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NEWS
April 29, 2007 (full story)
Potter pulls off NE Dodge Dealers
upset; Tommy Gun, Adam Polvinen ace openers
OXFORD, Maine - We don't want to call Randy Potter's wire-to-wire
victory in the New England Dodge Dealers 150 a major upset, but
consider the facts.
Potter, a 40-year-old veteran of
Riverside Speedway in his hometown of Groveton, N.H., had never won
an ACT race. And the last time he turned a steering wheel around the
notoriously tough Oxford Plains Speedway? Just after the beginning
of Bill Clinton's second presidential term in 1995.
He was king for a day on this April
afternoon, however, running away from six-time ACT champion
Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, Vt., and rising star Joey Polewarczyk of
Hudson, N.H., for an authoritative victory that was slowed only
twice by caution.
"I've led a few of these ACT
races, but I never had the patience," Potter said. "I just
turned 40 on Thursday, so I guess maybe I'm learning
patience."
OPS competitor Doug Coombs finished
fourth, while David Avery made it three New Hampshire drivers in the
top five. Cris Michaud (ACT), Mike Rowe (OPS legend), Travis Adams
(2006 Oxford Networks Late Model champion), Roger Brown (ACT) and
Ryan Nolin (ACT) rounded out the top 10.
Fifty-two drivers attempted to
qualify, with 33 taking the green flag in the main event.
In accompanying feature action, Tommy
Tompkins toughed out a 30-lap Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy
Strictly Stock victory, while Adam Polvinen edged defending track
champion Jim Childs in the 30-lap Mini Stock encounter.
Potter won the third of four 12-lap
qualifying heats. Courtesy of ACT’s plus-minus handicap system, he
took the green flag from the outside of the front row in the feature
and quickly forged ahead of pole-sitter Eric Williams.
Rowe, ACT standout Phil Scott and
four-time OPS champion Dennis Spencer Jr. lurked in the early
stages, but Potter maintained a healthy advantage until a multi-car
spin involving Eric Chase, John Donahue and Glen Luce brought out
the first caution flag on lap 39.
Using more than sixty caution-free
laps to his advantage, Potter re-established his edge and proved
that he was in it for the long haul. By lap 90, five drivers with
eight OPS track titles and three TD Banknorth 250 championships
between them (Ben Rowe, Scott Robbins, Ricky Rolfe, Shawn Martin and
Tim Brackett) had fallen one lap down to the leader.
“It’s a new Race Basics
chassis,” Potter said of his #02 machine. “I didn’ t do a very
good nut-and-bolt check, and in qualifying the driveshaft was just
about ready to come out. So we were fortunate. I was able to make
that first pass, and then track position was everything.”
Spencer and Scott dropped from
contention with mechanical problems. Rowe and Cris Michaud each made
a brief charge before their cars faded without a caution to cool the
tires.
Cyr took over second on lap 104 and
became the biggest threat to Potter’s rule. Still, by the time
Steve Fisher’s stop on the front stretch necessitated the second
and final stoppage with 25 circuits remaining, five lapped cars
occupied the space between leader and runner-up on the restart
grid.
Open track didn’t greet Cyr’s
eyes until the waning moments. Potter already enjoyed a
half-straightaway cushion.
“I didn’t need the last
caution,” Cyr said. “My car tightened up quite a bit at the end.
But to come to Oxford and finish second, I’ll take it. We just
wanted to finish in the top 10. I’ve wrecked so many cars
here.”
Cyr’s only previous podium finish
at OPS was a victory in July 2005.
Saturday marked the second straight
Oxford top-three for the young shoe known as “Joey Pole,” on the
heels of his performance in the New England Dodge Dealers Little Guy
100 last October.
“We had a little trouble with the
car earlier in the day,” said Polewarczyk, who started 24th in the
field, “but we were able to get it back.”
Saturday's main event was the first
of five in the lucrative L/A Harley-Davidson Late Model Challenge,
an Oxford open competition series paying nearly $300,000 in purse
and point fund money.
