Drivers and fans alike gathered at Maine’s fastest oval on Saturday night to celebrate the 4th of July holiday and Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of the checkered flag. Group 2 divisions were in action with Modifieds, Strictly Streets, Outlaw Minis, and Late Model Sportsman. The flex race of the night was the Amsoil Nelcar Legends. The show ended with a fireworks display for the fans.
The Modified division rolled out with the first feature of the evening. Although they were the spotlight division for the night, the drivers voted in a prerace meeting to shorten their race from 40 laps down to their normal 30 lap distance. Ten cars were on hand for the night, but only seven managed to make the feature. #33 of Ron Bryant started at the pole position with the #61 of Shawn Austin alongside. The #5 of Mark Lucas came into the weekend as the man to beat, riding a five race win streak. With a pair of the top contenders unable to make the feature, Lucas was able to remain undefeated. Austin held the early lead for the first couple laps until the #7 of Steve Reno took over the lead. Lucas picked his way up from his 5th starting spot and raced his way up to 2nd. He chased Reno until the leader nearly spun out racing out of turn 4. Lucas quickly took the lead as they completed lap 8. Things settled down up front for the remainder of the race and it would go caution free to the checkers. Lucas took the win by a half car length over Reno. For Reno, his runner up finish was his first podium finish of the season. #85 of Jairet Harrison took 3rd.
The Strictly Streets came out next for their 25 lap feature. The #36 of Rick Spaulding led them to the green with rookie Cody Verrill starting 2nd and #29 of Tom Young starting 3rd. As the trio worked out the lead position the divisions top drivers worked their way up from the back of the pack. #51 of Kyle Hewins was the early mover, charging up the outside from his 10th starting spot into 3rd in just two laps. The first caution came on lap 3 when Verrill spun out of turn 4, sending the field scrambling. On the ensuing restart Kyle Hewins would complete his run to the front, taking the lead from Spaulding. In the meantime point leader #55 Kurt Hewins and #83 Dan Brown were also racing up from the back of the pack. Brown would bring out the next caution on lap 6 as he and the #03x of Jerry Robbins made contact, sending Brown off the track at the end of the front stretch. The race settled down into a long green flag run as the Hewins brothers pulled away from the rest of the pack. In the meantime old rivals and former champs #51x Bryan Robbins and #03 Maurice Young put on a good race for 3rd through the mid point of the race. The field bunched up for one more restart with three laps to go, but once again Kyle Hewins was up to the challenge. He quickly retook the lead and drove to his first victory of the season. Kurt Hewins, who had come into the weekend with two straight feature wins, took the runner up finish. The #84 of Skip Tripp made his season debut and raced up from 12th to finish 3rd, beating out Robbins and #85 Chanler Harrison in an exciting three wide run to the finish.
The Nelcar Legends made another appearance as the night’s “flex” division race. The 25 lap feature began with defending champ #38 Mathew Bourgoine at the pole position. #33 Alan Smith started beside him on the front row. Bourgoine took advantage of the rare front row starting spot and pulled out to a comfortable full straight away lead. All eyes moved to the back of the pack as point leader Kevin Girard picked his way up from 13th. The race was slowed by just one caution on lap 7 as #10 Ed Getty and #70 Tylar Braunschwieg tangled going into turn 3, collecting #399 of Bob Weymouth in the process. All three drivers would take the restart from the back of the pack. With the race back underway Bourgoine established a comfortable lead once again . Girard made it to the 3rd position by lap 10 and then raced his way by Wilson to take 2nd. From the midpoint of the race it was a matter if Girard was ale to chase down the leader. Behind them the #00 of Phil Brackett was locked in a great battle with Weymouth for 3rd. While Girard was able to reduce the interval to half a straightaway, Bourgoine secured the win. Girard would settle for 2nd. Brackett withstood relentless pressure from Weymouth and Wilson to turn in an impressive 3rd place finish.
The Outlaw Minis had a straight forward caution free 25 lap feature. A thin field of six cars took the green with #19 of Shane Kaherl at the point with the #26 of Brent Roy beside him. Roy took the lead on the drop of the green flag and held it for the first 7 laps while defending champ Jimmy Childs #10 worked the outside lane to get into contention. Lap 10 saw the only lead change of the race as Childs surged to the lead while Roy nearly spun out of turn 4, dropping him behind the #13 of Cody Tribbett. Childs held a comfortable lead for the remainder of the caution free race, rolling to his 2nd straight win. Tribbett would take over the division’s point lead with his runner up finish. Roy withstood a late challenge by #83 Brady Romano and held on for the final spot in victory lane.
The Late Model Sportsman division wrapped up the program with a 35 lap feature. The class had already turned out 5 different feature winners in the first 5 races. Rookie Nate Tribbet lined up his #13 car at the pole position with #26 Andrew McLaughlin to his outside and #6 Chris Bowie behind him. McLaughlin looked strong and wasted little time taking the lead from Tribbet on the second lap of the race. A couple early cautions bunched up the field, but McLaughlin was up to the challenge each time. Behind him were Tribbet, #28 Steve Minott, and #04me of TJ Watson, all racing for a spot in the top 3. Minott and Tribbet would each get involved in separate cautions as did Bowie. At the same time the big mover was the #21 of Shane Clark who started the feature in back in 16th but made it to 3rd by the midpoint of the race. Defending champ Nick Hinkley also made good progress, coming up from 17th to into the top 5. Five total cautions slowed the race, but McLaughlin showed his strength each time and held on for the win. In victory lane he said “It was our goal this year to win a race at a track other than Bangor. We’ve had a lot of success there, but since the Coastal 200 we’ve put all our efforts into a win here at Wiscasset and it feels so good to get it done. This is a big win for us.” In the closing laps TJ Watson and Shane Clark put on perhaps the best side by side racing of the night. The two traded the 2nd and 3rd place positions back and forth over the final six laps with Watson holding down the inside lane and Clark running strong on the outside. The two leaned on each other coming to the stripe just a half second behind the winner. Watson would take the 2nd place trophy besting Clark by just a tenth of a second. Clark ended his strong run in 3rd. #25 of Will Collins and #4 of Ben Erskine filled out the top 5.