(Naples, ME – September 21, 2007) The New England Dodge Dealers Mid-Week Series Finale drew 124 cars for the four 50 lap features to kick off the PASS 400 Weekend on Thursday night at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough, ME.
The Trucks were the first of four 50 lap features, and the #24 of Ray Letellier of Buxton, ME jumped out to the early lead, but it was Marvin Hamilton of New Gloucester, ME who was coming like a banshee on the outside. He made it to second by lap 15, but at the halfway mark it was still Letellier with the #1 Tony Field of Buxton second, Hamilton third, Ryan Farrar of Oxford, ME fourth in the #69, and Matt Dow of Buxton in the #84 rounding out the top five.
Field and Hamilton swapped second a few times on restarts, and Hamilton finally got by Letellier on a restart going into turn one and puts it in cruise around the bottom. But Field wasn’t done. And with ten to go Field was right on Hamilton’s back bumper, but Hamilton was committed to the bottom and wasn’t going to move.
With one to go, Field drove it in hard on the outside of turn one with a lapped car in the middle with Hamilton on the bottom. Coming out of turn two they were still three wide, and Field bounced it off the back stretch wall. He kept his foot in it into turn three and took the checkers. Hamilton was second, Letellier third, Farrar fourth, and Matt Dow of Buxton in the #84 rounding out the top five.
The 350’s were next up for their 50 lapper. Nick Coates of Turner, ME took the #12 to the front quickly. On lap six, the #18 of Carl McAlpine of Burham, ME went around Coates for the lead, but it was Richard Spaulding of Lisbon, ME in the yellow #36 using the high groove like Hamilton in the Trucks to get to the front.
But it all came to an abrupt stop on lap 11 as a back marker dumped oil from turn three through turn four, and everyone of the leaders went spinning as the yellow flew. McAlpine recovered quickly and stayed in the lead, but Spaulding knocked the front bumper off and had to pit along with several others.
At halfway, McAlpine was gone. In fact, so far gone he got DQ’d in post race inspection. By lap 35, Spaulding was up to fourth after working his way from the back after his lap 11 visit to the pits. At lap 40, he was third and at lap 45 he was second. He finally caught McAlpine but it was in the tech line. Spaulding was declared the winner, with the #19 of Steve Moon of Gray, ME #12 second, the #12 of Coates second, third, Tim Hatch of Standish , ME in the #58, and Jeremy Leavitt of Poland, ME rounding out the top five.
The 305’s were next up for their 50 green-flag laps. The 28 cars took the green, and the #11 of Craig Smith of Waterboro, ME took the point and held the lead over the # 22 of Todd Lovejoy of Kennebunk, ME through a series of yellows. The #4 of Adam Ricci of Westbrook, Me got into the mix by halfway along with the #6 of Robert Williams of Limington, Me.
After a caution on lap 38, Ricci and Lovejoy swapped second back and forth through a couple of yellows, but it was still the #11 of Smith out front.
With two to go, Lovejoy finally got to Smith and pinned him behind a lapped car. Lovejoy pulled away out of turn two and took the win. Smith held on for second, with Ricci third, Williams fourth, and Dana Bean of Alfred, ME fifth.
Thirty three stock 4’s took the green in the final 50 lapper of the night. It didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin with a multiple car spin in turn one on lap 4. However, things settled down for a while and Mark Childs, Jr of Mechanic Falls, ME was out front with #521 of Scott Farrington of Minot, ME second and the #54 Kyle Hewins of Leeds, ME third.
At the halfway mark, it was still Childs, with Hewins now second, Farrington third, and Josh Childs of Oxford, ME in the #3 fourth. A caution on lap 33 gave Hewins in the $54 a chance for the lead and he took into turn one side by side with Childs, Jr and came out of turn two with the lead.
However, Hewins trip to the front was short lived as the #3 of Childs (not Jr) took the lead on lap 35 and pulled away over the final 15 laps. The #521 of Farrington was second, Hewins third, Childs Jr in the #95 fourth, and the #119 of Greg Norton of Lewiston, ME fifth.
If Thursday night’s action was any indication of the racing fans will see on Saturday and Sunday, it will be quite a show. There were over 180 cars in the pits for practice day on Friday. Saturday is qualifying day for the PASS Super Late Models, Outlaw Late Models, Modifieds, Sportsman, Wildcats, and Roadrunners. Saturday will also feature the Victory Lane Indoor Karting Wildcat 75 lap feature and the T & K and Sons Concrete Roadrunner 25. On Sunday, it’s the PASS North Super Late Models in the 300 green-flag lap DJ Equipment 300, the Outlaw Late Models in the Norway Savings Bank 75, the PASS Modifieds in the Price-Rite Fuels 40, and the PASS Sportsman in the Pullen Heavy Industries 100.