DALE
SWOBODA TAKES 95 LATE MODEL FEATURE
Dale
Swoboda of Hermon took off from the outside pole starting position in
Saturday night’s Dysart's Late Model feature at Speedway 95 and led all
the way to the checkered flag in the caution free event. It was not an
easy win for the Hermon native as he was pressed for the entire
distance by Bar Harbor’s John Phippen Jr. Phippen, the polesitter,
tucked in behind Swoboda at the start and rode there for 24 laps until
he saw Swoboda "get squirrely" as he called in his post race interview,
on the last lap. He dove to the inside, making a last lap effort to
pass Swoboda for the lead, but Swoboda pinched him down in the 3rd and
4th turns, keeping him from gaining the momentum he needed to complete
the pass. At the checkers, Phippen was up to Swoboda’s door, but
couldn’t complete the pass for the win. Phippen settled for second,
with Matt Eaton of Deer Isle finishing a close third. Shane Clark of
Winterport and Greg Morse of St. Albans rounded out the top five.
Phippen won the qualifier, which put him on the pole for the start of
the feature event.
The
Super Streets ran 50 laps in their CAM II series event, and Steve
Moulton took home the win. Hermon’s Kris Watson led the event from the
drop of the green until lap 41 when Moulton managed to get inside him
coming off turn 4 and make the pass that put him in victory lane. Only
one caution flag slowed the event when Matt Kinney of Danforth did a
360 spin in mid air after his car hit the backstretch tire wall. Kinney
was able to restart the car and continue in the race when the green
dropped again. Watson finished in second, followed by Hermon’s Doug
Sinclair in third. Franklin driver Mike Overlock finished the race in
fourth, followed by Lindsey Seekins-Young in fifth. On his victory lap,
Moulton stopped by the pit area and picked up an orange flag, specially
made for the night, sporting the number 30 to remember Ikey Dorr, a
Super Street driver who passed away last week while competing in the
Super Street feature that night. Moulton also won the 10 lap qualifier
for the special event.
In
the Strictly Street feature event, Jordan Pearson won the 20 lap
feature event by making two daring three wide passes to gain and hold
the lead. Early in the race, Pearson made a three wide pass coming out
of turn 4 to take the lead on the 4th lap. Points leader Bradley Norris
of Ellsworth challenged Pearson for the lead for the next 10 laps, as
he and Pearson swapped the lead by a bumper’s length several times
until Pearson made another three wide pass through overlapped traffic
on the backstretch to take the lead for good. Norris gave chase, but
his car shut down on the 18th lap, and he retired it to the pit area
for his first DNF of the season. That left Travis Poulin of Holden
picking up the second place trophy and Bangor’s Shawn Hamel II to
finish the event in third. Shawn Hamel of Bangor was fourth with Shawn
Racilla of Dover-Foxcroft in fifth. Pearson also captured the win in
the 10 lap qualifier.
Persistence
finally paid off for Veazie’s Kyle Gallant as he finished a Sport-Four
feature in the winning position for the first time this season. It
wasn’t an easy win by any means, as Gallant started near the back of
the pack and had to work his way through the field to the top spot. His
break came on lap 18 of the 20 lap race when he finally drove his way
past Hermon’s Ralph Allen, who had led since he took the lead from Gary
Richards of Stetson at the half-way point. David Green of Hampden, the
division’s current points leader finished in third, followed by
Richards in fourth and last week’s winner Brent Fletcher of Old Town in
fifth. Fletcher was the winner of the night’s Sport-Four qualifying
heat.
The
NELCAR Legends visited Speedway for the fourth and final time of the
2009 season Saturday night and Preston Connecticut’s Max Zachem won
again, making it three for four at the 1/3 mile Hermon oval. Zachem
took the lead from Evan Bealieu of Durham on the 15th lap, after
Beaulieu had just taken the lead from Windham’s Bobby Timmons on lap
13. Beaulieu finished the race in the second spot with Timmons
finishing third. Bob Weymouth of Topsham was fourth, followed by
Scarborough’s Tyler Jordan in fifth. The 25 lap event was stopped for
caution twice for solo spins, one for Brad Eddy of Halifax Nova Scotia
on lap 11, and another by Windham’s Charlie Buxton on lap 12. Buxton
was the only Legends driver besides Zachem to score a win at 95 this
season, and retired from the night's competition following his mid-race
spin.
In
the Maine Super Cup Racing League, Howland’s Josh Ireland picked up the
lead on lap 19 of the 20 lap race when Rachel Bernard, who had led from
the start, drove high in turn one and ended up off the track and out of
competition. Ireland finished the last lap in the lead and won the
event, followed by Gerry Phillips of Hermon, Ralph Melanson of Corinth,
Francis Bernard of Howland and Milford’s Pete Rafuse. Rachel Bernard
won the 10 lap qualifier earlier in the evening.
Racing
continues at Speedway 95 on Saturday June 20 with a full schedule of
racing featuring a 35 lap event for the Strictly Streets. On June
27, the Wacky Wednesday Little Enduros will be making a Saturday night
appearance in the MAC Tools/New England Transmission sponsored 75 lap
event, that will pay $1200 to the winner. Lap money will also be paid
for this event, and anyone wishing to sponsor laps for $5 or $10, can
contact Wayne Elston at Wayne Elston's Speed Shop in Carmel, or at the
speedway on Wednesday or Saturday nights.