OXFORD, Maine — Gary Smith of Bangor drove to victory lane after charging past a few early race leaders to claim a career-first Oxford Plains Speedway Super Late Model win, topping the Budweiser Championship Series stock car racing card Saturday night.
Rookie Josh Childs of Oxford led a healthy portion of the Super Late Model 50-lap race’s early stages before yielding to Alan Wilson of Hebron, who set the pace through the event’s middle stages. Scott Moore of Anson took the point away from Wilson, but there was no stopping Smith, who surged ahead en route to the victory.
Adam Polvinen of Auburn was closest to the winner under the checkered flag, with the previous week’s Super Late Model winner, Scott Robbins of Dixfield, grabbing a third consecutive trophy. Moore, running better than ever recently at Oxford Plains Speedway, and Wilson filled out the top five.
OTHER OXFORD RESULTS (top five per class): Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy Street Stock (30 laps): 1. Matt Dufault, Turner; 2. David Whittier, West Poland; 3. Zach Emerson, Sabattus; 4. Andrew Breton, Sabattus; 5. Calvin Rose Jr., Turner; MacDonald Motors of Bridgton Bandits (20 laps): 1. Joshua Knoll, Mechanic Falls; 2. Jamie Heath, Waterford; 3. Tyler Green, Turner; 4. Michael McKinney, Berlin, New Hampshire; 5. Bill Grover, Waterford; Dave’s Small Engines/Ariens/Gravely Figure 8 (15 laps): 1. David Smith, South Paris; 2. Jon Lizotte, Lewiston; 3. Eric Hodgkins, Minot; 4. Kyle Kilgore, South Paris; 5. Robert Morey, Lisbon; Northeast Classic Lites (20 laps): 1. Duane Skofield, Plaistow, New Hampshire; 2. Eric Skofield, Plaistow, New Hampshire; 3. Sam Gilman, Sandown, New Hampshire; 4. Dan Poliquin, Plaistow, New Hampshire; 5. Tom Harton, Barnstad, New Hampshire.
Bell wins Trucks Series race
MADISON, Illinois — A decision to use the bottom lane for a restart with two laps to go paid off for Christopher Bell, who picked up his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory in Saturday night’s Drivin for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park.
Bell, who drives for Kyle Busch Motorsports, survived a chaotic and intense second half to edge Ben Rhodes to the checkered flag, giving KBM its 50th victory in the series, tying Roush Fenway Racing for the career series wins lead.
“This one’s for my guys,” Bell said in Victory Lane. “My guys, they deserve this one. We’ve been so fast all year long and I just kept making a lot of mistakes. I just can’t say thank you enough to all the guys at Toyota, TRD, JBL, everyone at KBM, all my pit crew guys they did an awesome job.
“Track position was everything. We got awesome motors underneath the hood of these things and all the guys at JGR, they never give up and keep digging.”
Rhodes, who contended for his first career win, had to settle for a career-best second.
“He (Bell) had a really loose truck and that’s what you needed at the end of the race,” Rhodes said. “It just got tighter and tighter as the runs went on. I was way too tight, but I was making some good ground on the outside and he came up on us a little bit, which is fine. It’s racing for the win at the end.
“He did an awesome job all night. He raced everybody clean and with respect. I think we could use a little more of that in our series after this crazy Drivin’ For Linemen 200.”