crashed Ricky Rolfe's party.
Rolfe dominated the early stages of Saturday's New England Dodge
Dealers American-Canadian Tour 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway, but the
two-time OPS champion was forced to withstand a late challenge from
seven-time ACT king Jean-Paul Cyr to win a touring event at his home
track for the first time since 2002.
The second and final caution flag of the race put Cyr to Rolfe's
outside on a restart with 10 laps remaining. Cyr's charge was
persistent enough to give him the lead by a fender on lap 146 and by a
half-car length on lap 147 before Rolfe restored the advantage. Rolfe
won the chase to the checkered flag by two car lengths.
"I love running these ACT races. I love all long races. But I wouldn't
mind if this were the (TD Banknorth) 250," said Rolfe, referring to
the $100 paid to the leader of each green-flag lap during the July
summer classic at Oxford. "I'd have about $15,000 in the pocket, never
mind if we would win that damn thing."
Rolfe, who has won feature races in six different divisions at OPS in
a 20-year career, captured the 2002 Late Model and 2003 Pro Stock
championships at Oxford. His career-best finish in the TD Banknorth
250 was second in 2005.
Starting on the pole gave Rolfe a chance to run and hide, but Cyr was
one of several drivers to make a dramatic charge and shuffle his way
to the front over the second half of a mostly caution-free event.
Cyr started 15th and survived early contact with John Donahue to run
second. Brent Dragon rallied from 24th to third, with Eddie MacDonald
blazing from 17th to fourth. Donahue rounded out the top five.
OPS 2004 champion Shawn Martin, Canadians Patrick Laperle and Donald
Theetge, ACT veteran Cris Michaud and all-purpose touring standout Ben
Rowe rounded out the top 10.
Rowe's spin brought out the caution flag that gave Cyr his last-ditch
chance to overtake Rolfe.
"I saw him coming up the outside, and I thought if I could get up
there too, he would have to go under me. He couldn't seem to get under
me," Rolfe said. "Then the caution came out and said, 'Oh, no, here we
go now.' I don't want to be rough with him. He's my customer. I
figured if he went by me, he went by me. Second's better than
crashing."
Rolfe, a fabricator at the Race Basics shop in nearby Andover, builds
cars at his day job for Cyr and countless other Late Model drivers in
New England.
His day wasn't perfect. After a run from eighth to third in his 12-lap
heat afforded him the pole by virtue of a plus-five handicap in the
ACT qualifying system, Rolfe and his crew discovered a problem
"We had a hole in the radiator and had to change it," Rolfe said.
"This is the same car as last year. We put a new body on it, and
that's it. Just a few little tweaks here and there. She was pretty
good today."
Cyr caught a break on lap 50 when he was restored to his spot after he
and Donahue spun out of the lead pack due to fluid on the track in
turn four. ACT officials determined that the two tangled after the
yellow flag appeared for the moisture.
Under the ensuing long run, Cyr was fastest among the several drivers
in the mid-pack whose set-up seemed to click in the late-afternoon
sunshine.
"I think we passed quite a few cars, some of them a couple of times,"
Cyr said. "A win would have been better, but I guess we'll settle for
this again. Ricky ran a wonderful race. He knew what line I was
running."
Cyr stormed past Rowe into the top five on lap 93. Over the next seven
circuits, he picked off MacDonald, Donahue and Martin to snag second.
Rolfe's advantage shrank significantly in that stretch, but he was
able to maintain that margin in traffic until the Rowe spin.
Rolfe had a buffer zone of several lapped cars between himself and
runner-up Shawn Martin on the lap 50 restart. There was no such luxury
with Cyr to his outside and only 10 laps to go.
"On the restart I thought I had him if I could bring it in before the
car got too tight. He raced me clean. I raced him clean. He does fix
my car, and I don't want him messing up on that," Cyr said with a
smile.
No telling what might have happened if Dragon had an extra 50 to 100
laps to work with. He won a lengthy duel with MacDonald during the
extended green-flag session and found a place on the podium.
"Maybe I should have gone for it earlier, gotten past some of those
lapped cars, and maybe I could have run with Jean and Ricky," Dragon
said. "It still was a good day coming from 24th. I'm looking forward
to the rest of the year."
Saturday's opener was the first event in the four-race L/A
Harley-Davidson Late Model Challenge Series. In addition to the
independent TD Banknorth 250, other ACT events are scheduled for June
21 and Sept. 13.
