Josh and Ryan St. Clair both earned victories at Speedway 95 Sunday afternoon, but each took a different path to reach victory lane as a large opening day crowd watched under sunny skies. In the Late Model division, Josh shot past pole sitter Brenton Parritt of Steuben at the drop of the green flag and held the lead all the way to the checkers in the caution free 35 lap feature even. Parritt, who had earned the pole position by winning the qualifying heat, looked at St. Clair’s bumper from about 6 feet away for the entire distance, and finished the race in second place. Hometown racer Dale Swoboda of Hermon brought his Impala home third, with Oakland’s Mike Landry finishing in fourth. Orrington’s John Kalel Jr. finished his first Late Model feature in the fifth spot.
In the Super Streets, Ryan St. Clair drove past Lamoine’s Derek Mingo by using the inside groove in the closing laps to put his car in the second spot at the finish. In the post race inspection, Ryan’s run up the inside proved to be the winning move of the race when first place finisher Steve Moulton of Holden was disqualified for running an illegal spacer plate on his engine. Also disqualified in the post race inspection was third place finisher Doug Sinclair of Hermon, who was found to have illegal shock absorbers installed on his car. This brought the finishing order to 1. Ryan S. Clair, Liberty, 2. Derek Mingo, Lamoine, 3. J.R. Robinson, Steuben, 4. Meghan Allen, Winterport and 5. Mike Overlock, Franklin. Moulton was the winner of the qualifying heat.
Bradley Norris of Ellsworth, the 2009 Strictly Street champion started the 2010 season off right with a win in the season opener for the division. Norris was planning to run in the Sport-Four division on Sunday, but a blown engine during Saturday’s open test session forced him to work all night on his Strictly Street car to prepare it for today’s event. The work paid off as he ended up in victory lane for his efforts. Second place went to Shawn Hamel II of Bangor. Third place finisher Troy Patterson of Stockton Springs also ran afoul of the tech inspectors and was disqualified for a weight violation. Third place then went to Shawn Racilia of Dover-Foxcroft, with Shawn Hamel of Banfor and Jim Carr of Clifton rounding out the top five. Patterson had earlier won the single qualifier for the division.
Sport- Four driver Kyle Gallant of Veazie started his season off on the right foot with a hard fought victory over 2009 champion David Green of Hampden who finished in second. Green stayed right in Gallant’s bumper for the majority of the race, making Gallant be very careful not to slip even a little. Keith Ogden of Dedham finished in third, with Gary Richards of Stetson fourth and pole sitter Derick Terrell of Plymouth finishing fifth after a trip to the pit to change a flat tire during one of the two caution periods in the race. Terrell was the winner of the qualifier earlier in the program.
Also on the card this week was the Wicked Good Vintage Racing Series, with two divisions seeing action on the 1/3 mile Hermon oval. In the Outlaw division, John Rice of Bristol fought off a tenacious Joe Legere of Bradley to post the win in his 1973 Ford Grand Torino. Legere finished second, with E. Machias hotfoot Ken Robinson in third. Fourth went to Duane Dunifer of Carmel with Chris Watson of Hermon finishing in fifth. In the Late Model Division, it was another close finish with racing veteran Dick McPhail of Fairfield putting his 6 cylinder Chevrolet in victory lane ahead of the V-8 Chevelle of Wally Henderson from Litchfield. Keith Smalley of Warren came home third, followed by Rosey Gerry of Lincolnville in fourth and Bob Oliver of Orrington finishing fifth. Kevin Waterhouse of W. Paris won the Late Model qualifier, and Paul Pierce of Lincolnville won the qualifier for the Outlaws.
Racing action returns to Speedway 95 on Sunday May 2, with a 2:00 start time. The day’s schedule includes a 50 lap event for the Dysart’s Late Models, and regular feature in the Super streets, Strictly Streets and Sport-Fours. A ride with your favorite driver session will precede the racing program, starting at 1:30.