OXFORD – Late Model stock car driver Billy Childs Jr. survived a caution-filled feature and somehow hung on for victory Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Childs, of Leeds, inherited the lead at halfway when Kurt Hewins got caught up in a melee on the backstretch. Even once he was at the point, Childs’ troubles were far from over. It took three tries to complete lap 21 as the Late Model drivers all seemed a bit anxious after the evening’s program was delayed by rain for an hour and a half.

Mike Short, Don Mooney, Jake Burns and Ben Krauter were also feature winners on a damp and chilly evening for racing on the 3/8-mile oval.

“I guess luck was with me tonight,” said a surprised Childs in Victory Lane. “I don’t know if it was the rain earlier or what, but that was about the roughest race I’ve ever been in. I owe a big thanks to Carey Martin, he gave me some room there at one point, and I appreciate the favor. I really didn’t expect to be here after all that. They were beating and banging from the moment the green flag waved. I’m just thrilled to have avoided the carnage and pulled off a win.”

Perhaps the biggest story of the night came in the performance of defending and three-time Oxford champion Travis Adams. The Canton driver was assessed a stop-and-go penalty by officials during the mid-stages, but he never got rattled or upset. Instead, he wheeled his familiar green No. 03 machine up through traffic like a madman possessed, working his way to second at the finish.

“That was certainly a wild, wild race out there tonight,” said Adams. “I need to apologize to Dennis Spencer and the whole Childs family (Spencer has returned to action driving for Conrad Childs). I got into him, and he just wasn’t able to save it. Dennis is one of my heroes at this place. I used to watch him in this division and thought how I’d like to be winning races and titles like he did. Things really turned around for us tonight and worked out in the end.

“I just don’t like to have to abuse the car that hard to play catch up. But a second-place finish is good for us,. We’ll try it again next week.”

Matt Sanborn recorded his best finish in a Late Model at Oxford with a strong third, while sophomore sensation Ben Ashline was fourth and Tyson Jordan fifth. Five cautions slowed the pace, three of which occurred on lap 20. Once the front runners got settled in, it was a fairly clean run to the checkers. Only 11 of the 23 starters finished on the lead lap, a true sign of this evening’s high rate of attrition.

Finishing sixth through 10th in the Late Model feature was 2004 champion Shawn Martin, Dale Verrill, Donnie Wentworth, Paul Bosse and Corey Morgan.

In earlier feature action, Krauter survived a two-lap sprint to the checkers to prevail in a 20-lap tilt for the MacDonald Motors Runnin’ Rebels. The Raymond driver took the lead from Bill Dunphy on lap 16 and hung on for top honors.

Gregg Norton backed up last week’s victory with a solid second-place run, while Doug DeGroat claimed third at the line. Matt Dufault of Turner and Brady Romano of Livermore Falls completed the top five.

Burns made a big late-race charge on Ryan Farrar and drove by to claim a victory in the Sport Truck feature. The driver from Gray passed Farrar on lap 17 and never looked back. John Lizotte finished right where he started in third, while Tony Field and Ross Spurling completed the top five in a caution-free affair for the Sport Truck warriors.

Short picked up his first victory of 2008 in a wild 30-lap battle for the Strictly Stock division. The 1997 champion from Auburn passed polesitter Joe Hutter on lap four and built a huge lead en route to the win. Glenn Henderson gave it everything he had to catch Short but settled for second, while Rick Thompson was third. Skip Tripp and B.J. Chapman completed the top five. Only one caution slowed the pace when Tripp spun out on lap 18.

“I haven’t won one of these things in quite a while,” said Short. “It seems like when I do, it comes easy. A win here is anything but easy, it just all came together for us tonight and it feels great.”

Mooney followed early leader Ken Daigle for the first 20 laps before powering his way by and holding on to score the Mini Stock feature win. The New Gloucester native survived two tight restarts and hung on for top honors. Randy Kimball posted his best run of the season in second, while Greg Watkins finished third. Local favorite Bill Thibeault of Oxford claimed fourth at the line while Kevin Bishop rounded out the top five.

“I didn’t think we could pull this one off, said Mooney. “I knew Ken was fast, but finally saw an opening and went for it. I guess there was enough room, and we were able to hold them off and get it done. I’d love to win a few more of these as the summer goes on.”