OXFORD – It couldn’t have been any more dramatic if it was planned. Eddie MacDonald took advantage of lapped traffic to pass Roger Brown on lap 89 and held off a late-race charge from Ricky Rolfe to win the ACT Time Warner Cable 100 Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.

The race went start-to-finish without a caution and was completed in just under 29 minutes. Rolfe, the 2003 Oxford track champion, started sixth on the 33-car grid and came on strong in the late stages. Defending Oxford Late Model champion Travis Adams ran among the leaders all night and nipped Brown for third at the finish.

Brown, winner of this year’s TD Banknorth 250, led for 16 laps and came home fourth, while six-time ACT champion Jean-Paul Cyr completed the top five.

“We were just taking it easy for the first half of the race and letting the car come to us,” MacDonald said.

Rolfe was pleased with his performance, but felt he had the fastest car as laps began to wind down.

“I think Eddie drove smart there at the end,” he said. “He didn’t want to pass that lapped car because I think he knew the No. 51 was coming, too. He raced me clean, he always does, and everybody has been racing clean this season. With no cautions, it was hard to run anybody down.”

Adams turned his luck around after a couple of weeks running at a pace less than his usual rocket-like self.

“We don’t always have a lot of luck in these ACT races,” Adams said. “We usually get wrecked or suffer some kind of mechanical failure. We started fourth, which really helped us tonight as far as track position. We had a fast race car, we poured it on and were able to beat Roger Brown at the line. I really wanted to put this car on the podium tonight. My wife’s grandfather passed away this week, and I wanted to dedicate the race to him.”

Rounding out the top 10 were Scott Payea, Brian Hoar, Glen Luce, Dennis Spencer Jr. and Jamie Fisher.

Skip Tripp and Darick Barker were also feature winners Saturday night.

Vermont native and ACT regular Scott Payea jumped out to the early lead after earning the pole position in qualifying. Payea led the first 71 circuits until Roger Brown powered by in lapped traffic on the front stretch. Brown appeared to have the race well in hand until MacDonald started his charge.

MacDonald, who won a NASCAR Busch East Series race earlier this summer in Stafford Springs, Conn., picked up his first ACT victory. He is the first driver to win an ACT race and a NASCAR Busch East event in the same season since Robbie Crouch accomplished the feat in 1992.

In eight races in 2007, ACT has had eight different winners.

In earlier feature action, Barker recorded his second victory of the season in a wild 30-lap Mini Stock tilt. The Jay driver inherited the lead on lap 21 when Bill Thibeault got derailed by Dale Durgin. Thibeault led from the outset before Durgin’s deflating tire forced him up into Thibeault as they worked through Turn 4. Kevin Bishop came home second, while Jim Childs finished third. Adam Polvinen and rookie Shane Kaherl completed the top five.

“This car was junk in the qualifying heat,” Barker said. “The boys worked on it some before the feature, and it was a lot better. It feels great to hold them off for a victory tonight.”

Tripp captured his third straight Strictly Stock feature in convincing fashion. The Sabattus driver took over the point from Rick Thompson on lap 15 and hung on for top honors. Tommy Tompkins, involved in the points battle with Sumner Sessions, drove from 12th to claim second, while Larry Emerson was third. Sessions kept his title hopes alive by finishing fourth, while Matt Williams completed the top five.

“It hasn’t been easy to win these races,” Tripp said. “We’ve got a new tire specialist and you can’t imagine how good he is. The car started to quit on the last lap, I don’t know what is wrong with it, but it coasted to a stop here. I’m just thrilled it lasted 30 laps and we pulled of another win.”

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