Reigning track champion Alan Tardiff picked a good night to break his current victory drought, scoring a $2,000 payday for his 50-lap Super Late Model triumph on Friday at Oxford Plains Speedway.
Tardiff, of Lyman, became the first winner to earn the maximum $800 bonus awarded to a feature race winner who has appeared in all of the eight most recent Championship Series racing programs. Several other drivers remain eligible to match Tardiff’s nice payday in future weeks.
Tardiff drove around the outside of early leader Scott Moore on lap 12 and held off a hard-charging Gabe Brown for top honors. Brown remained second in the title race with his strong performance.
Tracy Gordon, of Strong, hot off a recent 100-lap PASS Open score at Oxford, made a late bid to get by Brown but settled for third. Two-time track champion TJ Brackett (2013-14) remained atop the current championship standings with a fourth-place finish. Moore finished fifth after leading the first 11 laps.
Billy Childs Jr. was eventually awarded his second win of the season in a special, 50-lap Honey Badger Grill series race for the Street Stock division. Childs, of Leeds, bounced back from an early spin to earn his second consecutive victory after apparent winner Kenny Harrison failed post-race inspection.
Childs crossed the finish line in front of current championship points leader Matt Dufault of Turner. Zach Bowie of Greene bounced back from a first-lap crash to claim a third-place finish, while Gary Babineau (Hollis Center) and Tyler King (Gray) completed the top five.
Defending Bandits division champion Brandon Varney prevailed in a hotly-contested feature for the exciting support class. Former champion Jamie Heath (Waterford) stayed right on the winner’s rear bumper most of the 20-lap distance yet settled for second, while Chad Wills (Buckfield) filled out the podium in third.
Oxford’s Jake Hall led most of the race before crossing the line in fourth just ahead of fellow Oxford resident Shaun Hinkley.
Kyle Kilgore of South Paris extended his lead atop the standings in the 20-lap Figure 8 race, posting his fourth win of the season. Oxford’s Kyle Glover led the first half of the event, claiming his third runner-up trophy of the campaign.
Recent winner Dale Lawrence charged from the back to finish third, while Greg Durgin and Larry Lizotte rounded out the top five.
Lanpher claims PASS 150 at Beech Ridge
Reid Lanpher notched his first Pro All Stars Series (PASS) victory of the season in impressive style on Saturday, wheeling his Scott’s Recreation/Mission Trailers No. 59 entry to top honors at Beech Ridge.
Lanpher, who earned three runner-up finishes in six PASS North starts this year, stalked an intense battle between Trevor Sanborn and Garrett Hall through the opening stages of the race before driving around the competition. The two-time BRMS track champion won by a margin of nearly five seconds.
Closest to Lanpher under the checkered flag was recent Pro series champion and 2017 Oxford 250 winner Curtis Gerry, of Waterboro. Gerry’s second-place finish snapped a four-race win streak he had amassed in part-time PASS North competition, a streak that got underway at last year’s Oxford 250.
Sanborn, of East Parsonsfield, raced with the leaders throughout the ultra-quick event and earned a third-place finish. Sixty-seven-year-old Mike Rowe, the Maine and New England Racing Hall of Famer from Turner, made all of the “young guns” earn their finishes while crossing the finish line in fourth position.
Two-time PASS North champion DJ Shaw of Center Conway, N.H., claimed a fifth-place finish after starting the 150-lap race from the 13th starting position. Shaw, who entered the action on top of the PASS North championship points standings, padded his advantage with that run.
Sixth-place finisher Brandon Barker of Windham was the final racer in the finishing order able to remain on the lead lap with high-flying winner Lanpher. Finishing sixth through 10th were Justin Drake (Burnham), Scarborough’s Hall, Billy Rodgers (Old Orchard Beach) and Cassius Clark (Farmington).
Ben Tinker held his spot atop the PASS Modified rankings with his third victory of the season in a 40-lap feature. The defending champion from New Gloucester rebounded from an early spin off turn two and a minor brush against the backstretch wall on his path to victory lane.
Tinker took the lead away from Bruce Helmuth, of Wales, who was seeking his second consecutive win. Helmuth settled for runner-up honors, while Austin Teras (Gray) raced from the back into third in his second Modified start. Adam Gray (Belchertown, Mass.) claimed fourth ahead of Jariet Harrison.
Windham’s Clyde Hennessey (Sport Series) and Alfred-based racer Dan Bean (Wildcats) also earned feature wins in support class action at Beech Ridge.
The next event for both the PASS North Super Late Models and PASS Modifieds will be contested at Oxford Plains Speedway on Sunday, July 29.
Childs earns Outlaw Mini win at Wiscasset
Veteran short track racer Jimmy Childs claimed his second Outlaw Mini victory of the season on Saturday at Wiscasset Speedway. Childs, of Leeds, finished over a full second in front of runner-up Rob Greenleaf (West Bath), while Vassalboro’s Brent Roy filled out the podium in third.
Andrew McLaughlin notched his second Late Model Sportsman win of the season, edging Sidney’s Chris Thorne by less than a half-second at the line. McLaughlin took the lead on a lap-35 restart and had just enough steam in the five-lap sprint to the checkers. Tyler Robbins (Montville) finished third.
Kurt Hewins held off his brother Kyle to claim the 25-lap feature for Strictly Street warriors. The two veterans from Leeds are both hard-nosed racers, and the margin of victory in this particular sibling rivalry was a scant .181 seconds. Solon’s Brad Erskine wheeled his car to a solid third-place finish.
Nick Reno continued his 2018 hot streak with his second victory of the season in the K&A Property Services Modified division. Reno, of West Bath, edged Michael Brown (Hope) for top honors, while Dresden’s Allan Moeller filled out the podium in third.
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