Wiscasset Speedway

Whorff wins Pro Stock thriller

Mon, 05/06/2019 - 12:30pm

April showers bring May flowers, but it also brought frustration to anxious race fans and drivers waiting to get the 2019 racing season started. After losing the first two races of the season to weeks of persistent rain, Wiscasset Speedway was finally able to get in a show on Saturday, May 4. Group 1 got the call for their season opener, plus the first of three Enduros on the season schedule. Veteran racer Jeremie Whorff of Bath took home the victory in a wild finish to the 40-lap feature for the ServPro of Biddeford Saco Pro Stocks. Whorff was running 4th as the field stormed onto the front stretch to take the white flag. But the lead pair tangled sending drivers scrambling, and Whorff had the lead by the time they got to turn one. From there he cruised to the improbable win. In victory lane, he said, "Hey, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, right!?" with a big smile. In other action, Jason Oakes was the winner in Maxwell's Market Super Streets; Zach Audet in the Thunder 4 Minis, and Jeff Prindall in the Cahill Tire 4-Cylinder Pros. Ben Audet was the victor in the 100-lap Enduro.

The Maxwell's Market Super Streets had the spotlight race for the opening day program. Freeport's Bob Crocker and Jefferson's Mike Hodgkins lined up on the front row for the 35-lap feature. Hodgkins pulled out to a commanding half straightaway lead through the first half of the race. Trouble began to brew for the leader as sparks began to appear under the rear end of the car and he soon relinquished the lead to Jason Oakes. A much-needed caution allowed Hodgkins to head to the pits for repairs on a broken track bar mount. On the restart, Oakes shook off a challenge from Bobby Mesimer, pulled away to a comfortable lead and cruised to the victory. He was chased across the line by Mesimer and defending champ Michael Harrison, who had to start the race back in the middle of the 12-car field. Hodgkins recovered from his mechanical issues and made a late race charge to finish 4th. Dan Nessmith of Wiscasset rounded out the top five. 

In the 25-lap Thunder 4 Mini feature, veteran Zach Audet grabbed the lead from pole sitter Curtis Anderson on lap 10 and went on the victory in the caution free race. It quickly became a two-car race for the win as the pair stretched out their advantage to a full straightaway. Anderson kept Audet within striking distance through the entire race and crossed the line in 2nd place less than half a second behind the winner. Doug Degroat and Spencer Sweatt put on a good race for the 3rd spot with Degroat coming out on top. Sweatt settled for 4th with rookie Caleb Willette of Winslow filling out the top five.

The Cahill Tire 4-Cylinder Pro was a caution-filled 25-lap feature, mostly from minor spins. Defending champ Jeff Prindall of Lisbon Falls showed the kids how it's done and led wire to wire for the win. Sophomore drivers PJ Merrill and Dom Curit put a great show racing for the remaining spots in victory lane. They traded spots several times during the race. Merrill would go on to nail down a career-best 2nd place finish while Curit settled for 3rd. Curit made history in 2018 by becoming the track's youngest ever feature winner at 11yrs old. The top five was completed by rookie Colby Peacock of Yarmouth and Taylor Lane of Philips.

The ServPro of Biddeford Saco Pro Stocks lined up with a stout field of 18 cars for their 40-lap feature. Defending champ Nick Hinkley set the early pace with former champ Andy Saunders giving chase over the first 25 laps of caution-free racing. Saunders would take the lead from there until Kevin Douglass moved up to challenge. The two raced side by side for several laps with Douglass edging out Saunders by 2/100 of a second for the lead when the caution came out again with just 2 laps to go. The restart lined up with Douglass and Saunders on the front row and Hinkley and Whorf directly behind. Saunders drove around Douglass to take the lead on the backstretch. As they stormed out of turn 4 to take the white flag Douglass got into the back end of Saunders car sending the leader spinning sideways. In the scramble to avoid the spinning car, Douglass and Hinkley made hard contact and Whorff was able to thread the needle and take the lead by the time they got to turn one. From there he cruised to the victory. Hinkley and Douglass chased him across the line, however, Douglass would be penalized for the contact with the leader, relegating him to finishing in 6th as the last car on the lead lap. Saunders was able to refire his car and finish the race on the lead lap, being unofficially credited with a 5th place finish. However, in another twist to the race, Saunders frustration in how his race ended carried into the pits. His team refused to bring his car to post-race tech inspection, which is a requirement for top 5 in all feature races. With the refusal to submit to tech inspection, he was penalized and officially scored in 13th place as the last car running on the track at the end of the race. The final official top-five finish in the race was #00 Whorff, #15 Hinkley, #09 Ed Drake, #2 Chris Ryan, and #18 Douglass.

