It was a grind, and ultimately a wash, in one of the closest battles for the track championship in Oxford Plains Speedway history.
T.J. Brackett of Buckfield overcame an early spin to finish ninth in the 75-lap Budweiser Pro Late Model season finale, holding on for a four-point margin over Turner’s Shawn Martin and his second consecutive speedway crown.
New Hampshire driver Jeremy Davis scored the victory, making him the 12th different winner in 14 weekly events. Brackett was the only driver to repeat, carrying the checkered flag three times.
Despite that, he entered the finale with only a three-point lead over Martin after reclaiming it a week ago. Martin gained a point by finishing fourth in Sunday’s heat race, one position ahead of Brackett.
Brackett’s win total gave him the edge in case of a tie, meaning that Martin had to finish two spots ahead of Brackett in the feature to win the championship.
The door opened when Brackett went around on lap 8, but Martin hadn’t made up enough ground — he was still 15th in a 20-car field — to capitalize.
Brackett eventually passed Martin before fading slightly, and the two ran side-by-side briefly around the 60-lap mark. Martin fell back to 11th in the final rundown, however.
T.J.’s father, Tim Brackett, was second in the race, followed by Alan Wilson, Billy Childs Jr. and Kyle Treadwell.
The win clinched third for Davis in the final point standings.
Kurt Hewins won the Street Stock feature after a wild final lap that ended with his son, Ryan, rallying to win the championship.
The elder Hewins accelerated to the lead and successfully blocked runner-up and point leader Josh Childs on the white-flag circuit.
It created a traffic jam through turns three and four, with Childs spinning and Kurt Hewins hanging on for the win. Ryan Hewins went from fifth to fourth in the exchange and overcame what was a five-point deficit to Childs at the start of the day.
Troy Jordan was a runaway champion in Outlaw Sportsman and capped the season in style with a decisive victory over Dale Lawrence. Michael Haynes, Deanna Bisbee and Steve Moon completed the top five, with Moon edging Haynes for second in the championship rundown.
In Oxford’s Acceleration Series, Chris Burgess of Buckfield (Outlaw), Jamie Heath of Waterford (Runnin’ Rebel), Shelby Lawrence of Lisbon (Ladies), Jerry McKenna of Milton (Sport Truck) and Will Dunphy of New Gloucester (Cruiser) were crowned champions.
Burgess clinched his second career title by winning his 20-lap feature over Deanna Bisbee, Brady Romano, Josh Toothaker and John White.
Gerard Cote claimed the Runnin’ Rebel win followed by Nate Dubuc, Jimmy Childs, Josh Straiton and Heath, who had the title wrapped up prior to the final event on the strength of a nine-race winning streak to start the season.
Lawrence edged Missy Morgan by less than a car length to sweep the race and the championship. Morgan rallied valiantly from an early-race spin to run second, with Michele Bisbee third. It is the first Oxford title for Lawrence.
Chad Binette topped Kevin Oliver in the truck race. McKenna, who won a championship in the Mini Stock ranks back in the early 1990s, entered the finale with an insurmountable lead.
The same was true of Dunphy, who finished second in the curtain-closing race behind points runner-up Ronnie O’Brien.
Childs wins again at Wiscasset
Jimmy Childs of Leeds continued his outstanding season at Wiscasset Speedway and padded his point lead with his second consecutive feature win Saturday night.
Childs took the 25-lap win over Nate Tribbett, Shawn Kimball, Matt Moore of Mechanic Falls and Tim Collins.
It was business as usual in the New England 4-Cylinder Pro Stock ranks, with Jeff Prindall of Lisbon and Craig Dunn of Strong finishing one-two, respectively. Prindall has six wins on the season.
Jeff Burgess picked up the Pro Stock victory over past champion Charlie Colby. Mike Orr, James Osmond and Wyatt Alexander followed.
Mathew Bourgoine continued his nearly perfect season in the Legends series with an authoritative victory over Alexander, Matt Grant, Bob Weymouth and Matt Chagnot.
Adam Chadbourne collected another Super Street win.
Fans and drivers waited out a two-hour rain delay to complete the show.
Labbe leads PASS 200
Alex Labbe won his second Pro All Stars Series North race of the summer Sunday afternoon, taking the checkers in the Thunder Valley 200 at Autodrome Chaudiere in Vallee-Jonction, Quebec.
Joey Doiron of Berwick was second, followed by Quebec’s Patrick Laperle, D.J. Shaw and Tyler Dippel.
Mike and Ben Rowe of Turner finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Rain postponed the race from Saturday night to the daytime start.
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