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OXFORD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
RESULTS
AND PHOTO GALLERY
August 9, 2008 (complete story)
Tompkins is Strictly marathon
man, again
OXFORD, Maine - Tommy Tompkins elected not to defend his
championship in the Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy Strictly Stock
division.
The unofficial title as reigning king
of long-distance races in the class remains his, however.
Tompkins dominated the second half of
the Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy 100 at Oxford Plains Speedway on
Saturday night, outlasting B.J. Chapman and holding off Mike Short
for his second Agren Appliance Triple Crown victory of the
year.
His fourth victory of the season
matched Short for the most among Strictly Stock drivers in that
category. It also came one week after Tompkins' night ended with a
hard crash into the front stretch wall.
"Jimmy Davis put the whole car
back together," Tompkins said. "And both Skip Tripp and
Richard of R.P.M. Racing Engines were underneath that thing fixing
the rear end."
Travis Stearns joined Ricky Rolfe and
Travis Adams as only the third repeat feature winner this season in
the Oxford Networks Late Model division, dominating that 40-lap
feature.
Steve Barker hasn’t been the
primary operator of his family’s race car since 2002, but he never
forgot the path to victory lane. Barker, who turned 50 in the
spring, dashed to his first Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Mini
Stock feature triumph in six years.
Addison Bowie and Nik Coates
controlled the Chimney Tech Outlaw features, while Debbie Marston
claimed her second Allen’s Ladies victory. It was the next-to-last
Agren Appliance Saturday Showdown points race for those two
divisions.
Short runs out of time, space to
overtake Tommy
Tompkins inherited his previous 100-lap victory after Short was
disqualified in the technical inspection line.
The lead dropped into his lap by
default this time, too, although Tompkins gave the impression that
he was moments away from landing it on his own, anyhow.
Chapman led the first 57 laps before
a developing mechanical problem caused him to slow in the outside
groove. Tompkins, who made numerous overtures to Chapman's inside
over the first half of the event, wasted no time expanding his lead
prior to the lone yellow.
Known for his family’s long racing
tradition -- Tommy joined his late father Joey “The Jet”
Tompkins as an OPS champion last season -- Tompkins found some
inspiration in the grandstands Saturday.
“My grandfather (Kermit Houghton)
and my grandmother (Emily) haven’t been over here all year,”
Tompkins said. “I’m glad they were able to be here and watch the
race tonight.”
Tompkins took off from his ninth
starting position in the Dave’s Janitorial/Tommy Gun’s Pit Stop
#113 and ran third by lap 7. He teamed up with Larry Emerson to
erase Chapman’s half-straightaway lead before taking advantage of
Emerson’s slide up the track to claim the runner-up role on lap
25.
Only one caution flag slowed the main
event, for Rick Thompson's broken axle on lap 75.
Short closed his Chapman
Trucking/All-Purpose Builders #56 to Tompkins' rear bumper on the
final lap but couldn't find a line around the 2007 champ.
"He knew it was coming. He was
waving. I could see," Short said of his gentlemanly bumper tag
in the late stages. "The track was wicked slippery on the
outside. It was just sit, ride, wait and see if Tommy would mess up,
and he didn’t.”
Tripp, the division point leader,
chased Short across the line in third in the R.P.M. Racing
Engines/Tommy Gun’s Pit Stop #12.
The season hasn’t been easy as
Tripp threatened to make it look when he won two of the first three
features in May. Top-three finishes were a rarity in June and
July.
It was Tripp who persuaded Tompkins,
one of his sponsors, out of his early-season sabbatical and back to
the racetrack.
“It’s been so long that I almost
forgot what I’m supposed to say up here,” Tripp said from the
podium. “If I have to lose to somebody, it’d better be Tommy.”
Larry Emerson edged his son, Zach,
for fifth.
Stearns' wild season takes another
U-turn
Stearns denied Don Wentworth and point leader Travis Adams to claim
his first victory since his breakthrough on May 24.
Teenage rookie Nick Brown won his
heat race and led the first lap of the main event before Stearns
took command on the first of two early restarts.
Notable for claiming his first win
one week after destroying his Pride Concrete Flooring/Marc’s Auto
Body #85 in the backstretch wall, Stearns is all too accustomed to
that kind of juxtaposition in his sophomore Late Model season. His
third-place finish two weeks ago was Stearns’ first appearance in
the top eight since his victory.
"We've really struggled hard
this season. We had some momentum after that win, and we couldn’t
keep it going,“ said Stearns, the 2007 Lampron Energy Rookie of
the Year. "We took the car up to Race Basics, and they were
able to find some things we couldn't see.”
The season has been equally
disappointing for Wentworth. He, too, has been absent from any
victory lane photos since the spring.
