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Eddie Wins!
2 - Patrick Laperle
3 - John Donahue
4 - Brian Hoar
5 - Shawn Martin
"A GREAT Race" |
When
Eddie MacDonald and crew chief Rollie LaChance first
joined forces years ago, both felt they would be
competitive so two goals were set. The first was to win
at Loudon in the Camping World Series East and the
second was to win the Oxford 250 in the Late Model the
two owned together. Last year the first was accomplished
with back-to-back wins at Loudon. Last night, the second
was realized with an impressive win in the TD Banknorth
250 in one of the most prestigious short track races in
the country.
This year’s race is considered by many to be one of the
very best in recent memory. The race for the win was
intense but the racing throughout the field was
relentless. There was side-by-side racing all night
wherever you looked. No one left the track disappointed
with the quality of racing that went on. Although
MacDonald held the lead for over one hundred laps, every
lap provided excitement with three and sometimes
four-wide racing. Brent Dragon started on the pole as he
and MacDonald swapped the lead in the early going with
Dragon extending his lead by lap 32. Patrick Laperle,
John Donahue, Brian Hoar joined Dragon and MacDonald as
race leaders but it was all MacDonald when he took the
lead from Hoar on lap 170 and never gave it up.
LaChance, a New Gloucester, Maine resident and Oxford
Plains veteran for many years, was exuberant after the
win saying, “This is a great win. I have wanted this one
for a long time. It ranks right up there with the Loudon
wins. We were okay early, then we faded in the middle of
the race but we came back to take the lead and we were
racing on our heat tires so I was thinking how good we
would be on new tires. We took new rubber on lap 129
then Eddie had to fight his way through the field and
was racing three and four wide. I was holding my breath
a couple of times saying, ‘we have a good car, don’t
wreck it.’ There’s a reason they call running three and
four wide here the Angels Expressway. I am just so proud
of this team and this win will be with us for a long
time.”
Brian Hoar, a former competitor in the old Busch North
Series, was on the move taking the lead on lap 139 and
pulling away but MacDonald caught him on lap 165 and the
race for the top spot was on. Hoar tried to regain the
lead but finally slipped back to fourth as Laperle made
a charge for the lead. MacDonald was too strong and
established a solid lead as Laperle, Hoar, and Donahue
battled for second place. With 25 laps to go, Laperle
made a gallant effort and reeled in the leader but
appeared to have used up his tires in the process giving
the final ten laps all to MacDonald. Donahue finished
third with Hoar and Shawn Martin completing the top
five.
MacDonald put $35,200 in the coffers with the win and
lead lap money. The Rowley, Mass. driver, only the third
Mass. racer to win the Oxford 250, was thrilled with the
win saying, “This is awesome. We came so close last
year; it was great to get another chance this year to
win it. The car was really good early on and it was fun
to race with those guys. No one made it easy out there.
It was hard-nosed racing right from the start. Laperle,
Michaud, Hoar and all the others gave us all that we
could handle. It is so much fun racing at this track and
to be able to run three and four wide without getting
wrecked shows what kind of drivers compete in this
thing. We were so good after we took on the four tires;
I was just trying not to mess up. I am so glad to win
this for Rollie. Being a Maine guy, winning this one has
been a goal of his since he started racing here. To win
this is huge and I want to thank everyone for all the
help and support, especially Harry Franson who owns
Speedway Sports Park in Loudon. Harry has sponsored a
number of big name winners of the 250 in the past: Dave
Dion, Joe Bessey, and Joey Kourafas, just to name a few.
To have him be part of another 250 win that means so
much to him is great. Of course Ron and Becky Bennett
from NEMO-New England Mechanical Overlay have been huge
for us, as well as Rob Grimm and his family.”
Over seventy cars tried to qualify for the 43 car field,
somewhat down from previous year’s numbers and perhaps a
sign of the economic troubles. The Wallace family was in
attendance with Rusty coming the closest to the finish
line when he waved the green flag to start the race. His
son Steven ran 21st, while Kenny finished 33rd. With the
win, MacDonald qualifies for the ACT Tour race at New
Hampshire Motor Speedway in September and will try to
add another win this weekend at Beech Ridge. |
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Eddie
Starts the 250 from 3rd Place!
- Drew 8th for the third
heat.
- Won the third heat.
NERacng.com: "Best
heat yet! Eddie Mac is flying, using a third groove"
Top 12 starters for the feature:
(1) 55vt Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt.
(2) 85 Travis Stearns, Auburn, Maine
(3) 17 Eddie MacDonald, Rowley,
Mass.
(4) 6vt Cris Michaud, E. Montpelier, Vt.
(5) 03 Travis Adams, Canton, Maine
(6) 26vt John Donahue, Graniteville, Vt.
(7) 37vt Brian Hoar, Williston, Vt.
(8) 55nh Brad Leighton, Center Conway, N.H.
(9) 88 Nick Sweet, Barre, Vt.
(10) 91 Patrick Laperle, St-Denis, Que.
(11) 25 Shawn Knight, South Paris, Maine
(12) 97 Joey Polewarczyk Jr., Hudson, N.H.
Follow all the Oxford Plains action at the Speed51
"Trackside Now" posts:
SUNDAY
SATURDAY
Speed51 TD Banknorth Oxford 250 Index of Stories Page
HERE |
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