By Sun Journal Staff

OXFORD, Maine – Jeremie Whorff is a busy man these days. One of his primary stock car responsibilities is preparing a Pro Stock ride for NASCAR Nextel Cup’s Matt Kenseth in the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.

If the Topsham youngster’s recent performances are any indication, he might not merely be a wrench-turner on the car that wins the nation’s richest single-day short track race. He could be the driver who walks away with the big check.

Whorff showed an enthusiastic Thursday night crowd that he’s ready for the big show by winning the 50-lap Oxford Networks Pro Stock feature at OPS on Thursday night. He led Kevin Kimball, division point leader Tim Brackett, Scott King and Al Hammond across the line in single-file formation at the front of the field. The 62-year-old Hammond was bidding for his third consecutive win.

“I don’t know if I could have held on. If we’d had a few more laps, I think Kimball might have gotten me,” said Whorff. “The car was tightening up there pretty bad at the end of the race.”

But the driver who’s currently a career-high third in the division point standings had more than enough power to put away his first victory of the season and fourth of his brief Pro Stock career.

Whorff’s win highlighted a make-up of June’s rained-out Oxford Hannaford Night, and yes, Mother Nature had an impact on this one, as well.

Steve Reny (Lee Auto Mall Late Model Stock), Dennis Spencer Jr. (Limited Sportsman) and Jeff Moon and Ben Alden (Strictly Stock) were feature winners before a steady, summer squall obscured the red skies shortly after sunset.

That rainfall wiped out the main event, the Oxford Hannaford 100 for the Mini Stock division.

It will be made up on Weekly Racing Series championship night, Saturday, Sept. 3, as a double-purse event paying regular championship points.

Reny raced to his second LMS win of the season in relatively impressive fashion, but not without a fight from Dale Verrill. The veteran made a spirited challenge for his first feature win in more than 15 years before falling shy by about two car lengths.

“I was scared,” Reny said. “Dale was really fast. My car got really loose, and I was just hanging on.”

Verrill, third-place Matt Sanborn and fourth-place Buddy Leavitt each secured their best finishes of the season, followed by Ricky Morse. Five days after getting a lion’s share of the credit for teammate Shane Green’s overwhelming 100-lap victory, Spencer had his own car running up to full song. The reigning track champion held Steve Bennett Sr. at bay for the triumph, with point leader Kenny Harrison a distant third.

“My car was actually pretty good in the 100-lapper,” said Spencer, who finished second in the marathon event. “We made a few changes today because the track was hot.”

Matt Williams and Carey Martin completed the top five.

Alden’s win was the first of his career in the 20-lap Strictly Stock A scramble. He’s driving a car borrowed from Gerry and Chris Burgess after his own ride was destroyed in a June 4 wreck.

“It really helped us,” said Alden, “because look: We’re in victory lane.”

Chris Coolidge and David Vaughn ran second and third in the hotly contested event, with Mike Short and Jim Davis Jr. completing the lead group.

Moon made a hasty escape from the field in the Strictly Stock B encounter, leading all but the first three laps with Kim Tripp, Josh May, Danny Smart and Rick Thompson in tow.

“Our car was absolutely atrocious in practice,” Moon said. “We made some changes and they obviously went in the right direction.”