When the Sportsman Street Stock Series rolled into Oxford Plains Speedway on Tuesday night, 15 drivers would hit the track as they prepared for 100 laps of action on the short 3/8 mile short track. As time trials got under way, Matt Rolfe would put up a quick time early in qualifying with a lap of 17.133 seconds, and would pick up his league leading 38th career SARA pole.
Rolfe would lead the field to the green flag and jumped out to an early lead. Behind him, Bill Martin would slide up into the 2nd spot on the bottom groove, but Kevin Berg would fall in line down into 3rd and looked to grab the spot back from Martin as the run got started. He would take the spot on lap 3, and set his sights on Rolfe at the front of the field. Martin would get shuffled back to the 4th spot as Ryan Borges moved up into 3rd, with James Linkiewicz holding down the 5th spot in the opening laps. As the field began to settle in during the first 10 laps, it became apparent that a long green flag run could be in store, and that indeed happened as the field set out for a 68-lap run to start the race.
Rolfe and Berg would separate themselves from the cars behind them, but Berg was chasing down Rolfe and was gaining on him as each lap went by. As these two were fighting for the top spot, Ty Majeski was making his way through the field after starting in the back of the pack. By lap 10, Majeski had already moved his way into the top 5, and was looking to continue his charge to the front. Berg would eventually chase down Rolfe, and would set to the inside to grab the spot and take over the lead on lap 18. Rolfe wouldn’t give up too much ground though and would duck in behind him as the run continued. But by the time Berg had grabbed the top spot, Majeski had taken over the 3rd position, and the leaders weren’t too far out in front of him.
As Majeski moved into the 3rd spot, Borges followed him through into 4th, which moved Martin back to the 5th spot. Just a handful of laps later, Majeski had caught Rolfe and moved to the inside lane to battle for the spot. Rolfe would hang tough on the outside for a lap or two before ducking back down into 3rd. As all of this was going on, Berg had chased down a group of cars at the back of the field, and began to put cars a lap down. The top 3 would keep it tucked down on the bottom as they moved past the lapped cars, but as soon as they cleared those cars, Majeski made his move for the lead. He had pulled up onto the bumper of Berg in the traffic, and would grab the spot from him as they came back around for lap 35.
With Majeski in the lead, the field would stay pretty calm as the green flag laps continued to tick off through the halfway point of the race. Outside the top 5, Linkiewicz ran in the 6th spot for a number of laps before taking the 5th spot from Martin on lap 46. Behind them, Stan Bragg, Todd Sipe, Mike Whited, and Jeff Hoggard ran inside the top 10 as they held their spots during the lengthy run.
Majeski’s lead grew to over 2.5 seconds by lap 60 of the race, while behind him the fight to watch was for the 2nd spot. Berg continued to hold the spot, but Rolfe was right there on his bumper. Borges had also closed the gap, and the three cars ran nose-to-tail, just waiting for each other to slip up to take advantage. However Rolfe’s night would end early on lap 62 as his car would have mechanical issues, dropping him from the race and moving Borges up into that 3rd spot. Just a handful of laps later however, Borges would fight handling issues on his car and he would spin around to bring out the first caution, 68 laps into the event.
The entire field would take this time to head down to pit road, but two drivers would take just 2 tires on their stops to move them to the front of the field. Linkiewicz would cycle to the lead after everyone pitted, with Berg hanging onto the 2nd spot which moved Majeski back into 3rd for the lap 74 restart. Linkiewicz would get the jump out into the lead, but it didn’t take long for Majeski to retake the lead as he got it back on lap 76 and regained control of the race. Just after that happened, the 2nd caution of the race would come out. This would set up another restart where the field was able to get a couple laps in, before the 3rd and final caution would set the field up for just a 9-lap run to the finish.
Majeski shot out to the lead on the lap 92 restart, which allowed Berg to fall in behind him to hang onto the 2nd spot. Linkiewicz ran in 3rd, while Martin would restart 4th but got shuffled back outside the top 5 into 6th. Bragg would move up into the 4th position from this, followed by Clay Snider who had recoverd from going a lap down early in the race to move inside the top 5.
As the laps wound down, Majeski had everything locked up and pulled out the lead, and would bring the field around to pick up his 3rd street stock victory of the season, after leading 60 of the 100 laps after starting in the back. The win would be Majeski’s 21st career SARA win. Berg finished off his strong run with a 2nd place finish after leading laps early, followed by Linkiewicz, Bragg, and Snider who held off Martin in the closing laps for the top 5.
1. Ty Majeski
2. Kevin Berg
3. James Linkiewicz
4. Stan Bragg
5. Clay Snider
6. Bill Martin
7. Brandon Wilkinson
8. Ryan Borges
9. Ken Belanger
10. Jeff Hoggard
11. Todd Sipe
12. Russell Berry
13. Jacob Beauchesne
14. Mike Whited
15. Matt Rolfe
Next time out, the Sportsman Street Stocks will head to New Smyrna for a 75-lap event.
With his 9th place finish, Ken Belanger hangs onto the points lead in the standings, and extends it out to just a 5 point lead, and a 9 point lead over 3rd place. For full results and standings, click HERE.