RYAN DEANE WIRES SPEEDWAY 95 LATE MODEL SERIES FINALE
Winterport’s Ryan Deane started the Hopkins Landscaping Late Model Series finale on the pole and led the pack for all 50 laps on the way to his third win of the season. Deane was followed closely by Andrew McLaughlin of Harrington, who mounted a serious mid race challenge but was unable to take the top spot away from Deane. Only one caution slowed the field, and it set up a 2 lap dash to the finish, but Deane was able to hold off McLaughlin and take the win.
McLaughlin finished second with Hermon’s John Curtis Jr. picking up the third place trophy. Wayne Parritt Jr. of Steuben finished fourth with Milo’s Nick Jenkins coming in fifth. Deane Smart of Bradley and Brenton Parritt of Steuben came into the event tied in overall series points, and Smart came out ahead by two points with a 7th place finish while Parritt finished 8th in Saturday’s race. Parritt successfully defended his 2014 division championship when he became the 2015 Dysart’s Late Model points champion when that contest ended last week.
The Darling’s Ford Sportsman feature was a contest between points leader Shane Tatro of Levant and second place Trey Brown of Winterport. The pair circled the speedway side by side and nose to tail for the entire 25 laps, with Tatro on the inside and Brown running the high groove. Brown took the feature win by half a car length at the finish, with Tatro a close second. Dean Clements of Brooks finished third with Mike Overlock of Franklin finishing fourth. Tatro took the points title for the season in the division.
In the Casella Waste Systems Street Stocks, Bob Seger Jr. of Frankfort took the win, but it took him a while to get to the front. Jeff Alley of Machias and Bradley Norris of Ellsworth raced side by side for the first 10 laps, keeping the rest of the field behind. Once Norris got just a bit ahead of Alley, Seger found room to squeeze by and take the lead on lap 11, and hold it to the checkers. Once the field broke up, Greg Pung of Franklin began his charge to the front, taking the second spot on lap 23 of the 25 lap race. Pung finished in second and also took the division points title in the process. Third went to Jordan Pearson of Glenburn, followed by Ricky Burgess Jr. of Waterville and Alley, in that order.
Coca-Cola Sport-Four action saw Hermon’s Andrew Crosby lead the first 18 laps of the 25 lap feature, but ultimately finish second to Skowhegan’s Zach Audet, who wrestled the lead from Crosby on the 19th circuit. Though Audet won the race, Crosby won the war, taking the season’s points title with his second place finish. Rookie Dustan Durrell, who won last week’s feature, finished in third, followed by Marcus Dunn of Newburgh in fourth and Jason Trundy of Winterport in fifth.
Keith Drost of Stetson made it three in a row in the RoadRunners, but it wasn’t an easy win. Drost led the first 5 laps, was passed by Holden’s Steve Kimball on lap 6, ran second for the next 13 laps, then passed Kimball on lap 18 of the 20 lap race to go on to take the win. Kimball finished second with Dustan Durrell of Newburgh finishing third. Fourth went to Anthony Miles of Winterport with Blaine Coffin of Hermon finishing fifth.
The 2015 season continues at Speedway 95 on Saturday, September 19. At 11:00 in the morning, the parking lot will be filled with trucks and heavy equipment as the Touch-A-Truck charity event comes to the speedway. The parking lot will be cleared at 3:00 and racing action begins at 7, with regular racing on tap in the Dysart’s Late Models, Casella Waste Systems Streets, Coca-Cola Sport-Fours and the Road Runners. Due to the consistently low car counts in the Darling’s Ford Sportsman, the division has been suspended and will not be racing for the remainder of the season.