high side, but in the end ran out of tire before settling for the runner-up spot. Third place went to veteran Bobby Nadeau who also challenged for the lead throughout the early stages of the race before finishing out the 50 lap contest in the final podium spot. Rounding out the top five was point leader Tyler King who uncharacteristically struggled to get near the leaders, and “The Mayor” Matt Sanborn came all the way from the back row to score his second top 5 of the season.
The Pro-All Star Series Modified’s return to action in two weeks at the 47th annual Oxford 250 with a 50 lap contest on Saturday and a 75 lap tilt on Sunday.
No Fault in Dufault
Matt Dufault Scored the Tri-fecta in Sundays Honey Badger 50 as he won his heat race, had the fastest lap of the race, and secured his first win in series competition as he held off point leader Jordan Russell. Dufault, who is a two time defending champion in weekly competition, has gotten off to a bit of a slow start in 2020 by his standards as he started the month of August without a win. However, Dufault seems to have found that missing something as he has now scored a weekly win as well as Sundays series win.
Dufault used his pole position starting spot in the heat to wire that contest and earn the number one starting spot for the feature. While the blue 61 was decidedly the best car on the day, it wasn’t without its challenges. Jordan Russell spent most of his day hanging off the right rear quarter of the eventual winner as the two drivers took turns setting the fastest lap of the race. Russell, however, “just didn’t have quite enough” to complete the pass for the lead and settled for the second spot to extend his series point lead. Zach Bowie was third across the line before running afoul of tech which handed the final podium spot to Rick Spaulding with his best finish of the year as be continues to sort out his new car. Mark Turner and Skip Stanley rounded out the top 5.
The Honey Badger Bar and Grill Street Stock series returns to action on September 19th at White Mountain Motorsports Park.
| PASS MODS at OPSUNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS – 8-16-20 | |
| 1) 34 – Spencer Morse – 50 Laps 2) 09 – Ryan Ripley – 50 3) 35 – Bobby Nadeau – 50 4) 11 – Tyler King – 50 5) 64 – Matty Sanborn – 50 6) 41 – Tracy Gordon – 50 7) 12 – Kevin Durgin – 50 8) 18 – Justin Larson – 50 9) 6 – Chanlder Harrison – 50 | 10) 41x – Max Cookson – 50 11) 55 – Gary Dwinal – 50 12) 4 – Milo Washer – 48 13) 7 – Spencer Vaughan – 45 14) 52 – Colby Benjamin – 26 15) 2 – Ajay Cates – 20 16) 44 – Ashley Beyea – 5 DNS – 13 – Shawn Knight |
