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NEW ENGLAND DODGE DEALERS
SUMMER CELEBRATION NIGHT
RESULTS
AND PHOTO GALLERY
August 2, 2008
Jimmy Childs, two-time Mini Stock
champ, Late Model rookie, gets breakthrough win
OXFORD, Maine - Thirty wins. Two championships. Jimmy Childs'
credentials in more than a decade as a Mini Stock driver at Oxford
Plains Speedway were undeniable.
Running up front in an Oxford Networks Late Model is an entirely
different challenge, though. Three months full of ups, downs, speed
bumps and forks in the road left one of the speedway's most
confident competitors questioning himself.
"I usually win at least one or
two races a year, but I was beginning to doubt whether I would get
one this season."
Childs left no doubt in anyone's mind
Saturday night, leading all but the first three laps and finishing
nearly four seconds ahead of Shawn Martin in the 40-lap main event
of New England Dodge Dealers Championship Night.
Shawn Knight, the driver Childs is
chasing in the Lampron's Energy Rookie of the Year battle, finished
third ahead of point leader and reigning champion Travis Adams and
Kurt Hewins.
"I've been waiting a long time
for this," Childs said of his dominating effort in the Maine
Commercial Door/Buddy T's #10. "We've got it dialed in pretty
good."
In accompanying action, Joe Hutter and Sumner Sessions
prevailed in double Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy Strictly Stock
features.
Sessions led the nightcap under
caution eight laps from the scheduled distance. With a light mist
falling at 9:20 p.m., race officials called for the checkered flag
in deference to the scheduled fireworks display.
Central Maine Pyrotechnics' third of
four gigantic presentations of the season at OPS went off without a
hitch to wrap up the night.
Justin Karkos posted his
division-leading fifth Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy Mini Stock win
of the season. Josh Childs matched that total with an overpowering
victory in Macdonald Motors Runnin' Rebel action.
Jake Burns tied another record with his 10th triumph of the season
in Call of the Wild RV Sport Truck, while Bob Weymouth snagged his
second OPS victory of the summer in the New England Legends Cars.
Showdown never materialized
Martin moved into the second spot in the Late Model main event with
a move around Knight on lap 24.
That seemed to indicate a looming
showdown for the win between the 2004 champion and the rookie
sensation. Martin and the Bombardier/Oxford Networks #94 didn't get
a caution flag to help their cause, however, and Childs actually
stepped up his pace and increased his lead over the waning circuits.
"One of these nights we're going
to win another one of these races," said Martin. "We're on
a pretty nice streak of seconds, so that's great. Congratulations to
Jimmy. He had everyone covered."
Knight has flirted with the top five in the division point standings
all season long, leading Childs in the rookie chase for most of that
time.
His Central Maine Archery/Knight Flooring #25 made hard contact with
the front stretch wall one week before the TD Banknorth 250,
however, and Knight fell just shy of qualifying for the short track
showcase.
The third-place run ended a string of three finishes of 14th or
worse since a runner-up effort on Maine State Lottery Fireworks
Night.
"We've been struggling pretty hard with this car since we hit
the wall," Knight said. "It's still not great, but it was
good enough to get a trophy and get us back up here."
Travis Stearns was the only other driver to lead the event before
Childs, setting the pace for the first three laps.
Hutter makes it two; then, finally,
it's Sumner
Hutter handed over his Brown's Construction #2 to teammate Mike Blue
for the night's regularly scheduled contest, but not before winning
the Strictly Stock make-up event.
It was the second straight victorious
start for Hutter, who led the same top three -- himself, Zach
Emerson and Matt Williams -- in the 30-lap race that followed the TD
Banknorth 250 on Monday, July 21.
"Mike and my father and Kurt and
Larry (Hewins) have been a big help," Hutter said. "It's
going good lately. We're having a lot of fun."
Emerson continues to knock on the
door of his first Strictly win since 2004. He posted his fifth
top-five finish in the Durham Get & Go/Bo-Mar Transportation #23
since rejoining the division in late May.
"It's kind of too bad we weren't
able to get this one on 250 weekend, because this would have been
three trophies in three days," Emerson said.
