John Kalel II of Orrington led the Dysart’s Late Model feature from the green to the checkers Saturday night at Speedway 95, but never led by more than a car length in the caution free 35 lap event. Kalel started from the pole by winning a qualifier earlier in the program and had Winterport’s Ryan Deane behind or beside him for the entire distance. Deane tried running the inside several times attempting to take the lead from Kalel, but Kalel kept his cool and fought off each challenge. Deane finished second with Hermon’s Mike Hopkins finishing third after coming from his 12th place starting position in the 14 car field. Once Hopkins got to the leaders, he couldn’t advance past them as they were running side by side for the final 5 laps, with Kalel winning by less than a car length. Phil Richardson of Hermon finished in fourth with Bangor’s Donny Blanchard picking up his first top five of the season. Andy Saunders of Ellsworth won the first qualifier, but had to start near the rear of the field because of his top three finish the week before.
Bradley Dolan of Glenburn fought off a determined Andrew Crosby of Hermon in the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New England 35 lap feature to take his third win of the young season. Dolan fought off Crosby through four restarts in the final five laps as Crosby tried every trick he knew to grab the lead each time the green was thrown. Crosby finished a close second with Keith Ogden of Holden driving a steady race to finish third. Fourth went to Donny Silva of Hudson, who ran close behind the leaders throughout the race. Gerry Phillips of Hermon recovered from a late race spin caused when he tried to avoid a wreck to finish fifth. Dolan and Crosby won the qualifiers and both started on the front row. Earlier in the evening Emma Libby of Glenburn and Gary Richards of Exeter were involved in a turn three incident that sent Libby to the hospital for observation. She returned to the track later in the evening with no known injuries. Richards repaired his car and started the feature, but was again involved in an incident and ended his night “on the hook”.
Jeremy Scott of Carmel picked up his first win of the season in the Bomber Division as drove away from the field following a lap 9 caution caused when Steve Warman of Searsport lost power in his season debut and stopped on the track. Mark Lane of Newport managed to hold off Hermon’s Andrew Crosby to finish second with Crosby finishing in third. Scott Bonney of Bangor brought his car home fourth with Corinth’s Mark Sawyer finishing fifth. With only one caution slowing the action, the field quickly spread apart, with the faster cars lapping all but the top five of the 12 starters.
Andrew McLaughlin of Harrington became the divisions second two time winner as he went under the checkered flag about five car lengths ahead of Cornville’s Shelby Kimball, who was closing but ran out of laps before she could get close enough to challenge McLaughlin for the lead. Kimball finished second with Alex Berry of Harrington picking up his first top three finish of the season. Fourth went to Dave Brannon of Lisbon in his first appearance at the speedway this season. Duane Dunifer Sr. of Carmel finished fifth. Two caution flags slowed the race, one on lap 9 for a solo spin by Brannon and another on lap 15 when Matt Kimball drove low into the infield and carried a marker cone onto the track and deposited it on the front stretch. Shelby Kimball was the winner of the qualifying heat earlier in the evening.
In Maine State Lottery Sportsman action it was Steve Moulton of Holden winning for the third time this season after taking the lead from Brad Norris of Ellsworth on lap 10. Lamoine’s Derek Mingo avoided trouble all night and finished in the runner up spot. With about five to go, Mike Overlock of Franklin had a radiator hose let go, spreading water in turn two. Norris, who was running second and Kris Matchett of Skowhegan, running third at the time, spun in the water and collided. Norris went to the pit for the night, but Matchett was able to return to the race following a quick trip to the pit and finished third. While the track crew cleaned up the water spill, Overlock was able to repair his car, refill it with water and rejoin the field before the green flew again. He was able to finish fourth with Dustin Bisson of Greene finishing fifth in his first outing in the division. Moulton also won the division’s qualifier.
Racing continues at Speedway 95 on Saturday June 2 at 5:00 with racing in the Dysart’s Late Models, Maine State Lottery Sportsman, Strictly Streets, Sport-Fours and Bombers. The Strictly Streets will be going 35 laps in the Bill Jordan Memorial Race, the Bombers will race for 30 laps in the Varney Agency Series and the NELCAR Legends cars will be making their only appearance of the season , brought to the speedway by B.D.S. Waste Disposal.
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