Dave Oliver finds his way to victory lane at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
Scarborough, Maine- Coming off an opening day top 5 finish following a qualifying wreck, Dave Oliver found the speed in his car and was victorious following the 40 lap Pro Series race on Saturday night. Mike Maietta Jr led the field to the green flag and quickly sprinted out front but tell tale signs of smoke started appearing from the #23 immediately.
With Maietta Jr in front nursing a potential problem, Dave Oliver was slicing his way through the top five drivers until he moved to second place on lap 18. Oliver began to close the big gap that Maietta Jr had built up and the smoke from Maietta’s tire rubbing was getting thicker and the car was getting slower.
Oliver moved into position on Maietta Jr at lap 29 and took the lead driving away from the field for the win. Somehow Maietta held on for second place with T.J. Brackett third. Jay Sands and Aaron Ricker were fourth and fifth.
In Sport Series action Bobby Nadeau led all 35 laps unchallenged despite a lap 6 caution flag to secure the Sport Series main event. Nadeau was cruising in front leaving Nate Leavitt a distance behind to finish second. Ben Tinker had a nice third place finish in only his second outing on the Beech Ridge oval, and Corey Bubar was fourth. Rounding out the top 5 finishers was reigning champion Sally Gherardi.
Lyman McKeage won the most exciting feature race of the evening when he took the checkered flag in the Wildcat feature race. Jesse Tolman appeared to be headed for an easy win but he and Mike Ramsey crashed out while racing for the lead on lap 4. Steve Benincasa took over the top spot and held it until McKeage made a bid for it on lap 25.
Benincasa and McKeage made contact with each other nearly spinning out of contention, but McKeage saved his car as Andy Ayers took the lead. McKeage made a last lap charge at leader Ayers heading down the backstretch and exiting turn 4 with the checkered flag waving, McKeage got to the finish line first by just inches over Ayers. Matt Hodgdon was third with Dan Bean and Steve Benincasa rounding out the top finishers.
Shawn Brackett took the lead on lap 7 of the 20 lap Road Runner feature race and never looked back in taking the win. Ray Letellier had a very strong race and finished second with last weeks winner Ed Connolly finishing third. David Turner and Thomas Bennett were fourth and fifth at the finish.