Tompkins takes Strictly, ties dad
Tompkins built upon a family tradition with his impressive Strictly
Stock victory.
His third Allen’s triumph in the
last two seasons brought his career total in a 20-year career at OPS
to 13 feature wins. That tied his father, late Charger champion Joey
“The Jet” Tompkins, in the all-time tally.
“It’s pretty easy when you’re
starting up front,” admitted Tompkins, who earned his spot on the
pole by winning the first 10-lap heat race. “But you talk about
doing your homework. The guy who made this happen was Jimmy Davis.
He took every nut and bolt off this car this week.”
Davis steered the same machine to
three feature wins in 2005 before handing the controls to Tompkins
last spring.
Tompkins’ only obstacle was a
green-white-checkered finish, created by a collision between Jeff
Moon and Danny Smart that left Moon’s car sitting precariously
over the edge of turn four on lap 28.
That put Sumner Sessions within
striking distance. Like Potter later in the day, however, Tompkins
had a pair of relatively fast lapped cars (three-time series
champion Larry Emerson and B.J. Chapman) as a buffer zone.
Sessions settled for second in a car
that immediately caught everyone’s eye. His new #0 “Screamin’
Eagle” is black instead of his traditional green.
“It’s not trying to change my
luck as much as trying to have something new and straight,”
Sessions said. “We had a pretty good run. When someone’s
starting on the pole and they’re pretty fast, you aren’t going
to get by ’em.”
Mike Short, the 1997 Allen’s
Strictly champion, finished third, followed by Rick Thompson and
Smart.
Polvinen gets 'real' win
Polvinen also enjoyed the fruits of the luck-of-the-draw and
straight-up lineups that often prevail on opening day, winning his
preliminary and setting the pace for all 30 laps of the Allen’s
Mini scramble.
“I ran up front pretty much all of
last year, but I couldn’t seem to win any races,” said Polvinen,
the 2006 Wal-Mart Rookie of the Year in Mini and 2005 MacDonald
Motors Runnin’ Rebel champ in the Oxford Acceleration Series. “I
got one because of somebody’s else’s disqualification, but that
doesn’t cut it for me. It feels good to start off this season with
a win.”
His caution-free drive didn’t come
without a challenge. None other than reigning champ Childs filled
Polvinen’s rear-view mirror over the final five laps. Polvinen got
sideways in the first turn after the white flag, but Childs gave a
courtesy lift off the accelerator and couldn’t regain enough
momentum to make the pass on the outside.
Childs started last in the field
after failing to make the green flag for his heat race due to a
problem in the car’s rear end.
“We Permatexed it so I could get
out here, but I knew it was probably leaking and they would send us
in after about two or three laps,” said Childs. “I never saw the
black flag, though, so I guess it was OK.”
In his initial start since making a
lateral move in the off-season, 2006 Strictly Stock top rookie
Justin Karkos picked up his first-ever Championship Series trophy.
Karkos passed Jeff Prindall on the final lap and won the sprint to
the stripe by less than a car length to finish third.
His car also weathered the typical
opening-day gremlins, boiling over like Old Faithful in victory
lane.
“I think I can afford the
anti-freeze,” he said. “I have to thank Joe, Bonnie and Scott
King. They make all this happen.”
Bob Guptill opened his Wal-Mart
Rookie candidacy with a fifth-place finish.
What's next?
OPS moves right into a summer-like schedule this week.
The Acceleration Series gets the call
to start its engines Wednesday, with all five divisions primed for a
6:30 p.m. start.
Championship Series competition
resumes at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday, May 5, with Sunoco Race Fuels
Night. Highlights include the opening race for the elite Oxford
Networks Late Model division, a 100-lap Allen’s Mini Stock
marathon, and an appearance by the Acceleration Series Chimney Tech
Outlaws.
