Wiscasset Speedway hosted their annual Coastal 200 on Sunday, one of the track’s most anticipated events of the season. The Coastal 200 is one of the biggest Late Model races in New England, with $5,000 going to the race winner.
Twenty-four different Late Model teams showed up to compete in the 200-lap event. The day started out with 12-lap heat races, split into 3 separate groups.
Chris Thorne took off with the early lead in the first heat, but 2018 Maine Driver of the Year, Andrew McLaughlin, was on his tail. The #41 of Logan Melcher was on the move in the early laps of the heat, clearing the #21 of Shane Clark for third on lap 3. 2018 race winner, Ben Ashline, was making his way through the field, cracking the top 5 on lap 5. By lap 9, he was all over Shane Clark for the fourth spot.
Alex Waltz took a spin on lap 10 in turn 3, leading to the first caution of the day. Chris Thorne took home the heat victory, followed by Andrew McLaughlin and Logan Melcher.
Chaos erupted on the initial start of the second heat, which led to the start being called off by race control. Jake Hendsbee took off with the lead as the field settled down. He eventually took home the heat victory, followed by Dc Alexander and Ryan St. Clair.
Dave Farrington, Jr., who had won his Pro Series race at Beech Ridge the night before, powered into the early lead in the third and final heat race. The #09 of Darren Ripley was on the move, climbing into the runner-up spot on lap 5. Bryan Kruczek fell off-pace on lap 8, heading down to the pits the following lap. Farrington took home the heat victory, followed by Darren Ripley and J.R. Robinson.
After (most of) the fields were set, Wiscasset experienced a slight rain delay as the skies opened up and it began to downpour. With clear skies on the horizon behind the storm cell, the track elected to wait it out and with the help of many teams, fans and the track crew, cars were rolling again in timely fashion.
The downpour left “weepers” at the bottom of turn 1 and coming down from the wall in turn 2, as water began to seep through the track surface. This posed a problem throughout the rest of the day’s events, but the track worked as effectively and efficiently as they could to dry up these areas whenever possible and even threw caution flags (when needed) to clean up and help assure the safety of the competitors.
After the fields were set, Adam Chadbourne, defending Modified champion at Wiscasset, took home the victory in the 30-lap Modified feature. Another defending champion, Jimmy Childs, claimed the victory in the 25-lap Outlaw Mini feature. To top it off, Jonathon Emerson sealed the victory in the 25-lap Strictly Streets feature, making it 2-for-2 in 2019 for the young driver.
Before the Coastal 200 drivers took the green, all of the teams participated in a salute to Veterans on the track, with each team waving an American flag from their window as they paraded around the track. It was a wonderful tribute to all those that serve, and continue to serve, to protect our country’s freedom.
Once the field got rolling, Chris Thorne took off with the early lead in the main event. The #7 of Tyler Bailey was dropping fuel on the track and quickly made his way into the pits on lap 3, but the track drew the yellow to clean up the mess left behind and to dry up some water in turn 1.
The #12 of Anthony Milano took a spin on lap 14 after making contact with Wiscasset legend, Dave St. Clair, in turn 3. This incident led to another caution.
Andrew McLaughlin was on the move after the caution, moving into the runner-up spot on lap 17. Dave Farrington, Jr. began to descend through the field in the early laps of the race, falling back to eighth place by lap 20. Anthony Milano took another spin on lap 20 in turn 1, resulting in another caution.
Chris Thorne took off with the lead once again on the restart as Jake Hendsbee settled back into the runner-up spot. Logan Melcher, another Chasing the Checkered driver, was on the move, breaking the top 5 on lap 23. He made his way to Ryan St. Clair’s outside on lap 32, clearing him for the fourth spot. Defending race winner, Ben Ashline, was also coming through the field, breaking the top 5 on lap 35.
Dc Alexander backed into the turn 3 wall on lap 42, leading to another caution. It was a scary moment for Anthony Milano on lap 42 as he went around and slammed hard into the turn 3 wall after Dave Farrington, Jr. careened into him. The incident left sheet metal and parts of the wall flying upon impact. Thankfully, Milano was okay after the hard hit, but the car was not. The impact completely tarnished the right side of the #12 and left the car with very heavy damage. The red flag was thrown to do some repairs to the wall and clean-up on the track. Wyatt Alexander, who was competing in his first late model race, also took a spin before the caution, but was left with little cosmetic damage.
