OXFORD – A few minutes after perhaps the most heartbreaking lap of his racing career, Travis Adams saw the scales of justice swing back in his direction Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.
Adams and his heavily damaged ride were declared winners of the Sun Journal 100 after Carey Martin, the apparent winner of the Lee Auto Mall Late Model Stock race, was disqualified in the post-race technical inspection.
The victory earned Adams a provisional starting spot in the TD Banknorth 250 for the second time in three years. Adams passed on the opportunity to run the Pro Stock extravaganza in his division championship season of 2003. With the qualifying race and main event separated by a full week this time around, however, Adams is more likely to cash in his free pass.
Both Martin and third-place Dave MacDonald were ticketed for illegal carburetor spacers, elevating defending division champion Shawn Martin to second and current point leader Chuck Colby to third.
Adams and Ron Charpentier Jr. flaunted the dominant cars in the main event, enjoying as much as a half-lap lead over the third-place battle near the halfway point. Charpentier led from lap 29 on, never by more than a couple of car lengths, before a wild, multi-car melee that began just past the start-finish line and ended in the third turn on the final lap.
It began when Dale Verrill spun on the frontstretch and collected Adams’ machine. Adams and Charpentier made contact shortly thereafter, and their cars remained locked together until Charpentier spun wildly at the entrance to the third turn.
Adams inherited the lead and made it as far the final corner before the heavy damage to his right front and a flat tire slowed his progress to pace-lap speed. Martin, who had fought his way past MacDonald in the confusion, stayed low and led the final one-sixteenth of a mile … or so he and a stunned crowd thought.
Charpentier was credited with fifth, the first car one lap down.
He initially took the lead after slight contact with Wal-Mart Rookie of the Year contender Jim Duguay as the leaders tried to negotiate their way around lapped traffic early in the event.
Colby recovered from a spin to secure his third-place run, as did fourth-place rookie Nick Reno. Verrill and first-year LMS driver Mark Brackett also ran solidly in the top five before a tangle on lap 69 dropped them downward in the final standings.
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