Old Town’s Jason Trundy returned to victory lane in the Little Enduros at Speedway 95 Wednesday night as he took his first win of the season. Trundy started fourth in the field and passed pole sitter Mike Witham of Milo for the lead on the fourth lap, and never looked back during the 20 lap caution free feature event. With good battles for position happening throughout the field, and lots of action when the leaders passed slower traffic, Paul Higgins of Newburgh emerged as the second place finisher. Higgins and Darren Durrell, also of Newburgh waged a fierce but clean battle for the second spot until Durrell’s exhaust system began dragging the track, upsetting the handling on his Honda Prelude. Durrell held on for a third place finish while Donny Blanchard worked his way from the back of the field to post a fourth place finish for the night. Witham, who won the first qualifier earlier in the evening, wound up fifth at the checkers. The second qualifier was won by Higgins.
Rhonda Lyford of Winterport, the current Ladies Division points leader and the 2008 division champion, waited patiently in the middle of the pack while early leaders Shelby Kimball of Cornville and Nicole Smith of Clifton rubbed fenders enough to put Smith into the third turn wall and Kimball to the back of the pack for rough riding. When the green flew again to begin lap six, Kimball and Smith tangled again at the back of the pack, sending Kimball to the pit for the night with a broken race car. When the race resumed, Lyford was at the point and stayed there for the remaining 14 laps. Becky Elston of Carmel cruised to an easy second place finish while Smith worked her way through the field to finish third. Amy Houde of Howland finished in fourth with Danielle Deluck of Hampden in fifth. Shelby Kimball was the winner of the ladies qualifier.
Shawn McNevin of Hudson finally made it to victory lane for his first win of the season in the Big Enduro Division after passing polesitter Roger Smith of Clifton on the second lap, and keeping his Ford Thunderbird in front of the pack of GM products while fighting off Smith’s challenges for the next 18 laps of the caution free event. Smith ran strong all night and finished the race in second, about three car lengths behind McNevin. Alan Cookson Jr. of OldTown also ran a hard race, challenging McNevin and Smith for the top two spots early in the race, but falling to third by the time the checkered flag flew. Ricky Palmer of Winterport finished in fourth with Michael Shaw of Troy fifth.
Jim Carr Jr. of Clifton posted his fourth win in a row in the Truck Division, holding off a late race charge by Dana Harlow of Bucksport, who just happens to own the truck Carr was driving. In his post race interview, Carr mentioned that the truck was “a really nice piece” and felt fortunate to be able to drive it for the man he just beat for the win. Harlow, who finished second, said he would have had a better shot at Carr, but his power steering broke about five laps from the end, slowing him down enough to take away any chance of beating Carr. Peter Drake, driving another Dana Harlow owned truck, finished in third, with the Crosby’s, Andrew and Brett, from Hermon finishing in fourth and fifth respectively.
Making their debut at Speedway 95 this week were the “Stars of Tomorrow”, a division of 11-14 year olds driving cars similar to the Little Enduro cars. 14 year old Ryan Modery of Hermon picked up the inaugural win in the division by beating 11 year old Matthew Kimball of Cornville and 14 year old Brett McCullough of Kenduskeag, who finished second and third in that order. It was the first appearance in a race car on a racetrack for the three beginners, and the race went the entire 10 lap distance without any incidents. All three have ties to the Speedway 95 racing community, as Ryan is the son of Late Model driver Scott Modery, Kimball is the brother of Ladies Division driver Shelby Kimball, and Brett McCullough is a descendant of the racing McCullough family from Hudson, who have been racing at Speedway 95 since it’s inception in 1966.