Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford Plains, Maine
Anthony Nocella of Woburn, MA. started tenth and methodically worked his way through the field, taking command on lap 63 and then held off late race charges by Jon McKennedy, David Schneider, and Todd Patnode to claim his third series victory of the year.
"Every time we come here the car is pretty good, so we came back here with the same setup and just tighten it up a little bit extra. I just tried to keep the tires under it and slowly work our way to the front, the car was pretty perfect the whole race. It did wiggle the last five laps because we were pushing to get away from Jon. (McKennedy) He didn't let us get away too easy. We had a plan and stuck with it" Nocella said.
A steadily improving Colbey Fournier of Berkley,MA. and David Schneider of Northport, NY brought the field down to starter John Spence Jr.s green flag and Fournier proved he was a serious contender by taking the initial lead, but a lap one spin by Rob Richardi Jr. brought the first of three yellows of the event. Matt Mead was collected in the crash and eliminated from the event.
The restart now had Woody Pitkat of Sturbridge,MA. who muscled his way up from row two starting along side Fournier , who again jetted into the lead. Pitkat settled into second stalking Fournier until lap eighteen when Pitkat used an outside move and drove away with the lead.
By the thirty lap mark, MRS heavy hitters David Schneider, Todd Patnode, Jon McKennedy, Chris Pasteryak and Anthony Nocella took advantage of a fading Fournier.
Schneider flexed his muscled on lap 38 and drove by Pitkat who developed handling issues but a spin by Maine driver Bill Dixon caused the second yellow of the event and because the lap was not completed, Schneider had to drop back to second. Under caution Pitkat pitted for adjustments giving the lead back to the Long Island driver
For the next thirty laps it looked like smooth sailing for Schneider while behind him the racing was getting more intense. Nocella was now in attack mode and picked off Pasteryak, then McKennedy and finally Patnode to move into Schneiders tire tracks. By lap 63 Nocella powered by Schneider with McKennedy following for second.
A lap 66 spin by Fournier was the cause for yellow and the field was slowed for the final run to the checkers. The restart had Nocella taking charge with Schneider and McKennedy running side by side for the next five laps, neither could gain an advantage, finally McKennedy prevailed taking over second place then went after race leader Nocella looking inside then outside trying to make the winning move but Nocella was just to strong and held on for the win.
McKennedy finished 1.045 second behind. "It was a good run for us, first half a little tight and last thirty laps had an awful push, over all it was a good night to get second and had a good battle for the lead. With 30 to go I was just hanging on, apparently we loss some stagger, about an inch. We cant win them all and still its been a great season" McKennedy said.
Richmond, NH driver Todd Patnode pulled off a late race charge passing Schneider for third place on lap 96." I wasn't sure how to set this car up for Oxford, I thought I had a good piece at the beginning but it went really tight and wouldn't turn at all, but we pitted on a caution and flipped flopped tires which gave us a little stagger which made it a little too free, but free is drive-able, tight is not. So were very pleased with our finish." Patnode noted.
Schneider held on to finish fourth while Donnie Lashua of Cannan,NH rounded out the top five. Schneider commented, "The car was good, very good, our plan was to let guys go and just save our tires and that's what we did. When Woody pitted and gave us the lead I was just still cruising. At lap 60 it tightened up and that's when some guys got by me but we're happy to come in fourth".
This is the third win in 2016 for Nocella on a partial schedule and career win number five to tie driver Andy Seuss in this great touring series.
This is the third win in 2016 for Nocella on a partial schedule and career win number five to tie driver Andy Seuss in this great touring series.
Sixth thru tenth were 15ct.-Chris Pasteryak, 33- Rob Richardi Jr., 55- Joe Doucette, 16- Colbey Fournier, 93- George Sherman.
Heat winners: Colbey Fournier, David Schneider
Summary.
Track- Oxford Plains Speedway,0.373 mile - Oxford Plains,Maine
Race-Oxford 250 Weekend, VMRS 100
Time of Race-39:25.635
Margin of Victory-1.048
Best Lap Time-15.688
Best Speed-86.053
Best Lap By-Colbey Fournier
Cautions- (3)- Lap 1--38--66
Source: Story by Jim Snape and Photos by Simple the Best, Crystal Snape
I hope I get to witness Jon McKennedy in a Super Modified at the World Series at Thompson
Finish
1 92 Anthony Nocella
2 29 Jon McKennedy
3 24 Todd Patnode
4 19 David Schneider
5 117 Donnie Lashua
6 15ct Chris Pasteryak
7 33 Rob Richardi Jr
8 55 Joe Doucette
9 16 Colbey Fournier
10 93 George Sherman
11 52 Woody Pitkat
12 04 Brandon Dion
13 33me Bill Dixon
14 38 Mike Willis Jr
15 81 Josh Cantara
16 77 Matthew Mead
Next Race: Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs, CT. September 2nd.
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