by Jay | Jul 12, 2009 | New
Hermon’s Mike Hopkins returned to Dysart’s Late Model racing at Speedway 95 in fine fashion Saturday night as he won the feature event. Hopkins started off the season with a win in his first ever Dysart’s Late Model event, but wrecked the next week, and has been out of competition until returning two weeks ago. This week he picked up where he left off by beating one of the best in the business to the checkered flag. The race started with Hopkins and Greg Morse of St. Albans in the second row, and the pair took off, passing the front row quickly, with Morse leading the first 12 laps. On the 13th circuit, Morse suddenly checked up going into turn three, and Hopkins was so close to his bumper he couldn’t react fast enough, and wound up hitting Morse and spinning him out. On the restart Morse retained his position, as the incident was obviously not his fault, and held the lead the rest of the way to the checkers. Finishing in second, but not far behind, was the old veteran from Bar Harbor, John Phippin Jr. with Hermon’s Dale Swoboda in third. Shane Clark of Winterport was fourth with Morse hanging on for a fifth place finish. Swoboda was the winner of the 10 lap qualifier earlier in the program.
The Allenfarm Fence Company Sport-Fours were the featured division of the night as they raced for 35 laps in the second of their three race series for the season. Hermon’s Ralph Allen held the lead for the first 23 laps until his car started losing grip on the track and he spun out of the lead in turn four, giving the lead up to Hudson’s Rick Grant. Grant held off a serious challenge for the lead from points leader David Green of Hampden, who had been battling with Grant for second until Allen’s misfortune placed the pair at the front. The battle continued to the end, with Grant taking the win and Green settling for second. Old Town’s Brent Fletcher finished a strong third, with Kyle Gallant of Veazie and Gary Richards of Stetson rounding out the top five. During the post race interview, Green was presented with the Mainly Mororsports TV show’s Speedway 95 Driver of the Month award for the month of May. Green currently sits atop the Sport-Four point standings and will represent the Speedway at the 4 cylinder Nationals at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough on August 2. Roy Hathorne won the qualifier and started the feature ion the pole, but finished back in the pack following a lap 33 trip into the turn 4 tire wall.
In Strictly Street action, Doug Day of Bangor, a veteran driver who came up through the ranks as far as the Pro Stock Division, returned to victory lane in the Strictly Streets as he made his second appearance of the season in this division. Day is preparing a Late Model for competition at the Speedway, and has been driving the Dave McCullough prepared Camaro in the Strictly Streets since their driver Jordan Pearson was suspended from competition for infractions occurring while he was competing in the Wednesday night Truck Division. Day finished third in his first appearance in the division a week ago, and took his first win in several years in his second night in the car. The win didn’t come easy as Day had to fend off points leader Bradley Norris of Ellsworth, who challenged Day from the lap 14 restart where Day took the lead. Norris challenged hard, pulling up alongside Day in the final laps, but his car got increasingly loose and he was unable to complete the pass for the lead. Norris finished second with Shawn Hamel II of Bangor in third. Shawn Racilla of Dover-Foxcroft placed fourth with Shawn Hamel of Bangor in fifth. Norris won the night’s qualifier, putting him on the pole for the feature.
Kris Watson of Hermon returned to victory lane in the Super Streets again this week after taking the lead from Holden’s Steve Moulton on a lap 9 restart caused when Lindsey Young spun her Camaro on turn 4. Coming off a win and a second place finish at Unity Raceway the past two Friday nights, Watson made it two wins in a row at Speedway 95. Moulton finished in second, followed by pole sitter Nick Kinney of Danforth in third. Mike Overlock of Franklin held a steady pace and stayed out of trouble to post his second top five in as many races. Lindsey Young recovered from her lap 9 spin to finish in the fifth spot. Hermon’s Doug Sinclair and Milton Ketch of Greenbush both ended up in the pit area early after hammering on each other long enough to cause both cars enough damage to eliminate them from the event.
