By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

OXFORD — Jim Weymouth nearly had a spectacular finish at Oxford Plains Speedway, but it wasn’t exactly what he might have envisioned.

Weymouth’s hopes of qualifying for the TD Banknorth 250 almost went up in flames Sunday morning when his car spun out of control in Turn 2, sailed off the track and hit a truck. The car was engulfed in flames, putting a temporary halt to the morning practice session.

“I’ve raced for a long time, but there were no accidents of that nature,” said Weymouth, of Pittston. “The biggest thing, it wasn’t so bad hitting it when I hit. I knew something was going to happen that way, but it was the fire that was the big problem. It filled the inside of the car immediately.”

Weymouth quickly climbed out of his car, sponsored by Charlie’s Motor Mall. There was nothing left of the car, says Weymouth.

“It melted,” he said. “At that point, I was making sure everything was still intact.”

He said the accident was the result of a stuck throttle, prompted by a brake adjuster cable that caught the pedal and wouldn’t let go.

“When the pedal went down, I wasn’t able to pull it back up,” said Weymouth.

Weymouth returned to the pit area assuming his day was over, but Bill Whorff Jr. gave him new life. The car that Matt Kenseth drove to a third-place finish last year was waiting in reserve as a backup for Whorff Motorsports, of West Bath. Whorff offered Weymouth a second chance.

“We just came over here, and Bill was kind enough to give us a car to run,” said Weymouth. “It feels real good. The car is set up well. Me and Bill are kind of the same size. So everything is kind of the same.”

Weymouth had time to get a few practice laps in before the morning session ended, allowing him to jump right back into action.

“You don’t think about it,” said Weymouth, who had tried, but failed to qualify for the 250 twice before. “I just put it in the back of my mind. It was an accident that shouldn’t have happened. That’s what it is with these cars. When you get in them, you know at any time, anything can happen.”

Weymouth’s car was a total loss as was the truck owned by the speedway.

“If the driver’s fine, we can have as many trucks that go out of commission,” said OPS owner Bill Ryan Jr.

Weymouth ended up with the 12th spot in the fifth heat during qualifying action. He failed to qualify and called it a day.