Sam Sessions leads the final 16 laps to claim the $100,000 top prize.
WISCASSET – The world turned upside down late Monday afternoon at Wiscasset Speedway. At least from Sam Sessions’ point of view.
The South Paris driver took the lead following a caution on Lap 388 and survived a restart in the final laps to claim victory and collect the $100,000 prize in the DNK Select Big Dawg Challenge.
Wiscasset’s Scott Chubbuck and Dale Shaw of Center Conway, N.H., were battling it out for the lead when they took each other out entering the back stretch, bringing out the deciding yellow.
Sessions did his trademark handstands before getting into the car during introductions as well as in celebration afterwards.
“I knew we had a shot,” said Sessions. “The car was really good in the beginning but during the race things weren’t working out real well. Early on I waited till I thought I was supposed to go into the pits and when I did I was at the back of the pack. I was boiling at that point. We had to play catch up for the rest of the day.”
With the exception of one lap early on, the final 16 were the only ones he led all day.
“We got a couple bad sets of tires,” said Sessions. “We had one set we knew was good for the end and had a flat in one of them. They plugged it and we actually finished on a plugged left front tire.”
Dave Gorveatt of Charlottetown, P.E.I., raced in the top 10 most of the day and moved among the leaders with about 50 laps to go. He led the pack for two laps before Sessions got past him. He challenged the No. 0 car on the last restart with eight laps remaining, but couldn’t get it done.
“We had a good car,” said Gorveatt. “But there was one better and he won. On that last restart I thought he was going to try a move and I had a move in my head that didn’t work. I thought I might sweep under him but I was scared of the 72 car (Scott Robbins) and I didn’t want to lose second to him.”
Gorveatt said the $20,000 second place prize was worth missing the turkey dinner for the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday this past weekend.
Sessions knew that winning that last restart was the key.
“I’m not real good on forward bites,” said Sessions. “I knew I had to bring the pace up really good and have them coming fast before we stepped on it. I didn’t want to be spinning my tires and I wasn’t taking any chances. Dave’s a tough competitor and the two restarts before that he got a jump on Jeff (Taylor) and I said ‘I know how we are going to play this one.'”
Finishing third was Scott Robbins of Dixfield. The 2002 True Value 250 champion started 23rd and didn’t crack the top five until almost two-thirds of the way through the race.
“I’m ecstatic, said Robbins. “We weren’t even going to come to this. We didn’t even decide to come until Tuesday. We didn’t run good all year but we decided to come here and turn our year around.”
Robbins did climb as high as second for a while, chasing Shaw. He fell back during the last 40 laps before moving into third to stay.
“We completely lost our brakes with 50 laps left,” said Robbins. “I had to ease it into the corners and try not to take anyone out. I certainly didn’t want to do that.”
Robbins collected $8,000 for his last minute decision.
While Sessions was a driving force throughout the 400-lap race, several subplots seemed to predetermine the outcome. None of them came true.
Chubbuck took the lead on lap 151 and for the next 125 laps seemed unbeatable. Ben Rowe, the two-time defending PASS champion as well as reigning True Value 250 winner started fifth, fell back as far as 12th before getting back into it and challenging Chubbuck starting on lap 202.
Everything changed on a Lap 256. When Cassius Clark lost a tire in turn two, he put himself and Johnny Clark into the tire barrier. In the resulting slowdown from the caution flag, Scott Fraser spun out Rowe, who then hit Chubbuck.
Rowe’s crew worked on the car continuously for the next 50 laps but on lap 307 it was driven behind the wall. Chubbuck lived to contend again when he tangled with Shaw.
Shaw took the lead on lap 318 and Chubbuck, who now sported No. 29 on the left side and No. 84 on the right from a borrowed side panel, fell in behind him on lap 346. The pair battled for 38 laps. Although Shaw never relinquished the lead, Chubbuck made several attempts – mostly in turn two – to get past the No. 60 car. He tried one time too many.
Chubbuck got under Shaw and turned him around, but he got the worst of the exchange by hitting the backstretch wall.
It was a sponsor’s dream the first 88 laps of the race as the No. 54 D.N.K Monte Carlo of Johnny Clark got the jump on the field.
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