IPSC Oxford, Championship Results

Oxford, Maine (Sept. 11) - Ben Rowe, from Turner, Maine, did everything he could to try and win the 1999 International Pro Stock Challenge (IPSC) championship, but he ended up just six markers short of his season-long rival, Scott Fraser of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Rowe won his first-ever pro stock division feature at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine by taking the checkers in the Citra 150 - the season finale for the lucrative $560,000 ($370,000 USD) six-race IPSC. There were 53 cars on hand attempting to make the 36-car starting grid. “We tried,” said Rowe, driver of the Tartan Textiles Pontiac, who gets $5,000 for the win. “We thought we might have a shot at it with Fraser in our rear-view mirror most of the night. At one point I think we had him by one point then we were tied for a while. But he snuck up there a couple of spots in the end.” Fraser wound up fourth and was excited about the championship as well as the calibre of racing he saw on the series this year. “This is what we wanted,” said Fraser who will collect a check for $15,000 at the series awards banquet in November. “We were after the championship. It would have been nice to win the race, too, but we’ll take it. The car got real loose as soon as our tires got warmed up and we would just start going backwards. The cautions helped us because we were definitely better on cold tires.” Fraser discovered his right front tire had been cut on the sidewall during an early race incident and realized he was indeed lucky that the tire held air for the 150 lap duration of the race. “That’s what we predicted it would come down to - luck - and it sure did.” Rowe meanwhile was busy celebrating his win with his Tartan Textiles/HiTech Motorsports crew who were assembled just prior to the True Value 250 on July 4th. The team, headed by Maine businessman Tom Estes, had an incredible two wins, a second and a fifth in four races. Rowe started the race from the ninth spot and the majority on the race in the top five until he moved to second on lap 104 behind Maine’s Danny Bubar. Rowe took the point on lap 136. Bubar was second and Maine’s Tim Brackett third - good enough to move Brackett to third in the final point standings. Fraser and Nova Scotia’s Dan Eddy rounded out the top five. Pole sitter Sam Sessions (Maine) led the first 80 circuits and finished seventh. Maine’s Ralph Nason led laps 81 to 106 and Bubar 107 to 135. There were nine caution periods in the one hour, six minute, 50 second event. Motor Mart Heat Races were won by Mike Rowe, Bubar and Scott Robbins. The Motor Mart Dash For Cash was won by Sessions. Nason set fast time for the day in the Snap-on Tools Time Trials with a lap around the 1/3-mile oval in 15.470-seconds. Steve Knowlton won the Consi. Ben Rowe clinched a $2,500 Bud Challenge bonus for scoring the most points in the three OPS/ IPSC races this year. FINAL RACE RESULTS: 1. Ben Rowe; 2. Danny Bubar; 3. Tim Brackett; 4. Scott Fraser; 5. Dan Eddy; 6. Scott Chubbuck; 7. Sam Sessions; 8. Scott Robbins; 9. Mike Rowe; 10. Donnie Whitten; 11. Henry Hudson III; 12. Nick Nichols; 13. Steve Knowlton; 14. Kirk Thibeau; 15. Mike MacKenzie; 16. Ralph Nason; 17. Bub Bilodeau; 18. Johnny Clark; 19. Adam Friend; 20. Alan Wilson; 21. Chuck Lachance; 22. Jerry Babb; 23. John Flemming; 24. Leo Cochrane; 25. Tom Mayberry; 26. Tommy Tompkins; 27. Larry Poole; 28. Chris Staples; 29. Steve Knowlton; 30. Dan McKeage; 31. Paul Bosse; 32. Bill Rodgers; 33. Mike Riley; 34. Jim Emerson; 35. Andy Shaw; 36. Glenn Josselyn FINAL POINT STANDSINGS - TOP 10 - UNOFFICIAL: 1. Scott Fraser 902; 2. Ben Rowe 896; 3. Tim Brackett 796; 4. Adam Friend 790; 5. Mike MacKenzie 756; 6. Scott Robbins 752; 7. Bub Bilodeau 748; 8. John Flemming 737; 9. Jerry Babb 731; 10. Dan Eddy