OXFORD – Fans at Oxford Plains Speedway were treated to a July Snow-storm Saturday night.

Frank Snow had a hand in each of the victorious cars in the two premier divisions. Minutes after he went to victory lane as owner of Don Wentworth’s Late Model Stock, Snow steered to his second Pro Stock win of the season.

There was a common bond to the two triumphs: Neither car is one of Snow’s plum rides.

In his own words, Snow “dusted off” the back-up car he used to win the 35-lap finale. After moving aside Jim Weymouth to take the lead on lap 17, Snow held off a spirited outside bid from Gary Drew to become only the second repeat winner of the season in the top class.

“I got lucky. That’s all you can hope to do when you get old,” said Snow, who proudly mentioned his 11 grandchildren in the winner’s circle. “This is the car Bill Lagerson used to drive, and he was an old guy, too.”

Drew settled for second, followed by Weymouth in his best OPS effort. Jeff Taylor nipped Poncho Darveau for fourth.

Wentworth, Carey Martin, Chris Coolidge, Matt Williams and Rich Sirois also carried the checkered flag on Boise Office Solutions/The Wolf 107.5 Fan Appreciation Night. All spectators were admitted for $5 or less and invited to meet the drivers and see the cars during a pre-race autograph session.

T.J. Brackett’s string of bad luck continued and Wentworth’s ended in the amount of time it takes a right front tire to go flat. That’s the fate that befell Brackett with seven laps to go in a caution-free Late Model Stock feature.

Wentworth inherited the lead and dashed to his first 30-lap LMS triumph since April 2002. Prior to the victory, Wentworth had only one top-five finish this season and was 19th in points.

“I made a habit of tearing the heck out of my own equipment,” said Wentworth. “I was sitting on the other side of the fence, and Frank loaned me a car. It’s the oldest one in the stable.”

Wentworth took over second in the same sequence that saw Brackett take the lead. He went low when Brackett went high as the two made early leader Dale Verrill the meat in a high-octane sandwich in turn three.

“T.J. had us pretty much covered,” Wentworth said. “With the season I’ve been having, I’ll take one any way I can get it.”

Buddy Leavitt, Chris Bowie, Jerry Harrison and Shawn Martin followed Wentworth across the line in single-file fashion. Unofficially, Harrison is now in a three-way tie with Ron Henry and Travis Adams for the series point lead.

Martin backed into his fourth Limited Sportsman victory of the campaign and extended his thin division point lead when apparent winner Shane Green’s car failed the post-race left side weight inspection.

He sat third behind Green on the final restart with three circuits left in the 25-lap race. Kenny Harrison, Martin’s closest pursuer in the standings, couldn’t hold his line and faded in the outside groove. Martin closed to Green’s back bumper as the two crossed the stripe.

“Shane was holding his car on the bottom, as he should,” said Martin, a three-time division champion. “We really want this points championship.”

Martin’s lead over Harrison, who finished fifth, stands at nine points. Doug Poland and Chuck Estes moved up to second and third, followed by David Raymond.

Coolidge’s early progress in the Strictly Stock ‘B’ feature was slowed by a lapped car, but Coolidge was closing in on leader Skip Tripp when the caution flag appeared for a tangle involving Don Harvey and Brian Dennison with eight laps left in the 20-lap scramble.

After two laps of door-to-door racing on the ensuing restart, Coolidge pulled completely in front and set sail to his division-leading fourth feature victory of the season.

It’s been a topsy-turvy year for Coolidge, as evidenced by his assignment to the “low-point” feature. In addition to his four checkered flags and one runner-up effort, Coolidge has four finishes of 21st or worse.

“I didn’t wreck this week,” noted Coolidge.

The same couldn’t be said for Don Duval, who barrel-rolled violently off the first turn at the start of the Strictly Stock ‘A’ feature. Duval walked away from the scene.

After Duval’s car went off on the rollback truck, Williams drove away without another incident to impede his progress and stormed to his second win of the summer.

“The last four weeks, this car’s been junk,” said Williams, who hadn’t finished better than 13th in any July race. Joe Hutter, Larry Emerson, Travis Mains and Jon Brill completed the top five. Duval made a significant dent in the division point lead of Gerry Burgess, who finished 15th in a 20-car field.

Sirois joined division point leader Billy Childs Sr. and reigning champion Butch Keene as the lone repeat winners in the Mini Stock class with an overpowering, wire-to-wire victory. Sirois’ margin of victory in the 20-lap sprint was nearly one-third of a lap over Wayne Parkin and Bill Thibeault.

“The car hasn’t been hooked up lately, but it was hooked up tonight,” said Sirois.

Childs edged Keene for fourth place at the line. He enjoys the largest series lead at the speedway, unofficially 85 points over Keene with six races remaining.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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