Yeah, it’s August.

In Maine, we race fans dread seeing that word in big, block letters on our calendar as much as school children.

Typically, even our unpredictable New England weather would permit racing into early November, but promoters are squeamish with good reason. Spectators seem to preoccupy themselves with fairs and leaf peeping after the mid-September NASCAR weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway, so most local track owners shut down their weekly series within a week or two of Labor Day.

That’s followed by a flurry of open competition shows, not to mention lots of low-overhead, crash-’em-up fare designed to leave speedways’ coffers full enough to pay the bills during the icy winter months.

For those of us who get overly excited about points, championships and street stock rookies of the year, however, there’s really only one month remaining in the 2003 season.

Feeling shocked? Disappointed? Like you’ve been ripped off by the ill-timed rain?

Me too. So join me in a quick peek at what we can expect over the next six weeks before it behooves us to dust off whatever other hobbies we begrudgingly enjoy:

Oxford Plains

Four of the five weekly track championships at OPS appear destined to come down to the final week.

Headed into Saturday night’s program, Billy Whorff Jr., enjoying his second full season of competition after an 11-year layoff, led “rookie” Ricky Rolfe (a 20-plus year racing veteran and reigning Late Model Stock champion) by 16 points in an improbable Pro Stock championship race.

Eight drivers remain in mathematical contention, and none of them are named Jeff Taylor, who entered the season with three straight titles and a record eight in all. Early-season point leader Andy Shaw, Brad Hammond and Scott Robbins have the best chance of joining Whorff and Rolfe in the fray.

No championship battle is closer than LMS, where Travis Adams, Jerry Harrison and Ron Henry are tied for the top spot and Corey Morgan trails the trio by three points. The finish could resemble the 1999 scramble, when Dennis Spencer Jr. and Leon Heckbert tied and Spencer won the big trophy based on total feature victories.

Adams has the upper hand in that scenario, sporting three wins to one each for Harrison and Henry. The steady Morgan hasn’t won a feature since 2001.

Not-so-bold prediction: Carey Martin or Kenny Harrison will capture the Limited Sportsman crown. Three-time champion Martin leads best friend Harrison by nine points, and closest pursuers Dana Grover and David Raymond aren’t even in the same zip code.

Ten drivers have a shot at the Strictly Stock title, with the top six of Gerry Burgess, Jon Brill, Peter Hafford, Billy Childs Jr., rookie Bob Crocker and Joe Hutter separated by 39 points. Brill is the only driver in that cluster previously to win the title.

Billy Childs Sr., the Mini Stock leader by 85 points, needs only to avert a late-season collapse to dethrone Butch Keene and win his first speedway championship in 27 seasons of trying.

Closeness of competition also prevails in the Big Apple Summer Series, where Stephanie Bowie, Gary Chiasson and Jim Davis Jr. protect precarious leads. Ed Prevost appears to have the inside track to the Sport Truck championship.

PASS

Ben Rowe bids for his fifth win of the season today at Wiscasset Raceway.

Rowe tangled with Sam Sessions while racing for the lead in a May race at Canaan, N.H. Other than that speed bump, Rowe has finished in the top three in every Pro All Stars Series race of the season.

Oh, and he won a certain independent race known as the True Value 250 last month.

In the PASS point system, where each finishing position is a differential of only two points, Rowe’s 81-point edge over Dale Shaw appears astronomical as the Turner driver seeks a second straight title for car owners Tom and Eileen Estes of New Gloucester.

Shaw is a strong candidate to finish second in his first PASS campaign, and what he has hinted to some might be his last season of full-time racing. Johnny Clark, Dave Gorveatt and Sessions follow Shaw in the chase.

Two other pleasant surprises in the PASS top 10: longtime, low-budget competitor Scott Mulkern, running seventh, and Denmark rookie Travis Khiel in eighth.

Kalle Oakes is sports editor. He can be reached by e-mail at koakes@sunjournal.com

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