Hermon’s Mike Hopkins made it two for two for 2012 in the Speedway 95 Dysart’s Late Models Saturday night when he went from the outside pole to victory lane in the caution free Sinclair Towing Service 50 lap feature event. Ryan Deane of Winterport started on the pole but was no match for Hopkins, who had the lead coming out of turn two on the first lap. Andy Saunders of Ellsworth wasted no time getting past Deane as he quickly moved into the second spot, but that’s as far as he could go. Saunders, and Deane who finished third, went the entire 50 laps nose to tail, but no change in the running order was ever made. Brenton Parritt of Steuben moved through the pack and finished in the fourth spot with Winterport’s Shane Clark finishing fifth. Duane Seekins of Stockton Springs finished sixth, the last car on the lead lap at the finish. Hermon’s Greg Ellis, Deane Smart of Milford, John Kalel II of Orrington and Dale Swoboda of Hermon, rounded out the top ten. Fifteen Late Models took the green flag for the race, with only Hermon’s Phil Richardson falling out and not completing the entire distance. Hopkins and Deane won the qualifiers, placing them on the front row for the start.
Steve Moulton of Holden picked up his first win of the season in the Maine State Lottery Sportsman division after winning the qualifier and starting on the pole. The 25 lap race was slowed three times by the yellow flag, twice for single car spins and once when Troy Patterson of Stockton Springs and D.J. Moody of Prospect touched coming out of turn four while running side by side for the third spot. Patterson ended up on his side against the turn four barrier, while Moody continued on unscathed. Jim Robichaud of Orrington, returning to the speedway after several years off, drove a strong race to finish second, with Moody finishing third. Nate Weston of Norridgewock survived an incident early in the event when he and Moulton tangled while fighting for the lead. Weston fell to the rear of the field but came back to finish fourth with Kris Matchett of Skowhegan finishing fifth.
In the Strictly Streets, Andrew McLaughlin of Harrington outduelled last week’s winner Ryan Beale of Cherryfield to post his first win of the season after winning the division championship in 2011. Shelby Kimball of Cornville, who had earlier won the divisions qualifier, started on the pole and led the first 8 laps until Bryan Robbins of Montville worked his way by to take the lead. Two laps later, Kimball’s motor went up in smoke for the second week in a row. Following that restart, McLaughlin took two laps to get by Robbins, then led the rest of the way to the finish. Beale finished in second with Jim Carr Jr. of Clifton surviving a late race battle with Robbins to finished third. Robbins finished fourth with Duane Dunifer Sr. of Carmel coming across the stripe in fifth.
Twenty-one Sport fours took the green flag for their 20 lap feature event with Zach Audet of Skoweghan coming from the rear of the field to take the win. Audet had several caution periods help him overtake the field as only 15 of the 21 starters went under the checkers. On lap four, Gerry Phillips of Hermon slowed in turn four due to mechanical issues and was clobbered by Hermon’s Andrew Crosby, who evidently didn’t see the car of Phillips stopped on the track apron. The resulting crash sent Phillips to the ambulance for observation, while Crosby attempted to return to the race with a car track officials deemed unfit to race due to the damage inflicted during the crash. Crosby ignored the black flag three times as the cars circled the track under caution and was subsequently disqualified from the event. Following a late race caution and a three lap dash to the finish, Audet outran Carmel’s Becky Elston, who finished second and last week’s winner Bradley Dolan of Glenburn, who finished in the third spot. Fourth went to Fred Ashmore of Hancock with Donny Silva of Hudson finishing fifth.
Andrew Crosby of Hermon took the checkered flag in the Bomber division for the second week in a row in a race that used of 17 of the allotted 20 minutes to make the scheduled 20 laps. The win wasn’t easy for Crosby as his arch rival from the Wednesday night Little Enduros, Darren Durrell of Newburgh gave chase throughout the distance, but was unable to pass Crosby for the win and settled for a runner up finish. Pole sitter Jeremy Scott of Carmel, who along with Crosby won the night’s qualifiers, finished third with Milford’s Garret Hayman, running with the leaders all night, finishing fourth. D.C.Alexander of Glenburn finished in fifth. Crosby and Durrell won the division’s qualifiers.
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