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NEWS
May 12, 2007
Sessions' appetite unfit for seconds;
Adams makes Late Model statement
OXFORD, Maine - Sumner Sessions was simply tired of finishing
second.
The veteran driver's string of
runner-up finishes to open the 2007 Oxford Plains Speedway season
was great for Sessions' championship point total. Ultimately,
though, most drivers in the slam-bang Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy
Strictly Stock division want to win races and let everything else
take care of itself.
Sessions put away the bridesmaid
outfit Saturday night, reeling in Skip Tripp on lap 62 and surviving
Tripp's late rally to win a caution-free but stereotypically wild
Double T Fence 100.
It was the last of five thrilling
Championship Series features on a crisp, moonlit evening at the
historic oval.
Reigning Oxford Networks Late Model
champion Travis Adams scored his first win in the new-look top
division in impressive fashion, leaving behind a furious, five-car
clash for the runner-up spot.
For the second straight week, the
Allen's Mini Stock division produced a first-time OPS winner. Don
Frechette led wire-to-wire and held last week's conqueror Justin
Karkos and Adam Polvinen at bay for the breakthrough triumph.
The first-time trend carried over
into the Macdonald Motors Runnin' Rebel ranks, where Craig Pyy
scored his initial four-cylinder triumph at the track. Pyy's win
came in the first of twin 20-lap sprints for the Rebel gang. Mark
Childs Jr. posted his second victory in four days in the second
go-round.
Sessions survives strange
Strictly finish
In addition to a frantic, five-car battle for third place and the
drama of the leaders weaving their way through waves of traffic, the
Strictly main event concluded with three cars on the business end of
a wrecker after a bizarre finish.
Without a caution to tighten the pack
and with Sessions and Tripp consistently turning laps under 18.5
seconds, the fast-moving duo found themselves closing on the six-car
battle for third place in the closing circuits.
In the jockeying for position,
eighth-place Kurt Hewins’ car caught a front fender in the rear
and spun wildly over the top of turn one. Once it became obvious
that Hewins had no intentions of driving away from the scene, the
leaders had already taken the white flag, necessitating a
simultaneous yellow-and-checkers situation. The message: Exercise
caution, but all’ s fair until you cross the finish line.
Sessions maintained his presence of
mind and hit the wire about six car lengths in front of Tripp.
“I’ve got to thank all the
competitors. Green to checkered is just unbelievable. I just really
want to thank all the competitors for having a good time. That’s
why we’re here. We just want to race,” said Sessions, who took
over the Championship Series point lead after week three with his
21st career victory.
In a racing life that dates back
nearly three full decades, Sessions has never captured an OPS
championship.
He has steered consistently the
fastest car to date this season, however, and Sessions had minimal
difficulty shuffling forward from his 14th starting position.
Sessions used the outside lane to wheel around several of his top
rivals in the division with ease, including past speedway champs
Larry Emerson and Mike Short and the always-fast Tommy Tompkins and
Rick Thompson.
At about the traditional, weekly
30-lap distance, Sessions wheeled into second, nearly a full
straightaway behind the leader.
Skip Tripp spent a dozen laps in the
outside lane after the initial green with a fender in front of Kim
Tripp (no relation) before nailing down the lead for himself and
leaving the scene like a cat burglar.
Sessions had the only car in the
field capable of an extended challenge. He erased most of Tripp’s
lead on his own, then took advantage of heavy lapped traffic to tuck
the Goodwin’s Insurance/Sunco Well Drilling #0 underneath the
R.P.M. Racing Engines #12 near the two-thirds mark.
“Skip was great,“ said Sessions.
“He ran as hard as he could, where he could, and I got up
underneath him in lapped traffic.”
Tripp settled for his best run ever
in an Agren Appliance Grand Slam “iron man” event.
He didn’t surrender the win without
a final surge, either. With the fast traffic jockeying for position
in front of the leaders, Tripp reduced the deficit to a few feet
with two laps to go prior to the chain reaction mess at the
finish.
