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ON PIT ROAD: Fireworks, firing up and first-come-first-serve

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* SAGGING ATTENDANCE

? Check.

Low car counts? Check.

Purses out of control? Check.

So, you're a promoter at a short track in Maine, and you've got some problems, huh? Well, read on, Bingo, because I'm about to make all your problems disappear.

Adam Bates a PASS winner; Hewins puts end to Rolfe's streak

Can I pick the sand out of my toes long enough to produce any meaningful work? Probably not.

But in case you, too, are living 13 hours behind the rest of the world this week and figured this was the only stop you'd make in your search for results from Saturday night -- here's some of what went down.

Adam Bates, who has been taking steps toward success in the PASS North Series, won the Firecracker 150 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

ON SITE: Adam Polvinen, Tommy Tompkins make it look easy

Who needs Legend car racing when you've got a Mini Stock that runs like that.

Adam Polvinen did an about-face with his 4th of July weekend plans, opting for a trip to Oxford Plains Speedway instead of one to nearby Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, and it paid off in the form of a 50-lap feature win for Polvinen on Wednesday night.

It was Polvinen's first victory of the season.

ON PIT ROAD: Bruton, Busch and Beech Ridge

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* ON THE ONE hand, you've got about as old New England as they come.

Bob Bahre, the former owner of what was called New Hampshire International Speedway, always wearing a pressed white shirt and work pants, with the same yellow cardigan sweater if he caught a chill in the air. He dined in the same little breakfast nook each morning, spoke shortly and directly, and never seemed to smile -- even when cracking a joke so dry a garden hose couldn't save it.

On the other hand, you've got about as big city glitz as they come.

COLUMN: Sticky situation 'compounding' matters at Beech Ridge

David Oliver is quick to correct you when you point out that he doesn't seem to like racing in the outside groove. His eyes grow wide, and he shakes his head wildly from side to side.

"No, no, no!" he says. "I love the outside."

What he doesn't love, you soon find out, is the traction compound applied to the outside groove at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway. In fact, for a guy that was tempted to build a house on the high side of the track out of his affinity for it en route to his 2002 track championship, he thinks it's actually hurt the racing at the facility instead of helped it.

ON SITE: Bub Bilodeau's car not to be ignored

To steal a line from the ridiculously bad 80s movie "Dirty Dancing," nobody puts Baby in the corner.

After sitting for 2 weeks in the secondary garage, tucked away in solitary confinement, Bub Bilodeau's No. 9 roared to life on Wednesday night, easily winning the Miller Lite 50 Pro Series feature at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.

Bilodeau said the car had been paid virtually no attention at all while the team tried to get its 2nd car, the No. 3 driven by Mike Maietta Jr., running better. But on Wednesday, ol' No. 9 made a statement that it was not be ignored.

Veteran Lyman McKeage takes popular win at Beech Ridge

After failing to win the 50-lap Wildcat feature for the first time in his career, Lyman McKeage celebrated a popular win in his next effort at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.

McKeage moved from mid-pack into the lead just past the halfway mark, cruising to victory in the 30-lap Wildcat feature on Wednesday night. Rookies Brian Caswell and Paul Lund finished 2nd and 3rd in a fairly heated battle behind him -- but all eyes were on McKeage.

Cheers erupted from the packed grandstands when the veteran McKeage emerged from his car.

ON SITE: My sister is a freeloader

Because I have no scruples at all, I willing to throw family members under the bus.

To wit: My sister just called to tell me she's bringing her kids over to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway to watch the fireworks display planned for later on in the night. Of course, she's not actually coming for the racing -- in fact, she's no different that those dozen or so people peering over the fence outside of the turn 1 run-off area.

My sister plans to come late, watch from the parking lot and leave early.

Bub Bilodeau among nation's top 200

Bub Bilodeau finished 2nd in the Coors Light 100 at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway last Saturday night, good enough to help him gain more than 30 spots in NASCAR's national short-track standings.

Bilodeau has 2 wins and top-5 finishes in all 5 of his Pro Series starts at Beech Ridge, giving him 150 total points and a Whelen All-American Series standing of 192nd overall.

Bilodeau ranked 227th a week ago.

ON SITE: Tim Robinson punches ticket to Nationals

Unity Raceway Mini Stock driver Tim Robinson won't have to worry anymore. Not that you get the impression he really was.

"The benefit of this is that now when I go down there again, I don't have to worry if I have trouble in qualifying," Robinson said after earning an automatic qualifying spot for the 4-Cylinder Nationals at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway next month.

Robinson bested Lewis Batchelder to win the 35-lap Mini Stock feature on Sunday afternoon. Robinson ran the nationals last year and finished 2nd and had already marked his calendar for a return trip this year.

ON SITE: Bobby Babb takes field to school

They stood separated by a third of a mile, 8 finishing positions and more than 2 decades of racing experience.

