Seventeen year old Shelby Kimball of Cornville used points leader Rhonda Lyford as an extra set of wheels as she rubbed her way past on lap 12 and went on to win the Ladies Division Series race at Speedway 95 on Wacky Wednesday night. Lyford chased Kimball to the line, challenging strongly through lapped traffic on the last two laps, but was unable to pass and settled for a runner up finish. Last week’s winner Nicole Smith of Clifton was third, followed by Carmel’s Becky Elston and Hampden’s Danielle Deluck, who recovered from an early race spin to finish fifth. Each of the top three took a turn leading during the course of the event. Danielle DeLuck won the qualifier and started the pole, but a skirmish with Rhonda Lyford on the front stretch on lap 9 sent her for a spin, from which she recovered to post her fifth place finish.
In the pick up trucks, it took Jim Carr of Clifton 19 laps to work his way to the lead, but he was there at the end of the caution free event on lap 20 to post his sixth straight win of the season. Peter Drake of Clifton held the lead for the other 19 laps, but Carr watched traffic and used Andrew Crosby for a pick to make the winning pass in turn four on the 19th lap. Drake finished second, followed by Bucksport’s Dana Harlow. Andrew Crosby of Hermon and Matt Morin of Orrington battled for fourth and fifth for the last half of the race and finished in that order.
In Little Enduro action, the red flag was the equalizer as it came out 6 times in 20 laps, to keep the cars close for the entire race. Donnie Blanchard of Orrington took the lead from Adam Russell on lap 11, with Russell battling back, taking the lead on lap 12, but Blanchard wrestled it away from him for good on lap 14 and went on to post the win. Kyle Gallant started on the pole, fell back as far as sixth during the race, then recovered to finish a close second. Newburgh’s Paul Higgins ran in the top five all night, finishing in third, ahead of Andrew Crosby of Hermon and Robert Mushero of Scarborough in fourth and fifth. The first two red flags came out when Darren Durrell was hit and spun, first on lap 2 by Ken Ogden, who was black flagged for his efforts, then on lap 6 by Timothy Moon, who was allowed to continue. The third red flag appeared on lap 7, when Chris Carroll of Greenbush took a header into the turn 4 tire wall. On lap 10, the red flew again for a melee in turn four, which caused Howland’s Mike Houde to be transported to the hospital with neck and back pain. The next red was on lap 14 for Chris Burbelo’s trip off turn one, and the final red came out on lap 16, when Burbelo and Winterport’s Wayne Shibles tangled on the frontstretch, also involving Dennis Burns of Carmel. 22 cars started the 20 lap event. Kyle Gallant was the winner of the qualifier.
Ricky Palmer of Winterport led the Big Enduro feature from green to checker in a red flag free 20 lap event. Alan Cookson Jr. of Old Town brought his Monte Carlo home in second, ahead of the Oldsmobile of Roger Smith of Clifton. Hudson’s Shawn McNevin finished in fourth, with fifth spot going to Bangor’s Eddie Cobb. Carmel’s Duane Walton was the only casualty of the race, when he spun is Thunderbird in turn one on lap 6, and spent the race watching through his windshield as the red never flew to stop the action so he could be retrieved.
Ryan Modery of Hermon picked up his second win in three races in the Stars of tomorrow, a division started for 11-14 year olds to learn the basics of racing stock cars. Cornville’s Matt Kimball chased Modery around for the 10 lap distance, but was unable to make the pass for the win. Third went to Brett McCullough of Kenduskeag, with Carmel’s D.C. Alexander getting fourth place.