Wentworth quietly moved into fourth
behind Stearns, Corey Morgan and Dennis Spencer Jr. on lap 7. Morgan
yielded the third position to Wentworth on the 15th circuit. Seven
laps later, he stormed past Spencer. Stearns stayed about four car
lengths in front until the checkers, but Wentworth matched that
advantage over Adams to complete a run that could turn around his
season in the K&K Excavation #63.
“We went back and took a page from
the 1998 playbook, and it worked out for us.” Wentworth said.
“The way we’ve been running, it hasn’t been as fun for us this
summer as in the past. Maybe this is what we all needed to get
excited about next year.”
Adams added a little more cushion to
his lead over Shawn Martin as he chases his third straight
championship and fourth overall. Martin, whose crew and many
volunteers worked feverishly to get him back on the track after a
heat race crash, finished two spots behind Adams in fifth.
The Dacata Repair/Canton Variety #03E
had been shut out recently while Martin, Rolfe and others occupied
most of the Late Model attention. With the calendar page flipping
into August, however, Adams not surprisingly is elevating his
game.
“Little bites. That’s my dad’s
saying on the radio, and that’s what we’re trying to take,”
Adams said. “The car hasn’t been as great as it was last year,
but since the 250 we’ve made some changes to try to make it a
mirror image of Ricky Rolfe’s car. They’re both Race Basics
cars, so we thought that should work. We’ve had to massage it a
little bit from there, but it’s a heck of a lot closer than it has
been.”
Spencer finished fourth to complete a
3-4-5 trio that has combined for eight OPS championships.
Field can't overcome old age and
treachery
Barker, who returned to racing after celebrating his 50th birthday
in May, sped to his first Allen's Mini Stock victory in six
years.
He was the fourth different driver to
lead the race. Barker became the fastest car in the lead group after
Shane Kaherl, his neighbor and essentially teammate from Jay, spun
while battling Matt Moore for the top spot on lap 16.
“Not too bad for an old man, huh?
My son (Darick) has been driving this car for a while, but now the
old man's taking a turn this year and it‘s pretty good,“ said
Barker, who turned the wrenches on six wins by Darick from 2003 to
’07. “When I turned 50, I decided it was time to start turning
laps again.”
Barker made use of his best starting
position of the season, taking the green from the seventh spot in
the SIB Enterprises/North Jay Redemption Center #55.
While Brad Dwinal set the pace on lap
1 and Moore ruled the opening half from that point, Barker settled
into a comfortable third position. That moved him to the outside of
the front row when Kaherl and Moore made contact in the third turn
just after the halfway signal, sending Kaherl spinning over the
curb.
Kaherl caught a reprieve when
five-time feature winner Justin Karkos’ car stopped in a shower of
sparks on the same lap. The ensuing restart gave him a chance to
make the most impressive drive of the night from 13th to
second.
“We’ve been working on it all
year, having nothing put problems, getting some help from all our
friends out there,” said Kaherl, who continues to seek his first
Mini Stock win after a fistful of top-fives the last two seasons.
“Steve Barker gave me a place to work on my car, and we’ve tried
to help him get a little faster."
Barker took advantage of a second restart on lap 18, for a tangle
involving Dwinal, Bob Guptill and Don Frechette, and claimed the
lead.
Moore’s strong first season in the
Mini Stock division continues after his transition from Runnin’
Rebel and Strictly Stock.
“First and foremost, I want to
apologize to Shane. I did not mean to get into him at all,” Moore
said. “we were coming up on a lapped car. I tried to get out
around him and we got together. Absolutely in no way, shape or form
did I mean to do that. I’ll take the third, but I feel really bad
about that.”
Ashley Marshall protected his point
lead with a fourth-place finish in front of Bill Thibeault. His two
challengers, Kevin Bishop and Darrell Moore, were sixth and seventh,
respectively.
Agren Appliance Showdown nears finish
line
Bowie enjoyed his first 20-lap feature win of the year in Agren
Saturday Showdown competition.
The Wednesday night series point
leader is accustomed to picking his spots carefully from the rear of
the intensely competitive, third feature each week.
With half the Saturday field in
part-time weekend mode, those cars were grouped in the ‘B’
feature. Bowie dominated the caution-free encounter from
wire-to-wire in the A-1 Auto Body/Lawn Care Unlimited #38 after
starting on the outside of the front row.
“That’s the way we like to do
it,” Bowie said. “We love being up here.”
Former Limited Sportsman and Strictly
Stock campaigner Bill Sprague has moved into the #65 previously
steered by Ed Burlock and David Smith. Apparent runner-up John
Spencer’s disqualification at the tech shack capped Sprague’s
run from 12th to second.
Sprague also scored a runner-up
trophy in his first Runnin’ Rebel start 10 days earlier.
“It’s great to be coming up here
and having some fun again,” said Sprague, who sat out most of the
previous two seasons.
