Nate Weston of Norridgewock survived an early duel with Shane Tatro of Holden as they battled for the lead through 5 restarts early in the Gardner Construction Enterprises 50 lap feature event for the Maine State Lottery Sportsman Division. Weston went on to hold the lead through 4 more cautions to win his first feature race of the young season. Tatro brought out the 6th caution on lap 31 when his motor blew up on the front stretch while slowly fading from the leaders as the motor went bad. D.J. Moody of Prospect came from the rear of the field following the last caution of the race on lap 42 to place second, with Mike Overlock of Franklin finishing third after having caused caution number 2 when a tire went flat, forcing him to pit for repairs. Kris Matchett of Skowhegan ended up fourth after being the only car other than Weston to make all 50 laps without pitting. Steve Moulton finished fifth after running with the leaders early, but having mechanical problems slow his car in the late stages of the event. Only five of the 11 starters were on the lead lap when the race ended. Tatro had won the evening’s qualifier, placing him on the pole for the start. Weston started outside pole by finishing second in the preliminary event.
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Brenton Parritt of Steuben won for the first time in two years as he led the 35 lap Dysart’s Late Model feature from the pole to the checkers. Parritt had to fend off an early challenge from Duane Seekins of Stockton Springs, then fight off Ryan Deane of Winterport through two restarts on his way to the checkers. Deane finished second in the race that was stopped on lap 3 when Alex Waltz of Damariscotta and Dale Swoboda collided on the front stretch, eliminating both cars for the night, The other caution flag flew on lap 15 when Winterport’s Joey Doyon did a solo spin in turn two. Phil Richardson of Hermon finished in third after holding off a strong challenge from last week’s winner, Mike Hopkins of Hermon who finished fourth. Deane Smart of Milford finished fifth. 13 cars went under the green after Parritt and Seekins took the front row by winning the evening’s qualifiers.
Shelby Kimball of Cornville finally kept an engine together for the full 25 laps of the Strictly Street feature and won her first of the season. The early laps were tough for the Mainely Motorsports TV Young Guns contender as she took the lead from Bryan Robbins of Montville on the fourth lap and had to battle him for the spot until he shut down and went to the pit on lap 17. The two raced side by side, swapping the lead several times until Robbins had to quit. It was all Kimball’s race from that point on as second place finisher Ryan Beale of Cherryfield and third place Andrew McLaughlin of Harrington were unable to get close enough to Kimball to mount a challenge. Duane Dunifer of Carmel finished fourth with Kimball’s brother Matt coming in fifth. McLaughlin won the heat in the division, but had to start at the rear of the field after winning last week’s feature. The Streets will be racing 35 laps next week in the Pepsi Beverage Company series race #1.
Steve Heath of Milo passed 2010 division champion Keith Ogden of Holden on lap 12 of the 20 lap Sport-Four feature and led the rest of the way to the checkers. Ogden settled for second with opening day winner Bradley Dolan of Glenburn taking third. Ted Ryder of Carmel finished a strong fourth with last week’s winner Andrew Crosby of Hermon coming from the rear of the 17 car field to post a fifth place finish. Gerry Phillips of Hermon started on the pole, but proved to be no match for Ogden, who took the lead on lap one and held it until Heath passed him on the 12th circuit. Phillips finished 8th, behind Fred Ashmore of Hancock and Donny Silva of Corinth. Emma Libby was 9th, after blowing a motor in warm ups in her primary car and making the trip home to bring back the car she’ll run in the Ladies division on Wednesday nights starting June 13. Becky Elston of Carmel finished in 10th. Ogden and Phillips won the qualifiers and started on the front row…not because of winning the qualifiers but because both fell out of last week’s feature early, Ogden for mechanical issues and Phillips due to an early race crash with Crosby.
Garret Hayman of Milford picked up his first Bomber win of the season as he led from flag to flag in the caution free 20 lap feature, after having finished second and fourth in the season’s first two events. Jeremy Scott of Carmel was closing in on Hayman as the laps wore down, but ran out of time before he could make a serious challenge for the lead. Darren Durrell of Newburgh finished a close third with Mark Sawyer of Corinth fourth and Andrew Crosby of Hermon taking fifth. Crosby had won the two previous Bomber features this season so was forced to start this event at the rear of the field. Crosby and D.C. Alexander won the qualifiers.
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