ON SITE: Bill Whorff Jr. works overtime, wins Coastal 200

Bill Whorff Jr. has worked overtime both on and off the track at Wiscasset Raceway this year. On Sunday afternoon, he cashed his overtime check.

Whorff took advantage of a carefully thought out pit strategy and heavy attrition in the early going to win the Coastal 200 -- the biggest win of his racing career and first ever at Wiscasset. Whorff was one of only 2 cars to finish on the lead lap of the race which took nearly 2 1/2 hours to run and was marred by 19 caution periods.

Darren Ripley finished 2nd. T.J. Watson was 3rd, one lap down, and one of only 12 of 31 starters running at the finish.

"We decided before the race we wanted to get to the 125 laps and let everyone else pit early, which they did," Whorff said. "We needed to wait for the gas, to get the rear weight percentage we wanted to get the car to go right."

Whorff not only worked the long Coastal 200, but he'd also put in well over an hour in the Super Late Model feature earlier in the afternoon. All told, he ran more than 3 hours and 40 minutes around the .375-mile oval -- more than he ran when he finished 2nd to son Jeremie Whorff in the 2006 Oxford 250.

Additionally, Whorff logged dozens upon dozens of hours installing pit stalls and parking areas to help track owner Doug White get ready for the season opener earlier this month. If a track ever owed anybody for man-hours -- either on-track or off -- it was Whorff, who got a $10,000 payday.

"I guess it's a good payback for all the time I've spent here," Whorff smiled.

Whorff pitted for the final time on lap 115 and had gobbled up Ripley's straightaway lead in less than 10 laps. He passed him for the point on lap 141.

Ripley then rode around trying to protect 2nd place. A caution flew on lap 186 -- and Ripley hit pit road for tires. Problem was, the only tires he'd had left old ones, taken off his car when he mistakenly pitted on lap 54.

His crew had miscalculated the number of laps run at 82.

"We pitted real, real early," Ripley said. "We made that mistake that way, but we put the (first) tires on and that's all we had."

Whorff said he radioed in and knew that Ripley had old tires on his car when he lined up outside of him on lap 185 and lap 196 restarts.

"I really didn't worry," Whorff said. "I knew that they were still 2 or 3-10ths slower than what we were running, even on new tires. The car was just clicking along so well."

Ripley was happy with 2nd, though, coming into this year driving for owner Bill Stilphen after a 6-year absence from racing. Like Whorff, his own excavation company helped Wiscasset get ready for this season.

"This was good," said Ripley, who owned $4,000 for his runner-up spot. "I knew if I stayed out of trouble -- no gambles -- we'd be OK. The car looks pretty good for 200 laps."

Comments

[chris lee]

pro stocks?

[captainkill]

late model

[captainkill]

oh, and i am pretty sure there were only 10 running at the finish. i counted on the last lap

[Wayne]

I think it is Quite a feat in the fact that the Whorff,s have won the Oxford 250 and in only his 3rd time out in a LMS Bill won in his LMS car. Thats two very big races in their hat. He also was running away with the Pro Stock race till a tangle while leading on a restart took him out.