Williams remains the closest pursuer
to division point leader Skip Tripp.
He finished two spots ahead of Tripp
in the first Strictly sprint, with Mike Short tucked between them in
fourth.
"(Short) tried using up the
right side of my car a little bit," Williams said, "but I
wasn't going to give that spot to him."
Based on Sessions' season from April to July, it's amazing that the
encroaching rain somehow didn't find a way to take the win away from
him.
The three-car duel for second between
Glen Henderson, Short and Tripp didn't hurt Sessions' cause. Neither
did the sudden drizzle, which slowed the cars almost three-tenths of
a second from their late afternoon pace.
After a lap 22 caution for a solo
incident involving Tommy Tompkins, the track got wetter. With the
window closing for the advertised fireworks display, track officials
decided to call it a night.
"The car was alright tonight.
It's still not how I like it," Sessions said of the Sunco Well
Drilling #0. "We were good enough to keep those guys back
there."
Sessions won for the 15th time in his
Strictly Stock division, moving within three victories of all-time
leaders Shane Green and Kim Tripp.
Henderson, still eyeing his initial
win of the summe in the McGouldrick Builders #57, posted his fourth
runner-up finish of the season.
"My wife spots for me on the
radio. She kept telling me I was number one tonight," Henderson
said, "but I guess I ended up number two."
Short has racked up nine consecutive
finishes of sixth or better in the All-Purpose Builders #56. He
wasn't as delighted as Sessions to see the abbreviated format.
"That would have been a fun
restart," Short said. "Third and fourth tonight, I guess
we'll take it."
Skip Tripp and Kim Tripp completed the top five.
Two to go is Justin's time
Karkos' first pass for the lead was wiped out by a yellow flag on
lap 26.
He snuck underneath Butch Keene just
prior to a second caution with two circuits remaining and then owned
the restart for his fourth victory in seven starts dating back to
July 12 in the Polymer Repair Technologies #51..
As has become the custom, getting to
the winner's circle was much tougher than Karkos made it look.
"It's been a long day. I think
everything's gone wrong that possibly could have," Karkos said.
"We had a fuel pump fall off. We had an oil leak. Rich Sirois
came down and helped us get it back together."
Keene took the lead from Brad Dwinal
on lap 3.
There was no mystery who was
approaching in his rear view mirror after Karkos stormed past Bill
Childs Sr. into second on lap 21.
"Can we go back to 20-lap
features, please? I think that would be great," said Keene.
"I keep seeing that 51 go by me. I guess I need to paint my car
like Tom Cruise, because he beat Rowdy Burns in Days of
Thunder."
Childs Sr. was a strong third in his
back-up car, rebounding from last week's crash while leading the
feature.
Steve Barker celebrated his best
finish of the season in fourth, with Darrell Moore edging Ashley
Marshall for fifth to take a nibble out of Marshall's division point
lead.
Hammer down for two Acceleration
stars
Burns and Josh Childs remain the drivers to beat in their
Acceleration classes.
For Burns, the 10th Truck win of the
season tied teammate "Wild" Bill Irving's two-year-old
single-season record.
"I got a lucky break at the
beginning," said Burns, who moved from sixth to first in four
laps of the 20-lap sprint.
Ross Spurling and Devon Smith rounded
out the podium positions, each with a career-best trophy. Corey
Williams' fourth was his best effort of the summer, followed by John
Lizotte.
Like his cousin in the Late Model
finale, Childs couldn't be caught after taking over from Bill Dunphy
on lap 5 of the Rebel scramble.
"Kyle (Hewins) and I finally
finished one-two," remarked Childs. "We've been shooting
for that all year."
Wednesday night point leader Hewins
out-dueled Scott Farrington in the battle for second. Troy Jordan
and Dunphy followed.
