By Dan Walker
Scarborough, Maine-Labor Day weekend racing at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway set the stage for championship weekend and the final race of the season next week and Bub Bilodeau is in position to trace for the title. Bilodeau took down the 40 lap Pro Series feature win on Saturday setting up a battle between himself and Bobby Babb for top honors for the season.
Steven Jones opened up the Pro Series race as the leader until lap 7 when Chris Smith took over. Smith opened up a full straight lead over the field but Bub Bilodeau was slicing his way to the front. Bilodeau moved to second on lap 16 and began to chase down leading rookie driver Smith.
Bilodeau arrived on the scene at lap 27 and was the leader of the race on lap 28. there were no caution flags in the 40 lap event as Bilodeau took down the win with Smith second. Bill Rodgers was third and Bobby Babb made a late race rally to finish fifth. Aaron Ricker raced home in the fifth position. Unofficially Bilodeau leads Babb by a mere 6 points entering the final race.
Corey Bubar won for the second time this season in the Sport Series 35 lap feature race. Patrick Thorne put together one of his best runs of the season as he led the opening 16 laps. Bubar then made his way to the front taking over the top position at lap 17 as Andy Field followed along in second place. Bubar had to endure 3 late race caution flags before the victory was secure as he held off Field who was second and Don Morse in third. Doug Wolfe and Reggie Leeman rounded out the top 5 finishers. Unofficially Sally Gherardi leads the division standing by 42 points over Frank Wear entering the final race.
Richard Randall was the winner of the 30 lap Wildcat feature race on Saturday night. Randall went to the front on lap 7 and never looked back after passing Dan Bean for the lead. The race was slowed on lap 14 for a caution flag but there was no challenge for Randall as he easily took the win. Steve Benincasa finished second with Bean getting third. Brian Caswell and Gary Babineau were fourth and fifth at the finish. Unofficially Babineau is the new point leader by 20.
The Road Runner feature race was hotly contested as Kari Thibodeau led from the start but a full field of cars were side by side behind her battling for position. Thibodeau led until lap 14 when Mark Boutin went around her and took the lead. Ed Pierce moved to second place and hounded Boutin to the finish as they came across the finish line first and second. Third went to Ray Dinsmore with Shawn Brackett clinching the division title with his fourth place finish and Ed Connolly fifth.
This Saturday night is championship night and the final race of the season. Starting time on Saturday is 6:30pm with a rain date of Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm if needed.