OXFORD – When Tommy Ricker learned at the last moment that a draw would be held at Sunday afternoon’s driver’s meeting, he scrambled to select someone to draw for him. His daughter, Jaime, was given the honor and turned out to be the right choice.

“She’s the lucky one in the family,” said Ricker. “That worked out great.”

Jaime selected No. 17. That put her father on the poll of the second heat race. Ricker rode that positioning to earn his qualifying spot.

“She picked 17 and put us on the poll for that second heat,” said Ricker. “That was outstanding. I knew it was just a matter of holding on.”

Ricker had suggested a couple different females within his team who could draw for him. When he went off to the driver’s meeting, he thought it was just going to be an update on the weather conditions.

“I thought they were just going to talk about what was going on,” said Ricker. “They said they were going to draw. So I came running down, ‘Jaime, you’ve been elected.'”

A pretty good choice, by father and daughter.

Don’t quit your day job

By the time racing began again Monday, there were 12 drivers that had not returned following Sunday’s postponement. Only one racer that qualified was not in attendance, but he was expected to return. T.J. Watson, of Harpswell, qualified Sunday and earned the 13th spot in the 250, but he was lobstering most of Monday and expected to rush back to Oxford to compete.

Second chance to last chance

Strong’s Scott Luce watched his fortunes change dramatically in a span of 24 hours.

In the first heat of Sunday’s qualifying, Luce was involved in a bad crash near the pit entrance on the first lap, which put him out of action for the day. Monday, things were looking up for Luce. He won the last chance race Monday afternoon to earn a spot in the main event. He emphatically turned down the $1,500 prize offered to last-chance race winners.

“I’m going to run the 250,” said Luce.

Not him again

Roger Brown and Dale Verrill just can’t seem to avoid each other. The two finished side-by-side in last year’s 250, with Brown narrowly edging out Verrill, of South Paris. Monday, Brown, of Lancaster, N.H., was in the 15th spot in the starting field. Want to guess who was next to him? Dale Verrill.