Lapped car aids winner Moulton takes 50-lap feature

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HERMON – Steve Moulton of Holden dominated the 50-lap Super Street feature at Speedway 95 Saturday night, but it took a little help from a lapped car to seal the victory.

The race was the second of three Super Series races.

Moulton led all 50 laps, but John Kalel II of Orrington was right on his bumper in the closing laps.

“I don’t have a mirror so I can’t see behind me,” said Moulton. “I didn’t know [Kalel] was behind me the whole time.”

As the pair approached the lapped car of Jeff Overlock Jr., Overlock backed off and moved to the high side of the track to let Moulton by.

But when Kalel moved underneath Overlock to pass, Overlock picked up the pace and raced him hard, allowing Moulton to pull away.

Overlock is Moulton’s brother.

“I just caught him in lapped traffic and I couldn’t get by him,” said Kalel. “It would be nice with two or three [laps] to go that [the lapped cars] would get out of the way.”

Moulton had fun in the race but was worried about his engine.

“It skipped and then came out of it and then it skipped again,” said Moulton. “I was waiting for anybody to come up inside of me to try and pass me because it wasn’t going as fast as it usually does.

“I got lucky and finished the race.”

Points leader Joe Legere of Milford had a bad night right from the start.

While leading the pack to start the heat race, Legere spun out coming to the line, forcing him to start the feature race near the back.

Legere ran as high as fifth by lap 15, but slid off the bank in turn two and hit the wall.

He finished seventh.

Orrington’s Kris Huff finished third with a “pretty loose” racecar.

“The back end didn’t want to stick very good,” said Huff. “I was just running around on three-quarters throttle because the back end was so loose.”

Sullivan’s Richard Burrill was fourth and Keith Pierce of Hudson finished fifth.

There was a scary moment earlier in the night when Sportsman points leader John Phippen Jr. of Town Hill got together with Greg Morse on the second lap on the backstretch. Phippen slid into the tires lining the outside of the track and his car flipped onto its roof. He climbed out a few minutes later.

“No problems,” said Phippen when asked if he was hurt after the crash. “I just had trouble getting out of it. You crawl through the window to get in the car, but when the car’s upside down, the hole got smaller. I couldn’t get my helmet through the window.”

This was the first time that Phippen had been on his roof at Speedway 95, but he said he’s flipped at Unity Raceway three different times.

He was thankful that there are tires at Speedway 95 to help cushion the blow.

“It’s pretty easy the way [the tires are],” said Phippen. “I’ve hit concrete before and it hurts.”

Winterport’s Ryan Deane picked up the win in the Sportsman division followed by Paul White of Corinna and Hermon’s Dale Swoboda.

“That was pretty interesting on the last lap,” said White, who passed Swoboda on the last lap to claim second. “He came down on me a little bit and we touched a couple times. He had to get out of the throttle enough to let me get by.”

Scott Alexander of Orrington finished fourth and Glenburn’s Doug Day rounded out the top five.

Shawn Sperrey of Hermon started on the outside of the front row and led the whole way for a fairly uneventful 25-lap Strictly Street victory. Rowland Robinson Jr. of Steuben finished second, Tim Daggett of Alton was third, Jordan Pearson of Glenburn was fourth and Brad Norris of Ellsworth finished fifth.

Bradley’s Deane Smart was thankful to finally get a win.

“I’ve been chasing a win for the first six of seven weeks,” said Smart who won the 25-lap Limited Sportsman feature.

Smart passed Unity’s Frank Moulton on a lap 21 restart to take the win.

“The outside groove is nice to have on a restart,” said Smart.

Moulton settled for second, Milo’s Nick Jenkins was third, Glen Curtis Sr. of Hudson was fourth and Rowland Robinson Sr. of Steuben finished fifth.

Mike Hopkins of Hermon took the checkers in the 20-lap Sport Four feature, but it could’ve been much easier.

Hopkins was racing for the lead in the second heat race when he spun in turn four on the last lap, dropping him to seventh and to the rear of the feature race.

He started 14th and moved to sixth by the fifth lap. He had the second spot with five to go and motored by Belfast’s Spencer Gavin with two laps left to win the race. Gavin was second, Lewis Batchelder of Dixmont was third, Medford’s Adam Russell, the first heat winner, finished fourth and David Green of Hampden was fifth.