“The longer I went, the tires went
away,” Tripp said. “We left a bald tire on and figured it would
be alright, but it didn’t work out for us.”
Third through seventh spots were
swapped on nearly a lap-by-lap basis over the final 25 laps, and the
final podium position wasn’t settled until the last 50 feet.
Emerson, the 2001, 2004 and 2005
division champion, stayed in the throttle a smidge longer out of the
final corner and took third away from Kim Tripp.
“Yeah, it was fun. I didn’t know
us old guys could go 100 laps all at once like that,” marveled
Emerson.
B.J. Chapman scooted underneath
Tompkins and Thompson late for a well-earned fifth. Thompson, in
seventh, was the final car on the lead lap.
Adams’ begins case for title
defense
Even with Travis Adams boxed into his
seventh starting position for the opening stages of Saturday’s
20-lap Oxford Networks Late Model feature, it was apparent that the
2003 and 2006 track champion had the car to beat.
He didn’t take long to prove it,
using a banzai, three-wide maneuver the inside to put his Dacata
Repair/River Valley Grill #03E on the leader board. And it was only
a matter of time before Adams reeled in early leaders Brad Hammond,
Dennis Spencer Jr. and Don Wentworth before setting sail to his 18th
career victory in the headline class.
The scramble for the next six spots
made the ensuing Strictly Stock encounter appear tame by comparison,
but Adams turned up the wick and left behind his rivals by more than
three seconds at the conclusion.
“What a race! That right there is
the car I want for the TD Banknorth 250,” said the 29-year-old
Adams. “That thing was awesome tonight.”
Wentworth rocketed from the outside
on a lap 19 restart to snag the lead from Spencer, but a certain
neon green machine was a foreboding flash in his rear-view
mirror.
“That was a ball until Travis got
there. He kind of took the fun out of it for me,” said Wentworth.
“The kid’s got it hooked up.”
Fast from the blocks this spring
after two vicious wrecks and at least one semi “retirement” over
the last two seasons, Wentworth says he was again painfully close to
parking the E.A. Smith Plumbing and Heating/K&K Excavation #63
for at least a week or two.
“We would’ve had a podium finish
last week, but the distributor came apart and I was too stupid to
figure it out,” Wentworth said. “I was going to push the thing
out in the woods, and Mitch Green (of Crazy Horse Racing Engines)
said he’d fix it for me."
Hammond has returned to his old
neighborhood in a partnership with Ron Charpentier Jr. He won his
heat race by virtue of Dave MacDonald’s technical disqualification
and led the opening lap of the feature before Spencer seized command
for the remainder of the first half.
It was Hammond with more staying
power down the stretch, finishing an impressive third by less than
half a car length over no less than OPS legend, seven-time track
champ and three-time TD Banknorth 250 winner Mike Rowe.
“That’s what I told ’em on the
radio: ‘We brought home hardware, boys, and we had to hold off
Mike Rowe, to boot,’ ” Hammond said.
Hammond’s streak of five seasons
without an OPS feature win appears ready to go by the boards in a
matter of weeks.
“I haven’t that much fun in quite
some time,” Hammond said. “That’s what these cars are all
about. You can pitch ’em sideways. It’s good, hard racing, and
the competition is unreal. We just put this car together in the last
couple of weeks, and it’s a pleasure to drive.”
The next three cars in line have
combined for 13 OPS championships in a variety of divisions. Chasing
Rowe across the stripe were Spencer and opening-night winner and
series point leader Ricky Rolfe.
Rolfe raced after making a beeline to
the track from Bangor, where he attended his daughter’s college
graduation Saturday afternoon.
Can’t take this one away from
Frechette
Fifty-something gentleman racer Don
Frechette thought he’d scored his elusive first career feature win
at OPS last summer.
He cruised to an apparent 30-lap
Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Mini Stock victory. He thanked all
his supporters. He posed and smiled for the requisite
pictures.
Then the crew at the technical
inspection shack spied something they didn’t like in the #16 and
gave Frechette’s win away to someone else.
It’s all legal and official now.
Frechette swept his heat and feature Saturday night and wrote his
name in permanent ink in the speedway record book.
