Aug 29, 2016 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Race Tracks, More Maine Racing News, Oxford Plains Speedway
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – Frustrated with contact from a lapped car late in the race and being sent to the rear of the pack for the restart, Emily Packard was able to channel that frustration and drive her 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels car back up through the field to finish in eighth place at Oxford Plains Speedway this weekend. “We were just clearing a pack (of cars) and headed for the leaders,” said the 19-year old driver, “when a lapped car just drove right through us and spun us out. Unfortunately, ACT didn’t punish see the need to punish him, but instead I was sent to the back for the restart. Luckily there were enough laps for me to recover and get a top-10 finish.”
Earlier in the day, Packard and the team spent the morning preparing the car for practice, reviewing notes from their test and changing the car back from the New Hampshire Motor Speedway test. It was obvious when she hit the track for the first practice that the team had made all the right changes as Packard was the 6th fastest car on the track. “We were ok during practice, pretty quick actually” said Packard. “We ran some very consistent laps, within a tenth of each other every lap, whereas other guys were going out and running a fast lap and then would drop right off.” Packard would continue to get faster each practice, with her fastest lap in final practice when she went out to scuff in new tires.
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Aug 29, 2016 | Maine Race Tracks, Maine Racing News, More Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Oxford Plains Speedway, PASS, Touring Series News
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.
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Aug 29, 2016 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Race Tracks, Maine Racing News, More Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Oxford Plains Speedway, Touring Series News
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.
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Aug 29, 2016 | Maine Race Tracks, Maine Racing News, More Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Oxford Plains Speedway, PASS, Touring Series News
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…)
Aug 29, 2016 | American Canadian Tour, Maine Race Tracks, More Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Oxford Plains Speedway, Touring Series News
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.”
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Aug 25, 2016 | Maine Race Tracks, Maine Racing News, More Maine Racing News, NE Racing News, Oxford Plains Speedway, PASS, Touring Series News
PR- Eric LaFleche / Photo – Lindsay Ellison
New Hampshire native is looking to continue building confidence with solid Oxford 250 finish
(Oxford Plains, ME) – Derek Griffith and the No. 12 Provencher Insurance/Hitman Industries racing team will roll into Oxford Plains Speedway for the Hudson, New Hampshire natives second attempt in the prestigious 250-lap Super Late Model event.
The 43rd annual H.P. Hood Oxford 250 is considered by many to be one of the biggest short track racing events in the United States and Griffith, along with over fifty other drivers will be fighting for 40 starting spots in the event that commands a minimum $25,000 winner’s share.
Derek is entering this year’s event with much more experience and success competing with the Pro All Stars Series (PASS). Griffith who recently visited victory lane with the series by capturing the 150-lap event at Lee USA Speedway see’s the 2016 attempt in a much different light than last year, he explains; “In 2015 we really didn’t have much experience at Oxford Plains Speedway, it’s a tricky 3/8th mile oval that really only laps and seat-time can help.
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