Taylor: No place like home> ’93 Oxford champion hopes luck follows him to Beech Ridge

Jeff Taylor has no visions of grandeur. At least, not yet.

Despite the fact that he went to Oxford Plains Speedway last Sunday and won the American Canadian Tour’s season-opening Diet Coke 150 in dominating fashion, the 27-year-old Farmington resident was not ready to throw in his local racing plans for a full-time shot at the tour.

“There’s no sense kidding ourselves. We were at home,” said Taylor, Oxford’s 1993 late model track champion who won $4,275 last weekend. “We don’t have enough money to tour full time. We’d like to have done it this year, but the finances aren’t there. We’ve got enough money to have a real good Saturday night car.”

Sometimes that car will be good enough to beat all comers.

Taylor is hoping this Sunday goes as well as last Sunday as he and an estimated 30 other drivers converge on Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough for the first installment in the six-race Maine Late Model Sportsman Championship Series. Starting time is 1:30 p.m.

Dale Shaw of Center Conway, N.H., won last year’s inaugural Maine series championship, edging out Beech Ridge’s Mike Johnson by less than 30 points. Taylor was third.

Shaw may or may not be around to defend his title this season, however, after accepting Quint Boisvert’s NASCAR North ride in a Skoal-sponsored car. Shaw could not be reached for comment Friday.

“I know he wanted to (defend his title),” said ACT spokeswoman Marjorie Parker. “I know he took the Skoal ride with NASCAR, but he’s got cars available to him.”

That could make a driver like Taylor the early favorite.

“I love the place,” said Taylor of the one-third-mile Beech Ridge oval. “We’re always fast and we’ve always run good, but we’ve never really finished well.”

Last year, Taylor qualified third behind Junior Hanley and Ralph Nason, but the race got rained out. He also crashed under a caution flag during another race.

While he does seem to boast a car fast enough to win any race in this state this season, Taylor points to some Beech Ridge regulars as pre-race favorites.

“Guys like Mike Johnson and Mike Maietta, those guys are always tough,” Taylor said.

If Taylor has a good effort Sunday, he’d be in a good position to get an early jump on all series competitors. The second installment of the Maine series will come May 30 at Oxford – Taylor’s home track.

PIT STOPS – Wiscasset Raceway drops the green flag on its season Saturday at 2 p.m…. According to a press release by the American Canadian Tour, the Oxford 250 already has 103 cars registered and looking to make the 42-car starting grid for the $210,000 race…. Dale Earnhardt, a six-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion, is one of four Cup drivers entered in the May 7 New England Chevy Dealer’s 250 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Also expected to be on hand are: Ernie Irvan, Terry Labonte and Ken Schrader.