In a car built in less than a week following the crash of his primary car at Beech Ridge Speedway last Sunday, Jason Trundy of Old Town led the Little Enduro Series race #3 from pole to checkers, won the feature and the points title for the three race Little Enduro Series. The race was interrupted twice for red flags. The first occurred on lap 3 when Patrick Cook of Swanville pushed Hermon’s Andrew Crosby into the backstretch tire wall. Crosby was able to continue, but Cook was sent to the pit by the flagman for roughriding. The second red happened on the front stretch on lap 9 when Craig Carlson of Monroe spun and Waylon Shibles of Winterport collided with him. Both cars were sidelined for the night. Following Trundy for the entire distance of the race was Donny Blanchard of Orrington, who finished in second. Newburgh”s Darren Durrell was third, followed by Mike Ogden of Old Town and Mike Witham of Milo. Trundy and Blanchard won the qualifiers, setting them on the front row for the start.

Nicole Smith had an up and down night in the Ladies Division starting when she rolled her car over on the backstretch during practice. Not to be deterred, her crew got the car back in running order by the qualifier, but she was only able to finish in fifth. By feature time, the crew had fine tuned to car, and Nicole worked her way from her 3rd place starting place to the lead by the end of the second lap, and went on to win the event, despite her soreness from the earlier rollover. Last week’s winner, Danielle DeLuck of Hampden, started in the 6th spot and challenged Smith for the lead over the final five laps. DeLuck was unable to make the pass and settled for a second place finish. Points leader Rhonda Lyford of Winterport also challenged for the lead early, but fell to third and finished in that spot. Becky Elston of Carmel finished fourth while Shelby Kimball of Cornville finished in fifth in a car that was loose in the turns for the entire race. DeLuck won the qualifier, but had to start in sixth due to her win last week.

Jim Carr Jr. of Clifton rolled to his eighth win in a row in the pick up trucks after he took the lead on a lap 4 restart. Peter Drake of Corinth and Matt Morin of Orrington came together on the front stretch while racing for position. Morin spun and stalled on the front stretch while Drake continued on down the turn 1 embankment and needed assistance from the wrecker crew to get back on track. Even the wrecker crew needed assistance from the wrecker crew as the first wrecker attached to Drake’s truck became stuck and had to have assistance from a second wrecker, that pulled both vehicles to dryer ground. Drake returned to the track to continue in the race without losing a lap in the process.  Drake worked his way back to the third spot by the finish, racing to the checkered flag behind Bucksport’s Dana Harlow, who finished in second. Mike Lynch of Winterport finished in fourth with Andrew Crosby of Hermon in fifth. Carr also won the qualifier for the trucks earlier in the program.

Colin Robertson had the car to beat in the Stars of Tomorrow as he won both the qualifier and the main event for the night. The win was the career first for the twelve year old redhead from Clinton. After a quick yellow flag on the first lap caused by a spinning Ryan Modery of Hermon, Robinson led from the pole to the checkers.  Brett McCullough of Kenduskeag put his Ford Escort into the second spot early in the event and held off Matt Kimball of Cornville, who finished third. Modery recovered from his spin to finish fourth, followed by D.C.Alexander of Carmel, who finished in fifth. A sixth car, driven by Charles Haskins of Swanville, started the race but retired early following a tap in the rear bumper by McCullough as he misjudged his speed coming out of turn 2.

Although a little short on cars, the Big Enduro feature turned out to be a rough and tumble affair as the laps ran down. Dwayne Walton of Glenburn led the first 15 laps in his Thunderbird, but a shoving match for position on the front stretch that included Roger Smith of Clifton and Ricky Palmer of Winterport sent Walton back to third at the finish. Palmer came out the winner for the fourth week in a row, after taking the lead from Roger Smith on the 17th lap of the 20 lap event. Smith finished in second, in a car steaming at the finish and dragging it’s rear bumper on the track. Fourth went to Alan Cookson of Old Town, followed by fifth place finisher Shawn McNevin of Hudson. Roger Smith was the winner of the Big Enduro qualifier.

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Old Town’s Jason Trundy returned to victory lane in the Little Enduros at Speedway 95 Wednesday night as he took his first win of the season. Trundy started fourth in the field and passed pole sitter Mike Witham of Milo for the lead on the fourth lap, and never looked back during the 20 lap caution free feature event. With good battles for position happening throughout the field, and lots of action when the leaders passed slower traffic, Paul Higgins of Newburgh emerged as the second place finisher. Higgins and Darren Durrell, also of Newburgh waged a fierce but clean battle for the second spot until Durrell’s exhaust system began dragging the track, upsetting the handling on his Honda Prelude. Durrell held on for a third place finish while Donny Blanchard worked his way from the back of the field to post a fourth place finish for the night. Witham, who won the first qualifier earlier in the evening, wound up fifth at the checkers. The second qualifier was won by Higgins.
Rhonda Lyford of Winterport, the current Ladies Division points leader and the 2008 division champion, waited patiently in the middle of the pack while early leaders Shelby Kimball of Cornville and Nicole Smith of Clifton rubbed fenders enough to put Smith into the third turn wall and Kimball to the back of the pack for rough riding. When the green flew again to begin lap six, Kimball and Smith tangled again at the back of the pack, sending Kimball to the pit for the night with a broken race car. When the race resumed, Lyford was at the point and stayed there for the remaining 14 laps. Becky Elston of Carmel cruised to an easy second place finish while Smith worked her way through the field to finish third. Amy Houde of Howland finished in fourth with Danielle Deluck of Hampden in fifth. Shelby Kimball was the winner of the ladies qualifier.
Shawn McNevin of Hudson finally made it to victory lane for his first win of the season in the Big Enduro Division after passing polesitter Roger Smith of Clifton on the second lap, and keeping his Ford Thunderbird in front of the pack of GM products while fighting off Smith’s challenges for the next 18 laps of the caution free event. Smith ran strong all night and finished the race in second, about three car lengths behind McNevin. Alan Cookson Jr. of OldTown also ran a hard race, challenging McNevin and Smith for the top two spots early in the race, but falling to third by the time the checkered flag flew. Ricky Palmer of Winterport finished in fourth with Michael Shaw of Troy fifth.
Jim Carr Jr. of Clifton posted his fourth win in a row in the Truck Division, holding off a late race charge by Dana Harlow of Bucksport, who just happens to own the truck Carr was driving. In his post race interview, Carr mentioned that the truck was “a really nice piece” and felt fortunate to be able to drive it for the man he just beat for the win. Harlow, who finished second, said he would have had a better shot at Carr, but his power steering broke about five laps from the end, slowing him down enough to take away any chance of beating Carr. Peter Drake, driving another Dana Harlow owned truck, finished in third, with the Crosby’s, Andrew and Brett, from Hermon finishing in fourth and fifth respectively.
Making their debut at Speedway 95 this week were the “Stars of Tomorrow”, a division of 11-14 year olds driving cars similar to the Little Enduro cars. 14 year old Ryan Modery of Hermon picked up the inaugural win in the division by beating 11 year old Matthew Kimball of Cornville and 14 year old Brett McCullough of Kenduskeag, who finished second and third in that order.  It was the first appearance in a race car on a racetrack for the three beginners, and the race went the entire 10 lap distance without any incidents. All three have ties to the Speedway 95 racing community, as Ryan is the son of Late Model driver Scott Modery, Kimball is the brother of Ladies Division driver Shelby Kimball, and Brett McCullough is a descendant of the racing McCullough family from Hudson, who have been racing at Speedway 95 since it’s inception in 1966.

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