Ben Ashline quickly made his way into third on the restart. Logan Melcher had fallen back to sixth after restarting on the outside, but had made his way back into the top 5 by lap 47. Dc Alexander’s troubles continued on lap 50 as he cut down a tire, heading back to the pits.
Andrew McLaughlin made his way to Chris Thorne’s outside on lap 55, challenging him for the top spot. He took over the lead the following lap, pulling away from his competitors. Logan Melcher was still making his way through the field, moving into the fourth spot on lap 57. Ben Ashline also continued to navigate through the field, climbing into the runner-up spot over Chris Thorne on lap 64.
Melcher used lap traffic to his advantage, advancing into third place on lap 65. By lap 70, the leaders were battling through heavy lap traffic. Ben Ashline caught up to Andrew McLaughlin in lap traffic on lap 96, pulling ahead with the lead. McLaughlin pulled back to Ashline’s inside on lap 103, hungry to take away the top spot once again. The lap car of Waltz wasn’t giving up his spot without a fight, causing McLaughlin to lose ground on Ashline at the top of the leader board.
There was a 2-car breakaway at the front of the field by lap 120, with the leaders maintaining almost a full straightaway lead over Logan Melcher back in third place. Dave St. Clair came to a slow on lap 144, eventually stopping on the infield. The incident led to a late-race caution and St. Clair was issued a 1-lap fine for intentionally bringing out the yellow. All of the leaders pitted for tires and Ashline came out of the pits as the leader once again.
James Barker took a hard hit on lap 145 in turn 3, leading to yet another caution.
Ben Ashline pulled away with a sizable lead on the restart, keeping his eyes on the prize. Chris Thorne took a spin on lap 169 in turn 4 after racing hard with the lap car of Shane Clark. Clark tapped his roof to go to the back of the pack so Chris Thorne could settle back into line at the front of the pack, a classy move by the driver of the #21.
Chris Thorne made his way to the inside of Andrew McLaughlin on the restart, challenging him for the runner-up spot. He advanced into the spot on lap 172, but McLaughlin stole it back from him once again on lap 178. J.R. Robinson sent Chris Thorne for a spin on lap 180, leading to yet another late-race caution.
Ben Ashline was able to hold off his competitors once the field got rolling once again, taking home his second consecutive Coastal 200 victory. Ashline is the first repeat winner of the Coastal 200 in a long time, repeating the feat that Scott Chubbuck accomplished back in 2001/2002.
Andrew McLaughlin, J.R. Robinson, Logan Melcher and Jake Hendsbee rounded out the top five upon race completion.
After post-race inspection was completed, Logan Melcher and team were issued an infraction, sending them back to the “last car on the lead lap” in sixth place. The official top 5 ended up being Ben Ashline, Andrew McLaughlin, J.R. Robinson, Jake Hendsbee and Chris Thorne.
After battling the weather all day, Wiscasset Speedway managed to put on a great show for all of the fans and teams in attendance. There was a great crowd on site for the event and fans that stuck it out got to see some great battles on the track and a lot of exciting racing action.
A special thanks goes out to Richard and Vanessa Jordan for the great execution of the event and for going above and beyond, assuring that both competitors and track patrons were taken care of both on-track and off-track. Due to the wet weather conditions and the layout of the grounds, many fans got their vehicles stuck in the mud, myself included. Richard Jordan himself (as well as many of the track staff and good citizens) stayed hours after the event was over, assuring that everyone made it out of the parking lot okay and most importantly, safe. Thank you for the tow, Richard. These types of track owners are few and far between, therefore I’m SO happy that we have one right here in Maine.
Join Wiscasset Speedway this upcoming Saturday, June 1st, for the Group 1 feature events. Racing starts at 6:00 PM and as always, admission is just $5. I will be there with Dream Ride Racing and I hope that you will be there too!
Thank you to my website sponsors, Texas Roadhouse Scarborough, Four Season Synthetic and Drown Excavation. None of this would be possible without any of you!
