Bill Rodgers wins special Tuesday night Holiday week Miller Lite 50 at Beech Ridge.
Dan Walker
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway PR
Bill Rodgers broke into victory lane 2 weeks ago and wasted little time getting another taste on Tuesday night as he won the Miller Lite 50 at Maine’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. Jason Larrabee was victorious in the Sport Series feature race and Mike Roe capped the Wildcat win. Ed Pierce rounded out the special mid week event winners as he won the Road Runner feature race.
Mike Maietta Jr was first to lead the 21 car Pro Series starting field and stayed in front until lap 4 when T.J. Brackett went hard into the pit entrance sand pile bringing out the only caution flag of the race. Back to racing Maietta Jr sprinted back in front chased by Steven Jones and Aaron Ricker as eventual winner Rodgers moved to fourth position. On lap 11 Rodgers disposed of Ricker for second place but by this point Maietta Jr had built up a sizeable lead over the field. Rodgers picked away at Maietta’s lead until lap 25 when he arrived on the rear bumper of the leader and began to size up his options. Rodgers pulled to the outside of Maietta Jr on lap 26 and 1 lap later had the lead which he carried to the checkered flag. Bub Bilodeau made a late race charge to finish second and current point leader Dan McKeage was third. Shawn Twomey and Maietta Jr were fourth and fifth. Jason Larrabee won the Sport Series feature race for the second time this season on Tuesday night. Joe Doiron is enjoying a good rookie season and he led the opening laps of the race. Ron Smith was hunting Doiron down looking for an opening so he could take the lead but the rookie was holding his line and fending off the challenges of Smith and Robert Emery. On lap 22 Doiron drifted just high enough to allow Smith to his inside and a new leader was in front. With the field strung out at lap 26 Smith got pinned behind a lapped car and Larrabee made a quick move to the outside to take over the lead. A late race caution flag was no problem for Larrabee as he sailed under the checkered flag for the win over Frank Wear in second and Smith third. Joe Doiron was fourth and Andy Field a solid fifth. Mike Roe took the Wildcat feature win on Tuesday night but not without a little racing controversy. Andy Ayers led the first 2 laps until Roe got the nose of his car into the rear panel of Ayers on lap 2 sending the leader spinning out of the race. Roe took over at that point and led the rest of the way for the win despite a caution flag on lap 17. Cole Watson was tucked right on Roe’s rear bumper at the finish for second place and Brian Caswell was a very tight third place finisher. David Wildes survived 3 crashes to finish fourth with Shawn Emery fifth. Ed Pierce has been red hot lately with his Road Runner car as he won on Tuesday in the 20 lap main event for the division. Pierce led all 20 laps and never let anybody get close as he took the checkered flag by a half track margin over second place finisher Ed Connolly. Patrick Thorne was third with Paul Lund and Todd Lefebvre rounding out the top five finishers.