Saturday night racing continues at Speedway 95 on July 18 at 6:30 with a 75 lap Little Enduro race filling in for the Late Models, who have the night off. The Strictly Streets, Super Streets and Allenfarm Fence Inc. Sport-Fours will also be racing that night
by Jay | Jul 12, 2009 | New
Thompson CT (7/1//2009) Derek Ramstrom turned in a dominant performance to win Saturday nights’ Pro All Stars Series (PASS) North Super Late Model Full Fender Frenzy 75 at Thompson International Speedway. Ramstrom took the lead on lap one and kept the field in his rear view mirror, leading from green to checker. Richie Dearborn continued his streak of top five finishes with a second place run and Johnny Clark finished third.
Heat race winners Jay Fogleman and Ramstrom brought the field to the green and Ramstrom quickly jumped out front over Travis Benjamin, Kelly Moore, DJ Shaw and Fogleman. The young man who calls Thompson his home track built up a ten car advantage by lap ten and looked dominant from the get go. The race stayed under green for better than fifty laps as Ramstrom continued his drive into the sunset, but the battle for second through fourth between Moore, Shaw and Dearborn heated up. Fogleman took the fifth spot away from Rowe on lap fifty three and set sail after the front four.
D.J. Shaw’s great run ended abruptly in the turn three wall with an apparent flat right front tire. The first caution flag of the night brought Ramstrom back to the field, erasing a huge advantage. The caution remained out for a few additional laps when Fogleman’s ride quit on the front stretch and the Durham North Carolina –based PASS South star was done for the evening. . When the green flew it was Ramstrom and Moore with Dearborn and a resurgent Travis Benjamin in the first four spots. The caution lights came on a second time when Ben Rowe stopped at the top of turn two. Rowe pitted for a right front tire and returned to the speedway but the four time PASS North champ received a one lap penalty for stopping on the track to draw the yellow.
Ramstrom held the point on a wild three wide restart but the third and final caution came four laps later when series point leader Adam Bates pounded the turn three wall in a carbon copy of DJ Shaw’s crash.
Ramstrom, Moore, Dearborn, Benjamin and Johnny Clark took the green on lap fifty-eight, and Ramstrom once again held sway but Dearborn, Clark and Benjamin all made their way around Moore.
Ramstrom continued to build on his advantage as Johnny Clark looked for a way around Richie Dearborn. Dearborn was able to pull away from Clark in the waning laps, but there was no challenging Ramstrom. The seventeen year old from just up the road in Worcester Massachusetts earned his second career PASS super late model victory in convincing fashion.
Eight cars finished on the lead lap in a fast paced shoot out slowed three times for cautions. Ramstrom is the fifth winner in the seven PASS SLM races to date. Only Johnny Clark and Ben Rowe have visited victory lane twice as the season reaches the half way mark.
The Pro All Stars Series super late models get back on track in a hurry with a special Tuesday night July 14 appearance at Lee USA Speedway for the PASS Bastille 200. The PASS Mod s return for race number two of the Twin State series, and Lee’s own small block supermodifieds and Iron Man series will fill the bill. The racing goes green at 6:00 PM.
For more information visit www.leeusaspeedway.com; The Pro All Stars Series is on line at www.racewithpass.com and www.proallstarsseries.com .
Unofficial Results – PASS North super late model Full Fender Frenzy 75 – Thompson International Speedway – Thompson CT – 7/11/2009 – with finishing position, (starting position), car number, driver, hometown, (laps completed)
1 (2) 35 Derek Ramstrom, Worcester MA (75) 2 (5) 33 Richie Dearborn Hollis ME (75) 3 (13) 54 Johnny Clark Hallowell ME (75) 4 (4) 17 Travis Benjamin Morrill ME (75) 5 (3) 47 Kelly Moore Scarborough ME (75) 6 (10) 20 Steve Legendre St. Johnsbury VT (75) 7 (7) 6 Steve Desmarais (75) 8 (19) 17A Scott Alexander, Orrington ME (75) 9 (12) 4 Ben Rowe Turner ME (74) 10 (17) 85 Nick Ribbe West Kingston MA (74) 11 (9) 8 Cassius Clark Farmington ME 12 (74) (8) 12 John Danbrowski West Bridgewater MA (74) 13 (16) 7 Donnie Whitten Wells ME (73) 14 (14) 42 Dave Macomber Manorville NY (73) 15 (15) 36 Dale Silvia Warwick RI (72) 16 (1) 4S Jay Fogleman Durham NC (62) 17 (11) 98 Adam Bates Warner NH (58) 18 (6) 60 DJ Shaw, Center Conway NH (55) 19 (18) 70 Walter Sutcliffe East Haven CT (25)
by Jay | Jul 12, 2009 | New
July 11, 2009
Fredericton, NB – After an exciting weekend of racing last weekend, fans were looking forward to the big races this weekend, the Twin 100’s. The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 100 and Coast Tire Best of the Best Pro Stock 100 are now in the books at Speedway 660. Unfortunately Mother Nature has been less than kind this summer. The good news is, it was a gorgeous day for racing.