Along the frontstretch at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Saturday night, 5-time track champion Bobby Babb stood mobbed by friends and well-wishers. In the anonymity of a black race hauler, young T.J. Brackett stood staring at the floor, his head tilted -- the obvious illustration of dejection.

For the 1st time in a storied Beech Ridge career, Babb had just won the Coors Light 100. For the 1st time in a Pro Series career less than 2 years old, Brackett had lost one.

ON SITE: Richard Randall gets an easy 'tough' win

Richard Randall said it was a tough way to win, but he was only half-right.

Randall inherited the lead when Glenn Bradbury lost it after contact with Jesse Tolman, driving off to win the 30-lap Wildcat feature at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Saturday night. For Randall, who got his 1st win of the season, it was actually a pretty easy way to win.

"I was going to be happy just to finish 2nd," Randall said. "Then, I don't really know what happened up there with (Bradbury and Tolman)."

ON SITE: It feels like the first time

Forgive me if I'm a little giddy here tonight, loyal readers.

Tonight marks the first time I've ever covered a race at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway where PASS wasn't involved -- because in my old days before I was a full-fledged outdoors writer (go figure), I was an auto racing writer in central Maine. That meant covering Wiscasset Raceway, Unity Raceway and sometimes Oxford Plains.

It's like a bad set of vowels -- A,E, I, O, U and sometimes Y.

ON PIT ROAD: Jeff Gordon, Junkyard Warriors and John Force

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* A FEW YEARS back, during that very dark period in my life when I was trapped working and living in southern New England, I wrote a story about how Thompson International Speedway officials had tossed around the idea of at least exploring the possibility of a Craftsman Truck Series race at their historic .625-mile facility.

At the crux of it, the track really needed only add some seating to bring its overall capacity into the tens of thousands with a slam dunk of a built-in local sponsor in either Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun right down the road, This came at a time when the Truck Series was returning to short tracks -- heading back to Mansfield, Ohio, among other venues.

NEWS: Bub Bilodeau leads Maine NASCAR contingent

With 2 wins and 4 top-5 finishes in 4 starts thus far this season, Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Pro Series driver Bub Bilodeau ranks 227th in the NASCAR All-American Series national standings.

The first rankings of 2008 were released by NASCAR on Wednesday. Bilodeau has 122 total points.

Andy Loden, who calls Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway home, leads the nation in the early going. Loden has already made 18 starts -- posting 4 wins and 16 top-5 finishes for a total of 540 points.

Rained out at The Ridge

Beech Ridge Motor Speedway became the 2nd track in Maine to succumb to nasty weather.

The Scarborough Track has canceled its racing card slated for Saturday night under the threat of more rain, including thunder showers.

The facility's Coors Light 100 for the Super Late Models has been rescheduled for next Saturday night.

ON PIT ROAD: Shortcomings, short races and short fuses

It's almost the weekend again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* SO, UNITY RACEWAY'S much-anticipated opening is just a couple of days away, and already I feel like the buzz is starting to wear off.

I say good for George Fernald for doing what's in his heart, for having the means to try and keep a place going that has meant so much to him for the last 3 decades or more. In racing heaven, he'll certainly have a seat at the dinner table.

But now that we're oh-so-close to the green flag on a season-opening 108-lap Sportsman event, I'm starting to worry about the reality of it all.

ON SITE: Mike Landry wins not-so-super Super Street feature

Don't you just love a long day made even longer by an hour-long Super Street feature? I mean, seriously, don't you?

It took more than 60 minutes to complete a race which I could have told you who would win after just a couple of laps. Mike Landry of Oakland, who is running at Wiscasset Raceway on a full-time basis this season after bidding adieu to Beech Ridge, took the checkered flag in an event shortened to 30 laps -- 5 laps shy of the advertised distance.

It was Landry's first win of the season in his new digs, and first of the former Beech Ridge champ's career at Wiscasset. Last week's winner, Shawn Austin, was 2nd with Brian Fortin rounding out the top-3.

NEWS: Ben Rowe wins at White Mountain

After nearly winning in the season opener at Beech Ridge last month, and then finishing on the podium last week at Wiscasset Raceway, Ben Rowe finally landed where he wanted.

Rowe took the lead from pole-sitter Cassius Clark on a late restart and then held him off on a green-white-checkered finish to win the PASS North Series 150 at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday night. Clark held on for 2nd.

NEWS: Late Model class to return to Unity Raceway

The mission was simple: Keep Unity Raceway going.

In order to do that, George Fernald feels as though he needs to answer every phone call that comes in -- even if that call is from someone with an old race car in the garage looking for a place to race. On Saturday afternoon, during another lightly attended pre-season practice session at the track, Fernald met with the representatives of roughly a half-dozen race teams interested in having a Late Model Sportsman division at Unity.

The division will make its debut with a 30-lap feature paying $300 to the winner on June 8, one week after the track's opening day. The purse is contingent on at least 10 LMS teams making an appearance.