OXFORD — Past success is no guarantee of a good result in the Oxford 250.
Nine former winners were entered Sunday in the 44th edition of the race.
All but one of them made it to the starting grid, but none of them was a factor in the end.
Two-time winner Eddie MacDonald of Rowley, Massachusetts, and three-time winner Mike Rowe of Turner finished fourth and fifth respectively, but both needed provisional entries into the 44-car starting grid after failing to qualify.
It was the first time in 30 years that Rowe, 67, attempted to qualify for the 250 but was unsuccessful.
Rowe’s final bid to earn his way into the race was in the 50-lap Last Chance qualifier. Jeremy Davis, an American Canadian Tour driver from Tamworth, New Hampshire, broke up a duel between Rowe and Dennis Spencer Jr. by powering his way through a slight gap on the final lap and claimed the final automatic spot. Rowe, who won the 250 in 1984, 1997 and 2005, was one of 11 drivers who received a provisional spot.
Rowe’s son, Ben, a two-time 250 winner, had to race in two qualifying heats before earning his spot on the starting grid. He spun out on the second lap of the first 20-lap qualifying heat and had to go to the back of the pack for the restart. He couldn’t make up much ground in a heat that included two-time 250 champion Travis Benjamin of Morrill. Benjamin, who won the 250 in 2013 and 2014, finished third in the heat to move into the main event.
Ben Rowe finished second in the first consolation heat to earn his spot.
MacDonald was disqualified after winning the second qualifying heat because it was discovered during the postrace technical inspection that his car’s chassis was too low to the ground. His disqualification handed a qualifying spot to fifth-place finisher Derek Ransom of Worcester, Massachusetts. Reigning champion Wayne Helliwell Jr. of Pelham, New Hampshire, won the heat and started on the front row next to first-heat winner Cassius Clark of Farmington.
Scott Robbins, the 2002 Oxford 250 winner from Dixfield, nosed out Bobby Timmons of Windham to win the fourth heat.
Mike Rowe, 2012 winner Joey Polewarczyk of Hudson, New Hampshire and 2006 winner Jeremie Whorff of Bath didn’t finish among the top four in the sixth qualifying heat. Each of them had to run in one of the three 20-lap consolation qualifying races, and Polewarczyk was the only one to qualify, finishing second in the third consolation heat.
NOTES: A total of 65 cars tried to qualify for the 44 spots on the starting grids. Most of the Super Late Models were from Maine or New Hampshire. The field also included drivers from Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, as well Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and British Columbia. … No NASCAR Cup Series drivers were entered, but Windham native Derek Kneeland, a spotter for Chip Ganassi Racing, tried to qualify for the second consecutive year. Despite running in the top of the half of the pack in his three attempts to qualify, Kneeland failed to make it. He finished 13th last year.
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