OXFORD, ME – Nick Sweet slipped past early leader Corey Bubar near the midpoint of the Pro All Star Series – Coastal Auto Parts 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway Sunday afternoon. The win is the fifth career triumph for the Barre, Vermont driver and the second in three races on the PASS tour in 2020. Center Conway, NH driver DJ Shaw came home in the runner-up slot. While Travis Benjamin rounded out victory lane in a carbon copy of the top three finish from the PASS race at White Mountain earlier in the month. Sunday’s race at OPS was held without fans, however, and broadcast by NSNSports out of Vermont.
Unlike his previous win where he started on the front row, Sweet started this contest back in the eleventh position of the thirty-three car field. Getting to the front, however, was no easy task. As Sweet had to get by the likes of Eddie MacDonald, Curtis Gerry, and the aforementioned Bubar. “I had to be very very disciplined with the car,” Sweet said in post-race tech, “I didn’t have a lot of lateral grip so it was easy to slip the tires. Once I got myself to relax, it sort of came to me, and I was able to make my way to the front.” Once Sweet overtook the leaders, he withstood a brief challenge from Travis Benjamin. Before extending his lead to just over three seconds by race conclusion. “I thought I might have something for him at first, but he just drove right away from me,” Benjamin said following the race.
While Sweet cruised away to victory, several intense battles were waged in his rear view. DJ Shaw was able to capitalize on lapped traffic to close in and move to the inside of the number seven of Benjamin. The Shaw/Benjamin side by side battle took place over the last ten laps, with Shaw narrowly edging Benjamin by less than 1/10 of a second at the line. “I didn’t have a second place car,” he said, “but we got a couple breaks here we are.”
Behind the top three, another battle waged on between the fourteen of Scott McDaniel and Massachusetts driver Eddie MacDonald. While those two competitor’s spent the last twenty lap’s racing door handle to door handle, and sometimes sideways, Jake Johnson closed in with a handful of laps remaining to make it a three car battle. Macdonald slipped going into turn one and allowed Johnson to squeeze past them both to secure the fourth spot, with MacDonald holding on to round out the top five. The back half of the top 10 was led by Scott McDaniel, Ben Rowe, Johnny Clark, Ryan Robbins who started on the back row, and early leader Corey Bubar.
Practice One Results
1) 7G Curtis Gerry 15.461
2) 54 Johnny Clark 15.598
3) 32 Derek Ranstrom 15.613
4) 72 Scott Robbins 15.645
5) 94H Garrett Hall 15.671
6) 17MA Eddie MacDonald 15.685
7) 14 Scott McDaniel 15.721
8) 4 Ben Rowe 15.737
9) 1 Kyle Desouza 15.750
10) 12 Corey Bubar 15.753
11) 29S Trevor Sanborn 15.756
12) 3c Josh Childs 15.763
13) 99 Ben Ashline 15.763
14) 9T Alan Tardiff 15.768
15) 44 Rusty Poland 15.769
16) 7B Travis Benjamin 15.781
17) 40vt Nick Sweet 15.802
18) 24 Mike Rowe 15.810
19) 10 Kate Re 15.821
