Saturday’s win was Jeff Taylor’s 60th career feature checkered flag.
By Kalle Oakes
Sports Editor

OXFORD – Jeff Taylor’s stock car trophy case includes a record eight Pro Stock championships at Oxford Plains Speedway. Mike Maietta Sr.’s resume boasts a resounding nine Late Model Sportsman crowns at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.

Sure, they’ve been out to lunch throughout the first half of the current campaign at OPS, but you didn’t expect that to last, did you?

Taylor couldn’t completely escape the rotten luck that has plagued him since the early spring, but he outpowered Maietta on a lap 17 restart Saturday night and cruised to his 60th career OPS feature win in the 35-lap main event.

“I lost the power steering early in the race,” Taylor said, “and it just turns real tough without power. We were fortunate to have Mike there on the outside. He’s a good, clean racer.”

Despite a start that included two failures to qualify and three other finishes of 24th or worse, Taylor became the first repeat Pro Stock winner of the season in its ninth race. He has also led 74 feature laps, twice as many as any other Pro Stock competitor.

Maietta, who hasn’t fared much better since a second-place open competition finish and a victory on the opening day of the regular season, finished second by a comfortable margin over Tommy Tompkins.

His car was built at Taylor’s Distance Racing shop in Fairfield.

“We were a second-place car. I knew that from the start of the race,” said Maietta. “We got off to a good start but haven’t had anything go right since. We tested here Thursday, and I’m glad it paid off.”

Taylor, who entered the season with a string of three straight Pro Stock titles, began the race 21st in points. Maietta was 22nd.

The eventual winner took the top spot from Jim Weymouth on lap 12.

“We’ve been struggling, obviously,” said Taylor. “If we can get anywhere close to where it should be in time for the (True Value) 250, that’s what we want. That’s two weeks away, so it’s time to step up.”

Glenn Josselyn held off Billy Whorff by a half car length for fourth, followed by point leader Andy Shaw.

The Harrison brothers dominated the two chief supporting features, with Jerry earning his first-ever Late Model Stock victory and Kenny prevailing for the fifth time in nine Limited Sportsman starts.

Larry Emerson and Chris Coolidge ruled twin 20-lap Strictly Stock features, while Billy Childs Sr. padded his Mini Stock point lead with a victory.

Jerry Harrison hasn’t enjoyed many fun nights in the Late Model Stock class since three straight second-place finishes to open the season. He sat out last week’s race after his car was heavily damaged in the same crash that killed driver Dennis Dee on June 14.

It was a triumphant return, with Harrison roaring from 10th to first in 11 laps and logging his first OPS win since 1999, the year he won the Limited Sportsman title.

“It’s been a hard-fought battle since we got those seconds. I’m not sure what happened, to be honest with you. We tried some different stuff to get faster,” Harrison said. “Obviously it didn’t work.”

Harrison had enough muscle to hold Corey Morgan at bay on a restart with seven laps to go. That was necessitated by a red flag for Ricky Morse, whose car briefly caught fire. Morse was uninjured.

Morgan, division point leader Ron Henry, Buddy Leavitt and Vermont driver John Donahue completed the top five.

Kenny Harrison was the best man at Carey Martin’s wedding several years ago. On Saturday night, he was an enemy of sorts for 25 laps, keeping Martin in his rear-view mirror for the final 17 laps to end his three-race Limited winning streak.

The real action was still to come.

Martin (28 wins) and Harrison (25) are the most prolific drivers in the history of the Camaro-dominated class. As the two celebrated this one-two finish on the backstretch, an attempt to swap tire “doughnuts” cost the longtime pals wrinkled body panels. Harrison’s car sported a flat right rear tire in victory lane.

“We thought we’d be like Dale Earnhardt, but it didn’t turn out so good,” said Martin. “Sometime I’ll be the one back in first and he’ll have to finish second, but I’ll skip the (celebration) if you don’t mind.”

Tommy Ricker nipped Bill Sprague for third, nearly half a lap behind the runaway leaders. Archie Watt Jr. took fifth.

Like Taylor, Emerson’s season hasn’t unfolded the way most people in the pit area might have expected. The former champion turned things around in impressive fashion, though, winning his second main event of the season.

Emerson had 30 “official” feature wins at OPS, but he also has numerous Enduro checkered flags to his credit.

Jerry Freve led the first 13 laps before Emerson made his winning move in the outside lane. Freve held off top-ranking rookie Bob Crocker for second. Kim Tripp and Matt Williams finished fourth and fifth in a race that ran without a yellow flag.

Coolidge led every lap of the Strictly Stock ‘B’ feature for his second win of the season and ninth of his career. He lapped all but five other cars in the event. Phil Mitchell III and former division champion Mike Short completed the trophy positions, followed by Bill Dunphy and Warren Smith, whose fifth-place run was his best ever.

Childs reeled in Steve Barker without the benefit of a break in the action to snag his third Mini Stock win. Ralph Felker, defending champion Butch Keene and Terry Warren rounded out the lead pack.

Carl Oberg of Sutton, Mass., and Tim Huston of Lisbon won their respective divisions in a 20-lap exhibition for the Senior Tour Auto Racers. Oberg piloted a Modified once driven by Geoffrey Bodine to 52 wins in a single season in the 1970s, while Huston made his rounds in a car that won numerous features in Oxford’s Street Stock class in the 1980s.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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