Bub Bilodeau scores thrilling victory at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
By Dan Walker
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway PR
Scarborough, Maine- Bub Bilodeau only led the final 2 laps of the Pro Series feature race on Saturday night to score his second consecutive and third win overall for the season. Other winners were first timer Jason Gammon is the 35 lap Sport Series race and Cole Watson with his first Wildcat win this year.
Brian Beaulieu secured his second Road Runner win. The NASCAR Whelan All American Series features rolled out with The Pro Series headlining the card and Keith McKinnon started on the pole and took the lead at the wave of the green flag. Bill Whorff hounded McKinnon early on but faded back a bit allowing Mike Maietta Jr to move to the second position at lap 7. McKinnon was poised to steal his first career win but the caution flag foiled his straightaway lead that he was enjoying on lap 25. When racing resumed it was Maietta Jr going to the front and Bill Rodgers moving to second place. Things were about to heat up as Maietta and Rodgers were not giving each other much racing room and point contenders Bilodeau and Dan McKeage seemed willing to wait and see how the situation would play out as they followed behind the flying sparks and tire rubbing. On lap 30 with Maietta and Rodgers still waging war, Bilodeau had a look to the inside of both that would have created a 3-wide situation but the veteran driver backed out of it and waited for another try. The opportunity Bilodeau was waiting for came on lap 37 as the inside of Rodgers opened up and Bilodeau zipped into the hole and took the lead one lap later. The final 2 laps went Bilodeau’s way as he sailed under the checkered flag for the win over Rodgers and Dan McKeage. Maietta Jr finished fourth and T.J. Brackett was fifth. Jason Gammon is now in rare company as the rookie drivers won the 35 lap Sport Series feature race becoming one of only a handful of drivers to win in that division during their first season. Dave Lampron led the opening laps until lap 16 when his car got loose exiting turn 2 and he spun out of the lead. Jason Gammon was in position to capitalize and took over the lead position which he would hold to the finish as no caution flags were there to erase his lead. Ron Smith finished second with point leader Don Colpritt third. Russ Morse and Andy Field finished fourth and fifth. What looked like a sure win for Mike Roe and then Richard Randall ended with a win for Cole Watson in the Wildcat main event. Roe took the lead at the start of the 30 lap race and opened up a commanding lead on the field. Unfortunately for Roe his night ended on lap 21 when the motor blew sending him spinning out of the lead in his own fluid. Richard Randall took over at that point and was way in front until the caution flag erased his lead on lap 28 of the 30 lap race. On the restart Cole Watson got the better of the start and took the lead and the victory as Randall had to settle for second place with Buddy Poole third. Buddy Minott and Steve Benincasa rounded out the top 5 finishers. Brian Beaulieu made easy work of the Road Runner field on Saturday night. Casey Corkum and Mark Hill shared the early race lead but Beaulieu took over on lap 8 and drove away from the field. Beaulieu would take the win as Tim Caswell had the second position secured with Ed Pierce third. Hill and Corkum finished fourth and fifth respectively.