Wayne Helliwell, Jr. scores big H.P. Hood Oxford 250 victory
photo by Norm Marx
New Hampshire racer remains hottest PASS Super Late Model racer at Oxford Plains Speedway
Oxford, Maine – Wayne Helliwell, Jr. had suffered through more than his share of disappointment over the years in competition at Oxford Plains Speedway, but a turnaround in fortune for the Bernhardt Motorspots team came full circle Sunday night with victory in the 43rd Annual H.P. Hood Oxford 150, worth about $30,000.
“I can’t believe it, the way we’ve run at Oxford in the past, I can’t believe how this team has turned this around,” the winner exclaimed in victory lane. Longtime Oxford Plains Speedway and Ford fans were ecstatic to see the orange 27 with the Dion Brother Racing throwback paint scheme in victory lane, especially with Roger Dion on hand helping Bernhardt Motorsports effort.
Payea Takes Third Win of Season in Thriller at Oxford
Oxford, ME – Colchester, VT’s Scott Payea emerged as the victor in a heavyweight thriller at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway on Saturday, August 27, beating out Eddie MacDonald, Dillon Moltz, and Brad Babb for his third American-Canadian Tour (ACT) win of the season in the Dave’s Small Engines/Ferris Mowers 100.
Payea, Babb, and MacDonald had engaged in a three-way battle for more than half the race, with Payea and Babb swapping the lead numerous times while MacDonald lurked in the wings. Payea finally gained the edge for good shortly after a lap-79 caution for Emily Packard’s spin, sweeping around the outside of Babb for the event’s 13th lead change. The title contender then held on through two more restarts for his eighth career ACT Late Model Tour victory and first at Oxford.
Hinesburg, VT’s Bobby Therrien, the winner at Oxford in the ACT season opener, led the first five laps from the pole before Rich Dubeau got around him following a hard duel to lead his first laps ever in ACT competition. Babb followed Dubeau up the outside line, then swung to the outside himself to nab the point on lap 18.
Griffith Likes His Oxford 250 Chances After Very Good Practice Session
PR- Eric LaFleche / Photo – John Miller
Oxford 250 ‘Practice Saturday’ proves to give young New Hampshire driver more confidence for Sunday
(Oxford, ME) – When more than sixty Super Late Model teams head to Oxford Plains Speedway for the richest one-day asphalt short track race in the United States, the Oxford 250; the day before race-day is extremely important for race teams to get acclimated to the tricky 3/8th-mile oval.
Derek took the Hitman Industries/Provencher Insurance/Chuck Taylor No. 12 Toyota Camry out on four separate occasions during the three-hour practice session, Griffith steadily improved as the day practice went on. Early on, the Hudson, NH native peeled off a 15.814 second lap. The team decided to tweak the set-up to ensure the car would be very good on long green-flag runs, during the 250-lap main event on Sunday, August 28th.
“We planned on running a bunch of laps today to perfect the set-up said Griffith, we were 10th fastest for the entire 3-hours but our car didn’t drop off, there are cars that turned faster laps but seemed to slow, as the laps went on. Louie [Crew Chief Louie Mechalides] set us up with a car that is very consistent. It’s a neutral set-up, this is the most comfortable I’ve ever felt here, the car is great and we’re not changing a thing.” (more…)
Allen Wins Thursday Night Finale On Jet Service/Accura Night
Jason Allen of Barre shows off his trophy in Victory Lane after claiming victory in the Late Model feature on Jet Service Envelope/Accura Printing Night at Thunder Road. (Alan Ward photo)
Barre, VT – Jason Allen of Barre ran down pole-sitter David Whitcomb of Essex Jct. halfway through the race and stayed on top the rest of the way to claim victory in the Thunder Road Late Models on Jet Service Envelope/Accura Printing Night on the final Thursday night event of the season.
Allen started fifth in the 24-car main event field, moved into second on the eighth lap, and erased Whitcomb’s 15-car length lead grab first place on the 24th lap. Whitcomb couldn’t catch back up to Allen, but was able to maintain his position and finished the caution-free race in second place. The victory was Allen’s first of the season, and the second of his Late Model career at Thunder Road.
Marcel Gravel of Wolcott finished in third place. Tyler Cahoon of Danville, who won his heat and semi-feature and would have earned a $1300 bonus from Maplewood for the Triple Crown with a feature victory, was fourth. Cody Blake of Barre finished fifth, and was followed in the top 10 by Kyle Pembroke of Montpelier, Matt White of Northfield, Nick Sweet of Barre, Scott Dragon of Milton, and Jason Corliss of Barre.
Emily Packard Returns to Oxford Plains Speedway for ACT 100
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – After missing the last two American Canadian Tour races, Emily Packard and the 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team are set to return this weekend to Oxford Plains Speedway for the ACT 100. “I am very excited to go back to Oxford this weekend,” said the 19 year old racer. “I really like the track, and we have had some really decent finishes there, so I am looking forward to this weekend, hopefully there will be a good turnout of cars.” This weekend the American Canadian Tour revisits Oxford Plains Speedway as part of the 43rd HP Hood Oxford 250 weekend, with their 100 lap feature race on Saturday night.
“We tested there last week, and it felt pretty good,” said Emily. “We haven’t been there since April, so obviously the track is completely different now than it was back then, but I feel pretty good about our test and that we will have a decent car this weekend.” In the spring race this season at OPS, Packard restarted in seventh place, finding herself stuck behind lapped cars on what would be the final restart of the race. Losing several positions in the closing laps she would eventually crossing the line in 13the place. “We had a really good car and should have had a better finish,” said Packard, “we just got stuck in the wrong line on that restart.” The East Montpelier native is hoping to better that finish this weekend and build some momentum to take through the remainder of the season. “The last couple of races have been really hard races,” Packard said, “so I really want to go and have a good run. The last race at Seekonk was awful, the car just wouldn’t respond to any adjustments that were made, so the test was really important to getting the car set up for this race.”