Bill Whorff Jr. Races Away with Pro Stock Iron Man Crown : Raceway Media

OXFORD, ME---The game plan to be consistent is the right way to approach Monza Scoring System scored events and Billy Whorff Jr. proved just that Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway. The Oxford Network Pro Stock driver used that as a mind set for the DNK Select Used Cars night format and in the process rebounded from a couple of weeks of lousy luck to post the win. Thirty-four of the powerful racing creations lined up for the three segment format with your finishing position parlaying into a point score. The driver with the lowest score is the declared overall winner. Whorff finished sixth in the first segment with Tommy Tompkins winning the 20 lap run. Scott Chubbuck and Al Hammond trailed at that point. In the second segment, upped to 25 laps by the luck of the draw, Poncho Darveau took advantage of the fact that the field also was inverted by the luck of the draw. That meant that in segment two Tompkins would start in the last lead lap starting position, actually 28th and Darveau would be near the front. Whorff again finished sixth. Drew on the other hand finished seventh in the first segment and fourth in the second to hold a one point edge over Whorff. Tompkins night was short lived at that point as he exploded an engine while racing through the field. When they drew a 25 lap format number for segment everything changed because the next draw was an inverted number again. So as they lined up for the third and final segment Ricky Rolfe found himself on the pole and the defending series champion flew away for his top spot. Chubbuck worked his way to second, which would mean a runner up spot on the overall standings and Gary Drew too charged hard, but came up a position short. Whorff simply finished fifth in the final segment to nail down the night win.

A couple of incidents before a single lap was recorded and then another yellow flag after just one lap make life interesting in the 40 lap Lee Auto Mall Late Model Stock division. Buddy Leavitt started fourth, but was the eventual leader of lap one. He made a miscue costly on the restart and Corey Morgan flew away from the field, building up at one point a fifteen car length advantage. That went away on lap 30 when the final yellow flag flew. On lap 31 Morgan spun out of the top spot and Ricky Morse flew from fourth to first in the process and then he two pulled away over the final nine circuits to get the big edge. Leavitt was second, his third straight top three finish in as many races, and T. J. Brackett who was never worse then fourth after lap one ended up third. Wal-Mart rookie of the year point leader and two time winner in 2004 Billy Childs Jr. was fourth and last weeks big winner, Shawn Martin, was fifth.

The 35 lap Limited Sportsman finale went non stop and Doug Poland finally got the elusive first win of the year. A week ago Poland appeared to be headed for victory circle, but an overheating problem cut his night short. This time is was no heating problems, and no on track problems as he led from lap four to the conclusion. Tommy Ricker finally got to second, but that was a far as he was headed given the big edge that Poland had built up, but Ricker did make it exciting over the final five laps. He had caught the leader, but just didn't have enough to drive around Poland. The same could be said of Terry Merrill. He caught the front two, made a bold bid to get around Poland, before ending up in a shoot out style final two laps with Archie Watt who too had caught the front three with four laps to go. Watt would settle for fourth and new point leader Dennis Spencer Jr. rounded out the top five.

Two slow down periods in the first four laps kept the Strictly Stock division bunched up in the early going before the top five eventually would pull away to make things a bit easier to deal with. The second caution, which would become a red flag kept the anxious for a few minutes. Todd Bisbee got tangled up with two other cars, backing into the retaining wall and then needing a few minutes to clear the fuzziness. He eventually got out of the car on his own, went to Stephens Hospital for a mandatory checkup before returning to the races to watch the remainder of the program sore and tender from his ordeal. Jeff Merrill then took the lead on lap five and stayed there until giving way to Chris Coolidge on lap twenty-six. "Who's idea was it to go from twenty to thirty lap anyway", quizzed Merrill from victory circle. He did stay second for the final four laps with David Vaughn ending up third. Bob Crocker drove from deep in the 36 car field to finish fourth and Zach Emerson bested the family feud question with a fifth place finish.

Five drivers and six lead changes highlighted the non stop 30 lap Mini Stock feature event. Jimmy Robbins led the first lap, came back on lap four to lead yet again before Ralph Felker took command. But his stint was short lived when on lap fourteen he began to overheat heavily and retired for the night. That put Wayne Parkin ahead for the second time and he held control of the 26 car field until lap 23. That's when Larry Melcher who had worked his way up after starting fourteenth took command. He was looking for his second win of the year, but that became a jeopardy issue with five to go when the top three ran up onto two slow cars running side by side for position outside of the top fifteen. "I didn't mean to push the lapped car up like I did, but I had no place to go", said Melcher from victory circle. Parkin did manage to stay second for the duration with Chris Varney closing in those final five laps to finish third. Jimmy Childs broke out of traffic to late in the process to become a factor and point leader Donnie Mooney did about the same routine in his run to fifth.

OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY JULY 10 FINISH CAPSULE

OXFORD NETWORKS PRO STOCKS
1. Bill Whorff Jr., Topsham
2. Gary Drew, Otisfiel
3. Scott Chubbuck, Richmond
4. Scott Robbins, Dixfield
5. Mike Maietta Jr., So. Portland
6. Jim Weymouth, Pittston
7. Al Hammond, So. Paris
8. Scott Moore, Anson
9. Glenn Josselyn, Farmington
10. Scott King, Livermore

LEE AUTO MALL LATE MODEL STOCKS
1. Ricky Morse, St. Albans
2. Buddy Leavitt, New Gloucester
3. T. J. Brackett, Oxford
4. Billy Childs, Jr. Leeds
5. Shawn Martin, Turner
6. Mike Stickney, Wilton
7. David Raymond, Scarborough
8. Chris Hatstat, Albany Township
9. Corey Morgan, Lewiston
10. Don Wentworth, Otisfield

LIMITED SPORTSMAN
1. Doug Poland, Livermore Falls
2. Tommy Ricker, Poland
3. Terry Merrill, Saco
4. Archie Watt Jr., Auburn
5. Dennis Spencer Jr., Norway
6. Shane Green, So. Paris
7. Shawn Knight, Otisfield
8. Matt Williams, Brownfield
9. Marty Emerson, Durham
10. George White Jr., Dryden

STRICTLY STOCK
1. Chris Coolidge, Norway
2. Jeff Merrill, Roxbury
3. David Vaughn, Naples
4. Bob Crocker, Freeport
5. Zach Emerson, Durham
6. Phil Mitchell III, Poland
7. Rick Thompson, Naples
8. Larry Emerson, Durham
9. Roy Lee Weymouth, Winthrop
10. David Tripp, Oxford

MINI STOCK
1. Larry Melcher, Livermore Falls
2. Wayne Parkin, Wales
3. Chris Varney, Scarborough
4. Jimmy Childs, Leeds
5. Don Mooney, New Gloucester
6. Scott Audet, Wilton
7. Dan Sirois, Litchfield
8. Wayne Warren, Waterford
9. Billy Childs Sr., Leeds
10. Butch Keene, Turner

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