When the crashing stops, Childs Jr. reigns supreme
OXFORD, Maine – The apologies in victory lane were flying more quickly than the trail of sparks and hurt feelings left behind on the lonely ride to the garage area.
It was one of those Saturday nights at Oxford Plains Speedway, when a day of weather-related uncertainty and a lengthy track-drying endeavor that pushed the start of racing back until almost 8 p.m. left everyone in an antsy and sometimes impatient mood.
Oh, don’t misunderstand Billy Childs Jr.’s subdued celebration in victory lane after a 40-lap Oxford Networks Late Model victory. He wasn’t about to give back the big trophy, his first in the top division in almost two years. And after all, Childs was the beneficiary, not the cause, of the four-car wreck that made him the leader at the midway point.
“I guess luck was with me tonight,” said the driver of the Lucas Oil/Brown’s Construction #1. “I don’t know what was going on out there. That was one of the roughest races I’ve ever been in here.”
Wrinkled fenders and rankled feelings were fairly common in the other divisions, too.
Mike Short didn’t have to worry much about the intense racing thanks to a healthy lead and convincing win in the Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Strictly Stock class. Don Mooney took advantage of rookie Ken Daigle Jr.’s late motor problem to take command and become the first Allen’s Mini Stock repeat winner of the season.
Ben Krauter returned ‘home’ to the Macdonald Motors Runnin’ Rebel division and won in only his second start of the spring. Jake Burns’ mastery of the Call of the Wild RV Center Sport Truck class continued with a hard-fought win over Ryan Farrar.
Terry Kirk, a 1970s mainstay of the Charger and Sportsman divisions, scored his first OPS feature win in 33 years in a 10-lap exhibition for the New England Legends Cars.
Childs winds up a rose between two thorns
Five caution flags slowed the first half of the main event — three of them on ill-fated lap 20, alone. Childs found himself tucked somewhat safely between two separate messes in turn one and on the backstretch.
The big one happened in front of Childs, when Zach Emerson and Jeff White’s bid to get around Kurt Hewins on the fifth and final restart left all three cars, along with Ricky Rolfe’s ride, badly damaged on the wet infield grass.
Childs, who was in the middle of another top-five run that would have maintained his splendid start to the season, averted disaster and suddenly inherited an advantage that nobody in his mirror could touch.
He didn’t accept the honors without issuing a mea culpa of his own.
“I got into Carey Martin, and things just went south from there. “I have to apologize to Shawn Martin, too.”
Point leader and reigning champion Travis Adams endured an even more eventful night. Making little headway from the rear of the field at lap 14, Adams made contact with a driver he glowingly called one of his heroes, Dennis Spencer Jr., on the front stretch.
Spencer, steering the #95 of Conrad Childs for the first time this season, was finished for the night. He expressed his displeasure to Adams on his way to the Turn 2 pit gate.
“I need to say sorry to Dennis and the entire Childs family,” remarked Adams. “Dennis is one of the cleanest drivers out here, and I feel that I am, also. That absolutely was not intentional.”
Track officials assessed Adams a stop-and-go penalty, after which he nearly lost a lap before staying in front of Hewins until the next flurry of caution flags.
That returned Adams to the tail end of the lead lap, which turned out an ideal place to avoid every ensuing fracas. In the same multi-car melee that vaulted Childs to first, Adams emerged in fifth.
From there, the 2003, 2006, and 2007 champion quickly moved into the top three and overtook surprising Matt Sanborn for the runner-up spot with seven laps to go.
With many of the division’s top competitors sidelined before the finish, several underdogs enjoyed a career night. Sanborn charged from 20th starting position to third, giving Childs a spirited battle on the final restart before settling in and chasing Adams to the checkers.
“I’ve never seen guys drive like that in my life,” Sanborn said. “They just kept dumping each other, but whatever. Tony Ricci set up this car. It’s a Port City chassis, probably the only one up here. I didn’t think we’d even have a chance at a top-five tonight, but jeez.”
Ben Ashline was one of the fastest cars on the track at the finish. The 17-year-old achieved his best career finish in fourth, followed by rookie Tyson Jordan, last year’s Macdonald Motors Runnin’ Rebel champion in his finest Late Model hour to date.
Long distance from Short to the field
Mike Short won the 1997 Allen’s Strictly Stock championship without the benefit of a feature victory. In fact, Short has carried the checkers at OPS only seven times in his lengthy career.
When Short is the class of the field, however, the competition typically needs to place a call to a different Zip code to get in touch with him.
