Oxford Plains: Shawn Martin hitting midsummer stride

Shawn Martin is back in championship form at Oxford Plains Speedway, something that hasn’t been seen in a couple of seasons out of the Turner, Maine, driver.

It’s been a month since Martin finished out of the top-5 in Late Model competition at Oxford, running 2^nd in the last three 40-lap weekly Championship Series events at the track and finishing 4^th in the TD Banknorth 250 after starting 25^th.

With Ricky Rolfe not racing for points and taking the last couple of weekends off on family jaunt across the continental United States, Martin has closed to just 22 points behind 3-time division champion Travis Adams – close enough to take a shot at a 2^nd Late Model championship.

Martin win the 2004 Late Model crown at Oxford, winning an ACT event at the facility that season.

On Saturday night, Martin finished behind rookie competitor Jimmy Childs of Leeds, who won his first career Late Model feature after some 30 wins and 2 titles in the Mini Stock ranks.

With a long green-flag run wrapping up the 40-lap main, Childs beat Martin to the checkered flag by roughly four seconds.

"One of these nights we're going to win another one of these races," Martin said. "We're on a pretty nice streak of seconds, so that's great."

Martin has 9 career Late Model victories, but it’s been almost two years now since his last one. He hasn’t won since Sept. 16, 2006.

Last year, Martin said, the car was plagued by mechanical issues, ones the team had begun to iron out early this season. As the summer has progressed, Martin has certainly hit his stride – failing to finish out of the top-10 in weekly competition since finishing 14^th in an extended 50-lap feature on July 3.

Since that race, when he was caught up in another car’s spin, he’s finished in the top-3 in four of six races. Over the last five feature races, Martin’s scored more championship points than any other driver, including Rolfe and Adams.

Comments

[Komet]

One of the nicest guys anyone will ever meet at the track, a clean driving hard nosed racer who will help out anyone. Local race tracks need more people like Shawn