Today’s event featured regular points racing the in the Coast Tire Street Stock, Martin’s Home Heating division had their first big race of the 2009 season and the second and final race of the Best of the Best two race series sponsored by Coast Tire.
In the Coast Tire Street Stock division Brian Fox was the big winner of the afternoon picking up a win in dash and the 20-lap feature. Fox took the lead late in the race. Trent Noble who was having a good run led a lot of the race but came up a little short. Mike Francis finished a close second and Matt Matheson rounded out the top 3 for a podium Finish.
The Martins Home Heating Sportsman 100 was very exciting. The big battle all evening was between Michael Banks and Calvin Rankin. The two battled back and forth with many lead changes between the two. Competition was fierce tonight. It looked like the race was between Banks and Rankin until Myles Harris sprinted into the picture. Most of the drivers favored the high side of the track until Myles took his # 31 to the bottom and got him in the top spot. Harris came in the scene much later but he was there in the end to take the win in the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 100. Michael Banks finished second and picking up seven hundred and fifty dollars in bonus money from Martin’s Home Heating for leading on laps 25, 50 and 75. Unfortunately Michael Banks failed post race technical inspection. Matt Maillet finishes a strong third. This is a very competitive division with a lot of drivers that could take the win each week. The race tonight proved that.
There were 18 cars that started the Coast Tired Best of the Beat Pro Stock 100. When the green flag fell Brian Gillespie sprinted into the early lead and soon after was challenged my Lonnie Sommerville. Lonnie was driver the #87 car for Matt Harris. Harris had won race 1 and was unable to race tonight. Lonnie challenged Brian for the lead and then moved the #87 to the top spot. Around lap15 a huge wreck involving many of the cars took out half of the field. Unfortunately most of the cars involved were unable to get back on track. Luckily no one was injured. This left 9 cars on the restart. The big race after that was for third between Brent Wiggins and Greg Fahey. The two battled back and forth for many laps. Brian Gillespie finished in second and Brent Wiggins rounded out the top three. The Winner of the Best of the Best series was Greg Fahey.
Tune in next Saturday night for the Enduro 200. This is the first time an enduro has been on a Saturday night. The other weekly points divisions will not be racing.
Make sure you don’t miss another action packed weekend of racing at Speedway 660, it is sure to be WicKID!
by Jay | Jul 12, 2009 | New
Wiscasset, ME- Montville’s Bryan Robbins has a lot of racing experience. He and his brothers Jerry and Craig who are known as the Flyin’ Robbins Brothers have raced in everything from a Mini Stock to a Street Stock to a Late Model and more. However Saturday at Wiscasset Raceway Bryan found himself behind the wheel of a Verizon Wireless Super Street and he also found his way to victory lane picking up his first feature win of the season. Robbins beat Ed Drake by about a car length at the finish line. Behind the lead pair Jeremy Glasier held off Brian Fortin for third. Fortin would finish fourth with Allan Moeller Jr. fifth.
In the Aable Auto Parts Mini Stocks Thomas True of Wiscasset picked up another feature victory in his Red’s Eat’s Dodge Neon. Readfield’s Pete McCollett would take home second with 15 year old Tasha Dyer finishing third. 2008 division champion Dylan Lancaster would wind up fourth with Ryan Ripley fifth.
The U.S. Cellular Mini Truck division put on a great show for the crowd which saw Ryan Hayes pick up his third win of the season. Tony Field made his first trip to Wiscasset a worth while one as he would take home second. Opie Allard of Harpswell finished third. Russ Anderson and “The Tool Man” Brian Beauileu finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Ian Bresnehan picked up the feature victory in the New England Transmission Strictly Street division. Rookie Alex Waltz picked up his first career top three in second. Mike Moody finished third. Nate Yeaton took home fourth and Wally Henderson fifth.