Short cruised past Joe Hutter on the fourth circuit and cruised to his first 30-lap triumph of the season in the All-Purpose Builders #56.
It is the high point of a season that included one previous top-3 run, a disqualification, and a did-not-finish.
“Finally,” exulted Short. “I haven’t won a whole lot, but every time I do win a race it feels like it comes too easy. I’m glad we hung in there through the rain. It was a fun night.”
Glen Henderson was runner-up for the second time this season, unable to make a dent in Short’s lead after a lap 17 restart but also unchallenged by anyone in the brewing, three-car battle behind him.
“I tried to catch (Short) and make it at least kind of s race,” said Henderson, a three-time feature winner last season. “He had the car tonight. He was pretty stout.”
After running third throughout, Rick Thompson found himself under siege from Skip Tripp and B.J. Chapman over the final two laps.
Chapman tried to sneak by on the inside, but Thompson slammed the door. When both drivers lifted off the accelerator to straighten out their cars, Tripp attempted to squeeze into the middle.
The three of them chose slightly different lanes in a paint-swapping sprint out of the final corner, with Thompson hanging on for his first trophy of the season. Tripp edged Chapman for fourth and padded his point lead over the fellow second-generation standout.
“That was a great last lap,” Thompson said. “It’s been a struggle so far this year, but it’s the fun that brings us back.”
Mooney makes late getaway
Mooney’s margin of victory was nearly four seconds in the Allen’s Mini feature. That was the most deceiving statistic of the night.
Ken Daigle Jr. was the latest rookie to make a splash this spring in the four-cylinder class, leading the first 20 laps from the pole until sliding mysteriously up the track in turn three. Daigle took four more sputtering laps around the oval before taking his #25 behind the wall.
“We blew up the motor,” said car owner Wayne Parkin.
Mooney might have found a way around the early dominator, anyway. The 2000 and 2004 champion was right on Daigle’s rear bumper when the gremlins intervened.
He was untouchable after the inside pass.
“My family are the ones who keep me up here,” Mooney said of his success in the Reggie’s Sales & Service #80. “They’re the ones who tinker on this thing and know what they’re doing.”
Continuing the theme of career-best finishes, first-year driver topped his third-place run two weeks ago in second. Greg Watkins followed for his first Championship Series trophy.
“I’ve been working for six years to get to this point,” said Watkins, a graduate of the Acceleration Series. “It’s my first time up here on the podium, and it’s awesome.”
Bill Thibeault used the outside lane to overtake Kevin Bishop on the final lap for fourth.
True to form on a wild night, the attrition rate was high. Dave Mooney made an early off-course excursion and was never a factor. Last week’s winner Bill Childs Sr. and point leader Darrell Moore both failed to finish.
Rebels get first crack at green track
The Rebels were given first crack at the untested track after the afternoon rain and twilight drying process, and the results was a hairy 20-lap experience for leaders and pursuers alike.
Krauter collected his 12th career win with a courageous pass of Bill Dunphy four laps from the finish. One year after attempting to campaign a Strictly Stock, Ben is said to be tackling the Agren Appliance Saturday Showdown series while dad Martin takes the wheel on Wednesdays.
“It was easy to get all over the place,” said Krauter, who started sixth.
Previous winner Gregg Norton charged all the way from 19th to second, with Doug Degroat dashing from 13th to third.
“I can’t believe I did this well,” said Norton, who fell one spot of extending his own record for Acceleration Series wins (20). “I have a couple of new colors of paint on my car, and I’m sure those guys aren’t happy with me. The wins don’t matter to me. This was a test session for Wednesday night. I’m worried about points this year.” “I ran a lot of Enduros here,” added Degroat, “and I think that was the scariest race of my life right there. That takes the cake.”
Matt Dufault finished fourth, while Brady Romano rounded out the top five after residing on the leaderboard throughout the event.
Burns and Farrar were the class of the Truck field. Farrar held the preferred inside line for most of the caution-free clash, but Burns boldly forged to the top side and took away the advantage with three laps to go.
“I didn’t know if I could get by him,” Burns said.
“Not sure if Jake was just playing with me, or if he turned on the nitro at the end there or what,” said Farrar.
John Lizotte picked up the remaining trophy, backed by Tony Field and rookie Ross Spurling.
Kirk won nine races at OPS between 1971-75. He even qualified for the 1975 TD Banknorth 250 before selling his starting position to late NASCAR star Dwayne “Tiny” Lund.