Kevin Leighton, a two-time feature
winner this season, kept the leaders in sight throughout and claimed
third. Fred Clavet took fourth, with Jonathan Baldwin holding off
Mike Haynes for a career-best fifth.
The 'A' main went to Coates, who
labored for his fourth win of the summer with Dan Brown and Gerry
Richard closely in tow. Richard continued his midseason surge by
leading the first seven laps.
A lap 4 caution tightened the field,
though, and being within striking distance was ample momentum for
Coates.
“Thank God the rain finally held
off for a little bit,” said Coates, whose stellar season includes
two Wednesday wins and a pair of Saturday triumphs in the S&J
Auto Repair #12.
John Patria and Tom Averill wrapped
up the top five.
Teenager Zach Bowie leads
Acceleration Series mainstay Steve Moon by 14 points headed into the
Agren championship race on August 23.
Marston backed up her first career
victory earlier this season by latching onto her second Allen's
Ladies checkers in impressive fashion.
Deanna Robertson ruled the first 10
laps and had the inside track to her second win of the summer.
Marston made the treacherous top side of the asphalt work to her
advantage, however, in the Rodney’s Repair/Rusty’s Auto and
Truck Repair #92.
She overtook Vanna Brackett on lap 1
for fourth, moved into third around Kimberly Sessions on lap 6,
shook Lisa Brooks for the runner-up spot on the next pass and then
won the drag race out of turn four with Robertson to christen the
second half of the event.
“I don’t know why it finally
stuck out there like it’s supposed to,” Marston said. “My
husband puts a lot of time into it. We had a lot of work to do after
those two wreck fests on the last Wednesday night.”
Defending midweek champion Brackett
rallied to second, followed by Robertson, Brooks and Sessions.
OPS returns to action at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday with a full card of Acceleration Series action, including
double features for the Outlaws. Next Saturday is Time Warner
Cable/99.9 The Wolf Fan Appreciation Night, with $5 adult tickets
and juniors admitted free. Racing begins at 6:30 p.m.
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (100 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (9) #113 Tommy Tompkins, Carthage, 100
2. (13) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 100
3. (11) #12 Skip Tripp, Poland, 100
4. (7) #24 Larry Emerson, Durham, 100
5. (8) #23 Zach Emerson, Sabattus, 100
6. (6) #63 Matt
Williams, Brownfield, 100
7. (14) #0 Sumner Sessions, Norway, 100
8. (4) #13 Chris Burgess, Lewiston, 100
9. (1) #27 Shane Green, South Paris, 100
10. (3) #4 Michael Roe, West Paris, 93
11. (5) #07 Rick Thompson, Naples, 74
12. (10) #42 Kim Tripp, Oxford, 58
13. (2) #81 B.J. Chapman, Bridgton, 57
14. (16) #20 David Tripp, Oxford, 41
15. (15) #1 Dean Coolidge, Oxford, 9
16. (12) #57 Glen Henderson, Sabattus, 4
Lap leaders: Chapman 1-57, Tompkins 58-100.
Cautions: 1 (lap 75)
Time of race: 37 minutes, 55.350 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.219 seconds
Fast lap: Skip Tripp, 18.411 seconds
OXFORD NETWORKS LATE MODEL (40 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (3) #85 Travis Stearns, Auburn, 40
2. (7) #63 Don Wentworth, Otisfield, 40
3. (13) #03E Travis Adams, Canton, 40
4. (4) #95 Dennis Spencer Jr., Oxford, 40
5. (12) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 40
6. (16) #51 Ricky Rolfe,
Albany Township, 40
7. (9) #25 Shawn Knight, South Paris, 40
8. (10) #96 Kurt Hewins, Leeds, 40
9. (5) #26 Corey Morgan, Lewiston, 40
10. (21) #60 Tim Brackett, Buckfiel, 40
11. (11) #1 Billy Childs Jr., Leeds, 40
12. (1) #12 Nick Brown, Bath, 40
13. (18) #36 Ron Charpentier
Jr., Wales, 40
14. (2) #84 Matt Sanborn, West Baldwin, 40
15. (15) #59 Tyson Jordan, Poland, 40
16. (8) #15 Ben Ashline, Pittston, 40
17. (19) #44 Neil Martin, Freeport, 40
18. (20) #08 Gerald Parlin, South Paris, 39
19. (14) #10 Jimmy Childs, Leeds, 38
20. (6) #6 Tommy
Ricker, Poland, 23
21. (22) #9 Cecil Bryant, Wilton, 15
22. (17) #50 Jeff White, Winthrop, 12
DNS #68 David Vaughn, Naples
Lap leaders: Brown 1, Stearns 2-40.