In the Steel’s Real Rod’s and Custom’s Late Model’s Sidney’s Chris Thorne won his second feature event of the season. Adam Chadbourne finished second with Nick Reno coming home in third. Fourth would go to Seth Raven and fifth to T.J. Watson.
The Clark’s Car Crushing Pro-Stock’s saw Randy Turner win his third feature of the season at the “Center of Speed”. Randy had to hold off Jeff Burgess for the win. Second would go to Burgess and third to Charlie Colby. Chuck Colby would bring home fourth and Scott Moore fifth.
The North East Mini Stock Tour found their way to Wiscasset Raceway for the first time in the tour’s short history. Emerson Cayer won their fifty lap feature event. Ricky Potter finished second with local hero Tasha Dyer third. Fourth would go to Reggie Bickford and fifth to Loren Smith.
by Jay | Jul 12, 2009 | New
OXFORD, Maine – Five other drivers have won a Oxford Networks Late Model feature at Oxford Plains Speedway this season, but Travis Adams has been around long enough to know there’s something more meaningful about multiple wins.
And then there’s the biggest 40-lap win of all: The one in the final weekly event before the TD Banknorth 250. It makes the victor one of the pre-race favorites.
Some drivers shy from that label. Four championships and now 29 wins into a brilliant career as one of Oxford’s all-time greats, Adams drove Saturday night like he was campaigning for it.
Adams rallied from a near-disaster when two cars tangled in front of him on lap 2, then drove to the front with authority for his third triumph of the season.
Doing much of his work in the outside lane, as has become his custom, Adams made the winning move around Ben Ashline on lap 29.
“I know Shawn Martin was out here last week kind of bragging about how he was running half-throttle behind me (and Ricky Rolfe) last week,” said Adams. “That was all full-throttle right there. That’s the only way to go in the last race before the 250. That’s as fast as I can go next week, so hopefully that’s a good indication.”
Ashline was second, representing the third podium finish of the season for the 18-year-old. Don Wentworth claimed third, with Shawn Knight edging Tim Brackett in the closing laps for fourth.
Mike Short (Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Strictly Stock) and Jimmy Childs (Allen’s Mini Stock) also scored dramatic victories on WTOS Night.
Short was running third just five laps from the Strictly finish when leaders Kim Tripp and Skip Tripp collided in turn three.
The driver known as “Kim Dog” spun from the lead. Defending champion Skip slowed to straighten his ride. Short steered clear and stayed on top for the duration in claiming his third win.
“I guess I went to the outside at the right time,” Short said.
Skip Tripp, who was not penalized because Kim Tripp left most of the inside racing groove open prior to the contact, held on for second and padded his point lead.
B.J. Chapman, Gerry Burgess and Jerry Harrison completed the top five.
Childs shadowed rookie Jake Burns and pressured the leader into a late mistake, yielding the two-time champion his second victory of the summer.
Burns drifted up the track in turn three on the next-to-last circuit and Childs took advantage of the room, cleanly claiming the lead as the white flag appeared.
“Jake is a great driver and he drove a great race, but just chalk that up to experience,” Childs said. “I was in the right place at the right time.”
Ashley Marshall also snuck past Burns to pick up second. Justin Karkos recovered from an early pit stop to finish fourth, with Jeff Beaule winning a torrid battle with Kevin Bishop for fifth.
Dana Cook (Macdonald Motors Runnin’ Rebel) and John Lizotte (Call of the Wild RV Center Sport Truck) topped the Acceleration Series divisions for their first wins of 2009.
Cook prevailed in his second start of the season in Dustin Salley’s #8, pulling away by a comfortable margin over Kyle Hewins and Troy Jordan. Zach Audet and Scott Farrington followed.
Lizotte celebrated memorably after his 10-lap Truck victory, crashing with another car while attempting to make tire doughnuts on the cool-down lap.
He proceeded to spin the tires, anyway, before taking a reverse victory lap after securing his second career set of checkers. Jeff Schmidt (second) and Jeremy Wagner (third) each enjoyed a career-best finish, backed by Herb Farrar and Ryan Varney.
