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Alan Ward photo
Barre, VT — For the 57thtime since 1986, the American-Canadian Tour graced the third-mile oval of Oxford Plains Speedway and once again, a first-time winner emerged victorious. Twenty-four teams from across New England and Quebec rolled down Route 26 to the Maine home of the American-Canadian Tour with an interesting group of championship chasers, one-off glory seekers and those that simply enjoy the challenge Oxford Plains Speedway brings.
After pacing the second practice of the day, Quebec’s young-gun and top ACT Rookie contender Alexendre ‘Fireball’ Tardif handily won the first heat race of the afternoon from the pole position while Wolcott, Vermont’s Marcel Gravel made a three-wide move early on to take a +2 into the feature. In the second heat, fellow rookie candidate Robby Gordon Douglas drove by Reilly Lanphear from the outside pole to take the heat two victory. 2019 American-Canadian Tour champion Rich Dubeau also took off from the pole position to win heat three, ensuring that the veterans still had the power on the challenging Oxford oval.
Following the American-Canadian Tour ‘plus/minus’ handicap procedures, Stafford, New Hampshire’s Jeffrey Labrecque Jr. took the pole position with a +3 after starting in the last row of heat three with Gravel’s +2 earning him the outside pole for the Oxford 125 feature event.
Led to point by Labrecque, Gravel edged out the Canny’s Auto Body Chevy Camaro on the outside for the first lap until Labrecque powered back just before the first caution flag flew on lap 2. Groveton, New Hampshire’s Jamie Swallow, Sr. and Williston, Vermont’s Mike Foster got scrambled, both ending up and over turn three. On the restart, Labrecque again powered through to lead before Gravel gained steam underneath the 12NH, leading on lap 4.
The next dust-up occurred on lap 34 with Brock Davis spinning his 47NH around on the front stretch. On the restart, Gravel again took off with Palmyra, Maine’s Ben Ashline breaking into the top-5. A former American-Canadian Tour winner at Oxford Plains Speedway, Ashline used the ‘Angel’s Expressway,’ the extreme outside grove, to motor his way into top-5 contention. Named after American-Canadian Tour and Northeast racing legend Dick McCabe, himself known as the ‘Irish Angel,’ both Ashline and New Sharon’s Dillon Moltz but his fabled fast line to use throughout the 125-lap feature.
By lap 65, the fight for fifth-place was completely under a blanket, sometimes three and nearly four wide for position. Ashline, Moltz, Tom Carey III, Jamie Swallow Jr. and D.J. Shaw all swapping inches, and a little paint, to gain every last bit of real estate while Derek Gluchacki and Tardif were comfortably content with second and third behind Gravel. The third caution flag flew on lap 80 with rookie Cam Huntress and Seekonk Speedway regular Ryan Flood spinning on the exit of turn four.
For the final 45 laps it was smooth sailing for Marcel Gravel while Gluchacki and Tardif swapped second and third through to the end of the event. After navigating through heavy lap traffic during the final 10 laps, and with Gluchacki getting ever closer, Marcel Gravel drove under the double checkered flags for his first ever American-Canadian Tour win. Gluchacki earned second with rookie Alexendre Tardif taking his first ACT podium finish. Point leader D.J. Shaw wrapped up a solid day with a fourth place finish followed by Dillon Moltz for fifth.
The American-Canadian Tour returns to White Mountain Motorsports Park for the 5th annual Milton CAT Midsummer 250 on Saturday, July 30th. The $10,000-to-win event has quickly become a crown jewel event for the American-Canadian Tour as short track stars from across New England and Quebec are expected to converge onto North Woodstock, New Hampshire to take on the longest race of the ACT Tour season, and one of its richest paydays. More information on the Milton CAT Midsummer 250 will be released in the coming weeks.
For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
Oxford Plains Speedway – Oxford, ME
Oxford 125
Sunday, July 10, 2022
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Finish, (Start Pos.), Car #, Driver, Hometown
1. (2) 86VT Marcel J. Gravel Wolcott, VT
2. (12) 03MA Derek Gluchacki North Dartmouth, MA
3. (8) 21QC Alexandre Tardif Notre Dame des Pins, QC
4. (16) 04VT D.J. Shaw Center Conway, NH
5. (4) 5ME Dillon Moltz New Sharon, ME
6. (14) 5MA Tom Carey III New Salem, MA
7. (15) 4NH #Jamie Swallow Jr. Stark, NH
8. (1) 12NH Jeffrey Labrecque Jr. Strafford, NH
9. (11) 41QC Jonathan Bouvrette Blainville, QC
10. (18) 36NH Erick Sands Derry, NH
11. (17) 7NH #Cody Leblanc Berlin, NH
12. (6) 78NH Quinten Welch Groveton, NH
13. (7) 98MA Ryan Flood Sandwich, MA
14. (5) 99ME Ben Ashline Palmyra, ME
15. (9) 27NC #Robby Gordon Douglas Charlotte, NC
16. (13) 27NH #Cam Huntress Rochester, NH
17. (19) 33QC Remi Perreault Joliette, QC
18. (3) 47NH Brockton Davis Whitefield, NH
19. (21) 77MA James Linardy Somerville, MA
20. (24) 04ME Jamie Swallow Sr. Groveton, NH
21. (20) 21VT Reilly Lanphear Waterbury, VT
22. (10) 30NH Rich Dubeau Lebanon, NH
23. (22) 69ME David MacDonald New Gloucester, ME
24. (23) 39VT Mike Foster Williston, VT
