OXFORD – Gary Drew chose the right line around a painfully slow lapped car, swiped the lead from snakebitten Jeff White with five laps to go and won his second Pro Stock feature of the season in a fitting end to a bizarre night at Oxford Plains Speedway.

“We got a break tonight,” said Drew. “I feel bad for Jeff. He’s been trying hard for a couple years.”

Tim Brackett, Jeremie Whorff and Paul Bosse each led the race early before spinning out of contention. Scott King also went for a wild, airborne journey over the car of Zachary Emerson on a jumbled-up restart. Four cars also were parked for passing the pace car under caution.

Those scenarios were typical of the evening.

Bump-and-run moves and multi-car crashes were common as the outside groove on the new asphalt surface — twice repaved in spots along the inside — never materialized.

White inherited the lead after Bosse looped his car in turn two on the 12th lap. He held off Drew by a margin of three to five car lengths until traffic intervened.

“It’s pretty simple. A slow car took me way up the race track, and Gary slid underneath me,” said White. “Whoever that guys was in the pits, thanks. That was my first win.”

He made one final bid on the final lap before falling shy by a car length. Kevin Kimball, Alan Wilson and newcomer Sam Gooden rounded out the lead quintet.

Tommy Ricker, Travis Adams, Danny Morris, Chris Coolidge and Jon Brill also carried the checkered flag. Morris’ conquest was his first ever.

Ricker survived a mayhem-filled yet somehow caution-free Limited Sportsman feature for his second straight victory and third of the season.

After taking the lead in traffic from Dave Raymond on lap 15, Ricker spun when Raymond tapped him five circuits later. Division leaders Carey Martin and Kenny Harrison simultaneously collided while battling for what would have been the lead.

Raymond received a black flag for his role in the melee. Ricker, meanwhile, recovered from the encounter and reeled in Shane Green on lap 22 for an improbable win.

“I saw my number come up on the scoreboard again and I said to myself, ‘Am I the only car on the track?'” said Ricker.

Green held on for second, followed by Steve Bennett Sr., Harrison and Martin.

Adams, who began the night in a three-way tie for the Limited Sportsman series lead, moved to the head of the championship chase with his fourth feature victory. He took the top spot on lap 8, little more than a mile of racing after a crash took out the top four cars. Raymond climbed into his LMS car and claimed second, while Ron Henry and Jerry Harrison finished third and fourth, respectively, to stay within a whisker of Adams in the season-long scramble. Shawn Martin ran fifth.

“Isn’t that awesome? We’re going to keep this nip-and-tuck right to the end,” said Adams, who now leads Henry by three points and Harrison by five.

Morris joined his father, uncle and brother as an OPS feature winner after approximately five seasons of trying in the Mini Stock division. With his 20-lap race slowed by only one caution flag and most of the high-point drivers struggling to solve a new pavement combination, Morris needed only to fend off Jimmy Childs.

That wasn’t an easy task, with the 12-time feature winner essentially glued to Morris’ back bumper throughout in pursuit of his second win of the season. Morris held his line and won the battle of Fords — a rematch of Morris’ eight-lap heat race victory — by a car length.

“He raced me clean, and when it started getting down to the end, I appreciated that,” said Morris. “He was all over me in the heat race, and I figured if he made the right changes before the feature he was going to get me.”

The leaders were a full straightaway in front of a series of late-race spins that marred the battle for third. In the commotion, defending division champion Butch Keene snuck up to third, followed by current point leader Billy Childs Sr. and rookie Mike Warren. Keene was disqualified when a post-race inspection turned up unapproved front suspension parts, moving Childs Sr. and Warren up one spot each and shuffling Scott Audet to fifth.

Coolidge’s fifth Strictly Stock victory of the season and 12th of his career was easily his least satisfying. In the final turn of a terrific race for the ‘B’ feature win with Keith Stuart, Coolidge touched Stuart’s rear bumper just enough to send the driver who led the first 19 laps for a 360-degree spin.

After winning the smoke-shrouded sprint to the finish line, Coolidge, known at the speedway for his vociferous, victory lane speeches inspired by WWE wrestlers, was decidedly glum.

“I have to apologize to the No. 3 (Stuart), and I don’t even know who he is,” Coolidge said. “I didn’t mean to do that. He braked a little quicker than I expected, and I got into him. I don’t race that way. It’s no fun to win that way.”

Stuart led every lap but the final one for the second straight week.

Somehow, nobody in the five-car lead group ran into him while his car was sitting sideways in the fourth turn, and Stuart soldiered on to second. Rusty Gaghan won a sprint with Mike Short by inches to claim third, followed by Brian Dennison.

Brill’s third triumph of the summer in the Strictly Stock ‘A’ feature packed all the fireworks of the preceding race without the volatile conclusion.

A restart with four laps to go wiped out Sumner Sessions’ substantial lead. Sessions and Larry Emerson drifted high as they diced for the lead position in turn four on lap 17. Brill, third in division points entering the race, found enough room on the inside to claim the lead by the time the pack returned to turn one.

Sessions settled for second after apparent runner-up Billy Childs Jr. was tossed for a weight infraction. Rookie Glenn Hall, Peter Hafford and Bob Crocker wrapped up the top five. Hafford unofficially leads Brill by two points in the championship race.

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