OXFORD, Maine - The reborn paint scheme of motion picture race car
Lightning McQueen caught just about every fan's eye when Dennis
Spencer Jr. rolled onto the track Saturday night at Oxford Plains
Speedway.
As for Spencer, he thought the prettiest sight of the evening was the
one in his rear-view mirror.
With Travis Stearns and Daren Ripley dicing it out side-by-side for
some 20 laps and holding back Shawn Martin in the process, Spencer was
untouchable on the way to his first 40-lap Oxford Networks Late Model
victory of the season.
It was Spencer's 25th career checkered flag at the track where he
began racing as a high school student in the early 1990s. Only 33
drivers have achieved that milestone.
"I could see them going side-by-side in my mirror, so I stayed on the
bottom and took it easy," said Spencer.
Twin 30-lap features for the Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy Mini Stock
division provided the bookends for a busy program.
The same top three of Justin Karkos, Kevin Bishop and Ken Daigle Jr.
appeared on the victory podium in each race. Karkos led the trio in
that order for his division-leading fourth win of the season in the
opener. Daigle delivered his first career victor y in the nightcap,
one that met with a mixture of cheers and boos as he survived a run-in
with Bill Childs Sr. and held off Karkos and Bishop in a late run to
the finish.
Mike Short continued his blistering mid-season pace with a hard-earned
Allen's Strictly Stock win, his fourth of the season.
Jerry Goss and Steve Brill captured the 20-lap Chimney Tech Outlaw
features. Vanna Brackett shared the Agren Appliance Saturday Showdown
spotlight with a wire-to-wire win in the Allen's Ladies division.
Venerable Russ Nutting, whose last previous OPS win came in 1985,
emerged victorious in a 20-lap exhibition for the Wicked Good Vintage
Racing Association.
Spencer's Late Model rivals race for second
Spencer became the second different driver to win a Late Model feature
for car owners Conrad and Kerrie Childs this season. Kurt Hewins
accomplished the feat less than a month ago.
Ripley, who purchased Dale Verrill's racing operation lock, stock and
barrel mere hours after both drivers competed in last Monday's TD
Banknorth 250, dominated his heat and led the first green-flag segment
of the main event.
The two leaders swapped the advantage on laps 9 and 10 before Spencer
forged ahead to stay on lap 11.
Back-to-back restarts on the 13th and 14th circuits brought Spencer
back into the clutch of the hungry pack, but he soon set sail while
Ripley (inside) and Stearns (outside) dueled over the second20spot for
the duration.
"It makes it a little easier when you start near the front," said
Spencer, who took the green flag behind pole-sitter Ripley in the
third spot. "I was hoping nobody broke open to catch me, because then
I would've had to run hard."
Martin played the waiting game to perfection until Stearns finally
fought off Ripley with about five laps remaining. The 2004 champion
then wasted no time taking away third from Ripley and seizing second
from Stearns in the Bombardier/Oxford Networks #94.
"This car is awesome. I've got to hand it to my crew," Martin said.
"We've just hit on something. We had an awesome run in the 250 and had
an awesome run tonight. I'm happy to be up here with Travis and
Dennis, who are good friends of mine. Man. I wish we had another 10
laps. It was just getting faster as it went on. We were a little slow
on the short run but really fast on the long run."
Five days after a third-place finish in the last chance race kept him
out of the TD Banknorth 250 in his second try, Stearns rebounded with
one of his best runs in the headline division.
"We've been wrecked about every other week. I wasn't even going to
race tonight," Stearns said of his second trophy run of the season in
the Pride Concrete Floors/C.L.H. & Son #85. "It was pretty good. We
were just too tight and couldn't do anything with (Spencer). The20#70
(Ripley) ran me real clean. I'm pretty happy with that."
Spencer ran in the top 10 throughout the TD Banknorth 250, backing up
last year's fifth-place run in the Cole-Man's Concrete #8 with a ninth
in the #95.
Several crew members were enjoying a well-earned night away from
competition and were forced to hear about their driver's return to
victory lane second-hand.
"My father couldn't be here and Kenny Wills couldn't be here," Spencer
said. "We're working without a crew chief and a spotter, but we
managed to pull it together. It's a lot of work in the pits."
Ripley held on for his best OPS finish, fourth in the Pave-Tek #70,
trailed by Hewins .
Previous series point leader Ricky Rolfe, winner of five of his last
six weekly starts in the top division, sat out the race. He is on a
cross-country road trip with his family.
Travis Adams reclaimed the division lead with an eighth-place finish.
Martin is now second, a slim 24 points back.
Same top three, two dramatically different Mini results
Karkos continued his hot streak. After a roller-coaster month of June,
the Polymer Repair Technologies #51 has finished first or second in
his last four starts.
He kicked off the night with his division-leading fourth win of the
season, breaking a tie with Don Mooney for the top spot in the W
inner's Circle Challenge.
"I had a little bit of luck starting up front, since I didn't race at
the start of the season. I think it would have been a lot different if
I'd had to come from the back," said Karkos, whose points handicap was
lowered by a myriad of mechanical problems in those early starts. "At
least I'm getting noticed. I hear some people booing me."
Bishop charged to his best finish of the season in the Cole's Custom
Auto #08, with Daigle notching the first trophy of his rookie campaign
in third.