Wiscasset Speedway returns to action Saturday, May 11 with the season's first race for Group 2. The Wood Pellet Warehouse Late Model Sportsman, The Norms Used Cars Strictly Streets, The K&A Services Modifieds, and The Kennebec Equipment Rental Outlaw Minis will all be in action. Also appearing will be the Wicked Good Vintage Racers with their Hobby, Early Late Model, and Outlaw divisions. The Pit gate will open at noon, the grandstand gate at 3 p.m. and the green flag waves at 5 p.m. Details and info on Wiscasset Speedway can be found at www.wiscassetspeedway.com

Official finishes

 

MAXWELL’S MARKET SUPER STREETS (35 laps – spotlight)

Pos

No.

Name

Home Town

State

Laps

Diff

Gap

Best Tm

In Lap

1

11

Jason Oakes

Boothbay

ME

35

   

16.557

6

2

3

Bobby Mesimer

Woolwich

ME

35

1.235

1.235

16.772

4

3

85

Michael Harrison

Durham

ME

35

1.700

0.465

16.854

4

4

23

Mike Hodgkins

Jefferson

ME

35

2.029

0.329

16.472

3

5

48

Dan Nessmith

Wiscasset

ME

35

3.297

1.268

16.876

24

6

55

Bob Crocker

Freeport

ME

35

4.031

0.734

17.036

8

7

05r

Glen Reynolds

Turner

ME

35

4.475

0.444

16.974

4

8

24

David Thompson

Jefferson

ME

35

4.715

0.240

17.019

6

9

18

Parker Varney

Windham

ME

34

1 Lap

1 Lap

17.363

18

10

8

Bouncer Knight

Jay

ME

34

1 Lap

5.500

16.883

4

11

54

Boe Green

Berwick

ME

27

8 Laps

7 Laps

16.842

2

12

35

Mike Wallace

Wiscasset

ME

10

25 Laps

17 Laps

17.759

2

 

THUNDER 4 MINI (25 laps)

Pos

No.

Name

Home Town

State

Laps

Diff

Gap

Best Tm

In Lap

1

4

Zac Audet

Skowhegan

ME

25

   

18.462

8

2

04

Curtis Anderson

Richmond

ME

25

0.406

0.406

18.400

2

3

84x

Douglas Degroat

Oxford

ME

25

6.192

5.786

18.731

25

4

84

Spencer Sweatt

Albion

ME

25

10.373

4.181

18.917

18

5

60

Caleb Willette

Winslow

ME

25

13.605

3.232

18.962

6

6

23

Jacoby Perry

Pittston

ME

25

16.137

2.532

19.001

2

7

9

Gill Cote

Winslow

ME

25

18.488

2.351

18.903

2

8

76

Mark Sawyer

Newburgh

ME

24

1 Lap

1 Lap

19.451

7

9

7

Howard Roberts

Jay

ME

23

2 Laps

1 Lap

19.601

8

10

88x

Wes Turner

Freedom

ME

16

9 Laps

7 Laps

19.911

6

 

CAHILL TIRE 4-CYLINDER PRO STOCK (25 laps)

Pos

No.

Name

Home Town

State

Laps

Diff

Gap

Best Tm

In Lap

1

24

Jeff Prindall

Lisbon

ME

25

   

16.867

16

2

00

PJ Merrill

Canton

ME

25

2.550

2.550

17.041

15

3

5

Dominic Curit

Saco

ME

25

2.641

0.091

16.983

15

4

26

Colby Peacock

Yarmouth

ME

25

4.090

1.449

17.347

10

5

70

Taylor Lane

Phillips

ME

25

8.025

3.935

17.486

9

6

42

Mike Kibben

Lisbon Falls

ME

25

9.583

1.558

17.726

14

7

7b

Benjamin Burgess

Hartford

ME

24

1 Lap

1 Lap

18.543

24

8

17A

Noah Alexander

Orrington

ME

24

1 Lap

2.168

18.538

21

9

19

Andy Kaherl

Saco

ME

23

2 Laps

1 Lap

18.860

6

10

41

Nicole Benincasa

Buxton

ME

13

12 Laps

10 Laps

17.343

9

11

8

Callahan Cox

Harrison

ME

12

13 Laps

1 Lap

17.645

6

12

11

Marissa LaPointe

Peru

ME

0

25 Laps

12 laps

0.000

0

   

note: #11 LaPointe did drive onto track under own power but did not take green flag

     

 - per rules scored last place

     

 

SERVPRO OF BIDDEFORD SACO PRO STOCK (40 laps)

Pos

No.