OXFORD NETWORKS LATE MODEL (40
laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (5) #10 Jimmy Childs, Leeds, 40
2. (14) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 40
3. (9) #25 Shawn Knight, South Paris, 40
4. (15) #03E Travis
Adams, Canton, 40
5. (10) #96 Kurt Hewins, Leeds, 40
6. (13) #60 Tim Brackett, Buckfield, 40
7. (20) #10x Michel Lavoie, Laval, Quebec, 40
8. (16) #95 Dennis Spencer Jr., Oxford, 40
9. (7) #15 Ben Ashline, Pittston, 40
10. (18) #68 David Vaughn, Naples, 40
11. (3) #85 Travis Stearns, Auburn, 40
12. (8) #63 Don Wentworth, Otisfield, 40
13. (2) #84 Matt Sanborn, West Baldwin, 40
14. (19) #44 Neil Martin, Freeport, 40
15. (6) #6 Tommy Ricker, Poland, 40
16. (1) #08 Gerald Parlin, South Paris, 40
17. (17) #12 Nick Brown, Bath, 40
18. (4) #26 Corey Morgan, Lewiston, 39
19. (11) #73 Joey Doiron, Berwic, 17
20. (12) #1 Billy Childs Jr., Leeds, 9
Lap leaders: Stearns 1-3, J. Childs 4-40.
Cautions: 1 (lap 9)
Time of race: 16 minutes, 6.354 seconds
Margin of victory: 3.913 seconds
Fast lap: Jimmy Childs 16.441 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK #1 (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (1) #2 Joe Hutter, Leeds, 30
2. (4) #23 Zach Emerson, Sabattus, 30
3. (5) #63 Matt Williams, Brownfield, 30
4. (10) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 30
5. (9) #12 Skip Tripp, Poland, 30
6. (7) #57 Glen
Henderson, Sabattus, 30
7. (11) #42 Kim Tripp, Oxford, 30
8. (12) #113 Tommy Tompkins, Carthage, 30
9. (6) #07 Rick Thompson, Naples, 30
10. (3) #0 Sumner Sessions, Norway, 30
11. (2) #4 Michael Roe, West Paris, 30
12. (15) #13 Chris Burgess, Lewiston, 29
13. (16) #777 Mike St. Germain, Auburn, 29
14. (13) #1 Dean Coolidge, Oxford, 24
15. (14) #27 Shane Green, South Paris, 17
16. (8) #24 Larry Emerson, Durham, 13
Lap leaders: Hutter 1-30.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 9 minutes, 15.768 seconds
Margin of victory: 1.330 seconds
Fast lap: Joe Hutter, 18.425 seconds.
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK #2
(shortened to 22
laps by rain)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (3) #0 Sumner Sessions, Norway, 22
2. (7) #57 Glen Henderson,
Sabattus, 22
3. (11) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 22
4. (9) #12 Skip Tripp, Poland, 22
5. (10) #42 Kim
Tripp, Oxford, 22
6. (5) #23 Zach Emerson, Durham, 22
7. (6) #63 Matt Williams, Brownfield, 22
8. (13) #2 Mike Blue, Leeds, 22
9. (4) #13 Chris Burgess, Lewiston, 22
10. (2) #07 Rick Thompson, Naples, 22
11. (1) #27 Shane Green, South Paris, 22
12. (8) #24 Larry
Emerson, Durham, 22
13. (12) #113 Tommy Tompkins, Carthage, 22
14. (15) #4 Michael Roe, West Paris, 11
15. (14) #777 Mike St. Germain, Auburn, 10
DNS #1 Dean Coolidge, Oxford
Lap leaders: Green 1=6, Sessions 7-22.
Cautions: 1 (lap 22)
Time of race: 6 minutes, 53.948 seconds
Margin of victory: Under caution
Fast lap: Mike Short, 18.671 seconds.
