HERMON, Maine — It began with an entertaining 200-yard sprint across the infield by an irate driver and ended with a thrilling finish involving two close friends.
Despite low car counts, there was plenty of action at Hermon’s Speedway 95 Saturday night.
The finale saw Levant’s Shane Tatro squeeze past buddy Steve Kimball on the outside with two laps remaining to collect his sixth win of the season in the Sportsman class.
Tatro crossed the finish line just 1½ car-lengths in front of Holden’s Kimball, who was formerly known as Steve Moulton.
Winterport’s Trey Brown was third and Dean Clements of Brooks and Michael Overlock of Franklin rounded out the top five.
The two engaged in an enthralling duel throughout with Kimball holding the inside line and Tatro trying to find a way to maneuver past him.
The race was shortened from 50 to 35 laps because only six cars took the green flag.
Tatro was on the pole but Kimball took the lead on lap 1 and maintained it until lap 33.
A caution on lap 28 resulting from a spin involving Overlock and Eddington’s Derek Lacadie gave Tatro one last chance to pass his friend. There was some Speedy Dry applied to the track to soak up fluids apparently left by Clements and it proved beneficial to Tatro.
“I didn’t want to see that caution at the end and there was a lot more Speedy Dry than I wanted,” said Kimball. “I couldn’t get off the corner in turn two. The Speedy Dry was right in my path. But it is what it is.
“Shane and I have been best friends for years. Last time we raced together in a 50-lapper, I got him with five laps to go and, tonight, he got me with five laps to go,” said Kimball.
“I knew it was going to be like that. I’ve been planning for that all week,” said Tatro, who tied a single-season career high with his sixth win. “When Steve is back, there’s always a show. Everybody else has to step up their games when he’s around, no matter what he’s driving.
“He outdrives me every time. It’s good to finally beat him.”
Tatro said his brother, Eric, told him he had to “try the outside” to pass Kimball “because I wasn’t making up ground anywhere else. And it seemed to work.”
Points leader Tatro has won the last three Sportsman races and five of the last six.
In the first feature in the Sport-Four division, Hudson’s Donny Silva and Winterport’s Jason Trundy were locked in a riveting duel until lap 20 when they took different paths to pass the lapped car of Clinton’s Chris Blanchard.
Silva stayed on the inside lane and Trundy tried the outside lane. But Trundy made contact with Blanchard and his car spun out of control into the wall of tires between turns three and four.
As the track crew tended to Trundy’s car, Trundy raced across the infield to confront Silva. Trundy was restrained by a track official before he could get to Silva.
Trundy, who won four straight races earlier this season, was disqualified for leaving his car and he could face a suspension.
Emotions boiled over into the pits and Trundy was escorted out of the track by Speedway 95 officials with law enforcement personnel providing a presence according to information obtained by head scorer and track office manager Kim Baker Allen.
Silva said he had “no clue” why Trundy was angry with him.
“I was on the inside and the 13 (Blanchard) was in between us. The 13 went right and took him out,” said Silva, whose three wins have come in the last three races.
“My car was good on the bottom. We set it up to run on the bottom,” said Silva.
Fifteen-year-old Dustan Durrell of Newburgh was second and rounding out the top five in the 10-car field were Hermon’s Andrew Crosby, Bangor’s James Goodman and Adam Ashton of Corinth.
“I’m pretty happy. That’s two seconds in a row,” said Durrell.
Ryan Deane of Winterport captured the 40-lap Late Model race, starting sixth but taking the lead on lap 18 and crossing the finish line 10 car-lengths ahead of Frankfort’s Dana Wilbur.
Hermon’s John Curtis Jr. was third, Steuben’s Wayne Parritt Jr. was fourth and Old Town’s Dylan Street was fifth in the 12-car field.
It was Deane’s second win. His last came on June 27 although he hasn’t raced regularly.
“The car has been working really good lately,” said Deane. “I can’t thank the guys at Distance Racing (Products in Fairfield) enough. We built this car last-minute this winter and it has been awesome here.”
Wilbur’s second-place finish marked his first top-three finish in a Late Model car.
“I’ve been running Late Models for a couple of years. I’m pretty tickled,” said Wilbur.
Winterport’s Bob Seger Jr. cruised to his seventh victory in the Street Stock race. Corinth’s Jordan Pearson was second among the eight cars that started the race.
Harrington’s Alex Berry, Franklin’s Greg Pung and Ellsworth’s Bradley Norris completed the top five.
“The car has been awesome all year,” said Seger. “A lot of people have helped me especially my father (Bob Sr.) and Joey Doyon, who bust their butts on the car every day. And my brother, Bruce Coulter, and my mother, Susan (have helped out a lot). I really appreciate it.”