Masterson Claims First Late Model Win
Devil’s Bowl Rookie Extends Point Lead With 30-Lap Feature Victory
SOUTH PARIS, Maine – Josh Masterson isn’t one to play the waiting game, either on the track or off it.
Last Friday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven, Vt., the 22-year-old driver from Bristol, Vt., held off all challengers over the final 20 laps to win his first career NASCAR Whelen All-American Series 30-lap Late Model feature at the track. Masterson extended his point lead with the Mid-Season Championship victory.
“I have high expectations for myself,” said Masterson, who has three straight Top-3 finishes. “I’ve never just settled for second-best. When we first started talking about doing the Late Model thing, everybody told me it was probably going to take three or four years to get up front as far as the weekly stuff. I told them if that was the case, I wasn’t going to do it.”
Masterson won the track’s four-cylinder championship in 2012 with seven feature wins. He bought a 2000 Late Model chassis in the offseason with a 2011 front clip from Crazy Horse Racing. With help from Late Model veteran Tony Andrews, Masterson has gotten right up to speed.
On Friday night, Masterson started fifth in the No. 11x Masterson Excavation Chevrolet and moved to the runner-up spot by Lap 10. Shortly after an ensuing restart, Masterson had the lead – and he held onto it by fending off rookies and veterans alike.
“With the Late Models, if it’s all set up to be about the driving, which is more of my cup of tea to get into,” Masterson said. “It’s all about competition for me, and the Late Models are a very competitive field of cars. We figured why not try it and see where we go with it.”
GREEN WINS: Veteran Shane Green won the most recent Pro Late Model feature at Oxford Plains Speedway for his first career victory in the division.
The longtime fixture in both Late Model and entry-level divisions started on the pole and led every lap of the Oxford Championship Series event on July 5 to score the win against the largest field of the season at Oxford. A total of 20 cars took the green flag in the final weekly tune-up for the TD Bank Oxford 250.
The driver of the No. 54 Crazy Horse Racing Chevrolet is the brother of Mitch Green, owner of Crazy Horse Racing.
Green led a strong outing from the Crazy Horse contingent, with Don Wentworth of Otisfield finishing fourth in the feature event.
TREPANIER PUNCHES TICKET: Quebec’s Dany Trepanier won one segment and finished fourth in the second one to score the overall victory in the ACT Castrol Series Twin 75s at Circuit Riverside Speedway in St. Croix, Que., on Saturday, July 13.
Trepanier started on the pole in the first segment and led every lap, surviving six restarts to secure the win. After starting 12th in the second segment, Trepanier charged to fourth to best multi-time series champion Donald Theetge by a single point in the overall scoring.
With the win, Trepanier became the third ACT Castrol Series driver to earn an automatic qualifier for the fifth annual ACT Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September.
ROCCO ROLLING: Keith Rocco of Wallingford, Conn., has won two of the last three Late Model feature events at Waterford Speedbowl to build his largest point lead of the season.
The Scott Fearn-owned No. 1 Critical Signs/Mr. Rooter Toyota has a 23-point lead atop the standings at the midpoint of the season. Rocco’s win in the special 50-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series feature on July 6 marked his fifth win of the season at Waterford.