OXFORD – One week after concluding his race with his green Chevrolet Monte Carlo resting on its side, Sumner Sessions turned the New England Dodge Dealers Strictly Stock 100 field on its ear.
Sessions led by much as a half-lap around the 3/8-mile Oxford Plains Speedway, occasionally with a dozen lapped vehicles between himself and the second-place car, in making a mockery of the long-distance street class encounter.
Compared to last week’s rollover, this was a walkover, one that established Sessions as a favorite for the 100-lap Kenny Williams Memorial open competition race on Thursday, July 1. That one will pay $5,000 to the winner. This one awarded much less, but it was of high value to Sessions in turning his season around.
“I’ve been waiting 20 years to win a race like that one,” Sessions said. “There were a couple of times the throttle was stuck right to the floor, but we got through it. Man, was that fun. I’ve never driven a race car like that.”
Sessions led the final 75 laps, overcoming caution flags on laps 71 and 79 that wiped out his spacious lead. Skip Tripp nosed out Larry Emerson for second. Bob Crocker charged past Kim Tripp in the closing circuits for fourth.
Scott Robbins, Travis Adams, Archie Watt Jr. and Butch Keene sped to feature wins in supporting action.
Robbins left behind Jeremie Whorff with a dozen laps remaining in the 50-lap Oxford Networks Pro Stock feature and set sail to his second win in three weeks. Robbins has finished out of the top three only one time this season, not including a race he missed due to engine failure.
“We’re officially back on the map, I think,” Robbins said. “We’re not the fastest car. Usually we come in after practice and we’re about 10th on the speed chart. But the car races good.”
Poncho Darveau charged from the rear of the field and fell one spot shy of his third win in four weeks. Whorff’s third-place effort was his best of the season, with defending champ Ricky Rolfe and Tim Brackett following.
Adams flaunted his championship form in the Lee Auto Mall Late Model Stock class, cruising to his first 40-lap feature triumph of the season over Chris Hatstat and first-year LMS driver Jon Brill.
While he’s been running consistently with the leaders all season, defending division dominator Adams didn’t achieve a podium finish until Saturday’s sixth start.
“We were pretty much lost in practice,” Adams said. “We didn’t know what to do. We were just going to ride around and chase points, but we found Ricky Rolfe of Race Basics in the garage, and he straightened us out.”
Buddy Leavitt, Chris Bowie and David Raymond each led the race while Adams calmly picked his way through traffic from his 12th starting spot. Adams drove around Bowie for the advantage just before the third and final restart on lap 22.
Hatstat outlasted Brill for runner-up honors, followed by Dave Bath and T.J. Brackett.
Four different drivers led the Limited Sportsman feature during the first nine laps. Once Archie Watt Jr. outpowered Troy Morse for the top spot on a lap 8 restart, though, the drama was done. Watt withstood a late charge from Raymond, who was racing in his second event of the night, to capture the 35-lap feature. It was Watt’s first main event victory since July 2000.
“Feels good after four years,” Watt said. “(Raymond’s) car was just working for him. I had all I could do to hold him off.”
Keene inherited his first Mini Stock win of the season when the father-son tandem of Jimmy Childs, the apparent winner, and Bill Childs Sr., who crossed the line third, failed the post-race technical inspection.
Ted Audet moved up to second, and Larry Melcher, who led the race until a late run-in with a slower car, claimed third.
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