DUANE
WALTON WINS BIG ENDURO SERIES RACE AT 95
Duane
Walton of Carmel took the lead in the Big Enduro series race at
Speedway 95 Wednesday night on the first lap when pole sitter John
McCullough had his driveshaft come rolling out from under his car just
past the flagstand at the start of the event. McCullough coasted to the
pit as Walton drove to a 10 car length lead over Shawn McNevin of
Hudson and held it to the checkers. McNevin picked up his second second
place trophy of the season while Ricky Palmer of Winterport won a race
long battle with last week’s winner Alan Cookson Jr. of Old Town for
the third spot. Palmer and Cookson raced side by side for 20 laps of
the event until Palmer finally worked his way by Cookson on the inside
on lap 23 and held third place to the end. Cookson finished fourth with
Roger Smith Jr. of Clifton in fifth. McCullough had won the qualifier,
which put him on the pole for the feature.
Twenty
five cars started the Little Enduro feature event of the night with
Bangor’s Donnie Blanchard on the pole in his Honda. Blanchard stayed in
front of the field for the entire event, which went non-stop from green
to checkers. Newburgh’s Darrin Durrell chased Blanchard for the entire
25 lap distance, but could get no closer than a car length behind the
leader and had to settle for a second place finish. Third went to Old
Town’s Jason Trundy. Newburgh’s Paul Higgins worked his way through the
pack to finish fourth, and Adam Russel of Medford finally moved into
the fifth spot when Veazie driver Kyle Gallant went high in turn two on
lap 21 while trying to work around slower overlapped cars. Blanchard
and Durrell each won a qualifying heat and started the event beside
each other on the front row.
In
her first appearance at the track this year, Shelby Kimball of
Cornville took her Ford Probe into the lead on the second lap of the 20
lap Ladies Division race and took her first win of the year. Behind
her, Becky Elston of Carmel and last year’s division champion Rhonda
Lyford of Winterport battled for second and third for 15 laps until
Lyford finally made the pass and went on to finish second. Elston
finished third while Nicole Smith of Clifton recovered from an early
race spin to finish fourth. Kayla Allen of Bucksport was fifth.
Lyford won the qualifyer earlier in the evening.
Jim
Carr jr. of Clifton won again in the pick up trucks after battling for
most of the race with Jordan Pearson of Glenburn, who was unaware that
he was a lap down to the leader because of an early race skirmish with
Clifton’s Peter Drake that left both trucks sitting in turn four
without completing the first lap. Jordan refired his truck, went to the
pit for a tire change under the yellow flag, and rejoined the field
before the green dropped to restart the race. What he failed to realize
was that he sat in turn four while the rest of the field crossed the
start finish line to complete lap one. When the yellow flew during lap
two, lap one was the last completed lap, and Pearson and Drake had not
crossed the finish line before the yellow flag flew, so were never
scored in lap 1. Pearson managed to pass Carr, which just put him back
on the lead lap instead of in the lead, as he thought. Because of his
unsportsmanlike conduct on the track and in the pit area following the
race, Jordan was disqualified from the event. Dana Harlow of Bucksport
finished in second. Hermon’s Andrew and Brent Crosby along with
Orrington’s Matt Milton rounded out the top five. Jim Carr also won the
truck qualifyer after battling with Pearson side by side for 8 of the
10 laps of the race.
At
the end of the regular racing program, a "Double O" race was held for
some of the braver Little Enduro drivers. Mike Witham of Milo came out
the winner, followed by Robert Mushero of Scarborough, Timothy Moon of
Levant, Mike Houde of Howland and Dan Quillia of Winterport.
(note - 3rd place was David Grant when the official results came out)
David
Grant - Mike Witham - Robert Mushero