OXFORD – Teenage racing sensation Joey Polewarczyk took the lead on lap 53 and went on to dominate the Dunkin’ Donuts 150 for the American-Canadian Tour Saturday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Known affectionately as “Joey Pole” in racing circles, the young driver has struggled since winning the season opener April 20, but had it all go his way Saturday.

Eddie MacDonald made an exciting charge toward the front and claimed second at the finish, while former Oxford champion Ricky Rolfe was third.

“This is just unbelievable,” said Polewarczyk. “We came here with a completely different setup, the car was good in practice, but we made a lot of changes before the feature. This team got the car right, and it ran terrific the whole race.

MacDonald, who has won in a variety of cars, was gracious in defeat and seemed pleased with his performance.

“The car was great on the outside,” he said. “The outside groove really worked well tonight. Rollie (crew chief Lachance) got the car hooked up well and we were able to get through traffic pretty easily. It went smoothly for us, and I’m happy to secure a solid top-three run here as we prepare for the 250.”

MacDonald and Lachance have quite a task ahead of them next month, as they’ll try to compete in a NASCAR Camping World East Series race Saturday night, then take a red-eye flight back to Portland and come to Oxford for the 250 by noon Sunday.

At the drop of the green, Cyr led the 33-car field into turn 1 with Steve Fisher, Scott Payea and Turner native Glen Luce in tow. Cyr set the pace for the first 11 circuits until Scott Payea drove by on the frontstretch. Everybody got settled into a rhythm pretty quickly as the field clicked off the first 104 laps without a caution.

Polewarczk made his move on lap 53 when Payea got caught up in traffic coming off Turn 4.

Shortly after Polewarczky made his intentions know, Patrick Laperle began a march to the front.

Right behind him Rolfe, who had won two 40-lap Late Model features in a row.

After a struggle in qualifying, Rolfe won the B Feature and started 17th. Halfway through the race, he was second and set his sights on Polewarczk.

The blistering pace caused several normally competitive cars to get lapped.

Caution finally waved at lap 105 when Payea lost control coming off Turn 2.

Polewarczyk got the jump on the restart. Several lapped cars separated Rolfe and third place Patrick Laperle, while Ben Rowe battled in fourth.

Perhaps the best battle of the evening came late in the event when Laperle and Rowe fought side-by-side for several laps for third. Rowe worked the outside, while Laperle held the low line to protect his position.

As the laps began to wind down, it was apparent that nobody had anything for Polewarczk. It was his third career ACT victory and second this season. The only delay was a late caution with 12 to go when 2007 TD Banknorth 250 winner Roger Brown spun out in Turn 3.

Matt Williams, Justin Karkos, Zach Bowie and Dottie Patria were also feature winners at the 3/8-mile oval.

Patria made a wise choice in traffic and went on to prevail in a 20-lap tilt for the Ladies division. The Turner driver went to the outside down the backstretch while early leader Christina Spaulding went low and got caught in a box. Spaulding hung on for second, while Cathy Manchester drove from fifth to third. Tina Springer of Norway and Oxford veteran Deanna Bisbee completed the top five.

Bowie passed early leader Dan Brown and held off a hard-charging Guy Childs to capture the Outlaw feature. The Lisbon driver was the fourth different leader of the event, as Rodney Englehaupt, Randy Robitaille and Brown all took turns at the front. Brown hung on for third, while Steve Moon of Gray and Minot’s Thom Bell completed the top five.

Karkos dominated the Mini Stock feature to earn his second career victory. The Jay driver led wire-to-wire and only needed to survive one restart to get the job done. Point leader Guy Childs kept applying the pressure, but settled for second, Matt Moore was third, while Darrell Moore ran within sight of the leaders all race and claimed fourth at the stripe. Bob Guptil completed the top five.

Williams picked up his second win of the year in a caution-free battle for the Strictly Stock division. The Brownfield driver drove by B.J. Chapman on lap 23 and cruised home to victory. Glenn Henderson claimed second at the line, while divisional strongman Skip Tripp was third. Kim Tripp and Rick Thompson completed the top five.