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MAINE-LY ACTION SPORTS NIGHT
RESULTS
AND PHOTO GALLERY
July 19, 2008
Home, sweet home for David
Pinkham,
car owner Greeley in True Value Mod 100
OXFORD, Maine - On a weekend when drivers converge upon Oxford
Plains Speedway from all six New England states and multiple
Canadian provinces, Maine bagged the first bragging rights with a
victory that was a dozen years in the making.
David Pinkham out-powered Late Model
star Jean-Paul Cyr on a lap 85 restart and drove away his second
career True Value Modified Racing Series checkered flag with the
Maine-Ly Action Sports 100.
Pinkham, who ended a 12-year absence
from open-wheel racing three summers ago by winning his TVMRS debut
at his home track, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough,
snapped an identical drought from OPS victory lane.
His last Oxford win came in a Pro
Stock in August 1996. It was also an emotional triumph for car owner
Tom Greeley of neighboring Auburn.
"This car was sitting without an
engine on Wednesday, nothing but a bare block," Pinkham said.
"Warren Johnson put it all back together. We weren't going to
miss this race for the world."
In another interesting twist, Pinkham
borrowed the same car that Cyr drove to second place and wheeled it
in a race at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire eight days earlier.
That team, owned by Gary Casella of
Saugus, Mass., also provided the transportation for Pinkham's
initial True Value Mod triumph at Beech Ridge.
"Jean drove a great race,"
said Pinkham, "but I was the last guy to win a race in that
car, so there was no way I was letting him win."
Cyr's car was the strongest all night
during long green-flag stretches. Three times, however, the
seven-time American-Canadian Tour champion lost the lead on
restarts.
Kirk Alexander and Dwight Jarvis each
swiped away the lead for a lap or two before giving it back.
Pinkham's third try was a charm.
It was still the best performance of
the season for the Casella #25, which has seen eight different
drivers behind the wheel. Cyr, who does have limited experience in
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series, made two previous starts in
Casella's car this season.
"He offered me the chance to
drive it this afternoon," said Cyr. "I thought he was a
fool for asking, but I would have been a fool not to take it."
Cyr closed his newfound deficit to
two car lengths with five laps remaining, but Pinkham maintained
that advantage until the checkers.
Jarvis, a former champion of the series, was a strong third.
Jon McKennedy made a late charge
after a lengthy mid-race battle for position with Eddie Dachenhausen
to grab fourth in front of Les Hinckley.
Dachenhausen's departure due to an
expired engine brought out the fateful fourth and final caution with
15 laps to go.
Fifteen of the 18 starters finished
on the lead lap.
Justin Karkos (Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy Mini Stock) and Mike
Short (Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy Strictly Stock) each matched
the leading total in their division with their third feature
victories of the season in supporting, 30-lap action.
Those classes kicked off their
abbreviated doubleheader weekend after friday's rainout.
Mayhem ensued over the final five
laps of the Mini Stock main event. Karkos was so far ahead of the
confusion that it didn't matter.
"It looks like drama still
continues here," said Karkos, who was in the middle of many
memorable victory lane sequences last season.
After taking the lead from Don
Frechette on lap 6, Karkos crossed the stripe nearly a half-lap
ahead of Kevin Bishop in the Roy's All-Steak Hamburgers/Polymer
Repair Technology #51.
"Joe Decker painted the car this
week. We wanted it to look like Rowdy Busch's car," said
Karkos, referring to NASCAR star Kyle Busch's alter ego borrowed
from a character in the racing movie "Days of Thunder."
"I've got to thank Rich Sirois.
I bought this car off him. I've had a lot of problems with it, but
he stuck with it and helped me out."
Bishop moved into second when
Frechette and Adam Polvinen tangled late in the race.
"If I can get this thing running
all four cylinders, all the way around the track, we're really going
to have something for them tomorrow," said Bishop, whose
runner-up trophy was his best effort of the season to date.
Polvinen was penalized one lap for
his role in the late activity.
Randy Kimball survived the scramble
to collect third, the third podium finish of his rookie campaign.
"I've got to thank my dad for
giving me a job so I can afford to feed this bad habit,"
Kimball said of his racing endeavors.
Rick Giguere moved up the ladder to a career-best fourth. Shane
Kaherl was next, posting his fourth top-five finish in his last five
starts.
Championship leaders Darrell Moore
(10th) and Ashley Marshall (15th) both struggled on the night, with
Moore borrowing a ride from his cousin Matt simply to run the
feature.
Short didn't have the benefit of a
caution flag to bunch up a spread-out Strictly field. The 1997
division champion conducted a clinic in the outside lane at the helm
of the All-Purpose Builders #56, though, concluding that drive by
dislodging Joe Hutter from the top of the leader board on lap 21.
"I've got to give him credit for
a good run,." Short said. "It was a little slick out there
tonight."
Hutter fell one spot shy of his first victory in three years. He has
run a partial season in the Brown's Construction #2, handing the
reins to Mike Blue for two races before returning to the fray.
Zach Emerson, separated only two
seasons from a terrific championship battle with Ben TInker in 2006,
made his first appearance in the victory lane photo all summer by
holding off Matt Williams and Skip Tripp in a seven-car battle for
third.