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY MINI STOCK (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (9) #51 Justin Karkos, Jay, 30
2. (2) #2 Butch Keene, Turner, 30
3. (8) #01 Billy Childs Sr., Leeds, 30
4. (4) #55 Steve Barker, Jay, 30
5. (11) #12 Darrell Moore, Mechanic Falls, 30
6. (12) #77 Ashley Marshall, Jay, 30
7. (10) #08 Kevin Bishop, South Paris, 30
8. (18) #14 Matt Moore,
Mechanic Falls, 30
9. (1) #91 Brad Dwinal, Freeport, 30
10. (6) #19 Shane Kaherl, Jay, 30
11. (13) #25 Ken Daigle Jr., Lisbon, 30
12. (3) #28 Craig Moore, Woodstock, 30
13. (5) #29 Greg
Watkins, Bridgton, 29
14. (15) #6 Nathan Guptill, North Turner, 29
15. (7) #9 Bob Guptill,
Mechanic Falls, 29
16. (16) #48 Wayne Titus, Minot, 28
17. (14) #07 Bill Thibeault, Oxford, 27
18. (17) #45 Bill Mooney, New Gloucester, 9
19. (19) Rick Giguere, Auburn, 1
Lap leaders: Dwinal 1-2, Keene 3-27, Karkos 28-30.
Cautions: 2 (laps 26, 28)
Time of race: 18 minutes, 45.242 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.670 seconds
Fast lap: Justin Karkos, 18.277 seconds
MACDONALD MOTORS RUNNIN' REBEL (20
laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (10) #3 Josh Childs, Oxford, 20
2. (7) #54 Kyle Hewins, Leeds, 20
3. (6) #521 Scott
Farrington, Minot, 20
4. (9) #6 Troy Jordan, Turner, 20
5. (1) #4 Bill Dunphy, New Gloucester, 20
6. (2) #69 John Childs, Leeds, 20
7. (5) #88 Derek Cook, Livermore Falls, 20
8. (4) #41 James Wood, New Gloucester, 20
9. (11) #12 Calvin Rose Jr., Turner, 20
10. (13) #106 Dwayne White, Livermore, 20
11. (17) #75 Mike Kyllonen, Mechanic Falls, 20
12. (12) #46 Jason Berry, Turner, 20
13. (3) #49 Dustin Couture, Auburn, 19
14. (14) #71 Cody Smith, Oxford, 19
15. (8) #96 Matt Dufault, Turner, 17
16. (16) #7x Charlie Webster, Auburn, 13
17. (15) #64 Tyler Smith, Oxford, 10
DNS #2 Josh Lovell, West Paris
DNS #19 Zach Audet, Chesterville
Lap leaders: Dunphy 1-4, Josh Childs 5-20.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 6 minutes, 37 seconds
CALL OF THE WILD RV SPORT TRUCK
(20 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (6) #74 Jake Burns, Gray, 20
2. (3) #17 Ross Spurling, New Gloucester, 20
3. (2) #54x Devon Smith, Norway, 20
4. (7) #39 Corey Williams, Sumner, 20
5. (4) #1 John Lizotte, Mechanic Falls, 20
6. (8) #28 Kevin Oliver, Gray, 20
7. (9) #41 Doug
Stevens, West Sumner, 19
8. (12) #52 Joe Bedard Jr., Hartford, 19
9. (5) #69 Ryan Farrar, Oxford, 18
10. (10) #6 Herb Farrar, Sumner, 18
11. (11) #0 Ron Cummings, South Paris, 16
12. (1) #32 Brian Farrar, Sumner, 2
Lap leaders: Smith 1-3, Burns 4-20.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 6 minutes, 48 seconds
NELCAR LEGENDS (20 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (8) #399 Bob Weymouth, Topsham, 20
2. (2) #17 Terry Kirk, Durham, 20
3. (6) #88 Chad Harrington, Richmond, 20
4. (10) #1 Jason Stone, Montague, Mass., 20
5. (5) #15 Jim Mayrand Jr., South
Deerfield, Mass., 20
6. (4) #87 Anthony Pagliarulo, Groveland, Mass., 20
7. (1) #33 Alan
Smith, Lincoln, 20
8. (9) #20 Max Zachem, Preston, Conn., 19
9. (7) #10 Ed Getty, Gray, 3
10. (3) #7 Patrick Stewart, Beverly, Mass., 3
Lap leaders: Kirk 1-5, Zachem 6-12, Weymouth 13-20.
Cautions: 2 (laps 3, 5)
Time of race: 13 minutes, 50 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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