OXFORD, Maine – Curtis Gerry continued to be the man to beat in super late model competition at Oxford Plains Speedway, driving to victory in Sunday night’s PASS Open 100-lap main event.
Gerry, a former Oxford 250 winner who leads the standings in the track’s Budweiser Championship Series in his first season as a regular competitor, needed only thirteen laps to work his way into the race lead.
He spent much of that time behind an entertaining, side-by-side lead battle between Ryan Robbins and Eddie MacDonald.
MacDonald got out front for a few laps, but Gerry pounced after patiently waiting for his opportunity to get to the front. From there, Gerry managed to maintain a comfortable advantage and made no mistakes on restarts to keep his rivals at bay in dominant fashion.
Late in the race, the racer to watch was Dave Farrington, who used the outside groove to drive around several contenders, getting past MacDonald in the closing stages of the race to earn runner-up honors and a guaranteed starting spot in the 46th annual Oxford 250.
MacDonald, a winner in his most recent PASS super late model start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, celebrated his birthday with the third-place trophy and a stack of new notes as he and his crew chief, Maine native Rollie Lachance, chase the big 250 prize.
Robbins, who battled for the lead with MacDonald, was fourth across the line. That was enough to score the ‘half provisional,’ which does assure him of a spot in the big 250.
Defending PASS North super late model champion DJ Shaw was the fifth-place finisher.
Josh Childs was sixth in his first start of the season at OPS, and he’ll be in the 250 on the ‘quarter provisional.’ Scott Robbins, Evan Hallstrom, Ryan Kuhn and Saturday night’s 100-lap winner, Shawn Martin, rounded out the top 10.
Mike Carignan earned his first-ever PASS Mods victory in caution-plagued, 40-lap main event. All of the carnage was behind Carignan, coming off a podium finish, as he led every lap en route to victory lane.
Tyler King was the runner-up, racing from sixth starting position into contention for the win in just his third start in the class. But King couldn’t mount a serious challenge to Carignan.
Spencer Morse, a winner in the previous OPS PASS Mods race, ended up with third-place hardware after all was said and done. Jariet Harrison and Kate Re rounded out the top five.
Jordan Russell scored the biggest victory of his racing career, winning the 50-lap Honey Badger Street Stock Series main event. It was the second win of the season and second career Street Stock victory for the Norway driver.
Russell started sixth, and until almost the halfway point, it looked like he’d be chasing polesitter Kyle Hewins from his sixth starting spot. But Hewins had his mount quit beneath him, and Russell soon capitalized upon the opportunity.
Hewins outran an equally-quick Shawn Knight to the checkered flag.
Knight earned runner-up honors, grabbing his second OPS Street Stock trophy of the weekend after winning the two previous main events in the class. Kenny Harrison, who won the opening round of the Honey Badger Series, was third across the finish line.
Matt Dufault was the fourth-place finisher, ahead of Gary Babineau, who started the race from last position.
Rookie competitor Alex Mowatt raced to his second win of the season in the 25-lap Bandit Triple Crown Series for the entry-level, four-cylinder class.
Mowatt started on the front row and easily set the pace from the green flag’s appearance to the display of the checkered square.
Chad Wills, a winner the previous night at OPS, held off defending division champ Dustin Salley for runner-up honors. Travis Verrill continued his best-ever season with a fourth-place run, and Dean Jordan rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Curtis Gerry, Dave Farrington Jr., Eddie MacDonald, Ryan Robbins, D.J. Shaw, Josh Childs, Scot Robbins, Evan Hallstrom, Ryan Kuhn, Shawn Martin, Ry Christian III, Trevor Sanborn, Scott McDaniel, Tracy Gordon, Kelly Moore, Reid Lanpher, Craig Weinstein, John Salemi, Alan Tardiff, Mike Landry, Nick Jenkins, Adam Polvinen, Dan Winter, Gabe Brown, T.J. Brackett, Tim Brackett, Austin Teras.