OPS track record should fall
By Kalle Oakes
Sports Editor

OXFORD – Whatever ups and downs have resulted from the new asphalt at Oxford Plains Speedway, one statement is indisputable.

Cars are traveling faster around the 3/8-mile oval than ever before.

No vehicles are better suited to demonstrate the difference than the cars of the International Supermodified Association, constructed purely for speed and headed to OPS for the fourth-annual LST Landscaping and Property Management ISMA Maine Classic on Saturday night.

Russ Wood, ISMA points leader and winner of four of the first eight events this season, set the bar at an unprecedented height during a test at the track on Aug. 7.

Driving the Sweet Manufacturing, Power Mist Racing Fuels No. 29 owned by Paul Dunigan, Wood turned an unofficial lap of 12.72 seconds, averaging approximately 106 mph.

That’s seven-tenths of a second or five miles per hour faster than the previous fastest recorded lap at OPS, set by Randy Ritskes in 2000.

Ritskes’ mark of 13.341 is virtually guaranteed to fall when ISMA begins Saturday’s program with time trials – being touted as the “Run for the Record” – at 6 p.m.

Mike Ordway of Belmont, N.H., seeks his third straight OPS victory in the 100-lap race. Noki Fornoro captured the inaugural event, a 75-lapper, in 2000.

“Oxford is a momentum track, which is Ordway’s specialty,” said Wood team manager Brian Allegresso.

Cautious of the season-long talk of tire wear impacting the outcome of long races, Wood and Allegresso took a different approach to their practice session.

They were pleased with the results.

“We tried running older tires to simulate the last 20 laps of the race but wound up with the same times,” Allegresso said. “There’s a lot of grip on this new surface.”

Dunigan, who owned Ritskes’ machine when it set the initial record, also will field cars for Pat Abold and Kennebunkport open-wheel ace Bentley Warren.

The ISMA cars weigh 1,850 pounds and feature a 470-cubic inch, 700-horsepower engine.

Wood leads Chris Perley by 11 points and Ritskes by 71 in the current standings. Perley is a two-time race winner this season after capturing the most recent event in Lancaster, N.Y.

Ordway and Warren each own one victory in 2003. Warren is one of four Maine drivers who may attempt to qualify for the race, joining Dan Osmeloski of New Gloucester and the father-son tandem of Randy and Ryan Wimert of Cumberland.

Midgets return

It’s a double weekend for ISMA, which visits Lee USA (N.H.) Speedway tonight. Only four races will remain on the docket after Saturday night’s program.

For the second time in three years, the premier support race to the Maine Classic is a 30-lap event for the Northeast Midget Association.

The mighty mites have a rich history at Oxford, with 48 feature races contested since 1961. Drew Fornoro, currently second in points, is the only previous OPS winner in the field, accomplishing the feat in 1982 and 1994.

“We’ve always been quick there,” said Fornoro. “You’re on (the accelerator) almost all the way around.”

Joey Payne is the current NEMA championship leader, followed by Fornoro and Bobby Santos III.

Jim Miller won the 2001 event.

Local action

Six weekly racing series feature round out Saturday’s card at OPS. Billy Whorff Jr., Ricky Rolfe and Andy Shaw continue their chase for the Pro Stock championship with only five weeks remaining.

Competition in the next three divisions is even closer.

Travis Adams leads Ron Henry by three points, Jerry Harrison by six and David Raymond by 10 in the chase for the Late Model Stock title.

It’s a two-point margin in Limited Sportsman, where Carey Martin leads Kenny Harrison, and Strictly Stock, with Peter Hafford a nose ahead of Jon Brill.

Billy Childs Sr. enjoys the only comfortable margin, 116 points ahead of Butch Keene in Mini Stock.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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