“I’m too old for this,”
Frechette said with a smile. “Hopefully we can take the DQ off the
windshield now.”
The Minis produced a first-time
winner for the second straight week.
Justin Karkos captured the Sunoco
Race Fuels 100 last time out. With reigning track champ Jimmy Childs
disappearing after seven laps with a mechanical problem, Karkos
stepped up the pace as Frechette’s fastest competition but fell a
car length shy in his bid for an encore.
“That was fun. I think it would
have been more fun if I could have raced with Jimmy for second,”
Karkos said. “I’m not sure what happened to his car. I’ d like
to congratulate Don for his first win. I know he almost got one last
year.”
Second-year Mini standout and former
Acceleration Series champion Adam Polvinen stayed in Frechette and
Karkos’ tire tracks and settled for third.
“I try and do what I can, but
it‘s pretty hard to get by ‘em,” Polvinen said. “It was
good, clean racing tonight.”
Jeff Prindall was fourth, pocketing
his third straight top-five run in a strong start to the campaign.
Wal-Mart Rookie of the Year leader Bill Irving was fifth.
Persistence pays for Pyy; Childs
back for more
Craig Pyy took advantage of the special Saturday night format to
notch his watershed win in the Macdonald Motors Runnin‘ Rebel
opener.
Pyy led every lap and dodged the
repeated challenges of Jamie Leavitt, Troy Jordan and Gregg Norton
for his initial four-cylinder triumph. Leavitt took the last and
best shot on a green-white-checkered sprint to the finish.
“First checkered flag of my life,
and I thought I was going to lose it on that last corner,” Pyy
said. “(Leavitt) gave me a heck of a run. I’m just pleased that
I got there.”
Leavitt had his hands full, too,
warding off Troy Jordan for the runner-up role. Reigning Agren
Appliance Grand Slam champ Gregg Norton and Derek Cook were within
sniffing distance of the winner’s exhaust fumes, also.
“It came to life at the end. I just
couldn’t get there,” Leavitt said.
Mark Childs Jr. needed a full season
plus two races to pick up his first career win. It took him 72 hours
to tuck away the second.
Childs commandeered the lead from
Tyson Jordan on lap 4 and led cousin Josh Childs across the
stripe.
Josh Childs pedaled home one spot out
of his breakthrough win, with his smoking car showing the evidence
of his effort in victory lane.
“That’s probably the brakes. I
had to use them a lot,” Josh said. “I couldn ’t catch my
cousin Marky. He’s got a fast car.”
Matt Dufault matched teammate Jordan
with a third-place run, backed by Doug Degroat and Jeff Beaule.
OPS roars back to life on Wednesday,
May 16 with the third week of the Oxford Acceleration Series. Racing
begins at 6:30 p.m. The Championship Series resumes next Saturday,
May 19 with Superior Concrete Night, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY STRICTLY STOCK (100 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (14) #0 Sumner Sessions, Norway, 100
2. (2) #12 Skip Tripp, Sabattus, 100
3. (4) #24 Larry Emerson, Durham, 100
4. (1) #42 Kim Tripp, Oxford, 100
5. (8) #81 B.J. Chapman, Naples, 100
6. (15) #113 Tommy
Tompkins, Mexico, 100
7. (12) #07 Rick Thompson, Naples, 100
8. (6) #23 Zach Emerson, Durham, 99
9. (3) #63 Matt Williams, Brownfield, 99
10. (13) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 98
11. (7) #55 Kurt Hewins, Leeds, 97
12. (17) #91 Danny Smart, Buxton, 97
13. (10) #21 Nick Coates, Turner, 96
14. (19) #P38 Mark Bowie, Mechanic Falls, 96
15. (18) #49 Greg Sessions, Oxford, 95
16. (23) #82 Ben Krauter, Raymond, 94
17. (21) #4 Todd Hall, Auburn, 94
18. (20) #29 Chris Mosher, Litchfield, 93
19. (16) #71 Scott Belskis, Dixfield, 91
20. (9) #66 David Vaughn, Naples, 58
21. (5) #1 Billy Childs Jr., Leeds, 21
22. (11) #01 George Haskell, Casco, 21
23. (22) #43 Bob DiPompo, Jay, 1
Lap leaders: S. Tripp 1-61, S. Sessions 62-100.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 31 minutes, 18.724 seconds
Margin of victory: 1.530 seconds
Fast lap: Sumner Sessions, 18.397 seconds.