"Can anybody tell I'm hungry tonight?" said Bishop, referring to his
late pass of Daigle for the runner-up spot with four laps to go.
Winless in Championship Series competition since his first stint as a
Mini and Strictly driver in 1991-92, Bishop closed Karkos' gap to just
over two seconds but could only get a distant glance at his rear
bumper as the checkers appeared.
It inspired him to throw out another rhetorical question.
"Where was my yellow when I needed it?" Bishop asked. "We're going to
keep going as far as we can go."
Butch Keene and Darrell Moore completed the top five.
As for the yellow Bishop requested, it came with nine laps remaining
in the encore. The details simply didn't go his way.
Daigle lost the lead to Bill Childs Sr. on a lap 20=2 0restart. As the
leaders raced out of turn four to complete the 22nd circuit, Daigle's
front bumper brushed Childs from behind.
Childs spun and collected a passing Bill Thibeault, heavily damaging
both rides and sending Childs' #10 back to the garage on the business
end of a flatbed.
"I feel bad about that," Daigle said. "He's been good to me all year
long, and I definitely got into him and spun him. I didn't mean to do
it. I'll take the win, but I'm sorry that happened."
Because most of the field hadn't completed lap 22 when the caution
flew, the scoring reverted back to lap 21.
Daigle, who wasn't penalized for his role in the incident, crossed the
line second on that circuit and thus was scored as the leader.
"I thought he was involved, and that would mean he'd go to the rear,"
Bishop said of Daigle's role in the incident. "But that's race
control's decision, and I'll stand by that if they're willing to stand
by it."
Bishop had the first shot at Daigle on the restart. Karkos closed to
the leader's back bumper over the final five laps, but the newcomer
held on.
"He did a great job," Karkos said. "I know what a big deal that first win is."
Twice this season, Daigle surrendered the lead to Childs during the
final 10 laps of a Mini main event.
His victory is the first for car owner20Wayne Parkin's team since
Parkin himself steered the Le Nationale/Little Joe's #25 to the top
spot on July 3, 2003.
Moore finished fourth in front of Ashley Marshall as those two drivers
continue to battle for the series point lead. Marshall now leads by
four points, with Bishop third and within striking distance at 39
points off Marshall's pace.
Another second-groove clinic by Short
Short now leads all Allen's Strictly Stock drivers with four victories.
It took him five laps on the outside of Matt Williams to gain second
and another five to dispatch David Tripp, finally picking up the point
in the All-Purpose Builders #56 on lap 21.
"That's harder than I had to work all of last weekend," said Short. "I
have to thank Dave and Mr. Williams for some good, clean racing."
Tripp and the A.J. Levesque Excavation #20 topped Williams in the
tussle for second, backed by B.J. Chapman and Larry Emerson.
"It's going pretty good," said Tripp, who backed up his win earlier in
the month with the runner-up trophy. "Those guys have been back there
turning wrenches on it all day."
The same could be said for Williams' crew, who have wrestled with the
R.W. Plumbing #63 all season, helping their veteran driver to second
in the series point standings.
"Last weekend was a long weekend. I was glad it was over," Wil liams
said. "This is a shocker to me after the heat. It was just junk."
Skip Tripp maintained the division point lead, coupling his qualifying
race win with a seventh-place feature finish.
Short has won three of his last six starts since July 5.
No looking back for Agren Showdown winners
Steve Brill and Jerry Goss ruled two caution-free Chimney Tech Outlaw
20-lappers.
Brill hoped to hand over his ride to son Jon for the night. When told
that Jon was ineligible because he is a former Strictly Stock
champion, Brill roared to the lead on lap 2 and stormed to the victory
himself in the Dyer's Septic Service/Brill Lumber #53.
"I thought it would be a good idea to get up front and get the hell
out of there," Brill said.
Scott Ellis and Dennis Morang wound up at the front of a tight pack
behind Brill, second and third, respectively, for their best finishes
of the season. David Smith and Gerry Richard were next.
Goss took over from John Patria on lap 5 and extended his lead while
Rick Spaulding and David Childs worked the outside of early runner-up
Guy Childs Sr.
Spaulding crept within two car lengths but couldn't make the winning move.
"It was a good night to get out there and lead as early as I could,"
said Goss, who posted his second triumph of the season in the Dad's
Place #99.
Guy Childs held off nephew David for third at the stripe.
"This car is bent so bad," Guy Childs said. "I've got a new car, and
we've had all kinds of starter problems with it. I guess we had better
luck last year."
Patria picked up fifth, continuing his turnaround from a rough first
half to the season.
Reigning Allen's Ladies champion Vanna Brackett ran and hid from her
pole starting position and cruised to her third victory of the season.
"We never work on the car," claimed Brackett, who was chased to the
line by another former champion, Lisa Vining.
"I knew I didn't have anything for her," admitted Vining, who was
seeking her first win since her 2004 championship season.
Dottie Patria, currently the point leader on both Wednesday night and
in the Agren Appliance Saturday Showdown, couldn't make up the lost
early ground without a caution and settled for third. Lisa Brooks and
Kimberly Sessions followed.
OPS returns to action at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday with the Acceleration
Series. The New England Dodge Dealers Summer Celebration, featuring
five divisions of racing and a gigantic fireworks display, is Saturday
night at 6:30 p.m.
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