Vertical Outlaws Wow Crowd

Douglas Has Night To Remember

By Caleb Lamb

OXFORD, Maine – With memories from the TD Bank 250 still fresh in the drivers’ minds, both the Acceleration Series and Championship Series divisions got a well-deserved week off from competition. However, there was still plenty of action at the Oxford oval with the third of four Motor Mayhems this year, presented by Aaron’s, taking place.

The Vertical Outlaws got the crowd on their feet with some terrific motorcycle stunts along the frontstretch before the spectator drag competitors made their way out for their single elimination event. As always, there were plenty of Mustangs mixed into the bunch, and two of them made it to the final round. Bruce Berry, who captured the Spectator Drag crown back during Motor Mayhem #1 made the finals along with Andy Moore. As both drivers pulled up to the start finish line for the coin toss that would determine lane choice in the best two out of three, final round, Moore showed he was not intimidated by the former winner when he delivered a jolt to Berry’s rear bumper. The drivers split the first two rounds, but on the third and final circuit things got a little crazy as both cars made contact multiple times through the corners and down the backstretch. Moore had the lead out of turn four but lifted his foot off the gas allowing Berry to speed by at the stripe to claim the honor of Spectator Drag champion for the second time in 2010.

The Smokey Donut competition brought out two time defending champion Jim Pineo in his 1972 Monte Carlo. Pineo declared he was going for a clean sweep of all four competitions in 2010, but he faced stern competition from everything from Mustangs to one-ton pick-up trucks. After the preliminaries, four semi-finalists were chosen to lay down some donuts one more time, and after the smoke had settled, the fans gave Pineo his third win in a row. Pineo’s longtime friendly rival, Doug Dixon finished second for the second straight Motor Mayhem.

The Jack & Jill Race was the next slated event, where teams consisting of both a male and female driver battled it out for ten laps. The female “Jill” drivers started the race and ran five laps before coming down pit road and climbing out of the car to make way for the male “Jack” drivers to drive the final five laps to the finish. From the get-go, Jody Reny led the way with Lisa Brooks and Nicole Bedard in hot pursuit, but the gap really opened up during the changeover. Reny made the turn down pit road and was out of her car in a flash, allowing teammate Skip Douglas to jump in and speed away with a big lead. Brooks had some trouble locating her teammate, Nic Stanley, on pit road, and lost some valuable time. Stanley was able to fight his way up to second but everyone finished at least one lap down to Douglas and Reny’s torrid pace as they claimed the first checkered flag of the night.

Douglas had an extremely short break as he came right back out for the Tag Team race along with his partner, Kyle Hewins. The race consists of 20 laps, with drivers having to pull down pit road after 5 laps and bump their teammate’s car to signal them to go. The bumps take place every five laps, and cars that fail to bump before leaving pit road are disqualified. Hewins and Douglas had dominated the event all season, and when the green flag flew Hewins and Jimmy Childs ran away from the pack. Unfortunately, Childs apparently did not realize when the five laps were up and he missed the turn onto pit road, causing him to drive an extra lap and effectively ending he and partner Bill Childs’ chances at victory. Without their main competition, Hewins and Douglas had a relatively easy cruise to the race win, the second of the night for Douglas. After some scoring confusion, Troy Flaherty and Dave Bouchard were eventually declared the runner-ups and showed their excitement in victory lane.

The Enduro Obstacle Course Races were next up for both the Compact and Full Size divisions. In each event, drivers try to pilot their cars through giant skidder tire obstacles along the front-stretch and turns, as well as a slippery racing surface thanks to a fire truck soaking down the turns during the race. Kyle Hewins was looking for his third win in three events, but it was not to be on this night. Hewins was sent barreling over the top of turn three and lost too much ground to be in contention for the win. Up front Troy Flaherty led for much of the race and survived several close calls with drivers slamming off tires and each other. Doug Dixon ran second for most of the night but a late race charge by none other than Skip Douglas spoiled his evening. Douglas completed his heroics by passing Flaherty with just three laps remaining to make it three first place trophies on the night.

Douglas returned for the Full Size Enduro race, but for once, he was not the fastest car on the track. Mike Kyllonen proved to have the quickest car, and he held off challenges from Mark Bowie, Jimmy Childs, Jamie Heath, and Douglas on his way to the win. Childs survived to finish second with Douglas rounding out the top three for his fourth podium finish on a night he will surely remember for a long time. Jamie Heath was second and Mark Bowie faded to fifth after running second most of the race.