NEW ENGLAND DODGE DEALERS ACT 150
Fin. (Start) No., Driver, hometown, laps completed, reason out if
any
1. (2) #02 Randy Potter, Groveton. N.H., 150
2. (19) #32 Jean-Paul Cyr, Milton Vt., 150
3. (24) #97 Joey Polewarczyk, Hudson, N.H., 150
4. (11) #57 Doug Coombs, Livermore, 150
5. (17) #10 David
Avery, North Woodstock, N.H., 150
6. (6) #6 Cris Michaud, Williamstown, Vt., 150
7. (5) #24ME Mike Rowe, Turner, 150
8. (20) #03E Travis Adams, Canton, 150
9. (18) #99 Roger Brown,
Lancaster, N.H., 150
10. (25) #78 Ryan Nolin, Georgia, Vt., 150
11. (23) #05 Ron Henry, New Gloucester, 150
12. (9) #27Q Alexandre Gingras, Quebec City, Quebec, 150
13. (29) #18 Jamie
Fisher, Shelburne, Vt., 150
14. (1) #7VT Eric Williams, Hyde Park, Vt., 150
15. (31) #11RI Ryan
Vanasse, Warwick, R.I., 149
16. (16) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 149
17. (10) #44 Dave Pembroke,
Montpelier, Vt., 149
18. (4) #51 Ricky Rolfe, Albany Township, 149
19. (27) #13 Jamie Aube,
Bow, N.H., 149
20. (14) #40 Eric Chase, Milton, Vt., 149
21. (12) #90 Gary Chiasson, Peru, 149
22. (32) #89 Scott Payea, Milton, Vt., 149
23. (21) #60 Tim Brackett, Buckfield, 149
24. (33) #93 Mike
Ferguson, Rangeley, 149
25. (28) #26 John Donahue, Graniteville, Vt., 149
26. (26) #72 Scott
Robbins, Dixfield, 149
27. (30) #07 Glen Luce, Turner, 148
28. (13) #4 Ben Rowe, Turner, 147, handling
29. (8) #14 Phil Scott, Montpelier, Vt., 142
30. (22) #24VT Steve Fisher, Shelburne, Vt., 125, transmission
31. (7) #8 Dennis Spencer Jr., Oxford, 89, electrical
32. (3) #45 Brian Hoar, Williston, Vt., 39, rear end
33. (15) #27MA Marc Curtis Jr., Worcester, Mass., 34, clutch
Lap leaders: Potter 1-150.
Time of race: 54 minutes
Cautions: 2 (laps 40, 126)
Margin of victory: 2.5 seconds
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY
STRICTLY STOCK FEATURE (30 laps)
1. (1) #113 Tommy Tompkins, Mexico, 30
2. (3) #0 Sumner Sessions, Norway, 30
3. (2) #56 Mike Short, Auburn, 30
4. (4) #07 Rick Thompson, Naples, 30
5. (9) #91 Danny Smart, Buxton, 30
6. (16) #63 Matt Williams, Brownfield, 30
7. (17) #23 Zach Emerson, Sabattus, 30
8. (12) #10 Billy Childs Jr., Leeds, 30
9. (13) #55 Kurt Hewins, Leeds, 30
10. (8) #12 Skip Tripp, Sabattus, 30
11. (11) #24 Larry Emerson, Durham, 29
12. (7) #81 B.J. Chapman, Naples, 29
13. (5) #97 Jeff Moon, Gray, 29
14. (6) #00 Jeff Merrill, Roxbury, 29
15. (15) #21 Nick Coates, Turner, 29
16. (10) #42 Kim Tripp, Oxford, 18
17. (14) #01 George Haskell, Casco, 2
DNS - Scott Belskis, Randy Heath
Lap leaders: Tompkins 1-30.