He’s competed only sporadically since then, mostly in a brief, mid-1980s Charger stint. Kirk led Saturday’s Legends dash from start to finish to quash that 33-year drought.
“I appreciate us being to come here,” said Kirk. “We try to put on a good show.”
Bob Weymouth and Ed Getty finished second and third, closely in tow.
OPS cranks up the Acceleration Series this Wednesday, June 4, with the 10th anniversary season opener set for 6:30 p.m. Championship Series action continues Saturday, June 7 with The Talking Phone Book Night. Five divisions of racing include a 100-lap championship event for the Allen’s Strictly Stocks. Qualifying commences at 6:30 p.m.
OXFORD NETWORKS LATE MODEL (40 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (14) #1 Bill Childs Jr., Leeds, 40
2. (17) #03 Travis Adams, Canton, 40
3. (20) #84 Matt Sanborn, West Baldwin, 40
4. (7) #15 Ben Ashline, Pittston, 40
5. (21) #59 Tyson Jordan, Poland, 40
6. (11) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 40
7. (13) #56 Dale Verrill, Paris, 40
8. (9) #63 Don Wentworth, Bridgton, 40
9. (3) #52 Paul Bosse, Gray, 40
10. (4) #26 Corey Morgan, Lewiston, 40
11. (23) #44 Neil Martin, Freeport, 40
12. (1) #08 Gerald Parlin, South Paris, 39
13. (10) #25 Shawn Knight, South Paris, 39
14. (6) #2 Zach Emerson, Durham, 39
15. (2) #96 Kurt Hewins, Leeds, 28
16. (12) #10 Jimmy Childs, Leeds, 25
17. (5) #50 Jeff White, Winthrop, 20
18. (16) #51 Ricky Rolfe, Albany Township, 20
19. (15) #18 Carey Martin, Denmark, 20
20. (8) #6 Tommy Ricker, Poland, 18
21. (19) #95 Dennis Spencer Jr., Oxford, 14
22. (22) #22 Mark Childs Sr., Mechanic Falls, 6
DNS #85 Travis Stearns, Auburn
Lap leaders: Hewins 1-20, B. Childs 21-40.
Cautions: 5 (laps 14, 14, 20, 20, 20)
Time of race: 33 minutes, 52.888 seconds
Margin of victory: 1.204 seconds
Fast lap: Travis Adams, 16.265 seconds
ALLEN’S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (4) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 30
2. (3) #57 Glen Henderson, Sabattus, 30
3. (6) #07 Rick Thompson, Naples, 30
4. (9) #12 Skip Tripp, South Paris, 30
5. (8) #81 B.J. Chapman, Bridgton, 30
6. (5) #63 Matt Williams, Brownfield, 30
7. (12) #13 Gerry Burgess, Sabattus, 30
8. (7) #0 Sumner Sessions, Norway, 30
9. (1) #2 Joe Hutter, Oxford, 30
10. (13) #70 Dan Bean, Alfred, 29
11. (2) #4 Michael Roe, West Paris, 29
12. (10) #24 Larry Emerson, Durham, 17
13. (11) #14 Dave Brannon, Lisbon, 13
Lap leaders: Hutter 1-3, Short 4-30.
Cautions: 1 (lap 17)
Time of race: 12 minutes, 37.761 seconds
Margin of victory: 2.143 seconds
Fast lap: Mike Short, 18.320 seconds
ALLEN’S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY MINI STOCK (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (11) #80 Don Mooney, New Gloucester, 30
2. (7) #7 Randy Kimball, Mechanic Falls, 30
3. (5) #29 Greg Watkins, Bridgton, 30
4. (12) #8 Bill Thibeault, Oxford, 30
5. (8) #08 Kevin Bishop, South Paris, 30
6. (10) #77 Ashley Marshall, Jay, 30
7. (4) #28 Craig Moore, Woodstock, 30
8. (3) #21 Rick Giguere, Auburn, 30
9. (6) #14 Matt Moore, South Paris, 30
10. (16) #48 Wayne Titus, Minot, 28
11. (9) #74 Bill Irving, New Gloucester, 28
12. (13) #65 Dave Mooney, Wales, 27
13. (1) #25 Ken Daigle Jr., Lisbon, 24
14. (2) #91 Brad Dwinal, Freeport, 14
15. (17) #9 Bob Guptill, Mechanic Falls, 14
16. (15) #10 Bill Childs Sr., Leeds, 5
17. #12 Darrell Moore, Mechanic Falls, 5
DNS #35 Dale Brackett, Oxford
DNS #19 Shane Kaherl, Jay
Lap leaders: Daigle 1-20, Don Mooney 21-30.