Other feature winners Saturday were Matt Williams (Allen's Coffee
Flavored Brandy Strictly Stock), Dave Mooney (Allen's Mini Stock),
David Childs (Chimney Tech Outlaw) and Cathy Manchester (Allen's
Ladies).
Williams was another driver to earn the pole -- in his case, by virtue
of a heat-race win -- and use the track position to his advantage
while four drivers dueled for runner-up spot behind him.
B.J. Chapman, Skip Tripp and Mike Short diced it out side-by-side and
fender-to-fender for the runner-up slot throughout. It was enough to
give Williams a cushion of two to five car lengths for the duration of
a 30-lap sprint that proceeded without a caution.
The win might have been good medicine for Williams. He picked up a
victory early last season but admittedly grew weary of chasing points
over the summer, even though it yielded him a fourth-place result for
the season.
"I wasn't too enthused about racing this year. I don't know, I just
have no ambition, I guess, Maybe I'll find some ambition now,"
Williams said.
Chapman jumped out to second early and staved off the charges of first
Short, then Tripp, to match his career-best finish.
"My dad (four-time OPS Charger champion Blaine) is the one I have to
thank, because without him there is no way I would be racing," said
Chapman, who returns to Strictly Stock after a brief foray in Late
Models last season. "We just finished the car last night. I'm
impressed that we're even up here."
The car of apparent third-place finisher Short failed the post-race
inspection, vaulting Sumner Sessions into the final trophy position.
Sessions scooted into third when Tripp's ride drifted high in the
final turn. Joe Hutter posted his best finish since 2005, taking
fifth.
Mooney was the beneficiary of his brother Don's rough luck en route to
his first Mini Stock victory in almost five years.
Don Mooney and Jimmy Childs ran one-two in a battle of two-time
division champions throughout the first half of the race. That tussle
ended when Childs made an inside bid for the lead on lap 16. Mooney
went for the block and wound up spinning over Turn 3 and falling to
the rear of the field.
Childs avoided veering off course but still yielded the lead to Dave
Mooney, and that inside lane on the restart gave Dave the vantage
point he needed to deny the 2006 and '07 division dominator.
"Last year it didn't want to run 30 laps at a time, so I'm lucky to
get it to run 30 laps to start off with," Dave Mooney said. "That 10
(Childs) is always the fastest car here. It's a hard thing to do to
hold him off. Hopefully I can have a few more good runs this year, I
don't know."
In a surprise return, Childs tuned up for his full-time Late Model
debut next week by hopping in the championship ride he turned over to
dad Bill Sr. in the off-season.
True to form, Childs provided the entertainment value during and after the race.
"Dad put it together and he didn't want to drive it. He wasn't feeling
so good, so he let me drive it. He's done so much for my family in
racing," Childs said. "I'll be here with my Late Model next week. Good
thing I won't have to run with the green machine (Don Mooney), because
he thinks he owns the whole track. It was like last year with Adam
Polvinen all over again."
Don Mooney rebounded from the incident to finish sixth.
Rookie Darrell Moore wound up an impressive third in only his second
Mini Stock start since graduating after a half-season in the
Acceleration Series. Shane Kaherl and Ashley Marshall completed the
top five.
Two more members of the Childs family found their way to victory lane
in the Chimney Tech Outlaw feature, where David opened defense of his
Agren Appliance Saturday Showdown title with a wire-to-wire win.
David's uncle, Guy Childs Sr., settled for third, with Rick Spaulding
sandwiched between the two at the end of the 20-lap dash.
"I'm not going to complain. Starting out front helps out a lot, but
I'll take it any way I can get it," Childs said.
Manchester led the Ladies' 10-lap encounter throughout, narrowly ahead
of reigning Showdown champion Dottie Patria.
"Dottie said she'd let me have first place on my birthday," joked Manchester.
Kimberly Sessions finished third in a ride borrowed from Outlaw driver
Scott Veinott.
OPS roars to life again next Saturday, May 3, with five divisions of
action on Sunoco Race Fuels Night beginning at 6:30 p.m.