"This is my third year with Ron
Abbott Jr. (on my team), and I think this is my first time up here
in that time," Emerson said. "It's been a long drought for
all of us, and he works real hard."
The main attraction is on tap at 2
p.m. Sunday with qualifying for the 35th annual TD Banknorth 250.
Eighty-three cars practiced Saturday in anticipation of the race,
which will pay up to $50,000 to the champion.
TRUE VALUE MODIFIED RACING SERIES
MAINE-LY ACTION SPORTS 100
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (5) #22 David Pinkham, Buxton, 100
2. (1) #25 Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton, Vt., 100
3. (6) #28 Dwight
Jarvis, Ascutney, Vt., 100
4. (14) #73 Jon McKennedy, Chelmsford, Mass., 100
5. (13) #06 Les
Hinckley, Windsor Locks, Conn., 100
6. (11) #15 Chris Pasteryak, Lisbon, Conn., 100
7. (4) #0 Mike Holdridge, Madison, Conn., 100
8. (3) #43 Kirk Alexander, West Swanzey,
N.H.;, 100
9. (2) #35 Dale Evonsion, East Hartford, Conn., 100
10. (7) #4 Tony Ricci, Westbrook, 100
11. (9) #9 Peter Jarvis, Ascutney, Vt., 100
12. (16) #55 Joe Doucette,
Framingham, Mass., 100
13. (10) #17 Jack Bateman, Canaan, N.H.;, 100
14. (8) #70 Andy Seuss,
Hampstead, N.H., 100
15. (12) #77 Kenny White Jr., Weare, N.H., 100
16. (15) #76 Shelly Perry, Ashaway, R.I., 89
17. (18) #10 Eddie Dachenhausen, Danbury, Conn., 85
18. (17) #96 Butch
Perry, Ashaway, R.I., 59
Lap leaders: Cyr 1-22, Alexander 23, Cyr 24-59, D. Jarvis
60-61, Cyr 62-85, Pinkham 86-100.
Cautions: 4 (laps 22, 37, 59, 85)
Time of race: 50 minutes, 33 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (9) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 30
2. (1) #2 Joe Hutter, Leeds, 30
3. (3) #23 Zach Emerson, Durham, 30
4. (4) #63 Matt Williams, Brownfield, 30
5. (8) #12 Skip Tripp, Poland, 30
6. (7) #24 Larry
Emerson, Durham, 30
7. (11) #113 Tommy Tompkins, Carthage, 30
8. (10) #42 Kim Tripp, Oxford, 30
9. (6) #57 Glen Henderson, Sabattus, 30
10. (2) #0 Sumner Sessions, Norway, 30
11. (5) #07 Rick
Thompson, Naples, 30
12. (13) #81 B.J. Chapman, Bridgton, 30
13. (15) #777 Mike St. Germain, Auburn, 30
14. (14) #27 Shane Green, South Paris, 20
15. (16) #1 Dean Coolidge, Oxford, 13
16. (12) #20 David Tripp, Oxford, 12
DNS #36 Ron Charpentier Jr., Wales
DNS #4 Michael Roe, West Paris
DNS #14 Dave Brannon, Lisbon
DNS #64 Randy Heath, Casco
DNS #99 George Haskell, Casco
Lap leaders: Hutter 1-20, Short 21-30
Cautions: None
Time of race: 9 minutes, 27 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (7) #51 Justin Karkos, Jay, 30
2. (13) #08 Kevin Bishop, South Paris, 30
3. (8) #7 Randy Kimball,
Mechanic Falls, 30
4. (3) #21 Rick Giguere, Auburn, 30
5. (11) #19 Shane Kaherl, Jay, 30
6. (14) #8 Bill Thibeault, Oxford, 30
7. (10) #29 Greg Watkins, Bridgton, 29
8. (12) #9 Bob Guptill,
Mechanic Falls, 29
9. (21) #14 Darrell Moore, Mechanic Falls, 29
10. (6) #91 Brad Dwinal, Freeport, 29
11. (5) #25 Ken Daigle Jr., Lisbon, 29
12. (9) #73 Adam Polvinen, Oxford, 29
13. (18) #22 Chuck Higgins, Lewiston, 29
14. (16) #10 Bill Childs Sr., Leeds, 29
15. (15) #77 Ashley
Marshall, Jay, 28
16. (2) #16 Don Frechette, Jay, 27
17. (17) #55 Darick Barker, Jay, 25
18. (4) #28 Craig Moore, Woodstock, 23
19. (20) #48 Wayne Titus, Lisbon, 11
20. (1) #2 Butch Keene, Turner, 5
21. (19) #65 Dave Mooney, Wales, 2
DNS #40 Curtis Fanjoy, Oxford
DNS #35 Brian Brackett, Oxford
DNS #12 Matt Moore, South Paris (car swap after heat race)
Lap leaders: Keene 1-4, Frechette 5-6, Karkos 7-30.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 9 minutes, 58 seconds
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Oxford Networks
Late Model
Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy
Strictly and Mini Stock
Photos by
Trudy Marshall
Click on photo
to enlarge
(207) 645-4571
Photos from
all OPS divisions!
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