Friends help Hopkins to Sport-Four win

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HERMON – Hermon’s Mike Hopkins was so discouraged with his car, he sat in the grandstands after his Sport-Four heat race at Speedway 95 Saturday night.

“I had all I could do to hold on to it during the heat race,” said Hopkins.

But friends Whitney Bryant and Phil Richardson worked on it between the heat race and the feature and Hopkins wound up collecting his third checkered flag of the season.

Hopkins took advantage of lapped traffic to pass Winter Harbor’s Justin Trombley and take the lead for good on lap 24. He held off a challenge from Oakland’s Reggie Bickford and pulled away for a 12 car-length triumph.

Bickford was second in the 35-lap Dysart’s three-race series feature, Trombley took third and rounding out the top five were Belfast’s Spencer Garvin and Brownville’s Steve Heath. There were 13 cars and mini-trucks in the race.

It was the second race in the series.

“I’ve got to thank Whitney Bryant and Phil Richardson. They worked their tails off on the car and it was 100 times better than it was in the heat race,” said Hopkins. “It was really loose at the beginning of the race but as the race went on, it got tighter and tighter.

“In the last 10 laps, all I had to do was turn it. It was unbelievable,” said Hopkins.

Bickford said, “We were happy with second. Mike was able to do the job. I tried to get underneath him [but I couldn’t].”.

Bickford had won the first race in the series with Hopkins finishing second.

Hopkins, Bickford and Trombley were first, second and third in overall points entering the race.

Trombley was leading the race and was in the preferred outside groove when he got hung up behind the lapped car of Old Town’s Marvin Williams, enabling Hopkins to pass him on the inside groove.

Bickford also maneuvered past Trombley.

“You’ve got to use your advantage,” said Hopkins, who credited pro stock driver Scott Modery of Hermon for teaching him how to race on the inside groove.

In the Pro Stock race, Modery finished third as Orrington’s Kris Huff took the checkered flag with Winterport’s Ryan Deane finishing four car-lengths behind him.

Town Hill’s John Phippen Jr. was fourth and Bangor’s Gary Smith was fifth in the 35-lap feature. Twelve cars started the race.

Huff passed Modery on the outside groove on lap 13 and held him off on a lap 29 restart.

Modery was able to edge past him a few times on the inside but he couldn’t sustain it. Deane passed Modery for second two laps later.

“I didn’t have enough power,” said Modery. “On a good, long run, the fast cars caught me.”

Huff said Modery gained track position on him in the first few laps after the restart “but after I got going and settled in a little bit, I knew I could stick the car on the outside and get by him. The inside was only good for about three laps.”

Huff said his Ford Thunderbird “wasn’t set up good for long runs. It started sliding after 10 laps.

“But it was good for 10 laps,” said Huff.

Deane said “we had a real good car through the middle of the race, racing with Phippen. But the car went away after that caution. It loosened up really bad and I couldn’t stay on the bottom. I would have liked to have been able to challenge Kris. … But we gave it all we had tonight.”

In the other classes, Hermon’s Kris Watson led from start to finish in the Super Street class.

He crossed the finish line 12 car-lengths ahead of Holden’s Steve Moulton. Points leader Deane Smart of Bradley was third, Joe Leger of Milford was fourth and Franklin’s Mike Overlock was fifth in the 13-car field.

Watson inherited the lead when Orrington’s John Kalel II and Ellsworth’s Jason Morse, who started in the front row, weren’t able to get a clean start in two attempts and were sent to the back.

In the Strictly Street class, Hermon’s Shawn Sperry led the whole race to notch an impressive triumph.

Rowland Robinson Jr. of Steuben was second with Ellsworth’s Brad Norris, Glenburn’s John McCullough and Clifton’s Jim Carr Jr. completing the top five.

Ten cars started the race.

The Limited Sportsman Class had a limited six-car field with Joe Allard of Glenburn taking the lead from Rowland Robinson Sr. on the first lap and never looking back.

He crossed the finish line two car-lengths ahead of Robinson. Dixmont’s Jason Witts was third, Nick Jenkins of Milo was fourth and Darrin Durrell of Newburgh was fifth.