Ryan Robbins (OPS Modifieds); Keith Stuart (Street Stock) and Shawn Hinkley (Bandits) also earned feature wins on Applebee’s Opening Day at the 3/8-mile western Maine oval.
Brackett led from flag-to-flag in the first weekly Super Late Model tussle at Oxford since 2006, while veterans Scott Farrington and Gary Chiasson had a spirited battle for second. Chiasson started fourth on the 17-car grid and was fast throughout, eventually securing second on lap 19.
Farrington also had his car dialed in nicely for opening day and settled for third, while New Hampshire’s Andy Shaw and Justin Gibbons completed the top five.
“That’s a pretty nice way to kick off a new season,” Brackett said. “The car was fast in practice and stayed quick for the whole feature. I knew Gary was hooked up today as well and thought if he got by Scott a little quicker, he might have run me down. I was hoping TJ (his son) and Vanna (daughter) could get up there with us, but their days weren’t as successful. I’m thrilled to get a win for NAPA this early.”
Two cautions slowed the pace, the worst coming out at lap 27 when Poncho Darveau spun on the front stretch and a melee ensued. Sadly, Spencer Morse had nowhere to go and nailed the outside retaining wall hard with his No. 0 entry prepared by the students from Oxford Hills Middle School.
The car sustained heavy damage to the right front corner; not the way Morse nor his young team of student/mechanics wanted things to go on opening day.
In earlier feature action, Robbins led all 30 laps of the inaugural weekly battle for Oxford’s new Modified division. The cars come from the healthy PASS Mod class and usually put on quite a show. While the car count may be low to start, it is expected to grow as the season unfolds. Scott Alexander was strong the whole race and came home second, while Turner’s Brad Hammond was third. Matt Sanborn and Randy Sanborn filled out the top five.
“We had a pretty good day for the first outing,” Robbins said. “I knew Scott was coming; I just had to hit my marks and be smooth to pull it off. The car was quick and stable, the crew worked hard and we started the year with a win. I hope we can keep up this kind of performance all season.”
Stuart also led every lap of his feature, but did so with a car that appeared loose off the corners. Veteran Zach Emerson of Sabattus chased Stuart the entire distance but had to settle for second, while rising star Josh Childs came home third. Andrew Breton and Jonathan Emerson completed the top five.
“A lot of this run is thanks to George Haskell, who works a ton of hours on this car,” Stuart said. “It has come together nicely as the new season arrived, and it looks like we’ve got it figured out. We’ve got a strong field of cars in this class; you have to be on your toes to win. I’m happy to get into Victory Lane so early and just hope we can continue.”
Hinkley kept the wire-to-wire theme alive in the day’s final battle. The second-year driver from Oxford held off a hard-charging Troy Smith for top honors in this entry-level class. Jason Cummings kept his car within sight of the leaders for 20 laps and finished third, while Dan Wade and Jacob Hall finished fourth and fifth respectively.
“I’m just thankful to Tom Mayberry (track owner) and his son Mike for bringing this class back for 2015,” Hinkley said. “It’s a great little division for learning how to race, and you can build a competitive car without breaking the bank. Troy was working hard to get up there, but we held him off. I couldn’t be happier with this kind of finish on opening day.”
After a mid-afternoon to early evening program, Oxford will continue its weekly championship program next Saturday evening with a traditional start time of 7 p.m.
pwhipple@sunjournal.com
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