20) 60S DJ Shaw 15.824
21) 47 Gabe Brown 15.834
22) 36 Ryan Robbins 15.846
23) 39 Cassius Clark 15.849
24) 23 Dave Farrington Jr. 15.856
25) 15MA Jake Johnson 15.912
26) 75 Gary Smith 15.986
27) 61 TJ Brackett 16.011
28) 60 Tim Brackett 16.017
29) 81 Dan Winter 16.026
30) 21 Joey Doiron 16.072
31) 18 Mike Scorzelli 16.123
32) 50 Jeff White 16.125
33) M3 Brandon Barker 16.233
34) 80 Andy Saunders 16.246
Practice Two Results
1) 7G Curtis Gerry 15.540
2) 7B Travis Benjamin 15.570
3) 23 Dave Farrington Jr. 15.571
4) 1 Kyle Desouza 15.572
5) 40vt Nick Sweet 15.576
6) M3 Brandon Barker 15.590
7) 54 Johnny Clark 15.684
8) 15MA Jake Johnson 15.723
9) 60S DJ Shaw 15.729
10) 94H Garrett Hall 15.746
11) 32 Derek Ranstrom 15.759
12) 17MA Eddie MacDonald 15.764
13) 9T Alan Tardiff 15.769
14) 14 Scott McDaniel 15.771
15) 80 Andy Saunders 15.792
16) 61 TJ Brackett 15.804
17) 10 Kate Re 15.819
18) 44 Rusty Poland 15.822
19) 99 Ben Ashline 15.826
20) 72 Scott Robbins 15.827
21) 4 Ben Rowe 15.828
22) 12 Corey Bubar 15.901
23) 39 Cassius Clark 15.908
24) 15 Mike Hopkins 15.923
25) 3c Josh Childs 15.927
26) 47 Gabe Brown 15.931
27) 29S Trevor Sanborn 15.947
28) 36 Ryan Robbins 15.980
29) 24 Mike Rowe 15.989
30) 75 Gary Smith 16.057
31) 60 Tim Brackett 16.196
32) 21 Joey Doiron 16.208
33) 81 Dan Winter 16.253
34) 50 Jeff White 16.336
Practice Three Results
1) 54 Johnny Clark 15.508
2) 99 Ben Ashline 15.580
3) 7G Curtis Gerry 15.592
4) 9T Alan Tardiff 15.604
5) 7B Travis Benjamin 15.609
6) 94H Garrett Hall 15.624
7) M3 Brandon Barker 15.639
8) 32 Derek Ranstrom 15.677
9) 14 Scott McDaniel 15.687
10) 17MA Eddie McDonald 15.709
11) 75 Gary Smith 15.744
12) 36 Ryan Robbins 15.759
13) 44 Rusty Poland 15.760
14) 81 Dan Winter 15.765
15) 15 Mike Hopkins 15.767
16) 1 Kyle Desouza 15.774
17) 61 TJ Brackett 15.774
18) 12 Corey Bubar 15.780
19) 3c Josh Childs 15.813
20) 10 Kate Re 15.816
21) 15MA Jake Johnson 15.824
22) 4 Ben Rowe 15.833
23) 60 Tim Brackett 15.843
24) 21 Joey Doiron 15.849
25) 24 Mike Rowe 15.860
26) 72 Scott Robbins 15.904
27) 29S Trevor Sanborn 15.908
28) 47 Gabe Brown 15.940
29) 39 Cassius Clark 16.075
30) 50 Jeff White 16.090
31) 18 Mike Scorzelli 16.195
32) 60S DJ Shaw 00.000
Feature Results – 150 Laps
1) 40VT Nick Sweet 150
2) 60 DJ Shaw 150
3) 7b Travis Benjamin 150
4) 15ma Jake Johnson 150
5) 17ma Eddie MacDonald 150
6) 14 Scott McDaniels 150
7) 4 Ben Rowe 150
8) 54 Johnny Clark 150
9) 36 Ryan Robbins 150
10) 12 Corey Bubar 150
11) 23 Dave Farrington 150
12) 44 Rusty Polland 150
13) 72 Scott Robbins 150
14) 81 Dan Winter 150
15) 9t Alan Tardiff 150
16) 94h Garrett Hall 150
17) 60 Tim Brackett 150
18) M3 Brandon Barker 150
19) 32 Derek Ramstrom 149
20) 29s Trevor Sanborn 149
21) 50 Jeff White 149
22) 47 Gabe Brown 149
23) 10 Kate Re 148
24) 99 Ben Ashline 148
25) 80 Andy Saunders 146
26) 24 Mike Rowe 139
27) 1 Kyle Desouza 123
28) 7g Curtis Gerry 115
29) 3c Josh Childs 106
30) 75 Gary Smith 87
31) 21 Joey Doiron 54
32) 15 Mike Hopkins 50
33) 18 Mike Scorzelli 44
Oxford Plains Speedway Press Release
Story by Kevin Varney
Photos courtesy of OLPhotos