OXFORD NETWORKS LATE MODEL (40 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (7) #03 Travis Adams, Canton, 40
2. (4) #63 Don Wentworth, Bridgton, 40
3. (1) #36 Brad Hammond, Sabattus, 40
4. (20) #24 Mike Rowe, Turner, 40
5. (2) #8 Dennis Spencer Jr., Turner, 40
6. (11) #51 Ricky Rolfe,
Albany Township, 40
7. (24) #6 Tommy Ricker, Poland, 40
8. (15) #04 T.J. Watson, Harpswell, 40
9. (23) #69 Dave MacDonald, New Gloucester, 40
10. (9) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 40
11. (22) #2 Zach Emerson, Sabattus, 40
12. (13) #7 Glen Luce, Turner, 40
13. (14) #70 Gary Chiasson, Peru, 40
14. (12) #18 Carey Martin, Denmark, 40
15. (8) #11 Scott King, Livermore Falls, 40
16. (6) #26 Corey Morgan, Lewiston, 40
17. (25) #44 Neil Martin, Freeport, 40
18. (17) #85 Travis
Stearns, Gray, 40
19. (18) #15 Ben Ashline, Pittston, 39
20. (19) #31 Tim Pendergast,
Swanville, 39
21. (5) #40 Rick Valentine, Greene, 39
22. (10) #77 Jon Brill, Bridgton, 39
23. (16) #01 Bill Childs Sr., Leeds, 31
24. (21) #0 Scott Hodgdon, Mechanic Falls, 17
25. (3) #56 Dale
Verrill, Paris, 4
DNS #4 Earl Tripp, Standish
Lap leaders: Hammond 1, Spencer 2-20, Wentworth 21-27, Adams
28-30.
Cautions: 2 (Lap 4, 19)
Time of race: 25 minutes, 9.240 seconds
Margin of victory: 3.021 seconds
Fast lap: Dennis Spencer Jr., 16.094 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY
MINI STOCK (30 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (1) #16 Don Frechette, Turner, 30
2. (8) #12 Justin
Karkos, Livermore Falls, 30
3. (7) #73 Adam Polvien, Oxford, 30
4. (9) #14 Jeff Prindall, Lisbon Falls, 30
5. (10) #74 Bill Irving, New Gloucester, 30
6. (15) #2 Butch Keene, Turner, 30
7. (2) #77 Ashley Marshall, Jay, 30
8. (12) #54 Ben Audet, Wilton, 30
9. (16) #29 Greg Watkins, Bridgton, 29
10. (14) #08 Kevin Bishop, Oxford, 29
11. (4) #90 Dale Durgin, Norway, 27
12. (11) #65 Dave Mooney, Wales, 11
13. (3) #19 Shane Kaherl, Jay, 9
14. (6) #10 Jimmy Childs, Leeds, 7
15. (5) #35 Dale Brackett, Norway, 7
16. (13) #92 Chris Varney, Scarborough, 2
DNS #5 Darick Barker, Jay
Lap leaders: Frechette 1-30.
Cautions: None
Time of race: 9 minutes, 1.250 seconds
Margin of victory: 0.117 seconds
Fast lap: Jimmy Childs, 18.145 seconds.