Time of race: 13 minutes, 58 seconss
Cautions: 1 (lap 28)
Margin of victory: 2 car lengths
ALLEN'S COFFEE FLAVORED BRANDY MINI STOCK FEATURE (30 laps)
1. (1) #73 Adam Polvinen, Oxford, 30
2. (9) #10 Jim Childs, Leeds, 30
3. (6) #12 Justin Karkos, Jay, 30
4. (3) #14 Jeff Prindall, Lisbon Falls, 30
5. (2) #9 Bob Guptill, Mechanic Falls, 30
6. (8) #74 Bill Irving, New Gloucester, 30
7. (5) #16 Don Frechette, Turner, 30
8. (11) #13 Shane
Kaherl, Wilton, 29
9. (10) #29 Greg Watkins, Bridgton, 29
10. (7) #35 Dale Brackett, Norway, 29
11. (4) #90 Dale Durgin, Norway, 29
DNS - Darick Barker, Ashley Marshall, Bill Thibeault
Lap leaders: Polvinen 1-30.
Time of race: 9 minutes, 19 seconss
Cautions: None
Margin of victory: 1 car length
HEAT RESULTS
ACT #1 (top four qualify)
1. Dennis Spencer Jr.
2. Eric Chase
3. Gary Chiasson
4. Alexandre Gingras
5. David Avery
6. Tim Brackett
7. Ryan Nolin
8. Jamie Aube
9. Dale Verrill
10. Glen Luce
11. Mike Ferguson
12. Greg Peters
13. Eddie MacDonald
ACT #2 (top 4 qualify)
1. Dave Pembroke
2. Brian Hoar
3. Marc Curtis
4. Cris Michaud
5. Roger Brown
6. Steve Fisher
7. Joey Polewarczyk
8. Scott Robbins
9. Carey Martin
10. Yvon Bedard
11. Joe Becker
12. Brent Dragon
13. Scott Dragon
ACT #3 (top 4 qualify)
1. Randy Potter
2. Ricky Rolfe
3. Shawn Martin
4. Eric Williams
5. Jean-Paul Cyr
6. Ron Henry
7. Charlie Rousseau
8. Jamie Fisher
9. Zach Emerson
10. Pete Potvin
11. James Linardy
12. Scott King
ACT #4 (top 4 qualify)
1. Doug Coombs
2. Phil Scott
3. Mike Rowe
4. Ben Rowe
5. Scott Payea
6. John Donahue
7. Travis Adams
8. Claude Leclerc
9. Donald Theetge
10. T.J. Watson
11. Jon Brill
ACT CONSI #1 (top 6 qualify)
1. David Avery
2. Jean Paul Cyr
3. Tim Brackett
4. Ron Henry
5. Ryan Nolin
6. Jamie Aube
7. Jamie Fisher
8. Glen Luce
9. Dale Verrill
10. Pete Potvin
11. Charlie Rousseau
ACT CONSI #2 (top 6 qualify)
1. Roger Brown
2. Travis Adams
3. Steve Fisher
4. Joey Polewarczyk
5. Scott Robbins
6. John Donahue
7. Claude Leclerc
8. Donald Theetge
9. Carey Martin
10. Scott Payea
11. Yvon Bedard
12. T.J. Watson
ACT 'B' FEATURE (top 2 qualify)
1. Jamie Fisher
2. Glen Luce
PROVISIONAL QUALIFIERS
Ryan Vanasse (ACT)
Scott Payea (ACT)
Mike Ferguson (OPS)
STRICTLY STOCK #1
1. Tommy Tompkins
2. Mike Short
3. Sumner Sessions
4. Rick Thompson
5. Jeff Moon
6. Jeff Merrill
7. B.J. Chapman
8. Billy Childs Jr.
9. Nick Coates
10. George Haskell
STRICTLY STOCK #2
1. Skip Tripp
2. Zach Emerson
3. Kim Tripp
4. Larry Emerson
5. Danny Smart
6. Matt Williams
7. Kurt Hewins
8. Scott Belskis
MINI STOCK #1
1. Adam Polvinen
2. Justin Karkos
3. Bob Guptill
4. Greg Watkins
5. Ashley Marshall
6. Bill Irving
7. Darick Barker
MINI STOCK #2
1. Jeff Prindall
2. Don Frechette
3. Shane Kaherl
4. Dale Durgin
5. Dale Brackett
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Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy
Strictly and Mini Stock
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