NEW ENGLAND DODGE DEALERS ACT 150
Fin. (Start) No. Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (1) #51 Ricky Rolfe, Albany Township, 150
2. (15) #32 Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton, Vt., 150
3. (24) #55 Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt., 150
4. (17) #17 Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass., 150
5. (3) #26 John Donahue, Graniteville, Vt., 150
6. (2) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 150
7. (12) #91 Patrick Laperle, St. Denis, Quebec, 150
8.(18) #80 Donald Theetge, Boischatel, Quebec, 150
9. (7) #6 Cris Michaud, Northfield, Vt., 150
10. (8) #10 Ben Rowe, Turner, 150
11. (9) #78 Ryan Nolin, Georgia, Vt., 150
12. (22) #11 Claude Leclerc, Lanoraie, Quebec, 150
13. (29) #7VT Eric Williams, Hyde Park, Vt., 149
14. (4) #70 Scott Dragon, Milton, Vt., 149
15. (5) #9 Jonathan Urlin, London, Ontario, 149
16. (21) #25 Shawn Knight, Oxford, 149
17. (30) #89 Scott Payea, Milton, Vt., 149
18. (25) #97 Joey Polewarczyk, Hudson, N.H., 149
19. (10) #05 Ron Henry, New Gloucester, 149
20. (27) #56 Dale Verrill, Paris, 149
21. (32) #02 Randy Potter, Groveton, N.H., 149
22. (16) #5 Leon Heckbert, Wilton, 149
23. (13) #07 Scott Luce, Strong, 148
24. (28) #85 Dennis Demers, Shelburne, Vt., 148
25. (20) #7ME Glen Luce, Turner, 148
26. (14) #16 Joey Becker, Jeffersonville, Vt., 148
27. (19) #41 Pete Potvin III, Graniteville, Vt., 147
28. (23) #61 Tommy Ricker, Poland, 132
29. (26) #83 Alan Tardiff, Lyman, 115
30. (31) #18 Jamie Fisher. Shelburne, Vt., 100
31. (11) #15 Ben Ashline, Pittston, 48
32. (33) Travis Stearns, Auburn, 26
33. (6) Travis Adams, Canton, 7
Lap leaders: Rolfe 1-145, Cyr 146-147, Rolfe 148-150.
Cautions: 2 (laps 50, 140)
Margin of victory: 2 car lengths
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (30 laps): 1. Matt
Williams, Brownfield; 2. B.J. Chapman, Bridgton; 3. Sumner Sessions,
Norway; 4. Skip Tripp, Sabattus; 5. Joe Hutter, Oxford; 6 Rick
Thompson, Naples; 7. Dave MacDonald, New Gloucester; 8. Kim Tripp,
Oxford; 9. Larry Emerson, Durham; 10. Perry Tucker, Sumner; 11. Mike
St. Germain, Auburn; 12. Michael Roe, West Paris; 13. Glen Henderson,
Sabattus. DQ - Mike Short, Auburn. DNS - Jeff Moon, Gray.
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY MINI STOCK (30 laps): 1. Dave Mooney,
Wales; 2. Jimmy Childs, Leeds; 3. Darrell Moore, Mechanic Falls; 4.
Shane Kaherl, Jay; 5. Ashley Marshall, Jay; 6. Don Mooney, New
Gloucester; 7. Curtis Fanjoy, Oxford; 8. Wayne Titus, Lisbon; 9. Craig
Moore, Oxford; 10. Greg Watkins, Bridgton; 11. Randy Kimball, Mechanic
Falls; 12. Kevin Bishop, Oxford; 13. Bob Guptill, Mechanic Falls; 14.
Matt Moore, Harrison; 15. Dale Brackett, Oxford; 16. Ken Daigle Jr.,
Lisbon; 17. Bill Thibeault, Oxford. DNS - Don Frechette, Turner; Brad
Dwinal, Freeport.
CHIMNEY TECH OUTLAW (20 laps): 1. David Childs, Oxford; 2. Rick
Spaulding, Lewiston; 3. Guy Childs Sr., Turner; 4. Steve Moon, Gray;
5. Kevin Lawrence, South Paris; 6. Thom Bell, Turner; 7. Fred Clavet,
Buckfield; 8. Zach Bowie, Lisbon; 9. Jay Wilkins, Gray; 10. Keith
Landry, Oxford; 11. Nick Coates, Turner; 12. Walter Connell III,
Norway; 13. Jonathan Baldwin, Auburn; 14. Dennis Morang, Norway; 15.
Shannon Judd, Jay; 16. John Patria, Turner; 17. Tom Averill, Peru; 18.
Bill Coolidge, Bryant Pond; 19. Scott Veinott, Greene; 20. Jerry
Freve, Buckfield.
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY LADIES (10 laps): 1. Cathy Manchester,
Gray; 2. Dottie Patria, Turner; 3. Kimberly Sessions, Auburn; 4. Annie
Chartier, Mexico; 5. Debbie Marston, Hartford.
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