Donny Blanchard of Orrington won the Wacky Wednesday Little Enduro feature Wednesday night, but really wishes he hadn’t won it the way he did. Blanchard was in a three way battle for the lead with two laps to go when leader Darren Durrell of Newburgh started to overlap the slower car of Old Town’s David Ogden. Ogden then deliberately turned into Durrell’s rear fender, causing Durrell to spin sideways and out of the lead. Blanchard, Newburgh’s Paul Higgins and Chad Badger of Milo managed to slip by without any contact with the spinning cars and went the final two laps to the checkered flag in that order. Andrew Crosby of Hermon was fourth with Milo’s Mike Witham in fifth. Ogden was subsequently disqualified from the race for rough riding, and told not to bother to return next week either. Durrell recovered to finish in 12th spot in the 26 car field. Milo’s Mike Witham and Darren Durrell won the qualifiers for the division. With only 2 weeks of Wacky Wednesday racing left, Paul Higgins sits atop the point standings with a 29 point lead over Blanchard.
Big Enduro action saw Roger Smith of Clinton return to victory lane after being chased hard by Winterport’s Ricky Palmer for the entire distance of the series race #3 they were competing in. Palmer could get close, but said his car was wasn’t handling well enough to be able to catch and pass Smith cleanly. Palmer, who had won the last three Big Enduro, features finished in second, which gave him the overall win in the 3 race series for the season. Carmel’s Dwayne Walton brought his T-bird home in third, a short distance behind the leaders. Walton had taken a few weeks off before returning to the Wednesday night car fights, and said he was amazed at how much faster the competition was since his return. Joey Doyon of Winterport picked up a fourth place finish with Shawn McNevin finishing in fifth. Smith was hooked up all night, and also won the division’s qualifier.
The Ladies put on in impressive performance once they got the early race pushin’ and shovin’ over with. Rhonda Lyford of Winterport grabbed the lead on a lap 16 restart and held off a hard charge from early leader Becky Elston of Carmel and Danielle DeLuck of Hampden. All three raced close for the final 4 laps, and finished in that order. DeLuck challenged Elston for second on the inside, but was forced to settle for third due to a push her car developed toward the end of the race. Nicole Smith of Clifton also took a turn at the front, but spun out of contention and finished in fourth after making contact with Kayla Allen of Bucksport in the second turn, sending Allen to the pit with a flat tire. Lynn Downing of Brownville was the last survivor running, and finished in the fifth spot. Lyford also won the 10 lap qualifier earlier in the evening.
Cole Robinson made it two in a row in the Stars of Tomorrow as he overtook Hermon’s Ryan Modery on the third lap and drove on to the win. Modery finished in second after fighting off Cornville’s Matt Kimball who finished in third. Brett McCullough of Kenduskeag took fourth with D.C.Alexander finishing fifth. Robinson also won the 10 lap heat race. The competition in this division for 11-14 year olds is really heating up, as they gain experience and start stepping a little harder on the gas. Robinson has added a lot to the division, but says Matt Kimball still beats him on Friday nights at Unity, so he has to pick up his game a little over there.