Name

Home Town

State

Laps

Diff

Gap

Best Tm

In Lap

1

00

Jeremy Whorff

Bath

ME

40

   

15.048

5

2

15

Nick Hinkley

Wiscasset

ME

40

0.939

0.939

14.744

2

3

09

Ed Drake

Vassalboro

ME

40

4.470

3.498

14.989

6

4

2

Chris Ryan

Newburgh

ME

40

4.678

0.208

15.088

4

5

18

Kevin Douglass

Sidney

ME

40

0.972

0.033

14.789

7

6

11

Cody Verrill

Woolwich

ME

39

1 Lap

1 Lap

15.451

27

7

13T

Cody Tribbett

Richmond

ME

39

1 Lap

0.181

15.445

31

8

14

Dave St Clair

Liberty

ME

39

1 Lap

1.503

15.315

36

9

17

Joey Peaslee

Jefferson

ME

39

1 Lap

0.808

15.474

8

10

25

Barry Poulin

Clinton

ME

39

1 Lap

0.473

15.473

28

11

21

James Barker

Jay

ME

39

1 Lap

0.971

15.551

3

12

8

Doug Tourtelotte

Bowdoinham

ME

38

2 Laps

1 Lap

15.591

20

13

01x

Andy Saunders*

Ellsworth

ME

40

8.227

3.549

14.709

3

14

29

Kevin Morse

Woolwich

ME

33

7 Laps

5 Laps

14.946

7

15

2

Shane Lane

North Anson

ME

32

8 Laps

1 Lap

15.287

5

16

84

Jamie Wright

Woolwich

ME

25

15 Laps

7 Laps

15.082

4

17

99

Ajay Picard

Palmyra

ME

6

34 Laps

19 Laps

15.116

2

18

13

Nate Tribbett

Richmond

ME

4

36 Laps

2 Laps

15.618

3

                   
   

*NOTE:  01x Saunders finished unofficially in 5th, but team refused to go to post race

     

tech inspection. Per rules, car deemed out of compliance and

     

scored as last car running (at end of the race)

   

 

ENDURO #1 (100 laps)

Pos

No.

Name

Home Town

State

Laps

Diff

Gap

Best Tm

In Lap

1

54

Ben Audet

Skowhegan

ME

100

   

20.280

100

2

39

Jonathon Spear

Wiscasset

ME

99

1 Lap

1 Lap

20.889

95

3

1

Kyle Enman

Durham

ME

97

3 Laps

2 Laps

20.959

97

4

24

Steve Ward

Newcastle

ME

97

3 Laps

15.21

20.775

84

5

12

John Lacavera

Woolwich

ME

96

4 Laps

1 Lap

21.000

70

6

4

Nathan Haley

Wiscasset

Me

95

5 Laps

1 Lap

20.677

87

7

77

Travis Bradstreet

Bowdoin

ME

95

5 Laps

9.986

21.111

89

8

65

Dana Ingalls

Augusta

ME

94

6 Laps

1 Lap

20.872

92

9

89

Robbie Michaud

Farmingdale

ME

91

9 Laps

3 Laps

21.674

86

10

1

Vernon Hodgkins

Mechanic Falls

ME

89

11 Laps

2 Laps

22.075

66

11

55

Brad Clement

Readfield

ME

84

16 Laps

5 Laps

20.452

67

12

27

Donald Nashawaty

Pittston

ME

81

19 Laps

3 Laps

21.319

81

13

8

Leroy Levitt

Damariscotta

ME

67

33 Laps

14 Laps

21.812

63

14

34x

Roger Bradstreet

Topsham

ME

62

38 Laps

5 Laps

21.276

55

15

4

Irving Doughty

Wiscasset

ME

44

56 Laps

18 Laps

21.683

39

16

53

Jeff Read

Waterville

ME

34

66 Laps

10 Laps

21.734

15

17

93

Justin Spear

Wiscasset

ME

31

69 Laps

3 Laps

21.884

30

18

59

n/a

n/a

ME

28

72 Laps

3 Laps

22.677

16

19

161

Shadow Folsom

Skowhegan

ME

25

75 Laps

3 Laps

21.744

19

20

78

Jordan Mayo

Dresden

ME

16

84 Laps

9 Laps

29.862

8

21

98

Jake Allen

Farmingdale

Me

12

88 Laps

4 Laps

23.503

10

22

55x

Taylor Delano

Wiscasset

ME

10

90 Laps

2 Laps

23.759

7

23

57

Jason Meservey

Warren

ME

3

97 Laps

7 Laps

24.499

2

24

420

n/a

n/a

ME

0

100 Laps

3 Laps

0.000

0