Pennink Wins Oxford Thriller
OXFORD, ME — Rowan Pennink of New Egypt, NJ drove to his second VMRS feature in 2013 Saturday night at the Oxford Plains Speedway, narrowly nosing out Richard Savary of Canton, MA. When Norm Wrenn of Nashua, NH and Chris Pasteryak of Jewitt City, CT brought the field to green, Wrenn quickly shot into the lead, but a lap one yellow flag realigned the pack. On the restart, Wrenn regained the lead until lap 2, when Pasteryak nipped Wrenn at the line, then Wrenn came right back to take the top spot.
Behind the two frontrunners,the racing was furious as Joey Jarvis of Ascutney, VT was having one of his best performances of the year, taking second place from Pasteryak on lap 4. With the lead cars falling into single file, Jarvis sized up Wrenn and shot by him off turn 3 on lap 14. Jarvis was on a rail, but he still could not get away from Wrenn, Pasteryak, Louie Mechalides of Tyngsboro, MA or David Pinkham of Buxton, ME, running second through fifth.
A lap 27 caution for a spinning Melissa Fifield of Sanburnville ,NH calmed things down for the moment. The restart brought the racing back to a fever pitch and Dan Meservey of Brewster, MA and Anthony Nocella of Woburn, MA raced past a fading David Pinkham, dropping the veteran driver of the yellow #22 to seventh. The third caution showed on lap 32 and on the restart Mechalides overpowered Wrenn for the third spot. By lap 36, another veteran campaigner, Rob Goodenough of Swanzey, NH made his presence known by powering his way past Meservey, moving the black #1NH into sixth place.
[Photo Gallery] by Crystal Snape
For a few laps, the leaders cruised into tire saving mode, making ready for the aggressive measures needed to hold on or pass for the win. With Jarvis, Pasteryak and Mechalides starting to pull away from the pack, Toni Ricci of Westbrook, ME, a past twotime series winner, got into the action and passed Goodenough for sixth. With Rich Keator showing the crossed flags, the on track action started to heat up. Nocella moved past Wrenn for fourth on lap 52. A lap later Mechalides overtook Jarvis for the lead, and Nocella slipped by Pasteryak for third.
A lap 58 yellow flag, the last of this race, realigned the field for a fight to the finish. On the restart, Nocella, who was on the move before the caution flew, nosed inside Mechalides and drove away with the lead, becoming the sixth different leader of the race. Behind Nocella, Ricci raced by Pasteryak on the inside for fourth. Waiting back at mid pack, Pennink started his push to the front by picking off cars one at a time, and on lap 68 the #25 overpowered the #5CT of Pasteryak for fifth, and then two laps later Rowan was in a three-wide bid for third, getting by Jarvis and Ricci.
Meanwhile the strategy of holding back was starting to pay off for Tommy Barrett of Millis, MA as he thundered through the field, moving past Jarvis for sixth on lap 71. At the front, Pennink was a man on a mission and passed Mechalides for second on lap 73. A lap later, Barrett drove by Ricci for fifth. Finally on lap 76, Pennink out raced Nocella, becoming the new race leader, and Savary showed his strength by passing Nocella, pulling up behind Pennink. Barrett, not to be outdone, shot by Nocella on the inside for third on lap 77.
With 20 laps to go, Pennink and Savary ran nose to tail pulling out to a 10-car length lead over Barrett. While weaving into lapped traffic, Pennink and Savary were running door to door, Pennink gaining the advantage every time. On lap 85, young hot shoe Max Zachem of Preston, CT found the power he needed and moved by Nocella into fourth place. With Barrett seeing 10 to go, he pulled up to Savary’s bumper making it a three car freight train, running full steam ahead for the finish. Savory tried to get by Pennink on the outside and was denied, so tried the inside, but lapped cars were the obstacles in the way of the #99. At the finish Savary was only 0.165 seconds behind race winner Rowan Pennink. Barrett came home third, Zachem fourth and Nocella fifth.
Heat winners were Max Zachem, Mike Holdridge and David Pinkham.
Track: Oxford Plains Speedway
Size: 0.375 Mi
Laps: 100
Margin over victory: 0.165
Avg. Speed: 53.050
Best lap Time: 15.531
Best Speed: 86.923
Fastest Lap time: Anthony Nocella
Time of Race: 42:24
Cautions: 4-laps 1, 27, 32, 58
Lead Changes: 7 : Wrenn 1, Pasteryak 2, Wrenn 3-13, Jarvis 14-52, Mechalides 53-58, Nocella 59-75, Pennink 76-100
Sources: Jim Snape/YankeeRacer.com