MACDONALD MOTORS RUNNIN' REBEL (20
laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (1) #115 Craig Pyy, Gorham, 20
2. (5) #93 Jamie Leavitt, Minot, 20
3. (6) #6 Troy Jordan, Turner, 20
4. (7) #119 Gregg Norton, Lewiston, 20
5. (10) #88 Derek Cook, Livermore Falls, 20
6. (3) #15 David Cook, Lewiston, 20
7. (2) #79 Jason Cummings, Waterford, 20
8. (15) #86 Nic Stanley, Buckfield, 20
9. (4) #41 James Wood, New Gloucester, 20
10. (14) #8 Kevin Noyes, Raymond, 20
11. (11) #521 Scott Farrington, Oxford, 20
12. (8) #175 Patrick Elsman, Hebron, 20
13. (16) #30 Rick Giguere, Auburn, 20
14. (17) #85 Jeff Hebert, Auburn, 17
15. (9) #12 Don White, Leeds, 12
16. (13) #08 Charlie Hall, Oxford, 11
17. (12) #63 Cole Flagg, Livermore, 4
18. (18) #06 Ryan Philbrick, Wilton, 1
Lap leaders: Pyy 1-20.
Cautions: 2 (laps 4, 18)
Time of race: 12 minutes, 21 seconds
MACDONALD MOTORS RUNNIN' REBEL (20 laps)
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed
1. (4) #95 Mark Childs Jr., Mechanic Falls, 20
2. (11) #3 Josh Childs, Oxford, 20
3. (7) #96 Matt Dufault, Turner, 20
4. (5) #84 Doug Degroat, Oxford, 20
5. (9) #31 Jeff Beaule, Lewiston, 20
6. (16) #54 Kyle Hewins, Leeds, 20
7. (1) #59 Tyson Jordan, Poland, 20
8. (15) #32 Brandon Munroe, New Gloucester, 20
9. (8) #66 Justin Hynes, Windham, 20
10. (2) #32x Brian Hawthorne, New Gloucester, 20
11. (10) #00 Monica Martin, South Paris, 20
12. (13) #83 Brady Romano, Livermore Falls, 19
13. (6) #47 Scott Perkins, Oxford, 11
14. (17) #1 Paul Cook, Mechanic Falls, 9
15. (14) #03 Ryan
Varney, Oxford, 8
16. (3) #50 Todd Foss, Windham, 0
17. (12) #106 Nathan Guptill, North Turner, 0
HEAT RESULTS
LATE MODEL #1
1. Brad Hammond
2. Dennis Spencer Jr.
3. Dale Verrill
4. Don Wentworth
5. Rick Valentine
6. Corey Morgan
7. Bill Childs Sr.
8. Travis Stearns
9. Neil Martin
10. Ben Ashline
11. Tim Pendergast
DQ Dave MacDonald
DQ Tommy Ricker
LATE MODEL #2
1. Travis Adams
2. Scott King
3. Shawn Martin
4. Jon Brill
5. Ricky Rolfe
6. Carey Martin
7. Mike Rowe
8. Glen Luce
9. Gary Chiasson
10. T.J. Watson
11. Scott Hodgdon
12. Zach Emerson
STRICTLY #1
1. Kim Tripp
2. Skip Tripp
3. Matt Williams
4. Larry Emerson
5. Billy Childs Jr.
6. Zach Emerson
7. Kurt Hewins
8. B.J. Chapman
9. David Vaughn
10. Nick Coates
11. George Haskell
STRICTLY #2
1. Rick Thompson
2. Mike Short
3. Sumner Sessions
4. Tommy Tompkins
5. Scott Belskis
6. Danny Smart
7. Greg Sessions
8. Mark Bowie
9. Chris Mosher
10. Todd Hall
11. Bob DiPompo
12. Ben Krauter
MINI #1
1. Don Frechette
2. Ashley Marshall
3. Shane Kaherl
4. Darick Barker
5. Dale Durgin
6. Dale Brackett
7. Greg Watkins
8. Dave Mooney
MINI #2
1. Jimmy Childs
2. Adam Polvinen
3. Justin Karkos
4. Jeff Prindall
5. Ben Audet
6. Kevin Bishop
7. Bill Irving
8. Chris Varney
9. Butch Keene
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Oxford Networks
Late Model
Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy
Strictly and Mini Stock
Macdonald
Motors
Photos by
(207) 645-4571
Photos by Trudy Marshall from
all OPS divisions!
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