With both Opening Days in the rearview, the 2024 season at Wiscasset Speedway is now rolling full steam ahead with many exciting events on the horizon. Saturday’s Group 1 racing action added to the anticipation, featuring some twists, turns and surprises that left fans on the edge of their seats throughout the program.
The night kicked off with a 40-lap Spotlight feature for the Gosline Insurance Group Super Streets. Series standout Bubba Pelton won the qualifying heat race and took off with the early lead in the feature, but Nick Morton was slowly reeling him in. Morton made his way to Pelton’s outside door on lap 15, challenging for the top spot before overtaking the lead the lap following. Melee ensued mid-race with an incident that collected Maurice Young, Jason Oakes and Kenny Harrison, resulting in a caution. Nick Morton held strong on the restart, pulling away by a sizable margin. He maintained command, taking home his second career win in the division. While Morton celebrated joyously in Victory Lane, Bubba Pelton and James Osmond joined him, completing the podium.
Kyle Willette took off like a rocket in the 25-lap feature race for the Kennebec Equipment Rental Thunder 4 Minis. Meanwhile, former champion Shane Webber faced trouble early as he was black flagged for a loose wheel, forcing him to retreat to the pits. Willette maintained his advantage through the conclusion of the feature, picking up his first win of the season. Derek Cook and Gunner Josselyn rounded out the top 3. *Race results from the Thunder 4 Mini race are still unofficial due to a pending tech review.*
A pile-up at the tail end of the field resulted in a slow start to the 25-lap Brackett’s Market 4-Cylinder Pro feature, but Taylor Lane led the field as the feature got rolling. Meanwhile, rookie John Ricci was on the move, overtaking the top spot on lap 8. A mid-race caution brought the field back together and Ricci fought to hold off a hard-charging Ben Burgess. As the laps wound down, Ben Burgess turned the heat up and the two young drivers battled it out until the bitter end. After an exciting back & forth, Burgess took home his second consecutive victory in the division while John Ricci and Jack McKee followed, completing the top 3.
During practice for the Norm’s Used Cars Pro Stocks, JT Thurlow unfortunately fell ill, resulting in a surprise driver change for the #9 machine for both the heat and feature. Who better to fill in than the reigning PASS North and Boss Hogg 150 champion, Max Cookson? Cookson topped the leaderboard in final practice and even won the track’s 50/50 raffle, but it was multi-time champion Nick Hinkley who got the early jump in the 40-lap feature. 3-wide mayhem in the opening laps of the race also led to a big mix-up as Matt Beers was shuffled to the back of the pack. The chaos continued as Sylas Ripley and Shawn Knight made contact on lap 13, resulting in a caution.
Nick Hinkley maintained command through two late-race restarts, leaving Max Cookson and Dan McKeage, Jr. battling it out for the runner-up spot behind him. After a heated door-to-door battle, Cookson pulled away with the spot with just 5 laps to go. He wasn’t quite able to catch up to Hinkley, who took home his first victory of the season. Dan McKeage, Jr. rounded out the top 3, scoring his third-straight podium finish at the speedway.
The first Group 1 night race of the season surely brought the excitement to Wiscasset Speedway, but there is still so much more racing action to come! Join the fun as the Wicked Good Vintage Racers return to the track this Saturday, May 11th for their first appearance of the season. The green flag flies at 5:00 and as always, grandstand admission is just $5 for adults and free for kids 6 & under!
I hope to see you there!
Thank you to Jasen Dickey for providing all of the featured photos this week. Check out his impressive portfolio here!
