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NEWS
August 20, 2009
Season point leaders win, walk
away
with Agren Appliance Summer Slam titles
OXFORD, Maine - Throw out the points. Pull the starting lineup
out of a hat. It won't make any difference.
Travis Adams, Skip Tripp and Justin Karkos are having that kind of
year. The three division point leaders and likely 2009 champions
each won the final feature event of the Agren Appliance Summer Slam
on Thursday night, capturing the triple crown series title in the
process.
For Tripp, his Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy Strictly Stock victory
completed a clean sweep of the three extra-distance races for his
division. It also gave the defending class champion a record 19
feature conquests in his career, breaking a brief tie with Kim Tripp
and Shane Green.
Karkos won two of the three Allen's Mini Stock events in the series
to edge Jimmy Childs for the Summer Slam crown. Adams' narrow Oxford
Networks Late Model victory over Shawn Knight helped him rally past
Shawn Martin and Don Wentworth for what is surprisingly his first
Triple Crown championship.
The wins took place in 75-lap features after preceding 50 and 60-lap
main events in the abbreviated series. Tripp and Karkos each led
wire-to-wire to log their seventh victory of the season, while Adams
scored his fifth checkered flag of the campaign.
Adams became the fourth different leader of a caution-free but
action-packed Late Model finale when he overtook Wentworth on lap
30. Knight quickly zeroed in and appeared to have the package he
needed for a breakthrough win in the top class.
Strategy and experience played a key role, however, as Adams
remained in the outside lane to hold Knight at bay.
"That's where my car was best, and I think that's where Shawn's
was working best, also," Adams said. "I didn't have the
best car in the first half of the race, but we set it up to be good
in the second half and it definitely came to me."
Knight lurked at Adams' back bumper for a dozen laps before he faded
back by a margin of about two car lengths until the finish.
Wentworth, who led from laps 19 to 29, held off Tommy Ricker for
third. Ricky Rolfe was fifth.
Tim Brackett earned the pole with a heat race victory and led the
first nine laps before yielding to Shawn Martin.
Seeking his fourth triple crown in six years, Martin needed only to
finish ahead of Adams and Wentworth to lock up the honor. But he
slipped out of the top five before slowing dramatically and
requiring a mid-race pit stop.
Adams' final margin over Wentworth was a slim two points.
Tripp took care of the Strictly Stock drama with a heat win and a
quick break from the field in the main event.
"I wanted to get that 19th win and the record out of the way,
so that's why I tried to get out there and away from
everybody," said Tripp, who has far exceeded last season's two
wins en route to the division title.
Larry Emerson and Matt Williams ran second and third throughout the
event, as well, more than one-third of a lap behind the leader.
A three-car battle for fourth provided most of the entertainment.
Mike Short, Mike St. Germain and Nick Hoyt diced it out from start
to finish, with each taking a turn in the outside lane and trying to
surpass his two rivals the hard way.
Short got the last word, finishing fourth ahead of St. Germain.
Karkos maintained the same kind of margin over rival Childs, leading
the Mini Stock main event by as much as a half-lap around the
3/8-mile oval.
"We had motor problems a while back, but it's good to see that
we got those taken care of," Karkos said. "That's seven
(wins), if you're counting."
Seven matches Karkos' number of trips to victory lane from a year
ago. He has finished in the top three in 14 of his last 15 starts
since a disqualification and a did-not-finish in the first two 2009
races.
Childs nosed out Calvin Rose Jr. for second, with the rookie Rose's
winning streak ending at two. Adam Polvinen overcame a mid-race spin
to finish fourth in only his second OPS start of the season. Kevin
Bishop, last season's triple crown champion, was fifth after
starting on the pole.
OXFORD NETWORKS LATE MODEL (75 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (3) #03E Travis Adams, Canton, 75
2. (5) #25 Shawn Knight, South Paris, 75
3. (4) #63 Don Wentworth, Otisfield, 75
4. (10) #6 Tommy Ricker, Poland, 75
5. (6) #51 Ricky Rolfe, Albany Township, 75
6. (1) #60 Tim
Brackett, Buckfield, 75
7. (14) #07 Scott Luce, Strong, 75
8. (12) #27 Jason Larrabee, Raymond, 74
9. (8) #26 Corey Morgan, Lewiston, 74
10. (16) #15 Ben Ashline, Pittston, 74
11. (11) #8 Gerald Parlin, South Paris, 74
12. (7) #50 Jeff White, Winthrop, 72
13. (13) #7 Glen Luce, Turner, 71
14. (2) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 71
15. (9) #29 Ricky Morse, St. Albans, 57
16. (15) #10 Jimmy Childs, Leeds, 5
DNS #52 Bruce Haley, Minot
Lap leaders: Brackett 1-9, S. Martin 10-18, Wentworth 19-29,
Adams 30-75.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 21 minutes, 21.161 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.458 seconds
Fast lap: Ricky Rolfe, 16, 716 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (75 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (1) #12 Skip Tripp, Poland, 75
2. (3) #24 Larry Emerson, Durham, 75
3. (5) #63 Matt Williams, Brownfield, 75
4. (4) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 75
5. (7) #777 Mike St. Germain, Auburn, 75
6. (2) #88D Nick Hoyt, Mechanic Falls, 75
7. (3) #24 Zach Emerson, Sabattus, 74
8. (8) #81 B.J.
Chapman, Bridgton, 74
9. (9) #36 Rick Spaulding, Lisbon, 53
10. (10) #88 Derek Farrington, Freeport, 11
Lap leaders: Tripp 1-75.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 23 minutes, 33.777 seconds
Margin of victory: 7.091 seconds
Fast lap: Skip Tripp, 18.412 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY MINI STOCK (75 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (2) #51 Justin Karkos, Jay, 75
2. (9) #10 Jimmy Childs, Leeds, 75
3. (7) #8 Calvin Rose Jr., Turner, 75
4. (14) #73 Adam Polvinen, Oxford, 75
5. (1) #08 Kevin Bishop, South Paris, 75
6. (11) #31 Jeff Beaule, Lewiston, 74
7. (13) #12 Darrell Moore, Mechanic Falls, 74
8. (6) #33 Dan Morris, Aubu, 73
9. (8) #7 Matt Moore, South Paris, 73
10. (4) #74 Jake Burns, Gray, 72
11. (12) #18 Nik Coates, Lisbon, 66
12. (3) #77 Ashley Marshall, Jay, 62
13. (15) #6 Nathan Guptill, North Turner, 58
14. (10) #2 Butch Keene, Turner, 50
15. (5) #16 Larry Melcher,
Livermore Falls, 48
Lap leaders: Karkos 1-75.
Cautions: 1 (lap 35)
Time of race: 26 minutes, 36.975 seconds
Margin of victory: 7.965 seconds
Fast lap: Justin Karkos, 18.320 seconds
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