OXFORD – It’s a long way from St. Denis, Quebec, to Oxford, Maine. Just ask Patrick Laperle, a veteran Pro Stock racer with a history of running up front on tracks of all sizes.
The former American Canadian Tour regular made the long haul worthwhile Saturday night, winning the Roy’s All Steak Hamburgers 150 for the Pro All-Stars Series. Laperle took the lead from Travis Khiel on lap 134 with a power move on the outside going into Turn 3, then survived a late restart to notch the victory.
“I knew my car was better in the outside groove,” Laperle said in Victory Lane. “I was able to get up through traffic without much trouble, and the lapped cars stayed out of the way. When Travis checked out on us around mid-way, I didn’t think we would be able to run him down. Those late cautions provided the chance I needed, and the car was just perfect in the closing laps.This is a great win for our team. We held off some fast cars.”
Khiel drove the race of his career, leading 40 laps during the mid-stages and finishing second. The young hotshot from Denmark is now a teammate to Ben Rowe in the Richard Moody Construction team out of Wells.
While it looked like his race for much of the evening, he was happy with his runner-up finish.
“We’ve had good cars all year long, but (Saturday) was the best we’ve had it running thus far,” Khiel said. “I sure wanted to win this one, but I think about 40 laps in we dropped a cylinder and the engine started to fall off. We made contact with other cars a couple of times, which I think knocked the toeout off in the front end. It’s still a great run for this team.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of Richard Moody’s organization. He gives us everything we need to be competitive, and I think we showed that here tonight.”
Chubbuck, a five-time champion at Wiscasset Raceway, led several laps early and settled for third, while Scott Mulkern and Rick Martin completed the top five. Chubbuck, one of the top Pro Stock racers in this region, had the crowd on its feet midway through the event as he battled side-by-side with Kheil for position.
“I thought we had a chance to win this one early on,” said Chubbuck. “The car was good on the short runs, but it got loose when we ran under green for a long stretch. We tried something a little different in the setup tonight, and it wasn’t quite what we hoped for. But that’s all right, we’ll take a third place finish and go on to the next one.”
Finishing sixth through 10th was Johnny Clark, Mike Rowe, Chuck Lachance, Curtis Gerry and Chris Kennison. Sixteen of the 34 starters finished on the lead lap, while 24 cars were running at the finish.
At the drop of the green, Boothbay’s Corey Williams led the field with Chubbuck and Martin in tow. Chubbuck asserted himself just one circuit later and stayed there until Martin made the pass on lap 11. The two Pro Stock veterans battled side-by-side for several laps, creating one of the best fights for position of the entire evening.
Kheil, who started 11th, asserted himself at the point on lap 38 and made it clear he would be a force to reckon with before the night was over. He built a sizable lead on two occasions, only to have it disappear when cautions plagued the proceedings. Luckily, none of those were for major incidents and racing resumed in fairly short order.
Nine cautions slowed the pace, while five different drivers took turns at the point.
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