TD Banknorth 250 Speedweek is here, with races scheduled Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Go to www.oxfordplains.com for details and ticket information.
OXFORD NETWORKS LATE MODEL (40 laps): 1. Travis Adams, Canton; 2. Ben Ashline, Pittston; 3. Don Wentworth, Otisfield; 4. Shawn Knight, South Paris; 5. Tim Brackett, Buckfield; 6. Travis Stearns, Auburn; 7. Al Hammond, Paris; 8. Jeff White, Winthrop; 9. Shawn Martin, Turner; 10. Carey Martin, Denmark; 11. Corey Morgan, Lewiston; 12. Scott Robbins, Dixfield; 13. Kenny Harrison, Pownal; 14. Nick Brown, Bath; 15. Jason Larrabee, Raymond; 16. Ron Charpentier Jr., Wales; 17. Gerald Parlin, South Paris; 18. Tommy Ricker, Poland; 19. Matt Sanborn, West Baldwin; 20. Gary Chiasson, Peru; 21. Bruce Haley, Minot.
ALLEN’S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (30 laps): 1. Mike Short, Auburn; 2. Skip Tripp, Poland; 3. B.J. Chapman, Bridgton; 4. Gerry Burgess, Sabattus; 5. Jerry Harrison, Freeport; 6. Larry Emerson, Durham; 7. Matt Williams, Brownfield; 8. Sumner Sessions, Norway; 9. Jeff Merrill, Turner; 10. Mike St. Germain, Auburn; 11. Kim Tripp, Oxford; 12. Rick Spaulding, Lisbon; 13. Derek Farrington, Freeport; 14. Tommy Tompkins, Dixfield; 15. Zach Emerson, Sabattus; 16. Keith Stuart, Naples; 17. Ed Burlock, Minot; 18. Richard Kimball, Standish.
ALLEN’S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY MINI STOCK (30 laps): 1. Jimmy Childs, Leeds; 2. Ashley Marshall, Jay; 3. Jake Burns, Gray; 4. Justin Karkos, Jay; 5. Jeff Beaule, Lewiston; 6. Kevin Bishop, South Paris; 7. Greg Watkins, Bridgton; 8. Danny Morris, Auburn; 9. Steve Barker, Jay; 10. Larry Melcher, Livermore Falls; 11. Matt Moore, South Paris; 12. Ken Daigle Jr., Lisbon; 13. Shane Kaherl, Jay; 14. Darrell Moore, Mechanic Falls; 15. Butch Keene, Turner; 16. Nik Coates, Lisbon; 17. Calvin Rose Jr., Turner; 18. Wayne Titus, Minot.
MACDONALD MOTORS RUNNIN’ REBEL (20 laps): 1. Dana Cook, Auburn; 2. Kyle Hewins, Leeds; 3. Troy Jordan, Turner; 4. Zach Audet, Wilton; 5. Scott Farrington, Minot; 6. Matt Dufault, Turner; 7. Jeff Hebert, Auburn; 8. Mark Childs Jr., Mechanic Falls; 9. Corey Beaulieu, Oxford; 10. Jason Berry, Turner; 11. Craig Farrington, Hebron; 12. Jamie Leavitt, Minot; 13. Charlie Webster, Auburn; 14. Roger Bourgoin, Sabattus; 15. Nate Dubuc, Auburn; 16. Gerard Cote, Oxford; 17. Doug Degroat, Oxford; 18. Jamie Heath, Waterford; 19. Bill Dunphy, New Gloucester; 20. Randy Desmarais, Auburn; 21. Michael Carver, Durham; 22. Kyle Treadwell, Auburn; 23. Rob Lowe, Auburn; 24. Ryan Hewins, Leeds; 25. Craig Bartlett, Denmark; 26. John Childs, Leeds; 27. Gene White, Lisbon.
CALL OF THE WILD RV CENTER SPORT TRUCK (10 laps): 1. John Lizotte, Mechanic Falls; 2. Jeff Schmidt, Mechanic Falls; 3. Jeremy Wagner, Bryant Pond; 4. Herb Farrar, Sumner; 5. Ryan Varney, South Paris; 6. Ryan Farrar, Oxford; 7. Corey Williams, Sumner.
