OXFORD, Maine — A star-studded field of 64 drivers have filed entries for Sunday’s 45th Annual Clark’s Scrap Metals Oxford 250.
Defending Oxford 250 champion Curtis Gerry leads the accolade pack field as he looks to claim his second straight win in the $25,000-to-win classic. The 2016 Beech Ridge Motor Speedway champion is in good position to do so as he has won in five straight PASS North Super Late Model events at the Oxford Plains Speedway oval and six of his last eight PASS North races.
Hot on Gerry’s heels will be two-time Beech Ridge champion Reid Lanpher. The Manchester, Maine and two-time Oxford 250 runner-up driver has posted seven top-five finishes in eight PASS North races this season, which include a win at Beech Ridge in July.
Two-time Oxford 250 champion Travis Benjamin will look to snap Gerry’s hot streak at the three-eighths mile oval. The two-time PASS North champion drove from a 31st place starting position in July at Oxford to finish fifth.
Three-time Oxford 250 race winner and seven-time Oxford track champion Mike Rowe is on the top contenders list as he is fresh off a win in Oxford weekly competition one week ago. His son, two-time Oxford 250 winner and four-time PASS North champion Ben Rowe, will look to snap a long wingless streak and get his car owner, Richard Moody, into victory lane.
In addition to Mike Rowe, nine former Oxford track champions will each look at add their name to the Oxford 250 record book as winner, led by nine-time Oxford champion Jeff Taylor. The Farmington, Maine driver has made 20 previous, but has only been able to post two-runner-up finishes, once in 1995 and again in 2012.
The 2004 Oxford champion and 2002 Oxford 250 winner Scott Robbins will look to join a list of eight drivers with two Oxford 250 wins, while four-time Oxford champion Tim Brackett will look for his first 250 win. His son, two-time Oxford champion T.J. Brackett, will also look to grab his first 250 win, as will the 2012 Oxford champion Shawn Martin.
Tracy Gordon, the 1991 Oxford track champion and two-time Oxford 250 runner-up, will look for his first win in the prestigious race, as will the 1984 Oxford champion ahd 1995 NASCAR North champion Kelly Moore. Two recent track champions champions, 2011 champion Jeff White and defending champion Alan Tardiff, will also seek their first 250 win.
The list of other former Oxford 250 champions entered into Sunday’s event include 2016 winner and three-time American-Canadian Tour champion Wayne Helliwell Jr., 2015 winner Glen Luce, 2012 winner and 2014 American-Canadian Tour champion Joey Polewarczyk Jr., and 2009 and 2010 winner Eddie MacDonald.
A host of other champions see their names in search of their first 250 win, including 2013 PASS North champion Cassius Clark. The Farmington, Maine driver dominated the first half of last year’s Oxford 250 and ultimately finished third. Another clark, six-time PASS North champion Johnny Clark, will also search for his first 250 win after he finished runner-up in the 2005 event.
Two-time PASS North champion D.J. Shaw, 2015 Granite State Pro Stock Series champion Derek Griffith, 2015 PASS South champion Tate Fogleman, 2016 Maritime Pro Stock Tour champion Cole Butcher, 2014 Beech Ridge champion Dave Farrington Jr., 2012 Beech Ridge champion Brad Babb, and former Oxford Late Model champion Dennis Spencer Jr. are all entered.
Two other champions with large accomplishments are also entered in search of their first Oxford 250 win — Maine favorite Austin Theriault and Georgia’s Bubba Pollard.
The 2017 ARCA Racing Series champion Theriault will enter Sunday’s 250 in search of besting his 2014 result of second. The Fort Kent, Maine driver also finished third in the 2012 edition of the race.
Pollard, of Senoia, Georgia, has a long list of accomplishments that see multiple wins and championships at tracks and series throughout the Southeast, including the famed All-American 400 at Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway in 2016. Pollard has also claimed wins in the SRL’s Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway Park, Snowflake 100 at Five Flags Speedway, the Red Eye 100 at New Smyrna Speedway, and the CRA Speedfest at Watermelon Capital Speedway. It will be Pollard’s first attempt at the Oxford 250.
Also entered in Sunday’s event includes current Oxford Super Late Model championship point leader Gabe Brown, 2013 Oxford 250 runner-up Joey Doiron, 2015 Oxford 250 third place finisher Ben Lynch, two-time PASS South championship runner-up Kodie Conner, and former PASS North race winners Jeremy Davis, Garrett Hall, Bryan Kruczek, Mike Hopkins, Derek Ramstrom, Trevor Sanborn, Lonnie Sommerville, and Joe Squeglia.
Also entered is NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Matt Swanson, former ACT Late Model Tour race winner Travis Stearns, Legends car standout Austin Teras, and multi-time Stafford Speedway Late Model champion Adam Gray.
Sunday’s Oxford 250 will go green at 1:30pm with heat race qualifying. The 45th Annual Clark’s Scrap Metals Oxford 250 will begin at approximately 6:00pm.
PHOTO: Defending Oxford 250 race winner Curtis Gerry (7) and last year’s Oxford 250 runenr-up Reid Lanpher (59) will lead more than 60 other drivers into Sunday’s $25,000-to-win Oxford 250. (Alan Ward photo)