Cautions: 2 (laps 1, 13)
Time of race: 19 minutes, 18.876 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.315 seconds
Fast lap: Travis Stearns, 16.433 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY MINI STOCK (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (7) #55 Steve
Barker, Jay, 30
2. (8) #19 Shane Kaherl, Jay, 30
3. (3) #14 Matt Moore, South Paris, 30
4. (14) #77 Ashley Marshall, Jay, 30
5. (10) #8 Bill Thibeault, Oxford, 30
6. (12) #08 Kevin Bishop,
South Paris, 30
7. (13) #12 Darrell Moore, Mechanic Falls, 30
8. (6) #29 Greg Watkins, Bridgton, 30
9. (9) #9 Bob Guptill, Mechanic Falls, 30
10. (1) Brad Dwinal, Freeport, 30
11. (16) #16 Don Frechette, Turner, 30
12. (19) #4 Dale Durgin, Oxford, 30
13. (5) #25 Ken Daigle
Jr., Lisbon, 29
14. (2) #28 Craig Moore, Woodstock, 29
15. (17) #40 Curtis Fanjoy, Oxford, 29
16. (11) #01 Bill Childs Sr., Leeds, 18
17. (4) #2 Butch Keene, Turner, 17
18. (15) #51 Justin
Karkos, Jay, 16
19. (20) #45x Bob Martin, Oxford, 15
20. (21) #48 Wayne Titus, Minot, 6
21. (18) #45 Bill Mooney, New Gloucester, 3
DNS #6 Nathan Guptill, North Turner
Lap leaders: Dwinal 1, M. Moore 2-13, Kaherl 14-15, M. Moore
16-18, Barker 19-30.
Cautions: 2 (laps 15, 18)
Time of race: 16 minutes, 10.916 seconds
Margin of victory: 2.064 seconds
Fast lap: Shane Kaherl, 18.179 seconds
CHIMNEY TECH OUTLAW #1 (20 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (2) #38 Addison Bowie, Auburn, 20
2. (12) #65 Bill Sprague, Minot, 20
3. (1) #52 Kevin Leighton, Minot, 20
4. (3) #71 Fred Clavet, Buckfield, 20
5. (7) #54 Jonathan Baldwin, Auburn, 20
6. (11) #67 Mike Haynes, Livermore Falls, 20
7. (9) #137 David Brown, Gray, 20
8. (14) #13 Mike Blash, Oxfor, 20
9. (6) #87 Dan Bryan, Conway, N.H.;, 19
10. (13) #18A Bruce Kiley, Oxford, 19
11. (10) #116 Robert Lowe, Auburn, 18
12. (15) #73 Walter Connell III, South Paris, 18
13. (5) #43 Rodney Englehaupt, Oxford, 12
14. (8) #33 Tyler Belanger, Buckfield, 4
DQ #35 John Spencer
Jr., Auburn
Lap leaders: A. Bowie 1-20.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 6 minutes, 38 seconds
CHIMNEY TECH OUTLAW #2 (20 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (9) #12 Nik Coates, Lisbon, 20
2. (5) #83 Dan Brown, Peru, 20
3. (1) #57 Gerry Richard, Leeds, 20
4. (7) #34 John Patria, Turner, 20
5. (3) #3 Tom Averill, Peru, 20
6. (11) #90 Keith Landry, Oxford, 20
7. (15) #04 Zach Bowie, Mechanic Falls, 20
8. (16) #99 Jerry Goss, Mechanic Falls, 20
9. (4) #97 Shannon Judd, Jay, 20
10. (14) #5 David Childs, Oxford, 20
11. (13) #19 Steve Moon, Gray, 20
12. (17) #53 Steve Brill, Bridgton, 20
13. (2) #30 Scott Veinott, Sabattus, 20
14. (6) #112 Dennis Morang, South Paris, 20
15. (8) #10 Scott Ellis, Lewiston, 19
16. (12) #00 Guy Childs Sr., Turner, 8
17. (10) #36 Rick Spaulding, Lewiston, 8
Lap leaders: Richard 1-8, Coates 9-20.
Cautions: 1 (lap 4)
Time of race: 9 minutes, 4 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY LADIES (20 laps)|
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (4) #92 Debbie
Marston, Hartford, 20
2. (7) #23 Vanna Brackett, Buckfield, 20
3. (1) #3 Deanna
Robertson, South Paris, 20
4. (3) #30 Lisa Brooks, Auburn, 20
5. (5) #2 Kimberly Sessions, Auburn, 20
6. (10) #13 Missy Blash, Oxford, 20
7. (6) #34 Dottie Patria, Turner, 20
8. (8) #137 Kristen Brown, Gray, 19
9. (2) #29 Shannon Wheeler, Auburn, 19
10. (9) #44 Annie Chartier, Mexico, 16
Lap leaders: Robertson 1-10, Marston 11-20.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 6 minutes, 56 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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