Finally, the Boat Trailer race finished off the night. Drivers towed a trailer, complete with boat on top, around the 3/8ths mile oval. Unlike other races that have a set amount of laps, the winner of this race is the last driver to keep his boat on the trailer. Four drivers competed in this race, and everyone started off slow, looking for an opportunity to knock off a competitor’s boat. Jimmy Childs took out the boat of Jason Hannigan going into turn one, while on the backstretch, Kurt Hewins and Walter Connell made heavy contact, launching Connell’s boat over the top of Hewins car. Hewins tried to limp around the track with a mangled trailer, but Childs chased him down and knocked his boat off as he crossed the start finish line. The crowd roared for Childs victory in what has to be the shortest race in Oxford Plains Speedway history.

As if on cue, the sky opened up and a torrential downpour came down, putting a damper on the night as the crew from Central Maine Pyrotechnics was unable to put on its fireworks display.

Next up, the Oxford Acceleration Series returns to weekly action on Wednesday, July 28th.

SPECTATOR DRAGS

1 – Bruce Berry

2 – Andy Moore

SMOKEY DONUT

1 – Jim Pineo

2 – Doug Dixon

Jack & Jill

1 – 68 Skip Douglass Jr / Jody Reny

2 – 64 Nic Stanley / Lisa Brooks

3 – 48 Dustin Salley / Nicole Bedard

4 – 8 Calvin Rose Jr / Kimberly Sessions

5 – 07 Chris Burgess / Tori Burgess

6 – 08 Gerald Parlin / Tina Landers

7 – 31 Tyler Merrill / Britney Footman

8 – 9 Josh Salley / Heather Buck

9 – 29 Charlie Hall / Allyson Moore

Tag Team

1 – 54 Kyle Hewins / 68 Skip Douglass Jr

2 – 01 Troy Flaherty / 43 Dave Bouchard

Also Ran:

10 Jimmy Childs / 10 Bill Childs Sr

94 Jason Hannigan / 08 Gerald Parlin

17 Peter Wade / 71 Daniel Wade

9 Josh Salley / 48 Dustin Salley

1 Ryan Glover / 54x Matt Glover

09 Ernie Flaherty / 0x Mike Flaherty

01x Doug Dixon / 33 Kurt Whiting

8 Calvin Rose Jr / 19 Jamie Heath

76 Ryan Richard / 88 Perley Garland

0 Brian Brown / 64 Nic Stanley

6 Nathan Guptil / 2 Butch Keene

0z Cody Childs / 100 Dylan Deconzo

49 Walter Connell / 74 Paul Hill

COMPACT

1 – 68 Skip Douglass Jr

2 – 01 Troy Flaherty

3 – 01x Doug Dixon

4 – 10 Jimmy Childs

5 – 83 Mike St Germain

6 – 54 Kyle Hewins

7 – 17 Peter Wade

8 – 09 Ernie Flaherty

9 – 93 Jamie Leavitt

10 – 33 Kurt Whiting

11 – 31 Scott Merrill

12 – 88 Perley Garland

13 – 100 Peter Ford

14 – 11 Jason Colson

15 – 41 Curt Chapman

16 – 0 Derrick Jordan

17 – 43 Dave Bouchard

18 – 4 Jason Larracey

19 – 0x Mike Flaherty

20 – 71 Daniel Wade

21 – 75 Rocky Cotton

22 – 0z Cody Childs

23 – 6 Nathan Guptil

24 – 2 Butch Keene

25 – 08x Tyler Moore

Also Ran:

29 Allyson Moore

1 Ryan Glover

49 Walter Connell

73 Adam Polvinen

FULL SIZE

1 – 27 Mike Kyllonen

2 – 10 Jimmy Childs

3 – 68 Skip Douglass Jr

4 – 19 Jamie Heath

5 – P38 Mark Bowie

6 – 08 Gerald Parlin

7 – 64 Nic Stanley

8 – 83 Mike St Germain

9 – 39 Jim Bradstreet

10 – 94 Jason Hannigan

11 – 01 Bill Childs Sr

12 – 07 Chris Burgess

13 – 91 Charlie Hall

14 – 68x Wil Shurtleff

15 – 9 Josh Salley

16 – 54x Matt Glover

17 – 1 Conrad Childs

18 – 48 Nicole Bedard

19 – 54 Kyle Hewins

20 – 2 Calvin Rose Sr

Also Ran:

12 Mike Silvia

BOAT TRAILER

1 – 10 Jimmy Childs

Also Ran:

9 Kurt Hewins

94 Jason Hannigan

49 Walter Connell