Cautions: 2 (laps 5, 6)
Time of race: 16 minutes, 2.644 seconds
Margin of victory: 3.711 seconds
Fast lap: Dave Mooney 18.253 seconds
MACDONALD MOTORS RUNNIN’ REBEL (20 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (6) #82 Ben Krauter, Raymond, 20
2. (19) #119 Gregg Norton, Lewiston, 20
3. (13) #84 Doug Degroat, Oxford, 20
4. (12) #96 Matt Dufault, Turner, 20
5. (4) #83 Brady Romano, Livermore Falls, 20
6. (16) #7 Charlie Webster, Auburn, 20
7. (7) #27 Archie Watt Jr., Auburn, 20
8. (18) #88 Derek Cook, Livermore Falls, 20
9. (8) #19 Zach Audet, Wilton, 20
10. (11) #6 Troy Jordan, Turner, 20
11. (14) #106 Nathan Guptill, North Turner, 20
12. (9) #521 Scott Farrington, Oxford, 20
13. (10) #23 Mike Anderson, Lewiston, 20
14. (21) #46 Jason Berry, Turner, 20
15. (3) #34 Perley Garland, Auburn, 20
16. (20) #49 Dustin Couture, Auburn, 19
17. (2) #95 Jim Richards, Auburn, 19
18. (15) #3 Josh Childs, Oxford, 19
19. (17) #54 Kyle Hewins, Leeds, 19
20. (1) #4 Bill Dunphy, New Gloucester, 18
21. (5) #12 Calvin Rose Jr., Turner, 17
Lap leaders: Dunphy 1-15, Krauter 16-20.
Cautions: 1 (lap 18)
Time of race: 13 minutes, 10 seconds
CALL OF THE WILD RV SPORT TRUCK (20 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (5) #74 Jake Burns, Gray, 20
2. (4) #69 Ryan Farrar, Oxford, 20
3. (3) #1 John Lizotte, Mechanic Falls, 20
4. (7) #11 Tony Field, Buxton, 20
5. (6) #17 Ross Spurling, New Gloucester, 20
6. (2) #54 Devon Smith, Norway, 20
7. (8) #5 John Pinkham, Auburn, 19
8. (1) #30 Ryan Varney, Oxford, 17
Lap leaders: Farrar 1-16, Burns 17-20.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 6 minutes, 42 seconds
NELCAR LEGENDS (10 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. #17 Terry Kirk, Durham
2. #399 Bob Weymouth, Topsham
3. #10 Ed Getty, Windham
Lap leaders: Kirk 1-10.
Time of race: 3 minutes, 10 seconds.
HEAT RESULTS
LATE MODEL #1
1. Kurt Hewins
2. Jeff White
3. Gerald Parlin
4. Zach Emerson
5. Ben Ashline
6. Corey Morgan
7. Paul Bosse
8. Neil Martin
9. Mark Childs Jr.
10. Matt Sanborn
DQ Tyson Jordan
LATE MODEL #2
1. Don Wentworth
2. Shawn Martin
3. Dale Verrill
4. Travis Adams
5. Carey Martin
6. Tommy Ricker
7. Ricky Rolfe
8. Billy Childs Jr.
9. Dennis Spencer Jr.
10. Travis Stearns
11. Shawn Knight
12. Jimmy Childs
STRICTLY #1
1. Joe Hutter
2. Dave Brannon
3. Glen Henderson
4. Gerry Burgess
5. Dan Bean
6. Michael Roe
STRICTLY #2
1. Mike Short
2. Skip Tripp
3. Rick Thompson
4. B.J. Chapman
5. Larry Emerson
6. Sumner Sessions
7. Matt Williams
MINI #1
1. Ken Daigle Jr.
2. Greg Watkins
3. Randy Kimball
4. Matt Moore
5. Craig Moore
6. Shane Kaherl
7. Brad Dwinal
8. Rick Giguere
9. Wayne Titus
MINI #2
1. Bill Childs Sr.
2. Dave Mooney
3. Don Mooney
4. Bill Irving
5. Darrell Moore
6. Bill Thibeault
7. Kevin Bishop
8. Ashley Marshall
9. Bob Guptill
10. Dale Brackett
Sources: OxfordPlains.com