Mike Hopkins of Hermon continued his winning streak at Speedway 95 Saturday night as he barely edged out Liberty’s Josh St. Clair to take the Late Model win. Hopkins started 8th in the 16 car field and was at the point by lap 10. St.Clair was involved in a lap one incident and had to restart at the back of the pack, making his charge to the front more dramatic, as he worked his way to the second spot by lap 12. A late race caution had St. Clair and Hopkins restarting on the front row, but Hopkins was able to regain his lead and hold off St. Clair to post his 6th win in a row. St. Clair got as far as Hopkin’s door in the battle for the lead in the last three laps but Hopkins was able to use the faster outside lane to fend off the challenge. In his post race interview, Hopkins admitted that St. Clair had the faster car, but just wasn’t able to get off the corners on the inside lane well enough to complete the pass. St.Clair settled for a close second, followed by Winterport’s Shane Clark in third. Bob Seger Jr. of Frankfort finished in fourth, followed by pole sitter Ryan Deane of Winterport in fifth. Donny Blanchard of Bangor, George Dunn of Eastbrook, Ryan St. Clair of Liberty, Alex Waltz of Damariscotta and John Kalel II of Orrington rounded out the top 10. The remainder of the finishing order was 11. Duane Seekins, Stockton Springs, 12. Jesse Smith, Bangor, 13. Dale Swoboda, Hermon, 14. Deane Smart, Bradley, 15. Dave St. Clair, Liberty, and 16. Greg Ellis of Hermon.
Bradley Norris of Ellsworth used the inside groove to his advantage in the 35 lap Varney Agency Sport-Four series event as he passed Milo’s Steve Heath on lap 33 to take the win. It was Norris’ third win of the season and third in a row. Heath finished second after leading laps 12 to 27. He and Norris swapped the lead from that point to lap 33 when Norris took the lead for good. Pole sitter Becky Elston of Carmel led from lap one to lap eleven when Heath wrestled the top spot from her on the twelfth circuit, and finished a strong third. Eddington’s Jay Robichaud placed his Toyota fourth, followed by Mike Heath of Brownville in fifth. 2010 champion Keith Ogden of Dedham finished sixth. Joshua Grant of Carmel, Scott Bonney of Bangor, Ryan Kennedy of Holden Andrew Crosby of Hermon rounded out the top ten. Bradley Dolan of Winterport and James Johnson II of Bucksport completed the finishing field.
The Strictly Street Coca Cola series 35 lap feature, rained out from last week, was dominated by Andrew McLaughlin of Harrington as he led all 35 laps. The action behind him kept the crowd entertained, though, as Cody Brassbridge of Frankfort and Derek Mingo of Lamoine raced side by side for the second spot for most of the first half of the race. Brassbridge finally secured the second spot and kept it to the finish. Mingo ran third from then until Shelby Kimball of Cornville made a late race charge and nipped Mingo at the wire for the third place finish. Mingo finished fourth with Shawn Hamel of Bangor in fifth. As Kimball and Mingo crossed the finish line fighting for the third spot, Kimball suffered right front damage to her car, and had to be towed to the front stretch for her post race interview. Brad Finnemore of Dover-Foxcroft and Shawn Hamel II of Bangor completed the finishing order of the race.
After surviving three tries to get the Sportsman 25 lap feature event under green, Steve Moulton of Holden led from the green to the checkers to post is third win of the season. Kris Watson of Hermon finished in second after his race long battle with Hermon’s Doug Sinclair came to an end on lap 23 when Sinclair’s Mustang shut down and coasted to the pit. Tim Reynolds of Bradley finished third in his first outing of the season in the division, followed by Mike Overlock of Franklin in fourth. Sinclair finished fifth. D.J. Moody of Prospect attempted to start the event, but was eliminated before the race began when Overlock spun coming out of turn four for the start and hit Moody’s car, damaging it beyond repair for the night. Overlock was again involved in the second failed attempt to start the race as he and Reynolds collided in turn one. Both were able to continue, but a third attempt to start the race was needed before one lap could be completed.
Ryan Modery of Hermon took the lead from Emma Libby of Glenburn on lap 11 of the 20 lap Bomber feature and continued to lead to the checkers for the win. Libby maintained the second spot, with Milford’s Garret Hayman challenging her for the position, but settling for a third place finish. Fourth went to Kevin Seekins of Frankfort with Late Model driver Dale Swoboda of Hermon fifth in Modery’s back up car. Sixth through tenth finishing positions went to Dennis Burns of Carmel, Andrew Allen of Carmel, Ken Ogden of Seal Cove, D.C.Alexander of Glenburn and Patrick Cook of Plymouth.
In the visiting Wicked Good Vintage Racing League action that saw several cars eliminated in accidents during qualifying races, Jamie Henderson of Litchfield won the Late Model feature, followed by Wally Henderson of Litchfield in second after a side by side battle for the lead over the final 5 laps of the event., Bob Simmonds of Casco was third, Neil Martin of Freeport fourth and Rosey Gerry of Lincolnville finished fifth. The remainder of the finishing order was 6. Keith Smalley, Warren, 7. Mark Thurlow, Lincolnville,8. Roger Raymond, Palmyra and 9. Scott Tucker, Winthrop.
In the Modifieds, Hal Clark of Bridgton took the win, followed by John Lizotte of Minot and Dick McPhail of Fairfield.
Action in the Sportsman Division saw Duane Dunifer of Carmel take the win over Shawn Racilla of Dover-Foxcroft and Bob Oliver of Brewer.
Tim Reynolds of Milford won the Outlaw Division feature after a spirited battle with Ken Robinson of E. Machias, who finished second. Third went to Kris Watson of Hermon, with Greg Veinotte of Newburgh fourth.
Upcoming racing action at Speedway 95 includes a regular racing show on Saturday, July 9 featuring a 50 lap series event for the Dysart’s Late Models as well as regular events in the Sportsman, Strictly Street, Sport-Four and Bomber classes. Then the focus switches the Thursday nights for the next two weeks with the “Wreaths Around America” Ikey Dorr Memorial 50 lap event for Strictly Street, Outlaw and Wildcat cars on Thursday, July 14, with a 7:00 start time for the show. The track will not run on Saturday night, July 16, so anyone going to the Sprint Cup event at Louden can do so without conflict. On Thursday night July 21, the John Phippen Memorial 100 for Late Models will highlight the card that begins at 7:00 p.m. Racing is also scheduled for the Sportsman, Strictly Streets, Sport-Fours and Bombers on that night. There will be no racing on Saturday night, July 23, leaving any who wish to attend the events scheduled that week-end at Oxford Plains Speedway free to do so. Saturday night racing will resume on July 30.