oxford2501

photo by Norm Marx

Oxford, ME – Joey Doiron and the #73 Wild Willy’s Burgers/JBJ Machine team were fresh of a win in the last Pro All Stars Series event at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway going into their biggest race of the season. The team had another strong outing in the biggest short track race in the country, the Oxford 250. Doiron lead over 70 laps early on, and was in contention for the win late in the race when with ten laps to go, he suffered an engine issue that he was forced to ride out with, finishing the 250 lap race in 11th place.

 

“It’s really disappointing to have it finish that way for us,” Doiron said after the race, “We got caught behind a little bit under the long green flag run, but we played the right strategy and I think we would have been on the podium again this year, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m still really proud of my team, they did a great job all weekend.”

Doiron drove to a second place finish in his heat race, easily getting himself into the big show for the second straight year through the heat race. He rolled off from the seventh spot for the 250 lap event. Just two laps into the race, Doiron drove through to get third and picked the leaders off one at a time. On lap 20, Doiron rocketed to the lead on a restart, and did not look back for a while. He led 70 laps early on, trading the lead back and forth with Austin Theriault through lapped traffic, before the car began to get tighter throughout the run.

 

Doiron faded to the back half of the top ten by the time a caution flag came out on lap 184. This set up the pit stop, and the team went to work, crafting a very quick pit stop and getting Doiron back out on the track fourth in line of the drivers who had pitted. From there, Doiron worked his way back to the front of the field, getting around cars that had pitted earlier in the race and into the top five late. Doiron was right behind the leaders Travis Benjamin, Theriault and Cassius Clark when his motor began to go sour with just ten laps remaining. With visibly less power than anyone else on the track, Doiron coasted home to an 11th place finish in the Oxford 250.

After a pair of strong efforts in the last two races, Doiron and the Wild Willy’s Burgers/JBJ Machine team will roll north of the border once again for a special Tuesday night event at the Autodrome Chaudiere on August 5th in Quebec, Canada. The “Budweiser 150” is the second race in the Chaudiere Triple Crown. Doiron has always run strong at the tight track, and rolls in with a lot of momentum on his side.

For more information on Joey Doiron, find him on Facebook at Joey Doiron Racing, on Twitter @joeydoiron73 and online at joeydoiron.com.

Story by Evan Beaulieu