By Phil Whipple,Staff Writer

OXFORD – It was a long time coming, but it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

Mike Rowe slipped under Johnny Clark with nine laps remaining and drove to his third TD Banknorth 250 victory in front of a packed house at Oxford Plains Speedway Sunday night.

It was the Turner native’s 150th career win at OPS, and it came on the biggest night of the season at his home track.

“Seth (Holbrook, his crew chief) called for four tires there on our last stop, and I drove the wheels off the thing to get back to the front,” explained an excited Rowe. “I just had to be patient in the last 50 laps, and it paid off for us.

“This means so much to me, but I owe it all to my crew and sponsors for their hard work and support. What a feeling to get that 150th win off my back, now we can move on.”

Rowe collected $26,000, a great payoff for a Sunday night’s work. With the win, Rowe has now won Maine’s biggest short-track race in three different decades.

There were nine cautions, and it took 315 circuits overall to get 250 green-flag laps in the books. Five different drivers led the event, with 14 cars on the lead lap at the finish. With two stretches of long, green-flag runs, the race seemed to go off fairly quickly compared to previous years.

A capacity crowd looked on as the top short-track racers from New England and eastern Canada battled for the coveted prize.

Clark wasn’t much of a factor in the early going, but inherited the lead on lap 109 when Patrick Laperle hit pit road.

“The car just wasn’t fast in the first half of the race, but it started to hook up in the late going,” said Clark. “Once we got a little rubber down on the track, I was able to start working lapped traffic on the outside lane. I really wanted the win, but Mike was fast and I wasn’t about to force the issue late in the going. I wish it had gone green those last 50 laps, we sure didn’t need that last caution.”

Nick Nichols held on for third and was elated with his performance.

“The car felt real strong in practice, and I told my crew if we could just get in this thing, we could come away with a decent finish. It came together for us at the right time, and it feels great to join Mike and Johnny here on the podium.”

Rowe had a tough go just to qualify for the race, struggling in his heat race and the consolation, forcing him into the last-chance qualifiers race, also known as the infamous “hooligan’s race.” After winning that 50-lap event, he set his sights on the 250 itself.

At the drop of the green, polesitter and Maine native Stan Meserve led the field into Turn 1 and held the point until lap 77, when NASCAR Nextel Cup Series star Kyle Busch took command. The 20 year-old sensation didn’t stay up front for long, but had one of the hottest cars in the field all evening.

Laperle, an ACT Tour regular from St. Denis, Quebec, led for more than 20 laps until a need for service sent him down pit road.

As Clark began to assert himself, Rowe was slowly mounting his charge to the front. At the halfway mark, Clark looked to be in control, with Nichols, Scott Chubbuck and Ben Rowe in tow.

For Ben Rowe, his climb toward the front was about to end. The defending two-time champion saw it all go away in the second half.

Dennis Spencer Jr., Jason Gaboury, Danny Smart and Dennis Scribner were also feature winners on the biggest day of the year at the historic western Maine oval.

In early action, Scribner took the lead from Chris Varney on lap 20 of the 30-lap Mini Stock feature and hung on to win. Scribner came from 13th on the grid to take top honors. Jim Childs came all the way from 15th on the grid to claim second, while mid-race leader Varney finished third. Bill Childs Sr. and Don Mooney completed the top five.

Gaboury drove around Randy Heath on lap eight of the Strictly Stock B feature and hung on for the victory. Rick Valentine came from 14th to claim second, while Tommy Tompkins finished third. Randy Snow and Don Harvey ran strong the entire distance and rounded out the top five. Just two cautions slowed the event, while four different drivers took a turn up front.

Smart recorded a dominant victory in the Strictly Stock A feature that went start-to-finish without a caution. It was Smart’s second win in his second season in this division. Ben Tinker made a late-race charge but settled for second, while Sumner Sessions was awarded third after David Tripp was penalized for spinning Joe Hutter. Auburn’s Mike Short and Roy Weymouth came on strong in the closing laps to complete the top five.

Spencer caught early leader Marty Emerson on a lap-29 restart and drove away to the Limited Sportsman victory. Emerson hung on for second while Freeport’s Jerry Harrison finished third. Steve Bennett Sr. and Kenny Harrison kept their noses clean the entire distance and filled out the balance of the top five.